The ignore button

I never put anyone on ignore. But some posters are ignored.

 

Just checked and 11 of those that I have sent to Cyberia are currently banned.

Another group are there because I cannot be bothered with their endless conspiracy drivel.

The majority are trolls who engage in flamebaiting and taunting. Among those there are the passive-aggressive trolls who use a different style of flamebaiting which is why they are included in this category.

Then there are those who just post complete and utter baseless nonsense and seem to be incapable of dealing with factual reality.

None of them have been "censored" since the sum total of their "contributions" constitutes what I classify as "noise" rather than information.

My criteria is to ensure that there is as little "noise" as possible because I consider that to be a waste of my time here.

Cyberians collectively contribute nothing of any value IMO.

 

Don’t blame you for either action

 

How do you know who is banned?

 

~ I tried to put myself on ignore - but it didn't work. I recently used it for the first time. So far I think 3 are on Do Not Disturb due to consistent obnoxious rudeness and annoying avatars. I actually don't even remember who is there - but I know that it's not you.
I'm glad people have a place to vent and express themselves. It's good therapy for some.

 

It shows up under their avatar on the Ignore list.

 

Well said, Bowerbird. And although you and I rarely ever agree on anything, I'll say again that I'm truly surprised at how often I LEARN lot of interesting and useful information from those whose viewpoints are very different from mine! That's a large part of why I won't put people on 'ignore'. I want to see it all -- 'The Good, the Bad, and, the Ugly'....

I remember an old Bell Telephone slogan from the 1960's that said, "Communication is the beginning of Understanding". And if we 'ignore' each other, we can't communicate or understand each other....

 

Good question. I usually find out when I try and search for their content.

 

I never use it and have decided to make a point of never doing so. In fact I often question if its even a good idea to have one! A couple of other forums I visit occasionally don't.

Apart from allowing people to fall into a confirmation bias trap (a point raised previously) I tend to think its actually contradicts the basic principals of a debate forum to have one. Kind of like having serving alcohol at an AA meeting. I can certainly understand in the very limited case of personal abuse but even then the Mods are in a position to assist.

Only ever been 'ignored' twice. Once were I was accused by someone of trying to 'control their mind' during a philosophy debate and other where I was accused of being a 'pain in the arse' having referred someone back to an earlier post of theirs in a COVID thread. (One they'd forgotten about and which contradicted a claim they were now making! )

The 'pain in the arse complaint I can wear. Alas my 'mind control powers' seem to have faded away. I miss that guy.

 

~ You will always have the memory to cherish

 

I just checked. I have 42 on my ignore list. About a quarter of them have since been banned.
I agree with you about saving time, sometimes I come across whole pages with no visible posts.
I've only put people on ignore when I'm convinced they have nothing to offer.

 

I don't pretend to be the most patient person in the world. I try hard to dispel misinformation for example regarding Covid-19, the vaccines, masks, etc., and at times I am very patient in explaining... but at other times I just get irritated with so much misinformation that I lose my patience and trigger the Iggy.

There are certain things I can't stand; the endless conspiracy theory that the SARS-CoV-2 is man-made (despite its genomic sequencing thoroughly disproving it) and anti-vaxxers - not the people who manifest uncertainty about and mistrust of the Covid-19 vaccines they see as rushed (I try my best to gently explain things, to these), but the committed anti-vaxxers who are against the Covid-19 vaccines just because they are anti-vaxxers. I find that talking to conspiracy theorists is an utter waste of time. It's the "life is too short" thingy. There is no talking to conspiracy theorists that will make any sense. If you show them the most undeniable facts, they will just ignore anything that goes against their quasi-delusional beliefs. And they tend to be very arrogant, thinking that they are super smart and we sane folks are naïve and dumb. If there is one kind of person I deal poorly with, is arrogant ignorant people. I will even tolerate someone who is arrogant because the person *is* actually knowledgeable and intelligent... (although usually the truly knowledgeable and intelligent ones are not arrogant) but the dumb and ignorant who are, nevertheless, arrogant, do drive me crazy and I feel that if I'm here to enjoy myself (a hobby), there is no reason to be around people I profoundly dislike.

Well, this said, I'm sure sometimes *I* come across as arrogant, too... but then, people should feel free to put *me* on Ignore; they certainly have this right, and I don't mind it. If I'm being arrogant when talking to them, then I fully deserve being ignored.

Also, sometimes I lose patience with folks who insist, like a one-trick pony, that they know what I'm thinking, better than me! Sometimes I use sarcasm, and ask them where did they get their crystal ball because I'd like to order one, too... but if they keep insisting and insisting, in an arrogant manner, that they know me better than I know myself, well, they will lose me then and there as an interlocutor. There are two posters who keep saying that I'm the most extremist Marxist communist ultra-leftist EVER, simply because I dislike Donald Trump. When I say it's not the case, they stubbornly affirm that it is. This kind of simpleton doesn't deserve my attention. Good riddance.

Another category of people who deserve my Ignore list: those who are dishonest debaters who keep putting things in people's mouths. The persons who consistently personally attacks others and keep falsifying what the other person said, to fit it to their own agendas, are actually also not worth speaking with (a.k.a. trolls), just like that other category, the conspiracy theorists.

A lot of the people who keep yelling that the election was stolen at one point irritated me too. Anyway, with my fuse being kind of short, I ended up with 80 people on Ignore... Then I realized that this was hindering my own experience here, because threads were mutilated, I could read some interesting replies but not what they were replying to, so, I couldn't follow discussions, and I thought, "if I don't control my short fuse I'll end up talking to myself here; it defeats the purpose." Then I took everybody off Ignore a few days ago, except precisely two people of whom I have the lowest of opinions.

OK, like Curious Always, it happened that in a couple of days some four or five were right back on Ignore... (two of them, the ones I mentioned above, who think they know me better than I know myself, LOL). They are incorrigible. But I'm trying to be more tolerant of others and avoid building up the list, again.

 

I would argue that people who use the ignore for that reason, aren't really here to have honest debate, anyway. You can't force people out of their bubbles.

 

~ I wonder how one gets themselves "banned" ? Are they allowed to return ? Is there a parting gift ?

~ I am going to ignore that remark ...

 

By repeatedly breaking the forum rules I expect.

 

I'd expect nothing less from you, James.

 

I hear you...I use the ignore function for all the same reasons you do, but it is indeed a feature that is not well designed on this site. On other forums it would hide the ignored's post, but it would say 'You are ignoring posts from this member' and give you the option to view it so you could see what a non-ignored poster is replying to, otherwise it looks like posters are just rambling aimlessly. It can get very weird when you ignore more than a handful who troll regularly.

 

I agree with you on this point. That ignore feature would be helpful. If it's a long thread, clicking "show ignored content," doesn't work well.

Except sometimes, I will see the poster's avatar with that wording. It appears to be random.

 

I think that's just when the ignored poster is the last person to post in a thread.

 

I've never used it. Don't need it. I can ignore without pushing a button.

 

I mean, again, I got frustrated. I was just talking to ANOTHER poster claiming that Covid-19 is a hoax. He said he is certain that it is because Elon Musk tested positive twice and ended up not having the virus (yep, false positives do happen but ONE case that had them, doesn't negate 17 million cases and 317 thousand deaths). How can one continue to dialogue with this kind of person? He said nobody died of Covid-19 in Africa yesterday (I counted 308 and it probably is much more because many of those countries have messed up health systems that can't count all cases; I'm sure the families of these 308 victims would disagree that they were nobody). He said Pfizer didn't include people over 65 in their trial. They included more than 8,000 of those. And so on and so forth. I get really frustrated at some point.

 

This is why ignore is so helpful. When you are the expert, it's painful to watch people spout nonsense in your area of expertise. It makes it tough to not want to fix it.

Easier to not see it.

I've had people argue with me about database structures and such. They just sound so ridiculously silly. Their 10-minute google search is superior to my 30 years of on-hand experience.

You think, "people can't be wrong about 10 things in one paragraph!" Turns out, they can.

 

~ An admirable skill .

 

What you are describing is the internet version of "gaslighting", except I wonder if it can be considered gaslighting since the term originates from the 1940 movie of the same name in which the husband manipulates the wife by having her think she's going crazy in order to find some stolen gems left in the house. The point is, gaslighting is a tactic of diversion.

So it makes me wonder, are these folks gaslighting me, or do they honestly believe the crazy stuff they are spouting? If it's the former, then deception is the endgame for the purpose of diversion, but if it's the latter, that proposition is far scarier because the person you are engaging with is representative of others who have also latched onto this alternative reality. Given that the internet gives these people a voice to reaffirm their lunacy, I have no clue how we prevent this from occurring without seriously limiting our own rights. There used to be societal restraints, but those restraints don't work in cyberspace.

 

Nothing will ever be as effective as a person learning to think for themselves. People have been 'gaslighting' each other since the 'dawn of time'... nothing new there.

Sadly, what passes for "education" in American public schools starting about 40 years ago has yielded two generations of 'graduates' who have learned little of any lasting, logical, fact-based value. The kiddies learned to play with their interactive toys, and not much else...and, as a consequence, the people who control what the kiddies are shown on those toys can easily control what the kiddies believe!

It's 'gaslighting' made EASY.... .

Just for fun -- when was the last time you came across someone under about thirty years of age who can do simple multiplication tables in their heads...?