#SDNY he's all yours. -- Michael Steele 5110 Posts 3/03
Posted - Nov 7 2012 : 10:05PM
I was looking at a Firefox extension called Greasemonkey, which "allows you to customize the way a web page displays or behaves, by using small bits of *avaScript." I'm wondering whether it would be possible to write a script which would serve as an "ignore user" feature here on ADT? Basically just to block posts by specified user(s); I don't care if it's done elegantly, or leaves a big gaping hole in the page. I do realize that posts by users I'd want to ignore can, and do, end up as nested quotes in posts by people I don't want to ignore; I would be OK with the script not doing anything about these. Just getting rid of the posts initiated by the Ignored Users would be worthwhile enough, for me. I know nothing about *avaScript, and next to nothing about webpage design. I know ADT does not run on one of the common bulletin board software packages, but instead is all custom-written. Whether that would make the task easier or harder, I don't know. I assume that at the least, it would be harder or perhaps impossible to bootstrap off of any of the "hundreds of scripts, for a wide variety of popular sites, [which] are already available at http://userscripts.org." So, do any of you guys that know about these kinds of things have anything to say about this idea? Note: replace the asterisks with the letter "J" -- in the preview window, at least, the word is blocked, I guess to prevent some kind of hacking mischief.
I had never written any userscript before but there are a few ADT users that really annoy me. So I figured I'd give it try. I started this morning & came up with a quick/ugly 1st draft. Is that what you had in mind? In the example above, only my posts (pierre78) are hidden but it's also possible to hide posts from several users. NB: if the list of ignored users is too large, performance may become an issue. I've tested it on Firefox 16, Opera 12.1 & Iron 22 (Google Chrome's cousin, without the Big Brother features) and it seems "OK". However, I'm reluctant to share it for the moment: - as I said, my code is kinda ugly. Plus, I'm not satisfied with the end result. But because of what the html markup of a post looks like, I'm not sure I'll be able to do better. - I fear this hack can introduce a lot of mess and enhance the perception (or at least mine) that people don't read what others have posted before them. What do you or other members think? - last but not least, I have very little patience when it comes to explaining things to people. If I ever post my script, I'll only provide the instructions on how to configure the list of ignored user(s) and that will be it. If further support/assistance is needed, you'll have to ask your favorite search engine or another ADT member Edited by - pierre78 on 11/11/2012 10:43:14 AM
It's easy to ignore replies from certain users. It's a little more complicated if an ignored user starts a topic. Would you also assume you want to ignore all topics (and replies to those topics) started by an ignored user?
Frankly, I don't see why ignoring users the old fashioned way is such a problem. However, from a programmer's perspective, what happens when an ignored user's post is quoted by a not-ignored user? -------------------------- It seems to me that, like it or not, you have to know what everybody is saying to understand a discussion. You are, of course, free to discount anybody's contribution to the discussion, but that doesn't mean it has no impact on where the discussion goes. Perhaps a thread-specific function might be more appropriate.
#SDNY he's all yours. -- Michael Steele 5110 Posts 3/03
Posted - Nov 11 2012 : 5:43PM
First off, to you for taking up the challenge. Yeah, that's basically what I was thinking of. If, instead of just whiting out the text of the ignored user's message, it were possible to the delete the post in its entirety (the user's name, avatar, and all the rest) and replace it with just a line of text saying "Post not displayed because you have chosen to ignore ________," it would be neater, but I don't know if it's possible to do it that way or not.I don't see how any particular user running this script would affect the experience of any other user. None of the people who I would put on my "ignore" list could have any reasonable belief that I'm reading their crap anyway. Whether you do or do not choose to eventually release your script, thanks for at least providing a proof-of-concept.I would say, don't worry about trying to have the script block all topics started by ignored users. The people I would put on ignore don't start that many threads, so it's not a big concern. Plus, I might still read a thread started by an ignored user, if it draws enough responses.The people I would block either do nothing but go from thread to thread to thread saying the same moronic thing over and over again, or they're people who I've come to realize never, ever, post anything that I will want to read or respond to, on any subject, ever. So there would be no impact on the discussion, for me. But it would be nice to have, separate and apart from an "ignore user" function, an ability to block a thread from ever being shown to me again. I don't know if that's something that could be accomplished fairly easily or not, perhaps using the topic_id numbers that I see in the thread URLs?
I think it would be nice to be able to completely ignore. Meaning you can choose how you want your ignore feature to work. Maybe there would always be a button that tells you how many threads are being blocked by the ignore function and you could choose to display them if you're curious as to what you're missing. I have seen one version of the ignore function on vBulletin in which the person doesn't disappear. Their posts are just hidden but you can still see their name and you know they've made a post (you can generally guess what they're responding to). I don't think this works too well because it's too tempting to look and see what's in the hidden post. Usually when people want to ignore someone it's because they feel they can't control themselves if they keep seeing that person's posts.
I had some time to kill so I decided to continue my tests based on your feedback. Here's what the 2nd version looks like: Edited by - pierre78 on 11/24/2012 1:29:45 PM
It's good. But what if someone irritates you so bad you don't even want to see their name? It's an honest question. Maybe a way to know that the post is ignored and yet you could hover over it or click though to check....
#SDNY he's all yours. -- Michael Steele 5110 Posts 3/03
Posted - Nov 24 2012 : 4:40PM
That looks great, Pierre. If you want a beta tester, PM me. As to HeyNow's points, I would guess that modifying the script to just say "ignored user's post not displayed," instead of having it insert the specific ignored user's name, would be pretty easy. But the hovering/click-through thing would probably be much more of a challenge. I haven't actually used the Greasemonkey extension yet; if it is as easy as, for instance, Adblock Plus is to toggle on and off, that might be a more practical way of revealing all posts, if your curiosity gets the best of you.
IMO, once you have decided to put someone on ignore, it should be intentionally a PITA to reveal the ignored members' posts. In asking for the ignore feature, you're admitting you have insufficient willpower to mentally disregard the irritating poster, which means you have insufficient willpower to resist hovering over the hidden posts "just to see what that S.O.B. is saying THIS time." (I'm saying "you" in a rhetorical sense, not addressing anyone personally.)
^^ Pierre thats how it looks on another forum i frequent when you ignore a user. Though they have the vBulletin forum software and its already installed as a feature set. ----Dread----
And on that fateful day, the hatred consumed me... 1423 Posts 3/09
Posted - Jun 22 2013 : 1:08AM
The notion intrigues me... it's not a function I could see myself using (despite finding some people irritating twats, I still want to know what's being said in a thread I click on), it's just that, not regularly frequenting other forums, there are functionality things I'm unaware of. For example: Would an ignored user know he/she is being ignored by someone...? As in, 'a whole list of people are ignoring you, therefore stop being a dipshit'...? Or would it be a totally personal thing, and multiply-ignored user just merrily carries on ruining the ADT experience in ignorant bliss? Just curious...I find that thought really amusing; so irritated by someone, you can't even stand to see their username!
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” - Kierkegaard 2684 Posts 8/09
Posted - Jun 23 2013 : 1:00PM
I tried to use Greasemoney for other stuff, but never got into it. I heard it's pretty powerful and cool. Have to give my hat off to pierre78. His new handle is ScriptMaster. Harri, did BYOB make the Ignore list?
#SDNY he's all yours. -- Michael Steele 5110 Posts 3/03
Posted - Jun 4 2017 : 7:45PM
BUMP, in the hope that pierre78 will come back or that someone else who knows ava-Jay Script programming will want to get involved. (Sorry for the pig-Latin; the site won't let you type the name).
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Digital93 Deactivated User
240 Posts 12/16
Posted - Jun 15 2017 : 5:45PM
Try this https://pastebin.com/qhb8HeGG Let me know if it doesnt work as it should or doesnt work at all.
#SDNY he's all yours. -- Michael Steele 5110 Posts 3/03
Posted - Jun 23 2017 : 11:49PM
Digital, unfortunately I didn't see your response until just now, and the Pastebin page is saying "This page is no longer available. It has either expired, been removed by its creator, or removed by one of the Pastebin staff." Can you re-post it? Thanks so much.
[Link]
Digital93 Deactivated User
240 Posts 12/16
Posted - Jun 25 2017 : 12:39AM
^ New link https://pastebin.com/EAzYmzMz It was set to expire in 7 days.
to you for taking up the challenge.
