Implementing A 'Block' Feature

I haven't read every single reply to this thread so my reply isn't directed to anyone's post, but I did see some arguments for implementing and I'd like to share my thoughts on why this would be a bad idea and hard no support from me. I'd like to start by saying - just because other site has a feature for years, doesn't mean it's a good thing. Hear me out and please read in a calm, slightly tired tone. I've been on many sites and most of them have block feature. The thing is, none of those sites with it have a way, or even a rule (if one can actually be made given the amount of different situations users can find themselves in), against circumventing the block. The amount of times I got a reply from staff "They blocked you, nothing we can do about it" "Just file a bug report and we'll get back to you" and nothing after that really shows how much staff actually cares about their site. I've also seen it, multiple times, a situation where people start to harass one user, and no matter how many people they keep blocking, they still get their thread hijacked in a way to not make it reportable, interact with their pets, make offers on their trades, do small simple things like "Nice!" feature here just to annoy this user, etc. and then they just quit the site, or get their friends to harass those people. If you can circumvent the block, then what's the point of having it? Every feature can be abused, but this one is dealing with more serious problems, and I can confidently say it is also creating more instead of solving. No matter how it's implemented, blocking will be abused in one way or another, and I'm not talking about just replacing report function. - How can block feature prevent that person from posting in your trade thread if they have no idea you don't want to deal with them? Do I now get a message when trying to post in your trade thread "This user blocked you, you can't post"? And imagine getting this message multiple times, half the times not even understanding why because people block for no reason, or something extremely minor. What about suggestion thread? So, just because you don't like me, and we had a huge disagreement at one point I can't post in your thread agreeing/disagreeing with suggestion. And what if op just block people so they can't voice their opinions in suggestion thread? Want to show off your s/a/m/d pokemon? Or make an order in shop ran by two people where op blocked you? Sorry, you can't. - Following up with above, does person you blocked still see your account, threads and pokemon? Do I have to try to contact you either for the first time or again just to realise you blocked me? Or do I get a message "User xxx blocked you"? To be honest, I'd rather ignore and avoid someone I dislike and disagree, then pique their curiosity and bring attention I wanted to avoid in the first place when they see a user they never talked to suddenly refuses to talk to them. Or even worse, make them figure out who I am if they know me from other site. - So, again, what if OP of the shop blocked you but other co-owner doesn't have problem with you. Do you now have to pm that co-owner, do you not see the thread, do you just see censored name? Or if you blocked op, how would you even order in that shop if now posts are hidden and rules and form for the shop is in that first post by op? - People blocking you in the middle of the trade deal. How are you going to resolve this situation because clearly other person doesn't want to deal with you and staff has to enforce the trade rule if this is reported. Or blocking you after you make a post in the forum. Say you are bidding on auction, and you are the highest bidder. OP just block you so what now? Staff has to force OP to deal with you, and you have a pokemon with OP's name in the timeline. Hiding/censoring name doesn't make sense as you know who you got it from. Or perhaps you blocked them but forgot about that auction. What is staff going to say? "Hey A, you bid on X user auction and you won, but they told me you blocked them. Please unblock them and pay them because those are the trade rules." - What if you accidentally block someone and wonder why that one person hasn't replied to you for so long? Accidental release happen, accidental upvoting, quoting instead of editing, clicking on send trade instead of pm. Not only you didn't mean it, but now this person also blocked you back so you can't even try to talk it out. And they were actually very nice and pleasant to talk to! - People asking their friends to contact you for various things, like asking you why you blocked x user who is their friend, can you do just one trade with them, etc. Happened to me, multiple times, even seeing people publicly "indirectly" pointing at me when complaining how this one user blocked them and oh, they don't know why. Poor them, they are so crushed because they were nice and tried to give me advice while I sit in my room and wonder how can someone try to scam me so many times and present themselves as a victim of injustice. Can't report, can't pm them, can't do anything but watch as people create false image of me and then start to block me because they believe them while taking away my right to defend myself. - If names are censored/hidden, even in the timeline, how can you actually make a report then? You want to report someone for say double posting, but you only see this ##### and you have about 5 people on your block list. Do you unblock them to see if it's the same person or you just assume that's the same person posting multiple times? Do you tell a user who linked you useful thread you can't see it because you or op blocked you? I've seen people mention that "block" is a simple feature without addressing many ways it impacts the multiplayer game. Ideally, block and hide posts would be great if done only in actually serious situations you don't want to remember. However, people managed to find a way to abuse pokerus of all things, let alone blocking someone and I'm sure people here also experienced being blocked by someone out of blue on another site. And how would circumventing rule even be worded? What if there was one of more ways that couldn't be fixed? Site has been functioning perfectly fine without this feature, and I think it should stay this way. But hey, that's just me.

I know an easy solution for the " can you actually make a report then" you only need to see their ID. People with bad name get rename to "*****" but their url are user/;abcde. It could be the same for blocked people, you compare their ID and if its the same, then it's because they have indeed double post and you can report them.

while i lean more on the supportive side when it comes to this, Rebecca does bring up a good point about blocking during trade deals. a block feature has both positive and negative sides, and one of the negatives i mainly think of when it comes to blocking is people just randomly blocking other people to scam them. i’ve heard quite a few stories online over the years about people going through with commissions and suddenly getting blocked before the person gets paid. since i am someone that trades a lot and is now a part of a joint art shop, this does bring me some concerns: will it be possible to report someone if they block you to try and scam you, or will they be completely hidden from you? will i be able to see previous posts from them in case I can’t remember their username in the event of having to report them for a scam? as a site that runs a lot on trading between users, whether it’s for items or shinies or even just sprites, these are important concerns to take into account.

full support of this feature if its implemented in a way to not be easily abused.

But that's the thing - what if you block because you don't want to see their name? Or what if you have to allow message to be shown only to be met with a post containing something you blocked that person for in the first place? And I bet if you blocked someone, you won't care to report them. You can't see them, they can't talk to you, so how is this even going to work? It's not even replacing report, it just makes it harder to file.

???? just because one person has a person blocked doesn't mean other people won't see the posts? like, if we're talking about something like a forum post, or a trainer or about card, things that are public. there are so many people in the forums, and multiple people will see each and every post. one person not being able to see the reportable post/trainer card won't stop the thing from being reported. on top of that, we've already talked about how a block could be able tobe filed with a report at the same time if its necessary. people would still report people. in regards to your other point, if someone decides to click on a hidebox from someone they have blocked and see something they didnt want to see then thats their issue, not an issue with the block system itself. i personally don't think that a reason to not support this.

I was making a point adressing the option to report someone. If you can't see the name and posts, you won't be able to report. Not everyone visits every single forum section and it actually can be only seen by few people due to low number of people interested in that thread. Take gym forum section for example. I've seen months old double posts, and even some questionable replies. People didn't report, and they will do it even less now that you give them option to completely ignore any forum activity of one or more users. My lists of multiple reasons why I don't support this suggestion.

Sorry I was on phone Rebecca, but I was answering into your previous point. Here your full quote: As you see, in your example, the person is willing to report an user they have block. I've only provided a way to tell user apart from eachothers that already exist for censored username.

I'm in support of this. My two cents: I think this is a good compromise. I personally don't mind if they can click me or if I see their eggs/Pokemon in the shelter; I would like to not see their name at all of course, but in some cases it's necessary--like for the basic functions of the site, being a social game. Hiding the name is a good way to do both things. As for what I, personally, want from a feature like this: - Ideally, I'd like the other person to not know that I blocked them. Essentially an "ignore" feature, where they can still contact you but you will not be notified of it, pretty much "ignoring" them. For people who want a "hard block", where people cannot contact you at all, I think pixelkitty's idea of splitting it into "ignore" and "hard-block" is a good idea. The downside to a hard block is that they will inevitably figure out you blocked them, but that might be necessary if this is to be implemented so I'm fine either way. - I want to not see their name in as many places as possible - including, but not limited to, the forums, PMs and trades. The way this could work is that forum posts and threads, if you don't want to hide them completely, simply show that they are posted by a "blocked user" as cutechem said (or asterisked user) instead of their actual username (and possibly also hides their avatar/signature?), and trades can probably still be sent to you but you just won't see them? (I'm assuming there's no limit to how many trades can be sent to you - I know there's a limit to how many Pokemon you can have in your Collection Area, but I don't know about a hard limit on how many can be sent to you. If there is, then it may be impossible to "ignore" trades completely.) - - With Wonder Trade, I think it can be similar to my thread point, where you will still get them, but they will show as being sent by an asterisked user. I'm not sure about removing that person from the "pool" of wonder trade users, as if you had enough people blocked, you could potentially get no trade partners. Same with the shelter and interactions (hide their name), as said above. Maybe also spars (or you could receive them but ignore them, as with trades). - - The market board is completely anonymous anyway; I don't see the point in preventing you from interacting in this case. - - Leaderboard could use the asterisk method as well. Anything else would be impractical and/or display inaccurate information, like regarding the number of people placing in the tournament. - - As for Pokerus... I'm fine either way, honestly. If I can still click them for a chance at rus, great. If I can't do that on the trade off that I can't see them anymore, also great. If you went the route of hiding people's profiles completely, perhaps the site could tell you that you blocked them, with the option of showing the profile anyway if you still wanted to click? In essence, what Niet suggested is perfect to me. Also, the bit about the 1,000 threads is a nice tidbit of info. :p

I definitely support the feature. Theres only 1 person Id like to block and its because the user terrifies me. The things that happened couldnt be reported on here because it only happened on steam but he sent me lots of abuse and honestly seeing the user makes me feel ill. I like the idea of using the stars so you cant see their names in the forums etc but I would prefer the ability to stop them from Pming me as well.