This question has come up several times in the past couple of weeks. This post isn’t an argument for or against blocking posters. Just instructions for how to do so if you decide that’s how you want to handle some of the noise in the forum, and an explanation of what you will see or not see afterward.
To “Block” a forum member:
Click on the member’s name so that it opens their user profile. You can do this in a thread or from the forum homepage, or pretty much anywhere on the any of the forums where the forum member’s name is indicated in blue. At the top of the member’s profile page, you’ll see buttons for “HIDE USER’S POSTS†and “SEND PRIVATE MESSAGE.†Clicking on the hide button activates the ignore function, and should result in an update to the profile page and added green text that says “All posts from *Member Name *will now be hidden.”
After you’ve hidden a member’s posts, if you choose to see those posts again, you can go back to the same profile page and click the “SHOW USER’S POSTS” button. It will reverse the process and give you a text in green that says “All posts from Member Name will now be shown.”
What happens after you block a member:
Hiding a member means that, within any given thread, you won’t see the content of that member’s posts. Within the thread, you’ll see blank space where the member posted (with their name indicated so you’ll know they posted), but that space won’t contain any content.
On the right side of the empty space, you’ll be able to click on “SHOW THIS POST.” That will expand the space and show the content of that individual post. At this point, that post is just like any other, and you can then reply to or quote that post just like any normal post from any other member. Showing an individual post doesn’t remove your block of the member, and you will have to click on each post if you decide you want to “show” it.
If the blocked member starts a new thread, you can click on that thread, and the first post will be visible by default, but any subsequent posts by that member in that thread will be hidden.
Hiding a member’s posts does not prevent them from seeing or replying to your posts, and it doesn’t prevent them from contacting you by private message. It also doesn’t hide their name or any new threads/posts they create from the main forum page. All it does is hide the content of posts from that member in threads.