ArsTechnica

Staff / From the minds of Ars

Introducing “Ignore”—a new comments feature to make your life troll-free

Learn how to quickly banish trolls from Ars comments like they never existed.

As promised some months ago, we have been working on a number of new features for our article commenting system aimed at improving the overall quality of comments on the site. While I believe that we have an extraordinary commenting community compared to elsewhere online, I know I am not alone in believing that the quality of comments has declined significantly in recent years.

Today we are rolling out a new feature simply called "Ignore." When you choose to ignore someone, you no longer see comments from that person on front page discussions. You enter into a blissful world where that person’s posts largely vanish, except when they are quoted by other users. We did not want to hide the posts of people responding to individuals on your ignore list, because you might lose out on insightful commentary from other readers. We will watch how this feature is received, however, and may reconsider this in the future.

To add someone to your ignore list, simply hover over their comment and click the little eye icon.

We've added an option at the top of the comments to temporarily reveal all ignored posts if you want to see what you're missing. We’ve also made it very easy to remove people from your ignore list. Just reveal the ignored posts and click the eye icon (sans slash) on a post from someone you want to add back. You should feel free to put someone who’s being annoying on your Ignore list, knowing that you can take them off of it the next time you see them in a different thread on a different day.

We have other changes in store for you, too. We're not yet ready to reveal those changes, but they will also help you customize your commenting experience as you see fit. We’ll be including new and improved ways of letting us know how you feel about your fellow commenters. In fact, we’ll be looking closely at who sits atop the ignore list, with an eye toward identifying the trolls. We are experienced enough to know that unpopularity is not synonymous with trolling, and this will only be one of many things taken into consideration when evaluating a user’s contributions.

So try it, and let us know what you think. As always, we’ll be listening to your feedback.

Expand full story

351 Reader Comments

  1. Aurich wrote:
    cc bcc wrote:
    Good stuff, thanks! Can trolls see that they're being ignored?

    No, they will have no idea that you did so, it's utterly anonymous. So they won't get any feedback from it, but I'm not sure it would do much for chronic offenders anyway.


    Tie chronic offenders and multiple account-trolls to their IP address and hopefully see even more declines in that segment of the population. Granted, there's ways of getting around that, but I think a lot of people are starting to browse and post to these forums via their smartphones, so they're not exactly "hidden" as well as they would be if they were posting it from the security (or obscurity) of their home/work.
    1131 posts | registered
  2. Kesh wrote:
    I'm not "choosing to be offended," I'm simply closing the door on someone whose purpose is to illicit anger or simply spouting nonsense.

    And comparing ignoring posts here to ignoring Ezekiel is laughable. There's no relation between them.

    So if someone was telling you to eat shit, it's not the same thing to ignore them? Perspective.

    Last edited by Vapur9 on Wed Sep 19, 2012 4:58 pm

    1122 posts | registered
  3. leedo wrote:
    fferitt25 wrote:
    So is there an indicator that a User has been blocked by most of the readership - so they at least know they are only talking to themselves ?

    No way for users to find that out right now. We recently ran a report to find out popular the foes feature is, and there are definitely some standout posters. Maybe we need a public leader board :P


    or a monthly report filled with charts and graphs, kinda like the browser articles :P
    172 posts | registered
  4. Nice that Ars is caring about what matters..to get those pesky trolls off our backs! Well done Ars, keep up the good work!!
    177 posts | registered
  5. Aurich wrote:
    cc bcc wrote:
    Good stuff, thanks! Can trolls see that they're being ignored?

    No, they will have no idea that you did so, it's utterly anonymous. So they won't get any feedback from it, but I'm not sure it would do much for chronic offenders anyway.

    So why take a chance, huh?
    766 posts | registered
  6. Astlor wrote:
    Welp, I'm screwed; within a few weeks I'll have nobody to talk to! Image


    I was going to say the same thing, and then it occurred to me that if I ignore you, it will appear to
    me to be an original thought.

    Soon, I will finally have Ars all to myself.

    I mean, I write just to see myself type, anyway.

    Xavin wrote:
    Ignoring stuff is counterproductive. You can't have a discussion or argument about something if one party is sticking their fingers in their ears and yelling "la la la la". Spam and explicit trolls will be moderated, that leaves just people who are saying reasonable things you don't want to hear or may not agree with. That's exactly the kind of people you should listen to, so you can tell them how they are wrong, or maybe, possibly, change your opinion because they are actually making sense. Willful ignorance is not a good mindset to have.


    Exactly. And I quoted you in full in case anyone has already ignored you because I think your point is incredibly important, and the people I most want to read it are exactly the ones who will disagree to the point of banishing you from their own thought forever. Until they ignore me as well.
    We're all going to need a lot of socks.

    asdf25 wrote:
    Killwize wrote:
    Oh yes ignore all dissenting voices! Huh, People that need this feature must have no self control.


    Exactly.

    Honestly I don't understand the need. 90% of "Trolling" is amounts to one person saying something another doesn't like. Another 5% are people trying to be funny but failing. I don't need a forum tool to artificially protect myself from this or from the tiny percentage of posts that are actually trolling

    If forum features are being added I'd rather have a tool that helps identify great posts from average ones. A "like" feature or fatwallet like +/- contributes a lot more information than this ignore feature.

    +1^* I could not agree more. Voting comments +/- is definitely the way to go. Is this new button specifically made for people with ADD or something? Anyone who is not enough of an adult to simply "ignore" someone all by themselves, I just don't even...
    Ars, son, I am disappoint.

    *This message has been brought to those of you who haven't ignored me yet so that those who have ignored asdf25 can be exposed to the wisdom of his words in spite of themselves.
    766 posts | registered
  7. Can we get an ignore feature to hide posts by a certain obstinate, abusive Ars writer?

    As far as I'm concerned, the majority of the change in tone with the comments have been caused by one writer's articles.

    Had that writer not used the site for their own personal crusades, there would be a lot less trolls here.
    1422 posts | registered
  8. MatthiasF wrote:
    Can we get an ignore feature to hide posts by a certain obstinate, abusive Ars writer?

    As far as I'm concerned, the majority of the change in tone with the comments have been caused by one writer's articles.

    Had that writer not used the site for their own personal crusades, there would be a lot less trolls here.

    Ironic post is ironic.
    22538 posts | registered
  9. Jackattak wrote:
    Loving it so far. Noticed the change yesterday and already have a (rapidly growing) list. :)

    ........................

    EDIT: And just like every other feature of the "Desktop Site", it works beautifully via mobile web.


    Uh.. actually I've been meaning to mention that, Ars: The new mobile site looks cool, but kinda sucks in comparison to the old site because there is NO navigation at the top.

    How exactly do you expect us to get from one section to another? Right now, I basically have to open one of the articles on the main list and then click the link, for example, to Opposable Thumbs.

    There used to be that nifty little bar at the top. How's abouts you put that back?
    1098 posts | registered
  10. MatthiasF wrote:
    Can we get an ignore feature to hide posts by a certain obstinate, abusive Ars writer?

    As far as I'm concerned, the majority of the change in tone with the comments have been caused by one writer's articles.

    Had that writer not used the site for their own personal crusades, there would be a lot less trolls here.

    But Ben is gone! :(
    7982 posts | registered
  11. SockPuppetGovernment wrote:
    Is this new button specifically made for people with ADD or something?

    You mean Ars added ignore.. JUST FOR ME?!?!

    AWESOME!!!

    (I don't think that means what you think it means.)

    Also, I could never ignore you. You might push a few buttons sometimes but I'll reserve the ignore feature for the worst of trolls.
    5220 posts | registered
  12. asdf25 wrote:
    Killwize wrote:
    Oh yes ignore all dissenting voices! Huh, People that need this feature must have no self control.


    Exactly.

    Honestly I don't understand the need. 90% of "Trolling" is amounts to one person saying something another doesn't like. Another 5% are people trying to be funny but failing. I don't need a forum tool to artificially protect myself from this or from the tiny percentage of posts that are actually trolling


    To be honest, I'll sometimes take a bland argument and make it hyperbolic just to get responses.

    The larger problem with this is that ignore doesn't work unless you ignore all the people who are easily trolled as well.

    The much larger problem is that comment threads don't scale.
    796 posts | registered
  13. Jackattak wrote:
    Loving it so far. Noticed the change yesterday and already have a (rapidly growing) list. :)

    The new Ars: Now Troll Free. Now only if the news on TV had an ignore button...or at least a filter list. You could ignore all political news, or sports news, or whatever you didn't care to hear about. I'm instantly reminded of the South Park Facebook episode where Stan gets beamed into Tron world and everyone he tries to talk to slides up their hand, saying, "Ignore". If only the real world were so simple...

    EDIT: And just like every other feature of the "Desktop Site", it works beautifully via mobile web.



    THe power button works really well for me :)
    1337 posts | registered
  14. I'd like to see an updated list of the top 10 most ignored posters.
    349 posts | registered
  15. Thank you, repeat forever.
    992 posts | registered
  16. LucidCG wrote:
    I'd like to see an updated list of the top 10 most ignored posters.

    Why give them the attention?
    15008 posts | registered
  17. Nice! Is there an easy way to share ignore lists?
    121 posts | registered
  18. This is indeed good news. However, perhaps I could suggest a two tiered approach of "ignore" (specific posts/ comments) and "block" user/s.

    This way, users get to ignore posts for a variety of reasons (they don't like/ agree with the pov, the post is too long, it's full of spelling mistakes/ grammatical errors, etc) and then, if they are really compelled to, simply to block all posts.

    This would help me, at least.

    Anyone else?
    1093 posts | registered
  19. I think this is going to work. If it goes like I hope facebook, iambored, reddit and all the chans will implement thiis much needed feature. Nice work Ars!
    48 posts | registered
  20. FrankM wrote:
    I do concur with some of the prior posters that settings other than "normal" and "mortal enemy." I like Anachronisms's idea of gradual ignoring, or maybe a penalty-box model with choices such as:

    Breather: Ignore for this thread only
    Bad Day: Ignore for a set period (say, three days)
    Farewell: Ignore permanently

    It could even remember previous ratings too, letting you know that you've hit this person twice for previous breathers, etc.

    Some kind of ignore leaderboard might be entertaining. It can let people notice they are being ignored, and let the conflict-seeking Arsians find the flamiest posts quickly.


    #include "usenet.h"

    Ah, the good old days. This is something trivially easy with any good Usenet newsreader (I favor slrn myself). Clearly what we need is an Ars<->NNTP gateway. ;)
    4957 posts | registered
  21. Contingency wrote:
    I look forward to the day when making an less-than-favorable comment about Apple in the wrong thread knocks me off the radar of the community at large.

    I think I'm already there for a lot of people ;)
    6589 posts | registered
  22. Astlor wrote:
    Welp, I'm screwed; within a few weeks I'll have nobody to talk to! Image

    We can be forever alone together :D
    6589 posts | registered
  23. Contingency wrote:
    I look forward to the day when making an less-than-favorable comment about Apple in the wrong thread knocks me off the radar of the community at large.


    Agreed.
    Would there be a way for a commentor to know if his/her comment was ignored? It might be a useful feedback for his/her as well to know how their comments are received. No need to know who ignored but rather a count of the number of ignores clicked for a comment or some such.

    The commentor may have been honest about the comment and did not realize that it slipped into being called a troll-comment.

    But a great feature as is, forces people to ensure that their comments are valid or else...
    91 posts | registered
  24. Killwize wrote:
    Most posts that are seen as "trolling" on ARS have not even come close to the ferocity and outlandishness needed to be classified as truly trolling. These patrons are merely voicing an opinion that goes against the consensus. The true problem is that It has become commonplace to call any and every poster that you simply don't agree with a troll.

    ++

    Quote:
    What we really have, is a community becoming less and less open to discussion, consideration, and ultimately, criticism.

    That describes most forums these days. It's getting to the point that it's not even worth visiting some sites any more because of it.
    1698 posts | registered
  25. uninventiveheart wrote:
    Once I use Ignore (sorry, Aurich, you made my Foe list for a few seconds. :O) it takes me to a yes/no screen, then a confirmation screen, then drops me off at the Foe list. Is it possible (from the front page link) to be taken from the confirmation screen back to the article?

    Middle click the EYEcon and it will open the yes/no screen in a new tab (if you have a wheel, you can still click the wheel like a button). That way, you don't lose your place.

    That works in IE and the Mozilla browsers at least.
    6589 posts | registered
  26. Also, I can confirm that I too can't see the "eye" icon at the mobile site (dark theme).
    1093 posts | registered
  27. junknunk wrote:
    Since trolling can be moderated, I'm not seeing the use of this besides helping people sustain their echo chambers...

    No, it can really improve the science threads, where climate trolls and creationists create the most noise. I started heavily using the "foes" list a couple of years ago when a few very vocal creatards started ruining the discussion in any article that invovled evolution or cosmology.

    And don't get me started on the discussion on about how climate change was pushing evolution in some species of fish!
    6589 posts | registered
  28. Bravo.
    1341 posts | registered
  29. lordmedikit wrote:
    I, er, have a habit of wasting time in Apple and patent threads that actually don't interest me but because they're there I often click and then get involved in discussions where I'm incredulous or upset about something Apple has done but some of the other commentators think it's trolling. Therefore, could you build it in so that we can ignore certain categories of article e.g. I could cross off Apple, patent wars, etc.

    That would be FANTASTIC.

    I used to subscribe to a non-apple RSS feed (which left out almost half of Ars' articles), but it stopped working when Ars last re-jigged the site.

    Please give me a way of avoiding the stuff I don't care about. I hate apple, I don't own anything apple, and everytime I read about some fucktard action apple has taken it just pisses me off. Apple is not a part of the universe I live in, and I'd like to remove it's shadow from the front page (or at least the RSS feed).
    6589 posts | registered
  30. MatthiasF wrote:
    Can we get an ignore feature to hide posts by a certain obstinate, abusive Ars writer?

    As far as I'm concerned, the majority of the change in tone with the comments have been caused by one writer's articles.

    Had that writer not used the site for their own personal crusades, there would be a lot less trolls here.


    That's fewer trolls, not less. :-)

    EDIT: added the smiley. :-)
    1383 posts | registered
  31. iamwhoiam wrote:
    Killwize wrote:
    Most posts that are seen as "trolling" on ARS have not even come close to the ferocity and outlandishness needed to be classified as truly trolling. These patrons are merely voicing an opinion that goes against the consensus. The true problem is that It has become commonplace to call any and every poster that you simply don't agree with a troll.

    ++

    Quote:
    What we really have, is a community becoming less and less open to discussion, consideration, and ultimately, criticism.

    That describes most forums these days. It's getting to the point that it's not even worth visiting some sites any more because of it.

    Although you have to read a comment to know if you want to ignore it.
    A
    91 posts | registered
  32. Dark Empath wrote:
    junknunk wrote:
    Since trolling can be moderated, I'm not seeing the use of this besides helping people sustain their echo chambers...

    No, it can really improve the science threads, where climate trolls and creationists create the most noise. I started heavily using the "foes" list a couple of years ago when a few very vocal creatards started ruining the discussion in any article that invovled evolution or cosmology.

    And don't get me started on the discussion on about how climate change was pushing evolution in some species of fish!

    creatards? classy.

    Interesting how there are always two sides to the echo chamber on issues...

    Too bad the walls are mirrored.
    7982 posts | registered
  33. Goofball_Jones wrote:
    Noooooo....I feel I'll get a system-wide "ignore" slapped on me now!

    NOOOOO, I need...I need your vitriol and hatred to survive....can't...breath....

    Don't worry, we've butted heads in apple threads so many times I've lost count. And if we haven't ignored each other yet, it's not gonna happen ;)
    6589 posts | registered
  34. Devin wrote:
    creatards? classy.

    This is a science and tech site, not a religious or homeopathic haven.

    If you believe in magic, you shouldn't be posting here.
    6589 posts | registered
  35. "...the quality of comments has declined significantly in recent years."

    I don't know if this is actually true or not (I don't think so and I've been on Ars more than 10 years) but it seems to me to be a perpetual gripe that's so ubiquitous it can't be true every time it's said. Something like this was written on the arpanet in nineteen-seventy-freakin'-three. I've heard this from "the cancer that's killing /b" or "ED" (since the afternoon each was born last Thursday probably through at least tomorrow) to every forum I've ever visited around the first time I ever went there. InB4 "maybe it's YOU." I remember reading the very same gripe on Compuserve at least 20 years ago when Compuserve was John Perry Barlow, the M.O.D., and me, and I read it on BBSs before that - BBSs with 5 subscribers and the first OG was bitching to me about the three noobs and the whole things' been up a week. Starting in '92, this was the first sentiment made after the entrance of the second dude in every chat-room full of chicks (real or not) on AOL, ever.
    I only like bands you've never heard of, and only until you've heard of them. Then they suck.
    Anyway, this gripe used to actually have some validation, in the mid to late 90s, when the entire internet changed from consisting solely of people intelligent enough to get online at all, much less find your little niche, to GOTDAMNEVERYFUCKINGBODYEVENYOURMOM. Kind of like how social networking was and then your great-aunt Mathilda logged on and friended you just after you took down all your cool pics and rants and anarchistic manifestos to hide them from your boss and every.single.coworker.you.ever.had. The quality of everything definitely declined at that point, and then about four years ago even the teabillies figured out how to ask their cable company for internet service and, well, okay, maybe I'm starting to buy into this gripe after all... things got pretty stupid.
    Anyway, since THEN, ahem, if this is ever true now for longer than a controversial article is actively being discussed, it's solely due to something about a site changing something major for the worse and drawing a new element. I don't think that's the case with Ars, but since it did actually change today...
    we'll see.

    Anyhoo, I also think we all need to address the definition of troll, because it's NOT just someone you disagree with, but that's the label angry people slap them with. Personally, I often learn a lot about the latest brainwashing and needless monetization techniques from people almost everybody thinks of as "trolls": apple fanbois. And how would I ever learn the contents of the latest chain emails from inside the secret society of homophobic octogenarian racists (the HORs) if I "ignored" all the right-wing-nuts who post them verbatim arguing against anything science-y and the definition of the word "fact"? I mean, everybody thinks those guys are trolls, but they're not actually here just to rile you up or get a response - they really are simply that fucking stupid. No shit. They could be sitting there typing to no one but themselves and other retarded teabaggers, and they'd still freakin' do it, I guar-on-teeee. I've seen it before on foxnews.com. It's downright de-rigueur.
    ~ Figured I'd just go ahead and get that out of the way right fucking now so I'm not taken by surprise later at my own echo-less screaming into the abyss. ~
    Meh. I think this ignore feature is just a really, really, really slow reader's or lazy person's way to bury their head in the sand. It's the same as the foe feature, just easier, so the only up side here I see is it may cut down on knee-jerk reactions from people too stupid to figure out the foe feature who are also really angry about all the time they lost decoding all those symbols the rest of us call letters, sentences and paragraphs.
    It just seems like it makes it easy for ignorant people to remain so and the end result is Ars becomes just a bunch of polarized sub-reddit circle-jerks. yay. whatever. Let's hope not.
    And yeah, I know, TL/DR. If you don't like it you can always hit "Ign...
    766 posts | registered
  36. Dark Empath wrote:
    This is a science and tech site, not a religious or homeopathic haven.

    If you believe in magic, you shouldn't be posting here.

    Thanks for getting THAT song stuck in my head. Imma give you one more chance before I hit the eye!
    766 posts | registered
  37. I guess I'm going to be talking to myself from now on.
    1219 posts | registered
  38. Brass2TheMax wrote:
    Or if people could just grow up we wouldn't even need it.

    And if shit was worth something, poor people would be born with no arseholes.
    6589 posts | registered
  39. ScifiGeek wrote:
    Just three days ago I said:
    ScifiGeek wrote:
    I think we need one-click foe addition...

    You're a little ignore-happy as it is - you don't need that kind of extra help!

    (Not that I think you can actually see this comment ;) )
    6589 posts | registered
  40. Dark Empath wrote:
    lordmedikit wrote:
    I, er, have a habit of wasting time in Apple and patent threads that actually don't interest me but because they're there I often click and then get involved in discussions where I'm incredulous or upset about something Apple has done but some of the other commentators think it's trolling. Therefore, could you build it in so that we can ignore certain categories of article e.g. I could cross off Apple, patent wars, etc.

    That would be FANTASTIC.

    I used to subscribe to a non-apple RSS feed (which left out almost half of Ars' articles), but it stopped working when Ars last re-jigged the site.

    Please give me a way of avoiding the stuff I don't care about. I hate apple, I don't own anything apple, and everytime I read about some fucktard action apple has taken it just pisses me off. Apple is not a part of the universe I live in, and I'd like to remove it's shadow from the front page (or at least the RSS feed).

    One does not simply . . .
    Sorry, I had to. Anyway, I completely agree, I'm just not as riled up about it as you.
    Today, anyway.
    766 posts | registered

You must to comment.

   

You May Also Like
http://arstechnica.com/staff/2012/09/introducing-ignore-a-new-comments-feature-to-make-your-life-troll-free/?comments=1&start=200
arstechnica.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2016-22
159147
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:4S4U3ZDMS6SQ4CNHHSQFZ4Y6POPHGZOS
<urn:uuid:982cdce5-ac18-4cf3-a8b7-2ceb99fce5c7>
2016-05-29T04:58:17Z
50.31.151.33
sha1:YSIQR6EN5L7K3VXXNCSK3Y45KJVVYU5R
<urn:uuid:87c0474f-324d-4956-b5ee-445443cb6161>
http://arstechnica.com/staff/2012/09/introducing-ignore-a-new-comments-feature-to-make-your-life-troll-free/?comments=1&start=200
length
response
<urn:uuid:753bf94c-e3de-4529-b081-f993e06c9d34>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-185-217-139.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2016-22
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for May 2016
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf