Feature request: hide forum topics created by blocked users

[darkronin]

Similar to #13653, but for hiding outright from the forum any topics started by blocked users.

As many topics/threads are started by many immature posters, especially in the Off-Topics-Discussions, parts of the forums have become nearly unusable. Meaningful discussions are drowned out by a constant influx of chit-chat threads, almost constantly bumped to the top by DM-style messages ("ig", "fr fr", ...) that should have been a reaction.

Attempts have been made to ask the children to be more considerate (for example: https://lichess.org/forum/off-topic-discussion/off-topic-forum-primer) but to no avail.

This would give regular / old-school users peace of mind.

[Siderite]

I am partially on your side here, but what if the original message was idiotic, but the replies were relevant? Or what if there was a reasonable forum post there, and then two blocked people filled it with replies?

And then this leads into the other issue of what happens with a forum post when the original poster deletes it.

I don't think there is a solution to fix this for all people.

[darkronin]

Thank you for your reply and for engaging in the discussion!

Re: point 1, that is a sacrifice that one has to be willing to make. My reasoning is that by blocking a few of the most prolific immature thread posters (one would be free to choose which ones!), the number of active threads becomes manageable again. And one would not see those topics bumped to the top of the list, no matter how many DM-style messages are added.

On the other hand, if two blocked people filled a reasonable thread with replies. I reckon the already implemented behaviour of hiding the text and allowing the user to display it on demand by clicking a button should work fine.

Re: point 2, what happens with a forum post when a blocked OP deletes it, the simple filter I am requesting would not work and the topic would become visible again. But that should be the exception, not the rule; and even then, if a forum user keeps opening topics and then deleting the first message, then this becomes more of a forum moderation issue.

[darkronin]

Example: screenshot of the Off-Topic-Discussion forum right now:

Out of 10 topics, maybe 2 have at least a title that is not completely immature.

[Siderite]

I guess it makes sense. One of the issues that I have with forums and that is exacerbated by mobile layout is that you have no way to know who initiated the post anyway. Only the last person replying is displayed. You can ignore the post from a blocked person only if you open it and then it's too late, you're already annoyed...

[ddugovic]

IMHO forums need to be reworked to work more like Discourse or Reddit anyway.

Off-Topic Discussion is impossible to moderate, and even if you get what you ask for, you'll still find many annoying comments under those topics and find something else to complain about. There are other forums out there, even on Lichess...