Is it possible to have an 'IGNORE' feature for threads?

good! nothing wrong with cliques IMO, if you can use them avoid things that upset you.

But it would make Mumsnet restrictive: people would stick to their topics and the huge, rich, varied tapestry that MN is now would be lost. You think it's cliquey now ?

oh blimey, i haven't even worked out how to 'watch' a thread yet. have pity...

its not just not participating, I want to ignore them.

Contrary to popular belief, I find some threads upsetting and frustrating beyond words. It would be nice to know that I didn't have to see them popping up all the time.

And I could tailor mumsnet to the mood I am in that day.

Hmm well i wouldn't use it, but then each to their own i spose.

No thats a good point Snugs. I sometimes read a thread and think i have nothing to add, but then read it again later and find i can comment after all.

It would work like the watch feature - click on ignore and then that thread wouldn't appear in active convos.

The main drawback I can see to an ignore feature is the way threads go off topic - you mark a thread as ignore, the conversation changes and you miss out because you don't know it has changed.

But then again, the way some convos go off topic, I might have just argued for an ignore feature.....

But why can't you yourself just ignore the threads you don't want to participate in ??? I just don't get it.

So how would it work ?? You would have a list telling you what threads you were ignoring ?? Sounds mad to me, but hey if it's what you want.

it wouldnt be restrictive as you wouldn't have to use it

marthamoo
you put my feelings across so elequently
it would be restrictive..

lol at the ignoring the ignore..

well, I don't post on all the threads I read so I guess I still have a smidgin of self control.

But I still think its possible to have - and you wouldn't have to use it so its presence shouldn't upset anyone.

Really don't see the need for an ignore thread. If there is a thread that I want nothing to do with then i don't post on it, simple as that.

If the temtptation to look and post is too much Enid then show some self control and don't.

Well I do check if I see a particularly heart rending thread title - but after that I'd like the option to ignore it.

If we have a chat room you automatically get an 'ignore' feature.

Anyway, if you don't like the ignore feature you can always ignore it

I have reservations, myself. I used to be a regular on Babyworld - you could access all areas (they later changed it so that certain topics were member only: Losing a Baby, and Pregnancy After Loss) but because of the site layout you tended to stick to certain topics. There was little interaction between topics and thus the groups got very insular.

For example, I posted a lot on the SAHMs board - now I am a SAHM but that's not all I am. And the only time there was any dialogue between the SAHMs board and Working Mums board was when a massive row kicked off. One of the things I love about MN is that I get to hear so many peoples' opinions - not just people who are in a similar situation to me. If MN was run along the same lines I could restrict myself to reading/posting on..chat, other subjects, behaviour/development, in the news, health, food...But I'm bloody nosy and I want to read about everything else as well. Though I do find the sheer size of MN overwhelming sometimes I tend to treat it like a precipice - I don't look down!

Another example - there was a Special Needs board on BW but it felt very closed. I never went on it. Now, I don't really have any reason to read or post on SNs here - but I feel I have learned so much from doing that, and have a much greater understanding and empathy with parents who have SN children than I ever had before. I used to see children behaving badly in shops and tut tut (inaudibly - I wasn't that bad!) to myself. Now (thanks to jimjams et al) I think "I wonder if that child has autism, Asberger's" etc. I smile at every baby/child I see who has Down's because I always think of TC's Lottie. I put money in CP boxes and buy Scope Christmas cards because I think of lou's youngest ds. If I used an ignore function on the SN threads (and, in theory I should, I have no " reason" to read them) I would miss all that.

I don't breast or bottle feed, I'm not pregnant or TTC, I'm not part of a multicultural family, or a bilingual one, I'm not a student parent, or a lone parent...I could go on but I won't. I have read and /or posted on all those topics, and "met" people I wouldn't have met otherwise - I guess you could call it sticking my oar in but I don't care.

I have learned so much from MN, and heard such varied experiences and POVs - I don't want to restrict that at all. And I think it would be very sad if MN became like Babyworld - where posters tend to stick to certain topics and there is little cross-fertilisation. It's very isolationist and gives a distorted picture of parenting and the world in general.

Anyway, if it happens it happens. But I wanted to put my two penn'orth in (as ever!)

But if we've got watch, why not ignore? diff sides of the same coin, surely?

i dont really see the need for an ignore feature if there are threads you are not interested in then you can just ignore them yourself,its down to choice and you have the option to click on a thread or not,the topics are there so you can stick to the subjects that interest you IYSWIM.

I'd like it too.

I thinks it's partly the variety of threads that makes MN so appealing. Even tho' I'm way past the nappies and bottles stage with my kids it's fascinating to read how mums are dealing with these issues - it's broadened my world enormously. If I don't want to read a thread I don't - simple as that!

I don't feel able to post under my real name about this - its all too personal and too close to home and I try to ensure Mumsnet is a haven of anonymity for me.

I strongly agree with Enid, and think that an "ignore" thread would be really really helpful and possible, given that there's a "watch thread" facility.

Please Mumsnet team, could you consider this.

I think it is a brilliant idea. Maybe you could set it to ignore whole topics - for some people it would be the distressing ones, others would choose breast and bottle feeding or nappies.

It's not just to do with 'trying harder', it's time. Scanning active conversations used to be a good quick way of picking up threads of interest. Now that Mumsnet is so huge that's no longer true (and I've had active convs set at 50 for ages). Scanning topic by topic takes longer than I've usually got, so I get out of touch.

I can easily suppress the urge to click on threads I won't like, but often nowadays that's all I seem to do on Mumsnet.

More fine-tuning would be welcome