@b0rk @Gaelan I have seen that complaint (about replies not being shown) quite a bit recently.
Similar to @Gaelan I usually open a reply-worthy post on the original instance to see the replies and then often can close the browser tab because hey, someone already did take the words out of my mouth.

That would support the idea that the reply fetching behavior needs to be improved. On the other hand, I've already seen some improvements with recent Mastodon releases showing way more replies on "older" posts.

But on fresh posts, still nothing. Unfortunately.

Case in point, I do not see any replies from @Gaelan here but only on the original instance.

So much for the technical aspect... But I do keep wondering about the social aspects. Do you think being very liberal with the blocking function would help after a few weeks of using it?
I recently had a typical reply-guy experience. Asking about technical advice for a laser printer problem, get someone telling me how they are always driving to the local copy-shop to print.
Completely useless post, a waste of electricity...
I ignored it but for someone with a lot of followers that can get tiring soon I'd guess... So blocking is the easy approach... Maybe?