Site Suggestion - include feature for user options to ignore/block forums
- Thread starter PrivatePilot
- Start date
And you know what? It doesn't need to be that way.
Life is better when you make the conscious decision to not let your life revolve around politics.
I could go on with more details why I made that choice, but it IS a choice.
I choose to enjoy life instead. I watch the news, I form my own decisions instead of having others form them for me. I vote accordingly. I enjoy living in one of the best countries in the world in the meantime, and that's that.
I agree 100% life is short.
See reply above. I watch and read the news and form my own opinions and political stances accordingly. And I vote accordingly in both provincial and federal elections.
I don't need or want to debate my views and decisions with others so they can screech at me about how ****** my choices or viewpoints are, and how stupid I am.
Because in reality, that's the gist of 99% of political discussion anymore. Everyone is polarized. It's become a team sport. People don't want to listen to anything that doesn't fit or agree with their preconceived ideas or opinions, and they sure as hell don't want to even remotely consider changing their minds even in the face of some differing opinion or fact that would actually serve their desires in life better.
I'm not saying this is what happens here, thing are *usually* (not always) more civilized in most discussions based on my occasional past participation, but a few snipes flying back and forth in this very thread over, yeah, politics....speaks volumes.
I don't think anyones asking for P&R to be banned completely or whatever.
I just think it needs to be relegated somewhere where it's separate, and then give members the ability to turn that whole section off.
The "Site Supporters" tier includes privileges that allow access to the Trash Talk forum. Without being a supporter the forum just doesn't show. So surely there's some way to use the privilege system the other way around to simply turn off a P&R forum for those who aren't interested in seeing it. Heck, even phpBB and the ancient vBulletin that GTAM used to run on had these sorts of abilities, I'd be surprised if Xenforo doesn't, although admittedly I'm not familiar with it's backend permissions architecture.
Exactly. Use the hack I posted earlier. Removed from the "What's New" list. Easy peasy, one and done.
I really think there's interest in this. I'm sure even the politics-junkies wouldn't mind. Their own playpen. I see no downside. Win-Win-Win.
I think some sort of happy medium can be found using the tools at hand. Heck, if it requires a plugin or something for the forum software that costs a bit of money I suspect there's a few here who will gladly chip in towards those costs, myself included.
If the "Mark as read" hack is too kludgey, here's an official version.
Ignore Content
Take control of your experience: ignore forums, threads, tags, conversations, and users with ease. Ignore Forums Allows users to ignore specific forums and hide their content. Ignored forums will not appear in view. Ignore Threads Lets users...
xenforo.com
If all politics threads, without exception, are limited to a specific forum, then that's a workable solution, sure. A bit kludgy, but a solution nonetheless.
But unless things have changed since I've left, P&R content used to sometimes end up in Trash Talk, sometimes in Romper Room, and sometimes in places like the HTA forum as well.
If the "Mark as read" hack is too kludgey, here's an official version.
Ignore Content
Take control of your experience: ignore forums, threads, tags, conversations, and users with ease. Ignore Forums Allows users to ignore specific forums and hide their content. Ignored forums will not appear in view. Ignore Threads Lets users...
$15 USD a year solves all these issues for everyone here at GTAM who wants to avoid politics, as well as any members they don't really jive with - it looks to be a very versatile plugin.
I'll personally pay this every year.
Problem solved.
@cutekill can we make this happen? The plugin is up to date and will work with even the most recent version of Xenforo, so it should be rock and roll.
It will certainly require active moderation to move posts that are political in nature from inside threads, but fack, I'll certainly volunteer to report all these posts when they crop up, to make the mods lives easier.
I'll chip in too.
Cool.
Start off with a separate sub-forum first.
Use my hack so people can remove that forum from the "What's New" list.
Then if @cutekill wants to install the official "Ignore Content" xenforo plug-in, it can be applied to that same forum that was already created.
I know my way around forum SW, also PP and I have been SysOps from way back in the BBS days. I'm sure we can lend a hand if need be.
Since that kludge was shown to be irreversible, I'd suggest we all wait before using that method A forum ID may change in such a way that one inadvertently ends up blocking a forum they actually want to see, and then have no way to reverse that.
Not entirely irreversible. I set the Mark Read date to 1 year forward, and yep, 1 year later, the forum was back on What's New again. I can create a 1 month, 3-month, 1-year, whatever button for folks who don't want it unshowable forever.
But yeah, forum IDs may change...
I'm not 100% on how the forum software works or what its capabilities are.
Under "Your Account: Preferences" you have a few dozen options re notifications where you can detail what you want to be notified about, or not.
Under "Your Account: Ignoring" all forums and sub-forums could be listed along with the ability to click a box next to each one to block it. Default is that all are viewed. Users could block 1 or more forums based on their preferences.
We have many forums and sub-forums. Under "Off Topic General Forums" add a "Politics" sub-forum.
Do this and users see what they want to and are effectively ignoring everything else.
Under "Your Account: Preferences" you have a few dozen options re notifications where you can detail what you want to be notified about, or not.
Under "Your Account: Ignoring" all forums and sub-forums could be listed along with the ability to click a box next to each one to block it. Default is that all are viewed. Users could block 1 or more forums based on their preferences.
We have many forums and sub-forums. Under "Off Topic General Forums" add a "Politics" sub-forum.
Do this and users see what they want to and are effectively ignoring everything else.
Easier just to pick the few peeps that irritate you and set your preferences to ignore them. I see the posts from the helpful interesting people, I block the ones with the “whatever I say is always correct and you’re wrong if you disagree” attitude.
Easier to live happy when you leave drama behind. According to my wife I like my cat and maybe 3 people
Easier to live happy when you leave drama behind. According to my wife I like my cat and maybe 3 people
