I have no issues with the current muting/hiding system we have in place, but I'm not easily offended by people. I also believe people can change if they really want to so I don't use the mute feature very offten. I do sometimes miss the weigh moderators carried around the site, however. Sometimes I even miss the title system that sort of kept people in line (no one wanted to lose their hat and therefore behaved). I do believe that people focus on the words of other now rather than their title, which can be nice, but without some sort of reward system in place people will just go on being a jerk or being offensive. But, that's a discussion for another time. I have a sort of "3 strikes rule" with the mute button, and it has to be something pretty offensive for me to mute them. Thus far I have only muted 4 individuals whom I could no longer tolerate. I have since then unmuted a couple of them but then I quickly muted them once again. I use this feature sparingly because I want to give people a chance. I know damn well I'd have already muted the user I was when I first started signing onto b.net. That may be one of the issues with these tools though, not everyone has the patience to give a user a chance at redemption and that is kind of lame. I don't think it ever crosses anyone's mind to clear out their cache of muted users to offer them a second (or 3rd in my case) chance. I can agree with DD Death when he says that it hurts the overall sense of community, but it can't be helped when people mute others because they simply said something opposing their own views. As for the abuse of global mutes? Something automated [i]can[/i] be abused and it shouldn't come to a surprise. I think a better alternative to this automated global mute would to have the power be in the proper hands: the ninjas and the webteam. Let's say when a user recieves enough mutes, they would be added to a que that all ninjas can view (similar to be ban system that may or may not still be in place). The ninjas will be offered a chance to view this user's recent posts and based off of that will be given the option to vote on whether or not this user deserves a global mute. If enough ninjas vote yes, another que will appear for the webteam to allow the final verdict for said user and determine whether it would be a temporary global mute (which they would be notified of) or a perminant global mute (based off of past temp global mutes as well as bans). The later would be similar to a perma ban of b.old. Alright there's my 2 cents on that. [spoiler]Sorry for the wall o' text.[/spoiler]

The only hassle on this site is you, dmg. You and your damn threads and your damn skinny jeans, and your damn amazingness and your damn lack of a mythological flying reptilian creature.

Muting and Hiding don't remove the content from the site. If I sign out or log on another account, the threads are still there. The problem is that self moderation now has more mindshare than global moderation. The masses are more likely to "moderate" content on an entirely subjective level, leaving inappropriate and often rule breaking posts and threads to flourish and run free. Moderators are less biased and in place specifically to adhere to the forum rules, though what content does or doesn't get filtered there is, again, subjective (though no where near as much) because they are only human. And therein lies an inherent problem. [i]Human[/i] judgement has been replaced for automated "hide" systems which are expected to function properly with more than one variable in place. As we are all well aware now, abusing this system is a breeze, and we need to worry about the mean time before it is supposedly rectified. Thus, we come to a crossroads. On the one hand, relaxing the rules was a good change. Muting and Hiding are healthy evolutions of our once primitive user interaction experience. But on the other hand, we must not forgo forum rules and moderation or "lay off" our ninjas. If anything, Muting and Hiding should be more effective in delivering content to them for their less biased viewing. Without active moderators backing the system, threads like "X console owners are phaggots and should kill themselves" remain on the front page because the community thinks it's funny to post in them. Lurkers can't hide these, and new members who don't understand the system think the forums have no restraint. If that's their cup of tea, these kind of threads begin to snowball with new members' help. Bungie must make a choice. They either up the ninjas' presence in addition to sorting the issues with automated systems and user controls, [i]or[/i] they simply offer a few tweaks to the system and leave it at that. I'm not buying their "control your own user experience" anymore because I've already muted/reported 400 accounts and I not only still see stupid threads and posts being made, but also have no guarantee anything was done to them. Giving users "moderation tools" in place of actual moderation screams laziness and a lack of control over the forums to me. The new tools should be a ways to assist that control, not one to replace it. Again, the problem is the people posting these stupid threads are expected to hide and report these stupid threads. TL;DR: Fix the system and slap ninjas with more wet noodles.

I love the new system, I can get rid of all of the people who I do not care to see, ever. The only issue I want fixed is the moderation by the actual moderators, or probably the webteam. Idiots like Rose and Camnator need to be IP banned so they can't spam hundreds of alts all over the site.

[quote]Now that you have the power to Mute people who you find to post offensive content constantly, what exactly is the problem?[/quote]I think the ability to mute is the problem. While hiding posts only impacts one post, the act of muting is very different. When you hit mute, you don't just block the offensive post, you hide an entire user of posts. Posts that you might not all find offensive, and some even insightful. It's perfectly fine to skim over posts, but if there is a system in place that hides content from you, you'll never be able to discern if you're missing something without having to forcibly display it. I would also suspect that having to go out of your way to click "view" on hidden posts will make users less likely to do so. dmg, you've been here a long time, and I'm certain you've witnessed people grow here. Not everyone acts like they did five years ago. Additionally, the more people use the mute future, the more "personalized" aka hidden parts of the site become. While you may be happy in your little agreeable-content-only bubble, you'll be unable to see the site as a whole. The more people who ignore, the more users will be separated, and ultimately the overall community will become fragmented and unaware of itself. [quote]Are you more worried about the experience of others than your own[/quote]The experience of users impacts their posting, which directly impacts my own experience. While some may say everything should be personalised and seperate, the reality is that these boards are a social place of shared experience. [quote]Please chime in, let your thoughts be heard, and explain to this numbskull how the new system is detrimental to Bungie.net, as opposed to relying on a small force of unpaid (albeit sexy) forum moderators to censor and dictate your experience.[/quote]Personally I dislike both the previous system of moderation and the current. I would much prefer forums with little user filtering/muting while also maintaining a bare-bones rule system similiar to our current one and based off the Terms of Use (current CoC is a -blam!-ing joke). The forum users could discourage undesirable behaviors while the moderation team exist solely to remove content that could be considered illegal or compromising. I don't believe in most of the rules here, but I can understand most of the ToU. The forums should be as respectful and unoffending as the users; honest discussion before civility.