I ask science questions and consistently get answers from a person that use buzzwords as explanations, explanations that turn out to be half wrong (or more), and flat out resistance to breaking down the topics to ideas that can somewhat be related to HS kids, which is largely what I’m looking for. I’m not asking about quantum-only effects, but stuff like forces on macro objects people manipulate every day.
He tries to drive the conversation and considers himself quite the expert. He might even be an expert, but the condescension and flippant regard to making sure the answers are relevant, accurate, and relatable make me wish I could delete them from the discussion. Mentioning that these aren’t helpful got a “I can write anywhere I want” kind of response.
Can I still ignore a poster? That seems like a bad idea, because other people who are actually trying and not just showing off reply to him. I know it doesn’t matter in the large scheme, and that I’m the type who has to try to fix everything, but anyone here got a better idea?
I use the ignore feature and it seems to work pretty well. Yes I see people replying to that person but their actual words aren’t visible 99% of the time so it’s easy to avoid it.
The ignore feature works just fine, but I’m not sure it would really help much in this particular situation. If it looks like someone has answered you, then people might not think they need to answer. So you’d probably need to be around to say “Thanks, but that doesn’t really help me. I’m looking for a more high-school-level explanation.” And you might want to be able to point out the parts you know are wrong.
I’m all for using ignore if someone just keeps pissing you off and doesn’t really contribute. But, if they are contributing but screwing things up, I think you may need to respond to them.
If we had the old ignore system from vBulletin, I’d say that you could put them on ignore to give yourself a bit of a reminder that they’re likely to piss you off, to help you keep your cool. But this new Discourse version doesn’t tell you who posted, and it’s easy to miss that anyone posted at all. So I don’t recommend using it for that.
I’d just try to remind yourself that this poster is likely not to be helpful, and have at least the above reply (the quote starting with “thanks”) at the ready.
When you ask a physics question, you could specifically request responses from people who have only a layman’s understanding of physics. That might spare you having to read the more detailed answers from actual physicists.
In my experience on Discourse, when someone who you have on ignore makes a post, you do see messages in the thread that there is ignored content there. It’s pretty obvious to me, at least, and if you are really curious about it, you can still click on the ignored post to view it.
It’s there, but it doesn’t tell you who posted, and you can’t just look at a single post.
It also uses a lighter font and takes up only one line, soI find it easy to scroll past without noticing. At least, that’s what I get on the default skin.
Back on vBulletin, I would infrequently (for the reasons in my previous post) click to view an ignored post. But here I find I don’t ever click to “show hidden posts.” I will sometimes make a quoted post appear, but that’s it.
I’m starting to sense some resentment in some responses, and I don’t get it. What you described is not at all what the OP said.
He said he’s asking for replies that are (a) correct and (b) at a high school level. He’s arguing that the poster in question fails at (b) and often at (a). And that trying to explain what they want seems to often result in them getting indignant and hijacking the thread.
Not sure if this would work in the OPs case, but I typically just ignore the person. Read what they have to say if you want, but don’t reply to them, at all, period. If I really feel the need to address a point from a person I don’t want to respond to, I’ll do it indirectly. That is, I won’t reply to them and won’t use their name, but I’ll reply to someone else that replied to them. However, this is all more of a tactic for dealing with someone that’s deliberately being obnoxious.
However, in your case, my suggestion would be to lay down some ground rules in your OP. Even something is simple as what TroutMan said about requesting response in layman’s terms. From there, if/when the person does it, you can politely ask them to rephrase their response so the thread doesn’t get derailed by technical jargon (or however you want to say it, but I’d use the word ‘derail’ in there somewhere). After that, just report it, ignore it and let a mod step in.
Also, if these questions are in GQ, you’re well within your rights to ask for a cite for anything they say and request that they stop posting answers as though they’re factual when they aren’t. GQ also has much stricter rules WRT to being condescending or rude.
They didn’t mention their name or the thread in question, and not everyone reads every thread on this board. So I would say it was not obvious.
I have since been given more information via PM, so I would now change my mind to say the OP might in fact want to put them on ignore. It seems that they have more a personal issue with the poster they are talking about, and putting them on ignore makes more sense in that context.
That said, you may wind up missing out on useful information from said poster. I still recommend just a polite response, and scrolling past if they start to irritate you.
Sometimes what irritates you isn’t rational. That’s fine as long as you realize that and don’t lash out, IMHO.
I’m closing this until an ATMB mod comes by to review the thread. I’m trying to figure out how to hide Darren_Garrison’s post. I might just redact it for now.
BTW: It appears the only way a mod can hide a post if from the Flag Tool. But as I want another mod to review this, a temporary redaction appears to be best.
Saying that you are going to ignore someone or saying who is on your ignore list is forbidden outside of the Pit. The OP seemed to be taking care to avoid breaking this rule, otherwise this would have been closed a lot earlier.
Since @What_Exit kindly removed the name from your post I am going to re-open this, but let’s keep the conversation here generic. Feel free to discuss the ignore options available in Discourse and offer other generic advice about how to deal with someone who irritates you, but do not call out anyone by name and do not try to skirt this rule by giving identifying information to indicate who you are talking about. As long as the conversation remains generic and not about any specific user this thread may continue.
I want to say one of the advantages in avatars is with the current boards the avatars make it easier to skip over folks I’d rather pay no attention to than the old ones did. Even the generic initial-in-a-colored-box is good but most of the ones I skip have customized theirs.
One thing about the SDMB is that the membership tends to a lean a little to the sarcastic, weird, and unconventional side. It’s likely that responses in any thread will have a lot of personality to them and people will answer in a style that they prefer. Although that might be frustrating at times, it is part of the fun that keeps people on the SDMB both reading and posting. I’m not sure that ignoring a specific member will help when many of the members may be posting in a similar way. If you’re looking for just cut-and-dry answers, it might be better to post your question on one of the “ask a scientist” sites where none of that monkey business is allowed. Here, most people are just posting for fun or to pass the time. On other sites which are more answer driven, people post for points or rewards, so their answers tend to be more spot-on in an effort to be deemed correct and granted reward points.