I would have to say the "Ignore" function on this forum is the greatest invention ever...right up there
with the automobile and the airplane. And ice cream.
I would have to say the "Ignore" function on this forum is the greatest invention ever...right up there
with the automobile and the airplane. And ice cream.
Yes, but it really spoils the flow of a thread when you have to filter out trolls shills and worse , the thread often loses context and becomes disjointed.
Rodney, you're not seriously saying any threads stay in context and don't get disjointed even w/out filtering out the usual suspects? Pretty much everything gets derailed these days.
It just takes will power... or that should that be won't power?
I don't use the ignore button either - I just skip posts. I don't usually skip by person, but by the current thread contents - basically, I skip the ad hominems and any other patch where there's more heat than light.
I have used it in the past.. Not anymore: What I have come to see is that everyone has something useful to say ... at times. If you don't like what you read .. Either address the post or ignore it . No reason to get angry, just forget it. If you find yourself thinking about it too much .. the problem is you Not the post, not the poster, nor the thread ...
When I see a thread quickly expand to dozens of pages in a short time, or one that continues to expand indefinately, i read the first dozen entries (or more) then jump to the last page. Often the brew-ha-ha is the same just repeated over and over. And almost assuredly, any thread over a few dozen entries long will go off-the-rails and become a pissing contest in one form or another. Particularly when you see the usual suspects start in. There are a few exceptions, of course.
THe best ignore button is inside *you*. If you don't care about a person's posts, or what someone has posted, just keep scrolling down.
If you lack that self-control, I am afraid you can't be an active member of any forum. Sooner or later you will engage in a manner that will make you emotional and in most forums, you will get sanctioned by the mods because they don't have time or inclination to read through days and weeks of arguments between people and adjudicate who is right or wrong.
So develop some self-control and be choosy when you engage someone. And when you do, then please don't ask us to do anything about it after the fact. As adults, you make your decisions and we are not a tool to then adjudicate the situation for you when frustration sets in.
I don't think there is a day I wake up when someone doesn't say something that is insulting directly to me or indirectly with respect to what I believe in audio. And I am the site co-founder for heaven's sake! Learn that any and all people can join a forum and post.
And if ever someone violates the forum posts, be sure that they are the only ones who have done that.
The problems with ignoring any member on any forum are two-fold:
1. You may lose some context to the thread in question if that member adds something of value or sends the topic down a perfectly valid path (annoying trolls can still contribute something useful a certain small percentage of the time).
but, by far the most important problem:
2. When somebody replies with a quote to the member you are ignoring, you then have their entire ignored post there right in front of you as if you'd never ignored them.
This is why - at least in my prior experience - it is better to either no longer visit the forum or otherwise to forget about ignoring and instead learn to quickly judge whether that member's particular ongoing contributions have merit or are going to be yet another aggravating stressful experience for you.
On the other hand, I would like to see more intelligent forum software that is able to filter out quoted text from an ignored member - so not just original posts - when viewed by the person who has instigated the request to ignore that member. That gets around point 2 above which in my experience currently makes ignoring useless. Especially since members who tend to get ignored are the ones who are always picking a fight and tend to get overly-represented in quoting.
I've arrived I've been caslled jsut about everythng. The most recent was "sophmoric.: I received some rather salty personal messages. You just Since have to roll with the punches. I've put some people on temporary ignore untll I cooled down. Remeber music soothes the savage beast."
I've gotten real kick out of the forum moralists who stand on their pedestals and declare the use of the Ignore Button, which is a feature offered to all forum members without exception, is somehow an indictment of character. What a bunch of blow-hards. Kiss the back of my hand.
No Al, I have never put anyone on my ignore list (any site, forum). I don't have to say why; you guys are all smart enough to figure that one out.
* But I did give few good reasons before (in another thread), and I think it was you who said that you approved of some/most/all of them.
Anyway we advance in life by not ignoring our friends, and enemies; they both deserve critical/serious importance/consideration.
My best friend (me) is my own worst enemy. I got to respect that, or I ain't worth much.
I've gotten real kick out of the forum moralists who stand on their pedestals and declare the use of the Ignore Button, which is a feature offered to all forum members without exception, is somehow an indictment of character. What a bunch of blow-hards. Kiss the back of my hand.
Andre, I don't believe in the "ignore" button. Too much like choolkids in the Yard pushing their fingers in their ears and screaming "Can't hear you! Can't hear you! Na na na-na na!"
Wow. You are out of town on business for a few days and you not only miss replying to a thread, but the thread is closed! (I refer to the "do we want WBF to become an AVS forum"). But this thread is basically a continuance of the same material. From my perspective, the correct word to describe the material being discussed in both threads is "censorship". Banning people from threads is a very slippery slope and is no different than the disgusting events last fall that have occurred in the real world such as the demands by Columbia University students to ban material being taught in their courses because it does not make them feel "secure". While academic freedom is somewhat different than audiophile blog freedom, the principles are the same. Personally, I feel the WBF has suffered as a result of having some folks leave (not necessarily banned) for various reasons including banning. Myles Astor comes to mind as I genuinely appreciated his contributions. In the post now closed, I thought there were some particular voices of wisdom (posts #24, #17) and would encourage the moderators to allow free discourse despite the fact some are offended by the content. That is the price of journalistic freedom. You may not always like what you read. However, no one is forcing anybody to read anything. The use of an "ignore button" is always an option but at least using it might say more about the reader than the administrators of the WBF, and of course, individuals are fee to use that resource if they are duly offended by certain individuals. However banning people is a very pernicious event and would be the direct responsibility of the administrators. One can never prevent grandstanding or idiocy, but you can certainly use your judgement to decide what to read and respond or not respond as you wish. There is simply no need to trample on free speech by playing the censorship card.
