DEALING WITH ONE ANOTHER

Moving this to general. This is not a tech support request.

Phoenix, can you point us to the moderator account? Please and thank you. I was looking for it the other day, and couldn't figure out where it was. I am admittedly not up on all the screens available. (i still have no idea what the 'query' is that MapleLeaf kept telling us not to use in his 'who posted this' threads)

BTW, an ignore user feature has been in the works for a long time. Thing is, it's complicated and not for technical reasons. Sometimes an ignore user feature causes more problems.

That's too funny, sozobe. I'd never clicked on that spyglass before. There's so much here that I'm totally unaware of.

If its not for technical reasons, could you please explain what problems it causes? Is it things like losing the continuity of the discussion?

There's that and there is also the fact that many who advocate an "ignore" policy don't actually follow it and make their decision to ignore known. Which is, of course, not ignoring.

On amny sites with such a feature that means people do the "na na na na na na, we are ignoring you" stuff and then others create new accounts to get around it.

All of that needs to be addressed in any technical solution.

Right now my focus is on "ignore" features for PMs as I think it's a no-brainer to have.

Hope you can incorporate the ignore feature. IMO, it will save a lot of wasted energy.

Since you don't allow multiple accounts here, that should eliminate that problem shouldn't it?

As for the na na na folks, that's when a moderator steps in and gives them the meaning of ignore. It forces/empowers people to be self-moderating, either by moderating their own behavior or blocking the behavior of others without imposing their sense of outrage on everyone else and requesting rules to deal with it, or feeling like they are tattling. Your TOS would still govern the overall content of posts so the other na na na folks won't be able to just say "if you don't like what I say then just put me on ignore" when violating your TOS.

It helps moderators step out of the babysitting function that is so tedious and political.

Hey, Tartar, thanks for the compliment. I know I can be a sore in the backside sometimes, but it's still nice to hear some people enjoy my posts. c.i.

Click on the link in my sig line and you'll be connected to sending a PM to the Moderator account (there's a similar link in timberlandko's signature line). It's a lot easier if you send stuff to the Moderator account rather to one of us individually, as we - I know this will come as a surprise to some - are occasionally offline. :-D

And I reiterate what Phoenix said: it is not a bother and should not be seen as a problem for you to contact us. We want to help you. But we are not omniscient. We do not know if there's something offensive that was said to you because we cannot read minds - what is a problem for you, we might shrug at - we simply don't know your reaction unless you tell us.

Folks, I applaud attempts to resolve differences amongst yourselves, but the fact is, if these are violations of the Terms of Service, we need to know about them (stalking, in particular). You aren't tattling. You aren't being uncommunity-minded. We are here for a reason. Let us help you. Thank you!!!

PS EhBeth, the "query" Mapleleaf is referring to is the Search function, which is available at the top of every screen.

ehBeth- Just go to the place where you write PMs.( I usually click "You have no new messages" to get to that page) Click New PM. Under username, write Moderator.

hey - where did sozobe's post go? i followed her direction to search (aka query) but i still can't find the moderator account. hmmmm, maybe if i do a memberlist search?

Multiple accounts are not prohibited, multiple accounts for the sake of causing problems are.

That would certainly be a case of a secondary account used to cause problems.

But the problems with the ignore feature are in that I think it exacerbates rather than helps. If someone truely wants to ignore another member they don't need software to help. With software it will probably be used for PMs butnot for threads.

This situation is common:

Member a has member b on ignore.

Member b posts "member a is an idiot" (member a doesn't see it)

member c says "member b, don't say that about member a"

Then member a turns off the feature out of curiosity. Ulimately member a must decide to respond or not.

In short, ultimately it comes down to the members, and the software will rarely be helpful.

Hold off on the search for the mod account. I will make a new mod account that is listed on the first memberlist page.

But Craven, wouldn't the TOS cover the "Member a is an idiot" part of your scenario?

Yes, it's just an example. The TOS covers a lot of things that one might wish to ignore.

Jeezopete.....I certainly hope I haven't ticked anyone off.

Trying not to duplicate what has already been said, and trying to adhere to Setanta's request for other than "ignore" responses, the only other thing that I can think of is to parse the person's comments into logical, light of day, analysis. This can only be done when the poster has given you words and meat with which to work, but I have used it with some success.

But one can, on occasion, point out clearly what that person is doing, or appears to be saying, in the post in question. Often, it will stop this person dead in his or her tracks. Embarrassment? Hoisted on their own petard? Becoming non-plussed (if that is the proper phrase), etc. It doesn't matter: they stop and go away.

Piggy-backing sumac--or riding the dolphin--
I like it when we police ourselves. Many times, our buds will show up and try to diffuse a prickly situation. Either by PM or on the thread.

Another quality in a really classy community. :wink:

A2K is a very classy place, with some very interesting people.