Could blocking an user also prevent from having his posts seen in the thread?

Threads are unreadable due to Mary Yugo and Lomax, they only make noise and hasten the demise of my mousewheel. Would it be possible for the block option to also remove/hide their posts?

Thanks a whole lot!

Thanks, Barty, this should be a valuable tool. Do they still show up in Unread Posts?

So far I only blocked Mary Yugo and Lomax, so that wasn't linked to that.

I have been blocking users where I find consistent trolling or other behavior better ignored, in my personal assessment, but I will often then unblock for the purpose of reading a comment where I need to see more than shows in the profile. I can then reblock, and none of this creates distracting traffic for the blocked user, apparently. My blocking of users is not intended, in any way, to harass them. (And it is not uncommon for me to unblock when I see one or more good posts, either directly, this way, or by them being quoted by others. It works for me.)

However, yesterday I saw a post by Zeus46, and went to look at the profile and got the message that I was not authorized to view it. Which made it impossible to unblock. I read the post anyway, by logging out, and today the profile is readable, but this points out problems with invisible profiles. There is a major user with an invisible profile. This makes it impossible to review their overall contributions, which is often useful. If something in a profile could cause them harm, they can remove it. If they have made posts that are harmful, those could be deleted by them. (And they are already findable using google, it is simply more cumbersome. Maybe if there was a name change. When there is a name change on wikipedia, it propagates to all logs and can be found. Old comments with the username in text of the comment remain, but ... it's possible to delete all that, merely cumbersome. General advice is to realize with all internet activity that the future is watching.)

At the very least, a "blocked profile" should still display some minimal information, and in particular, it should be possible to block/unblock a user with a hidden profile.

By the way, I just reread the discussion above and the comment about being able to read the post by clicking on the box. That was not exactly, true, clicking on the box does nothing, but there is an down-arrow on the right that opens up a dialog that allows viewing the post. I'd missed that.

And now I can upvote and downvote posts from users I have blocked! I just upvoted Keieueue's post above, even though he remains blocked by me. Cool! (Pure and relevant information is always useful to the conversation.)

Quote from andrea.s

For some reason I found Keieueue blocked and I had to unblock him.I suspect his profile was inadvertently blocked for everybody for test purposes.
Or maybe blocking is reciprocal and he dislikes me, which could well be.

Profile hiding is a user option. Under the main Username display, always visible when logged in, is Settings. On that menu is Privacy, and in Privacy, there is control of who can view the profile: Everyone (default), Registered Users, Users I'm Following, and Nobody.

Under the Settings menu is another option, Blocked Users. From this page, one may unblock, but there is no way to add a user, that must be done from the Profile, apparently, and if the Profile is hidden, about all one could do is to

1. Report posts as offensive.
2. Downvote posts.

Both of these are accessible from the "post hidden display" by pressing the down-carat button on the right, then the normal post menu shows. Of course, this involves seeing the post. The first will not be visible to the blocked user, probably, but the second will, if he or she looks at the votes. I did just "like" a post by a blocked user. That was actually handy. This can be seen in my profile a few actions back. It should Do No Harm, unless he thinks it sarcastic ... but it wasn't. He has also blocked me ... so, he should not see this unless he looks or someone quotes it.

Really, the bug here is that hiding the profile then reduces the control of other users with regard to that user's posts. A fix might be to allow a button for posts, "block this user." I think Quora does that. It would be simple.

Quote from Alan Smith

Abd is blocking people? Who knew!

I finally found the list of blocked users. My habit is to notify a user when responding to a "block-triggering" post, and then to mention if I unblock, again in response to a good post. I don't repeat this over and over, unless the fact of a block becomes relevant somehow. It's a personal choice. I currently have 12 users blocked. As part of that looking about, I also found that hiding the profile is a personal setting, not a moderator action. I've seen this discussed before and never saw any valid information about this. Hiding the profile disallows blocking or unblocking the user. that, I consider a bug.

The disallow screen is a hack. Disallowing access to user-specific settings is unnecessary and this can be abused. I should be able to block/unblock anyone, just as any registered user should be able to block/unblock me. In another post here, I suggest an access to blocking/unblocking from posts. Pissed off by a post? Dislike it and block the sucker! Two clicks. And easily undone if you change your mind.

Quorans learn to do this, because engaging with trolls can get you warned and/or site-blocked there (even if you are truthful and think you are civil!) and those, if they accumulate, can easily get you site-banned. On Quora, you can prevent any user from commenting on your answers and that is most of what a block does. It also disallows commenting on comments under other users's Answers, and prevents them from Private-Messaging you. And any user may report harassment or other policy violations, and they actually do, over time, pay attention to those reports.

Quote from Alan Smith

Does Quora use the new FascistForumsR'us software? Sounds like a club I would never want to join. Enlightenment without freedom of expression or freedom to dissent is merely indoctrination.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quora
Actually, Quora was founded by Facebook people. There is high freedom of expression there, within strict boundaries of civility. They managed to attract a core of truly excellent writers. And some of them get into trouble. It's really easy if one responds to trolls. It's also easy to stay out of trouble. There are a few hot-button topics where issues of possible site bias come up. I'm in communication with many banned users. We can sometimes do something about it. Originally, it was at least partly community-administered, but Quora decided to go to paid staff only and it is obvious that they are massively overworked. I initially received some warnings and then one one-week block, for things that I learned not to do. Mostly it is about avoiding the appearance of inciviility as well as the reality. The administrators do not investigate, they look at a post on its own and push a button to warn or to block (or ban). However, most users never see the problems.

Quora is a real-name site, and it's enforced, but trolls can register fake accounts and get away with it for a while. What Quora wants users to do is to report problems, don't try to confront them. If you don't like someone's comment on your Answer, you can delete it! That, by the way, drives trolls crazy! ("Are you afraid of the truth?") That is an offense because it is harassment.

Bottom line, the writing on Quora can be spectacular, if one sets up one's personal interaction well. I'm not going to describe how to do that here, more than saying it is about what writers one chooses to follow and what topics one follows, but, bottom line, I could spend all day every day there; I did for a while. Writing on Quora receives quick feedback, but then that also builds long-term. They provide stats. Some people end up making money. Quora doesn't pay writers (generally, though there are contests), but others do. there are many people on Quora whom I would love to meet in real life. Haven't yet, so far, except for some phone conversations.

The common opinion now, among many of the best writers, is that Quora administration sucks. But ... people who say that don't get sanctioned. Only if they attack other users (or if it seems like they do, or, this is the tough part, if they take a seriously unpopular position, are frequently reported, and then make some mistakes. I was working on organizing anti-vandalism activities, and, as a result I was probably being heavily reported by some vandals. I had some warnings and some posts were collapsed, for no apparent reason. Quora Moderation just the other day uncollapsed a post of mine and apologized. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it. When there is a lot of reporting, and moderators are overworked, they make mistakes.

It's like anywhere on the planet. There are ups and downs. But I can write about cold fusion there, no problem any more. I made one mistake early on, calling a pseudoskeptical asshole a pseudoskeptic. Warning. What one learns t do is to ignore the crap or say "Thanks for sharing." There is a question and answer about how to tell people they are assholes without violating the basic Quora policy, "BNBR." Be nice, be respectful.

I have found that reporting assholes works. The public cannot see warnings, but users change their behavior. And blocks and bans can be seen. There is some level of satisfaction in being attacked by a troll, ignoring it except to push the report button, and seeing the red Banned banner appear on their user profile, with the edit log showing "banned for sock puppetry." One learns to be detached. Good thing. (Frivolous reporting can also get one sanctioned. But I don't know anyone who has been blocked for it.)

Quote from zeus46

But, in mitigation: I was only referring to personal life data that was already self-disclosed by 'a certain person' in 'The Playground'.

Well, this convinces me, close enough, that zeus46 is another user who did quite the same and who had the same name until changed the other day. The issue would be whether or not it was relevant (things are on the "Playground" for a reason), and, really if it was framed offensively or the like.

Zeus46 has a blocked profile, but now I find the way. If at the left of a post, above the profile photo, hovering the cursor over the user name causes a display including the block option to show up. So, Zeus46 joins his sock as my 13th blocked user.

Thanks, learn something new every day.