Features Why "Blocking" a User Can't Happen on a Forum

Been seeing some tit for tat on the forum lately and the subject of blocking (in the way that social media does it) has been brought up. This simply can't happen on a forum due to social media and forum platforms being designed to serve different purposes. I have looked into blocking for the forum and gotten the opinions from the creators of the forum software and I agree with them on why blocking is not a thing on this, or any other, forum software.

When you "ignore" a member on a forum their posts will be hidden (but not completely removed) from view. However, the user you ignored will still be able to see your posts and threads and will be able to reply to your posts, though those replies will be hidden and you won't be given a notification when they do this. This is completely different from how social media platforms, like Facebook and Twitter, handle "blocking". If you block someone on social media you don't see their posts and they don't see yours.

Spoiler: Social Media

Social media is a "me me me me" platform first and foremost that allows you to place yourself in an echo chamber where you can allow only things and people you agree with to be seen. Social media is primarily a "safe space" for people who are easily "triggered"....or "snowflakes" if you will. That type of feel-good nonsense will be the downfall of civilized society IMO. The only people you will read about, interact with and help will be people you personally know and/or have chosen to follow for whatever reason. You don't see people's posts/questions that you don't know.

Note: I'm well aware that FB has created "groups" that serve a similar purpose as forums but those have much the same limitations and problems as forums do. These groups are ran by administrators and moderators and you can be booted out of them if you cause too many problems or don't get along with the group members. You WILL see people who you don't follow on the social media side of FB. You WILL eventually run across people that you do not like and disagree with. I do not know how FB handles blocking within groups so I can't really comment on that. If you prefer FB groups over this website...ok. Enjoy, I'm not going to try to stop you.

Spoiler: Forums

A forum is designed to be a community and, as with any community, there will be people that you do not agree with or like. When you join a forum you join a community of people. These are designed more for Q&A and to help people that are interested in a certain topic or niche, in DI's case that niche is "Dumaguete/Philippines". You initially "follow" every member of the site. The focus is more on the community/niche and less about you and who you like/agree with.

Social media = Exclusive
Forums = Inclusive

Those differences are the reasons "ignoring" and "blocking" work differently on the two platforms. If blocking, as social media does it, was allowed on a forum then YOU are getting to choose what other members of the community get to see. Example: If you start a thread and have a user blocked then that person would not only be restricted from seeing your post, but also the post of other members that have replied to that thread. That is unacceptable for me. No user should be allowed to withhold information from other users that wish to see it in an open community that exists to inform it's members on a specific niche.

There are sections of the forum that operate more like social media does, primarily your profile and the posts you make there. You can choose to only allow people you "follow" to see the information you post there. Note that administrators and moderators can always see what is posted on profile pages regardless of your privacy settings. This is to ensure that the social side of the forum is being used for social purposes and not used to withhold information regarding the niche from the forum community as a whole.

I understand that it would be possible to do something between ignoring and blocking features but nobody has coded a software mod for that yet...and I have more pressing things to do than create one.