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?

Definitely agree there's a topic issue. There are bloody loads of topics but because of the way people use MN, I don't think many people see the topics. So posters end up putting conversations in more robust places like AIBU and it all goes tits up very quickly.

I pretty much always use MN via the "active threads". That's probably the problem, isn't it?

As a solution, is it possible to do a 'hide poster on this thread' button?

It addresses the fact that some posters' opinions might be very useful on cake baking, but become over-bearing on other topics, for example, pro choice / anti choice.

I sometimes tire of seeing a poster dominating a thread, not adding anything new, but merely repeating themselves ad nauseum. It gets to the point of the person who is prepared to shout longest and loudest dominating an issue.

I didn't see the end of the other thread, so didn't know that it got personal (although I can pretty much guess at who may have been involved).

Hiding a person's post on one particular thread sounds like a very good idea.

The issue to limiting the number of posters you can hide gets complicate by whether you hiding them by username or unique ID, I'd say.

I agree with Beryl. A hide poster on this thread facility would help my blood pressure no end.

There have been times when quite frankly I have wished for some kind of James Bond Gizmo to do far more than hide certain posters. But you have all gone and put such sensible arguments up for not having a hide poster button that I feel all unreasonable now. I'll take a "hide on this thread" button and keep my evaporation plans secret for now.

I don't like it. For all the reasons already stated and because it will make threads disjointed (if people are hiding different posters then it follows they'll be responding to earlier posts which disrupts the flow of the thread). It also feels like throwing any newbies to the wolves because let's face it they won't automatically know you can hide posts so they'll be subjected to all the craziness and wonder why everyone else is ignoring it.

I think this is a good idea.
I am sure there are posters who would hide me too!
Win/win

Maryz - I do understand what you mean about de-railing but one person hiding one person isn't going to help that. Even if you hide X, every 2nd post you read will be someone responding to X so the thread is still de-railed. It would only work if everyone else on the thread hid X too, but then that smacks of bullying.

I don't like the idea at all.

In theory it would work for AIBU and various threads with very strong opinions, but on support threads it would have the potential to make someone (and remember, even though this is a forum, there are real people behind every post) very isolated .

So maybe a hide poster on an individual thread facility on limited boards?

, , and / for Maryz.

You're not a bitch and I'm sorry your first thread went tits up.

X-post with rainbow and agree with her (or him).

No, I understand where you're coming from, Maryz, honestly. I just don't see how knowing that X is wanking on about their favourite topic but not being able to see the posts is less likely to raise my blood pressure than if I skim the posts themselves.

I tried it on another forum. The mendacious gobshite was still there, whether the actual posts were visible or not.

RainbowFlutterby surely if everyone on the same thread hid one person, mn hq would have to deal with it and maybe have words with the derailer.
I think calling it bullying is silly.

So, we don't get a 'hide poster' button. Someone is being a gobs hire on a thread, but cleverly staying within guidelines to do so. People ignore the poster.

Is that bullying too?

There is already a Hide Poster function that can be used on MN. A number of posters use it (I am one of them). People have been using it since (at least) 2013 and none of the concerns set out above have come to fruition.

The posters who use it haven't gone 'hide crazy' as far as I know, and there haven't been any "ner ner I've got you hidden' posts.

Personally I used it (haven't got anyone hidden at present) to stop myself seeing posts by certain people, to stop myself engaging with them, getting upset/enraged/frustrated by the things they were posting, to stop myself feeling 'let down' by MNHQ who were unwilling/unable to ban them or stop them posting the way they were, to stop myself going postal and ending up banned and ultimately to keep me on MN as I was ready to deregister.

Me being unable to see posts by X and Y meant there were less likely to be bunfights between us (as there had been in the past). There were fewer accusations of 'bullying' which X did a lot and my blood pressure remained in the healthy range .

I can think of a couple of posters who probably would have remained on MN if the 'hide poster' function was utilised - posters that were subject to systematic bullying and stalking and would have been better off not seeing what was written about them rather than biting at the nastiness, and conversely the bullies and stalkers who could have just not seen what their target was posting rather than becoming enraged and setting up battle lines.

Me hiding X and Y didn't affect anyone else. No-one even knew. It would be the same if MN introduced the function. It works well on other sites, large and small and I don't really understand the arguements against it - if you don't like it you just wouldn't have to use it, surely?

Samcro - could that not be dealt with by reporting?

I just think that it could be open to mis-use and become a form of bullying. It if really was as straightforward as loads of people hiding one poster on one thread because they were de-railing it then of course it would work fine, but it will never stay that way.

Rainbow, you can't possibly say what would or wouldn't work. You are guessing.

People are already using it (I'm not techy enough, before you suggest I do the same) and no one is any the wiser, so where's the issue?

Why can we not have a trial period?

YY to this
Please
It seems MNHQ agree to pretty much anything (sex board,WOHP board) but won't even trial this.
Surely a trial would at least some of the arguments to bed.

Yes, anyone declaring 'I've hidden you' should be deleted.

Why can we not have a trial period?

You want the Techs to re write the site so people can test sticking their fingers in their ears and going lalalalala?

Yes please.

Unless you're personally being asked to rewrite the site I really don't see why you're that bothered.