Ignore List

[oxyjen]

Inspired by a post in another thread...

Do you use the "ignore user" feature, either here or in the old place? How many people are on your ignore list?

I've never used the ignore feature, even at the old place with a variety of members whose posts could be irritating/annoying. I have an irrational gut reaction to oppose the use of such a function, to the point of wishing other people could not have the option to ignore. I can see why it exists--a way to personalize a forum to make it more pleasing to a person without real moderation of users taking place, making the forum more user-friendly and efficient. Yet I still can't shake ascribing negative avoidance/passivity to the use of it. What say you? Feel free to psychoanalyze at will.

Members who do not respond will be assumed to be employing the ignore feature.

[msg_v2]

Yes. One person stays on my ignore list constantly, because I find their views abhorrent. Other people rotate between going on and off of it. I don't think I have a right to tell someone not to post, and I think arguing doesn't accomplish anything. So, ignore it is.

It's preferable for me to an environment where people are always calling for someone else to be banned.

[stuck]

Well, it doesn't remove all evidence of people… so I see one of gps' posts, remember the reason I ignored him before, and then have to make a conscious choice to open up his posts. And THEN ITS ON

[C.J.Woolf]

I used ignore only once, and I claim a technicality for that. The poster had spammed me with a wall-of-text rep and I wanted the clutter gone. Otherwise, the ignore feature in my brain works just fine.

I wonder about mgb from the old forum in particular. He was legendary for having 50+ members on his ignore list. He must have had a serious love-hate relationship with the forum.

[oxyjen]

Well, it doesn't remove all evidence of people… so I see one of gps' posts, remember the reason I ignored him before, and then have to make a conscious choice to open up his posts. And THEN ITS ON

OMG THIS EXPLAINS WHY NOBODY ARGUES WITH HIM. /revelation

But really once in a while if you read a gps post like you were making your debut performance at a freshman slam poetry reading, it can be quite entertaining.

[stuck]

But really once in awhile if you read a gps post like you were making your debut performance at a freshman slam poetry reading, it can be quite entertaining.

No, I know… always keeps me coming back for more.

[El D.]

Nahhhh, it's easy for me to ignore people without having to actually block their posts.

[Sappho]

Yet I still can't shake ascribing negative avoidance/passivity to the use of it.

Part of the appeal and luxury of an online forum is that, unlike in real life, you don't have to deal with every insipid blatherer that crosses your path. I would hazard a guess that many people feel this way.

Edit: Particularly since it allows you to focus your attention on the good people worth listening to.

[jigglypuff]

Nahhhh, it's easy for me to ignore people without having to actually block their posts.

same. i'm used to ignoring people/text in my head and i'd be afraid of missing a crucial part of a conversation if i put somebody on ignore who was participating a lot (the only case i've considered it but it's still not the first thought that crosses my mind).

[oxyjen]

You're probably correct. I'm the opposite. I won't post the jpg because everyone has seen it a million times, the xkcd comic where the guy is typing furiously--"Someone on the internet is wrong!"--that motto is the motivating factor for 90% of my forum posts.