What does the Ignore List do?

Simple question really. It’s not something I plan to use, but I’m curious. What does it mean to put a member on my ignore list? Does it mean I won’t see threads opened or replies made by him/her? Or does it mean that the person won’t be able to send me private emails?

I know it’s something taken very seriously around here, witness the strict rule against telling somebody they’re on your Ignore List. So I’m naturally curious.

I just put you on my list, and I still see the thread. Your OP consists of: “This user is on your Ignore List.”

Now I just need to decide whether to take you off the list. Hmmm. :smiley:

And this is what I see when not in reply mode: “This message is hidden because Spectre of Pithecanthropus is on your ignore list.”

You can’t see the posts of the ignored.

I found the use of ignore unworkable. Half the time, other posters quoted the ignored, hence making the content of their posts entirely visible anyway; the other half of the time, I coud barely figure out what the hell people in a thread were talking about, as I only got a portion of the conversation.

Thank you for this little example of solvitur ambulando.

Honestly I don’t see much use for an ignore list if that’s what it does. Even if you think someone’s stupid, or a jerk, or whatever, don’t you still sometimes need to read their posts for reasons of continuity in a thread?

Exactly. That’s why I don’t use the feature at all. I tried once, and half the time ended up reading the posts anyway, because I couldn’t tell what the hell was going on.

Cool latinism. Personally, I’d prefer a “fondle” button, instead of “ignore.” Or maybe just a digitus impudicus smiley.

I use the Ignore List to filter out posts by “babblers” whose posts are usually content-free and rambling—especially posters who are hard to understand, and after you go to the effort to decipher what they were trying to say, you’re left thinking, “I reread that post four times for that?” And people who regularly quote an entire, long post just to add a childish one-line attempt at humor. Yes, you can just skip over or skim these posts, but, then from time to time I get sucked into them, and always regret it. It’s much harder to skip past posters who try to use big fonts and colors to give their pointless posts the illusion of being interesting. And people who have big, distracting sigs. (I like sigs in general, so I don’t want to turn them off, entirely, just avoid the obnoxious ones.)

Browsing the Boards is just a wee bit more pleasant forme with a few posters on Ignore.

If these posters say something worthwhile, they’ll usually be quoted. If you need to read the post to understand the thread, there’s a link in the ignored post to click to show that one post.

I use a different technique: eyes glaze, page scrolls down. See, so easy!

In case you wondered–no, you cannot add yourself to your own ignore list (or buddy list). I assume this is a feature instead of a bug.

If you choose wisely which ones to put on your ignore list, this actually shouldn’t be a problem.

:wink:

I think it wise to ignore the Ignore List function, though some may think it folly.

This is my preferred method, too.

I come here to read and learn, not ignore. Even from the “worst” posts I learn something.

I rarely use the ignore feature but it did come in handy when I wanted to avoid Dopers who were behaving like raving lunatics. Took 'em off ignore when they were banned.

Why?

Can the Mods see who’s on an ignore list?

Because after the banning, it didn’t matter. They’re not around to make any new posts. :slight_smile:

Kinda Kafkaesque, no?

Exactly, but my point is, why go to the effort of taking them off the list?

Maybe I’m just lazy.

Well, truth be told, I took them off when I got better at avoiding their posts. The bannings were coincidents