"fair and balanced" discussions

I like this idea. It’s a bit like the minimum text requirement for posts.

There is a FB group I’m in that exists to provide constructive feedback, and GIFs, while often colorful and fun, are pretty much never constructive feedback in that context.

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It’s not even about differing views or opinions - I’m willing to entertain that. It’s the contrarian, devil’s advocate, JAQ shit that I shouldn’t have to tolerate - whether intentional or not. Even without that, some people just rub me the wrong way, even if we share similar ideological views.

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Topics can be Muted, so you never have to see them again. I’ve used this extremely selectively, usually on posts with very gross subject matter where even seeing the title harshes my mellow. (I think the last one was on skin mites. Ick.) I’d love to be able to Mute them without actually entering the Topic (I browse/post on Mobile), but I just go to the last post, select Muted, and voila! Problem solved.

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Somehow I still manage to have good, thought-provoking debates here while Ignoring or ignoring the minority of users who are here to be attention-seeking knee-jerk contrarians, disrespectful or grudge-bearing jerks, or those who think they’re clever enough to take kicks at the community without the mods noticing. Sometimes a user adds no value or negative value to the site for me, so not engaging him or not seeing his comments at all only makes my experience here better.

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I think I’ve said this before, but the use of ignore lists doesn’t, in my experience, create an echo chamber effect, unless you deliberately set out to ignore everyone who disagrees with you on anything. Take this BBS, for example; for all that BB is very much a left-leaning site by US standards, there’s a lot of differences of opinions, not to mention very different viewpoints; it’s not just black-and-white thing.

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i too would appreciate the permanent ignore- perhaps a feature that allows us to build towards that?

That said, I actually think that others being able to ignore me is great. It is never my aim to cause harm to anyone, however, I am also certainly not perfect and if my contributions have that affect on someone and they feel that’s the preferred way to deal with it, well, that’s fine with me. Of course I’d rather know why, at least for my own reflection, but I understand when folks don’t feel comfortable or whatever going that route.

It’s not the end of the world, or free speech.

ETA: I could’ve sworn I posted this in the ignore topic? I am high…

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Man I’ve spent too much time dealing with the effects of all the toxicity I’ve acquired just even on myself to pretend there haven’t been times when it wasn’t a totally appropriate response for others to say “I don’t want to handle this” to whatever the hell I clearly couldn’t handle at the moment. Those are good moments for reflection when one has a chance though… eh, if one has a chance I guess.

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is a permanent ignore in the spirit of the community? people change, and if someone hasn’t done anything to be ejected i’m not sure we want to enable kneejerk silencing

(and i’d think anything warranting a permanent ignore would also result in a ban)

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Not necessarily. Just like in any community, there’s some people that I simply don’t want to engage with. They may not otherwise break or even bend the rules. Maybe they just rub me the wrong way, or maybe I have some other reasons but they are mine alone.

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For what it’s worth, you can also mute whole categories of threads the same way.

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@orenwolf moved a bunch of posts

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giphy

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There is also a time limit of 4 months on ignore. You may need to invest 30-60 seconds of emotional labor every four months to re-ignore someone. If four minutes a year is too much to bear, you may wish to seek out other platforms.

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Can I follow my real world practice and ignore myself?

Or would that cause some universe ending paradox?

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That’s a good point but part of what I meant by spirit of the community is freedom of speech. Not in the “I’m suing Reddit for quarantining my subreddit” sense, but that anyone who follows the guidelines is welcome.

If a person or group of persons can effectively shadowban someone I’m not sure that’s a good thing.

If someone is rubbing you so wrong you don’t ever want to see their posts, I think you should try to reach out, for the health of the community- blocking them doesn’t give them a way to change. After all the guidelines mention assuming good faith :slight_smile:

With a temp ignore you may see them again and they’re being good citizens

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On the other hand- some people give off that creepy guy at the bar vibe who think they should be able to force you to interact with them.

A good bartender knows to help a girl out when that shit is happening.

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If by “shadowban” you mean refuse to interact with them because they’re being a douche, then I think it is a good thing.

Look, either a few members can “shadowban” this person or the mods can ban them for real.

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No. I’m not here to change others’ behavior. This isn’t a social experiment to me.

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Changing others’ behavior: see “rope, pushing a”.

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To extend my guy at the bar simile; hey you - I don’t want to talk to you. Now I’m going to contact you to talk to you.

One can easily see the problem there.

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