@darius I get that, but I think that kind of approach is best suited for small, niche instances.

I think there needs to be space for large, general instances that have a well-defined set of rules, strictly enforced, where people can know they won't get suspended because somebody with the necessary permissions doesn't like them that day.

The people on that instance know they might encounter obnoxious people in their Local timeline, but that's what individual blocks are for.