I just noticed that I've been muted by a user. Hubski sure does make it obvious! I was somewhat shocked, though, because I've made a point of being extra polite here. Taking a quick gander at their user page I see that we probably disagree about some things politically. Other than that, I can't think of another reason.
So in all likelihood this person read something I wrote and didn't like it, so they muted me. That doesn't bother me in the least, but it hadn't even occurred to me that people would use the function that way. Now that I have reason to suspect someone does it makes me wonder how common it is and what else people use it for.
What do you use the mute function for? Have you used the mute function? Do you think the mute function should be used sparingly? Liberally? Will excessive muting lead to a chilling or splintering effect on Hubski?
Should there be some loose, unenforced guidelines about when to mute other users? A sort of generally agreed upon reasoning in order to keep the community from fragmenting? What would that look like? Should it be considered reasonable to repost a thread to the same hashtag if the previous one is submitted by a mute-happy user?
Personally, I'd never used any of the mute, hush, or user-filtering functions on Hubski until I blocked the person who muted me. Should that, by the way, be considered reasonable or poor Hubski etiquette?
How do these kinds of scenarios affect Hubski and its functioning? What happens when we have a bunch of tribally splintered groups with their own mute lists? Is that something to be avoided? Is it something that can be avoided?