I rarely block people, but I love using the mute button. That feels like so much less drama since they don't even know the mute happened. (None of the fallout of those tweets with the blocked screenshot crying foul.) What am I missing out on that makes blocking worth it's more "public" nature?
You get to tell them that they were bad without having to deal with their whining excuses or vitriol.
Personally I prefer being told I'm silenced, since it is a feedback mechanism that gives me the choice to reflect. Maybe it's reflecting on whether I was bad, or maybe it's reflecting on whether it was the right place and time to say what I said, or maybe it's reflecting on whether the person blocking me is worth my time and effort.
I get why people prefer not to offer this feedback, since far too many people get vindictive once they've been rejected. Ghosting someone is highly effective. Still, I wish it wasn't a necessarily available tool, because it gets abused by the overly offended and/or seems to me like passing the problem on to someone else to handle.