Adding Unfollow and Block Features
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While the new site looks great being clean and easy to navigate. It also seems that we have lost some of our ability to filter through posts easily.
Being able to unfollow threads that we are not interested in helps us get to the content that we really care about much quicker.
Being able to block individual users allows us to ignore users we may find offensive, and help to prevent the need for moderation in many threads.
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I definitely think blocking is a good idea - but I do want to encourage people to feel comfortable flagging any posts that would make them uncomfortable enough to block someone - at certain flag thresholds posts are automatically removed, I'd rather have the problem posts/posters handled than have people feel so uncomfortable on the site that they feel the need to block someone
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@Brass-Man The problem is having to go through the effort of reading, being made to feel uncomfortable, and then flagging the post is a long process. If this is something that routinely happens with the same users than it is preferable to some people if they can avoid the process altogether.
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I think part of being in a community is associating with people you may not agree with or like. I think blocking is a bad idea in principle as it serves as a form of willful blindness for what is intended to be an intellectually open and welcoming community. It sends the wrong signal to new members, and I can't imagine any speech that would be offensive or cause "hurt feelings" enough to warrant such extreme measures as long as personal attacks or hate speech isn't involved. After all, this is only a site about a card game. If ideas in that context are offensive, then communal bonds that make fora like this work probably can't exist anyway, and we should give up the TMD project. I don't believe that, and I hope Andy doesn't either.
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While I agree that blocking someone is probably bad for the community, @vaughnbros might not so much be advocating for blocking someone that hurts their feelings, but more so, "internet personalities" that become tiresome or annoying- especially people that try to always shock or constantly speak in absolutes (not a rare trait in the mtg world). The option to not have to listen to the bluster or outrageousness might be nice,
That said, I don't think I ever blocked anyone.
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@joshuabrooks, @Brass-Man This is exactly why I block people. If it is truly offensive, I report it. Not having to see the bluster is totally worth not seeing the potentially good posts they make.
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@Brass-Man I think blocking would be rough to do because you may miss information someone else is responding to.
If you add a block feature, I would suhhest having it for IM/PM And not wall posts.
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@Urtho I suggested that @somoht write a post about what is acceptable language so we can have an actual base to work from.
I would write something myself, but the irony of that would deter from its meaning.
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I'm not inherently against a block feature - if someone decides to use it, they're obviously comfortable missing some information, and that's fine.
I just don't know how to prioritize building a block feature against the other feature work that needs to go on the site - which is what this subboard+the upvote button are for!
Luckily user blocking is a pretty universal feature, so there's a nonzero chance that we get it for free in a future forum software update
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I am interested in unfollowing. Should I make a feature request with more detail? Basically, I don't care about certain forums (e.g. art collecting) and would prefer not to get notifications from that forum at all.
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@cutlex yeah, that would be a different set of work than blocking, and would have to be developed separately - I think there MIGHT already be a thread like that? but if not definitely post one
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I guess more generally what I'm asking for is to be able to tailor the drain for myself. I understand as a whole that there may be certain policies for moderation on the whole. Things like being able to do personal moderations for posts that only I want to ignore, or blocks on users that I only get bad info from, ect, are ways to make the drain usable for all people.
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@vaughnbros i agree with that. I think being able to basically ignore updates from certain boards/users/posts would be good
@Brass-Man how about two buttons: ignore and block? With ignore, you can still see the persons posts but they can no longer tag you, IM/PM you and you no longer get notifications from that person, but can still see their post? Block just completely blocks them
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@vaughnbros said:
I guess more generally what I'm asking for is to be able to tailor the drain for myself.
This position reinforces my initial concern, and should be anathema to community building interests.
It's the first step in Balkanization of this community. If everyone did that, you could have groups of people in echo chambers ignoring others.
The greatest danger in this community is not disagreement, but insularity, cliquishness, and parochialism. Allowing people to silence voices they find annoying is antithetical to dialogue, which is an integral component of a community such as this.
The promise of a project like TheManaDrain is to build a community of interest; to bring people together around a shared passion. The selective silencing of others and individuation of content you seek is utterly inconsistent with that goal. Even more so if accomplished stealthily.
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@Smmenen Thats a nice ideal if it were actually implemented. The problem is that I am often not actually allowed to properly express myself in a disagreement on this forum. My arguments are usually belittled, ignored, or worst case moderated. If I could actually have a true discussion on here I wouldn't be requesting these features at all.
My purpose for using this forum is to use the content on here that I enjoy. By telling me to shove off because I don't want to be exposed to content that I don't want you are doing exactly what you are saying you don't want to do, creating a clique environment.
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@vaughnbros said:
@Smmenen Thats a nice ideal if it were actually implemented. The problem is that I am often not actually allowed to properly express myself in a disagreement on this forum. My arguments are usually belittled, ignored, or worst case moderated. If I could actually have a true discussion on here I wouldn't be requesting these features at all.
I'm not saying that hasn't happened, but I can't think of a single instance of someone belittling your ideas. I always felt you ideas were given respect.
In any case, this thread is a counter-example that disproves what you just said. You are freely expressing yourself. No one is belittling, ignoring or moderating your argument. Is this not a "true discussion"?
Since you agree that it's a nice ideal, let's try to implement it rather than silencing people that annoy us.
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@Smmenen Disproves or proves? I'm not quite sure how you think you come off.
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@vaughnbros said:
@Smmenen Disproves or proves? I'm not quite sure how you think you come off.
It disproves your claim that you "can never express yourself without being ignored, belittled or moderated." That's exactly what you are doing.
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@Smmenen Being belittled yes. Thank you.
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@vaughnbros said:
@Smmenen Being belittled yes. Thank you.
If you believe that disagreement with your views equates to belittlement, then I see your point.
But they aren't the same thing, and thinking that way is a recipe for insularity. I take your ideas seriously and with respect. I simply believe them antithetical to community.
