Please, please, please can we have a feature to block individual posters

[RudsyFarmer]

Honestly I can’t believe how aggressive some of the posters on the site are. Pure anger pouring forth regularly. I am not expecting MN to ban any posters based on their vitriol, but can we at least have an option not to see their posts?

And yes I know I can leave before a divisive ChatBot comes and helpfully posts this on the thread.

A function to hide posters would be good. Might make some threads more holey than a Swiss cheese, though.

I used to be of the mind that all posts are welcome even if I don't agree but have changed mind to wish for a Hide Poster button, so you are not alone in wanting this, Rudsy.

OFC I realise that posters change name (as indeed do I) but that is by the by. Hiding posters would be welcome in reducing the rancour, imo.

Food for thought.

I second this and also add that Mumsnet should have a threshold for review when posters are the subject of the hide button too often. If someone is being a massive bellend and earns themselves say 50 blocks/hides then it should flag to HQ for manual review of their posts. It would be a good way to clean house of Tattle trolls and obvious bad actors.

ETA: Mumsnet would only ban posters if the human review stage showed they were deliberately stirring it everywhere they post. I imagine mods could easily judge that from post history.

You can report people being dickheads as not being in the spirit of the site

Reporting people for being dickheads will probably go as well as reporting them for being ageist.

They won’t, because it would reveal name changes

Dont see how that can happen without suspending name changing.

Which I would welcome tbh.

@Icycloud perhaps MN could hide just the posts authored with the same username as the post you clicked on to hide poster.

On some forums, there is an option to "block" users, meaning that you can't see each others posts. I think that could work well on MN.

This would make it quite easy to identify people who have name-changed, which is a valid thing to do often used for personal protection.

I was trying to achieve the opposite @HerNameIsIncontinentiaButtocks . So let's say I click on your post above and say 'hide poster', that would hide all posts authored by you using only the username HerNameIsIncontinentiaButtocks. If you are posting on another thread at the same time, let's say on a more sensitive topic you don't want linked to your main username, those posts are not hidden. If you change username in the future, those posts are not hidden either.

It's imperfect from the point of view of blocking a real world person but it's a compromise that protects a poster's right to namechange.

Yes but this just results in the poster having a single post deleted, and from what I understand they don't even get a message from HQ so most of the time they don't realise they've done anything wrong. I'm suggesting if they get enough blocks / hides that their account should be banned.

Were would it end? Delete someone because their opinion is not the same as yours, it leads to a lack of debate

I think that could be open to abuse.
For example I can see TRAs using it against posters on FWR.

Bloody good idea! I know there are trolls that fly under the radar as they are just not offensive enough to warrant reporting but prolific posters of nasty, hate filled bile.

I don't want to be that dickhead who spams MNHQ with reports. I just want to hide posters in the same way I can on other sites.

I agree, OP. I've been spending a lot more time on another site because they have the block poster option. It makes it so easy to hang out there since annoying people are out of my sight. I can choose to look at what they write or carry on with those that are visible. The best thing is that they can't see me either to post rubbish in response. I don't mind disagreements but I don't take kindly to antagonistic people, hypocrisy, arse-kissing, cliques, etc.

There's no hole for others since whomever I block isn't blocked for anyone else. If I see a post that doesn't quite make sense because it seems to be responding to no one, I assume they're responding to someone I blocked and if I choose to look, that's always the case. So it's my burden to bear and I accept the Swiss cheese myth feature.

I think debate is diminished by all the fateful comments anyway. People either back the fuck out of a thread or the shark attack just attracts other trolls to wade in.

Agreed. It’s an entirely personalised setting that doesn’t impact anyone else at all. I know that on other sites you do end up seeing quoted comments even if they’re made by blocked users. But I can live with that as an imperfection.

I fear it would be over used by the echo chamber boards. They don’t like dissent and would love to drown out any differing opinions

I also agree with OP, I don't want to report. In fact, I'd rather posts stand but something written over them for any guidelines they've broken so others know what's wrong. That is another great feature of this other site I'm on. You can report but posts aren't deleted. Instead, they're either moved to specific boards for offending or derailing posts (where you can still go and view them) or labelled with their offence.

The report/deletion here can feel infantilizing.

It actually wouldn't matter because whoever is blocking is doing so for themselves. Everybody else would still see the differing opinions of others.

I also think it would actually help more people to come out with different opinions since not doing so is usually out of fear of those who shut dissenting opinions down.

If someone manages to block some people they're afraid of for this reason, they can post more comfortably without fear of being attacked.

They'll never do it. Posting rates would plummet.

I think this aspect would make it change too much.

If you start blocking lots of people you will no longer see the thread evolution.

There's one poster I have to just not reply to, somehow I get overly annoyed by them, but if I blocked them I'd not understand replies made to their points.

There is one not very nice poster who seems to have an opinion on nearly every thread at the moment. I'd like to block but for now I roll my eyes and think "not you again? Is the sun not shining in your world?"