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Is there an Ignore / Block Option Here?

BTHodgemanBTHodgeman Member
edited February 2012 in The Forum
Hello - I am curious if this forum has a way for me to block posts from certain members?

Thanks,
Brent
«13

Comments

  • Do you mean block certain individuals from posting to certain threads you make? This site has gotten pretty high tech with all the creature comforts. But why would you need that?
  • I don't want to block them from posting... I just don't want to see what they post. It's a pretty common forum feature. I was surprised I'm not able to find how to do it here.

    Brent
  • MatthewMatthew UKAdministrator
    At present, it's not possible to do that. As you've probably noticed, we're running a much different forum platform here, it's a lot cleaner, and less bogged down with post counts/signatures/fancy features than other forums. The platform is being constantly updated by Vanilla though, so it's possible that feature may be coming soon.
  • drdavewatforddrdavewatford Hertfordshire, UKAdministrator
    I have to confess I've never used this feature on other forums; don't all the blanks make discussion threads hard to follow ?
  • YellowcastleYellowcastle Administrator
    Even if it existed here, I imagine it would be useless so long as the quote function is turned on.
  • @drdavewatford and @yellowcastle - correct, if the user is quoted, there is nothing you can do about the blank replies and quoted replies, but it does help keep the "clutter" to a minimum.

    Along with @Matthew, thanks for your guys' fast replies.

    Brent
  • YellowcastleYellowcastle Administrator
    We aim to respond if not to please. Ha. :o)
  • drdavewatforddrdavewatford Hertfordshire, UKAdministrator
  • trypticontrypticon Member
    edited February 2012
    A few other forums I frequent give the ability to block other members from ever showing up on your screen. While most of the posters here seem decent, there is one massive collector whom I seriously can't stand, but seems to post in just about every fricking topic.

    I've looked over my own account for an option to block people, but the only person it allows me to block is myself from showing up on the member list, which isn't entirely useful to me, personally. I've also looked over this other person's forum profile for an ignore option, and didn't see one, if it was there.

    Is there an option to ignore certain members here? If so, where is it? I could easily do without ever seeing another bragging session from this individual, or another recounting of him having 30 or more copies of set X, on which he'll sit on until he's the only one selling it in the world allowing him to bring home MAXIMUM PROFIT!!!
  • dougtsdougts United StatesMember
    While I agree this option would be nice, your personal animosity towards the person in question seems a bit over the top to me. Unless/until the block user option comes along, can't you just skip past his comments? It's a public forum, people are going to come at things from all different perspectives and with different opinions, and that should be ok. Just ignore the people you don't want to "hear" - just like the real world.
  • I used to visit a website that had the opposite of "ignore". I think it was called "squelch" and once you put someone on your squelch list they couldn't see anything you posted. It even squelched out your words if someone quoted you.
  • drdavewatforddrdavewatford Hertfordshire, UKAdministrator
    I don't believe it's possible to block messages as things currently stand.
  • This option has been brought up before somewhere on here - can someone find the previous thread? I'm too lazy sleepy...

    Whenever I see that someone wants to block particular posters I get all paranoid that it's me and my drivel they want to avoid.
    But I'm pretty sure you're not talking about me here, so I'll sleep easy tonight! :)
  • That would be sort of funny to see, DaddyDeuce, with the squelched quotes.

    I don't disagree with you, dougts, the ignoring somebody on my own isn't a bad idea. The person in question seems to have the ability to steer conversations in his own direction though, which is annoying, to say the least.

    That's not to say that I'm not annoying, myself, either. In fact, one of the people on this forum whom I've hated for easily the last decade, far longer than I have been visiting this forum, if it even existed that long ago, posts unfortunately very useful comments that I find myself reading entirely before I go back to see who wrote it, and skip to another page in dismay of finding his post interesting. This one, I'm not eager to ignore through site updates.

    I also question your idea of "over the top". If you mean that, by simply writing what I see him do, then sure, it's over the top. It's not a personal animosity towards the person, either. I'm not the only one who has complained about his brag fests here, or the way seemingly every conversation he posts in turns more towards an idea of making money, rather than building for the sake of building and having a good time doing it.

    I try to be descriptive with my writing, so it doesn't come off as bland. I know for a fact this doesn't translate well to a lot of readers on forums, and many would rather see replies or additions to topics as attacks, rather than what they are meant to be. Also, I try to write in a manner that engages readers to continue reading my posts, and not read two lines, thinking they know what it's all about, and proceed to skip the body and main point of whatever it is to go to the next reply in a series.
  • trypticontrypticon Member
    edited February 2012
    Ah, you're all good, LostInTranslation. I enjoy reading what you write, when I come across it.

    I had a feeling that the ignore option wasn't an option in this forum. It would be a very good thing to add, for any moderator who might come across this thread.

    Oh, I found the other thread. Yes, it seems that this option wasn't available in December, and doesn't seem to have been implemented by Vanilla Ice since then, either.

    Oh well. As with the other thread, thanks for the timely replies.
  • YellowcastleYellowcastle Administrator
    edited February 2012
    As @drdavewatford said, this is not a current feature we offer. As Lit mentions, we have discussed this previously though I'm remote now and do not have the ability to find and merge these discussions. One of us will likely do so later, though.

    With regards to your animous towards a couple of members here, this is not news as you've expressed it already and on more than one occasion. If I were you, I'd reread the post from @dougts and try to just ignore those posts or topics you find disaffecting. Please note that we are an active moderation team and do our best to keep discussions on point and civil.

    Additionally, I would like to remind you that should this feature ever be enabled, you may be in it's crosshairs as much as those you seem to despise.
  • MAXIMUM PROFIT!!!
    Hey now, I resemble that remark! :)
  • ^ *smothers a laugh* No comment.
  • This forum has been amazing addition to my little ABS addiction. I visit several primes throughout the day and enjoy reading the comments posted here by us Bricksetters. There are comments that I don't enjoy as much as others and comments that are enlightening, engaging and witty.
    One thing that I haven't noticed here are any flame wars as was the case over on flickr's LEGO discussions and for that I am grateful. To some the bragging of finds can be annoying and to others the constant plugging of products/LEGO for sale can be bothersome. I wouldn't be surprised if when I plug the LUG I belong to that this annoys some but to each their own.
    The members of this forum have interacted with one another with respect and class. Let's keep it this way.
  • dougtsdougts United StatesMember
    It's not a personal animosity towards the person, I try to be descriptive with my writing
    Your choice of words reads as more towards animus than descriptive, as there are many other ways to be descriptive without using such loaded words and terms that give off the impression of anger and/or even jealousy:
    ...allowing him to bring home MAXIMUM PROFIT!!!
    ...one of the people on this forum whom I've hated for easily the last decade
    ...collector whom I seriously can't stand
    Notice that in neither of the preceding two instances are you talking about behavior you don't like, but rather using quite strong language against the the persons directly.
    I know for a fact this doesn't translate well to a lot of readers on forums, and many would rather see replies or additions to topics as attacks, rather than what they are meant to be.
    I'm not sure how anyone could read these comments as anything other than attacks, so what are they meant to be?

    I get it - there are some posters and recurring topics here that annoy the heck out of me, believe me. But I can only control what I view and how I decide to react to it (or not). Personally, I find it helpful to have another forum member as an outlet I can "vent" my frustrations to. Have you tried that?
  • parkerwilsonparkerwilson Member
    edited February 2012
    MAXIMUM PROFIT!!!


    Hey now, I resemble that remark! :)
    LOL I was thinking the exact same thing, some people just need to crawl back in there cave. :)
  • MAXIMUM PROFIT!!!


    Hey now, I resemble that remark! :)
    Are you reselling these days? Guess I need to read more threads, I did not know this!

  • "No one can make you feel inferior without your permission." -Eleanor Roosevelt

    If someone makes you feel insecure and angry, the first and best way to deal with it is to ask yourself why. In many cases you'll find that either you have no reason to feel as you do or else you'll discover something about yourself you probably aren't happy with. If the latter, you alone have the power to change that in yourself. Blocking those who inspire such revelations won't solve your problem and if it's their behavior that is truly the issue then you can opt to ignore them without a coded solution by simply not reading what they post. The power is already in your hands if you choose to exercise it.

  • Are you reselling these days? Guess I need to read more threads, I did not know this!
    Never! When the Aliens arrive and demand a sacrifice in return for not attacking, I'll be able to offer up a mighty Lego collection to the Aliens, thus in one fell swoop, saving all of humanity from certain doom!!!!

    You all can thank me later for this great selfless good deed for all of humanity! ;)

    *puts tin-foil hat back on*
  • Their weakness is water. No negotiations needed. Bust out the Super Soakers.
  • Speaking of Lego for sale, I have Jango Slave I & Red Beard Runner. Look under Marketplace. :)
  • princedravenprincedraven Essex, UKMember
    I understand that people can ignore posts, and just not read them, but the more people are recommended to just "don't read it", the less people will read, may sound silly but it feels like a good way to lose visitors to Brickset. I am less likely to visit a site I have to skip 1/2 of the content... Just my opinion.
    In the past the creator and mods have found great ways around keeping ALL members here happy; not sure the "just don't read it" answer is the best solution to maintain visitors, again only an opinion.
  • If you have to skip reading half the content doesn't it stand to reason there's nothing left to read if you'd blocked those posters anyway? Either way you're not seeing it only one way there's 50% less content to keep you coming back whether you read it or not. Plenty of people stop frequenting websites when there's nothing new of note.

    Just seems petty to me that someone would want to block another user given the lack of anything really controversial on these forums.
  • princedravenprincedraven Essex, UKMember
    edited February 2012
    My view is I would rather have 100% posts I am interested in and have half as much to read than have to sift through posts that are not interesting to me, or IMO completely off topic for the whole idea of the site.
    Again, I find I will visit a site much more if it shows stuff I am interested in.
    I would seriously consider implementing some solution for this if it was my website, I would not want users to visit less.

    I don't personally see it as petty, I too find it a shame that what was a great website dedicated to collecting sets, I now have to spend as much time skipping stuff as reading stuff (possibly more), when again just my opinion, but I don't see that these posts refered to above are anything to do with collecting lego sets, just someone showing their warehouse. The website is BrickSET, not BrickSELLERS.
  • drdavewatforddrdavewatford Hertfordshire, UKAdministrator
    edited February 2012

    I would seriously consider implementing some solution for this if it was my website
    Such as what ? Short of banning everyone whose messages you don't find interesting, how else are you going to guarantee 100% posts you're interested in ?!

  • princedravenprincedraven Essex, UKMember
    @drdavewatford, no need to ban people, but constant reminders to keep posts relevant to the website would help.
    Or do you think that the photos of hundreds of copies of a set (may as well be a photo of the TRU warehouse) are relevant to Brickset?
  • drdavewatforddrdavewatford Hertfordshire, UKAdministrator
    @princedraven, where did you get the idea that posts about reselling etc. are out of scope for the Brickset forum ? Not from Huw or the staff, I'd suggest. While such topics are in no way the intended primary focus, as a side product of collecting they are entirely legitimate. For me the key is to ensure that such discussions don't stray into other unrelated discussion threads, which the staff can and do get involved with, and to strive for a good mix of topics to discuss on here, which is mainly up to forum members....
  • Things tend to self-right after a while, and personally I wouldnt want to write off anyone in this forum, because pretty much everyone has revealed themselves to be decent human beings.

    Essentially, everyone has their 'days' and people do say silly things sometimes, and sometimes people go through 'phases', whether because of other things in their lives, or just because they maybe arent aware of how they are coming across, (or maybe because they dont care in which case theyll likely be gone soon anyway).

    If you dont like how someone's behaving you can sit back and complain or you can get involved and gently try and change their behaviour in a way which helps them to 'self-right'. This will be far more effective than just ignoring them, just like in real life.

    Any tools which pander to and breed animosity feel more like weapons to me, and have no place in buiding a community of trust, and dare I say it, friendship.
    Thanos75
  • princedravenprincedraven Essex, UKMember
    edited February 2012
    @drdavewatford fair enough, if you guys want this in scope, maybe I misunderstood the intentions of the site.
    I have said my piece. Again I fail to see that this brings anything to the site other than to increase certain individual's ego's (and annoy a fairly reasonable amount of users) but it's your (Huw + co) site, so you make the rules.

    I think I will give Si's comment a go, will get involved and gently try to change things :)
  • I agree that blocking people is not a great idea. It's always good to get differing views, even if you don't agree with people. As an analogy, you wouldn't go to University and specifically ask not to learn about elements of your field you didn't particularly like or agree with.
    In addition, most people on this forum in my view seem pretty switched on and smart (good reflection on AFOLs!), therefore if you block somebody on the basis of one topic, you might miss some useful info from that poster on another.
    Besides, as a last resort you can just ignore the actual posts.
  • edited February 2012
    Now that I'm (reasonably) awake and on a PC here's a linky to the previous thread for anyone interested.
    http://www.bricksetforum.com/discussion/2698/blocks-posts

    I see where you're coming from @princedraven, and you know it bothers me too, but I don't see that there's anything that can be done really. It is annoying when bragging/reselling comments creep into non-related discussions, but I think the mods on the whole do a good job of calling people on it and we as a community have to flag it up if we're unhappy with the appropriateness of a comment, for them to decide if intervention is needed or not.

    My opinion on the kind of comments referred to by trypticon is public record, but these days I've decided it's better to mostly grit my teeth and bite my tongue (and maybe have a private whinge instead :) for the sake of a friendly community spirit. I must be growing up... how alarming!

    I have to say that I'm not in favour of heavier-handed moderation, because I know over 50% of what I say is off-topic, but I'd find it incredibly depressing if I got reprimanded for every comment I make when trying to get to know people or have a bit of a laugh (are you listening @Matthew? Though since I won the bet you're not supposed to do that anymore, mwah-ha-ha! :)

    Oh, and thanks trypticon for your kind words!
  • princedravenprincedraven Essex, UKMember
    ^ Maybe I am not growing up then! :)
    I liken it to a TV channel, if you allow any programs on there, soon you find yourself switching over (just ignore it), but how long before you dont bother switching back to channel Brickset?
    What if you are a newbie, you look on a few posts about a select few who are buying hundreds of copies of items, you think the website isn't what I am interested in and 'turn over'. I know of one newbie here who I have chatted to just recently who feels these posts are just as unappealing as I.

    OK, so I will drop it now, as above, said my bit, just sad that rather than BS being how it was, like a PAB wall, all nice shiny interesting topics, it is becoming more like a 2nd hand garage sale box, sort through the junk to find the good stuff.

    Sorry peop's just passionate about the site as it has been my door way into the world of Lego and some awesome people, don't like to see it 'tainted' and I know that is a view, but the fact that it is not just my view must speak volumes.
  • It is difficult when someone posts on a regular basis and you find what they say gets your hackles up, no one comes here to be wound up. Skipping past isn't always easy to do, and the masochist in me seems to find myself reading their posts whether I want to or not. So yes, a ignore button would be good.
    I'm glad this hasn't descended into a flame war, and no one has named names, which is how it should be. Though I'm pleased the OP said "he" *wipes brow*
  • LegoboyLegoboy 497 miles from BillundMember
    Agreed that blocking people isn't the answer although I am one, as most are probably already aware, for getting frustrated when a seemingly interesting and useful thread starts to take a turn for the worst when the bragging starts to creep in. Having said that, as much as I detest the bragging, a certain amount of which the culprits post 'on-topic' is worth reading - I haven't yet got to the stage where I 'hate' a particular person and so I can't entirely support the OP's views. And with that, I probably wouldn't go so far to block their posts.

    Whereas over Christmas was by far a worse time for the bragging, and understandably given the timing of the promotions, the mods and staff were bombarded with off-topic threads and so I cut them some slack for not keeping up back then. However, if you wanted an example of one that I think may have slipped through, I must ask if it was entirely necessary to post pictures showing a great big stack of Fire Brigades followed by a haul of Mini HEs in the "Predicitions on Discontinuing Sets" thread? But then, quite often that thread goes off in one form or another (most recently earlier this week) and the staff were quick to pull it back in line and seperate the thread.

    Do I read those types of threads as often as I did? No, for the same reasons as @Prince I suspect, but then the forum doesn't revolve around me and if that's the avenue Brickset want to go down then the worst that's going to happen is that I don't read or visit as often as I did. Whilst Huw's statistics and figures continue to rise, I can't see him or any of the other staff making any drastic changes to how the forum is maintained.

  • My collection and my Lego budget might seem enormous to some of the other members, and ridiculously small to others. Does it really matter? Not to me. I really couldn't care less.

    And so what if people post things here that doesn't interest me, or perhaps even annoys me? I can't see that the answer to that problem is to give them or the subject more attention by starting new threads on the subject. Just start other threads instead about things that you yourself would like to read about. And if you don't like a thread - ignore it and move on. I do that all of the time, for several reasons. One of them is that english isn't my first language. It takes time and focus for me to both read and write some sort of proper english, so I'm not going to waste time reading (or writing) stuff that I'm not interested in.

    An example: I sometimes read a bit about the sales in the US (and the UK). Lego here in Sweden is ridiculously expensive. But hey, that's life. So I started a subject about how you can piece together a set from Bricklink, and also took some time to take pictures about my project. I don't expect everyone else to be interested in that project, but it's a constructive way for me to share my solution to a problem.


  • I do dislike the brag threads (although admit to posting on it acouple of times) it does feel like a how big is my p(*&^ post. Im happy in my collection (after some sympathy in another thread) but half the threads dont interest me and so i ignore them. But most people dont post on everything as there isnt enough time.

    As for myself I can be harsh and was about the reviews (sorry captrex) just remember we all have bad days and maybe thats why they said what they said and that you cant just write off everything they say ever. and even in their brags they may say something useful.

    @Duchessa that project post was super insipring and now planing my own projects based on what you did
  • I tend to agree with much of what trypticon, LostInTranslation, Savage_Steel, Duchessa and others have said.

    This is exactly one of the reasons why I have favored the Category view for the forum. It gives me the opportunity to mostly ignore the topics I'm not interested in. I like LEGO for the sake of building and collecting. I could care less about the investment or bragging aspects, and so I steer away from those areas. I may miss out on some great deals, but I also don't have to subject myself to the stuff I rather not read... win some, lose some.
    Probably the best thing to do is flag offending or off-topic messeges so admin and mods are made aware of it, but don't overuse or abuse the flag option...

  • Just getting back to this conversation today, I am surprised to see some agreement from people, considering how fiercly this idea was attacked from the outset.

    Here's the bottom line with the idea of an ignore option:

    In most of the forums I go to, it is an established ability. It lets you put certain people on ignore, not out of hate, but because what they write is either annoying or easily misunderstood, much like my own writing is to some people here. You can see that they posted something, but it's blocked from your view.

    Though the post may be blocked, it doesn't mean you have no chance of seeing it. Every forum where this is implemented also gives a button that allows you to see what the given person wrote, so the option is yours to see what is written. If a discussion that the person in question is involved in takes a turn for the interesting, you then have the option available to see something written without having to remove this person from your own ignore list temporarily. This is common sense to anybody who's been to a few forums before, so I don't know why I just explained that.

    Somebody made a point that if this option is given to the forum, that people may put me on ignore. Doing so if their own decision, and does not result in me feeling insulted, because I understand that not everyone gets along with everyone else. People who do get along with everyone are few and far between, and while I give them credit to their tolerant personality, I also have to wonder how sincere they are with that type of attitude, because, in the US, where greed is god, and money rules the world, it just seems incredibly outlandish that a person, any person, would go through life without developing some sort of rivalry with somebody else, spoken or unspoken.

    In reply to Prof1515, you put forward the idea that reading things from annonymous people at a digital forum can cause insecurity or anger. That reads back as slightly insane, and I mean no offense with that observation. You can grow weary the same thing happening over and over without insecurity or anger issues.

    In closing, I could skip past the bragging sessions that intermix with subjects I'm interested in here, because I've been doing that the entire time. Frequent posts make doing so slightly more difficult, but not much. It would be easier, and honestly helpful, if the forum provided an option to remove posters who frequently boast about such things. While some may argue that ignoring one person is going to eventually lead to ignoring half the provided content here, thus leading people to visit and partake in conversation less often, there's also every bit of a chance that providing such an option would allow some, not all, but some forum members to enjoy the forum more, and visit more often than they were previously.
  • I feel this entire conversation is somewhat ridiculous and childish. Now you all may block me if you like:).
  • LegoboyLegoboy 497 miles from BillundMember
    ^ Consider yourself blocked! :op
  • YellowcastleYellowcastle Administrator
    @trypticon - I think you can now take solace in that you're not alone in wanting this feature. I, for one, would never use it personally and certainly would not support its deployment here. But that's just me.

    @Legogeek - This is indeed another good argument for the Category view. The bigger we get, the more we're going to probably rely on the categories.
  • I feel this entire conversation is somewhat ridiculous and childish.
    I agree. I have to say that I find the tone of this thread distasteful. If you don't like something, then make something better and contribute in some other positive ways. This, however is an almost entirely negative discussion.
  • YellowcastleYellowcastle Administrator
    ^ Can't disagree.
  • LegoboyLegoboy 497 miles from BillundMember
    edited February 2012
    ^ + ^^

    "Ignore the thread" - simples!!!
  • Si_UKNZSi_UKNZ NZMember
    edited February 2012
    Not in my nature. Im one of those people who slows down to look at car crashes :)
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