How to block posters

Michelle
Posts: 45
Joined: Wed Mar 10, 2010 9:02 am

How to block posters

Post by Michelle »

I just discovered how to use the user control panel of this forum to block posters.

After you log into the forum, click the "user control panel" icon near the top-left of the screen. Then click the "friends and foes" option. Then click on manage foes. Enter the use name of the person you want to block and click to complete the action.

I entered a certain poster as a foe and they have completely disappeared from ever page I view on this forum. Problem solved!

Here is what I found out about this feature.
"What are my Friends and Foes lists?
You can use these lists to organize other members of the board. Members added to your friends list will be listed within your User Control Panel for quick access to see their online status and to send them private messages. Subject to template support, posts from these users may also be highlighted. If you add a user to your foes list, any posts they make will be hidden by default."
Last edited by Michelle on Sun Apr 26, 2015 12:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
Helen Back
Posts: 242
Joined: Fri Dec 28, 2012 4:16 pm

Re: HOW TO BLOCK POSTERS

Post by Helen Back »

As the person in questions posts on every single thread, removing said posts would make every thread completely nonsensical. Great in theory, not very practical in reality. Also, I believe the private message function was removed a couple of weeks ago.
Last edited by Helen Back on Fri Apr 24, 2015 7:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
martalin
Posts: 45
Joined: Mon Jan 12, 2015 2:35 pm

Re: HOW TO BLOCK POSTERS

Post by martalin »

i'm definitely doing this. he has been around for awhile and was then gone for nearly a year and suddenly appeared again more relentless than before. i think he needs help and i hope he finds it.
prince15
Posts: 49
Joined: Fri Dec 06, 2013 11:21 pm

Re: HOW TO BLOCK POSTERS

Post by prince15 »

I don't need to do this, but I think it will benefit some posters.
chilagringa
Posts: 335
Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2011 7:19 pm

Re: HOW TO BLOCK POSTERS

Post by chilagringa »

As a junior high teacher I know how to strategically ignore people if I need to.
reisgio
Posts: 206
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2014 10:17 am

Re: HOW TO BLOCK POSTERS

Post by reisgio »

I am shocked and appalled by how much time posters on here have taken to bash one guy. Get a life everyone. If you don't like one poster's opinions, ignore them. I can't believe you are all educators. I would not want my children educated by such petty, fragile, and immature people who can't deal with one person who rubs them the wrong way. Let's get this forum back to discussions about international schools, education, cities, countries, fairs, pay, benefits, etc. Lord have mercy!
chilagringa
Posts: 335
Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2011 7:19 pm

Re: HOW TO BLOCK POSTERS

Post by chilagringa »

Agreed. I am getting far more annoyed from these arguments the past few days than I ever have from any individual poster on this board.
adminpaul
Posts: 151
Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2006 8:11 pm

Re: HOW TO BLOCK POSTERS

Post by adminpaul »

Amen!
wrldtrvlr123
Posts: 1173
Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2010 10:59 am
Location: Japan

Re: HOW TO BLOCK POSTERS

Post by wrldtrvlr123 »

reisgio wrote:
> I am shocked and appalled by how much time posters on here have taken to
> bash one guy. Get a life everyone. If you don't like one poster's opinions,
> ignore them. I can't believe you are all educators. I would not want my
> children educated by such petty, fragile, and immature people who can't
> deal with one person who rubs them the wrong way. Let's get this forum back
> to discussions about international schools, education, cities, countries,
> fairs, pay, benefits, etc. Lord have mercy!
----------------------------------
Hi. Please refrain from name calling. Thank you.
phi
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2015 4:54 am

Re: HOW TO BLOCK POSTERS

Post by phi »

Ok, no name calling, but a much needed wake-up call.

In my opinion, this has now turned into bullying plain and simple! PsyGuy has opinions different from your own - surely contrasting opinions are a good thing? Surely you don't have to have the last word? Surely you don't need to obliterate those who disagree with you? At least I hope so..

Personal sensibilities and egos masquerading as "political correctness" have no place here.

I am also appalled that so many professionals have resorted to this type of behaviour.
Yantantether
Posts: 168
Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 12:41 am

Re: HOW TO BLOCK POSTERS

Post by Yantantether »

One or two posters seem to be completely missing the point as well as leaving half of the story out. I'll assume this is not deliberate.

The situation from my perspective, and others I have spoken with, was that posters who were questioning information provided by a certain individual were having their posts deleted. These posts - including mine- certainly did not flout forum rules and were not considered derogatory by those individuals. Things started getting out of hand when they started questioning what was going on. This led to whole threads being deleted that were in any way questioning of the perceived lack of consistency from admin.

I didn't and don't have a problem with his opinions but I do have a problem when my right of reply is taken away with no justification or explanation.

As for bullying this guy who always has to have the last say on everything, and is far from a shrinking violet.......seriously??!

If this is deleted, then nothing has changed. Fingers crossed.

************ ############### *************###############
ADMIN RESPONSE: We have said before, we interpreted posters strong response to the person in question as merely a disagreement with his comments. When it got to the point that people were responding to him with derogatory, unprofessional comments we deleted such comments. It got to the point that every time this person posted on any topic there was someone there to belittle him. At the time we were unaware that these reactionary comments were the result of him, in the past, calling entire cultures and regions of the world "crap holes" and blatantly trashing schools with his "tier ratings." Some months ago we updated the forum rules and the poster in question desisted from such comments. We thought we had removed all such comments.

The forum is huge and it is near impossible to monitor all comments that have been posted. Our conclusion was that some posters were reacting to this poster merely because they disagreed with his point of view on various topics. Apparently not.

We did reinstate the handful of blocked users once it was brought to our attention by one of the banned users that numerous instance of the above mentioned type comments were scattered through out the Forum. We searched for and removed all these comments.

We contacted the blocked users and expressed our apologies and informed them they had been reinstated. Some of these people were ready to move on. A couple of them insisted on immediately using the ISR Forum to expound on their conspiracy theory and make accusations about ISR that simply were are not true and destructive in nature. The people in question continued to insist that the poster they resented is a member of the ISR team and was given preferential treatment. Again, this person is not affiliated with ISR. Because these few forum members were unable to move on we were forced to permanently ban them from the forum. One continues to send us very inappropriate emails with veiled threats.

There are people in this world that would like to see the ISR web site removed the web. That should come as no surprise to anyone. Fortunately the United States constitution makes it possible for us to be on line and serve the needs of the International Teaching Community. There have been a number of underhanded attempts throughout the years to discredit ISR and diminish its credibility. Based on the actions of some of the posters that were banned it is coming to light that this incident was blown far out of proportion by a group bent on discrediting ISR. They took an incident that could have been easily solved and caused it to fester far out of proportions. They took every minor opportunity to conjure up and post destructive comments about ISR. No amount of explanation on our part moved them to stop doing such. In other words they saw an opportunity to launch an attack.

Our purpose is to provide a place for the International Teaching Community to exchange information on schools around the world. Everyone is entitled to express their opinions and relate their experiences in a professional manner. To that end we ask that users read the section above Forum 1 on the forum home page which outlines our posting policies. Following them will help maintain the ISR forum as a productive venue.

Sincerely,

Paul @ ISR
kuwaitikid
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2013 6:35 am

Re: HOW TO BLOCK POSTERS

Post by kuwaitikid »

I agree: we have to keep a sense of perspective about this whole issue. There are far more hideous crimes committed than posting controversial responses to questions, probably with good intentions.
Yantantether
Posts: 168
Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 12:41 am

Re: HOW TO BLOCK POSTERS

Post by Yantantether »

Admin: Thank you for your reply.

Just a couple of points- Firstly, this comment : 'The people in question continued to insist that the poster they resented is a member of the ISR team and was given preferential treatment'

I'm sorry but that personal tone does not sound impartial to me. There is no evidence of this 'resentment' and indeed it was this sense of impartiality that riled those posters initially. I thought you had admitted you slipped up?!

ADMIN REPLY: YES WE ADMITTED WE SLIPPED OUT. NOTHING HAS CHANGED. YOU ARE READING MORE INTO THIS THAN IS THERE WHEN YOU SAY THE PERSONAL TONE IMPLIES SOMETHING.

And this: ' Based on the actions of some of the posters that were banned it is coming to light that this incident was blown far out of proportion by a group bent on discrediting ISR. They took an incident that could have been easily solved and caused it to fester far out of proportions.'

I'm not sure how they could have solved it when you banned them without explanation. Furthermore, this sounds like you are directing blame away onto members again. Didn't you yourselves let it 'fester out of proportion' by not answering posters' queries as to why their posts were being removed and then banning them completely when they questioned further?

ADMIN REPLY: WE MADE NUMEROUS POSTS EXPLAINING OUR POSITION. WE THEN BANNED THESE POSTERS WHEN THEY FAILED TO RESPOND TO OUR REQUEST TO STOP WITH THE DEROGATORY COMMENTS TOWARDS THIS POSTER. IN FACT THIS ONLY PROMPTED SOME OF THEM TO ATTACK ISR, USING THE ISR VENUE AS MEANS TO DO SO. YOU ARE LOOKING UNDER ROCKS, OPENING UP OLD WOUNDS.

Finally: I'm curious why you had to be informed about his 'crap hole' and other derogatory comments - numerous as they are - but had no problem detecting and deleting those comments from aforementioned banned posters?

Cheers,

Yantantether

ADMIN REPLY: WE HAD BEEN INFORMED ABOUT THE "CRAP HOLE" COMMENTS BY TWO FORUM USERS. IT NEVER OCCURRED TO US THAT THE WORD CRAPHOLE (ONE WORD) HAD ALSO BEEN USED. AFTER REMOVING THE TWO WORD VERSION THE ATTACKS ON THIS POSTER CONTINUED AND WE INTERPRETED THESE ATTACKS TO BE BASED ON SUCH COMMENTS BY THIS POSTER ON THE NEIL BANTLEMAN AND OTHER TOPICS TO WHICH EVERYONE IS ENTITLE TO EXPRESS THEIR VIEWS AND OPINIONS.

YES WE MADE A MISTAKE, WE'VE CORRECTED IT AND IT'S TIME TO MOVE OWN AS A COMMUNITY FOCUSED ON MORE IMPORTANT TOPICS THAT AFFECT TEACHERS CAREER CHOICES. WE REALIZE WE STEPPED ON SOME TOES AND WE HAVE EXPRESSED OUR APOLOGIES. IF THIS INCIDENT SOURS YOU ON ISR AND YOU CAN'T MOVE ON FROM IT THAN SO BE IT. WE REGRET SUCH AN OUTCOME.

PAUL @ ISR
lifeisnotsobad
Posts: 133
Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 3:37 pm

Re: HOW TO BLOCK POSTERS

Post by lifeisnotsobad »

Dear Paul, I would like to point out that I was banned for repeatedly asking for an explanation as to why Yatantether had been banned...and when my posts were continuously pulled I did give mention to the 'irony' of the behaviour of the admin (given the purpose of this site) but don't believe I was abusive in any way.

ADMIN RESPONSE: YES YOU WERE BANNED. WHY WOULD YOU THINK WE WOULD DISCUSS OUR DECISION TO BAN YATANTETHER WITH YOU? THINK ABOUT IT. HOW FAR WOULD YOU GET WITH ONE OF THE BIG RECRUITERS OR ANY SCHOOL IF YOU REPEATEDLY ASKED THEM TO SHARE SUCH INFORMATION WITH YOU ABOUT ANOTHER TEACHER? I THINK YOU KNOW THE ANSWER. PRIVACY LAWS PROHIBIT SUCH SHARING. YOU ARE CORRECT THAT YOU WERE NOT VERBALLY ABUSIVE, BUT YOUR REPEATED POSTS (WHICH WE CONTINUED TO REMOVE) REQUESTING US TO SHARE INFORMATION WITH YOU ABOUT ANOTHER POSTER RESULTED IN YOUR BAN, WHICH WAS TEMPORARY.

I HOPE THIS ANSWERS YOUR QUESTION TO YOUR SATISFACTION

PAUL @ ISR
mysharona
Posts: 210
Joined: Thu Jan 13, 2011 1:25 am

Re: HOW TO BLOCK POSTERS

Post by mysharona »

Way better than our staffroom conversations!
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