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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 11 of 11. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Lini on May 30, 2002, at 8:36:53
Well. I knew this was going to happen. I knew that as soon as Dr. Bob started taking "board" requests, things would go to hell in a handbasket with a quickness. The latest request happens to be religion, cause Lou likes to talk about it all the time and people feel like its distracting. But if there was a guy named Dou, who liked to talk about aliens all the time, we'd be suggesting a extra terrestrial board pretty quickly too. So before we go down the road with a separate religion board, I would suggest that we think through the process - the more boards there are, the harder it is to maintain a community . . . using Kid_A's newspaper analogy, we could end up having more "sections" thn actual articles - something that I think would dilute the support this board provides.
I have brought this up before, and I will bring it up again - I am involved in another online group (Business Weeks MBA online group) where you can simply ignore a poster. You click on their name, and you no longer see messages from them on your screen. I don't understand why this isn't something that could be done here. Dr. Bob? Dr. Bob? This would really make the whole PBC issues become null and void.
Anyway, I have been gone for awhile and it is kinda disheartening to see the same "new boards" issue not really resolved.
poop
-Lini
Posted by shar on May 31, 2002, at 0:46:04
In reply to Man oh Man oh Man!, posted by Lini on May 30, 2002, at 8:36:53
There are very few people here I would want to put on iggy because the discussions are so diverse. On PSB I might get a lot out of what PosterA says about choosing a pdoc, but have no interest in their take on dog training.
Just an example. But, the point is, there is no real limitation on what topic can be discussed, and the wide variety of input is a valuable component of the board. There aren't any posters (currently) that I'd be willing to ignore.
On the other hand, there are many TOPICS I'd happily filter out.
Shar
Posted by Dr. Bob on May 31, 2002, at 4:03:57
In reply to Man oh Man oh Man!, posted by Lini on May 30, 2002, at 8:36:53
> I have brought this up before, and I will bring it up again - I am involved in another online group ... where you can simply ignore a poster... I don't understand why this isn't something that could be done here.
I responded to this after you brought it up before:
http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20020308/msgs/4160.html
Bob
Posted by Lini on May 31, 2002, at 10:53:53
In reply to Puttin people on iggy » Lini, posted by shar on May 31, 2002, at 0:46:04
I guess I am talking about people that only talk about one topic, OR people that talk about alot of different topics, but in a way you aren't able to understand/deal with/tolerate etc.
Posted by Lini on May 31, 2002, at 10:55:07
In reply to Re: simply ignore a poster, posted by Dr. Bob on May 31, 2002, at 4:03:57
I think that my point is that this way of "ignoring" people isn't working, people don't seem to be able to do it, hence the need for new boards.
Posted by beardedlady on May 31, 2002, at 12:01:26
In reply to Re: simply ignore a poster, posted by Lini on May 31, 2002, at 10:55:07
Lini:
I hate stepping in dog poop, so I avoid it when I see it. And there's a woman at my school who invades personal space and has really bad breath. When I see her, I go the other way.
So why is it so hard to keep from reading posts of those we don't like? It's certainly easy to avoid topics (I think we all agree on that).
Maybe the real problem is that we like to challenge and argue and do battle with words. We read the offending posts because we want to reply, we want to be confrontational. Arguing is fun. It gets our blood flowing. Could that be it?
I do see your point, though. I have blocked junk mail and one person from my e-mail account, and it would be nice if the post office filtered the mail, too.
But self-control is a valuable tool in our arsenal against what ails us. And we need to practice it to get good; otherwise, we can't survive in other environments. So maybe we have to make some lemonade here.
beardy : )>
Posted by Lini on May 31, 2002, at 13:10:11
In reply to Re: simply ignore a poster, posted by beardedlady on May 31, 2002, at 12:01:26
I agree with what you're saying. The lemonade and all. It is exactly why I don't think that there should be different boards for different things. Since Dr. Bob DOES think that there is value in being able to be supportive to either selective people (reunion), or on separate topics (PB/PBA/PBS), I don't understand why he wouldn't want to make it even easier, and let us run our own personal PBC. We could each block whomever we wanted, based on how supportive we felt we were able to be to them, and they were able to be to us. What could be more supportive to the individual than that? I mean, how many times have you read that so-and-so isn't going to respond to another's posts anymore because they continually miscommunicate, or hate the way they write etc.Ideal? No. But better than different boards in my opinion, because they force those of us that CAN ignore posters or topics to instead keep track of multiple boards. In addition, the more boards there are the more it makes things easier to overlook and requires people to redirect. I mean, what if you want to write about your religious experience while taking Zoloft just for fun?
This is all just my opinion of course. And yes, I do like to argue, though I like to think of it as debate. :)
-L
Posted by beardedlady on May 31, 2002, at 13:34:44
In reply to Re: simply ignore a poster, posted by Lini on May 31, 2002, at 13:10:11
Lini:
So many people I talk to come from a place that thinks the word argue is negative. These are the first four definitions in my dictionary: "1. to put forth reasons for or against; debate. 2. To prove or attempt to prove by reasoning; maintain 3. To give evidence of, indicate; 4. To persuade or influence, as by presenting reasons." The last one is "to quarrel." Writers are taught to identify the argument in a piece of writing, so I come from that place.
In any case, I do agree with you that the boards are a pain in the butt to keep track of, and we spend far too much time here now. I must stop and smell the roses and see my daughter and taste a nectarine. I'm tired of the computer. I'm cooked.
Peace. (Or peach, as the case may be today.)
beardy : )>
Posted by Lini on May 31, 2002, at 13:54:01
In reply to argue v. debate » Lini, posted by beardedlady on May 31, 2002, at 13:34:44
I guess to me, "argue" does have a negative connotation. I think that's why we had a debate club in college instead of an arguement club.:)
peaches,
L
Posted by wendy b. on June 1, 2002, at 10:32:31
In reply to Re: simply ignore a poster, posted by Dr. Bob on May 31, 2002, at 4:03:57
Anyone who cares:
I really DON'T like the idea of the option to filter out a particular person's e-mail or user name. First, I agree with Beardy (natch!) - self-control is a virtue, if virtue is what we're after. Just not rising to the bait is a lesson (or series of lessons) we all need to learn more about. And how to implement it into life outside the Board would be helpful, too. So what we learn here could be little experiments in how to conduct our lives. I mean, I like argument as much as the next guy, but I also try as much as possible to keep it under control...
The second thing: if we block out certain posters because we just can't stand their posts, or we don't like them, how is this going to aid a good discussion? If I block Poster A and Poster C, and the thread consists of posts from posters A, B, C, D, & E, I'm missing 2/5ths of the conversation. How can I comment meaningfully on the thread if that's the case? And even if I don't want to read A & C, other posters are still free to cut and paste A & C's comments into the body of their threads, so I wouldn't be able to totally avoid them anyway. And so if that's the case, I should just stay out of any thread with A & C on it, rather than implement a block against those particular names. Does this make sense?
Also, it would probably be a bear for Bob to implement...
Thanks for listening,
Wendy
Posted by fi on June 1, 2002, at 16:48:15
In reply to Re: simply ignore a poster, posted by Lini on May 31, 2002, at 13:10:11
I dont have a problem ignoring posts by someone who I have read some and then found it wasnt useful/productive. So it got me thinking, reading this thread. Its clear some people dont ignore them, but like the debate.
Are there other people who really want to ignore the posts but cant bring themselves to? I hope not- that would be a shame.
I'm also not making any effort to keep up with all the Boards, and hadnt considered trying to do that (tho that's no change- I've only read PB once). I've looked at PB2000 a couple of times, but cant post to that one anyway, and am not interested in the one I could (PB2001) as I like just doing PSB (and here). And then of course I am a complete no-faither (I can never remember if that is atheist or agnostic..!) etc
I do hope people aren't getting overwhelmed by it all- that would be a shame, too.
Fi
This is the end of the thread.
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