The Ethics of Two Way Ignore

[Alzrius]

I recently had a case where I discover that two-way ignore doesn't always work as intended. I have Two-Way Ignore enabled, and I found out recently that someone on my Ignore list somehow managed to respond to one of my posts. I have no idea how they saw my post much less respond to it.

Between things like this and (suddenly) being able to prevent ignored people from seeing threads that the ignorer (is that even a word?) starts, this part of the forum architecture seems like it's on the fritz lately.

 

[Aldarc]

An original post (at least in 2021 they were supposed to be able to see the OP for all threads), or a response later on (they shouldn't without cheating)?

It was a response later on. What makes it even stranger was that I was apparently even quoted by the poster in their post, which should not be possible. So it was not just someone who perhaps found a way as per @Thomas Shey says where they found a way to see what I wrote and then make a unquoted general reply in the thread. I had been quoted, though because of ignore, I at least didn't receive notification of that quote. I only found out about it because I had logged out of my account, and I forgot to log-in when I was checking that thread.

I did tell a mod about it, since I thought that (1) I could have been subjected to similar posts without seeing them, (2) this could be happening to other posters too, and (3) if there is a problem with the ignore function, then this should be corrected.

There's a way to see posts for someone you blocked, but as far as I know responding to it would require a particularly arcane and deliberate action.

 

[Thomas Shey]

It’s one of the 2 options in the ignore settings. Decheck it and you see those you’ve blocked (not just ignored).

No, I'm talking about people you've set not to do that. Its really simple; they log out or open another browser and look at the thread.

Very easy to accidentally do so, especially without fully understanding how those settings interact and especially if you were used to ignoring people, being able to see their posts and respond as desired. (All ignored does in that situation is initially hide their message until you click the in-thread reveal ignored message.)

That, on the other hand, I wasn't aware of.

 

[FrogReaver]

No, I'm talking about people you've set not to do that. It’s really simple; they log out or open another browser and look at the thread.

Sure but if you’ve blocked them you don’t even need to do something like that, just decheck the don’t see their posts option, it’s a built in option.

That, on the other hand, I wasn't aware of.

 

[TheSword]

Have they changed the setup so that only 5 posts appear per page?

I feel I always pressing the next button.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Sure but if you’ve blocked them you don’t even need to do something like that, just decheck the don’t see their posts option, it’s a built in option.

Yeah, but I'm talking about when they've blocked you, and really would prefer you not even read their posts. After all, after they've done that they can still reference it and essentially end up in conversations-by-proxy with you. As I recall, Umbran took someone to task for doing that not long ago.

 

[FrogReaver]

Deleted

 

[Umbran]

@Umbran did something change so that we can't see threads started by people that have us blocked? I've been having a discussion in one for a while now and suddenly it's gone.

Not that I'm aware of, and certainly not intentionally. None of us, including Morrus, want to see folks blocked from entire conversations like that.

 

[Maxperson]

Not that I'm aware of, and certainly not intentionally. None of us, including Morrus, want to see folks blocked from entire conversations like that.

Awesome! Then I submit something happened yesterday that needs to be looked into. Thanks for the response!!

 

[Gradine]

I view it as repugnant. I don't mind someone wanting to hide my posts from them. Nobody should have to read my posts if they don't want to. Forcing me to in effect block them, though, that's down right crappy. In all my time here there has only been one person that I've blocked. As a general rule I don't block anyone, since I view everyone as having something worthwhile to say at least some of the time and I don't want to miss something good by blinding myself to their word

Funnily enough, I find the desire to continue interacting with someone who has clearly demonstrated they no longer wish to interact with you "repugnant". It is, in fact, one of the hallmarks of sealioning, a tactic of trolls that occasionally pop up in this forum to disrupt conversation and discomfort specific groups of people.

As mentioned a few posts up, I was the ignorer in the recent "conservation-by-proxy", and to say that it made me deeply uncomfortable is an understatement. Which, I would have to assume, was the point. The ability to have two-way ignore solves as much of this issue as is possible with the aid of technology, for which I am extremely grateful.

Of course, not even I, passionate proponent of two-way ignore that I am, think people should be entirely locked out of whole threads over it. If there are people I don't want posting in the threads I create, I've found that a "+" symbol serves well enough as a disincentive. And it seems like this functionality wasn't intended, I'll be as glad as anyone to see it fixed.

In the meantime, my advice to anyone who finds it onerous or upsetting to be placed on two-way ignore would be to modify your behavior such that people no longer feel the need to ignore you.