Oh man, something terrible happened overnight. I had ignored several of the new kids, and I did it without malice or announcement, however they must have figured out I was one of the folks ignoring them. They must have scrolled through my comments and posts here, because they found the link to my Reddit story, which I had posted on my first day here in one of the Theory of Reddit threads. Although, perhaps they were just scrolling through the Reddit tags and found my story. Either way, I deleted that comment post haste this morning! These folks galvanized the troops and bombed my series and its multiple posts with all kinds of negativity, down votes, and in some cases what felt like evil. I know it's the internet and I need to put on the big girl panties as they say, but boy, I felt violated and tiny when I awoke to it. I am in the process of deleting my entire series, it doesn't feel good to have all of that up there. I'm sure the mods will fix it etc, but I'm feeling weirded out right now. I will find another place to post it, maybe here. It's a novel in progress, science fiction, with a New Mexico flavor. It's very very different. I had posted over 18,000 words so far! I'm feeling kind of vulnerable at the moment, and wondering if it is smart to continue posting rather soul-searching stuff on the poetry thread, for example. Hubski feels, or felt, so intimate and lovely that it all seemed okay, but now I'm realizing that it's like any other site, open to internet madness. And in another moment of sadness, Kleinbl00 deleted all of his pix on our epic thread! Why? I wish I knew. So sad, the thread doesn't make any sense now. Well, change is good they say, and maybe I need change right now.
Man that's harsh. We debated the wisdom of having the ignore list public, and decided that publicity would discourage abuse. We also thought abuse of the ignorer would be difficult, given our setup. We didn't consider cross website torture. Some contingencies come out of left field. I'm sorry that happened to you, and I hope you don't resent us for it. We love your content here, for what it's worth.
You folks are all awesome and I love Hubski. Something like this was bound to happen, I guess, and I made an easy target, having posted the link to my stuff on Reddit. I think because it was a Reddit link, it probably felt like fair game to the kids who probably really haven't reasoned it all out and may feel bad when they do.
I hope I've giving them enough credit! We humans have a way of improving with age, at least I like to think that's the case. I'm pathologically optimistic, though. I would rather three people read my stories and enjoy them than the great unwashed masses who shake their heads and don't "get" them. After the current situation settles a bit, I will post them here.
Out of curiosity, how would one "abuse" the ignore feature?
Well, I suppose its a stretch to say "abuse". What I meant is that too much use of ignoring might be used to stifle debate; that's not what we envision its use to be. We like dissent. Of course, the experience is yours to choose, so feel free to ignore whomever you want, in whatever quantity you want. I have employed ignore quite liberally in the last few days myself. I hope to not feel the need to do that going forward.
Hi mk, thank you so kindly for your gentle words. I have no idea why I was a target. It might have been because I ignored and had publicly posted here at Hubski my Reddit link. Not sure, but either way, it's okay. Life goes on! It's just internet nonsense! I love Hubski and am so glad to be a part of this community. It's funny how you recognize your tribe when you meet them.