I had to deal with an eerily similar situation several years ago, where a user said her abusive ex had tracked her down on the website I helped moderate. I understand where you’re coming from because she specifically told us not to ban him (she feared potential repercussions).
As for the topic at large, I’ve asked about it before and stand by my request for a true, two-way block. It’s all well and good to tell people not to click the “view hidden content” links, but…have you observed human nature lately? The concept of self-control has become downright quaint And in other situations, seeing the “view hidden content” link itself could be an upsetting reminder of an abusive exchange or otherwise unpleasant experience. Again, all well and good to say people shouldn’t feel that way but they do, and that costs our site valuable members (and no, these situations aren’t black-and-white violations of our rules, either - there are multiple nuances where we can’t just ban people and call it a day).
If the blocker and blockee’s account could mutually cease to exist (as on Facebook), it would save so much time and trouble. Our users request this feature on a repeat basis, and each time I have to tell them Discourse doesn’t support it. Quite demoralizing.
Is this a thing yet? I’m not in a position to mess with any CSS for the site, but if this were part of the forum admin UX, we could do it.
This is for a community site you administer and have moderators for?
If A is always bothering B this seems like a reasonable feature request to be able to prohibit A from commenting on B’s topics. There are some other options such as B can post in closed restricted access categories or A could be banned from the site. First step seems like should be asking A to stop posting on B’s topics, or be issued official warning to not do that from moderator could help.
Here is post in related topic about their reasoning for current structure:
If a new feature was implemented allowing members to stop any other member from commenting on their topics, seems there would be a risk of that causing additional problems.
Most important is for there to be competent moderation, so if someone has a request that someone else not bother them that will be honored. If one person is being bothered on a regular basis there are likely other people also being bothered by the same issue that needs moderator intervention to resolve.
That is over inflated. You can have one of the best mod teams in existence. Offering a more complete block is beneficial as it does not interfere with civility of a discussion. It can actually make things easier for the community by not having unnecessary conflicts between people who want to enjoy the site.
I had a member who became so inflamed towards 3 people that they felt their view was shared by the majority of the community. While they liked me educating people publically about how to mute/block others they found toxic.
They ended up demanding these 3 users be banned as they could still see others responding(replying/quoting) those 3 and it was ruining the site for “all”. I added an extension component that partly extends the block to topics.
I even explained to the complainant that the system has a preset threshold that if 5 users blocked an individual that the system would send the mods & the blocked user a message that the community was finding them toxic. To which none of the 3 in question had met that low minimum iirc default is 5 members blocking a single individual.
Sometimes you can have members who simply do not like how another carries themselves. And simply need a way to mute their presence more completely. Not see direct replies to said individual or even see the “hidden comment” that can be clicked on to see what they said.
Not seeing a couple of users replies or people’s responses to said individual will not interfere with a discussion. Those with no issues see all. Those who have issues with one simply enjoy a discussion without being bothered by someone they find no value in their contributions.
If 10 of us are discussing something and you have issues with Bob. Not seeing Bob’s comments and comments made to Bob will not hamper the discussion. As the other 8 people can discuss with all without having you and Bob detail things because you dislike Bob. Bob may push things in ways that bother you and cause you to react and vice versa. No need to ban either of you if a simple more complete block will solve the issue. Without having mods to treat both parties like quarreling school children.
Perfect community each will accept one another and not let quirks/pet peeves muddy things. Unfortunately we don’t have that Shangri-la society of acceptance of others who are different. Self control and self moderation is a skill many lack.
Often easier to keep them separator with easy to use self use controls then have to chaperone.
Revisited an idea is often. How ideas get implemented. So yes watching and using Discourse for over 7 years many ideas that were originally pushed aside are now apart of core.
Self service user controls is essential to be able to have a strong thriving community. Not everyone has fine ingrain controls to simply pass on their own peeves towards others.
Any number of platforms have clearly demonstrated blocking works and does not interfere with discussions.
Agreed they shouldn’t need to be and that is why user self use controls are key to ensure they don’t need to be in needless situations where the end user can manage things like having a more complete block to appease their own issues with others that is not shared by the community.
We have both seem people react poorly to others that are different and go as far to suggest the person(s) in question leave the community as they don’t fit a preconceived mold. Instead of just not participating with those ppl.
Intolerances toward people who are different. Be it their pov and/or speech patterns etc… is not fostering a diverse community of open civil discourse.
True Blocks are only if course when a user is logged in. Reddit has a True Block. If you view content without being loggee in; your own block or others whom have blocked you are visible. AReddit also has an anonymous mode. However if not logged in or in anonymous view mode you cannot post or reply to any viewed content.
More complete blocking simply improves a member’s comfort and encourages the member whom has issues with another user to remain part of the community. Vs losing members who may even be upset enough and suggest other members be permanently banned as in their mind these individuals in their opinion is ruining the site for the majority.
I had this kind of situation as the one member believed a few individuals were “gaslighting” others Even though I had made the ignore function clear on how to use. And had attempted to explain to the sensitive user that there was a threshold of 5 unique members ignoring an individual would send the ignored user a message that the community was maybe finding them toxic and also notify the mod team.
Unfortunately this member whom was a really good contributor was lost and resulted in him leaving the community simply because he could see replies to the ignored user.
I know the team seems to have difficulty understanding that members ignoring each other will not stifle or truly interfere with discussions taking place.
It only gives a proper self serve tool for those who really need it. It also reduces the stress if the mod teams dealing with unnecessary drama between decent contributors who have an issue with one another.
Note I am attempting to remedy this in part by seeing if I can get a theme component working to simply expand the ignore function to include replies to the ignored user.
Unfortunately my first attempt using an AI has only tried hiding in part a quote of the ignored in another member’s post. The quote is still displayed but empty if the content of the quote. It shows that there is a quote to the ignored but content if quite is empty.
The logic however is not hiding replies to the ignored. So need to see if AI can figure out why it is not working or maybe post a dev topic to seek assistance from those who have skills that I have yet to acquire.
And in other situations, seeing the “view hidden content” link itself could be an upsetting reminder of an abusive exchange or otherwise unpleasant experience. Again, all well and good to say people shouldn’t feel that way but they do, and that costs our site valuable members (and no, these situations aren’t black-and-white violations of our rules, either - there are multiple nuances where we can’t just ban people and call it a day).