So in light of finding out that I can't block an instance as a user, I am trying to find an instance that actually suits me better. Specifically I do not want to see anything relating to lemmygrad.ml and from what I can see, the main instances that block lemmygrad are lemmy.one which isn't accepting new applications and beehaw which, while I don't mind interacting with their instance at all, I don't wish to join it for a couple reasons. There are others like midwest.social but I don't live near there and while I know it is open to people that don't live there it doesn't exactly seem like where I would want to make an account that I plan on actually using.
So if I'm not mistaken, my options are basically to stay on lemmy.ml and deal with having to see posts and comments from lemmygrad.ml users, go to beehaw which I also don't want to do, make a new instance for myself which I'm not going to do, or just leave and come back later when there are actually options that suit me better. Does that sound about right?
I understand that people can be rude in any instance. I just believe that there is such a large fundamental difference in philosophy between myself and lemmygrad that it will lead to a much larger percentage of things that I don't want to see. I'm not afraid to use the block button when I feel like it. I just don't want to have to do it all the time when I could easily take care of most of my problem by blocking the instance.
I appreciate your friendly demeanor and advice of disabling upvote visibility but I don't really mind that at all. It's not so much social media anxiety in the same way that me not wanting to see a Nazi when I go out in public isn't social anxiety, it's just me not liking Nazis.