How to handle thirsty strangers’ comments on IG?

Feel free to redirect me to a better sub if there is one.

I’m a small scale content creator on Instagram. I make art and use my public account to connect with others about art and the subject matter (health-related and totally unsexy). I rarely post any photos of me.

I’ve made some friends through that account and like to encourage comments and activity on my posts so I can share my art with more people. But every now and then, this happens.

A man who seems to have no connection to my health-related communities or my art starts liking my posts, following me, leaving thirsty comments or trying to slide into my DMs.
– Likes – no big deal, I’ll just ignore
– DMs – I just block
– Follows – I’m somewhat uncomfortable and I may block depending on what I can see in their profile
– Thirsty comments – this is where I’m not sure what to do

I’ve noticed other content creators in similar positions who have comments like “you’re so beautiful 😍” and they seem to just ignore them and only interact with the legitimate comments about their post topic. I’m sure any amount of activity does boost your reach. But the last thing I want is to encourage an IG stalker who takes this as an opportunity to thirsty comment every time I post. Or worse, tries to find me IRL.

My other route is to block people and delete comments like this as they happen. I’ve done it before, but I’m not sure if that’s overkill and a waste of my time. Maybe most of these people would just forget about it and move on after one comment anyway?