Topic: So, You Can Now Ignore Users

@shaneoh
I completely agree.

I'm sure they blocked me because I made a point they didn't agree with and didn't wait to see my reply anyway. Even so, I went back and corrected my grammar.

@Priceless_Spork you know that if you don't mention a user it is less likely that they know that you are speaking to them? I did read the entirety of the comment that I replied to initially, and my response still stands. Either way being on an ignored list has very little impact on you but opens up retaliation/harassment options to others. Which of course defeats the purpose of the ignore list anyway. Doesn't matter if you wouldn't abuse it, there are others that would. Your wanting to use it as a popularity gauge really didn't warrant a response. Not really certain why you consider not wanting to participate in or witness a cacophony of text as self censoring. I don't engage every single person in a real life social setting nor am I required to listen to them or respond; a large number of people function that way. Am I expected to argue about everything? Waste of time and energy and shows a lack of perspective in my opinion.

The grammar crack was cute, passive aggressive but cute. Differing opinions don't really bother me so long as they are well articulated. Have a nice day.

@Ryu_Niiyama
Well my comments stand as well. I'm sure we can disagree amicably.
Just think, if you had ignored me I would have been able to carry out my evil agenda without your feedback to try and stop me . I'm being P/A but hope you know I would rather hear you out and can't see why you would in my opinion censor yourself. I have never had a problem with you and I hope my cacophony isn't too harsh. You seem alright to me.
Yes. Have a nice day.

I guess that's where we differ. I also think it's pointless and ridiculous to know (or care) how many people like a post i've made. But to each their own. Cheers.

@Tsurii
I don't. I don't take offense to what people say. Nobodys ideas can wreck my world. I am not sensitive to counter ideas and I'm not scared to debate. I can also ignore you without blocking myself off from you. I learn and adapt from listening to new ideas and don't run away from them. I dont let people abuse me. There are a lot of people who's posts I dont read because they annoy me for sure. I probably am in accord with Ryu_Niiyama in thinking they waste my time but I dont need to hit the ignore. I think that's like self censorship. If they are talking about me I'd like to know it. I want to confront them. I can usually handle myself ok. If someone is a stalker or something then sure ok I guess if they frighten you, but the moderators can/should handle that. Also, something like whats happening to slig is something that should be controlled by the moderators as it crosses the line when debate is not the objective and only attack and abuse is. I'm not cool with that believe me. Nobody should be abused here.

@Tsurii
Well sure I mostly agree with you too, I just think that's self censorship. I wouldn't do it. It's not even safe to be unaware is it? Anyway my real original point was just that I really would like to know how many block me even if not revealing who. I'd like to see it in my profile where only I will know.

No one wants to censor themself, and if they did they could just delete their account. The beauty of the ignore button is being able to censor other people. And it's sweet luxury indeed.

If being able to see which users have ignored you is analogous to having a 'like counter', then we may as well call it a 'hate counter'. And installing an explicit 'hate counter' on the site would 150% undermine the point of having the ignore button at all, which (to paraphrase what Ryu said) is to stop every comment section becoming a endless whirlpool of frothing anger between the same users who simply cannot resolve their ideological differences.

Practically all major social networks have some sort of personalised ignore/block feature. Twitter has one, Facebook has one, even Miiverse has one. It's common practice, not some crazy experiment in over-protective 'safe space' that Nintendo Life have thrust upon us.

Man... I thought I was finally part of one

But seriously, this. Your posts are always so rational and direct, I applaud you. Did you disappear for a while? I wasn't finding any of your posts until a few days ago.

In general, if a person doesn't want to get blocked by others, I think it's probably best to put care and consideration into every post they make. I know it's not customary in this age of social media to really reflect on the things we post, but there is something to be said for not vomiting all of the things that pop into one's head onto the internet, where they will never truly disappear.

Of course, anyone with strong opinions who unapologetically speaks one's mind is likely to get blocked by some people, but I don't really see that as an issue. If someone is offended enough by my opinions that they don't want to read my words anymore, is there any sense in trying to communicate with them anyway?

I'm all about people learning to overcome their differences and accept each-other, disagreements and all, but, at the end of the day, that's not always possible or desirable. We have to put up with insufferable people in real life, and perhaps there is some value to that, but, at the end of the day, when I come to a hobbyist website like Nintendo Life where I want to read and share my thoughts about things I enjoy, I don't want to get annoyed or frustrated continually.

@Ralizah Or become a moderator! Everyone has to suffer my posts

@roy130390 I appreciate the kind words (though I think @Ralizah may have stolen the crown for pragmatism in this thread). Anyway, I don't think I've been hugely less active lately, but I have got some important exams coming up, so I've put all games purchases on hiatus, which may have bled through (slightly) into talking about them less. It's that age-old balance between, "I deserve a break, yay for games!", and "too much play and no work makes Jack fail his General Relativity exam". I tend to get quite stuck into new things when I buy them, so by holding off on shiny new purchases I'm still able to drag my mind away from the clutches black holes with older titles, without getting overly intoxicated on the hottest new thing. It does mean nothing I play is particularly relevant though, which makes it harder to discuss...

Anyway, getting back on topic; as far as I can see the main argument against having an ignore button is the idea that people need to be exposed to opinions that don't match their own, otherwise debate doesn't widen anyone's thinking. And it's a statement I would, on the surface, completely agree with. But it's also naive to think that by chucking a bunch of people into a room and getting them to speak, what automatically emerges is reasoned, fruitful and constructive debate. You only have to look at... well, almost any corner of the internet to realise that this is not the case. Twitter in some respects is the perfect microcosm of this; take two people with opposing viewpoints and send them into battle with 140 characters of less, and they will both come away with even narrower versions of what they originally thought, and raised blood pressures.

Forums have a slightly better chance of fostering actual discussion, but without an ignore feature of some sort, you're left with two options in the case of some of someone continuously posting objectionable (if not actually offensive or vulgar) content; you can either debate them again and again and again with increasingly circular arguments (which may lead nowhere), or you can try and make the case they they should be banned (which maybe completely unreasonable). Or you can just not read any of their posts, in which case you've just recreated the functionality of the ignore button anyway. If everyone were open to reason, the debating option might be infallible, but the simple fact is that some people are more interested in getting a reaction of out people than they are in getting a discussion; they're are deliberately obstinate, contrarian, and unreasonable, because none of those things are ban-worthy. They're not interested in reason, but attention. And without the option of not being read, they're untouchable; too vanilla to be banned, but too deliberately obtuse and reactionary to be worth reading.

If people were massively trigger happy with the ignore button, it may carry the risk of overly fracturing the community and leaving strange black holes in the middle of conversations. However, I think people generally have to be quite sure they want to get rid of someone's comments before they do so, and I think the removal of the earlier problems is probably worth the trade off. Fundamentally though, it down to how people you ignore, so if you don't feel the need to ignore anyone, then the button's inclusion probably won't make a whole lot of difference.

i'll never ignore anyone ever in my life. I used to be on another forum and never did so on there for the 5 years i was on it.

Good for you?

I'll never understand why people feel the need to announce this kind of thing.

@antdickens I'm going to keep repeating this till you actually see this......can we get a confirmation on the ignore. I've now done this 5 times and the last time I had ignored someone by accident I didn't even know I had another on my list.

This happened to me too haha.

Once, I ate half a pizza and 10 tacos, then I had a big slice of chocolate cake. I have never eaten as much as I did that day.

Anyway, can someone tell me where can I check if I'm ignoring someone by accident?

You should have a link to your ignore list in your account menu.

@Meowpheel Thanks!

Good feature. I still want a PM system