Should DPR keep the "Ignore user" function?

[Ralf B]

I may be too positively biased (proof: See screenshot below), but assuming the average DPR visitor's age, hence maturity and resulting capabilities of sensible and kind communication manners may render the "ignore user" function obsolete. I can also only guess the average age went up when the DPR closure loomed back then and long-time users (like me) stuck around while short-termers may have looked elsewhere. Not saying that all old agers have aged well, though. At times, my real-life me can be really grumpy...;-)

I would also be very interested whether DPR would share a quota / percentage of "ignored" community members vs overall community size - a data which would be an indication of the functions use rate - but not an indicator for its usefulness. Why that? Ignoring posters may limit forum conflicts which may require moderation. Without that function, non-civil comms may become more frequent and then overwhelm the unpaid volunteer mods.

Given that several changes for DPR's web presence have been hinted at recently (for example WRT forum structure versus forum traffic), that change could be incorporated as well.

So, what do other community members think? And at DPR staff, same question to you.
Cheers,
Ralf

 

[Mako2011]

So, what do other community members think? And at DPR staff, same question to you.

In general, IMO, it mostly helps the forums be more civil. Pros and Cons

 

[FrancoD]

I have been here pretty much since the start but for the first several yaers under a different name. (when I left work I could not log in with the first name from home because I had forgotten my password...)

Since I joyned again with this name , I have put about 81 members on ignore.

Most were trolls that have since left (some were the same person using a different name) but a few are still around.

 

[WilyKit]

It should be kept and fixed. Currently the "ignore user" function breaks your browsing. Can't reach the latest post from the topic list if someone you ignored replied in the topic.

 

[RetCapt]

Immaterial to me. I have never put anyone on the ignore list. I've been annoyed a (very) few times, but it is simple enough to ignore any such user for however long I decide to do so. I've never been harrassed. There are a few here who are more blunt than I think they might be face to face. Such is the nature of internet courage.

In days of yore, especially on the Beginners Questions forum, disputes were common. Someone new would ask a simple (to them given their knowledge) question. Then, predictably, the 'experts' would chime in. Two things then happened. The first was that the answers quickly became so complex as to be completely beyond the knowledge of the OP, who probably wondered what they had ventured in to, without getting a useful answer. The second consequence was that the 'experts', usually the same two or three, would argue among themselves vehemently and endlessly with never any agreement or resolution. These responses became very personal. Finally, inevitably, a moderator would close the thread. Given the intensity of these arguments, I would guess the aftermath of such conflicts would generate uses of the ignore list. Can't blame them.

In my past professional life I had to deal with the consequences of disputes that sometimes ended in death. Tragic that there was no ignore option they chose to exercise. By the time we were called, it was too late.

If the ignore option has any utility here, keep it.