Reply #483: Also [View All]

[Pithlet]

I thought of something else. In LBN, unless I'm misunderstanding, if someone is participating in a thread that gets combined with another that happened to be started by someone who had them blocked, then they're shut out of a discussion that they were previously able to participate in. I don't know how often that will happen, but the idea makes me uncomfortable.

I also thought of another possible unintended consequence. There are people who have gone and created spin-off websites because they were disgruntled with DU in general, and would prefer their own little insulated island because they don't want to deal with the broader scope of opinions that are allowed on DU. I think this move will discourage posters who aren't conservative, but don't exactly fit the mold of the "average DUer" either. As much as some of them sometimes personally infuriate me, I think their inclusion in DU is overall a positive aspect as long as they're civil and aren't troublemakers, and is one of the reasons I come here instead of to those disgruntled spinoff sites. I'm afraid an unintended consequence may be that it's more difficult for them to participate here and they're shut out of the discussion. It allows people to start their own little mini spin-offs rather than going to the extreme of starting their own website, and I'm afraid that will affect the overall atmosphere of DU.