It's been 11 years since I've worked with System 1 and as you are aware, some things are done so much that they become what we call "2nd nature." But give this a try and see if it works; take the lower edge of the menu bar, left click and hold the mouse button down, then see if you can drag the lower border downward thus expanding the bar.
When you block a person, they can no longer invite you to a private message or post to your profile wall. Replies and comments they make will be collapsed/hidden by default. Finally, you'll never receive email notifications about content they create or likes they designate for your content.
Note: if you proceed, you will no longer be following .