Author Topic: Too tired of sh*tposters - How about a user blacklist thread to save our time?  (Read 4426 times)

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Offline DavidAlfaTopic starter

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User 1 asks question, gets lots of answers, never comes back, doesn't answer anything, he just wasted our time analyzing and answering his dumb questions. He does it again, and again...
User 2 asks to get helped out with some tedious work like programming, reverse engineering. We get the job done for free, then he also disappears or moves to something else without giving a f.
(...)
User 100 keeps spamming the forum with silly questions. "The board is is square, should I use a square base to mount it?" - No, use a hexagon :palm:. We all know this user starting with F and ending in arington.

Sincerely, we could make a community blacklist. Not to be abused because he likes pinneapple pizza and I don't, only for legit causes and must be a repeating behavior.
So we simply add those time wasters to our ignore list and filter the junk.
« Last Edit: October 07, 2023, 09:12:27 am by DavidAlfa »
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Offline hans

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I keep a personal ignore list for mental notes, but typically still read what people have to say, however it sets a bar for whether I want to respond or not. After all.. putting time & energy into something is a choice.

I don't feel inclined to answer every single question to upmost details unless the question or discussion itself is interesting. What I sometimes also see on forums in regular discussions, is that some people throw in a fallacy or hot take just so they can run hard and observe the misery caused.

Its not anything limited to newbies ordering a take-away or delivery meal answer. Being ready to serve everyone unconditionally is usually at the cost of the person helping out.

[/my 2 cents]
« Last Edit: October 07, 2023, 09:35:25 am by hans »
 

Offline Simon

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So your point is? I am afraid that do a degree this is what a forum is.
 
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Offline nctnico

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So your point is? I am afraid that do a degree this is what a forum is.
Agreed. You don't have to answer a question or engage in a topic. It is a free choice.
There are small lies, big lies and then there is what is on the screen of your oscilloscope.
 
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Offline RoGeorge

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The forum has this feature, each user can keep a list of ignored users:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/profile/?area=lists;sa=ignore

There is also a list of ignored topics and/or ignored subforums.

Offline fourtytwo42

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I think David has a point, some of the sh*t posters are so prolific they obscure sensible and useful posts.
Unfortunately if you just block a user the threads they create remain.
So for example particularly the power etc folder is infested with junk posts so it has to all intents become useless.
Perhaps someone could create a sub-folder within there for that particular person along the lines of the EV folder so the rest of us don't have to suffer all the rubbish!
« Last Edit: October 07, 2023, 12:09:16 pm by fourtytwo42 »
 
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Offline MK14

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I wonder if it is ending up, damaging the quality, reputation, usefulness and way potential advertisers, perceive this forum.

If there is blatant trolling, messing around and stuff.  It gives it the reputation of a noisy, rowdy, semi-out-of-control pub(lic) meeting place.  Rather than a proper place for serious electronics discussions to take place.

I feel so sorry for some of the users, who have been SHOUTING about such issues, until they have gone blue in the face.  Such as (bold added by me):

FTTS: just another day at the office?

So, THERE IS NO "INDIAN FRIEND"   just another figment of FTSS imagination to entice us to read his garbage
.

No regulatory will accept a PCB fuse as it is not reliable and will not break fire safe.

USE ONLY A SAFE  UL/VDE/TUV/ETL approved fuse (or PTC, etc)  or accept liability for shocks and fires.

 stop posting this junk and please....

HAVE AN ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC DAY!

J

Although I don't want to needlessly criticise the moderation team, who in many ways seem to be doing a really great job.

On the other hand, sometimes (hopefully useful) criticism, is perhaps in order.
 
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Offline MK14

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On the one hand, I'm trying to take the official moderator advice, of using the 'ignore' feature.

E.g. This is what I see, without intervention (clicking on it):

Quote
Online FaringdonTopic starter
Fusing in 30W offline Flyback
« on: Yesterday at 06:30:33 pm »
You are ignoring this user. Show me the post.

But it is a bit like having a noisy person, running round creating big distractions, while we are suppose to be concentrating on the real forum topics.
Then, when we all complain to our elders about the problem person, they just keep on saying "Please Ignore it!".

But human nature (psychology), doesn't really work like that, unfortunately.
 

Offline wilfred

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I used to make use of the ignore feature quite a few years ago after Dave installed them. I soon stopped bothering to update them and then I just learned to concentrate on what I was interested in. I think my ignore lists are empty now for years.

I spend a lot less time on the forum now but I still feel it is better than it has been in the past.
 

Offline BrokenYugo

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User 1 and 2 are just facts of life.

User 100 is not a behavior I remember being tolerated in spaces like this back when there were a lot more of them.
 
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Offline PlainName

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User 1 asks question, gets lots of answers, never comes back, doesn't answer anything, he just wasted our time analyzing and answering his dumb questions.

I sympathise, but then I look at it objectively...

For the posters that answer the specific question it can be a bit of a bummer to get no feedback, thanks or sense of a job well done. For all the other posts in the thread, many of them aren't answering the question (at least, practically) but go off on some kind of tangent and typically end with a pedant proclaiming from an ivory tower. A normal thread, in other words.

In the end it doesn't really matter what the root post is or who posted it. If people are commenting in the thread then surely that's what a forum is about, isn't it? Communications. Suppose the shitposters weren't there - would we all sit around waiting for someone to start a thread so we can talk to each other?

If a post is egregiously dumb or otherwise not worth commenting on, surely no-one will comment on it and you'll see it once. OTOH, if someone else posts a decent solution or other comment, are you saying that you find that terrible and wish you could unsee it just because the root post is poor? I think the answer to that is quite often 'yes' because, emotion. Perhaps we just need to learn some meditation skillz or something.
 

Offline bingo600

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Actually, about a week ago I made just that for my personal use. Custom uBlock filter which hides all posts and threads started by USERNAME.

https://pastebin.com/raw/FP5G1B3w

Sorry for Pastebin but forum software keeps expanding URL inside a /code/ block  |O

Yess it works ... Posts started by "him" .... are not shown  :-+



« Last Edit: October 08, 2023, 05:16:45 am by bingo600 »
 
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Offline Simon

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If a thread gets replies I am reluctant to delete it as now the forum users have put more effort in than the person starting the thread and it often becomes a discussion anyway with the OP left behind. So if you really think it is not worth while, then don't respond to it. threads with no response drop off the list.
 

Offline DavidAlfaTopic starter

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Well, just was an idea, maybe blocking is a bit extreme, the intention was at least to serve as a mere indicator for active users to not waste their time with certain people.
You'll be taking to a wall, no answers, no details, nothing, you'll never know if it worked or whatever.
I don't like Schrodinger threads, it's not for the likes, but for knowing that your effort meant something!
I've spend hours helping people out to later find out they were made of smoke. So it's tiresome and demotivating.
« Last Edit: October 07, 2023, 07:38:10 pm by DavidAlfa »
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Offline PlainName

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Quote
I've spend hours helping people out to later find out they were made of smoke.

If it's any consolation, other users as well as the OP often benefit from answers, so it's not all wasted :)
 
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Offline hans

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StackExchange is probably a better fit for a question-answer system which is rewarded for good behaviours and as little offtopic matter. This forum software is more tailored towards discussions. And I think thats working quite well, because quite often topics can go onto tangents which are educational in its own right. Or they get (derailed) to the point it stalls, and even that doesn't have to be bad, thats just how IRL also goes sometimes.

Feeling burnt out from internet forums has happened to me and as I said before.. it has learnt me to recalibrate where and how much energy I want to put into some discussion. Not everything I post has to be thanked a million times or praised by everyone to make it worthwhile for me. If that was the case then posting on forums would be as toxic as posting on social media and getting a dopamine rush from upvotes/likes.

But yeah.. I can understand that knowing if someone benefitted from some large effort would be nice. But hey.. ghosting via internet is a huge problem everywhere. So I guess forums aren't excluded from that? I don't know if there really "exists" a solution to 'shitposters' or people that just run with an answer. IMO encouraging any system which would reward "the established" (or punish otherwise, like ignore lists) can diverge into an echo chamber, elitism or an onetasteworld.
« Last Edit: October 07, 2023, 09:04:18 pm by hans »
 
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Offline John B

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The title of the thread should have been:

Too tired of sh*tposters - How about a user blacklist thread to save our time? Do you agree? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°,)
 
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Offline py-bb

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User 1 asks question, gets lots of answers, never comes back, doesn't answer anything, he just wasted our time analyzing and answering his dumb questions. He does it again, and again...
User 2 asks to get helped out with some tedious work like programming, reverse engineering. We get the job done for free, then he also disappears or moves to something else without giving a f.
(...)
User 100 keeps spamming the forum with silly questions. "The board is is square, should I use a square base to mount it?" - No, use a hexagon :palm:. We all know this user starting with F and ending in arington.

Sincerely, we could make a community blacklist. Not to be abused because he likes pinneapple pizza and I don't, only for legit causes and must be a repeating behavior.
So we simply add those time wasters to our ignore list and filter the junk.

I strongly disagree. In fact I think block-lists are over-used.


I have asked a few questions and revisted much later, I'm also embarrassed about a brain fart or two :P
 

Online SiliconWizard

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Quote
I've spend hours helping people out to later find out they were made of smoke.

If it's any consolation, other users as well as the OP often benefit from answers, so it's not all wasted :)

Yes, that's the whole point of forums. When you ask questions or answer them, it can benefit a lot of other people. A forum is not made for a private discussion or one-on-one consultation.
Anyone expecting that (and yes, there are people who expect just a free consultation) should consider actually paying for consultancy in a formal setting. Just saying.
 
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Offline DimitriP

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Quote
We get the job done for free, then he also disappears or moves to something else without giving a f.
(...)

You know the names, avoid reading their posts, especially when they are the  original poster. and never ever ever ever reply to such a thread.
Never; ever.
No matter how enticing the question and or easy, straighforward the answer is to you because you happen to be an expert in the subject  matter.
I also skip the "review my board", why dosn't this circuti work on the breadboard, it runs great in *spice, or anything about "which oscilloscope... buy, r which multimeter to buy, no matter how the question is actually worded.

and of course always skip the threads with "How to safely measure.....<whatever> (usually mains) :) 

Oh yea and before I forget. Don't post on such threads!

I'll stop now before I tell you how I really feel!!!  :horse:

   If three 100  Ohm resistors are connected in parallel, and in series with a 200 Ohm resistor, how many resistors do you have? 
 

Offline DavidAlfaTopic starter

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StackExchange is probably a better fit for a question-answer system which is rewarded for good behaviours
(...)
Not everything I post has to be thanked a million times or praised by everyone to make it worthwhile for me.
I closed all the social media crap years ago, because fuck off likes! I repeat rewarding/likes/thanks are not the objetive. :-DD
The least anyone should say is "Hey it worked!".
So you think, "Nice I worked my ass for something!", we're not Amazon support chat.
For example, this one. It's a simple matter of education!
« Last Edit: October 07, 2023, 09:42:12 pm by DavidAlfa »
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Offline nigelwright7557

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I get fed up with whiners too.

What upsets one person might not upset another.
People arent born equal.
 

Offline DavidAlfaTopic starter

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I get fed up with whiners too.
Me too! I must say I very rarely open ranting threads. I remember one for the EIA-96 resistor coding, the Nazi Enigma encryption was almost readable text compared to it! :-DD
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Offline DimitriP

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Quote
Yes, that's the whole point of forums. When you ask questions or answer them, it can benefit a lot of other people. A forum is not made for a private discussion or one-on-one consultation.

Ok, lets split this into its parts:

1
Quote
Yes, that's the whole point of forums.
   Bzzzzt!!!

fo·rum
/ˈfôrəm/
noun
noun: forum; plural noun: forums; plural noun: fora

    1.
    a place, meeting, or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged.



Do my work for me , cause I don't know what the f**&& I just did, is hardly an exchange!!!



2
Quote
When you ask questions or answer them, it can benefit a lot of other people.
Absolutely! However,  most of the time imply some understanding of what you are asking rather than "I did this, but I'm a noob so can someone tell me if it's gonna blow up?"

3
Quote
A forum is not made for a private discussion or one-on-one consultation.
someone should tell the usual suspects that keep replying with a dissertation draft to questions :)
and also back to 1 above !

/end  :rant:
   If three 100  Ohm resistors are connected in parallel, and in series with a 200 Ohm resistor, how many resistors do you have? 
 

Offline DavidAlfaTopic starter

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someone should tell the usual suspects that keep replying with a dissertation draft to questions :)
LOL. 100.00% of threads "Why/What/How whatever in C" end like this! Few minutes later the forum gets slow or crashes :D
But t's actually impressive to see the apparent bottomless knowledge of some people here, except when it turns into a silly nerd fight.
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