Topic: Changes to our 'Block User' feature

Hey everyone,

Most of you are probably already aware that we have an 'Ignore User' feature across all Hookshot sites. This feature allows you to effectively hide/mute another user, so their posts don't appear for you. This is fairly widely used and for a variety of different reasons.

Shortly after adding the 'Ignore User' feature we introduced the ability to 'Block' another user that you already ignore. This meant that if you blocked someone, they wouldn't be able to see your posts either. There were a handful of situations where this was the best way to resolve differences between two users, hence the feature being added.

However, unfortunately, since we introduced the feature it has been used, in our opinion, too frequently and sometimes inappropriately which has caused other issues within the community. This is especially true when all posts on our sites are public to non-logged-in users, meaning it was easy to circumvent this measure anyway.

We've now reached a point where we don't believe the feature is being used as intended and therefore after discussing with the team, we have decided to change the functionality. You will still be able to block another user, but you will need to request a block to be applied and it will require approval by our community admin team. When applying for a block, we want to understand your reasoning so that we can see if the matter can be resolved in a better, different way that doesn't affect the flow of the community.

We believe that 99% of situations will be resolved by us simply enforcing our community rules, or by someone 'ignoring/muting' another user, and we will only approve block requests as a last resort measure.

Because of this change in approach, we have removed all existing blocks across the sites so that we can start afresh with this new approach. To be clear, all existing ignores will remain in place, just the second step 'Block' has been removed.

As always, we are committed to fostering a community that is tolerant of others, even when they have different views. Ultimately we are a united community with a love for video games.

We will continue to monitor the usage after these changes and see what further changes we believe will help us achieve that goal.

Thanks!

Huh, I guess that explains why I could suddenly see someones post whilst logged in. Thanks for keeping us in the loop.

Thanks to all the staff for continuing to keep this community a nice and safe place to hang out. ❤️

I feel like this change is ultimately for the best honestly. Keeping the feature but preventing it’s abuse whilst still allowing conversations on the forum to flow naturally.

This is a change for the good!

Ignore is enough for a person to not interact with you. Block is just destructive to the forums flow.

Agree with the sentiments here. Was also wondering why I could see the posts of a particular user today (who for some reason had me blocked despite me never having directly engaged with them?)

Good. Uncontrolled access to this feature has caused enough drama across the sister sites.

Ignoring should be enough for 99% of cases.

Getting along with other people is fun. Thanks for your hard work everyone at NintendoLife. I enjoy it very much here.

I jest, I jest. T'is but a good excuse to post an image of one of my top 3 ladies.

I was genuinely (honest guv, genuinely) in my account page this week wanting to do a full amnesty of everyone I had on ignore or block... but there's no 'Reset all' option and I couldn't be bothered to work through such a massive list 😂

For anyone I had blocked, hello, welcome back to my comments and posts, I hope this represents a positive change for you, but if not, just hit that Ignore button whenever you're ready.

That seems like a good compromise, I think it makes more sense for blocking to only be for extreme cases.

Good call.

@antdickens Since some users in my ignore list have no posts, comments, discussions, should I assume they were banned? edit: I'd remove them if they were banned. Guess it's tough to tell if these people just deleted their posts.

@WoomyNNYes I think ignored users appear to you to have no posts or deleted their posts. But take them off ignore and their posts will likely reappear for you when viewing their profile.

Don't forget that blocking users can be a considerate gesture, because it reduces the risk of an ignored user trying to engage with the ignorer, which is obviously hugely embarrassing and awkward for everyone who's witness to it.

Amirite @WoomyNNYes?

@WoomyNNYes if you ignore a user, you won’t be able to see their posts on their profile, so @gcunit is correct.

@gcunit I had stupid moment earlier. I was thinking NL wiped ignores too. Dyslexic moment?😆

I'm going to request blocking gcunit for pointing out my ignorance (correctly). JK<3

I didn’t know this! I did hear some users say they got blocked even when they don’t engage with another user or for a small reason that isn’t serious (like a differing opinion on a game) so it’s nice to see a rework to prevent abusing the feature. Nice work!

@Pastellioli Also this change will not make it worse for the people that used the block functionality.

I mean you still will not see anything from your favorite hated person

But I am still interested in news, facts or any gaming stuff from a person who has ignored me. Even if I try to interact with him/her, they will not see my messages so it's a win-win situation.

But it would be awesome to see if a person is ignoring you, like a checkmark or a stop sign next to their name. Just to be clear that they will not see my messages.

Glad the ignore function remains intact.
Getting e-mail alerts of pissy comment responses isn't how I like to start my day.