Lately, mine is getting longer.

[newbrain]

It's a bit unsettling, as it it kept the same size for a number of years.

But in the last times it started growing again, at an alarming rate.

While I thought that with the passing of years I'd have needed it less and less, the urge to use it more often is getting stronger, and the relief afterwards of shorter duration.

I would not like to show it on the forum, as I'm convinced it would offend some members here, and I'm not really interested in seeing yours, but I'd like to know if someone else is having a similar experience.

...

What I'm talking about is, of course, the forum's ignore list (what were you thinking   ).
It went from a couple of users I found obnoxious to something more than a dozen, often for people that appear racist, sexist, or just generally unpleasant and not worth reading.

I find I'm having less and less patience with disagreeable persons, both online and face to face.

It might be COVID-19 related as I have done a number of months in lockdown and I'm still working 100% from home, and this could have affected my already second-tier social skills.

Has something similar happened to you?
Do you even have a kill-list?

[sokoloff]

Across the four forums that I frequent and dozen more that I sporadically visit, I have exactly one person on a technically-implemented ignore list.

I have a couple handful of members here and elsewhere that when I see their name, I’ll skim to see if this is the 1 in 100 where the blind-squirrel found an acorn, but I don’t feel the need to protect my eyes from seeing their posts.

Maybe my life would be better if I actually filtered away posts that I’m only 1% likely to be interested in, but I haven’t felt the need.

[Kjelt]

Assuming I am not (yet) on your ignore list  I am in dubio about this.
1) I agree that technical discussion should be free from "racist, sexist, etc." remarks.
   If they are not you can ignore it or ask why would someone do this, what is his history (culture, upbringing, education, friends etc.) that he thinks like this, perhaps even challenge the person so they are confronted that some people find it offensive.
   Not sure if it helps but that is not the point , it is calling out to confront instead of passively avoiding and letting it grow.

2) I am someone that thinks everyone is allowed to have an opinion no matter what. Some are over my personal boundaries so I will not accept that and might also challenge or evade.
    But I recognize that my personal boundaries and code of conduct are no rules for others what to think or say, and if there is one thing that brought out scientifically new discoveries is to communicate and say what you think. BTW you might be shocked how many "great mathematicians/scientists" where racist, sexist, anti-semite etc. Unfortunately.

[hans]

Yes I do. IMO it's not always fairto put someone on an ignore list if you're irritated by a single post they have written. That irritation is also partly on yourself. Lately I've noticed for myself I've been a bit on the edge, partially due to medical & psychological issues, further fueled by  COVID-19, both affecting my work and social life. I've been told that having certain personality (disorders) doesn't help how short the fuse is for an individual.

So I tend to make sparse use of the list. However, for some I might make an exception. For example, someone asks a question that requires more details, debugging info, several crystal balls. Then after spending that time and effort via an relatively inefficient medium such as a forum, which has a long round-trip time, you never hear a resolution or more information back from the topic starter. That is an excellent oppertunity for me making a mental note which whom I'm burning my time with.