Hide comments from specific users

[wickedchicken]

Hi,

Much in the same way stories can be hidden, I'd like for comments by certain users to be hidden as well. Ideally this could show up as which could be clicked and expanded if desired.

The reason I am requesting this is that there are certain commenters whom I would like to avoid, but don't think should be outright banned from the site. A private block seems like a happy solution.

Thanks for lobste.rs, it's great!

[jcs]

That would break threading, so is it supposed to hide the entire thread under a blocked comment?

[jcs]

That would break threading, so is it supposed to hide the entire thread under a blocked comment?

[kyrias]

You could possibly replace the comment with an empty dummy-comment, having the user listed as ignored.

[kyrias]

You could possibly replace the comment with an empty dummy-comment, having the user listed as ignored.

[bconway]

+1. I've found an increasing number of users that inject their politics into every post they make and find myself avoiding discussions entirely.

[bconway]

+1. I've found an increasing number of users that inject their politics into every post they make and find myself avoiding discussions entirely.

[wickedchicken]

The UI I was imagining would be as follows (using ⋅⋅⋅ to signify indents, markdown doesn't seem to like spaces):

user1 2 hours ago | link | reply
An insightful comment.

⋅⋅⋅ [hidden] 16 minutes ago | unhide

⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅ user1 4 minutes ago | link | reply
⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅Another insightful comment responding to the hidden one.

[wickedchicken]

The UI I was imagining would be as follows (using ⋅⋅⋅ to signify indents, markdown doesn't seem to like spaces):

user1 2 hours ago | link | reply
An insightful comment.

⋅⋅⋅ [hidden] 16 minutes ago | unhide

⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅ user1 4 minutes ago | link | reply
⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅⋅Another insightful comment responding to the hidden one.

[pushcx]

I wrote a greasemonkey script for myself a while ago:

// ==UserScript==
// @name        Mute Lobsters
// @namespace   http://lobste.rs/u/pushcx
// @description remove domains and user comments/stories
// @include     https://lobste.rs/*
// @version     1
// @grant       none
// ==/UserScript==

domain = 'example.com';
username = 'example';

// hide site
[].slice.call(document.querySelectorAll('.story a.domain[href="/search?q=domain:' + domain + '&order=newest"]')).forEach(function (el) { el.closest(".story").remove() });

// hide stories
[].slice.call(document.querySelectorAll('.story .byline a[href="/u/' + username + '"')).forEach(function (el) { el.closest(".story").remove() });
// you may want this to be a.user_is_author if you only want to block their text posts

// hide comments
[].slice.call(document.querySelectorAll('.comment a[href="/u/' + username + '"]')).forEach(function (el) { el.closest(".comment").remove() });

• Edited 2017-03-23 to hide submitted stories
• Edited 2018-05-22 to document a little better

[pushcx]

I wrote a greasemonkey script for myself a while ago:

// ==UserScript==
// @name        Mute Lobsters
// @namespace   http://lobste.rs/u/pushcx
// @description remove domains and user comments/stories
// @include     https://lobste.rs/*
// @version     1
// @grant       none
// ==/UserScript==

domain = 'example.com';
username = 'example';

// hide site
[].slice.call(document.querySelectorAll('.story a.domain[href="/search?q=domain:' + domain + '&order=newest"]')).forEach(function (el) { el.closest(".story").remove() });

// hide stories
[].slice.call(document.querySelectorAll('.story .byline a[href="/u/' + username + '"')).forEach(function (el) { el.closest(".story").remove() });
// you may want this to be a.user_is_author if you only want to block their text posts

// hide comments
[].slice.call(document.querySelectorAll('.comment a[href="/u/' + username + '"]')).forEach(function (el) { el.closest(".comment").remove() });

• Edited 2017-03-23 to hide submitted stories
• Edited 2018-05-22 to document a little better

[crertel]

@wickedchicken @bconway have you considered just...ignoring...those posts? Also, you might want to link to some examples to show what you mean.

Adding additional echochamber features is probably not a great idea.

[crertel]

@wickedchicken @bconway have you considered just...ignoring...those posts? Also, you might want to link to some examples to show what you mean.

Adding additional echochamber features is probably not a great idea.

[bconway]

@crertel Thanks for the tip. Since I left the site over a year ago, it's probably safe for me to unsubscribe from this conversation.

[bconway]

@crertel Thanks for the tip. Since I left the site over a year ago, it's probably safe for me to unsubscribe from this conversation.

[wickedchicken]

@crertel I originally made this request after scrolling through pages of comments made by a person who preferred the "wall of text" approach to discussion. This made it quite difficult to ignore the posts.

I've seen (and written) a few lengthy comments here and there, but I don't think long comments are a general problem in lobsters. I have seen specific users overly rely on long comments, which is why I requested "hide specific users" and not "deal with the long comment problem" (which I imagine would be a much more involved discussion).

[wickedchicken]

@crertel I originally made this request after scrolling through pages of comments made by a person who preferred the "wall of text" approach to discussion. This made it quite difficult to ignore the posts.

I've seen (and written) a few lengthy comments here and there, but I don't think long comments are a general problem in lobsters. I have seen specific users overly rely on long comments, which is why I requested "hide specific users" and not "deal with the long comment problem" (which I imagine would be a much more involved discussion).

[crertel]

@wickedchicken ah, gotcha. @pushcx 's script is probably a good help for the moment then. :)

[crertel]

@wickedchicken ah, gotcha. @pushcx 's script is probably a good help for the moment then. :)

[danielcompton]

I've made a meta post for discussion/feedback on whether this is wanted by the community here: https://lobste.rs/s/debnsq/hiding_comments_by_specific_users.

[danielcompton]

I've made a meta post for discussion/feedback on whether this is wanted by the community here: https://lobste.rs/s/debnsq/hiding_comments_by_specific_users.

[jcs]

Sorry, but there didn't seem to be a lot of concensus around wanting this.

[jcs]

Sorry, but there didn't seem to be a lot of concensus around wanting this.