"Forum Topics That You Don't Like" Topic

What do you typically do when you spot a forum topic that you don't like? It could be on a topic you don't enjoy, or about something tangential to the hobby, or a deep dive into history, etc.

* I stop reading and move to another topic
* I unsubscribe from that board
* I put the original poster on Ignore
* I tell people to stop discussing it
* I complain about the forum rules
* I close my browser
etc.

I stop reading and move to another topic.

I stop reading and move on. Usually.

I stop reading and move to another topic.

I go to another topic.

I scale my response proportionately. Usually I skip over the topic. On the rare occasions that, on balance and IMHO, an individual is posting more of what I don't want to read that stuff that I do, I'd 'ignore' them. If a board comes to be dominated by stuff I'm not interested in I'd eventually unsubscribe, and if one day TMP becomes The Politics Page I'll go look for a wargaming site elsewhere.

Stop and move on. If a poster to a given subject persists
in material I don't care to read and puts a lot into
a given topic, then stifle or irnore.

I stop reading and move to another topic.

I've already unsubscribed from the boards I'm not interested in.

Stop and move on. I've yet to stifle or ignore anyone (that I recall).

If the subject line is clearly something I'm not interested in I ignore it and move on.

If not and I start reading and realize it's not something I'm interested in I back out and move on.

Sometimes, depending on the topic I will continue to read as I'm usually interested in what others have to say especially if I have a different viewpoint. I always try to avoid staying in my own echo chamber.

I stop reading and move to another topic.

I'll often leave a "wise crack" and move on, never to return.

I stop reading and move to another topic.

If it's only something which doesn't interest me, I move on. If it's something detrimental to TMP--mostly the eternal political wrangles--I point out that this has nothing to do with miniatures or wargaming, and then move on. In an extreme case--persistent and relentless political topics--I once used the "Ignore" option.

Note that the more I have to wade through arguments on Covid, or whether there should ever have been a United States, the less use TMP is to me. I pay membership fees to get something which is not random internet chatter.

So, dropping to the ground, getting into a fetal position, screaming at the world and sucking my thumb is not an appropriate response? huh, didn't know that.
I usually move on to more interesting topics.

+11 to robert p. and + 1/2 to skipper john (except I am not a paying member, of course)

I stop reading and move to another topic

or….get into a long and pointless argument….so I try to stop reading and move to another topic

I move along to a new topic. Of course, I don't open all the posts that I do get because they just don't sound like things I want to read.

Grelber

#1

If your not interested in a topic why even look at it. Unless, of course, you want to get indignant and then you open the topic and post that your are indignant.

what StoneMountain said.

If I can tell I'm not interested from the topic title, I skip over it, otherwise I stop reading and move to another topic. I've unsubscribed from boards that don't interest me at all, or seem to draw a lot of adversarial posts.

I am here because the subject interests me. Miniatures. Gaming. the HOBBY. The more we are consumed by the latest partisan political/cultural debate the less hobby there is.

I have fallen into the trap, and it can appear on other pages than just Ultra Modern.

Now, I would rather that kind of discussion find a home elsewhere. There are no end of options other than The Miniatures Page. Free speech is great. And Bill has a constitutional right to control the content here. But I don't go to the grocery store for auto parts.

Ultimately it could come down to not whether I skip a topic, but whether I come here at all.

You might be shocked to hear this, but 99% of the internet doesn't interest me at all. Even on TMP 90% + of the posts have nothing to do with my areas of interest. I just skim over the topics and don't click on the ones I'm not interested in. Is this rocket science?

I'm aghast at all the people who are angry that some material is posted somewhere. Unless it's child pornography, let the people who want to argue about vaccines or the flat Earth or Coke vs Pepsi or "Buff Belts on British Regiments with Buff Facings" or which Harry Potter character are you have their fun.

We all need ignoring skills – the capacity to see something we don't like, and ignore it. Done. You don't need to stop other people from playing games with too many or too few dice in order to enjoy your thing.

xkcd.com/386

Postscript:

It could be that when people complain about too much vaccine talk or politics on TMP what they are actually unhappy about is not the presence of irrelevant (to them) material, but the dearth of content they'd like to spend time with. Of course, not posting about the virus doesn't make me post about ship rigging or the rules I'm playing.

So one takeaway is this: we all want more wonderful minis-related content. That comes from us being active in our hobby and thus running into things we want to share or ask about. Make sure you're taking the time to have fun, and then write about it. Content comes from us, Bill doesn't pull it out of thin air.

(That makes me wonder how long it will be before we can write a bot that writes interesting content for us.)

A mix of several of the options.

I've unsubscribed from several boards that generate more political content than gaming. I will miss some actual gaming content.

It would help clear my front page for actual gaming threads if the Stifle function also blocked out threads started by the stiflee.

Eventually, I just spend more time on other forums that do a much better job of asking folks to discuss gaming and not politics (even if in a flimsy guise of historical discussion). The constant posting of education agendas for example really belongs in the Blue Fez and not cross-posted. I thought that was supposed to be the place for folks who come to a gaming forum to discuss politics.

I had spent a long time away from TMP, just doing a quick stop once a week or so to check the hobby news and the marketplace. Got lured back in to more regular visits when I started following some interesting marketplace listings.

If the frustration of having to wade past political rants to find gaming gets to be too much again, I'll wander away again.

I move on to something more interesting.

#1. Why waste time?

It would help clear my front page for actual gaming threads if the Stifle function also blocked out threads started by the stiflee.

Isn't that what the Ignore button does? (It's been so long, I don't remember – I never use it!)

The constant posting of education agendas for example really belongs in the Blue Fez and not cross-posted. I thought that was supposed to be the place for folks who come to a gaming forum to discuss politics.

How to educate the younger generation about history seems a valid discussion for TMP, as that's where future gamers are coming from… And many of our members are educators. HMGS is an education-centered organization.

#1. Why waste time?

One man's 'waste of time' is another man's HOBBY.

Isn't that what the Ignore button does? (It's been so long, I don't remember – I never use it!)

Huh; maybe I was away when that went in. It sort of works — the topics are now off the front page but still show in the specific boards, so the education threads are still showing in American Revolution.

And unlike the front page, the thread titles in the specific boards do not show who started the thread to make it easier to skip over.

If I'm not interested in the topic I just move on to the next. If I happen to open a topic that wasn't what I thought it would be I just move on again. Occasionally I will leave my thoughts on a subject but I don't get so rattled that I want to get into a heated argument over something that isn't worth
getting upset over. I don't use the ignore button. nobody is screaming in my face on a topic that I have to fight back over. If they are, I just happily move on to the next topic and leave them screaming silently in the dark.

* I stop reading and move to another topic

>> the thread titles in the specific boards do not show who started the thread to make it easier to skip over.

THIS.
But it ALWAYS does show what time of day it was… ;-/

I stop reading and move to another topic

Yes, the Ignore function prevents you from seeing threads started by the person ignored. It works wonderfully.

I noticed the Dawghouse is full of folks posting to a thread started by a person I have on Ignore. That thread never appeared on my Message Boards, so I was spared.

Life is good.

I stop reading and move to another topic.

I stop reading and move to another topic

Stop and move on.

There are several boards I never look at because their subjects are of no interest to me. If the title of a topic on a board I follow is sufficient for me to be sure it will be of no interest, I simply don't read it. If, after starting to read a topic it becomes clear it's of no interest, I stop reading and move on to a different topic.

Bill said: "And many of our members are educators. HMGS
is an education-centered organization."

As a founder member of HMGS I need to point out that
NONE of the "Wally's Basement" discussions ever included
'education' as a main focus – secondary, yes, but to
say that HMGS is an education-centered organization is
slightly mis-leading.

It may have that focus now, and did indeed in the very
early going solicit a Smithsonian group to early
conventions and of course HMGS is incorporated as a 501C3
one of the purposes of which is Education.

But HMGS was founded with the purpose of giving a
voice to folks who play with toy soldiers and to
demonstrate to the rest of the gaming world that
mini-gamers have clout.

If the stated topic is of no interest, never clicking on it is the obvious solution. But there's a certain amount of bait and switch, and a LOT of hijacking.

Ed, somewhere there's an HNGS "mission statement"--and what Harvard Business School person invented THOSE?--which talks about promoting historical education, but I'd say that ship sailed no later than the first scheduled 40K game. I'm just hoping for "still mostly historical gaming" long enough for me to age out.

Skip it and move along like most others. If there isn't enough gaming material being posted for your tastes….try posting some?

I bitch and complain.

Forum topic or post: just skip it. Life is too short for heartburn.

Usually ignore except when the level of overt political shilling gets too high then I bitch and complain.

I do all of the above. Then I have a good cry. Then I drink some tea and hold the mug with both hands, while sighing occasionally.

Bill I agree about education, but there is some bait and switch, and we are so polarized on the politicized aspects, both left and right, that these discussions often suck up too much oxygen and are not fun anymore.

Stop reading.

I thought there was arm twisting you had to read everything?

Actually who has time? Read what interests you and move on.

Bill I agree about education, but there is some bait and switch, and we are so polarized on the politicized aspects, both left and right, that these discussions often suck up too much oxygen and are not fun anymore.

But what is fun for you, and what is fun for other gamers, might differ…

Robert P. I don't know about a 'mission statement'
referencing 'historical education' but I do have in
my files some documentation (BoD meeting minutes,
early [1988] newsletters) generated by the then
president of HMGS saying:

"That since second only to our avowed aim of promoting
the hobby of historic miniature gaming in general terms,
our most important activity is the establishment and
running of proper wargames conventions…"

newsletter dated 9 Aug 1988 signed by then President
Dick Sossi.

Times change of course…