I totally agree with this. If people started blocking staff, it would ruin this website. Personally, that reason alone makes a new blocking setting, a bad idea.. No offense or anything! It's a good idea, it just may have to be though through a little more.
And if things are becoming an issue with someone, I'm sure there are ways to report it. (It would depend on how bad the issue is, of course) so its not like we do not have any control over people disrespecting on causing issue on here.
I as well VOTE NO on this issue... I am also new, but I just think it would be safer. We don't want people blocking staff.
I'm glad we agree on this. I know that there are ways to control who can block who, but it isn't something that a staff member would be able to see. And it would also promote a kind of self police mode where when matters are taken into ones own hands, it does undermine the reason why rules are setup by people who follow them. That's why even the ignore feature can become troll like by nature. Because I know it is a built in thing where the very act of ignoring someone, and having to put up with a potentially harmful issue not reported to staff, means that it is a warning in and of itself to be careful of someone's activities by design. A full out block would just make history repeat itself if the ignore wasn't good enough, or a bad reputation if someone used one of their daily reputation points to make it known they weren't happy.
Now of course, we cannot control who will get along with who, or enforce anything beyond justification and reason standards. But being civil is a community effort period. If you kick someone to the curb and act like that is your action to take in isolation, then that's personally saying that person or group of people are an outsider of the community, because the community itself cannot seem to get passed an issue that is preventable. That's why it is a last resort situation and so with that in mind, things that surface which don't resort to capitalist pull yourself up by your own bootstraps feral mentality like that, do end up becoming community favorable actions as a whole. Especially if you need to request personal support, then you won't be treating others as though their help is conditional. the very act of doing so says you have something to hide and is a precursor to a lot of ridicule and abuse. Which is why communication through logs helps sort out problems which can be resolved, if the right action is taken to make the conflict disappear, not the person representing it.
I think the issue of blocking staff could be solved by simply having mods, admins and everyone else of power not be allowed to be blocked. Although I think it would be helpful in case of a troll on the site, although usually they're stomped out within a few minutes. This isn't censorship it's just proper precautions to be safe.
The sentiment I think, does warrant an acknowledgement but in a different type of setting.
Social forums replace blocks with bans usually for this very purpose. It would be one thing, if the dynamic was privacy based. where you had to be responsible for a type of conduct that presented itself in such a way, requiring you to be responsible for your interactions with others. And such a relationship would make ignorance itself, your own responsibility to be aware of before and after taking action. While such jobs are usually reserved for the purpose of a moderator, who specializes in upholding a specific forum rule set, this job is not just up to the individual ember to be aware of else they get a consequence thrown at them by their non acknowledgement alone.
As far as safety is concerned, this comes back to trust. You can't be feral to your own pack mates. When you join a forum, it is expected of you that you do not approach someone else in such a state of mind being feral on your own, as it shows that you have no friends to support you. Where as the whole purpose of a forum is to make that happen where you can even rely on others if you need to for sound advice as best to ones ability as you can suggest in kind.
Forums are role based. Whereas the block feature you're suggesting, is account based. It is useful for blogs, and social media, where people who come over as guests to your space can have the potential to be obstructive. And you have no ability to delegate your account credentials to someone else to help you sort out such a headache. A forum, eliminates that need for all members to self police. So if this feature does get released on the forum, I think a moderator approved profile block would be the way to go So that you control who blocks who and why, and can temporarily allow this action, but not make it permanent. So that you aren't forced to get along with someone, but understand that carrying that burden forever by association with the site, won't make your experience mistrusting of other users as well. As we should all have such a place in common, to be a good experience, not one that is prone to watching your own back because the wrong person kept bugging other people.
I've personally seen forums that take a more capitalist approach to blocking people, and having corrupt moderators when they get super active. Those forums are such where they have a reputation of entering and exiting at your own risk. Which is not something an interest base should collect registrations for in my opinion. this place I get the strong impression that such is honorable here, and as such, gives a vibe of both safety and security without the need to make that need to be something you need to worry about. So if this feature were to be implemented here, please make it moderated so that blocks can be approved for psychological reasons, but that also helps moderators keep an eye on who blocks who and why it's actually needed on the forum itself. Not to get involved in anyone's personal business, but to instead, offer a way of resolving user problems if allowed by your permission to trust a live security manager here for you in a sense. So that's hopefully what makes more sense, which as a feature option itself, is why you report a member to a moderator anyways.
