D&D 5E No Magic Shops!

[Ovinomancer]

And some of us, despite having literally tens of thousands of posts manage to do so without getting blocked by other posters too often.

If you are finding your board experience deteriorating significantly because of the number of people that have blocked you, umm... well... it might not be them that’s the problem.

Funny thing is I’m on my phone for the first time in ages. I wonder just how many posts I’m seeing that I normally wouldn’t.

Given your stated positions in many threads, I'd believe that the broken functionalities would need to be quite a bit worse before you'd begin to consider the cost for blocking too high. Not a dig, just an observation that your priorities are heavily on the sude for blocking.

 

[Maxperson]

I see, while what you describe appears not to be a significant problem for me, one can deduce that if you block - or are blocked by - many people, the accuracy of the “view first” link breaks down further.

That's possible, but not major issue I think. Where it breaks down the most are in the highly active threads. I go on the forum in the morning, and then 9-10 hours later when I get home. By that time some of the more active threads have had several pages added, which is the issue is the worst. The more posts get added, the more the links break down.

 

[Ovinomancer]

I see, while what you describe appears not to be a significant problem for me, one can deduce that if you block - or are blocked by - many people, the accuracy of the “view first” link breaks down further.

Given that we currently need to exist within the current system as it is for now, warts and all, an individual contributor should strive to:

1. Minimize the number of people they block
And
2. Minimize the number of people blocking them

In such a way, an individual contributor can minimize the linking issue.

What are your strategies for not being blocked? We can assume no rule breaking as given.

 

[Ovinomancer]

That's possible, but not major issue I think. Where it breaks down the most are in the highly active threads. I go on the forum in the morning, and then 9-10 hours later when I get home. By that time some of the more active threads have had several pages added, which is the issue is the worst. The more posts get added, the more the links break down.

This is a goid point -- frequency of use has a big impact on the problem. If you're checking in often, the issues remain minor as not many unstances have occurred between checks. If, however, you go some time between checking in, many more instances have piled up and the break is much more severe.

Go away for two days on a thread where someone blocked is very active and the links can be off by many pages.

 

[Satyrn]

What are your strategies for not being blocked? We can assume no rule breaking as given.

My strategy is to not clarify what one poster had said to another. I had been doing this when I saw some poster talking right past another because they'd completely misinterpreted the other. My efforts were not appreciated. I've been blocked by at least two people who didn't want to hear they were arguing about something they misread.

I also notice that some of y'all get blocked (or wind up blocking) after a lengthy back-and-forth with another poster, so I've implemented a personal rule that generally, 3 posts directed at any given poster on one subject is the longest I will argue (and posts 2 and 3 tend to be clarifications of what I originally said rather than progressing the argument).

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Ovinomancer]

See, that's an interesting caricature, and like most caricatures, there is certainly an exaggerated truth to it! But the way you would view it, and the way I view it, illuminate why we would disagree.

See, I don't think we view "discussions" and "discuss" in quite the same way. Do we? I love discussing things, here, with people! That's one of the main reasons I am here. That, and my undying hatred toward Paladins. Okay, two reasons.

And antipathy toward gnomes. Okay, three reasons.

And dislike of rapiers. All right, apart from paladins, and gnomes, and rapiers, and sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh-water system, and public health, what other reason would I be here?

....anyway, you wrote earlier, "In the meantime, I'll probably keep failing to not challenge poor argumentation and keep getting blocked by people that dislike being challenged." Which is kind of like the whole thing with the other poster who wrote that he needs to pin people down on their evasion? Like, seriously?

Here, I think I already addressed this-



I have lots of great discussions here with people that disagree with me. And I learn a lot from them. What I don't enjoy, and what usually ends up poorly, is when someone feels the need to "challenge me" because ... well, they can do that with someone else.

You want to discuss something with me? Great!

You want to challenge me and argue about arguing? No thank you.

So I think we have slightly different ideas when it comes to what a discussion really means.

It's not that I don't have discussions - it's just that, as @Hussar and others have pointed out, certain individuals tend to be a little more aggressive in their ... discussions. Which is great in some places, with some people, and not so great with others.

This is supposed to be a fun place for people to discuss their hobby, and that's how I treat it.

Do you want any discussion on this, or are you just telling me?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Thanks for the reply.

It seems that you have a much more personalized view of forum posting than I or others. You seem to look at it as a conversation between friends in a social gathering where others may become friends. In this view, it's important to exclude the unwanted intrusion from the group, not just the individual. Block is more akin to a group shunning, at least from an individual point of view.

That said, is it possibke to grasp that others might have a different view of forums? That, instead of a group of friends it's instead an open square of strangers were ideas are discussed on thier merits and not thier speakers? Where block removes ideas from discussion unilaterally?

Which viewpoint should win with regards to blocking? Why should one point of view be prioritized? I don't have answers to these questions, but I think it's worth considering that the other side has a valid point of view and isn't arguing from bad intentions. This goes to both sides.

Of course the “other side” isn’t arguing from bad intentions, but I’m not sure that some of max’s arguments actually are valid. The force argument, for example. Thing is, an Internet forum is more like Starbucks than either a home or a public square, it ultimately it is a whole new thing.

And my main point is simply that feature like block and ignore exist to make up for the lack of soft enforcement of social norms. What frog did by quoting my text but leaving my name out, to reply “to the thread” is a very weird behavior with no perfect analog in real life. But the closest analogs are all very awkward and/or rude behaviors. I’m not gonna block over it, bc I don’t care enough, but I certainly wouldn’t blame someone who did block them in my shoes.

 

[FrogReaver]

Of course the “other side” isn’t arguing from bad intentions, but I’m not sure that some of max’s arguments actually are valid. The force argument, for example. Thing is, an Internet forum is more like Starbucks than either a home or a public square, it ultimately it is a whole new thing.

And my main point is simply that feature like block and ignore exist to make up for the lack of soft enforcement of social norms. What frog did by quoting my text but leaving my name out, to reply “to the thread” is a very weird behavior with no perfect analog in real life. But the closest analogs are all very awkward and/or rude behaviors. I’m not gonna block over it, bc I don’t care enough, but I certainly wouldn’t blame someone who did block them in my shoes.

It’s weird. You tell me you don’t want to respond to my posts and that part of the reason you like the block feature is so you don’t get notifications when posters you do t want to respond to quote or mention you. I try to accommodate you in that regard and by not making it notify you and by explicitly using your words as a springboard to talk to others. I’m not sure what offense or creepiness or slight a person can legitimately find with that.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

It’s weird. You tell me you don’t want to respond to my posts and that part of the reason you like the block feature is so you don’t get notifications when posters you do t want to respond to quote or mention you. I try to accommodate you in that regard and by not making it notify you and by explicitly using your words as a springboard to talk to others. I’m not sure what offense or creepiness or slight a person can legitimately find with that.

If I wanted to block you, I would. I stopped replying to your messages in this thread for reasons that don’t really matter.

What’s weird to me, is even wanting to interact with someone who has decided not to interact with you on this topic. If someone indicates they don’t want to, and you keep responding to their statements, addressing the room rather than them, that is incredibly weird and awkward, and fairly rude. Genuinely imagine that playing out in real life. You seriously gonna tell me that wouldn’t be weird and rude?

edit: a typo