Grants talk:IdeaLab/Block function

This is good idea. It helps a lot to get away from harassment and abuse, but what if there is a need, an inevitable need to contact editor and what is the solution is such cases? --Krishna Chaitanya Velaga (talk) 05:51, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

• You can unblock them if you need to talk to them. If two people are getting into a revision fight or whatever on the article, that's probably going to involve other people anyway. Titanium Dragon (talk) 08:03, 3 June 2016 (UTC)
• Are you talking about if the blocked user needs to contact the user who blocked them? If so, then there could be a project page specified for requests for a 3rd party (like an admin or similar) to relay the message to the user who issued the block. --MorbidEntree (talk) 20:19, 3 June 2016 (UTC)
• User blocks would not affect article talk pages, as far as I understand it. If the message was about an article, you could put it on the article talk page, and if they didn't read it after a week or two, that would be their problem, not yours. If the message was not about an article, maybe it would be best not to send it, since they expressed their wish to block you.--Greenrd (talk) 09:44, 5 June 2016 (UTC)

Disagree

If every editor could block every other editor then we would have a more fractious place rather than a less fractious one. We would also have a lot more harassment if anyone could create an account, get it autoconfirmed and then use it to block their target. It's a bit like responding to a school shooting by handing out guns to everyone. WereSpielChequers (talk) 10:53, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

• I cannot see how blocking (=technically supporting that I do not read posts from) a user is in any way like "handing guns to everyone." A gun hurts someone else. Me not reading your post does not hurt you - not now, not then (only if someone believes that her or his texts have to be read - but this is then that person's personal problem, also already right now).
• I do not understand how harassment would be created by using accounts that block "their target:" Blocking, as I understand it, means that the account that does the blocking will not see texts of blocked accounts. So, this only changes what that new account sees - which is of no concern to anyone except the creator of that account.
• Last, regarding "a more fractious place:" THe price we pay right now is that we have a "less fractious place of people with thick skin." - i.e., WP discourages sensitive people and keeps people who do not care so much about other people's rudeness. But this is not sensible: All people should have a chance of sharing their knowledge and their explaining skills.

So, no, in my opinion none of your three claims holds up to reality. --Haraldmmueller (talk) 19:22, 3 June 2016 (UTC)

• I don't understand how this is the equivalent of handing out guns to everyone. The functionality wouldn't send the users that is blocked a message or anything. It would just show a notice box at the top of the user talk page and prevent them from editing the page. --MorbidEntree (talk) 20:18, 3 June 2016 (UTC)
  • Now that the proposal has been "clarified" to say it only blocks people from the users talkpage most of my objections are met. But I would suggest renaming this as "ignore". We already use block for when we stop particular accounts and IP addresses from editing. It doesn't make sense to use the same word for two very different things. WereSpielChequers (talk) 23:02, 3 June 2016 (UTC)
    • True, I just used the word block as it was the first thing that came to mind since I was looking at the features that social media sites have. --MorbidEntree (talk) 08:52, 4 June 2016 (UTC)

Similar ideas

• Grants:IdeaLab/Add ignore functionality

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Greetings! The Project Grants program is currently accepting proposals for funding. The deadline for draft submissions is tommorrow. If you have ideas for software, offline outreach, research, online community organizing, or other projects that enhance the work of Wikimedia volunteers, start your proposal today! Please encourage others who have great ideas to apply as well. Support is available if you want help turning your idea into a grant request.

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