I'd like to ignore a moderator

[donheff]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SecondCor521 Hi all, I'm fine if others don't want to use the ignore function. I happen to use it a lot on this board. There are a number of folks whose post frequently enough, and are "doofus-y" enough (IMHO, of course) that I'd rather ignore everything they have to say than slog through the 99% dross for the 1% nickel.

But what if the doofus has a great answer on this thread - you would never see it. Wait, what if I'm the ignored doofus - you would never see this! Oh, I see, it was a doofus comment anyway.

[Major Tom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donheff But what if the doofus has a great answer on this thread - you would never see it. Wait, what if I'm the ignored doofus - you would never see this! Oh, I see, it was a doofus comment anyway.

It's a trade-off though. As SecondCor521 mentioned, a person might have 1% that is of value to him, but he's not willing to deal with the other 99% to get to it. It's exactly the same kind of decision we all make in our real life interactions with people. I don't use the ignore function on message boards, but can well understand people who do.

I imagine most of us here, even if we don't use the ignore function, pay more attention to some posters than others. That's perfectly normal. It's just that most of us don't talk about it.

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan Noone ignores me.

I wonder if Alan plans to weigh in on this.

[Surewhitey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SecondCor521 Hi, I don't mind having my posts moderated, threads deleted, or receiving PMs from any or all of the moderators. But I'd like to avoid reading one moderator's posts. I tried to add the person to my ignore list and the board software says I can't ignore them because they're a moderator. The posts in question are ordinary posts where the person is just sharing their opinions on a topic like a regular board member. They are not "moderating-related posts" like closing a thread, or explaining why a post was edited. Please consider changing this feature of the board so that I can ignore this person's regular posts. Alternatively, maybe moderators have a "regular person account" and a "I'm a moderator now account". Alternatively, please explain why I shouldn't be able to ignore a moderator's regular comments on a topic when I can ignore regular users. Thanks, 2Cor521

+ 3

[Midpack]

I could go on and on, but 'much ado about nothing.'

We all have to tune out people in real life, on television, in movies, on the radio, etc. - every day. It's not difficult to skip over doofi posts here. It's hard to believe every single post by any individual is intolerable, some may be, some might be worth reading.

With all due respect, hard to believe this is something worth all this fuss.



I was surprised to learn anyone would feel a need to ignore 20 active members! So I did a search and found, http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...ore-35980.html. Summary:

# of members Ignored

ZERO	1-5	6-10	11-15	16 or more
78	21	2	1	5

[scrabbler1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SecondCor521 Hi, I don't mind having my posts moderated, threads deleted, or receiving PMs from any or all of the moderators. But I'd like to avoid reading one moderator's posts. I tried to add the person to my ignore list and the board software says I can't ignore them because they're a moderator. The posts in question are ordinary posts where the person is just sharing their opinions on a topic like a regular board member. They are not "moderating-related posts" like closing a thread, or explaining why a post was edited. Please consider changing this feature of the board so that I can ignore this person's regular posts. Alternatively, maybe moderators have a "regular person account" and a "I'm a moderator now account". Alternatively, please explain why I shouldn't be able to ignore a moderator's regular comments on a topic when I can ignore regular users. Thanks, 2Cor521

+4.

That being said, I have only one poster on my Ignore list, someone I put on Ignore at the advice of a Moderator after I reported this person due to some posts which were somewhat rude and directed at me. The Mod team refused to take any action although they acknowledged that poster's rudeness.

I don't consider "doofus" post(er)s to be worthy of being put on an Ignore list, but that's just me. I can just scroll down passed those posts.

It is also tough to fully ignore posters on one's Ignore list because their posts can be quoted by other posters so it is like, "ugh, there s/he is again...." Thankfully, my ignored poster has not posted on the same thread as me in several years since my complaint.

[grasshopper]

A little less talk, and a lot more action.

#21 if not 1-19

[brewer12345]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donheff But what if the doofus has a great answer on this thread - you would never see it. Wait, what if I'm the ignored doofus - you would never see this! Oh, I see, it was a doofus comment anyway.

In my experience, the vast majority of people I ignore have nothing of value that I would be missing.

[GrayHare]

IMO there are two issues:

First, I know of no board with a better signal-to-noise ratio than this one. Even so, I can understand individual preference about listening and/or filtering out. As we all age and vision declines, not having to manually scan and scroll past content we prefer to filter is most welcome. We can automate that filtering: we have the technology.

The second issue is whether non-board-moderation posts from certain people should receive special treatment, specifically should all posts from a select few be immune from filtering. IMO such special treatment runs counter to the otherwise excellent collaborative spirit of this board.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrayHare IMO there are two issues: First, I know of no board with a better signal-to-noise ratio than this one. Even so, I can understand individual preference about listening and/or filtering out. As we all age and vision declines, not having to manually scan and scroll past content we prefer to filter is most welcome. We can automate that filtering: we have the technology. The second issue is whether non-board-moderation posts from certain people should receive special treatment, specifically should all posts from a select few be immune from filtering. IMO such special treatment runs counter to the otherwise excellent collaborative spirit of this board.

There is a third issue. We may not want to put a mod (or anyone for that matter) on ignore, but we can't always know if a mod is speaking as a mod, or as just another poster with another opinion.

-ERD50

[RunningBum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack I could go on and on, but 'much ado about nothing.' We all have to tune out people in real life, on television, in movies, on the radio, etc. - every day. It's not difficult to skip over doofi posts here. It's hard to believe every single post by any individual is intolerable, some may be, some might be worth reading. With all due respect, hard to believe this is something worth all this fuss.

That's your opinion. I can, and do, avoid or walk away from people, mute or tivo skip over TV stuff, change the radio station, and put posters on ignore. You may have tolerance for everyone and everything, but I find it easier to just not see something from someone who pushes my buttons, and it keeps me from posting something that will likely devolve into something worse. With some posters, it's like a gory train wreck. I know I shouldn't look, but I'm drawn to it, and it irritates me.

Not sure if I've heard the advice here or not, but in many forums where there are conflicts that lead to threads being closed and people being booted, the advice from mods is to just put the other person on ignore. It works well. The function exists here, it should be available for all, in my opinion, even though I don't have any mods I want to ignore, at least not right now.

[Katsmeow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by samclem The "two account" answer seems to keep things cleanest. If, say, a person who is a moderator complains about the tone of a post, we know if he/she is "wearing the star" or not. I would think it would make the mods more comfortable being able to make posts while making clear they weren't speaking as a mod.

The thing is that it really isn't always that clean. I've done a lot of forum moderation elsewhere in the past. Sometimes, sure, I might moderate in a thread that I would otherwise not be posting in. But often it was a thread I was generally making comments in. There are a few points that I think are important:

One -- As a moderator I always felt that I should model appropriate posting behavior. I made a real point to always post in the way that I would want others to post. So did the other mods. Before I became a moderator on those forums I could look at the "regular" posts of moderators and get a good feel for the board culture and what the powers that be deemed to be acceptable posting behavior.

Two -- In some threads I would start out as regular poster then something would happen and I might make a moderation type post (although truthfully much of moderation happens behind the scenes). If I had to switch accounts to do that it would be a PITA and would seem jarring.

Third -- This is probably most important. Sure there are threads where it would be crystal clear that I was posting with my moderator hat on. But, quite often it was more of a gray area. I would see a thread that hadn't yet gone off the rails but might be getting close or on a topic that tended to excite comment. I would often post in the thread not formally as a moderator but really trying to gently get it back on track or to smooth over a potential issue before it even formally arose. So, it is sort of hard to determine in that situation whether to post from the mod account or the non-mod account. If you do it from the mod account you make something formal that didn't need to be formal. If you do it from the non-mod account then maybe someone who has ignored you doesn't see it or if you later do post more formally someone criticizes that you weren't always on the mod account....

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RunningBum That's your opinion. I can, and do, avoid or walk away from people, mute or tivo skip over TV stuff, change the radio station, and put posters on ignore. You may have tolerance for everyone and everything, but I find it easier to just not see something from someone who pushes my buttons, and it keeps me from posting something that will likely devolve into something worse. With some posters, it's like a gory train wreck. I know I shouldn't look, but I'm drawn to it, and it irritates me. Not sure if I've heard the advice here or not, but in many forums where there are conflicts that lead to threads being closed and people being booted, the advice from mods is to just put the other person on ignore. It works well. The function exists here, it should be available for all, in my opinion, even though I don't have any mods I want to ignore, at least not right now.

Fair enough. I don't have a "tolerance for everyone" - but I've learned that it's more beneficial to learn how to deal with doofi than to avoid them. Every confrontation is a chance to strengthen my ability to not allow anyone to push my buttons, so I welcome the opportunity. Avoiding the confrontations will never work, they will never go away, better to learn how to let them roll off you unscathed. I used to be a mildly competitive driver, now I just laugh when other drivers drive selfishly, it's a lot healthier to laugh than to let some anonymous stranger "push my buttons." YMMV, though I hope you read this in the spirit intended.

I thought the table in my earlier post offered a good insight. The more people you need to ignore, the more likely it's your own intolerance maybe?

[RunningBum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack Fair enough. I don't have a "tolerance for everyone" - but I've learned that it's more beneficial to learn how to deal with doofi than to avoid them. Every confrontation is a chance to strengthen my ability to not allow anyone to push my buttons, so I welcome the opportunity. Avoiding the confrontations will never work, they will never go away, better to learn how to let them roll off you unscathed. I used to be a mildly competitive driver, now I just laugh when other drivers drive selfishly, it's a lot healthier to laugh than to let some anonymous stranger "push my buttons." YMMV, though I hope you read this in the spirit intended. I thought the table in my earlier post offered a good insight. The more people you need to ignore, the more likely it's your own intolerance maybe?

I get your point. I guess I find if I have fewer annoyances to deal with, I can handle the ones I do have to face better. It sounds like you use it as an opportunity to build a thicker skin, while I try to protect my thinner skin from getting worn away as much as I can. Different approaches. I agree it would be healthier to be able to laugh them all off, but since I've found that I can't, I feel it's healthier to limit my exposure.

I have 11 on my ignore list, though I'm pretty sure at least a couple of them have been banned, and some probably don't post anymore. I admit that I'm not a tolerant person, but I can live with that.

[Gotadimple]

You don't need software to ignore a moderator. You can ignore him/her/them all you like. In fact, many people do.

Although those who ignore flagrantly could receive a 'love note!'

. . . Back to the regularly scheduled SERIOUS discussion.

-- Rita

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RunningBum I get your point. I guess I find if I have fewer annoyances to deal with, I can handle the ones I do have to face better. Can't argue with that. It sounds like you use it as an opportunity to build a thicker skin, while I try to protect my thinner skin from getting worn away as much as I can. Different approaches. It's not about a "thicker skin" at all. It's all in how you to react to people who provoke (intended or not). No one can make you unhappy, ultimately you do that to yourself, no one else. Once you practice a little, it makes life so much easier, no one can "push your buttons." Like everything it takes practice, but you get better and better at it, effortlessly in time. I agree it would be healthier to be able to laugh them all off, but since I've found that I can't, I feel it's healthier to limit my exposure. I thought I couldn't for the first 50 years of my life, but anyone can do it. I'm still practicing, but it's pretty easy now. You can never totally eliminate your "exposure" but you can learn to prevent anyone from "pushing your buttons." That's why it's a worthwhile skill to develop IMO.

FWIW, maybe I should leave well enough alone, but might as well try to help. I promise I won't follow up on this topic on this thread again...done.

[james7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amethyst Could that be because you have mastered the art of looking rich?

I believe I've already done that and I don't advise it because people will always hit you up for money.

[james7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SecondCor521 Hi all, Out of the 20 or so people in this category, one of them happens to be a moderator. I can and do ignore the 19 folks, and would like to ignore this 20th person as well. REWahoo, yes, I'm aware of that rule, and am grateful that people take on the moderating job on this board. As someone who already ignores ~20 posters, I know I won't ever be a moderator here. 2Cor521

You ignore 20 people??!! It is good that I don't attend a cocktail party with people on this thread because I'd need psychotherapy afterward. I could ask a psychotherapist at the party, but he would probable ignore me.

[Janet H]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katsmeow The thing is that it really isn't always that clean. I've done a lot of forum moderation elsewhere in the past. Sometimes, sure, I might moderate in a thread that I would otherwise not be posting in. But often it was a thread I was generally making comments in. There are a few points that I think are important: One -- As a moderator I always felt that I should model appropriate posting behavior. I made a real point to always post in the way that I would want others to post. So did the other mods. Before I became a moderator on those forums I could look at the "regular" posts of moderators and get a good feel for the board culture and what the powers that be deemed to be acceptable posting behavior. Two -- In some threads I would start out as regular poster then something would happen and I might make a moderation type post (although truthfully much of moderation happens behind the scenes). If I had to switch accounts to do that it would be a PITA and would seem jarring. Third -- This is probably most important. Sure there are threads where it would be crystal clear that I was posting with my moderator hat on. But, quite often it was more of a gray area. I would see a thread that hadn't yet gone off the rails but might be getting close or on a topic that tended to excite comment. I would often post in the thread not formally as a moderator but really trying to gently get it back on track or to smooth over a potential issue before it even formally arose. So, it is sort of hard to determine in that situation whether to post from the mod account or the non-mod account. If you do it from the mod account you make something formal that didn't need to be formal. If you do it from the non-mod account then maybe someone who has ignored you doesn't see it or if you later do post more formally someone criticizes that you weren't always on the mod account....

These are all good points and in my experience also true and then there is a fourth point to make.... An earlier poster asked about having moderator actions come from an anonymous 'moderator' account. I have experieinced this on a forum and found that it removed a much needed layer of personal accountability for the moderator. There is MUCH greater potential for abuse of power when there is a cloak of invisibility.

My suggestion is that simply try to ignore the posts of a member you don't like or routinely disagree with - we all do some of this and with determination and practice you can become quite adept at this

[Purron]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grasshopper A little less talk, and a lot more action.

And a little less conversation...

Elvis Presley - A Little Less Conversation - YouTube