My personal advice when this starts to happen in the reply thread to one of your posts and you feel overwhelmed, attacked or insecure: It's YOUR post, YOUR timeline. Block and mute without regret. If things get out of hand but you want to make sure your point is accessible, Mastodon has an option called "Delete & Redraft" that allows you to post the same thing as a new post, with an empty reply thread. You will lose your likes and boosts, but sometimes that is perfectly acceptable. #LifeHack