I like how we shrug e-toxicity off by saying "turn the screen off".. Very productive... So easy... Wait... No, it's not...
JuSt DOnT loOK aT IT
Not sure what is the point of the random distribution of capital letters here… are you making fun of the statement? Or criticizing it? I’ll just take the words only (being unable to understand the rest).
Well, generally I’m not a fan of blocking/ignoring/filtering… functions. The reason for this is exactly what you said in the sentence with the random capital letters: It is just looking away (permanently). Just closing the eyes instead of dealing with a problem.
The word toxic is overused in my opinion. It almost inevitably pops up whenever there are different opinions and it
will pop up once there is at least one person showing sufficient amount of feeling.
I fail at seeing how “e-toxicity” or “online bullying” (when not connected to the real life identity!) should have any notable impact on the reader. Alas, I am – like almost always – part of a minority here.
What I meant above with “turn off the Televisor” is just leaving for a while. If something gets unbearable, if feelings get intense, it is the best to take a break. After calming down one can either choose to participate (again) and post their own point of view in civil manner… or not participate (anymore). If an incident is so severe that you can’t be bear it for whatever reason, a permanent ignoring with a technical function is a way more intense form of
“JuSt DOnT loOK aT IT” than logging out for an hour or a day and dealing with it afterwards.
I see this suggested a lot when this topic comes and I honestly don’t think this suggestion is all that helpful. Members are expressing ways that they would like to see in order to avoid conflict and this clearly isn’t a working suggestion for them. I think the staff really needs to reconsider constantly falling back on this reply because it’s not helpful.
I disagree on this.
Avoiding conflict… How would more blocking functions avoid conflict? I don’t get it. People susceptible to getting aggravated or hurt by online posts (not being able to just ignore them in brain) will suddenly refrain from getting involved in heated (toxic?) debates… just because they
can click on “ignore” rather than just ignore it themselves? Honest question: Why should those people even consider clicking on ignore instead of doing what they always did and just bicker away?
Why must such discussions and suggestions sooner or later include criticism of staff behavior? This thread contains a sensible suggestion:
Allow ignoring threads.
(Next question would be if the underlying forum software even offers the tools for this). Just why should staff be obliged to
reconsider an equally sensible answer? When a technological solution(?) isn't available, there is still our brain. Learning to deal with unpleasant situations and unpleasant people is
very helpful. It is a needed ability in everyday life, where no block/hide/ignore/ban/kick/disconnect/whatever button exists.
There are unpleasant people out there. People, who are completely different from the own mindset. We have to accept this fact. We can’t click on ignore when standing in front of a person. And sometimes we can’t even walk away and
have to face such people.
About “Staff needs to reconsider […]” in general:
Internet moderation is hard in my opinion.
One can only do it wrong!
- If staff intervenes, “they are abusing power”, “suppressing different opinions”, “not allowing free speech”, “overmoderate” and so on.
- If they don’t intervene at some point, “they are tolerating toxicity”, “not doing anything against harassment”, “accepting […]-phob comments” and so on.
I think there would be far less issues if members were allowed to just completely hide sections they don’t want to be involved in.
If one really is unable to cope with some content and needs technical help in ignoring: It is still possible to solve this client side. Why wait for somebody else to implement it? Just do it yourself! Not hard to figure out something like this:
gbatemp.net##.node—unread.node--forum.node--depth2.node--id290.node
Gone is the politics section (and to some extent it is possible to do the same with two click with a single thread).
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I seriously hope my post isn't considered toxic as well. I assure having good intentions. I love discussion and I like deviating opinions. The filtering options available on the internet go too far in my opinion, which means controversial discussion could disappear at some point. This will do no good.
Hopefully I didn't mess up the wording. It is still hard for me to express more complex stuff in English.