Blocking / avoiding specific user accounts

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17143 posts

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#1791158 29-May-2017 15:14

frankv:
Sad to say, I've finally found someone worthy of black-listing, so I'll add my name to the list of people requesting this feature.

New user? I find they tend to settle down after a while, or badly lose their proverbial and get banned. Either way it's just time. Just ignore them the old fashioned way. It still works. Also, don't feed the trolls.

solutionz

589 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#1791168 29-May-2017 15:29

I suggested a possible compromise here: ability to add a private flag / note on users.

i.e. I would flag for quick visual reference:

Users I've met up with IRL to buy/sell etc.
Users that have provided useful / specialist support ("network guy", "linux guy"...)
Users I'd rather not engage with for whatever reason...

dejadeadnz

2394 posts

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Inactive user

#1791369 29-May-2017 20:14

gzt:

New user? I find they tend to settle down after a while, or badly lose their proverbial and get banned. Either way it's just time. Just ignore them the old fashioned way. It still works. Also, don't feed the trolls.

Personally, I've found the views and attitudes of a couple of posters on here to be so objectionable that I'd rather not see their posts at all. In fact, their tendency to "contribute" a lot to the off topic forum pretty much dissuades me from posting to it much at all these days. I personally don't want anyone banned or censored but would like to have a choice as to whether I see their primary posts or not.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
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Geekzone

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#1791382 29-May-2017 20:42

Ok, folks. After important things I might put some work into this. But to be clear - I won't *remove* posts from your thread view, I will just obscure the posts - perhaps something like replacing username with "FILTERED" and the post message with "FILTERED".

As mentioned I can't do anything about quotes.

The toggle would be similar to the "Stalk user" and "Stop stalking user" in the options menu below their avatar.

Technofreak

6530 posts

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#1791384 29-May-2017 20:45

I think there's far more deserving features that could be added before this one.

I doubt I'd ever use it. There's one or two, and I literally mean only one or two, on here that I tend to not take a lot of notice of but I wouldn't bother blocking them. Sometimes they have something useful to say too. For the number of times it would be potentially used I doubt it's worth bothering with.

As someone mentioned earlier there's been times when I've disagreed with someone one day and the next day I've been giving them a Plus 1.

Because of how well moderated this site it I'm surprised anyone is asking for this feature. Geekzone would be the poorer if it was implemented.

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freitasm

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#1791387 29-May-2017 20:55

Technofreak:

I think there's far more deserving features that could be added before this one.

Making sure we had everything ready to jump into HTTPS is probably the biggest project in the last 12 months. I'm free of this now...

wally22

504 posts

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#1791404 29-May-2017 21:26

I have to say that I don't agree with this suggestion. Even though I can empathise with users getting fed up with trolls and the like. I despair at some of the comments here about life, the universe and everything, but I just gloss over it and move on. After all, we don't want to end up in a pseudo big brother echo chamber.

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dejadeadnz

2394 posts

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Inactive user

#1791406 29-May-2017 21:30

Technofreak:

Because of how well moderated this site it I'm surprised anyone is asking for this feature. Geekzone would be the poorer if it was implemented.

You don't have to use it if you don't see a need.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
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#1791411 29-May-2017 21:47

Their point is that by filtering you're taking away your opportunity to reply and make the debate more robust, laying only one sided views.

dejadeadnz

2394 posts

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Inactive user

#1791423 29-May-2017 22:14

freitasm: Their point is that by filtering you're taking away your opportunity to reply and make the debate more robust, laying only one sided views.

On one level, that's true. But that's assuming that people who want to use this feature have this great list of people that they want to ignore (and I think most people who do actually don't). You've seen it, for example, with my own efforts with some posters here. You make a detailed and careful reply and all you get back is a couple of silly, inflammatory short lines that twist your words. If it's a choice between dealing with this kind of rubbish and sometimes not posting, I can quite honestly say that the latter is a choice that I am exercising more and more, especially in threads that I know the 2 to 3 people that I would love to block are bound to beeline towards.

cadman

1014 posts

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Inactive user

#1791425 29-May-2017 22:25

I think anyone that would even want such a feature should actually take a good hard look at themselves. To me it seems they're clearly not as secure in their own opinions as they might like to think they are.

PhantomNVD

2619 posts

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#1791432 29-May-2017 23:05

cadman:
I think anyone that would even want such a feature should actually take a good hard look at themselves. To me it seems they're clearly not as secure in their own opinions as they might like to think they are.

Nope. I can only think of 3 users I'd like to block for consistent inflammatory and/or useless threads, and constant political left/right/left/right user bashing which would be awesome to have [Filtered] as suggested by Freitasm earlier in this thread.

It's truely not about whether or not I agree with their views, but more that their needless twit/twoo detracts from the central OP discussion so consistently.

Alternately, could we add a FUG (like Godwins) to specifically partition the Trump debate into the Trump thread? Seems like these days just about every other thread more than 2 pages degenerates into a pro/bash Trump discussion again... respectfully, is Trump the new Godwins candidate?

dejadeadnz

2394 posts

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#1791475 30-May-2017 07:11

cadman:

I think anyone that would even want such a feature should actually take a good hard look at themselves. To me it seems they're clearly not as secure in their own opinions as they might like to think they are.

One couldn't have made up a better example of why some people, like myself, would like the feature requested.

If you've experienced ad nauseum what I have in this thread and this thread, you might be a little bit more open to considering why some people just can't be bothered with dealing with such rubbish. In the first thread, I as a former practicing lawyer who has volunteered for years providing consumer advice and submitting to the relevant Parliamentary committee on consumer law reform decided to assist someone on a CGA matter. I cited the relevant statutes, applied my expertise, and came to a view that someone didn't like. This person basically spent half the thread trolling or baiting me (in a way that didn't necessarily breach the FUG nor did I think it warrant any reporting), until he started going way too far in one post and had it deleted. I also delivered a fairly angry reply which was also deleted after the offending post was removed. Then the mods closed the thread.

The second thread just had one user essentially shouting a viewpoint which ignored any of the replies, facts and issues raised by pretty much all the other users, including what the actual thread was about. Again, I hardly think anything that happened was worth a report or a ban but some of us would just prefer not to waste our time on such poor quality content or be left in the invidious position where we are seen as ignoring supposed legitimate viewpoints if we choose to reply to posts following those from the particular user but not that user him/herself. With the filtering option, the inference can be drawn in a fairly clear way.

I am actually quite secure in my own opinions and know my own weaknesses - armchair psychoanalysis of other people or inflammatory and conclusory one-liners ain't my thing. I am sufficiently aware that currently I either risk eventually feeding some trolls or reply to some people on here in ways that are quite robust. Thus increasingly I choose not to engage but wouldn't mind the opportunity of a middle ground.

If that makes me insecure and worthy of your simplistic, one-lined, and inflammatory analysis, then so be it.

Wiggum

1199 posts

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#1791484 30-May-2017 08:04

Can't think of a single person I would like to block.

Can think of a few that I really disagree with.

If the aim of this feature is to get enough people to block them/ghost them so they interact less, then I find this feature quiet disturbing.

gzt

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#1791501 30-May-2017 08:28

Wikipedia on echo chambers:

The echo chamber effect that occurs online is due to a harmonious group of people amalgamating and developing tunnel vision. Participants in online communities may find their own opinions constantly echoed back to them, which reinforces their individual belief systems.

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