The Ethics of Two Way Ignore

[Reynard]

I recently added another name to my "ignore" list (who or why doesn't matter) and when I did I considered also checking the box that means ignored people can no longer see my posts either. However, I generally don't like doing that. Most of the people on my ignore list aren't there because they are "jerks" or "bad people" or whatever. They are there because, for whatever reason, we don't jive and I find myself engaging in too many needless arguments with them. it is a better experience for everyone involved, I think, if I don't allow myself to engage in that behavior. So, it feels wrong to hide my posts from them since they did not do anything "wrong" and if I did hide my posts it would mean they would be locked out of discussions with other people in threads I start.

So, I am curious what others think: is it "okay" to make it so people on your ignore list cannot see your posts or (more importantly) your threads?

 

[billd91]

So, I am curious what others think: is it "okay" to make it so people on your ignore list cannot see your posts or (more importantly) your threads?

I am not really keen on the feature because it’s curating someone else’s feed which partly wrests control of being able to do that from them. It’s been clear that there are people on my ignore list who had no idea I was ignoring them because they’ve directly quoted my posts. That said, my ignore list really is driven by greater annoyance these days and I’ve recently turned the feature on. I admit, I’m doing so totally passive-aggressively.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

If I can read all of the posts on this thread, I will be deeply disappointed.

 

[J.Quondam]

I don't have a problem with it, personally. There's another option available to offset some of the perceived negatives, so that offers a bit of flexibility.

Unfortunately, "ignore" is just one of those features that's really hard to implement in a truly effective / perfectly fair way that accounts for all its legitimate use cases. Someone, somewhere is going to be "adversely" impacted by it, no matter what.

So imho, the best policy is just use it however it works best for you, and not worry to much about adversely impacting someone else's experience. That's their problem, not yours. You can always un-ignore them after a little cooling off time.


eta: Maybe it's the un-ignore side that causes some people some issues, too? It's easy to ignore someone, but also easy to forget about it. Being proactive about thinning one's own ignore list periodically might assuage some of the problems experienced by others, at least over the medium- and long-term.

 

[Blue Orange]

I know I've had people ignore me, and I don't see a big deal with it. You don't want to hear from me, you don't have to. I've been unpopular since 7th grade, it's nothing new. Honestly, it keeps down on the flamewars.

EDIT: removed something prohibited, sorry

 

[Sacrosanct]

If you don't hide your posts as well, they have no idea and can keep responding to you, and then wonder why you've never responded back. I think it's better and easier and less confusing for everyone if you just do two-way. Of course, that doesn't stop people from going incognito and cut-and-pasting responses anyway (which has happened to me a few times and the Sword most recently), but I think it works as best as it could considering.

 

[BookTenTiger]

I see the benefits of the Ignore system as far outweighing any moral oddities. We are a site on which to discuss D&D. Any tools that help us do so civilly are good.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

If you don't hide your posts as well, they have no idea and can keep responding to you, and then wonder why you've never responded back. I think it's better and easier and less confusing for everyone if you just do two-way. Of course, that doesn't stop people from going incognito and cut-and-pasting responses anyway (which has happened to me a few times and the Sword most recently), but I think it works as best as it could considering.

Well I have the memory of a goldfish and would not notice.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I recently added another name to my "ignore" list (who or why doesn't matter) and when I did I considered also checking the box that means ignored people can no longer see my posts either. However, I generally don't like doing that. Most of the people on my ignore list aren't there because they are "jerks" or "bad people" or whatever. They are there because, for whatever reason, we don't jive and I find myself engaging in too many needless arguments with them. it is a better experience for everyone involved, I think, if I don't allow myself to engage in that behavior. So, it feels wrong to hide my posts from them since they did not do anything "wrong" and if I did hide my posts it would mean they would be locked out of discussions with other people in threads I start.

So, I am curious what others think: is it "okay" to make it so people on your ignore list cannot see your posts or (more importantly) your threads?

it is really up to you. I understand why the feature is there.

 

[MNblockhead]

I very rarely ignore people. I find it easy enough to just scroll by posts that don't interest or annoy me. I can also generally ignore rude or over-aggressive responses to my posts. I've only ignored four people in the years I've been on this site. Three are still active. In all cases it was because they kept spamming gratuitous negative posts, rehashing the same points, across multiple threads, almost to the point of trolling, but never to the extent to get a mod to give them a time out or to kick them out. Ignoring them cleaned up the threads and made the entire site more enjoyable.

I just checked and I do have two-way ignore checked. But I didn't even know that was an setting until I read this thread.

I guess I don't care either way, but I lean more on the side of thinking that it is better to leave the option checked. If I'm ignoring someone, there is no need for them to see and respond to my posts.