BS: How do you filter someone?

Subject: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: mg
Date: 08 May 07 - 09:04 PM

Someone mentioned it today and I thought we weren't able to do it..but I plan to if it is available. So is it available and how do we do it? mg

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Peace
Date: 08 May 07 - 09:09 PM

mg, probably the only way is to skip their posts.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: mg
Date: 08 May 07 - 09:21 PM

I thought there was a technical way..someone just mentioned it. ,g

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 May 07 - 09:28 PM

I saw it mentioned also, but I don't know how one would do it.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Sorcha
Date: 08 May 07 - 09:36 PM

Nor do I. We'll wait on The Great MudGods to tell us, I guess.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 08 May 07 - 10:47 PM

I usually just skip their posts.

I am sorry ... I did not skip yours.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Ebbie
Date: 08 May 07 - 11:00 PM

This subject came up last year and at that time, the word came down that one could NOT filter out another poster on the Mudcat. Only on Mudchat can one.

(Of course, mg - not that I've been asked for my opinion - I think you are off base at the moment. The person you are trying to block is a gentle soul.)

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Rowan
Date: 08 May 07 - 11:12 PM

You could try a Waring blender but, even so, you'd need fair sized pores in the filter paper. A Buchner funnel with vacuum assist might speed the process up a little.

Cheers, Rowan

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Amos
Date: 08 May 07 - 11:24 PM

I think, as Peace said, that the only way is to do it by control of communication. You are under no obligation take in anything written by a given individual, and don't need a machine to enable you to ignore them. It is a native ability.

A

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Donuel
Date: 08 May 07 - 11:41 PM

Oh good here comes the Stay-puffed marshmallow boy.

thats gotta help diversity!

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: katlaughing
Date: 09 May 07 - 12:43 AM

The Filter Out option box, next to the search and drop down age box for thread titles, let you filter out something in a thread name, but that's it.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: mg
Date: 09 May 07 - 01:30 AM

I wonder if it would be a simple thing for someone to do to create this. It is definitely needed. mg

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Amos
Date: 09 May 07 - 01:47 AM

I am not sure it is needed, MG. For one thing, it is a truism that freedom of speech means tolerating speech we don't particularly like. For another the strength of viewpoint needed to do your own filtering is something much to be desired and even exercised. Resorting to automatic devices to protect you will not make you stronger, or "them" more rational.

A

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 09 May 07 - 02:10 AM

Lots of "chat" websites allow you to block individuals, so that you just don't see their posts. In less genteel web societies it can be of some use, although it sometimes makes the threads a little confusing to read when someone replies to a post that "isn't there" for you. Most sites that allow blocking simply omit the entire post of someone on your block list, although some will show that a post occured and only delete the text of the post.

Mudcat has not offered that option - unless they snuck it in and didn't tell me.

I have found it convenient to place one or two people here (not necessarily currently active ones) in the category of "I WILL NOT READ" anything they post, and usually will ignore any thread in which they're active. It's just a waste of my time to even look.

There are also a couple whose comments I might read, or sometimes ignore, depending on whether their medications appear to be working. Generally, I avoid any reply that acknowledges their presence, unless their meds are working really well in a particular thread.

I'm not obligated to reply to anyone here, and it's my own choice when I do. I'm also not obligated to be offended by anyone who's not interesting to me, as long as others are willing to talk to them; and I certainly am not under any constraint that requires me to change the mind of anyone too stupid to see that I'm always right.

John

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: mg
Date: 09 May 07 - 02:49 AM

I think of everyone here you are right the most often or have the best knowledge in certain areas. mg

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: MBSLynne
Date: 09 May 07 - 03:41 AM

There is an 'ignore' button in the chat room. In the forum I just don't read posts by two people. There was another one but he has since been banned

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 09 May 07 - 05:45 AM

JiK

I'm on what you're on...





apparently....


:-)

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Bobert
Date: 09 May 07 - 07:09 AM

LOL...

Hey, folks, it is I, the very dangeruos terrorist Mudcatter who mg wants filtered so she won't ***have*** to read what I am saying on the "poverty" thread... LIke who the heck is holding a gun to her head making her read my posts anyway...

Reminds me of the lady who called the police saying that every morning her neighbor's husband was exposing himself to here... So the cop went over the next morning and she pointed out the window and the man could be seen shaving and the cop said, "Sorry, lady, but all I can see is a man shaving" to which the lady replied...

... "but if you'll just stnd up on this step ladder....

Nevermind, it's an old joke...

But what isn't a joke is that mg thinks it's perfectly okay to fire away with ***her*** opinions of poverty but doesn't give a rip about ***my*** opinions... Well, like folks said, mg: Don't read my stuff if you don't want to... Ain't no cop holding you down makin' you read it...

You are being very childish here... I ain't no filth-mouthed Martine Gibson 'n I ain't no stalker... I'm just a guy with way too much experience in the field of poverty to be preached to by someone who just wants to have a conversation with people who agree with her...

That kinda insulation/isolation is the kinda behavior that got our country into Iraqmire...

Bobert (not the boogieman)

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 09 May 07 - 07:51 AM

The complication with a filter like this is that other people would be responding to posts made by the filtered one, which might make it pretty hard to make sense of threads sometimes.

I think it would be a useful enough option for all that. But it's simpler to just skip the posters you don't like reading, then it's easy to track back and read them to make sense of other posts if need be.

And of course never respond directly to anything someone you've decided to blank, especially if they ever refer to anything you have said.

I've never noticed Bobert as any kind of problem. Different strokes for different folks.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 09 May 07 - 08:59 AM

I had a MudSpat that lasted several years, and when the confusions and misunderstandings mounted, the other party rigorously ignored my posts.

I'm sure that seemed, to them, like the best course. And not my call.

We're good friends now, but I always wondered how many of the apologies I made, openly, in the threads, that person didn't see because of the choice not to read my posts.

Oh well! :~)

But I agree that filtering posts would not work here. Too many references to the upsetting posts: "Guest, PooPooCaCa, I think what you posted, about MudcatMemberLovedByAll, is way off and you should knock it off!"

Oh yeah, sure, people filtering Guest, PooPooCaCa aren't going to change their filter just to go have a little look-see-- when pigs fly! :~)

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: JennyO
Date: 09 May 07 - 08:59 AM

requires me to change the mind of anyone too stupid to see that I'm always right.

LOL JIK. I like the way you think ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Donuel
Date: 09 May 07 - 09:15 AM

thread starter mg wrote:

"no one is safe anyway....we live in times of international terror, domestic situations awash in drug use, a violent culture...we need a large number of guns in society, and people trained to use them and of course disciplined in their use. You can never be safe."
-----------------------------------------



perhaps if you turned off the TV and went for a walk you will feel better and filter fresh.

If on your walk you still see evidence of international terror, domestic situations awash in drug use and a violent culture with everyone around you carrying a laarge number of guns...

let us know.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: robomatic
Date: 09 May 07 - 09:26 AM

yeah mg, I agree. Ratbet is not the boogieman, not entirely immune to logic, and not always as creepy as the bogus accent might make you think.

my recommendation- endure

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Bill D
Date: 09 May 07 - 11:37 AM

If you want YOUR opinions to have any relevance, they have to be seen and evaluated in relation to thoughtful people who have opinions which differ from yours; otherwise all you are doing is preaching.

If someone 'seems' to be twisting your arguments, there are two possibilities: either your arguments are shaky and need to be polished and re-thought, or you have encountered someone whose ideas need to combated and shown as erroneous. In either case it will do little good to pretend that someone who disputes you is not there.....except to relieve you of the stress of countering them.

If you REALLY feel that it is hopeless to explain & refine your points in the face of ignorance and intransigence, your only recourse is to leave the argument. I have done that a couple of times when I felt I had said all I could and my 'opponent' was not listening of getting the point.

I'm sorry, but filtering simply leaves strange holes in the flow. It is used in 'live' chat rooms for a couple of good reasons, but serves little purpose here.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 09 May 07 - 01:44 PM

filtering simply leaves strange holes in the flow

I like that! Eloquent.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 09 May 07 - 01:50 PM

I think you have not just the right but the obligation to set boundaries of what you will and will not allow in your life. Failure to do so results in all sorts of escalating problems. And yes, there was a meth bust one block north of me, one block west of me last week. I live in a meth-riddled area as does much of rural America. A person has the right of association..they have the freedom of speech, you have the right to shut them out of your life. mg

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 09 May 07 - 01:53 PM

You can only contriol what is in your control, though. If you come to a forum that has open speech, that's a medium you do not control. What you can control in that environment is how much you expose of yourself, how available you make yourself.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Amos
Date: 09 May 07 - 02:04 PM

You certainly do have the right, MG; don't misunderstand me. The right NOT to receive communications you choose not to is vital. I am just saying you can exercise it yourself, by simply dropping and ignoring communications that are just crap. You don't run out and buy one of each thing shown on every billboard you pass on the street. Same principle. You can know a communication is there without taking it on board.

A

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 09 May 07 - 02:26 PM

If someone starts deluging you with unwelcome Personal Messages, that's another matter, and you'd be right to complain and ask that they be blocked. But when it comes to posts on threads, it's best to do the filtering direct by just sliding past them without reading them.

That's where unnamed GUESTs screw things up a bit, because they all look the same, so you can't pick and choose. Best thing is to slide past them all anyway.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 May 07 - 02:37 PM

You filter someone out by ignoring them, not reading their posts, and not replying to their arguments. You resist the temptation to respond when you feel it rising in you.

It takes two to tango.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 09 May 07 - 02:42 PM

that's nuts. If the technology is there and you choose to use it, it is your right. It's also your right to pick and choose what you want to read. Time is precious. Peace of mind is precious. You should feel no obligation whatsoever to have to do the filtering yourself, again, assuming the technology is there, which, I am speaking in general, it certainly is. This is a big problem on all sorts of internet places. mg

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 May 07 - 02:50 PM

And if the technology isn't there (which I think perhaps it is not on this forum), you ignore them and get on with the rest of your life.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 May 07 - 03:00 PM

Here's another example of what I'm saying, mg. I detest commercial radio and television. I vitriolically detest it! Accordingly, I never listen to it by choice. It bugs the hell out of me, partly because of the the ceaseless advertising, partly because of the rest of the content, most of which is now what I want to hear.

My solution is not to turn it on in my house or in my car. End of story. However, when I am downtown in a store or a restaurant or on the street I may be subjected to the very radio stations I do not want to hear, blathering at me from some set of speakers.

How do I filter them out THEN????? Simple. I don't. I live with it. I have to suffer the hard, cold fact that I, glorious and important I, do NOT control the rest of the world, do not control other people, and life (as I see it) will never be perfect.

Life will never be perfect on this forum either. Not for you. Note for me. Matter of fact, it's so far from perfect on this forum that I think someone could probably write a really lengthy rant about it...but that would not change it.

That's life. No amount of complaining will ever make it...or other people...conform to your every desire, and if there is no software routine here that allows you to filter Bobert out of your world of perception you are just going to have to live with it, aren't you?

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 09 May 07 - 03:04 PM

Keep it up and I will filter you out too. mg

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 May 07 - 03:16 PM

Excellent. I hope you succeed. I hate to think of people suffering unnecessarily.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Bill D
Date: 09 May 07 - 03:18 PM

sounds like a consummation devoutly to be wished, huh, LH?

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Bill D
Date: 09 May 07 - 03:25 PM

This format will filter out threads that start with BS

http://www.mudcat.org/threads.cfm?Title=BS&Age&FilterOut=1

...but I can't see anyway to edit it to make it work from within a thread on a specific person.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Wolfgang
Date: 09 May 07 - 03:32 PM

And of course we also need conditional filters that can be set to all kinds of preferences:

Wolfgang please to be filtered out in UFO threads (Little Hawk)
Little Hawk please to be filtered out each time he mentions the word Shatner in any post (Wolfgang)
John of Hull filtered out after 11 pm Hull time (....)
Joe Offer filtered out when posting in brown (former Mudcatter)
Dianavan, Dickey, Teribus and Ron Davies to be filtered out in all threads from that moment on when 25 successive posts by these four have appeared without any other Mudcatter posting in between.

And one new feature of talk might appear: When we were very young we were screaming our truths in top voice to the opponent while at the same time cupping our ears with both hands so we didn't need to listen. Fun if both parts do that at the same time. So we might read:

I'm sure A has written his usual bullshit as he always does in these threads. I have filtered him out but to all others who still read the words of this knownothing...
(some posts later)
I presume B has already posted her warning not to read my posts that I luckily don't have to endure any longer. B is utterly wrong....

And we need a (s)hit parade: "Last month G was filtered by 13.4 % of all Mudcatters and by 67,2% of the 50 most frequent posters increasing his advantage on the runner up by another 5 %" "P is the new leader in filter use excluding the posts of 98,8 % of all Mudcatters"

Wolfgang (still wondering why anyone could wish not to see Bobert's posts)

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Jim Lad
Date: 09 May 07 - 03:32 PM

Sounds a bit like taking the wings off an aeroplane for the benefit of those who don't wish to fly but would like a seat!

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Bill D
Date: 09 May 07 - 03:35 PM

hey, Wolfgang...I like it! Statistics! ....except it would increase animosity as folks worked hard to win the monthly prize....

;>)

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Sorcha
Date: 09 May 07 - 03:40 PM

Mary, just give over, OK? If all you want to do is moan, I can filter you out too.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Peace
Date: 09 May 07 - 03:43 PM

As I posted to the poverty thread, I want to thank all of you for bringing this up. I've been meaning to get coffee filters for weeks. Literally.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Peace
Date: 09 May 07 - 03:51 PM

REMINDER . . . .

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Sorcha
Date: 09 May 07 - 03:56 PM

OK, Peace...now, do you have the coffee????? Coffee is a necessary ingredient of, well, coffee filters. They taste rather blah alone.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Peace
Date: 09 May 07 - 03:56 PM

DAMN! Thank you, thank you.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Greg F.
Date: 09 May 07 - 04:00 PM

Sounds to me like someone needs to stop whining, grow up, develope some personal responsibility and take charge of her own life.

Instead of expecting- no, demanding!- that others do it for her.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Peace
Date: 09 May 07 - 04:02 PM

So, I was looking in Google Images and lo, I find that some Mudcatters have been making fun of me. They said that chartreuse was NOT a beige colour. Well, OK, they're right about that, but they coulda said it grew on sheep! Thanks, guys.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: John Hardly
Date: 09 May 07 - 04:14 PM

How to filter someone:

wrap them tightly in a cylinder of paper and stick them on the unlit end of a cigarette.

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 May 07 - 04:15 PM

Ho! Ho! I love your ideas, Wolfgang. ;-) Yes, what we clearly need here (not!) is a vast number of personally tailored filters along the very lines you describe. I would feel a glow of real pride and satisfaction to know that I was among the list of those being filtered out here by various people who don't like me for the bad things I do, like...expressing a difference of opinion about something...mentioning the word "Shatner" in any context...believing I have a soul...and other awful stuff like that.

Such people as me deserve to be filtered out! They are consummate wretches, devoid of any redeeming features.

I would hope to be at least among the top 10 or 15 on the (s)hit parade you mention in any given month. I can see it now...

"Last month Little Hawk was filtered by 11.2 % of all Mudcatters and by 7.9 % of the 50 most frequent posters increasing his advantage by another 1/2%. He still trails far behind (s)hit parade grand champion Garton Mibson, however, who has now succeeded in being filtered out by 98.8 % of all Mudcatters."

"I guess I'm not as rotten a bastard as I thought I was," said the Hawk, when interviewed. "That's a little disappointing, but I have to remind myself that the competition is pretty fierce out there. I've done rather well to reach 11.2%."

Subject: RE: BS: How do you filter someone?
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 09 May 07 - 04:22 PM

The best way I know to filter out someone you don't like is with a tommy gun. Works for me.

- Chongo