today I did something I swore I'd never do: put someone on ignore.

[CTyankee]

I've been here since 2004 so it's quite a feat but actually I never really cared that much...

I remember Skinner saying he had some people on Ignore and found it helpful. So I thought I'd see how I'd feel. Actually, I am kind of relieved...one less stressor in my already stressed life!

Really, I don't feel I am missing that much...and it's nice just not being bothered...

[Coventina]

1. Ah geez! Who could be a jerk to you?!?! You're one of DU's best!

I'm sure the "ignore" was well-earned!

[CTyankee]

4. well, thanks...I just was shocked that an opinion could be called "filthy."

It kinda shocked me, really. Right in the middle of a debate over an issue...I just thought "OK, that's enough..."

[elleng]

2. Haven't done it yet, yank,

but now that you've legitimized it for me, I'll keep it as a live option in the back of my mind.

[CTyankee]

5. Yes, I just felt that there was so much good to experience here, why put up with something you would

never tolerate in your daily life. But that's the Internet, I guess...

[ProfessorGAC]

26. Same Here

Well, that's not completely true. There was a tool here sometime back that i put on ignore, but he fell off the list when he outed himself as a disruptor and republican and got tombstoned.

That was a few years back.

[elleng]

28. SMART of you to pick up on it, Professor!

[hlthe2b]

3. I have used it--usually for only a day or two

By then the "passions" of whatever transpired have largely died down.

If it is someone who has earned a reputation of being a flame-baiter, I purposely don't read their comments, so I guess that is ignoring without using the function. For me, at least, there are only a small handful of such posters... Still, life is too short...

[CTyankee]

6. this came as a real shock to me...

[Gidney N Cloyd]

7. If it's who I think it is from your xanax thread this morning, you showed amazing restraint.

[CTyankee]

8. No it was on a gun thread. I think the poster self deleted and I self deleted most of mine.

didn't want to be in the same company...the whole thing was upsetting and unpleasant. I had sort of hoped that people
here could have strong debate but not go over the line.

[CTyankee]

9. Actually, it's kind of funny just the thought of a xanax thread as going out of control...

[Paladin]

10. Don't bear any guilt trips over using the Ignore function.

Like you, I went for years and years here at DU without using it; some sort of feeling that putting someone on Ignore was a sign of personal inadequacy on my part. Welllll....that feeling went away, the first time I utilized the Ignore button on somebody who genuinely deserved it. It felt great. And it's continued to feel great in those subsequent instances that I've resorted to it. Everybody needs to understand that some individuals are a waste of time, and allowing their thoughts to infect your space should not be tolerated. There are folks on DU with whom you disagree but who offer an opportunity for interesting discussions....and then there are assholes, who don't deserve a second of your time. Continue talking with the former, zap out the latter. Maintain your standards.

[Wounded Bear]

11. Generally, I can just ignore folks by not clicking on their posts...

but sometimes you just have to take stronger measures.

No reason to feel bad or guilty. You're just keeping the trash out.

[Major Nikon]

19. That's what I do

Some people are just perpetually unhappy and they desperately want everyone else to be that way as well. It's not that hard to just pass them by. Some are even smart enough to take the hint and they stop replying to you.

[panader0]

12. Can you read this?

[CTyankee]

13. just your sig line...what's up?

[panader0]

14. Just checking to see if I was the one on ignore. lol

[CTyankee]

15. my goodness, why would I do that?

I have only taken out the usual suspects...I am sure there are a few more but I won't be seeing any of them since I dumped that whole group. Too toxic and I don't like bad smells in my neighborhood...

[seveneyes]

16. It's like the last song about Satan

[IrishEyes]

17. I only did it once

I put a guy on ignore who was pretty sexist against women.

[mackerel]

18. I blocked someone here once. I had to they wouldn't stop sending

me silly emails. All because I didn't answer one of their posts. I block people in real life too.

[Marrah_G]

20. It makes Du a much nicer place

I started using ignore liberally during the primary wars.

[CTyankee]

21. You know, in our own lives most of us have had to literally avoid people who become

intolerable, in one way or another. As I said earlier in his thread, why tolerate here what we would not tolerate in our daily lives outside of DU? I have had to part with friends and associates due to a behavior issue, or a set of beliefs we find reproachable or any number of other reasons. We just don't. It cleanses our "air" here on DU considerably to judiciously use the "Ignore" option...

[Paladin]

22. Nicely put. (nt)

[Marrah_G]

34. Exactly

I would hang out in the real world with someone I could not stand listening to, so I don't do it here either. I have had many on ignore for years. Some since the last primary. Occasionally I clear the list, but those same people I had forgotten existed went right back on in a matter of days.

[hamsterjill]

23. Like you, I'd really not used it much.

But I have put a couple of posters on ignore recently. This was during some of the more volatile discussions about the race situations, and I found a couple of people who seemed to follow me around trying to brand me a racist. Seemed like every time I posted something, there they were trying to inflame what I said.

I don't consider myself a racist at all. I reviewed my posts to make sure that I hadn't said anything that might be offensive, found that there was nothing objectionable in the posts, and honestly felt that these posters hadn't bothered to actually read the posts and understand. I felt "ganged up on".

So I decided that I would better enjoy DU if I didn't have to put up with that kind of shit. And it's been nice not having to deal with their crap.

[CTyankee]

25. the gun issue is a difficult one for DU to deal with.

I was trying to deal with it as a public safety issue, thinking that would remove some of the sticking points about the
2nd amendment, but to my surprise it was just as polarizing...

[hamsterjill]

29. Some posters are simply so passionate about an issue that they fail to read carefully, I think.

I got into trouble "defending" Darren Wilson, unfortunately. And all that I ever said was that, by law, he was innocent until proven guilty and that he was entitled to the rights afforded him through the judicial system.

I never indicated whether I (personally) thought he was innocent. But I certainly believe that everyone, including Darren Wilson, is entitled to their rights under the law. Because I dared even broach the subject rather than going along with the prevalent angry mentality on DU at that moment, I got slammed. Posters were not reading what I wrote with comprehension, but were only seeing the name "Darren Wilson" and the word "innocent" in the same paragraph, and getting mad over that.

It was the first time in ten years on DU that I'd been followed around and had other posters say that they thought I was a racist. It hurt a lot, particularly, since I was at one time married to someone outside of my own race. I considered leaving DU over it, too, because I felt the discussion group had reached a new low and was going in the wrong direction.

Then I realized that this particular group was just a bunch of mean-spirited people who were not allowing discussion on a DISCUSSION board. They were trying to make it "their way or the highway" and if someone didn't subscribe to their hate mongering to the degree THEY deemed appropriate, that they were trying to squelch discussion. They were obviously either not taking the time to comprehend postings, or were too ignorant to comprehend what had been written. I noticed that these posters were getting very high post counts in short periods of time. For me, I don't post just to increase my post count.

At that point, I put the most volatile of them on ignore, and I haven't missed a thing.

[RobinA]

27. I've Been Here

since 2002 and the first time I put someone on Ignore was during the Snowden debates. It did make life easier, because I didn't want to ignore the subject entirely, just this person who was all over the subject all the time. I also once had to ignore someone who was taking up much more than his fair share of space in the Lounge.

[Burma Jones]

30. I have....I looked at my list and found

that all but one have had their posting privileges revoked anyway.

[CTyankee]

31. hmm, that's interesting...

[dixiegrrrrl]

32. Ignore AND "trash thread" and "block" options

all help make DU much more readable at times.

Wish they could be used in real world.

[CTyankee]

33. Ah, it's the anonymity thing here at DU...unlike the real world but yes...in the real

world I've known people who just don't "filter" very much...and they really should...I just give up after a try or two and then say "that's it, no more."