I think this feature is for babies, and anyone truly troublesome just needs to be banned.

Like this, for instance. Instead of downvoting it, I would simply be able to ignore him, and we'd both be a lot better off for it.

Glad you enjoy the forum, but how about we let everyone decide for themselves what they want to see or not?

I happen to dislike two or three very opinionated posters around here, not that I regard them as bad persons, but they really get on my nerves. And yeah, my first reaction is to try to ignore their posts but it's kinda hard to do, the community is very small and they seem to feel the need to voice their opinion in almost every flippin topic out there.

So yeah, I'd really like to be able to avoid what they write, and I don't want to downrep their posts just because I disagree with them. Ignore is a very BASIC forum function, I've never had to use it on other boards, but here? I'd really like it.

You'd ignore him just because he has a different opinion :s ? Now that's weak ...
I actually kinda agree with him.... back in the day we didn't have such a feature, and did very well without it. Sometimes when it got difficult to enjoy a forum, a moderator would take it upon himself to moderate, but it's just silly to completely ignore someone just because of some posts that contradict your way of thinking.

It's possible that this wouldn't bother SimonG, as otherwise he'd be giving something away to someone he actively doesn't like. Gifters should certainly be allowed to be discriminating in who they gift to.

Personally I value your opinion and I wouldn't want to lose sight of it in the future, even if we happen to have some fundamental disagreement over this one thing. And in general I would hope that the things I write on this forum reach the eyes of its participants, because in general I would like to think I produce content worth reading on some level, same as everyone else manages to do most of the time.

Pulling the ignore trigger on someone for a single post you don't like seems like it goes against what makes this community great in the first place.

EDIT: Also, on rep points, perhaps this is just because I don't look at them, but I haven't noticed any problems with personality changes as rep increases. Who cares about rep anyways?

@ PheonixWright

Even if you don't care about your rep points, I gave you + rep on your past remark to compensate on a potential - rep from Skunk.. So you'r just gonna have to deal with it :p.

I don't see it as a contradiction. The ability to speak freely is a right, the ability to be listened to is a privilege.

We're on the same page, I just misread your first post.

I don't see myself ever using this feature if it's implemented, because I like seeing different opinions, and it's easy enough to skim over posts I don't like.

Maybe a way to block forum replies and pms would be nice though, as those give notifications, which can get annoying I guess.

Wow. That was a bit of an overreaction.

...and I would most certainly add you to that list as well. You seem to have no problem with him indirectly insulting myself and other by calling us babies, so I see little reason I would want to bother with you.

Back in the day, TV was a luxury, owning my own computer was unthinkable, having $100 a month for food was impossible, we surfed the internet without mouse wheels and tabbed browsing, a 20MB patch meant leaving the phone tied up overnight, and liking video games made you a social pariah.

As much as I sometimes wish it was, it's not "the day" anymore. All right, so you want me to be unwillingly subjected to the idiocy of people I want nothing to do with, rather than simply ignoring them? Now I have to put up with their presence. Who does this benefit, exactly, and what good could possibly come of this?

Perhaps in the first half of the 90's. I don't know, I wasn't exactly on forums at the time. Aside from GOG, virtually every forum on the internet is made up of moderators who have no business wielding any form of power at all. Ever. I could tell stories, but suffice it to say that Zefar's head, in particular, couldn't be a millimeter further up his own ass, and I'll leave it at that.


I'm no fan of censorship, and I'm glad that aside from unsavory links, spam, and strong curses in topic titles, they've left well enough alone as they should. However, I would argue that ignoring people on an individual basis is a far different thing from censorship proper. Free expression is a crucial part of society, people should have every right to say what they wish, but having to answer the door for anybody who steps on your doorstep and listen to their spiel is a quite different matter.

Frankly, I'm obnoxious and hateful, and you shouldn't have to be reading this right now unless you absolutely have no problem with it. I don't care how much anybody hates me. The feeling is likely mutual. If my presence is enough that it makes people consider leaving the forums, they should absolutely be able to ignore me entirely. So long as I can do the same, both parties couldn't be happier.

Alright, here's my last point on the subject. I want to be able to say what I want, but I also want to do it in a manner which, in the majority of my communication, is civil and responsible. If ignoring becomes possible, I have to constantly keep in mind that anything I say may wipe me off the face of GOG for a user who I may or may not think is really important, and that I want to discuss things with.

This leads me to a site where I am censoring myself if I want to keep all of the community in tact for later discussions. At this point, I don't even feel like I can say anything anymore.

After GameFAQs (an unpleasant site, yeah) implemented an ignore feature, the discussions on some boards were no longer even coherent because everyone felt the need to ignore almost everyone else. I know some will argue that it's possible to use the feature responsibly, but I think it's really harmful and I hope that it doesn't get implemented on this site without some serious consideration and discussions with the community about it.
Look, I apologize, I was kidding.
I would rather you were obnoxious and hateful publicly rather than attack users covertly with this feature. If you are indeed obnoxious and hateful, you will receive enough downvotes to be hidden by default. That is a good system in my opinion. And if you have nothing to say that doesn't end up in that situation you will probably be banned, which was my original point, although I put it in a way that offended you, which I regret now that I've seen how seriously you took it.

This is true. Honestly, I really think GOG is a great haven for communication given the current community and current systems in place, and I just don't want to see that leave.

The idea that some people are putting forward, that everyone here is mature and helpful is a bit absurd when just a couple weeks ago we had more than a few users going berserk over the humble bundle thing. I think it reasonable to not want to see the posts of the type of person that thinks registering on a developer's forum and telling them to suck his dick is decent behavior.

Frankly, I think bans should be used extremely sparingly. As in, unless somebody has made it totally obvious that they deserve a ban (i.e. posting incoherent spam, swindling people, completely incapable of anything resembling civilized conduct), bans should be somewhere far, far after "last resort".

Too many moderators use bans simply to stifle "less important" people that they personally can't be bothered to listen to. I know I was originally going to "leave it at that", but I'd like to make a point against the overuse of bans. Go ahead and read Zefar's profile on Steam.

http://steamcommunity.com/id/Zefar

Miraculously, he hasn't deleted my comments yet. They're on the very last page. He essentially banned me for talking back to him after disagreeing with moderating me on the forum. I made one single offense after a clean year on the forum as "Heresiarch" (I berated somebody for being careless enough to fall for an incredibly obvious phishing scam), and after being moderated, I said "Again? Don't you get bored of this?" as a response and was banned outright.

Seeing as I was banned from the forums and continually rejected in my support tickets, I had no way of contacting him through the forums (without making another forum account, which would only give him reason to ban me for "ban evasion") and tried to contact him through Steam. I thought that we could settle things in a more civil manner through one-on-one conversation. I sent him a few friend requests and tried to get his attention in the comments, but he rejected my friend requests and blocked me from commenting on his page after three posts. It's unfortunate that he's too important to deign to speak with me.

After all, why would he ever want to speak with me again when he already got the last laugh and said "Again? Well looks to me you've been evading a ban and can't follow the rules. You're banned for ban evasion. Bye".

Isn't he just the most respectful, least condescending person you've ever met? Swell fellow, huh? ¬_¬


For the love of GOG, don't let anybody like this ever moderate on the GOG forums. I'm happy with the small team currently in charge if it means never having to deal with complete dicks like this.