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From my time here is say Dakkkadakka as a whole hasn't changed, but the people being toxic has. I've noticed it's usually just a few specific users who generally burn like a match and then fizzle out. Some have stopped posting altogether, while others have calmed down and continue to contribute to the community in other ways. It's also funny how sometimes users can be toxic in some threads, but if you follow their post history you see they can be constructive in other parts of the forum. Or at least not as negative.

I also feel as Dakkadakka has expanded beyond 40k all day every day you see any vitriol spread more about the forum. News and Rumors and Off Topic are where they all can congregate and create the false impression of constant negativity(especially if you stick to certain threads and don't flit about a variety of topics).

Overall I really enjoy the site, and use it to keep up to date on everything from finding new(to me) miniatures from different companies, politics(ha!), painting and basing techniques, terrain ideas, tactics, and even upcoming movies. You just have to remember to be objective when you come across a spate of negativity, and also realize it'll dissipate and vanish like it never happened in a week's time.

I don't necessarily see toxicity, just a few people that think they're in the right to dictate how people should model/paint/play their miniature games. Its like it somehow personally insults them when someone enjoys the hobby in a different way than they do.

Just look towards all the psychotic OCD when it comes to drilling out barrels. "YOU DIDNT DRILL OUT YOUR BARRELS LIKE MEEEEEE???? YOU'RE LAZY!!!!!"

Or if you like a certain model that the hivemind has considered 'bad and shouldn't exist because it wasn't it 5th ed.' than your opinion is irrelevant because you aren't as old and crotchety as everyone. Excuuuuuuuuse me for having a different opinion when it comes to aesthetics. I'm sorry that I like a futuristic jet fighter from the year 40,000 that you deemed 'not aerodynamic'.

People need to understand that there are different kinds of wargamers in this hobby and not everyone is an anal-retentive ITC world champion golden demon award winner like yourself.

On the whole, I've found Dakka to be one of the most pleasant places to post online. But I avoid certain areas, because I'm just not looking for that level of conversation or debate.
P&M is usually amazingly friendly, supportive and helpful, as are the other creative areas - games, fiction, hell even list making.

I think sometimes it's what someone brings with them, as well. I see a few topics now and then that are set up ready to cause problems, but it's not always deliberate. Sometimes a poster has a thought and doesn't articulate it, and boy does that cause more problems than it's worth.

I think any topics can turn toxic.. some things do bring out the trolls though..
Don't help most people can be uncountable for their comments via the internet.

But game stores also have their toxic level too; I seen game systems die out just
because of the gamers associated with the game.. If you are not having fun playing
the game.. most people will stop..

Few years back the gaming group that ran the 40k games at the FLGS made if very difficult in
Games / tournaments if you were not a member, People stopped playing and stopped attending
the tournaments.. I guess that is what they wanted since the store owner always supported
game with good prizes no matter what the head count.

And I hate the comment now .. Just do a "social contract" with the person..
That means you are being over nice to the person being a jerk.. but giving them one
more try to act like a human being..

 Genoside07 wrote:

And I hate the comment now .. Just do a "social contract" with the person..
That means you are being over nice to the person being a jerk.. but giving them one
more try to act like a human being..

I've seen justification for game store jerkoffs in the ever popular 'but he was just trying to HELP you get better at the game/painting!'

If you really want to "help" someone

A: don't make the assumption that you know better than a complete stranger
B: don't pretend to know whats in his best interests. he doesn't want to buy a certain model? he wants to use a certain model? THATS HIS DECISION
C: don't assume people need your advice. unless they are visibly distraught over losing or painting than keep it to yourself
D: I get that us nerds tend to be on a wide range of the socially awkward spectrum, but take the time to learn how to phrase your words. If you can learn how to metagame a tournament than a little research into social skills isn't above your ability either

There's not really an excuse to be rude to someone just because you disagree with how they're playing a game. And not even a game, just their own decisions about their own army they bought and painted.

 Don Savik wrote:
Just look towards all the psychotic OCD when it comes to drilling out barrels. "YOU DIDNT DRILL OUT YOUR BARRELS LIKE MEEEEEE???? YOU'RE LAZY!!!!!"

It really says a lot about you that you have to resort to straw man arguments to make your point. I have never seen that kind of all-caps rage post about drilling out barrels. I have, however, seen much more reasonable posts pointing out the fact that barrels that aren't drilled out look bad and are an easy problem to fix. Perhaps you are confusing "criticism" with "toxic behavior"?

Or if you like a certain model that the hivemind has considered 'bad and shouldn't exist because it wasn't it 5th ed.' than your opinion is irrelevant because you aren't as old and crotchety as everyone. Excuuuuuuuuse me for having a different opinion when it comes to aesthetics. I'm sorry that I like a futuristic jet fighter from the year 40,000 that you deemed 'not aerodynamic'.

I suspect that this another case of "someone doesn't agree with me and dared to say so" rather than a legitimate problem. If you can't handle people telling you that they disagree with your opinions about aesthetics then maybe you shouldn't post on a discussion forum?

I have only been posting for a few months, although I lurked for longer. I find Dakka in the middle. Most people here are helpful, constructive, and enthusiastic.
Do not forget two of the tenets of being human (and I include myself in this of course):

First, we each consider ourselves intelligent, therefore, when we come to conclusion C about facts A, B and F, we assume that is the conclusion any intelligent person will come to. When some one doesn't...we make assumptions. Most of us (humans) recognize this type of bias and counter it by accepting that someone else can come to a different conclusion and still be correct or intelligent. The worst of us, have an innate an unchangeable belief that we are "right" and therefore attack difference, and defend opinions. This is called "Right" fighting, and we all fall into it at times. I suspect this is what leads to toxic posting more often than not.

Second, we as human beings are all insecure in some form or way, even if it does not show and we are unaware. This insecurity leads some to seek justification and encouragement, while it leads others to demean in a sub conscious attempt to boost their own standing or self worth (This is one of the accepted causes of bullying of all natures among psychologists)

The internet allows both of these behaviors to run rampant, as the first finds a much larger audience to seek acceptance from (likes on FB is my biggest example of this) while anonymity gives the second behavior a perfect outlet.. (These are only two of the many many ways insecurity controls our actions of course, and I am not here to claim I am an expert, just someone who has observed and studied people professionally for 30+ years.)

I do not think these comments are new to most of you of course, just stating my opinion in regards to the topic.


Last, I enjoy Dakka, I love the P and M sections, and have felt welcomed in it. I am a tabletop level painter and converter, and have never felt attacked for that level (or lack of) skill.

 Peregrine wrote:

It really says a lot about you that you have to resort to straw man arguments to make your point. I have never seen that kind of all-caps rage post about drilling out barrels. I have, however, seen much more reasonable posts pointing out the fact that barrels that aren't drilled out look bad and are an easy problem to fix. Perhaps you are confusing "criticism" with "toxic behavior"?

Whether or not you like the look of drilled barrels is entirely subjective. Just because more people voted yes on that poll doesn't mean that people who didn't vote yes are wrong for not drilling barrels. Yes I exaggerated and used a strawman. There is frustration to be found when people are completely dismissing so many people's hard work based off one meaningless detail. Please tell me what it says about it me more while you're at it. I come into a thread more suited to vent my frustration and it seems to have followed me here. I literally said there wasn't toxicity as much as there is bickering over minutia. And look what we're doing now. I'm not confusing anything here.

 Peregrine wrote:
I suspect that this another case of "someone doesn't agree with me and dared to say so" rather than a legitimate problem. If you can't handle people telling you that they disagree with your opinions about aesthetics then maybe you shouldn't post on a discussion forum?

You think I can't handle people having a different opinion to my own? Please make more rash assumptions based off a single post I made in an article disagreeing with you, because thats so clearly morally superior than using a strawman. It wasn't even a discussion about whether or not it looked good, I was making a point saying that you shouldn't cut an entire production line based on your own preferences without taking into account others. Both opinions should be looked at.

I don't care that people don't agree with me. I don't care what people spend their money on and they shouldn't care what I spend my money on. Its a hobby, do whatever you like. Why come into a thread about people discussing their bad experiences with rude persons just to make assumptions that I'm some thin-skinned whiner who couldn't take your 'criticism'? There's irony there I think.

 Don Savik wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:

It really says a lot about you that you have to resort to straw man arguments to make your point. I have never seen that kind of all-caps rage post about drilling out barrels. I have, however, seen much more reasonable posts pointing out the fact that barrels that aren't drilled out look bad and are an easy problem to fix. Perhaps you are confusing "criticism" with "toxic behavior"?

Whether or not you like the look of drilled barrels is entirely subjective. Just because more people voted yes on that poll doesn't mean that people who didn't vote yes are wrong for not drilling barrels. Yes I exaggerated and used a strawman. There is frustration to be found when people are completely dismissing so many people's hard work based off one meaningless detail. Please tell me what it says about it me more while you're at it. I come into a thread more suited to vent my frustration and it seems to have followed me here. I literally said there wasn't toxicity as much as there is bickering over minutia. And look what we're doing now. I'm not confusing anything here.

Could please post a link to a thread where people dismiss someone's work just because the barrels aren't drilled? And this is a discussion forum not a personal blog. If you start making straw man arguments about critics you should expect some kind of criticism yourself.

 Peregrine wrote:
I suspect that this another case of "someone doesn't agree with me and dared to say so" rather than a legitimate problem. If you can't handle people telling you that they disagree with your opinions about aesthetics then maybe you shouldn't post on a discussion forum?

You think I can't handle people having a different opinion to my own? Please make more rash assumptions based off a single post I made in an article disagreeing with you, because thats so clearly morally superior than using a strawman. It wasn't even a discussion about whether or not it looked good, I was making a point saying that you shouldn't cut an entire production line based on your own preferences without taking into account others. Both opinions should be looked at.

I don't care that people don't agree with me. I don't care what people spend their money on and they shouldn't care what I spend my money on. Its a hobby, do whatever you like. Why come into a thread about people discussing their bad experiences with rude persons just to make assumptions that I'm some thin-skinned whiner who couldn't take your 'criticism'? There's irony there I think.

I came here from D&D forums - originally, just to keep up with 40K future releases - which had their own meltdown during the 4E D&D era. I believe that AoS has become a similar point of contention that is the culmination of a lot of negativity towards game manufacturers - GW especially. Its also had the positive effect that it seems a lot of people who now congregate here wish to discuss other game systems that have gained a market share.

Unfortunately, its also generated quite a few disgruntled comments from folks migrating from one system to another. As well as a few champions of specific systems and companies.

Overall, I don't find the forums any more negative than other forums I have visited. There are always the few who will criticize others for their own reasons; that is what the ignore button is for. However, I personally find the majority to be pleasant, far more intelligent that myself and generally well-reasoned. It is a pleasure to be in their midst to discuss the hobbies and lifestyles we share. And they don't seem to mind my (more than) occasional disgruntlement with certain aspects of the gaming scene.

 Don Savik wrote:
Whether or not you like the look of drilled barrels is entirely subjective.

Yes, just like everything about painting and modeling. People give criticism about subjective things they think could be better, that's how a painting and modeling forum works. I have no idea why you think that criticism of un-drilled barrels is somehow "toxic behavior".

Please tell me what it says about it me more while you're at it.

It says that you care more about ranting at imaginary enemies than having a constructive discussion. If you want to get anywhere in this thread (or anywhere else, really) you need to deal with the people that actually exist, not the rabid pro-drilling attack dogs of your imagination.

You think I can't handle people having a different opinion to my own?

It sure seems like it given that you felt the need to post in a thread about "toxic behavior" and complain about how someone told you that 40k aircraft aren't realistic enough. For someone who can handle different opinions this is a non-issue, as they'd respond with their opinions about how 40k aircraft are just fine, or leave it at "well ok, but I still like them" if they don't feel like participating in an extended discussion.

Enough back-and-forth. Unless you're trying to be an example of the sort of behavior the moderators actively step on....

I've removed a few posts, and one poster. If I have to act in here again, I will do so broadly.

For myself, I started posting on Dakka in 1999 (3 different boards ago). It's historically been a 40k-first site, and some sub-forums (looking at you, YMDC) have a definite tone and something of a reputation. Some of that has been deserved, to one degree or another, over the years; much hasn't, as new posters are less likely to read all the stickies in the forum and discover that the purpose in there is a tad different than they might have expected. Usually it straightens out.

The OT forum.... Well, suffice it to say that my (educated) guess is that at last 50% of our post alerts occur in there, and probably 65% of (non-spam) moderator intervention happens in there. Some of that is intentional (it keeps most of the truly disruptive topics out of the rest of the forum, and WAY down at the bottom where you have to actively be looking to wander in). We're actually on a positive upswing at the moment - fewer moderation actions needed than a few years ago.

We do find ourselves having to remind certain posters that Dakka is first and always a site for the celebration of toy soldiers.

 jah-joshua wrote:


as a regular on B&C, CMON, and WAMP, i have to say that i have never had any negative experiences on those sites, but on here, the negative outweighs the positive by a large margin over the last year...

Challenge the group think on B&C and see how fast they go negative on you. I find the moderation there uneven. Dakka may be a more negative place overall, but at least the rules are applied to every Dakkanaut equally.

This place has mellowed since the days of old. Hell I joined so I could yell at mauleed, but by the time I finished reading the thread I was on his side and instead joined to yell at Drew Riggo.

So few people will know what I'm talking about. That's sad.

Well, anything is going to be mellow in comparison to the Drew/mauleed days in YMDC and elsewhere. I remember being fascinated at the time by those discussions and how deep someone could care about some edge-case scenario that wouldn't come up that often. Hadn't thought about mauleed in years tho.

Crimson Devil raises a good point though; the mods here are usually willing to let dissent and negativity exist so long as it's expressed in a mostly-civil fashion. This has brought in a few communities where the relationship with a given vendor has soured, but obviously that company doesn't want people complaining about them on their own forums, if they exist. It sometimes boggles the mind why some of these people insist on going into a thread about a company they hate, but that's people for you (and there's obviously some exceptions there; a failed KS project being a ready example).

That negativity is not a bad thing IMO. A good product is a good product and no amount of whining is really going to detract from that. However, finding out the pitfalls of dealing with a company beforehand can save someone a lot of time and hassle or at least calibrate expectations properly. Protecting the community from scammers (e.g. - Mandelbaum) or keeping attention on companies with poor track records (e.g. - Defiance, PB) has I know saved me quite a bit of frustration over the years.

Of course, I'll admit to being somewhat odd in that I like forums where I disagree with people. I already know my own viewpoints so I really don't need to be around tons of people who share them exactly. The differences I've always found to be far more useful.

Acting douchey is easy behind a nickname, and without things that are present in face-to-face discussions.

Most of the people responsible for vitriol are often (but not always) bitter individuals who take the hobby and most things related to level of melodramatics. There are also individuals who for some reason bring with them negativity and yearn for conflict wherever they go. It's hard to say what causes that, perhaps personal issues in real life.

Personally I just put all of those individuals on ignore, and the dakka experience has improved vastly. Out of sight, out of mind. I recommend doing that very thing, it works.

 Runic wrote:
Acting douchey is easy behind a nickname, and without things that are present in face-to-face discussions.

Along with that is a good measure of "And I care about your opinion because..." that comes from having a global community here.

In a face-to-face environment, you're fairly clearly going to be very likely in the same community with the same social circles. Disagreements are likely to spawn far more drama than anyone care to deal with, and generally you have a fairly reliable way of finding out this person's track record. This is a restraining force for most people where we grit our teeth and smile at the jackhole we wish very little good towards.

In contrast, look at the two of us. Our flags indicate that we're unlikely to ever cross paths. Our local communities might be completely different. The things that excite us might be entirely unrelated. In other words, what part of yours or my experience is relevant to the other party? Who cares if Finland doesn't play <overpowered gubbin X>; that doesn't help me in my situation where it does. Or, what use is it to know that "<game system Y> has a ready community here, I don't know what's wrong with Finland"? It wouldn't help you at all with finding out if there's a viable community near you. My experiences may be (and likely are) of incredibly little value to you, as valid as those experiences may be.

It's not just the anonymity, as large a part as that plays. It's also that disconnect where we all share a hobby, but may not share much else. Thus the inevitable "feeling-out" of a poster, which is made much more difficult if there's disagreement on major topics and no group-think (and despite the inevitable whining-about-whining you find in most N&R threads, Dakka is not a hive-mind). This tenuous connection leads to some bluntness because taking the time to couch terms is of little value. That is often a two-edged sword; it may hurt feelings, but it also cuts through some of the nonsense to get to the discussion.

I think the vitriol or negativity people see is most often attributed to a few key points:

-This isn't a 40k only forum anymore. Hell, I don't even play 40k. As such, rather than fans who have grown tired of GW moving to another site, they linger here, championing new game systems and pointing out perceived flaws in a game they once enjoyed. You also have die hards of other systems here, who can grate on 40k fans with their proselytizing. This leads to:
-Entrenchment. Because there is such a large variety of opinions, and because people become attached to what they enjoy, they also feel the need to defend it. Sometimes staunchly and without the ability to absorb new or differing opinions. With these two sides entrenched on the topic, you see the rise of:
-Heroes of the Noise. You know this poster. You may have been this poster. They lead from the front, jumping out of the trenches and leading the charge of absurd arguments and ad hominem attacks, leaving a wake of strawmen and collaterally damaged via infraction posters, only to be cut down by a ban hammer and a week vacation. Usually, these folks come in hot and burn out just as fast. Occasionally they linger, starting the charge but remaining in their trench, hucking hyperbole hand grenades into the mix to make sure the fires keep burning. Every so often, they will leave the battlefield and wander into another thread or forum, attempting to like the garbage bin on fire like a serial arsonist until cooler heads eventually put them on ignore.

Basically, and tl:dr, if you recognize that battle lines have been drawn in a thread, don't come in trying to broker peace or giving a balanced opinion and expect both sides to suddenly see the light. Understand the invested people are people who have their mind essentially made up. It takes a long time to change a mind, and recognizing this helps cut down on the negativity by a lot.

That and avoid OT.

Joined Dakka back in 2009. Twelve years old, and a complete donkey-cave. I had a friend who joined up shortly before me at the time who I'd, on an almost weekly basis, flip between amity and animosity with, and I'm fairly confident I only joined to have another way of getting under his skin. I used to treat this site like it was a competition. I'd start rumor threads based on my own theories and post them as alleged facts, and start fights with anyone who called me out on it, all to boost my post count, as though the number of pages on a thread or the counter below my name actually had any intrinsic value. I'm honestly embarrassed by the way I used to behave here, I'm almost cringing too hard to write this.

I mellowed out over time, and I think that's true of pretty much everyone else here. As the years go by, more and more people have either acclimatized or left, so while the influx of hot-headed new'uns has remained steady, the ranks of chilled out folks who just want to have a good time have grown ever larger. Maybe the toxic vitriol levels have stayed the same, but they've become more and more diluted since I first joined. Or maybe I just notice it less myself because I'm not looking for it.

Essentially I learned how to grow up here. Be it through simple observation of polite interaction, or the few times I had be given a talking down, this site was always in the background for me during my formative years as I matured into the bloke I am today. And while I might be a little biased in saying this, I like to think I've turned out reasonably well, so Dakka can't really be that bad.

 Runic wrote:

Personally I just put all of those individuals on ignore, and the dakka experience has improved vastly. Out of sight, out of mind. I recommend doing that very thing, it works.

Best advice. My ignore list is pretty long. And credit where it's due, most of the individuals who seem to cause people grief are the first to point out that you can just ignore them if you don't like what they have got to say.

I've been around the block here both as a user and a mod for a while now... I think a lot of it comes down to this - Basically the longer you are here and the more familiar and routine it gets, the more apparent the negative aspects are. It's not really more or less in quantity so much as it is simply you are noticing it more.

Imho of course -

 MajorTom11 wrote:
I've been around the block here both as a user and a mod for a while now... I think a lot of it comes down to this - Basically the longer you are here and the more familiar and routine it gets, the more apparent the negative aspects are. It's not really more or less in quantity so much as it is simply you are noticing it more.

Imho of course -

I think this thread, or variations of it, pops up every year or so. I joined in the tail end of the old days, and there was a lot more macho BS back then that we all tried to argue was "straight shooting." It's enough to make any human communication expert throw up in their mouth.

I think it's gotten better. If anything, far more posts go without comment than before.

 Polonius wrote:

 MajorTom11 wrote:
I've been around the block here both as a user and a mod for a while now... I think a lot of it comes down to this - Basically the longer you are here and the more familiar and routine it gets, the more apparent the negative aspects are. It's not really more or less in quantity so much as it is simply you are noticing it more.

Imho of course -

I think this thread, or variations of it, pops up every year or so. I joined in the tail end of the old days, and there was a lot more macho BS back then that we all tried to argue was "straight shooting." It's enough to make any human communication expert throw up in their mouth.

I think it's gotten better. If anything, far more posts go without comment than before.

That's not always a good thing though. There are quite often posts made specifically to bait responses, especially when you venture down to Off Topic.

Off Topic is a lawless wasteland, if you tread there, let it be on your head lol!

Polonius spot on, I meant to write that, this exact thread crops up every year or two, and having been around for a quite a while at this point, I can honestly say that it hasn't changed too much overall. It just feels like it does. Ebbs and flows a bit but there were always contentious people and topics, and always will be.

Overall, still a pretty damn good spot given the quantity of users. Old issues are polarized issues though, so the longer these games and systems or policies are out from any given company, the less actual open minded discussion happens around them. In some ways, the toxic atmosphere is merely a result of the age of the unresolved topics I think...

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
This place has mellowed since the days of old. Hell I joined so I could yell at mauleed, but by the time I finished reading the thread I was on his side and instead joined to yell at Drew Riggo.

So few people will know what I'm talking about. That's sad.

I do. Ed was a different guy in person than his internet persona would lead you to believe. I never met Drew IRL, but I wonder if the same holds true for him, or if the sky was actually always falling for him IRL?


Anyway, IMO there were different eras of Dakka, and each era had its own personality. As I saw it, the late pre-Yakface era was easily the most negative. Traffic was very light, Russ just wasn't that engaged anymore, and the place was hostile to outsiders (and most insiders). Unless -- like being in prison -- you electronically "beat someone up" your first day. The forum was a turd circling the bowl at that point. Then Yak came in and put things on a more civilized path.

Since then I think there have been ebbs and flows, but overall the mods have *reasonably* consistently enforced their basic rules about being nice, etc. The painting and modeling forums have taken off in a major, major way since the ownership change. And there are so many more healthy boards within the overall forum.

Do I miss the old, hostile days? Sometimes. Sometimes I'd like to be able to be...more direct?...with obviously foolish statements. Nowadays, the common forum behavior is about firing insults *just past* someone's nose. Sometimes it seems like even the mildest direct pejorative will get your hand slapped, while one can make *all kinds* of indirect assertions. And there's *so* much more noise these days. I remember when a thread was long if it got to 5 or 6 pages. More conversation is good, but it's so much harder finding the really good posts in 70+ page threads.

But overall, it's certainly a much friendlier and healthier place than it used to be. And on the continuum of internet forums, it's probably somewhere in the middle. There are certainly friendlier places even within this same, narrow geek niche, but also much less friendly places.

If one is looking for a reason for a recent upsurge in negativity, there's a chance it's topically related to AoS and/or 7th edition 40K IMO. For different reasons, those games sparked a lot of bad feelings recently among the more competitive gamers. Outside of those topics, however, I'm not sure I see much recent difference in tone here...?

 JamesY wrote:

 Runic wrote:

Personally I just put all of those individuals on ignore, and the dakka experience has improved vastly. Out of sight, out of mind. I recommend doing that very thing, it works.

Best advice. My ignore list is pretty long. And credit where it's due, most of the individuals who seem to cause people grief are the first to point out that you can just ignore them if you don't like what they have got to say.

I've never really considered doing this. I'm not saying it's wrong, but it's not for me. I prefer to see what people are saying and consider whether to take it on board (or bother replying).
Now, if ignoring a user stopped them from being able to post in your topics, or see your posts, I'd be on that like free cake.

Yeah, I'm of a similar opinion about the Ignore feature. Tried it a few times, doesn't really work for me.

Because you can still see their posts when quoted, there's an indicator when they post in a thread (and I'm a nosey fether, so can't resist clicking to expand it!) and it doesn't block PMs, it's been largely useless for the users I've tried it on.

So, you really want an "eradicate all existence of" feature? Yeah, I'd prefer that . Can't say I've ever had a pm from anyone I've ignored though. I don't tend to ignore people who I feel have been rude to me directly, more when someone's views or attitude in general seem perpetually rude or passive aggressive. I have ignored two people for direct rudeness, but again only when it's repeated behaviour, we all have bad days after all.

Ignore is an option, not for everyone.
What few I have ignored are mainly for those I simply cannot stop rising to the bait.
I can handle what anyone writes, it is my response at trying to correct someone who is so VERY wrong on the internet I have problems with...

 JamesY wrote:
So, you really want an "eradicate all existence of" feature? Yeah, I'd prefer that . Can't say I've ever had a pm from anyone I've ignored though. I don't tend to ignore people who I feel have been rude to me directly, more when someone's views or attitude in general seem perpetually rude or passive aggressive. I have ignored two people for direct rudeness, but again only when it's repeated behaviour, we all have bad days after all.

PMs from people on ignore have happened, albeit rarely. Ironically a participant in this very thread has been responsible for this with me and others, but it's normally been an immediate reaction to the event that precipitated the ignoring, rather than a lengthy stream of abuse weeks or months later!

I'd love a function that the mods can sanction a user where they're able to post, but are unaware that their posts aren't actually visible to anyone else, I'd think we'd find any persistent flame baity accounts would soon move on when nobody ever took the bait for their latest "Eldar aren't OP" thread or any other similar topic which is clearly designed by the attention seeking.