Hey,
Normally I don’t post in threads about the forum itself, since I trust you guys, but this conversation is interesting, so I want to contribute another take.
First, let me state I’m weird with internet. I haven’t had a single anonymous exchange since the 1990s when I was on my teens. So my gut feeling about ignore is unusual too, and I heavily dislike it. Like @wumpus said in one of his lasts posts, I think if widely used it can be detrimental to the community.
That said, reading this thread I’ve come to agree it might be an useful tool for some users, and I’m no longer opposed to it. Specially if it’s a limited implementation (limited to topic, limited to time, etc…).
However I still feel an ignore feature implemented as it usually is (opaque to all but the ignoring agent) is still detrimental to the community, since it’s just a disengagement that allows no option for the ignoree or the third parties in a thread to get useful information and perhaps adapt their behavior. I guess what I am suggesting is an ignore feature that is public in the user profile (who has ignored a particular user and which users that user has ignored him/herself). Perhaps even notifying an user when they are ignored.
This would allow, for example, somebody who gets ignored to perhaps re-evaluate his/her interactions and realize somebody is feeling uncomfortable with the posts, which could maybe allow for positive change in the community with still little emotional engagement by the ignoring user (and emotional protection through, well, having ignored the user). It would also allow lurkers or new members to realize who is being widely ignored and understand better the threads from outside.
Just my two cents.
As people have noted upthread, this might be a good tool for sincere posters, but trolls might see this as a reward, so it would have to be implemented cautiously.
If ignore was limited to individual threads, you might be able to get away with a single notification like “one or more users has ignored you in this thread.” Per-thread ignore could also function as a de facto “report this post” for moderators.
I don’t personally use ignore at all, but it seems to me that kind of per-thread ignore would serve most uses without being overly detrimental to moderation.
Yes, I was thinking about sincere users. As noted before, trolls and other more extreme behaviour falls under moderation. This was more about ignore as a tool for users. But yes, I do agree with your points.