The ignore list thing is really interesting to me, because I have a really big habit of not knowing when people don’t like me. Often I hear, “I didn’t really like you at first” from some people that I really like a lot.
So it is weird to realize that I may be talking to people, joking around with them and all that, and all along, I am on their ignore list and they can’t even hear me.
I wonder if you can ignore yourself. Let’s find out.
OTE: “Sorry, you can not add yourself to your own ignore list.”
Well at least they’re sorry!
I’ve only had two people on my ignore list. One came off the list following the 2004 election, the other is just a retard I can’t stand.
I’ve had a couple of people on my ignore list - one who was banned shortly after I added them, one who was a dolt, and one who was giving me a little more personal attention than is appropriate (as described by the OP). All of those situations have now been resolved, I hope so currently there’s no one.
I really don’t like using it because it is a bit jarring reading through a thread with blocked posts, but you sort of get used to it.
I use it occasionally. Sometimes I decide not to engage some poster or another because the discussions are just an inflammatory waste of time. I ignore them mostly as a reminder not to bother debating with them, not because they never have anything interesting to say. It usually comes off once I remember the name well enough.
I use it for a couple of people who consistently post annoying and unproductive crap just to get attention and stir shit.
Wrt to the “they might be experts in X” concern, if they post something in GQ (or CS, or in a thread that I’ve just posted to), I’ll usually give them a read. The ones I’ve ignored don’t post there very often, though. And if they happen to post something of substance elsewhere, someone will probably quote it. That doesn’t happen too often, either.
Neener Neener Neener!
Why yes, I am grown up. Why do you ask?
<mod>
Just a thank you to the posters in this thread remembering that you cannot name a poster on your ignore list. And we didn’t even have to remind you!
</mod>
Well, now I know whose ignore list I’m not on!
I was mightily tempted to put a particular poster on ignore, particularly after my participation in this thread, but settled for the self-discipline of just avoiding anything he wrote. When people are being deliberately provocative, there’s not a whole lot else you can do, and I have walked away from confrontations like this several times on this board. It’s not worth my time and effort to deal with people like that.
The argument that so-and-so might have something of value to say in the future is overly optimistic, if you want to put the nicest interpretation possible on it. Most people you’d want to put on ignore don’t actually say anything worthwhile, or you wouldn’t consider cutting them off. At least, they don’t say anything worth the aggravation of dealing with them for the 99% of the time they’re either spouting nonsense or inflammatory rhetoric.
Most people I’d want to ignore end up banned anyway.
Well, now I have no excuse.
I once put a guy on my ignore list, but it wasn’t even this message board. He was really bad and only getting worse with a tremendous amount of negativity. Imagine VCO3, except imagine the anger as real without any of the humor. Over and over again. I even tried to “Liberal” the guy immediately before he was banned, just to get him to go away. Oh, and the ignore thing only lasted two days, he started way too many threads so I couldn’t follow what everyone else was saying.
Would have been fun to see him tossed over here though.
Thankfully, this is a great place, so I’ve only rarely had to use it (I was genuinely surprised the first time I felt compelled to put a name on it). The fact that the worst cases do get banned makes them a lot easier to tolerate. They’re not irritations or eyesores, they’re just harmless sideshow freaks who show up, put on a little show, and then are shipped out, never to be seen again. Putting them on the Ignore list is lot like shooting at someone who’s five seconds from getting run over by a train.
If I put someone on, it’s usually because of what I’m concerned that person will do in the future. It’s almost never permanent, however (and they don’t post in most of the threads I go to, anyway). It helps that the overall level of discourse here is highly positive, and even someone as thin-skinned as me can see the occasional ribbing for what it is.
Basically, it’s a tool to be used judiciously like any other message board tool, no more, no less.
(Oh, uh, latest guy on the list…you really, really caught me at a bad time. You’ll be off in a few weeks. Just need to calm down first, mmkay? 
)
Doctor Jackson - I don’t know whether to laugh or shake my head, but that was exactly the experience I went through at VJArmy. The funny thing is, it started out okay, if not exactly lively. Then some jerks got on board. Then some really jerkish habits took root and were completely unpunished. One name went on the list, then another, then another, then another…by the end there were like 30 names on it and the threads were pretty much unintelligible. In the end, I simply cancelled my account (and the moderator completely understood why).
I don’t use the ignore list. It’s turned out that by the time I’ve been tempted to ignore certain posters, the admin ban them anyway (not that I’ve asked for it).
Also, it takes a lot for me to consider ignoring someone, because of how annoying the ignore message has been described as being.
Do people still plonk or was that just a Usenet thing?
I’ve never even considered using it. It’d be weird, and would mess up threads. Also, nobody has ever creeped me out that much.
On the other hand, if somebody did creep me out that much, that’s all the more reason not to ignore them. It’d be a bit like a general placing the enemy on “ignore” on his radar. If there’s a fruitcake with some sort of problem with me, I’d like to know exactly what they’re up to, thanks very much.
I’ve never used it- though there are some posters who probably deserve it- and think the same of me. As per the post at #58 I come from Susenet and have heaps of killfiles there because it is mainly unmoderated.
Never considered using it. Never could see the point of ignoring those who are idiots – that, in a way, is giving them more attention than they deserve.
It’s still a Usenet thing, and here it’s against the rules to let someone know they’re on your ignore list. (Why? Dunno. Mods probably think we can’t be mature about it. This place is loads different from Usenet, I daresay.)
Sierra Indigo: It isn’t annoying at all. And you can remove people from your list, so you can try it on for size.
Yeah, that guy. Me too.
BTW: Was there once a poster named Aldebaran? I did a quick search & didn’t get any results. Don’t know why, but his name just popped into my head…
See that is scary, I did not expect it to email the mod I tried to ignore. I mean obviously I chose the most consistantly jackbooted thug of them all, but still it would have been nice if you had to guess at least.
Actually I tried it with **Marley23 ** being the newest mod.
Jim
Is it against the rules to ask someone to add me to their list?