On Killfiles

[charmian]

Some time in the future, Dreamwidth is planning to offer a killfile. The specs say that two levels of killfile are planned. The first will collapse posts and comments by the user who has been killfiled. The second will remove all traces of the killfiled user from your view (with the exception of access lists on profiles, and comm membership lists).

Poll #120

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 130

View Respondents

Would you use the killfile described above?

View Answers

Yes, I would use it
66 (50.8%)

No, I would not use it
17 (13.1%)

Not sure/don't know
47 (36.2%)

To borrow foxfirefey's question, what effects do you think killfiles (if put into practice as described above) would have on Dreamwidth and the way people use it?

Comments

[damned_colonial]

I might use the "remove all traces" version for people on comms who really annoyed me.

[tzipwich]

I would probably use it only on people I know to be trolls, and annoying trolls at that.

[ladyvox]

I would probably only use it as a last resort to get rid of people who are either trolls or otherwise seem to be following me around in a manner that creeps me out/annoys me.

In other words: I would like for the feature to be present, yet I do not know when and whether I'd need/want to actually use it:)

[ex_beautyofgr925]

I pretty much agree with ladyvox. Dreamwidth seems to be more focused on individual user privacy, and also on giving the responsibility to the user to control their internet experience. (yay!) That said, I can't imagine NOT having a killfile of some sort.

As to how it would affect how the site is used, my first thought is that it would cut out some of the trolling/drama that tends to overtake communities. I like the idea of it, as a user, because it provides a way to stop harassment, and allows me to control my internet experience. It may even act as a deterrent for the trolling types - except the really persistent ones (those that create new accounts and find ways around it, etc.) I was trying to think if there would be objections to this sort of feature, and I can't really. You're not limiting anyone's speech/expression, after all. Just allowing individual users the opportunity to mute them out. :)

[holyschist]

It would remove temptation to argue with annoying people for people like me with so-so self-control. I'd love to be able to pretend really annoying people just didn't exist.

I think it would reduce overall drama, and might, hopefully, remove some of the incentive to troll.

[melannen]

I've been thinking about this, and I suppose a killfile that included an automatic ban_set in any journal or community you control would get around my objections.

So - killfile as a sitewide extension of ban, yay! I just don't want killfile to replace ban, because that leads to a situation where all newcomers see are the trolls that all the regulars have killfiled. (Although this still leaves the problem of commuities with AWOL owners using killfiles instead of group modding, but maybe with DW's new commuity tools there will be fewer completely orphaned comms.)

[kerrick]

While I think it would be tempting, I think I would try hard to avoid using it. I think it would be damaging to communities if people could cease to see each others' posts at the drop of a hat, but everyone else could still see those same posts. It would probably lead to some very strange, not to say incomprehensible, interactions.

I am also suspicious of the way the internet allows us to avoid dissenting opinions. I'd most likely be tempted to use this to avoid any vociferous Ron Paul supporters I came into regular contact with, for instance, because I disagree heartily with many of their views and those of their hero and for some reason tend to become angry about that when we talk. But that would mean that I can't actually address our disagreements productively. And those things we do have in common—namely a deep suspicion of the presently-failing debt-based monetary system—I wouldn't have the opportunity to talk with them about. It's likely that I wouldn't regret that much, but never having my prejudices challenged would only reinforce them.

I'd much prefer the version that left posts collapsed by default, so that I could engage with them when I felt I had the energy. I'd also be interested in a version that expires after a user-settable amount of time. If I were just really annoyed with someone for a particular interaction and needed time to cool off, that might be useful.

[torachan]

I have the killfile on LJ, but I have only used it once to avoid seeing someone on my foflist. It's always possible such a thing could happen again, that I would be so upset just seeing someone's posts that I had to use it, but I kind of doubt it, so I voted no.

[ratcreature]

I already use killfiles to not see posts on LJ. And not actually for trolls or even people I can't stand. For example I'm subscribed to fanart comm on LJ, and there is another member who posts art that even is the small preview pictures really, really squicked me, but was on topic for the comm and within its rules. And I still wanted to see the other art in the comm and see those announcements on my flist, just not that one poster's art. So I added a killfile code to my style, and just don't see their posts. It's nothing personal, I mean, I don't even know that poster.

[azurelunatic]

There's at least one person where my interaction with them does no good to them, to anyone surrounding us, and would only do good for me if my blood pressure were dangerously low.