hide poster button, impersonally

[moresnow]

RebeccaMumsnet said:

Please do start another thread about the hide poster option, but avoid making it personal.

I would like to be able to hide goady / drum-banging / just plain boring posters. I would not at all mind being hidden by everyone else.

Anyone else have comments they've not made yet on this one?

I think it's a good idea.
Have no issue with others hiding me but how would I know they had? Surely it would only show up on their version of the thread?
How would anyone know they'd been hidden?

I wouldn't like a hide poster option.

I did want to comment on the other thread but felt it moved too fast in a different direction.

I haven't figured out my exact reasons for not wanting a hide poster button yet - just that my initial feeling is against it

I am not bothered if we have a hide poster or not.

I wouldn't like the hide poster option to hide all name changes by a poster as it risks outing people.

I didn't read the last one properly so don't know how it got personal, what a shame.

However I am on the fence about the hide poster option - the only suggestion I have would be to have a small trial of it and see what happened. I imagine this may prove a headache for Tech though?

Can't remember what they said about that before.

requests to hide poster should be more than a simple click.

perhaps make your application in front of a panel of 3 judges

Agree with KingTut re the risk of outing if all namechanges were hidden. Also I might wish to hide PosterA's repeated anecdotes about her sock fetish while still being able to read her thoughtful advice on cooking under her PosterB namechange.

I don't overall agree with the suggestion, although I understand why

My fear is that if particular posters bang their drum and spout disingenuous guff and most sensible MNers have hidden them, there is less chance of someone calling them out and putting the other side of the story / position / options etc. eg I post on the adoption boards and I will never stop challenging the "social workers steal cute babies to make money under forced adoption" posters even though it would be lovely to be able to press and button and never see that stuff again

I wouldn't like a hide poster button. I don't think it would work because of the name change facility.

I would love it, agree with what was said previously that there should be a limit of how many you could hide at one time, I mean if you feel you're needing to hide dozens then the problem is more likely yours than the hiders'.

And the 'you have hidden'/reveal post is a great feature.

I had a couple of issues that I raised on the other thread before it went poof in the night.

Personally I'm against it - there is just something about it that I don't feel sits well with the open ethos of MN. However a trial is probably the fairest way to answer this, if there's strong feeling for it.

However coming off on debates on that thread about how it might possibly work, there were a few specifics that I was wondering about, particularly in relation to how Mumsnet already is.

1 - Would this, in theory, be tied to names or to email/IP addresses? If it's related to names then people can just change name whenever they want, and then they are unhidden again. If it's related to email/IP addresses, that seems very permanent, and also rather unfair if that person does have multiple personas on MN, and suddenly their very normal posts on gardening etc are hidden from other people

(I'm aware multiple personas is also seen as a bit of a no-no, but I suspect a large number of people do have their Chatty name and their Personal/Health Issues name etc.

2 - There was some very good suggestion that the number of posters you could hide was limited to 5 or so, which definitely seems to encourage people to not just hide hundreds of people they minorly disagree with. However, I don't see how that could work with name changes. You've blocked a name, that poster name changes, you've used "one of your 5" on a name that no longer posts, but how do you unpick that, figure out the new poster is the old poster, cancel one 'hide' and start a new one...?

3 - What happens if a poster changes their style and stops banging the drum that so annoys other posters? Say someone is rabidly anti-vac, offends lots of people by their one-track posts, and gets hidden by lots of posters. Then they eventually work out that this has happened and realise it was a mistake and change their posting style. But all these posters who blocked them, there's no way back, is there? They can't see that the poster has realised they were offending people and changed their style.

The last might not bother some people but it does bother me. Hiding posters, especially via email or IP address, is just so permanent.

I hate the idea, to me it's just not how this place works and a step or two away from tickers. If you don't like a poster don't read or respond, we're all adults. Add to that the problem with name changes and various other reasons that have been repeatedly pointed out and it's a big no from me

I wonder if it would be possible to hide posts by one person on one thread.

So in the ... at the end of each post you could have "Report" and "Hide Posts By This User".

Or just "Hide Post" next to the user name. Sure you'd have to do it for each one but I'm fairly confident that's not above the capabilities of the average Mumsnetters. You know - glance at username - click "Hide Post", a bit like Active Convos - glance at Thread Title - click "Hide Thread".

RE your point number 2 Thurlow, if someone annoys you enough to warrant an inclusion in your tiny ignore list then you'd probably spot them under a name change.

I know there's a TSSDNCOP around, Thurlow but I think the system (including all names) references not to names as such but to the 'System ID' which you'll see on your account. I suspect that if you were to block one name you'd get any and all names - unless Tech did a Heath Robinson.

I would love it. I'm used to having them on almost every forum I use. There are people that I just don't want to read and my heart sinks when I see their name pop up on a thread I'm enjoying. I much prefer being able to hide - you know that something has been said and can get the general theme but I find not actually having to read it very relaxing.

Since I wouldn't know if someone had hidden me then it wouldn't bother me from that point of view.

IMO the previous thread is a perfect example of why there should not be a hide poster. Because while you could hide the posts of a specific individual you didn't like, other posters would still respond to them, which would, IMO set a new trend, one where posters would start saying "I don't know why you're responding to x, just hide them like I do," while knowing that x could respond and because you had them hidden you wouldn't have to see their response but could still encourage others to hide them.

I really don't get why it's so hard for people not to read certain threads or posts without hiding them. I don't have any threads or topics hidden, I just skip past the ones I don't like. It's not that hard is it?

eh?

I really dislike the idea but can't really put my finger on why I find it such a horrible idea.

I wouldn't "hide" or blank someone in real life which is maybe why I spdislike the idea here.

It seems so childish.

I just leave and hide threads that are turning into something that bugs me. The equivalent of walking away from a conversation.

wannaBe - the version in my head is if you hide poster X, X actually directly asks you a question which you don't see and don't respond, other MNers ask you why you're not responding so you have to admit to hiding X, turns out X is "Mumsnet Royalty" and then you get hounded for daring to hide X!

Hate the idea of a hide poster option - it's easy enough to skip over any posts you don't want to read and - who knows - someone you mostly disagree with may one day say something you do agree with, and you'd miss it.

It's not that hard is it?

Well, yes: it is. I wish I had your ability to skip past, but it doesn't work that way for me. I wouldn't be on the thread otherwise.

I think Soup has just hit the nail on the head - it's the online version of blanking someone!

I agree with Wannabe.

I, also, agree with SoupDragon, it all seems so bloody childish. I don't understand why people don't just leave the thread or hide it.