That would be ME!!! I’m the most-honored blockee! 
That’s right, friends! Unless you quote me, he doesn’t have to see me!
To my great regret, the process doesn’t go both ways. He can continue to inflict himself on everyone, including me, while preserving himself from the sight of fuzzy lamblets.
Seems a little one-sided. Like I said, unless you quote me.
Gee, I wonder why that is?
It’s funny how web-based discussion boards are just starting to evolve to the point that Usenet was at decades ago.
On Usenet I can block posts by individuals, posts containing certain words or phrases, and with a little script I block entire threads that are started by specific individuals who are known to start fierce flamewars.
Usenet has the right approach: the remote server is nothing but a repository for posts in raw text, and all of the display and formatting is handled by the client. You have complete control over how it is organized on-screen, and there are many different programs to do it. Some will arrange threads as flat lists, some will arrange them in trees, etc.
I use trn, which is entirely text-based and runs in the terminal. The lovely thing about trn is that it draws a very accurate map of the thread in the upper right-hand corner, showing who is replying to whom. It makes it very easy to wrap my brain around a conversation and navigate it quickly. Other graphical newsreaders try to draw the thread as a long bulleted list (google groups does this) and it just comes out as a giant sprawling indented mess, communicating nothing more than the fact that too many people are talking at once. I am impressed that trn does a better job using only a block of 6x31 ASCII characters.
Caj
I don’t know. You could block Cran’s post as easily as Cran can block yours. It seems fair enough.
Actually, since version 1.2, phpBB User Hide blocks quotes too.
I’m not sure that’s entirely true. Web boards have a much easier interface, and some features lacking in Usenet, like private emails and a box to store and save them in. The moderation system is better, as well, and you don’t have to worry so much about bots somewhee in the chain polluting the conversation or forging cancel requests for messages. Also, we have all of the messages from day one here, whereas your typical usenet server doesn’t have nearly that kind of repository…a few days at best for extremely busy groups. The quote system is really nice here, too, and is [div] tagabble, so that quotes can be blocked readily if you have the User Hide plugin. Plus it all works in your browser without having to install yet more third party software. And while usenet software is pretty good at tracking threading, phpBB does a better job of keeping topics encapsulated (barring inevitable topic drift, of course).
Naturally, some features are lacking, such as binary attachment capability and the ability to scrape all binaries from the group, the ability to get all of the messages offline and read them, and kill files. That’s more of an indication of what the developers of phpBB have been focusing on than it is an indication of anything else.
Oh, well, I’m sure his curiosity gets the better of him. If it didn’t, he wouldn’t keep checking in from the library.
Most people, I think, just ignore what he writes, but those glaring, flashing, scrolling, grotesque, violent, creepy, proselytizing and completely tasteless avatars just smack you in the eyeball. Which, now that he’s refused a polite request to tone them down, is apparently his intent–assault by avatar.
…And in this corner…
But it is still not updated to work with Firefox 1.5 is it?
the version 1.3 that I linked above works with firefox 1.5. I don’t believe it’s been submitted for approval. The guy who wrote it used to have it on his personal web page, which has since expired and been turned into a porn portal, so no idea what the ultimate disposition of 1.3 will be.
http://rapidshare.de/files/10956477/phpbb_user_hide-1.3-fx.xpi.html
I specifically installed that version to test here before I recommended the link. It may not “auto install” in firefox…I ended up downloading the hqx to my desktop, and then dragging the file into a firefox window which initiated the install procedure.
Dudes. Get real. You actually have to spend 10 seconds or better looking at Cran’s (or anybody else’s) flashing, scrolling avatars to take in the content. Why don’t you just NOT do that.
If you’re really intent to spend the amount of time it must take to target specific avatars for blockage, it occurs to me that you ARE reading them, and that it’s the message you’re objecting too, at least in large part.
How about just don’t read them?
There’s no way you’re going to rid your internet experience of all flashing, changing, offensive(to you,) stimuli.
I’m not saying this because I agree with Cran’s ideologies for the most part, just because it ain’t that big a deal.
Hey software geeks and geekettes, is there anything out there that will enable me to subtitute for your poorly chosen avatars the avatar that I think you should have chosen? Now that would be fun. Instead of Cran’s sermons I could select, say, an icon of St.Jude or something like that. And when I think it’s about time the concertina bites Caj back, well, that can be arranged.
Martin will be staying just as he is, of course. 
It takes less than a quarter-second to block an avatar. Usually I only have to do it once. I’ve never mentioned it before because blocking most avatars isn’t work. Since Cran changes his sometimes daily, it’s become annoying.
I actually didn’t care at all about them until they became animated. I have several people’s avatars blocked, most of them non-political, for animation, which I find distracting. And which I also believe I mentioned as a criteria for why I block avatars.
That’s what I’m doing by blocking them. Thanks for playing.
I believe you’re mistaken. Since I got adblock, I have stopped seeing 99% of the of ads on the websites I go to, and that’s most of the flashing, changing, and offensive stimuli. I’ve also been able to block most offensive javascripts, such as popups, or the little “intellitext” underlines on some sites, where when you hover over them, some “info-tisement” shows up to inform you and simultaneously sell to you. For example, go to this website and hover over the word “motherboard” in the message:
http://forums.vnunet.com/thread.jsp?forum=1&thread=46024&message=302921#302921
I don’t see that stuff any more.
The web, for me, has substantially become more like it was back when it was new in the mid ninety’s. The problem with phpBB is that every time someone changes their avatar, phpBB generates a new random file name, making it impossible to block changes unless I want to block everyone’s avatar as a broad category, which I find excessive.
It ain’t that big of a deal to right click a picture and choose “Adblock this” either. It also ain’t that big of a deal to click the little next to Cran’s name and block him entirely. My big puzzlement is why this seems to have worked you into some kind of lather.
Walden, I love the new signature raccoon!
i was just kinda thinkin that it looked like roadkill when i first saw it…
I once heard about somebody in Arkansas giving their child the middle name of Roadkill. I don’t think it was true (I hope not, at least, for the kid’s sake…).
Man, that would be sweet! I am always annoyed by frequently
changed avatars, but only because the avatar is a quicker visual
reference than reading the name on the post. I scan a conversation
much quicker if I only look at the avatar in my perifery whilst reading
the post. If I have to look all the way to the left to read the name so I
have proper context, then it slows me down tremendously.
No, that sounds easy. I’m glad it’s not a problem. I imagined something complicated.
Maybe a bubble or two. I wouldn’t call it a lather. The thread seemed to be taking on a slightly mean-spirited edge to me, but I was undoubtedly misinterpreting.
Yeah, I kind of saw that too…I was trying to keep my own self from drifting that way, personally, and make it clear that I wasn’t trying to jump on Cran for his politics or anything. People are free to believe what they want to believe. I had just found myself blocking his avatar one time too many. 
I only tried to change my avatar once. It kept telling me that I had too many pixels or something. By the time I’d cropped the pic to “acceptable” size there was approximately a quarter of one of my nostrils left. I both admire and pity you avatar freaks.
No, I think you interpreted correctly. It’s just that lately have come through a lot, so that when a random unimportant stranger online declares that they don’t like my avatars, it isn’t a big deal to me anymore. 