How To Do The Taboo: The Dismiss Button

"pauljones" (pauljones)
04/22/2016 at 17:20 • Filed to: MOD POST, PSA, DISMISS BUTTON, PAULJONES SHIT HIMSELF AGAIN, FACEPALM, TOO OLD FOR THIS SHIT, ZEN

Hi Kids! It’s another mod post from your friendly local mod squad!

Today, we’re going to get taboo, baby! We’re going to talk about a no-no. A guilty pleasure. A little function that polite society often frowns upon.

That’s right, we’re going to talk about... the dismiss button .

Now, I know that there is a bit of apprehension about so much as using the dismiss button, for fear of having us as mods go coked-up, kung-fu platypus on you, and that’s understandable. We’ve had a few very public instances of the dismiss button being abused, and there was certainly some unpleasant fallout from that. The intention, however, was not to discourage people from using the dismiss button altogether. Rather, it was to discourage people from abusing the dismiss button and being jerks about it. With that said, let’s get a little more in-depth here, and explain what we mean:

A bit of brief history to kick things off

The dismiss button came into being at some point in time. I have no idea exactly when, and I don’t really care. All I know is that it’s been around awhile. I have no idea who thought of it and implemented it, or why they did so, but I have an image in my mind of two dinklewipes coming up with it over a beer like in one of those Guinness commercials, looking at each other, shouting “BRILLIANT!” in the worst possible approximation of a Corkonian accent, and then proceeding to spill beer all over themselves as they clumsily try to toast to each other.

True story. And it was totally brilliant. The idea, that is.

What the dismiss button does:

It dismisses comments to the netherworld of Kinja’s armpits. Now, to be fair, it doesn’t delete the comments altogether - they can still be see via direct link, either in the profile of the commenter that made the post, or, if applicable, the profile of the commenter that the comments in questions were made in reply to. Say that five times fast.

What it does do, however, is remove that comment from the view of the general populace, meaning that that comment will not be seen by others and will not attract further unwanted attention.

When it is appropriate to use the dismiss button, and why:

Okay, so we all have the power to dismiss comments.

Slow your roll for a moment, though, and channel your inner Uncle Ben: with great power comes great responsibility.

While you can dismiss a comment whenever you want, it’s not always appropriate to do so, and you have to make a judgment call when it comes time to that. It’s not okay to dismiss a comment merely because someone respectfully (and I do mean respectfully - more on that shortly) disagrees with you. It’s not okay to dismiss someone reasonably points out that you are factually incorrect about something. It’s also not okay to dismiss a comment simply because you do not particularly like a given commenter.All of the above constitutes dickish behavior, and falls afoul of rule #1 around here: Be excellent to each other.

“But mods, what if someone isn’t being respectful, and is in fact being a downright dinkle-flapping buttmunch?”

Well kids, that’s when we get to do the taboo and dismiss the bejesus out of their comments. Let me give you a few examples of the kind of comments that are worthy of dismissal:

“You’re full of poop!”

“You smell like the urinal in a Portuguese cat house!”

“I would have been your daddy, but the dog beat me over the fence!”

Such comments, and any other comments in a similar vein, can be dismissed. Go for it. Indulge yourself in that taboo pleasure, you crazy diamond, you.

Comments in which another user is repeatedly harassing you can not only be dismissed, they should be dismissed, and you should notify a moderator immediately. Either find one of us somewhere around here and reply to us, or send an email to oppomoderator@gmail.com

At that point in time, we will step in and open a can of whoopass on an as-needed bases.

DO NOT ENGAGE WITH ANOTHER COMMENTER THAT YOU FEEL IS HARASSING YOU.

Seriously, it’s not productive. It doesn’t help. All it does is fuel them and result in you being more stressed out. You don’t deserve that. Just let the mods know, and we’ll call in an orbital banhammer strike.

When it’s not okay to use the dismiss button, and potential consequences therein:

As I pointed out earlier, it is inappropriate to use the dismiss button to dismiss the comments of those that respectfully disagree with you, have appropriately expressed a point of view that you do not like, or have done nothing to otherwise trouble you in anyway. This is an open community, and argument/debate, as long it is respectful, is encouraged here. That’s how we grow and learn. Using the dismiss button in such a situation is very much taboo, and very much frowned upon - not only by polite society, but by the mods as well. If it comes to our attention that you are doing so, we will step in and address the problem as we deem appropriate.

Also, tiny side note: don’t lie to us about this sort of thing. If we’re addressing you about this, we already have the evidence - otherwise, we wouldn’t be addressing you.

And that, I think, wraps up that discussion. If you have any questions or want clarification on anything, let us know in the comments below. We’ll be monitoring the comments for a while to make sure that we are responsive to you guys and your concerns as members of the community. Thank you to all of you for being pretty damn excellent to each other. You are the reason this place exists, and the reason why I, personally keep coming back.

Keep up the excellence!

DISCUSSION (75)

Future next gen S2000 owner > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 17:23

Where is the dismiss Kinja button?

BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 17:24

Where can the dismiss button be used? On any comment on one of your posts? Only replies to you directly? Blogs that you’re not an author on?

scoob > Future next gen S2000 owner
04/22/2016 at 17:24

When someone replies to you (like this), click the “3 dot” button on the right of the star, and you will have the option.

pauljones > BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest.
04/22/2016 at 17:26

The dismiss button can be used on any blog in the wider Kinjasphere, but only on comments that are either a reply to a comment that you made or a reply to a post that you made.

Gamecat235 > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 17:26

I thought we weren’t going to bring up the coked up Kung fu platypus incident again.

#thereisnocokedupkungfuplatypusclub

BmanUltima's car still hasn't been fixed yet, he'll get on it tomorrow, honest. > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 17:26

Ok, that makes sense.

Future next gen S2000 owner > scoob
04/22/2016 at 17:28

I think you missed the sarcasm. I’ll have to try harder next time.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 17:30

So if we used dismiss inappropriately, we already know who we are?

Berang > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 17:30

I’m not sure I get why using the dismiss button would cause problems. Other than maybe hiding a comment to take a later comment out of context?

I’ve used it before, but only because one user kept saying the same thing over and over and I got tired of responding to them. The comment in particular was not rude, but it was part of annoying behaviour.

My citroen won't start > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 17:30

If (god-forbid) someone says something blatantly racist / homophobic / prejudiced in general is it ok to dismiss it, or does it fall under different opinions section?

Future next gen S2000 owner > Gamecat235
04/22/2016 at 17:31

This incident, that didn’t happen, totally wasn’t amazing.

MonkeePuzzle > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 17:32

I am happy to reply inappropriately to anyone who would like to get some practice using this function

pauljones > My citroen won't start
04/22/2016 at 17:32

Given that it would be in response to you, which would be the only way you could subsequently dismiss the comment, I would absolutely say to flush that tird of a reply down the dismiss hole.

Berang > Future next gen S2000 owner
04/22/2016 at 17:33

Maybe they dismissed the sarcasm.

pauljones > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
04/22/2016 at 17:33

I rarely vouch for the cognitive abilities of others.

pauljones > Berang
04/22/2016 at 17:35

Never ask a question you don’t want to know the answer to.

Suffice to say that I thought much the same as you, until the universe, as ever, proved the old maxim: If some can abuse something, they will. I would say that your use of it was appropriate.

avens > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 17:35

You’re full of poop!

CB > Berang
04/22/2016 at 17:36

A few months ago, I remember a user dismissing comments that pointed out that he was wrong about something. He flat-out denied that he did it, which was a lie, and thus got permabanned. Legend has it, he still tries to get back authorship to this day.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 17:38

Does this only apply to people that can post to the blog, or can it be used by anyone on any response to your comments?

pauljones > Eric @ opposite-lock.com
04/22/2016 at 17:41

I think you’re asking two different questions here, and here are the answer to the questions I think you’re asking:

1) The guidance provided above applies to everyone on this blog

2) The dismiss button can only be used on people that replied to either a comment or a post that you, specifically, made. That means that you cannot dismiss a comment that was made in response to someone else.

pauljones > Future next gen S2000 owner
04/22/2016 at 17:42

Mr. Bean knows.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 17:42

I’ll interpret that as a “yes.”

Xyl0c41n3 > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 17:45

Speaking of asking people to leave you alone and them not honoring those requests... did you ever follow up on the issue I brought to your attention last week?

ttyymmnn > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 17:45

Since its inception, I have used the dismiss button maybe five times at most. Though some comments probably deserve to be deep sixed, I prefer to leave them so others can see who is being, well, not excellent.

pauljones > Xyl0c41n3
04/22/2016 at 17:49

Yes I did. If it happens again, let us know, and we’ll intervene a little more heavily.

scoob > Future next gen S2000 owner
04/22/2016 at 17:53

Lol I just read it again

Steve in Manhattan > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 17:55

“You smell like the urinal in a Portuguese cat house!”

I am confused - is this the smell of cat urine? Signed, Confused.

Tareim - V8 powered > scoob
04/22/2016 at 18:00

I don’t have that option there, just the follow, flag, share, permalink

LongbowMkII > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 18:00

“I would’ve been your daddy but the dog beat me over the fence.”

That's good. I'm keeping that one for some respectful discussion at a later date! Thanks Mod Team!

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 18:03

I always seem to miss the drama on Oppo...

uofime-2 > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 18:03

Good post, I occasionally see instances where dismiss really needs to be used, but isn’t so clearly more people need to know about this feature.

pauljones > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
04/22/2016 at 18:03

If only we could all be so lucky.

Xyl0c41n3 > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 18:06

How so? I went back and looked, and there’s nothing in either of your profiles that indicates any sort of discussion took place.

pauljones > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
04/22/2016 at 18:07

In your case, I wouldn’t be so quick to make that determination. You’re good.

GreenN_Gold > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 18:08

On the flip side, sometimes it’s tempting to un-grey a horrendous comment so the rest of the Kinjaverse can pile on the nincompoop with their disapproval. But then, you’re simply feeding trolls.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
04/22/2016 at 18:08

The funny thing is that Oppos tend to be pretty chill. Hell, I have only once encountered a serious troll on a Kinja blog that's above the table (there are some that are exclusively trolls)...

pauljones > Xyl0c41n3
04/22/2016 at 18:11

I’ve never seen a million dollars. That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. I’ve never not been responsive to concerns that you have brought to my attention.

pauljones > GreenN_Gold
04/22/2016 at 18:12

Yeah, definitely don’t do that. Not good. It only encourages them.

scoob > Tareim - V8 powered
04/22/2016 at 18:12

It’s only for replies to a comment you made or a post you made.

Xyl0c41n3 > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 18:18

Paul, I wasn’t being flippant. I was merely asking for transparency in how you (and/or perhaps other mods) took action in the situation. If you didn’t think it merited public discussion, you could have said that without the barbs.

Thanks, though. Message received loud and clear. I’ll refrain from seeking your help in the future.

Funktheduck > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
04/22/2016 at 18:20

My first thought when I saw the headline “wonder what I missed today”.

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 18:21

aw.

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 18:23

I am going to reply to myself and dismiss my own comments.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)
04/22/2016 at 18:25

Only if you’re rude to yourself.

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > MonkeePuzzle
04/22/2016 at 18:26

fucking monkey

Tareim - V8 powered > scoob
04/22/2016 at 18:26

ah there it is!

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST)
04/22/2016 at 18:27

Dismissed!

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
04/22/2016 at 18:27

Every day I curse myself.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > ttyymmnn
04/22/2016 at 18:28

I was having a nice discussion about a touchy subject with a number of other Oppos — whom I was familiar with — a couple of days ago and someone I’d never heard of jumped in and would have shifted the tone of the conversation. So I dismissed him.

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
04/22/2016 at 18:29

bessimsib

CounterTorqueSteer > Xyl0c41n3
04/22/2016 at 18:30

DAAAMN

pauljones > Xyl0c41n3
04/22/2016 at 18:36

Interpret things how you will, but here’s where I’m coming from:

1) I have always been responsive to the concerns that you’ve brought to my attention.

2) Not everything is or should be 100% transparent. While I understand where you’re coming from in terms of wanting to evidence given that you brought it up, I think that somethings, once addressed, should be allowed to pass quietly into the night. As I said, if the problem happens again, I will intervene again, and much more heavily.

3) Given the above, I think that the history of my actions is enough to earn me a little bit in terms of the benefit of the doubt - if I say I’ve addressed something, I have. Do you feel that I haven’t earned that, and if so, why?

If you wish to be angry with me and no longer engage in conversation with you, I understand and wish you well. Until you had brought up the afore-mentioned issue, I had assumed that you had already come to that decision, as it had been sometime since you had replied to any reply I had made to you. In the most recent instance, it was Yamahog who stepped in and helped me understand a point that you were trying to make, and I was very grateful that she did. At that point, I figured you just didn’t have any interest in interacting with me, so I left it alone.

As I said, if you wish to not interact any further, I understand and respect that, though I am disappointed. Outside of duties required as a mod, I will absolutely honor that. If you change your mind, you know how to find me.

I hope you have a good weekend

shop-teacher > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 18:45

I just used the dismis button for the first time recently (last week?). Somebody, who I had never seen before or since, made a shitty comment on one of my posts. Following rule #1, I attempted to engage them in an actual discussion. They responded by calling me names. I was crafting a F-off troll reply, when I stopped, deleted what I had typed, and hit that dismiss button. That was a much better way to go.

Brian McKay > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 18:59

I have never seen a “dismiss button.”

pauljones > Brian McKay
04/22/2016 at 19:01

When someone replies to you, look at the top right corner of their reply. You’ll see a star button. Just to the right of that star button, you’ll see three vertical dots. Click on those dots, and they’ll bring up a menu of a few items, one of which is the option to dismiss the comment.

Brian McKay > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 19:05

No; star symbol is near bottom right. No “dismiss button” is seen.

Kinja'd!!!

shop-teacher > Steve in Manhattan
04/22/2016 at 19:11

I don’t think it means that kind of cat.

pauljones > Brian McKay
04/22/2016 at 19:13

The location of the star symbol may be attributable to a difference in browsers. As for not seeing the option to dismiss the comment, read my prior reply to you a little more closely. The comment in question must be a reply to YOU. You cannot dismiss comments that are not a directly reply to either a comment or post that YOU made.

Click on the little dots of my reply to you in this thread. You’ll see the dismiss option.

Brian McKay > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 19:17

Okay.

Steve in Manhattan > shop-teacher
04/22/2016 at 19:22

Well, I grew up sheltered - DC, then NYC. So I wouldn’t know.

Blondude > ttyymmnn
04/22/2016 at 19:24

Same.

Spambots aside, I can count the number of comments I’ve dismissed on one hand. Even personal attacks depend on if I can think of a witty response and come out looking like the better person...

shop-teacher > Steve in Manhattan
04/22/2016 at 19:28

My parents probably should’ve limited what I was allowed to watch on TV ...

Steve in Manhattan > shop-teacher
04/22/2016 at 19:38

When I was a tiny kid I watched two things on TV that terrified me (while unsupervised): Trilogy of Terror, and the pilot of The Night Stalker, with Darren McGavin. They still scare the shit out of me to this day, and I love them. You should seek them out.

SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 19:41

Dismiss this!

shop-teacher > Steve in Manhattan
04/22/2016 at 19:48

Horror stuff has never done anything for me personally.

Dusty Ventures > My citroen won't start
04/22/2016 at 19:49

To add to what PJ said, I would say be sure to flag that before you dismiss it, because that’s the kind of thing we’d want to know about.

Xyl0c41n3 > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 19:50

Going back to to look, our last two interactions were joined in by Yama and Doc. I didn’t add anything else because I was ignoring you, but because I thought they did pretty excellent jobs adding their views to the conversation. From my end, it seemed like natural ends to the conversations.

As far as Point No. 2 up there... look at it from my perspective: Dude and I got into a (pointless) squabble. I asked dude to stop. I asked dude to leave me alone. Dude did, but not before being temporarily banned.

A month later, dude comes back silently, follows me, ignores my request to (again) leave me alone, so I alert you, since you were the mod who dealt with the original situation. You respond that you’ll look into it.

Perfect so far. I have faith in you, because, like you said above, your past actions are more than enough proof of your commitment to honor your word.

Meanwhile, dude is still following me. I see no comments from you or him about the matter. The dude is still following me right now.

This dude makes me feel unsafe.

So, you post this post about coming to the moderators during just such an occasion, and I comment asking for an update on the dude situation. Your response is, essentially, “ trust me, I took care of it.”

Can you see how, from my end of things, with the limited view I have, that it appears like nothing has been done? Or how I felt like my sense of safety was trivialized by your answer about never having seen a million dollars?

That’s not ok. It’s also more than a little manipulative to say “If you wish to be angry...” Your response was deeply upsetting, actually. Even more so precisely because I hold you in such high regard.

But upsetting and angering are not the same thing. I am not angry. At this point, I think the best adjective to describe how I feel is ambivalent.

If I didn’t want to interact with you further, you’d know it because I would say it in no uncertain terms. My comment wasn’t in regards to interacting with you as an Oppo but as a mod. I’m willing to accept that I may have jumped the gun, but like I said, I’m ambivalent right now.

I hope you have a good weekend, too. I feel bad because I have yet to try the shepherd’s pie recipe you shared with me far too long ago. I promise I haven’t forgotten that kindness; it’s just a matter of finding the time. And speaking of time, I’m off to a softball game.

My citroen won't start > Dusty Ventures
04/22/2016 at 19:53

I know, it has happened before, the worst was when someone advocated for segregation, I wasn’t aware of the dismiss button at that time.

TheOnelectronic > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
04/22/2016 at 20:14

Do any of us really know who we are?

facw > pauljones
04/22/2016 at 20:32

Do you guys look at flagged replies at all? Obviously you prefer to be emailed about actual harassment.

pauljones > Xyl0c41n3
04/22/2016 at 20:41

“Going back to to look, our last two interactions were joined in by Yama and Doc. I didn’t add anything else because I was ignoring you, but because I thought they did pretty excellent jobs adding their views to the conversation. From my end, it seemed like natural ends to the conversations.”

Fair point. I wasn’t certain, so I left it alone and chose not to bother you.

“As far as Point No. 2 up there... look at it from my perspective: Dude and I got into a (pointless) squabble. I asked dude to stop. I asked dude to leave me alone. Dude did, but not before being temporarily banned.

Perfect so far. I have faith in you, because, like you said above, your past actions are more than enough proof of your commitment to honor your word.

Meanwhile, dude is still following me. I see no comments from you or him about the matter. The dude is still following me right now.

This dude makes me feel unsafe.

Yes, I can understand why you feel that way. And as such, I apologize - it was not my intention to trivialize how you feel right now. Rather, the intent was to point out that it’s not necessarily fair to jump the gun and seemingly run to the conclusion that I don’t care, that I’m blowing you off, and then ask me for proof of my word. I don’t handle every situation that comes my way on here the exact same way. In a sense, that’s something of a weakness of mine. I probably should be more consistent in how I handle situation.

But at the end of the day, it’s not my personality type. It’s also not really my personality type to share anything and everything. When it comes to this sort of thing, I don’t believe that that is a good approach. It leads to too much potential to exacerbate an already delicate situation.

Here’s the situation as it stands right here and now - he knows not interact or go anywhere near you. He knows that I am watching rather closely. But until he steps past that line, I can’t step past the line I’m at. He follows me, as well - a concept that I’m equally less-than-thrilled about. But right now, he hasn’t crossed the line against either of us - no matter how technically close he might be toeing the line.

“That’s not ok. It’s also more than a little manipulative to say “If you wish to be angry...” Your response was deeply upsetting, actually. Even more so precisely because I hold you in such high regard.

But upsetting and angering are not the same thing. I am not angry. At this point, I think the best adjective to describe how I feel is ambivalent.”

I found your initial response of “message received” to be equally upsetting. What I initially perceived from that was not only an “I don’t trust you to keep your word,” but also a bit of “fuck you” for doing what I said I would.

Having read your response, I now have a much, much better idea of where you’re coming, and I now understand that that isn’t quite what you meant. But with the context that I had available to me, that’s the conclusion that I came to. I perceived that you were angry with me, and that there wasn’t much more I could do to change that. In that context, my only reaction can be to live up to my word no matter what, accept that you were simply going to be angry with me, and respect your decision and your space.

“If I didn’t want to interact with you further, you’d know it because I would say it in no uncertain terms. My comment wasn’t in regards to interacting with you as an Oppo but as a mod. I’m willing to accept that I may have jumped the gun, but like I said, I’m ambivalent right now.”

And that point about me as a mod is the part that I found upsetting. I realize that I only rarely post and/or comment these days, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not watching this place. Rather, it means that I spend so much time watching over this place that I’ve lost most interest in actually interacting in it the way that I used to. Even so, I take tending to this place very seriously, and that’s why I’ve always made the effort to be as responsive as I can be.

I’d say I’m on the north side of ambivalent. One thing I always appreciate about you is that I can make it obvious when I’m upset, and as long as I’m willing to listen and be open, you’re always willing to reciprocate and explain a little more about your position.

“I hope you have a good weekend, too. I feel bad because I have yet to try the shepherd’s pie recipe you shared with me far too long ago. I promise I haven’t forgotten that kindness; it’s just a matter of finding the time. And speaking of time, I’m off to a softball game.”

Good luck at your game today!

I promise that I haven’t forgotten about the issues with this dude, and that I’m doing everything I can. The problem is that at the end of the day, due to the nature of Kinja, there’s only so much that even a mod can do. Kinja is a PITA, and frankly so are some of its users. I just wish I could do more to tackle the problem that such users present.

pauljones > SnapUndersteer, Italian Spiderman
04/22/2016 at 20:48

No. Thief. :p

Steve in Manhattan > shop-teacher
04/22/2016 at 21:36

Go there. Or I might have to assign you Korean horror movies, and they will fuck you up.

NotUnlessRoundIsFunny > pauljones
05/25/2016 at 16:23

This is probably obvious, but...any objections to using the “dismiss” button on duplicate / garbled comments?

Particularly when encountering a Kinja editing issue (citing recent experience) we sometimes end up with duplicate comments, or a draft comment that can’t be edited followed by a successful one (again, citing recent experience).

So, it would seem cool for the commentee to dismiss the duplicate or garbled comment while keeping the good one intact, no?

DrJohannVegas > pauljones
11/14/2017 at 01:28

Thanks again for this reminder. Every time I mash the button, I think of you.