Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

[Gradine]

I try not to block, but occasionally do for short periods. As a mod, elsewhere, I really wish that I could block some but the job means I can't

I rarely block temporarily, I do my best to simply avoid a thread where I'm getting frustrated by someone with whom I normally I have no issues. People don't tend to end up on my block list by operating in primarily good faith. I've made a few mistakes here and there that I've regretted and undone, but for the most part, people are who they show themselves to be.

 

[Autumnal]

I’ve found that I’m a terrible judge of good faith a lot of time. I’ve also found that if I shift my concern to “Does this person reliably give me more stress than they give me rewards (good feeling, interesting ideas, etc)?”, then it doesn’t really matter to me as an individual. It does and should matter to the forum environment overall, but my ignore list is purely for myself and therefore only has to deal with my own state of mind.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

I try not to block, but occasionally do for short periods.

When this came up in The Ethics of Two Way Ignore thread in Meta a few years ago, I said:

Almost all of the people on my "permanent" ignore list are there because of things they said to other posters or in conversations I wasn't involved in. Sometimes people say things, and I'm like "this poster is not my type of poster."

I don't put people I've butted heads with on ignore for more than a day or two, and I only do that so I can take inventory of my own behavior and feelings. (I'm putting myself in time out rather than them. I mostly don't want to be argumentative on the Internet.)

Usually, if I'm using ignore, it's because someone's said something that I feel is offensive or deeply unkind (and, once, because I felt their posts verged on spam). The nature of the rest of their post doesn't enter into it, and I don't usually bother interrogating that in these circumstances. I can't think of a time where I've put someone on ignore because of a gaming-based disagreement they're having. It's always because someone's said something beyond the pale.

I'm basically in the same place now. I think I have less of a desire to be argumentative on the Internet now, but perhaps an increased inclination to be (let's say) prickly because of all the nonsense going on out here in meatspace.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

NYT interview with Jim Butcher https://archive.is/0cknw (non-paywall link) Trigger warning attempted suicide.


wow they did him dirty on the tv show, not even a DvD set, I'm guessing this in reference to the skinwalker ( Naagloshii) "Years ago, he reconsidered his approach to a villain after meeting a fan from the Navajo Nation"

That's a pretty good NYT piece.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I’ve also found that if I shift my concern to “Does this person reliably give me more stress than they give me rewards (good feeling, interesting ideas, etc)?”, then it doesn’t really matter to me as an individual.

This is the way.

 

[trappedslider]

That's a pretty good NYT piece.

I knew about the divorce since it part of the delay with the last two books, but I didn't know the rest of the story. The date for the next book is January 20, 2026

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

There's a reason "you should never block people" is one of the most reliable red flags I've seen on the internet.

I’d rather not block and know what is being said so I can choose whether to engage or not, as opposed to blocking and not knowing what was said.

YMMV.

 

[Saracenus]

Personally, since my general amnesty where I cleared all my blocks (I just had too many and I really could not remember why I blocked them), I have changed my ignore options. Basically, I can see that someone has posted and I can choose to unblock a post if I so desire. However, the few people that have creeped back into my ignore list usually have a bunch of replies from others that give me the context of what they are saying and I usually have no desire to hear from the donkey's mouth directly... If you cannot help yourself, it is better to leave Remove ignored content checked.

I have not fiddled with 2-way ignore, maybe I will experiment with it later.

 

[trappedslider]

I have not fiddled with 2-way ignore, maybe I will experiment with it later.

View attachment 406033

if you don't want whoever you're ignoring to even read your post or take part in any thread that you create, then 2 way ignore is perfect.

 

[RealAlHazred]

I've done all of the Old School Essentials Kickstarters (for those not in the know, the Classic version is just Moldvay/Cook Basic/Expert D&D completely reformatted and re-edited) and ended up with a bunch of extra materials. Their first KS did so well (for a box set with a bunch of books) that the later KSes revamped the physical format into two boxes -- one with OSE Classic and one with OSE Advanced (which takes some AD&Disms and rejiggers them to be backwards-compatible with B/X D&D, reducing power levels while trying to retain the theme). So, I ended up with an extra giant box of OSE stuff that I had duplicates of. I'd been considering dumping it on eBay for a while now.

A buddy of mine runs Heroes' Journey, a non-profit for youth in disadvantaged areas, which brings them to game conventions and runs events for them to play TTRPGs (among other things). It was his birthday a few weeks ago, and I gave him the box of leftover OSE materials. He's got two tables lining up now -- apparently the kids have been really wanting to try it out.

So, whenever somebody calls me a tool online, I just laugh. No need to block them. I just think about those little kids learning to kick down doors and bust dungeon dwellers, and consider myself a Tool of the Antiestablishment...