You can change your default for both in the Jerboa app (hamburger menu, settings, account settings). But you're right, both of those should be defualt.
Like reddit, it's by design. That's the price we pay for participating in a consensus-driven frontpage aggregator that's divided by interests/politics/ideologies etc..
My stance is leave them alone to talk shit about me so I'm left alone to talk shit about them. Block and move on if I find the person disruptive, report them if they break server rules. And then block them and move on.
In total I think I've blocked more people than I've downvoted on Lemmy.