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Thoughts About The Ignore Button

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Shortfatdyke

09:24 / 18.04.02

the ignore button is a good thing. that being said, would someone be informed if a sizeable amount of other posters were ignoring them? it's completely possible that someone could post here, like, forever, and have no one else ever 'hear' what they're saying. which is an interesting/amusing thought. unless it happens to me. what i mean is, it's no doubt unethical and impractical for people to know who's ignoring them, but *i'd* certainly want to know if just about everyone was. because there would be no point in being here any more.

ONLY NICE THINGS

09:35 / 18.04.02

Interesting point - no names, of course, but it might be useful to know the *number* of people who are ignoring you, or even the number of people who are ignoring you and for how long each one has...that way you could see whether behaviour change was having an impact.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

09:53 / 18.04.02

CHRIST ON A HOT TIN ROOF!!! I agree with Haus!!! If one of the purposes of the ignore button is to stop people acting like pricks, then how's it gonna work if they remain blissfully unaware that they're causing someone a problem?

sleazenation

10:08 / 18.04.02

hate to be overly pessimistic but would an ignore warning deter a serious miscreant? I doubt it. And for others- finding out about ignores against you would be purposeless cos you wouldn't know which of your posts had precipitated an ignore action- thus you wouldn't know what you'd done to offend someone...

Tony Montana

10:50 / 18.04.02

Yes, you wouldn't want to end up posting here forever if no-one liked you would you?

Shortfatdyke

11:01 / 18.04.02

i would always hope that if someone seriously disagrees with what i say, then they would discuss it on the board. i have only put one person on my ignore list thus far, and may put someone else on, because ze has upset me to a level that i'm not sure i can work with hir anymore. i'm aware of many of my faults in terms of attitude/articulation, but i think i'd rather know where i'm going wrong than just blunder on regardless.

a relief to know i'm not on everyone's list, anyway.

Persephone

11:35 / 18.04.02

Is the one of the purposes of the ignore button is to stop people acting like pricks? Or is it to empower people to stop themselves from seeing people acting like pricks?

There's a difference, of course. For one thing, the former is not extremely achievable & the latter is easily achievable --in my view, anyway.

MJ-12

11:49 / 18.04.02

hate to be overly pessimistic but would an ignore warning deter a serious miscreant?

I'd imagine some people would make it a goal to be ignored by a certain number of posters.

Tom Coates

11:55 / 18.04.02

I don't think it's a good idea to let people know that they're being ignored. There's something fundamentally punitive about that kind of process, and that's not the point at all. The point is to avoid people feeling victimised or angry at each other while allowing other people who really don't want to read what they're writing to get away without having to do so...

In essence, what I'm saying is that *if* the ignore button works, it works *because* you don't know you're being ignored. People could just not be responding to your comments. The only possible reaction to a mass ignore is to be bored. Which is better than angry!

ONLY NICE THINGS

13:00 / 18.04.02

It's hardly worth mentioning, but Jungle Bunny is Mr. Knodge. I shall say no more about this, and suggest everyone else does likewise.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

13:45 / 18.04.02

I take your point, Tom and sfd, but... I dunno. Ignore me (in the literal sense, rather than the "Ignore button" sense)... I'm hopelessly idealistic. Also, Tom, your point about just being ignored anyway... sooner or later, I guess, if you're just a troll, you WILL get bored whether the ignoring is official or not. I stand corrected... but will probably have more stuff to contribute on this when I've had more of a chance to think about it. For the record, (even though I was one of those who argued against it), it seems (from what people have said regarding it) to be a good thing that the "Ignore button" exists. I'm probably still gonna stick to my "not using it" option, though.

Saveloy

16:08 / 18.04.02

Sleaze:
"you wouldn't know which of your posts had precipitated an ignore action- thus you wouldn't know what you'd done to offend someone"

I don't know about anyone else, but I wouldn't ignore someone as the result of one or two posts if their behaviour was otherwise okay. I'd only ignore someone if I thought that every other post was going to annoy. Therefore, if I knew I was being ignored, I'd assume it was down to general style or attitude rather than the odd post.

Tom> I don't reckon it would be punitive unless the information was forced upon the person concerned. I'd suggest just making it available via a couple of button presses, from your profile or something. Of course, nobody would be able to resist having a look...

Baz Auckland

21:42 / 18.04.02

I just have to ask: Since I haven't used it, and can't think of anyone I would want to ignore, how does it work? Do all posts by said person simply not appear when you view the thread?

Murray Hamhandler

22:35 / 18.04.02

From my own personal perspective, I wouldn't ignore anyone unless they were regularly posting personal assaults about me and I would hope that, in a perfect world, that would really be the only reason for anyone to use the ignore button. I know that's not the case, though. So, again from my own personal perspective, I would like to know who was ignoring me or at least the number of people ignoring me so that I might be able to figure out what I'd done to get people ignoring me in the first place. Like SFD's concern, I'd hate to think that I was regularly posting to a board composed of many people who are ignoring my posts. I have enough of that 'invisible man paranoia' in my regular life... Anyway. I can see where knowing the names of the people who are doing the ignoring might cause problems where some people are concerned, but I don't see where knowing the number would really do any harm.
Arthur Sudnam, II

Ariadne

20:33 / 21.04.02

Big drawback - you can still see their thread titles. And so the board's being filled up with rubbish and it's hard to ignore.

uncle retrospective

22:14 / 21.04.02

The ignore button is a great thing. I was dead against it but it cuts out so much noise. There are more suits that the Knodge out their muching space and it's nice not to have to trawl past them.

Traz

12:21 / 22.04.02

I pushed the Ignore button and found God.

Tune in, turn on, drop out. Tune out, turn off, drop dead. It is all one in the mind of the Buddha.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

17:52 / 22.04.02

I couldn't be happier with the ignore button. It's true that if someone takes it into their heads to spam multiple forums, or post multiple "noise" threads in one forum (like Elmo), then they become hard to blank out completely. But on the other hand you know it's them- you can at least avoid clicking on the link.

I'm in two minds about the idea of being able to see how many people are ignoring you. On one hand, there's the punitive aspect that Tom referred to, the possibility that a member could end up feeling rejected and put-upon if they have a lot of ignores. But on the other hand, I'd be quite curious to know how many people have had to put me on ignore; three or four ignores wouldn't worry me, but if it was more than a half-dozen or so then I'd have a serious think about changing my posting habits.

MJ-12

18:37 / 23.04.02

y'know, it just gets funnier every time I click it.

bitchiekittie

19:24 / 23.04.02

I cant use it. I clicked on it once, to see how it worked, near-immediately unclicked.

then again, for a short while. no comment on other peoples preferences, or the need/demand for it, but I personally hate the thing

Utopia

19:38 / 23.04.02

i think i'm going to start using it more, actually. though my vow is not to use it on any true members (nobody who seriously posts here offends me in any way, and i don't see disagreement as being a cause to ignore someone), it's time to start weeding out...junk suits. you know...

aus

04:54 / 07.02.04

I pressed the "Want to ignore this person's posts for a week?" button on a profile today and found that I was unexpectedly still ignoring one suit since August 2002 and another three since September 2002. I assumed they automatically cleared after a week. Is it supposed to clear after a week or is the text misleading?

My apologies to anyone I've unintentionally ignored for the last sixteen months. It's not because you smell funny or anything like that. Well, you might have smelled funny in September 2002, but I'm sure your hygiene habits have improved or there have been great advances in deodorants.

aus

05:06 / 07.02.04

On further examination, it appears this isn't as significant an issue as I assumed it would be. When there is a post by someone who is being ignored, the ignorer sees the message "You are ignoring posts by [name of the ignored]."

I had forgotten this. It seems those four people I was ignoring have not been very active over the last 16 months - at least not at the times I visited these boards.

Cat Chant

08:46 / 07.02.04

Aus - yes, for some reason the "ignore" list never changes, but the ignore does successfully reset itself after a week.

I too am a fan of the "ignore" button. I just need one that works IRL now, so that I can drift happily past my Head of Department.

Jack The Bodiless

18:00 / 07.02.04

I think it's a horrible placebo, personally. I've always thought that
if you can't happily ignore a cretin's posts without a technical fix providing you with blanket blinkers, then you should really take a good hard look at how you approach the business of posting to a message board.

To clarify - if someone pisses you off that badly, chances are it's only on certain subjects, in which case you're missing potentially valuable contributions they might make in other areas. If it's their posting style, that's something you should be able to ignore without 'bleeping' them out. If it's the entire suit, and everything they say, you should just skip over their post entirely. I've never pressed the ignore button on anyone, and don't intend to start. This might inflame matters - but it always struck me as a sop to some of the more highly-strung members of the board anyway...

gingerbop

22:52 / 07.02.04

I dont think only the highly strung needing it is a fair analysis of the whole thing.

Like you, I dont really consider it at all, but mostly because no untroll has ever pissed me off past a little argument or two. But if it were to get to the stage of constant personal insults, Im sure a lot of people would just go la-la-la and not give them the time of day, just to piss them off. Personally I'd rather have a mudwrestle than ignore it, but that's up to you.

Being able to see numbers of blockers is a slightly scary, and wholey unnattractive prospect.

Olulabelle

23:00 / 07.02.04

I have never ignored anyone! I obviously haven't lived. But, I think I'd feel too bad about it. I'd feel like I wasn't giving them a chance even though they may or may not be behaving like an idiot. Then the flip side is that I think using the ignore button would serve to make me feel like the person behaving like an idiot had somehow 'won' a battle, which wouldn't go down at all well with me given my propensity for fairness.

Of course, it's quite posssible that I am on ignore for everyone and I could just carry on wittering on for all of time immemorial without ever realising no-one was reading it.

That's a really scary thought.

Oh, God.

SMS

01:50 / 08.02.04

I used the ignore button once or twice back on the Warren Ellis forum for technical reasons. A troll or two had managed to go about the board posting images that made your computer freeze up if you passed the mouse over them. I don't know if this kind of trolling is possible on Barbelith, but I would assume that the ignore button might work as a temporary remedy if it ever happens.

Cat Chant

09:39 / 08.02.04

If it's the entire suit, and everything they say, you should just skip over their post entirely

So... you should do exactly what the ignore button does, but without pressing the ignore button?

Ach. I'd just rather put my energy into contributing something constructive to the board/getting something positive out of it, rather than getting wound up past a certain point: and I'm lazy enough that I don't mind mechanizing the function of skipping posts entirely. But it's a rare and sporadic thing for me to hit ignore, and probably synchronizes as much with what's going on in my real life as with anything going on on the board.

I guess I probably am one of the more highly-strung members of the board.

Tryphena Absent

20:33 / 08.02.04

I think the ignore button would be handy if you felt someone was attacking you unreasonably. I tried to use the ignore button on barbelith once a couple of years ago but cracked within ten minutes- I just had to read the ludicrous post that was certain to have appeared. Having said that I can think of an instance on another board, not this one, where I felt so hunted that I would really have gone for an ignore. When someone is systematically and purposefully misreading you to the point where you have no defence, when you're apologising and they're still knocking you down, an ignore button allows you some space to pick when and if you read. That's why it should exist... so you can continue to believe that a strangers words can't make you cry.

40%

20:53 / 08.02.04

It's useful to me as a temporary aid to tongue-biting, being "[one] of the more highly-strung members of the board" as I am. But it's only so much use, because if you're wound up it's hard not to think "what did he say? Was that about me? I bet he called my Mum a slag etc". The things you imagine may be even worse than the reality.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

07:52 / 09.02.04

I'm partially with Jack here- I've never used it, never intend to, and had, in fact, forgotten it existed.
However, if other people feel they need it- for whatever reason- then I'm not gonna try to stop them.

aus

13:53 / 11.02.04

I use the ignore button for giggles, mainly - so I can say to myself, "I'm iggying (whoever) hehehehehehehe" - but usually it's only until I see their next post and want to see what they wrote. That's what makes the 18-month ignores so perplexing.

---

14:45 / 11.02.04

Hee hee, i just found the ignore button. I can't use it though, i'm just too goddam nosey, it would send me mad wondering what the person was typing.

Papess

15:10 / 12.02.04

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but even if you put someone on ignore, they can still PM you. It kinda defeats the purpose, doesn't it? Is there any way to change this?

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