Subject: Re: eliminating tension on this board
While I have not come across a blocking function on this board, implementing such a feature would effectively resolve this issue

You do this by clicking the unhappy face against the author name when reading any post. You will then not see their future posts.

Authors cannot be banned outright* but it is effectively the same if almost everyone clicks the unhappy face icon upon the same author, as they are then left posting to only themselves. But it remains a choice of each Shrewd'm reader.

However, I would like to first address the presence of reverse snobbism on this board.

Don't worry, it isn't present. As far as I perceive there is no general cultural problem on this board with people belittling those wealthier or poorer - so it is a strawman to raise this as a general concern.

Dealraker - single-handedly - expressed incorrectly that Jim likely can't relate to lower classes. Jim expressed offense not at any class view at all, but at the fact that an assumption was made about his life - Dealraker wording it as matter of fact - that was completely wrong. Jim, perhaps reluctantly, gave examples of living in different conditions not to moralize, but primarily to clearly and absolutely refute the false character assumption. (Furthermore Jim might prefer to not to talk to talk about his life but felt it unfortunately necessary to refute a complete false accusation stated as matter of fact, which would otherwise have risked persisting as a false belief by some readers. This is precisely why making public assumptions about anyone is deeply in bad taste. It pressures one to defend oneself, or otherwise have a lie assumed as true.)

Summary - don't assume anything about anyone, or at least keep it to yourself.

If readers or authors want to *ask* something privately, use the 'Privately email' option above the <Send> button.

Likewise an earlier thread titled 'Criticism of Jim' I viewed as having a very unfortunate title, because it can inadvertently imply that there was some wider concept of criticism of Jim - which is diametrically opposite to reality - as it was *again* actually one person *alone* doing the *character* criticizing, but then discussed as some general concept.

Please don't do this.

What strikes me as ironic is that many individuals here, who take pride in having been born into poverty and achieving success

Okay, but just to be clear this isn't related to what was offensive.

I will end by highlighting attention to the ignore user feature, and that it is really nice. At the former TMF it didn't quite hide the user as their posts would just grey out. At Shrewd'm the posts really go to the outer cosmos.

Have fun with it!

- Manlobbi

* Unlike what is increasingly becoming almost everywhere now, freedom of speech is unlimited at Shrewd'm. That means you can deny the holocaust (which I suppose everyone but the author would view as a factually false view) - and the post is staying up. Reason: If you are in favor of freedom of speech, then it means you are in favor of freedom of speech precisely for views you despise. Otherwise you are in fact not in favor of freedom of speech at all. In fact allowing despised views to be expressed in a forum that shows all replies gives an opportunity for the view to be exposed as false. This principle doesn't extend that well to the mainstream news media where replies are not published (you can write to the BBC journalist to correct falsehoods or lies but they won't publish your reply if it "would not do to say"). With such media, news should be fact checked and sadly it no longer is. But the unlimited freedom that is permitted here is especially effective in meeting room, or in such forums that don't differentiate between posts and replies.