What is your current ignore list?

[traininthedistance]

Simply:
None

[traininthedistance]

This thread is, as always, an abortion.

The only thing worse than long ignore lists is advertising your long ignore list.  Even if it's 90% trolls, there's inevitably some number of quality posters that get on there due to petty feuds or epistemic closure or whatever, and it just makes ya look small, y'know?

[traininthedistance]

I actually see some value in these threads. It's a chance for posters (A) to see whether they have irritated someone enough to end up on his or her ignore list and (B) to get feedback on whether anyone on their ignore list is worth reading or has become worth reading.

Why is that so problematic? I understand the concerns that some of you have, but do they really outweigh the value of never accidentally reading a post from Aggregate Demand or Pbrower?

Even bad posters can have flashes of insight, or at least spur interesting conversation from time to time.  And it's not that hard to just scroll past.  The "value" you speak of is of negative value to me.

Most of your ignore list is at least tolerable, and there's probably about a half-dozen folks on there who are legitimately high-quality posters whose banishment to your Outer Wastes utterly boggles my mind.

On one hand, I'd list folks... on the other hand, what the hell is the point?  If someone is as ignore-happy as you seem to be, it's clear we have a fundamental disagreement as to what it means to be a forum member, and I'm not sure there's any way to bridge that divide.

It's disappointing, especially coming from someone like you that I generally respect(ed).

[traininthedistance]

I actually see some value in these threads. It's a chance for posters (A) to see whether they have irritated someone enough to end up on his or her ignore list and (B) to get feedback on whether anyone on their ignore list is worth reading or has become worth reading.

Why is that so problematic? I understand the concerns that some of you have, but do they really outweigh the value of never accidentally reading a post from Aggregate Demand or Pbrower?

Even bad posters can have flashes of insight, or at least spur interesting conversation from time to time.  And it's not that hard to just scroll past.  The "value" you speak of is of negative value to me.

Most of your ignore list is at least tolerable, and there's probably about a half-dozen folks on there who are legitimately high-quality posters whose banishment to your Outer Wastes utterly boggles my mind.

On one hand, I'd list folks... on the other hand, what the hell is the point?  If someone is as ignore-happy as you seem to be, it's clear we have a fundamental disagreement as to what it means to be a forum member, and I'm not sure there's any way to bridge that divide.

It's disappointing, especially coming from someone like you that I generally respect(ed).

I think you take this more seriously than I do. That might sound like an insult, but it's not meant as one. For me, the forum is a place of entertainment first and one of education second. I learn here, but the Atlas Forum is not where I go to learn. I'm not running a blue-ribbon panel. If someone irritates me, I am under no obligation to engage with them.

Maybe I'm missing an occasional insight from the dozen or so active posters on my ignore list, but using a filter saves me time. If someone I ignore makes an interesting point, it usually prompts further discussion. Yes, I could skim past those posts, but I find it easier to dispense with them altogether. Between books, blogs, and journal articles, I don't have enough time to read everything that I want to read, so I prioritize.

Furthermore - and probably more importantly - I don't want to waste my time on pointless arguments with willfully ignorant posters. If I don't even see their posts, I'm not tempted to respond. Even if I read their posts anyway, the "show post" button functions like a big flashing sign reminding me not to get worked up.

If I'm missing quality posts, by all means, let me know. Except for Storebought, I'm skeptical.

I don't really think of Atlas as "educational", TBF- while I do think it's edifying to interact with folks who have wildly divergent views, priors, and/or attitudes (and I guess I do take that seriously as a general principle), I'd actually agree with classifying this place as "entertainment" more than anything else, and I do get my serious news elsewhere for the most part.  Perhaps I actually take certain forms of ignorance and irritation less seriously, insofar as just for example I don't really find it any burden to just scroll past, say just for example, Messrs. Arrogant and Catdrugs without there being much of a threat of getting worked up.

Anyway, I see you unignored Clarko, and that's good because he was probably the single most baffling entry on your list- I can't for the life of me imagine why anyone would feel the need to ignore him.  I'd also give Storebought, IceSpear, IndyTexas, and ChairmanSanchez another chance.  I've never seen anything egregiously bad from Storebought, and the other three have said some dumb things in the past but are on balance certainly worthwhile these days.  There are other folks you have on ignore who are pretty damn anodyne but those probably have the highest signal/noise ratio.