“Block” feature

[Ban-jani]

How do you do it?

Just tried to block someone and didn’t see it anywhere.

 

[BobKowalski]

Not a fan. Used the ignore function on one poster for excessive gif usage, but if you’re posting in the Politics section then you can’t be shocked or upset if people are going to have a different point of view to you.

 

[mancity2012_eamo]

I’ve never blocked anyone and doubt anyone has blocked me.
You’re on a forum by choice.
What’s the point.
Just behave.

 

[Bigga]

I have to say, it seems like people would turn into ' William Foster', aka 'D-Fens', if they were given half a chance, given the replies and frothed mouthed nature of some of the posters that can't handle an accurate alternative POV, especially one with thought behind it!

*bonus point if anyone actually remembers the reference to 'D-Fens'...

 

[Rascal]

Now that we’ve upgraded the forum software, there are more options available in terms of add-ons. One that has been suggested is an extension of the ignore function, which essentially makes it like the Twitter block feature (i.e. you can’t see their posts, and they can’t see yours). Part of me thinks this could be a solution to the problems we face in the Political Forum particularly. Might stop a lot of the silly arguments that plague these threads, but stop them being pulled and allow more sensible discussion to thrive amongst those willing to do so. Any thoughts?

Block feature sounds like a great name for a band

 

[Vic]

We should have a bluemoon fight club to iron out any differences once a month. Who wants to meet up at the fucking Rain Bar or Shambles Square and have a pint with some of the bores on here whose most entertaining contribution to the forum is on the muffin or barm thread. Give me a week's notice and I'll book out the gym at Moston Lads Club and we can sort out whether Dawn Butler was telling the truth once and for all.

I think there are a few who would fight themselves.

But "block" essentially means you could make someone "ignore" you? So you could post insulting stuff about another poster and they wouldn't know....

 

[blueinsa]

It would work but it also reinforces the echo chamber these threads would become.

 

[Dicko69]

*bonus point if anyone actually remembers the reference to 'D-Fens'...

Falling down?

 

[Deleted member 77198]

Now that we’ve upgraded the forum software, there are more options available in terms of add-ons. One that has been suggested is an extension of the ignore function, which essentially makes it like the Twitter block feature (i.e. you can’t see their posts, and they can’t see yours). Part of me thinks this could be a solution to the problems we face in the Political Forum particularly. Might stop a lot of the silly arguments that plague these threads, but stop them being pulled and allow more sensible discussion to thrive amongst those willing to do so. Any thoughts?

Blocking of opposing thoughts creates an echo chamber for people to only read what they agree with. This then starts to pull opinion further apart in the wider world. The echo of the same kind of views starts to open up to more extremist views on that wing and that’s when extremism starts to creep into moderate politics.

Extremism can either be hate or over-sensitivity. Neither are healthy, both as bad as each other, but that’s what you get in an echo chamber. And the echos condition people into believing that hate or oversensitivity is the norm.

The problem in the Politics forum on here extends from echo chambers on the nutjob social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

I touched on it in a post yesterday. The problem isn’t that people disagree and fall into huge arguments, the problem is people in this modern world have become warped individuals who only think one way of thinking is right and won’t accept or even ever look for positives in the opposition.

Only reading what you agree with stops you being able to read other forms of opinion that can correct you when you’re wrong. It then leads to people stopping being open to other forms of opinion because they think their views are the only correct ones because they are never exposed to the alternative view.

I’ll use the example of a documentary I watched recently called Fahrenheit 9/11. If you only watched that and didn’t listen or read about opposing views, you’ve only been exposed to what Michael Moore has told you on that particular topic. In conjunction with that documentary I also watched FahrenHYPE 9/11 where an alternative view to Moore’s is put forward. FahrenHYPE 9/11 included real interviews with people that Moore put into his documentary (from selected, clipped and heavily edited video footage and interviews that Moore did not actually film himself) saying that the way Moore portrayed their views are not what they think and that Fahrenheit 9/11 is not what it seems and Moore tried to put across.

Now I’m not saying that after watching HYPE I now don’t believe heit, but I’ve exposed myself to both sides of the story. I sat back, thought about it, and have picked and chosen the bits from both that I have realised are true and reliable. I realised that in both sides of the argument there were very poignant truths and some absurd made up bollocks!

People don’t do this enough. They warp their own minds in echos of the same views.

I don’t think anyone has lead the sleeves down the extreme on here though as we all do read each other’s views. But I do think some people have let themselves be lead into echoes on other forms of social media which is why they argue against everything they think isn’t their side.

 

[Bigga]

Blocking of opposing thoughts creates an echo chamber for people to only read what they agree with. This then starts to pull opinion further apart in the wider world. The echo of the same kind of views starts to open up to more extremist views on that wing and that’s when extremism starts to creep into moderate politics.

Extremism can either be hate or over-sensitivity. Neither are healthy, both as bad as each other, but that’s what you get in an echo chamber. And the echos condition people into believing that hate or oversensitivity is the norm.

The problem in the Politics forum on here extends from echo chambers on the nutjob social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

I touched on it in a post yesterday. The problem isn’t that people disagree and fall into huge arguments, the problem is people in this modern world have become warped individuals who only think one way of thinking is right and won’t accept or even ever look for positives in the opposition.

Only reading what you agree with stops you being able to read other forms of opinion that can correct you when you’re wrong. It then leads to people stopping being open to other forms of opinion because they think their views are the only correct ones because they are never exposed to the alternative view.

I’ll use the example of a documentary I watched recently called Fahrenheit 9/11. If you only watched that and didn’t listen or read about opposing views, you’ve only been exposed to what Michael Moore has told you on that particular topic. In conjunction with that documentary I also watched FahrenHYPE 9/11 where an alternative view to Moore’s is put forward. FahrenHYPE 9/11 included real interviews with people that Moore put into his documentary (from selected, clipped and heavily edited video footage and interviews that Moore did not actually film himself) saying that the way Moore portrayed their views are not what they think and that Fahrenheit 9/11 is not what it seems and Moore tried to put across.

Now I’m not saying that after watching HYPE I now don’t believe heit, but I’ve exposed myself to both sides of the story. I sat back, thought about it, and have picked and chosen the bits from both that I have realised are true and reliable. I realised that in both sides of the argument there were very poignant truths and some absurd made up bollocks!

People don’t do this enough. They warp their own minds in echos of the same views.

I don’t think anyone has lead the sleeves down the extreme on here though as we all do read each other’s views. But I do think some people have let themselves be lead into echoes on other forms of social media which is why they argue against everything they think isn’t their side.

I agree with virtually everything you said.

For me, it's not that I'm not open to other views, for me I have been exposed to those views already, swallowed it, believed it and have learned new perspectives to open up my thought process.

I don't mind being flawed, here and there, as I learn, but I'd rather be 'through the looking glass' than see the reflection I'm told is real, like others do, and not what's on the other side.