I made a tiny change to the user profile page today; I changed the order of the moderation settings from:
filter
mute
hush hush
filter
muteAccording to the tmi page we each hush an average of 0.8 users, and mute 0.7. I'm glad to see that hush is preferred. It'd be nice if that ratio was even greater.
I've seen a few instances where muting results in missed opportunities for us all.
I'd encourage everyone to consider using hush before mute.
"The Power of Hush" is whispering #todayswritingprompt Edit: (I first wrote "The Power of Hush is screaming ..." Indeed, there's something to that as well.)
muting has always felt kinda harsh. I understand its function as a way to protect one's self from trolling, but as some one who has been muted twice (that I know of), it's super off-putting. I wonder how many users we lose because of what might be a misunderstanding? As a thought - you might consider having the system automatically make your account unfollow anyone who mutes you. For example. I follow you. I upset you with a comment and you mute me. Before you know it, I've got a feed full of stuff that you post, that I am not allowed to participate in. It's just a weird place to be in. Yes, I could just unfollow the person. Yes, I can reach out to the ignorer in mail and try to sort out the misunderstanding - but in the end, you're unable to participate in the discussion. just some thoughts.
Huh. I didn't know I could still mail people who've muted me, thanks for that. One of the biggest posters here muted me ages ago, it was very off-putting indeed. At the time I already felt pretty unwanted in general so I stopped posting for a while before I realised I was being too sensitive and it probably only him who wanted nothing to do with me. I still follow him because he comments and posts very interesting and thoughful stuff, he's a cool guy, but "You are muted here." popping up everywhere is still a bit weird.
It's an interesting idea. But I imagine that people might then wonder why they were no longer following someone, and then do so to see the same. As I see it, mute is a necessary evil. However, if we can all make the effort to hush and/or disengage, we'd be better off for it. It is harmful, and not only to the person being muted. It might be interesting to only have the mute option appear after the user has been hushed.
This is a really neat feature, actually. I'm glad it is going to be used more. It allows you to downplay things you're not fond of without banning them outright. Notice a user has stopped being trolly or condescending? You can unhush. It's hard to notice if they've improved if you mute them.