Topic: So, You Can Now Ignore Users

I also haven't ignored or blocked anyone. But as a comment, the fact that ignore is essentially private but block sort of broadcasts to the blocked person who it is who blocked them is kind of a weird feature. I don't actually know a good way to improve it, but it's odd.

I agree with Grumblevolcano that having at the very least an ignore is definitely useful in some cases. As for the people who use it or block far more than others... it causes some confusion in conversations occasionally and I can imagine it being used as an indirect way to insult someone. I realize these rules probably won't change, but I kind of like the idea of some limits as Skywake suggested. For example, if ignores/blocks timed out after awhile. People stay on this site for years and most of them are capable of growth and change so it's a little weird to have someone blocked for e.g. a miscommunication which happened 2 years ago. Personally I'm all for second chances if the person hasn't actually done something bannable, even if the second chance is after a long 'time out'... as a sometimes moderator on a different site, I've noticed timeouts remarkably often fixes behavior. It's not a huge deal, but it would make the community a little friendlier if perma-blocking tons of people wasn't quite as easy.

Not talking about ignoring here, I'm talking about blocking. I'm not too fussed if people choose to use the site in a particular way even if it involves filtering out my posts. I don't do it personally but how they interact with it is their own business

But blocking is a step above. When you block someone you also impact on their ability to use the site. I see people interacting with Anti, I see him comment on posts. But I can't view his actual post unless I open an incognito tab. A tool that powerful should have restrictions

I'm of the view that blocking shouldn't exist at all. If someone is being that disruptive that blocking is required surely it needs to be more than just their ability to see posts from one user. At that point it should be a straight up ban. But if it is to exist it should require moderator involvement or have some kind of limit

I think features like blocking should be one-way on a forum site. Basically allow others to still see your comments, but you just don't see the person you blocked's comments. That way you can still utilize the site if someone blocks you, as otherwise there's a ton of missing context. I've been blocked by a few members in the past, and it always made discussions hard to get involved in as I was missing crucial context. It felt like I wasn't "banned," but that I couldn't really engage in most of the same topics as the other members that blocked me.

@VoidofLight You can still see the full conversation in incognito mode if you really want, but I agree the default view feels really weird. Like if you reply to someone with a bunch of details to a question, not realizing someone you don't see already said the same thing. It somehow makes the whole discussion a little worse, not just for you but also for everyone else. I suppose even ignore does some of that, but not as much as block does.

@skywake Ah, I hadn't realized that was a function. I can't seem to find that function anywhere. How do you block people?

edit: nvm I figured it out.

I don't see the point of that actually. If you ignore someone they practically don't exist. How does blocking change that experience for the blocker? Yeah, seems pointless.

@VoidofLight @FishyS That was my main argument is that it just messes up conversations. As you guys mentioned you may be repeating something that a someone had said but you have no idea that they said that cause the blocked you and it just makes it feel awkward.

Not only that but I find honestly find it quite rude that users can have private conversations in a public forum. By letting users block people it starts to make the forums like a bunch of cliques and it divides the forums instead of bringing us together.

Putting a timer on the Block feature doesn't seem a bad idea, assuming it's straight forward to implement, but given how easy it is to circumvent a Block, I'm not sure the benefit of the feature outweighs the cost.

I have used Ignore a lot in the past, but I do hold ad hoc amnesties and wipe my list clean.

@skywake That would explain why I can't see Anti's posts as I haven't blocked him, I checked. I don't even post that much so I'm not even sure why.

@FishyS I guess it comes down to Nintendo Life's policy on multiple accounts.

"5 c. Do not create duplicate, fake or "sock" accounts; Creating alternate accounts or dummy accounts to trick/harass other users will result in all of your accounts being banned. Users who have been banned and create new accounts fall into this category and will also be banned."

https://www.nintendolife.com/rules

I'm under the impression this is very much enforced so it would act as a kind of protective barrier. You can circumvent a block by signing out or using incognito mode but you can't really do anything with it. If I'm wrong and it's very easy to get around multiple accounts, blocking would actually be very bad for the blocker as it would paint them as a target if the blocked people were the malicious type.

Agreed that ignore/block is great for peacekeeping, used by other forms of social media and it is good for general safety. I’ve been targeted and harassed by a few users (including being harassed outside of NL) and even when I didn’t respond or had never tagged some users they went out of their way to harass me. I don’t engage as much as I used to because of that (or rather not with the same depth. I toss out quick comments mostly)but the ignore and block feature is why I haven’t left overall. It is why I turned off email notifications though. Got tired of getting aholes in my inbox. If you really need to see someone who doesn’t want to talk to you (or be targeted by you because that happens too even when you mind your own business and ignore someone) sign out/use incognito.

But not everyone finds everyone else agreeable or safe (which is my primary reason for blocking) to be around. And my safety and mental health is more important to me than if someone can read what I typed when they are signed in. Also the longer you stay on a social media platform the more bad actors learn about you and then use to harass (or get more rilled up by you and target you more) you. Also a lot of people don’t come here to argue. Some folks just want to enjoy the site in peace. Disagreeing is fine but some folks have to shout you down, have to go out of their way to focus on you, when you want nothing to do with them. I wish people were better but I wish for world peace too. Good luck on either.

If someone metions me in a comment, will I see it even if they are blocked?

No, but you can see a blocked user's post if it is quoted by someone.

What's the difference between blocked and ignored? I'm too friendly to ifnd out for myself

Ignoring someone means you can't see the ignored person's posts. Doesn't really effect anyone
but you since it's equivalent to just not reading certain posts.

Blocking someone means that they can't see your posts. So you are effecting the blocked person's experience rather than your own.

@FishyS ohhh, ok, thank you!

But blocking is a step above. When you block someone you also impact on their ability to use the site. I see people interacting with Anti, I see him comment on posts. But I can't view his actual post unless I open an incognito tab. A tool that powerful should have restrictions

@skywake Casually dropping into this thread - so I may be missing some context - I'm not quite sure I follow you here, but I feel some of what you're saying applies to me quite specifically. I'm not trying to argue with you necessarily, I'm just asking - where is the loss here? If Anti-Matter or anyone else doesn't want to interact with you - well, neither you, nor I, nor the mods can force them. At the same time, an easy workaround to access all of that user's comments exists. How is NL really imposing anything on anyone here?

I'm of the view that blocking shouldn't exist at all. If someone is being that disruptive that blocking is required surely it needs to be more than just their ability to see posts from one user. At that point it should be a straight up ban. But if it is to exist it should require moderator involvement or have some kind of limit

This seems like an over-powered "solution" to... a problem that the mods simply cannot solve. I am trying to understand you and empathize with your feelings here, although I can't say that I'm particularly bothered by people ignoring me - I have a very lengthy Ignore list myself... long enough that I forced myself to prune it when I was still a regular user here.

Anti-Matter has Ignored and Blocked me as well, not to mention the person commenting directly above me. Sometimes the reasons for that are quite petty (I happen to know it was about my daring to disagree with someone's politics in the instance above), in certain cases they might even be valid (sometimes I dig in too hard when I bite - comes with being a toothberry), but - this is about choice, plain and simple. I'm a little baffled by Anti's blocking me, I admit, but he's made his choice and I respect it. Do you see what I mean? In the end, all we can really do here is try to communicate. Other people are gonna do what they're gonna do.

I think you’re all giving Anti too much weight with this talk when he is such an anomaly in this forum from erm… being so quirky, like think about when scientists do testing he’s the result with an odd uncontrollable variable that puts the entire curve out of whack from its weird result.

You can make strong arguments for both pro and against blocking based on Anti’s behaviour so you may as well just remove him from the conversation when talking about blocking.

@CANOEberry
It's quite simple. Ignoring a user is a way for me to change the way I see the site. Blocking a user alters the way that other user sees the site. Why should another user have that kind of power over how I see the site? Only the mods should have that kind of power and it should be used sparingly

In this specific case sure, I am not really missing out on that much. But I'm talking more about the tool itself rather than this particular case. Again, regular users should not have this kind of power

And in the end, if they can't see my posts what does it matter if I can see theirs? If it is the case that me seeing their post is so disruptive to the community that they should be hidden? Surely that's the mods job to judge. And if I am actually being that disruptive over one user surely I'm then also doing this to other users. If this course of action is required the solution should be something more like a temp ban not a perma-single-user ban

I'm just going to quickly my opinion on this topic - the block/ignore should always be an option on forumns site and especially social media. The feature makes micro managing your experience easier without the needs of mods.

The mentality that it blocking/ignoring shouldn't exist as a feature at all because it should left up to the mods doesn't really make much sense to me and comes across as for lack of a better term, naive.
The mods aren't going to be in every single conversation or argument that happens on the fly and the problem only boils down to one user then blocking/ignoring them seems like the most logical option.

One issue I do see however is that for some reason ignoring someone on this site also makes it so that you can't see their messages even if you don't ignore them back which is strange.
But just change that and the issues disappear for me.

@iLikeUrAttitude
Yeah, I'm not saying that ignoring should be only available to mods. I'm fine with giving users the ability to hide other user posts from themselves, mute replies, control notifications etc. If people want to personalise how they themselves interact with the site? That's fine. That's a great feature

When I say that "this power should be mod level only" I'm talking specifically about one user being able to alter how OTHER users interact with the site. Regular users shouldn't be able to do that. It should be mod level only

Basically, I have no issues with the ignore feature. But the way the block works is a problem, which you agree with. If it is to exist in any form it should be controlled by a mod. But I think it would probably be better if it was removed entirely given mods I assume already have the power to outright delete and ban accounts