A serio-comic poll about self-segregation: colleges, DU, and real life.

[IdesOfOctober]

Please take this in the spirit in which it is intended.

Many inkvines have been strangled in order to write about the uncomfortable topic of "http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=self-segregation">self-segregation," which basically boils down to people herding up in accordance with some perceived stripe, spot, or fantail plumage.

Where race is concerned, it has gotten so bad at some colleges that http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=randomized+housing+college+harvard+yale">randomized housing has been instituted, to try to force some mixing and mingling.

I learn more from people with other viewpoints, even from people I first think are total asses. In college, here at DU, and in my real life endeavors, I find that when my viewpoints are challenged, I grow and learn.

So, here's the question, on MLK's birthday: how many people are on your Ignore list?

Ides

[Marrah_G]

1. Right now 90 people

That's down from the well over 150 I had 2 days ago- But I cleaned the whole thing out and started over again. All from the vast amount of ridiculous poo-flinging, with zero educational value.

Basically, with me, if you post flaming hit pieces on any Dem candidate, you go straight to the "hall of AssHattery"

(Edited after actually counting the list)

[IdesOfOctober]

2. I'll try to stay out of it.

[Dhalgren]

3. I have 25 on my ignore list. Just added another today...

[DS1]

4. 30

but for most of them I'm simply ignoring threads they start, since the list is pretty much tuned to people who spam the lounge while talking to their other friend spammers. it takes a lot to also get on PM block and reply block

[Staph]

5. Just one . . .

Because I got tired of the marketing threads -- buy from me, buy from me, buy from me. Anyone else, I use the manual ignore function - don't read or don't respond to the idjits!

[HamdenRice]

6. "1, because there's just this one person I'd like to feed to the Pit of Sarlac"

But the Pit of Sarlac is a bit lenient, no?

[IdesOfOctober]

10. Depends on whether or not I get to use a safe word.

[hfojvt]

7. your poll is kinda restrictive

I have 7 on my list as I become increasingly intolerant. But that's not nearly the same as having 70, or 150, is it?

[IdesOfOctober]

29. There's always one. LOL. Thanks for your write-in!

:toast:

Ides

[dmallind]

8. 0, but not quite either of your options

I neither seek out nor limit the new people I'll respond to. In fact with very few exceptions such as really long back and forths and a couple of people who make a habit of looking for ways to attack me for some perosnal gripe or other, I hardly ever notice, let alone care, who it is I'm answering. I just answer posts that have some interest to me at the time. That interest may be fleeting, or abiding, but it's not based on who posted it. There are doubtless people I have vigorously opposed and vigorously defended at varying times, and many more I have never even responded to. In none of those events is personality the driver - only posting content. I TRY not to attack the person and focus instead on the idea but I have doubtless many times lapsed, usually when someone seems to be becoming irrational. Ironically, that bugs me to an irrational level. ;)

[SaveOurDemocracy]

9. Until yesterday, 0 ... since yesterday, 17.

It's restricted to those who repeat the same things over and over, willfully ignoring any factual evidence presented to the contrary. I figure they must have nothing constructive or enlightening to offer.

It's amazing how many threads those same people start in a 24 hour period!!

[LibDemAlways]

11. I only ignore when someone starts name calling. I have

no problem with posters who don't agree with me, but I'm not going to put up with anyone making it personal when they've never met me and know nothing about me.

[Mountainman]

12. You don't need an ignore list. Just pass the crap up.

[IdesOfOctober]

16. Seriously! Or play "hiding threads for fun and profit," I say.

[DemReadingDU]

23. exactly!

I only read threads from about 6 people. The rest I bypass. Who has time to read all that crap anyway.

:P

[BooScout]

13. 8 since the weekend.......

I just started using the ignore feature this weekend. It's amazing how much nice DU is when I use it.

[Mugu]

14. Only one, just added yesterday. n/t

[Blue_Tires]

15. 11, and probably more before the week is up

last year, i had as many as 30, but in a good faith gesture, i cleared out everyone on my birthday (9-11)

For 3 and a half years on DU, I was like a lot others here once, thinking the ignore list was for sissies who couldn't bear the snark, grenade tossing or general jackassery...But after awhile i found it greatly reduces my stress and aggrivation. (most of the people on my list usually get banned anyway; there are only 3-4 everyday well-known users on it)

[Radical Activist]

17. Just one.

I often don't look at who I'm responding to and just reply based on what they wrote. But there's on regular who kept baiting me into arguments over and over and every time she would go batshit crazy by the end of it. Just a completely rabid, unreasonable person. I still see her respond to my posts once in a while but I've resisted the temptation to turn off the ignore feature and see what she wrote.

[nonconformist]

18. Zero. I've never utilized the ignore function.

If I don't like what a person is saying, I'll either debate them or ignore them in the traditional sense. Most people that fall under that usually end up banned, but not all. In any event, I don't like the idea of only getting pieces of conversations in threads, which is what happens when you have some of those people on ignore. I'm perfectly ok with seeing dissenting opinions, even if they piss me off.

[lumberjack_jeff]

19. Don't be discouraged by a slow response.

I suspect that many DU'ers have abandoned their ignore list in favor of a "listen" list.

Sadly, they have only one name on it; themselves.

[notadmblnd]

20. Zero

if there's something I don't agree with, I usually just pass by it because someone else will say what I'm thinking anyway.

[Boojatta]

21. Think Twice!

Where race is concerned, it has gotten so bad at some colleges that randomized housing has been instituted, to try to force some mixing and mingling.

I think that people get on ignore lists because of their words, not because of their ancestry.

I find that when my viewpoints are challenged, I grow and learn.

Do you grow and learn when your viewpoints are misrepresented or when false accusations are made against you?

So, here's the question, on MLK's birthday: how many people are on your Ignore list?

If you are considering putting someone on ignore, then you have probably already read many posts by that person. It's likely that the time you would have spent reading more posts by that person will be devoted to reading posts by a number of different people. In other words, adding one person to your ignore list probably increases your mixing and reduces your segregation.

[SaveOurDemocracy]

28. Exactly ...

It's not something I did lightly ... in fact, I'd never done it before. It's blessedly reduced the agg level 85% just by silencing a few of the most prolific, partisan bullshitters.



You all know the ones:

Posters who obsessively trash every thread started by an opposing candidate supporters ...

Posters who are repeatedly presented linked, documented, and complete(in context)statements that absolutely debunk their hysterical claims, and yet still scream that they have the truth ...

Posters who are so blinded by hatred and vitriol that they can't even see through the smoke issuing from their own ears ...

Posters who've proven time and again that their judgment and objectivity are not only suspect, but poisonous to rational debate...



To each his/her own. Just because everyone else chooses to swallow, doesn't mean I can't spit.

[radfringe]

22. been on the DU since 2000

I've put 2 maybe 3 on ignore -- 1 turned out to be freeper/troll and was tombstoned, 1 really bugged the crap out of me about 4 years ago around the primary battle, and 1 recently irked me to the limit...


(I'm a bit more active with the HIDE THREAD function these days)

[IdesOfOctober]

26. I am thinking HIDE THREAD is something I will start doing.

Thanks for saying it outside my head.

[radfringe]

30. go ahead an try it

makes things alot quieter in "GD"...

I'm constructing a pros-cons list in my head on each of the candidates. The question of "electability" is not a factor.

The other thing not on my list is the issues/platforms - all of them have essentially the same position and it's rare that a final product looks like anything that was 'promised' in it's entirety. The differences between their positions is moot.

what I'm looking at is ability, intelligence, creativeness, openess, and yes - experience because this is one f**kup mess and whoever wins doesn't have the luxury of "growing into the job".

before Obama-inites jump all over me - experience comes in many forms, not just experience with the political process. Obama has experience that Clinton will never have, and visa-versa, ditto regarding Edwards

unlike other election years - there is no one single issue that rises above the others in terms of importance. because smirk-boy & co. have f**kup so bad - all issues are important and intertwined.

example: Occupation in Iraq is having it's impact on oil prices, which impacts the economy, which impacts jobs, which impacts accessability to healthcare, housing, education, social security....

Dominoes.

[Blue_In_AK]

32. The occupation of Iraq

has been the root of ALL evil, IMO. I didn't think any foreign policy blunder could top Vietnam, but somehow ** found a way to do it.

[Blue_In_AK]

24. I don't put people on ignore

I know whose posts are going to get my blood pressure up, so I just don't open them. Sometimes when I'm in a good mood, I like to read them just for a laugh.

[IdesOfOctober]

31. Masochist

[MedleyMisty]

25. A rather large amount

There's being open to new ideas, and then there's not wasting your time with assholes and trolls who are most definitely not open to new ideas and are just here to be assholes and trolls.

Or, in the terms of the OP - there's a difference between hanging out with people who don't look like you or come from the same background and going to a KKK meeting because hey, they're different from you and have different ideas.

[blondeatlast]

27. Just one, because the scroll wheel was no longer enough to save my sanity. nt