The Ignore User feature (now in 2.3.0.beta7)

@Beckfield - you are 100% correct. MUTE would be an awesome feature. I am not understanding why the counter-arguments are SO STRONG here. Makes me wonder if the technical difficulty (or LOE) of coding the enhancement are that impactful to the core code that all of the banter is a smokescreen as an excuse to not fully vet what it would take to put into play. :slight_smile:

Here are some examples of users on ANOTHER board that uses antiquated internet 1.0 forum software (not sure the name), but has tons of participation. This might provide more concrete CONTEXT to some of the detractors:

  • User has an annoying writing style or formatting. Excruciatingly long-winded replies, repeating the same stories, from the same perspective, using the same language, maybe uses some annoying animated images, or has a signature I’d rather not see. Flag-able - NOT AT ALL. Annoying - for sure. If the user posts enough, it might affect my participation on the board. Again, nothing I would call an admin about, but the board would most likely lose some membership if others are like me.
  • 1 or more users troll EACH OTHER – and only each other. When user A posts, it always illicits a response from user B. Like a bad inside joke. Depending on which user is the worst, I’d like to mute BOTH of them.
  • User only posts about one thing – that I’m not interested in. In this case, this is a sports board, and sure, people are WELCOME to sell equipment, ask about the latest gear, post that they are looking to buy XYZ, or local directors post ONLY when they’re throwing events (in other states that aren’t mine). I want to MUTE these people – their content will never be (or at the moment isn’t) relevant to me.

Are those good enough examples? Who knows – but I specifically found this thread, looking for THIS feature, so I could propose THIS software to the man who runs the community as a direct fix for one of our boards biggest issues: ANNOYING USERS. Right now – people pretty much just say the same thing that is being beat over @Beckfield’s head which is: “if you don’t like what they are saying, IGNORE it”.

It would be nice if there was a software solution here.

Maybe to keep threads in ‘context’ muting users could see grayed out placeholder of the thread that was hidden (just the title/muted user name and clicking it would not let the user see the content – the muting user can’t have it both ways!) If the muting user wants to see the content, unmute the user in settings. Make it a semi-difficult feature to abuse.

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