From my notes ...

[tks]

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After a break of 3 weeks due to other personal commitments I wanted to visit here and see how our forum friends are doing.
There was a nice email from TB admin about Diwali and food recipes that was a trigger to visit the discussions.

"From my notes ..." as this title of this thread does not refer to any written notes I have .
It is just an expression and an intent to share what I found to be useful.

I plan to visit the forum once in 2 to 4 weeks. A forum does well when members participate and post messages that they found useful. Hence this is an attempt on my part share what I think is useful though what I write here may not be of interest to a few or very few or no one.

So the first post (or set of posts to create readable chunks) is about a ' creative use of ignore feature' that I found useful.

In this post I will share "what it is" and in next set of posts describe " how I tend to use it" and "why it is useful".

I would prefer if some posters to please add my nick name to their ignore list now.

What is this 'creative use of ignore feature'
===========================

The forum is designed very intelligently in my view permitting free flow of discussions while minimizing personal conflicts.
The ignore feature can be used by going to one's own profile and ignore certain poster's IDs

Then when one browses the thread the posts of the ignored members are blocked off. Their posts may be visible if a non-ignored member quotes an ignored member's writing. But it is far easier to skip those.

By using this one need not get into conflicts with others resorting to name calling or reacting or wasting admin time or citing laws.

The feature unfortunately also blocks off all private communications in its current implementation. It will be nice if blocking off PM is configurable independently.

The creative use is therefore necessary.

I for one do not have anything against anyone. Once I log off I do not think about anyone. When I come here to the forum site to "waste"/spend some precious time I prefer the time spent thus to be a bit helpful (with new information or new insights etc).


The forum is like a flea market with news items that may be junk for someone while being precious to someone else. A careful way to navigate the discussions for best use of time is to avoid reading some types of posts (and possibly posts of posters we care least about).

But I do not like to write anyone off and hence do not mind if an ignored poster communicates via Private message. At a one to one communication people are likely to present a more agreeable persona.

So the steps to creatively use the ignore feature is as follows:

1. Do not subscribe to any email from the forum posts except private messages. This way you can choose to visit the forum website when you want as opposed to an email from a post alerting you to respond. If you are a forum junkie then this suggestion is not for you.

2. Login to the forum and go to the profile and add a list of members ID one by one to your ignore list

3. Then visit the forum pages and browse without being distracted by the posters you want to avoid. Their posts will not be visible.

4. Reply, participate

5. Go to profile and uncheck the ignored members so that you can receive Private messages if you want. (I tend to uncheck though I may forget sometime).

6. Log off



This saves time by focusing on posts that one may care about. Also by avoiding conflicts the mental time dwelling on a poster after logging off is not wasted.

Next set of posts will describe the low bar/ criterial I have set to add certain types of posts(posters) to my ignore list. I am not going to obviously name anyone publicly .

Beyond saving time there are other benefits like preventing certain negative effects of certain types of conflicts on our brain. I will share those as well in future posts.

Now I hope some readers may want to add my ID to their ignore list LoL

PS: Since I plan to visit somewhat infrequently I may not respond to responses. If you are the one or two poster who is in my ignore list I may not have read your response at all and hence there will be no responses for those posters from me as well

 

[tks]

Criterial of how I pick posters for my ignore list
=============================

Posts generally fall into three kinds for most part.

1. Sharing information sometime with sources like news stories etc

2. Opinions about events - current, historical or future predictions, beliefs etc

3. Discussion of content in concrete subjects that are already well established (e.g., Sciences, Vedanta etc).

There are room for conflicts in item 2 and possibly in item 3

For someone to be on my ignore list they have to have a pattern of issues in their posts and repeated over many times. Also it is not any one criteria that determines it but a combination of ALL criteria.

Criteria
=====

1. Opinion based posts - repeated expression of narrow minded thinking based on discriminative posts based on race, caste, gender, creed, where people live, what profession they are in. All generalizations tend to exhibit such thinking and the ugliness apparent may be overt or subtle. This ugliness in expression is always due to incorrect view of the world or lack of right values. One can be sympathetic but our minds can get easily corrupted by such posts. Hence this is the first criteria

2. Posts on concrete subjects: Posts that repeatedly show lack of knowledge of existing and well established discipline and expressing 'mind gas' as posts are best avoided

3. Repeated exhibition of both of the above criteria over a long time will qualify for a poster to be (temporarily) ignored in my view. Such posters also tend to convert all critiques of a given posts into direct or indirect personal attack of the poster.

I have no issue if people want to add me to their ignore list!

 

[kunjuppu]

Criterial of how I pick posters for my ignore list
=============================

Criteria
=====

1. Opinion based posts - repeated expression of narrow minded thinking based on discriminative posts based on race, caste, gender, creed, where people live, what profession they are in. All generalizations tend to exhibit such thinking and the ugliness apparent may be overt or subtle. This ugliness in expression is always due to incorrect view of the world or lack of right values. One can be sympathetic but our minds can get easily corrupted by such posts. Hence this is the first criteria

2. Posts on concrete subjects: Posts that repeatedly show lack of knowledge of existing and well established discipline and expressing 'mind gas' as posts are best avoided

3. Repeated exhibition of both of the above criteria over a long time will qualify for a poster to be (temporarily) ignored in my view. Such posters also tend to convert all critiques of a given posts into direct or indirect personal attack of the poster.

I have no issue if people want to add me to their ignore list!

i agree with you 100%. now in the interest of educating the public, if only you would identify the posts/posters under the 3 categories .............................

 

[tks]

Why it is good to avoid certain types of posts?
=============================

Besides the obvious waste of time and unpleasant experience associated with dealing with certain posters there are actual damage done to our intellectual capacity.

The intellect can either be increased with our capacity to process or it can be dumbed-down by constantly wasting time with conflicting posts.
Reading a lot of nonsense presented as facts are also very detrimental.

In the olden days people had capacity to memorize entire epic like Ramayana (24000) verses and also understand the deep philosophy embedded in works like Yogavasishtam that occurs in Ramayana but happens to be a separate text (of about 30000 verses). Our age seem to have lost this intellectual capacity in large measure.

In addition to avoiding thoughts and ideas that dull our mind's capacity, it is good to practice meditation on a daily basis to keep our intellect sharp.

As one ages one can help avoid pitiable conditions like Alzheimer's disease by proper exercise including good exercise for our mind.

The cover story of November 2014 issue of Scientific American is "The neuroscience of Meditation - How it changes the brain boosting focus and easing stress"

By doing Nithya Karma like Sandhya Vandanam daily and properly it is possible to include Mantra Japa meditation, Pranayama and contemplative thinking all at the same time.

The Gayatri Japa has simple meaning and provides meditation for activating our intellect. In its simple form it helps us to focus and mediate on Iswari Sandhya Devi as manifested in Surya Mandala ( Saguna Brahman without boundaries and specific form) as universal power of Maya while providing the understanding of the Nirguna Brahman. The same Gayatri Mantra has both interpretations which when done with understanding provides great value to improving our intellect, reducing stress and improving our outlook in life.

In Hindu thinking all aspects of power are viewed as manifested as a form of Iswari. The intellect and its capacity that we possess itself is a manifestation of Maya as Medha Shakthi.

Medha describes our ability and capacity to memorize and retain what is learnt. It also describes our abilities to have deep thoughts, abilities to have long term attention and our ability to analyze a problem from multiple dimensions without losing the focus.

Medha Suktum which occurs I think in Taittiriya Aranyaka has very insightful verses. Though it is often chanted as upasana without understanding it has profound meaning. One of the directive is to avoid useless talk!

Hopefully the ignore feature that I have described can enable the forum to thrive by cutting down useless chatter from entering our mind.

Here is a Youtube link reciting the Medha Suktum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjKS2qaXE2E

 

[auh]

I now know about the ignore feature

So ignorance is truly bliss... Sometimes!

 

[tks]

i agree with you 100%. now in the interest of educating the public, if only you would identify the posts/posters under the 3 categories .............................

Truly laughing out loud

I am visiting here infrequently, hence delayed response

 

[tks]

I now know about the ignore feature

So ignorance is truly bliss... Sometimes!

Actually ignorance of ignorant posts is truly bliss