Is there such a thing as abusing the Ignore feature?

[JTG of the PRB]

Poll question: Is there such a thing as abusing the Ignore feature?

I've noticed in my travels over in GD: P that a lot of people are saying that their Ignore lists have grown from a few names to dozens in the course of a few weeks. I know it's everybody's prerogative who they want to communicate and who they don't want to. I choose not to use the Ignore feature, but that's just me.

So are there REALLY that many wholly unpleasant people on DU at the moment, are we all feeling a little nutty as the campaign grows more intense by the day, or are people simply overreacting because of some (admittedly often vehement) disagreement?

I'm curious to see what people think about all this.

[DarkTirade]

1. I don't abhor the ignore feature, but I've never used it.

[MediaBabe]

2. I clean out my list after a few days

Some days it really gets heated here and some of the people are just disgusting with the filth they post about the Democratic candidate they hate. When it's that bad I'll just start ignoring with a vengeance. Then, after a few days, I'll notice that there aren't any IGNORED in the threads I'm reading so I'll go and remove everybody but two particularly abhorrent names from my list. This works very well for me.

[Guava Jelly]

3. I am an advocate for ignore.

And a good candidate for it :D

[lligrd]

4. It Is Definitely Abused When The Only Posts One Sees

are one's own.

[Muttocracy]

5. I view it as a timesaver and bloodpressure reducer

Same way as there are websites I don't care to visit because they don't inform me, if I see people posting misleading information, attacking other people, etc., I "ignore" them. Often these are new people who get tombstoned pretty soon anyway. They just dilute the thoughtful posts. It's not like I have enough time to read all the good stuff on here anyway. Why waste time or get sucked into correcting someone who's posting lies on purpose?

I seem to see fewer flame wars than other people do (based on people saying it's bad on a particular day and it doesn't seem much different to me) and I don't think I'm missing out on much useful or humorous content, which is why I visit this site anyway. When there is a flame war it tends to look like person, ignore, person, ignore, etc. or ignore, ignore, ignore, ignore which kind confirms to me that there was a reason I ignored someone.

[JTG of the PRB]

6. Self-indulgent kick for a larger sample.

BOOT!

[Crazy Dave]

7. I get the occasional chickenshit dickhead....

...who posts something negative or personal to me, then puts me on ignore before I post a reply back to them.

[Boojatta]

8. People who have ignore lists much bigger than your ignore list

might not think that they have particularly big ignore lists. Their "only when I have to" might be your "great gusto."

[Demeter]

9. Abuse Is Such a Specific, Judgmental Word!

If you want to know how much people use it, that's one thing.

If you want to disapprove of people using it, that's a whole 'nother thing. I can't imagine why anyone would disapprove of using a feature to cut down on the aggravation and clutter.

Besides, in my experience, most of the people I put on Ignore disappear within weeks. Tombstoned!

The others are on most people's Ignore lists.

Sometimes a handle gets such a reputation that the Offensive One has to create a new persona. It usually goes the way of all such subterfuge, and that handle gets the same treatement...

[LeftyFingerPop]

10. I look at it this way, and I hope this does not offend anyone...

But if I have to use the ignore feature because I can't handle a few words on the internet, then how am I to survive in real life?

In other words, I have not nor will not use the ignore feature.

[Boojatta]

11. I think you mean: I have not used and will not use the ignore feature.

Now, don't you want to put me on ignore?

[LeftyFingerPop]

13. Because you improved my grammar?

No, I would not want to put someone on ignore for that. Was your question serious?

[Boojatta]

15. Some of my polls, not designed to infuriate people, do infuriate people.

Yet when I post something designed to infuriate, I get nothing. I need lessons.

[LeftyFingerPop]

16. I just don't get why....

people use "ignore" when they become infuriated.

I get infuriated in here a lot, and I suppose I infuriate a lot of people.

I also get infuriated in real life, but I can't usually just "ignore" or zap those who infuriate me out of existence.

It is all part of life to me...

[SaveOurDemocracy]

12. I use it only on those posters who have proven,

multiple times, that they have nothing insightful, balanced, or even amusing to bring to a discussion.

[Jamastiene]

14. DU currently has 115,486 user registrations,

most of which are NOT on my Ignore List. Those who are on my Ignore List, got there by doing something to earn the spot. Out of that many people, I have about 1/1000th of them on ignore. Have I added a lot more recently? You bet I have. There have been some real sexist, racist, homophobic diatribes brought out lately, some by new posters and some by older posters I have never even seen before.

[LSdemocrat]

17. I put a couple of people on tonight for a couple of really odious threads in GD:P

On edit: Right now those are the only people on my ignore list

[NoPasaran]

18. I only have a couple of hundred on Ignore

That's not a lot, is it?