Softblocking is the act of blocking a user, then immediately unblocking, to force them to unfollow you. This is frequently done by people who are conflict averse but don't want someone following them, and don't feel like an outright block is warranted.

However, I'm here to tell you that you should not be doing this.

On most social media, folks tend to follow a lot of folks and do not mentally keep track of everyone they follow. As a result, when you softblock them and they see you again, they will usually think they just forgot to follow you or not recognize you and end up following you again. And again. And again.

For me, it is extremely annoying knowing for sure that I followed someone more than once only to find out suddenly I'm not, then re-following them, then seeing I'm not again weeks later, and rinsing and repeating until eventually I figure it out and end up just blocking the user to avoid the confusion and stress. This is made worse when someone has memory issues or dissociative disorders (like me).

If you don't want someone following you, just block them outright.
You do not need a serious justification for doing it. It doesn't even need to be personal. If you don't vibe with them, block them and move on. If you've been blocked, deal with it and move on. It's less mean to just fully block someone than it is to confuse the fuck out of them. It's not rude to block someone, you are allowed to curate your online experience and you don't owe anyone a good explanation for blocking them because you don't like their vibe/content/whatever. You are not sparing anyone's feelings by soft blocking - you're making it harder for people to respect your boundaries. Stop making it so hard to respect your boundaries.

I want 2025 to be the year we stop pussyfooting around and get comfortable with blocking/being blocked. Be clear about your boundaries.