Some of the trolls might take it as a badge of honor to have seriously negative numbers, sort of confirming they are doing their job well.

I don't think it's tough to implement. we had one for a very short time back in one of the RP remakes. I think it comes standard with the forum software. I remember blocking RohH. it was wonderful. Bill took it out.

on the other hand, I'm not sure I would use it today. well, maybe for the extreme cases. What worries me is the early dismissal of some posters that came off as argumentative to me at first but have turned out to be very valuable part of this community.

More than an ignore feature I'd like to see a rate-the-post feature. +1 -1 and eventually the people who think they're Hi-larryous or so so smart (me) would get some feedback over time that tells them: maybe not. The scoring can get more elaborate too, so that if a poster gets more +1s then it goes to some sort of poster-rating system but we used to have a 3-star system and Bill got rid of it. Altho it only measured the number of posts a person had and quickly became exclusionary. But a generally fair system where new people start out with say a good rating of 7 out of 10 or whatever, and can move up from there by being helpful and also by not being a dick... and there's a long way to fall... might be impossible but that's something I think I'd like to have.

I like the idea. But I think the ignore button is a tough thing to implement, and I wonder how much of an impact we have on RP as a whole: given how many thousands of members there are and only a few dozen participating in the Forum, can we really make enough of an impact that BillG will be willing to spend the time on it?

One way to find out, I guess. Good thinking! 

steeler wrote:
The perfect is the enemy of the good.

It works better if everyone uses it as the default way of punishing a troll, but it would be better than just wringing our hands while trolls drive people away

I like the idea. But I think the ignore button is a tough thing to implement, and I wonder how much of an impact we have on RP as a whole: given how many thousands of members there are and only a few dozen participating in the Forum, can we really make enough of an impact that BillG will be willing to spend the time on it?

One way to find out, I guess. Good thinking! 

I work from home. That is...alone.

I came here for the music, and I still listen. But a few years back RP's forum became my watercooler, the place I engage with bright creative people with something in common. It's a lifeline.

During a particularly bad troll infestation I've pondered wandering off. The signal-to-noise ratio gets so low that a quick glance at the RAFT is all I need to know. It's driving good people away, the people I come here to engage with, the people who make this what I need.

So, it would only work here, in the aggregate, if near everyone "ignored" the same person?

Yes.  Most rational folks know this.

So, if you could dial the RP wayback machine back to '03-'09, and look upon all the posts that were outright dismissive, sneering and abusive to anyone who held or expressed a differing opinion to that of the "in crowd", how would you deal with it?  Any different now that then?  Back then, the silence from many here was deafening.  And I'm not referring to the usual torrents of abuse from the usual suspects.  No, this is about all the abuse hurled by our 'intellectual superiors', many of which have now abandoned the forum, or only rarely visit.  Perhaps they're now reaping what they helped sow — being intolerant to "diversity".

I came here for the music, and I still listen. But a few years back RP's forum became my watercooler, the place I engage with bright creative people with something in common. It's a lifeline.

During a particularly bad troll infestation I've pondered wandering off. The signal-to-noise ratio gets so low that a quick glance at the RAFT is all I need to know. It's driving good people away, the people I come here to engage with, the people who make this what I need.

And I need this.

 

So, it would only work here, in the aggregate, if near everyone "ignored" the same person?

I work from home. That is...alone.

I came here for the music, and I still listen. But a few years back RP's forum became my watercooler, the place I engage with bright creative people with something in common. It's a lifeline.

During a particularly bad troll infestation I've pondered wandering off. The signal-to-noise ratio gets so low that a quick glance at the RAFT is all I need to know. It's driving good people away, the people I come here to engage with, the people who make this what I need.

And I need this.

Here's the rub: what you need you should be willing to pay for. RP is a commercial enterprise. Bill & Rebecca make their living from this. If the forum is more of a sideshow, a distraction, then it doesn't deserve the attention that keeping the stream on the air does and it won't get it. Maybe what the forum needs is a show of support.

My favorite idea so far for fixing the troll problem is an Ignore button, because it would allow us to solve the problem ourselves without Bill having to play forum cop. Remember, when Bill has to kick someone out he's alienating a potential subscriber. That's not something we should ask him to do, but we can ask him to make it easier for us to enjoy this place.

So here's what I'm proposing: vote with your wallets. Make it worth Bill's time to do this. Send some money, along with a polite message that this is a vote for an Ignore button to try to keep the forum civil.

How he implements it is up to him. Timetable, details, whether it's visible to the troll or not, all up to him. If he decides to do it I'm sure he'll welcome suggestions but the harder the problem the fewer constraints, and the less whining about it from us the better.

Let's stay positive, think positive, act positive. Put our money where our mouths are. If you already subscribe kick in a little extra this month.

I'm overdue for a donation and I'm making it today. I encourage like-minded folks to do the same.

But if it were ever to be implemented    you would still be exposed to the replies to the trolls if they are quoted.

Wrong.

One merely reposted the old journal as new.  Which is what the current offender has done both there and in the forum threads.

They usually let you set up a list of trolls that will be invisible to you but doesn't affect anyone elses ability to see the troll(s)

Winter, you said: I see no reason why we shouldn't call them on their immature, inappropriate behavior until they either get the message or find the door. I agree with your distinctions. My thought was that the, "find the door" part sometimes requires "showing the door". I would guess that threads that are quality would use the feature judiciously and sparingly. Although maybe I'm being unrealistic.

I don't want to entirely show how technology illiterate I am ,   but . . .

. . . what is an ignore button and how does it work?

I work from home. That is...alone.

I came here for the music, and I still listen. But a few years back RP's forum became my watercooler, the place I engage with bright creative people with something in common. It's a lifeline.

During a particularly bad troll infestation I've pondered wandering off. The signal-to-noise ratio gets so low that a quick glance at the RAFT is all I need to know. It's driving good people away, the people I come here to engage with, the people who make this what I need.

And I need this.

Here's the rub: what you need you should be willing to pay for. RP is a commercial enterprise. Bill & Rebecca make their living from this. If the forum is more of a sideshow, a distraction, then it doesn't deserve the attention that keeping the stream on the air does and it won't get it. Maybe what the forum needs is a show of support.

My favorite idea so far for fixing the troll problem is an Ignore button, because it would allow us to solve the problem ourselves without Bill having to play forum cop. Remember, when Bill has to kick someone out he's alienating a potential subscriber. That's not something we should ask him to do, but we can ask him to make it easier for us to enjoy this place.

So here's what I'm proposing: vote with your wallets. Make it worth Bill's time to do this. Send some money, along with a polite message that this is a vote for an Ignore button to try to keep the forum civil.

How he implements it is up to him. Timetable, details, whether it's visible to the troll or not, all up to him. If he decides to do it I'm sure he'll welcome suggestions but the harder the problem the fewer constraints, and the less whining about it from us the better.

Let's stay positive, think positive, act positive. Put our money where our mouths are. If you already subscribe kick in a little extra this month.

I'm overdue for a donation and I'm making it today. I encourage like-minded folks to do the same.