Ignore

In nearly every group of people, there is likely to be someone who you'd rather not talk to. In church, at a party, or any other gathering, I would simply make a point of not sitting near that person, or of making a point of being in another part of the room. This usually accomplishes my objective well enough because I am not generally in an position of being able to make them leave.

This is true in a discussion forum as well. While we are not a large group of people here, it is likely that there is someone who another member of the forum would rather not be bothered with. Usually, it would be enough to simply not respond to their posts.

If someone is being particularly obnoxious, of course I have the option of banning them or of removing them from the forum, actions that I usually reserve for spammers. Most often, however, the person who may annoy one member of the forum is enjoyed by other members of the forum, just as we all have friends who may not like one another.

I would hope that no one would leave the forum because of someone else who is on the forum, so I wanted to point out that the forum does have an "ignore" feature. Please don't use it indiscriminately because the forum is much more fun when you know what everyone else is saying, but if there is one person who you would rather not be bothered with, if you allow your cursor to hover over their member name, there is an option in the box that will pop up to "ignore" that person.

When you are ignoring someone on the forum, you will not see their posts. Of course, if someone who you are not ignoring quotes their post, you will see the part of the post that is being quoted, but you will not see the posts made by someone you are ignoring.

I will not be ignoring anyone here. Even in forums that are not mine, this is a feature that I rarely use. In fact, I think there is only one that I am ignoring. I sometimes post in a pet forum that includes someone whose idea of raising a cat is entirely different from my own, which would be fine except that she would get argumentative with anyone who disagreed with her. Rather than engaging in an argument in a forum that wasn't my own, I put her on ignore. But I rarely do that.

 

I am making this post sticky to remind everyone that this is an option.

 

In this forum software, it's called "ignore" but the function is similar to the "block" feature on some other forum software. Put your cursor over your profile in the upper right of the page. A box will pop up with two columns of options. In the second column, is one that says "People You Ignore" - I think that's it. For what it's worth, you're probably not blocking anyone. There seems to be a thing lately, where everyone is accusing everyone else of blocking them.

 

It might be a setting that you have which does not allow other members to send you a private message, @Bill Boggs . If you click the link at the top right with your name, it opens up a list, and choose “contact details”. Then look at your messaging preferences and see what it says. There is an option for “members only” and one for “people I follow”. Set it for members only, and then anyone here can message you.
It might be something in @Frank Sanoica’s settings, so it would be a good idea for both of you to see that you allow messaging from all of the members here and not just people you follow.
Frank obviously does not have you on ignore, nor do you have him on ignore, because he can still see and read your posts here; so I think that it is something in your settings, Bill.