NationStates Jolt Archive


What the IGNORE cannon does (OOC post)

Sarzonia
22-10-2004, 19:53
Note: Everything in this post is merely my opinion, except for the quoted passage. It is in no way official NS gospel.

I've seen posters who either don't understand what an IGNORE is or does or deliberately try to get around it. I've seen people make false statements about what the nature of an IGNORE is. In the interest of trying to clear things up, here's some information:

Ignoring... (Haxor Noob!)
Firstly, I don't ignore any nation for any reason because it goes against my beliefs of free form. Ignoring a nation means you do not recognize it AT ALL. It doesn't mean you get pissed, flame, ignore, then harass the next day, it means that to you, that nation no longer exists. And it doesn't mean that all nations owned by that same person are also ignored, just that one. A tip for good role play: Use ignoring as a final tactic if nothing else works. Over the course of my now seven months on NationStates, I've seen several people (and I've also done this) use separate distinctions for a soft ignore or a hard ignore. I've also seen the expression of a partial ignore. I'd like to say I invented the distinction between soft ignores and hard ignores because I'd never seen the terms before I posted them somewhere, but I don't think I can claim the credit. I'll just say what the terms mean FOR ME.

PARTIAL IGNORE: Per Praetonia's suggestion, this type of IGNORE is very specialized. It is limited to a particular thread (for instance, if I posted something like "OMG I'M EXECUTING CATS!" a country might ignore that particular thread but may not ignore the country that posts the thread in general) or to a particular equipment. For instance, a player may ignore superdreadnaughts or Tungsten rods but not the country that uses them. This is often seen when a piece of technology is not feasible (for instance, a modern tech fighter jet that flies at Mach 8 or an aircraft carrier that is totally invisible).

SOFT IGNORE: This essentially means that you've read a nation's posts and you're not impressed. Whether his syntax or usage is poor or you just don't like him for some reason you can't put your finger on, you just make a note not to read his threads or participate in them. You might RP with him if he happens to appear in a thread that you're involved with if the other players accept him, but you didn't contact him. In my case, this is just a mental list of people I choose not to read, but I haven't gone so far as to put a Jolt IGNORE on them.

HARD IGNORE: This means that you have either announced you are ignoring this country or you use the Jolt features to block the display of their posts from your screen when you are logged in. A hard ignore in an RP means that you do not acknowledge that they have done anything. A hard ignore of a country as a whole means that the country does not exist in your mind. Nothing more, nothing less. It is bad form to RP as if a country exists if you have announced that you ignore that country. In my opinion, it is bad form to unignore some country in an attempt to get at it in a war. If a country that you do RP with mentions the country you ignore in a post, you may RP as if that country were never mentioned.

DEATH PENALTY IGNORE: This is a subset of the hard ignore, but it merits its own category. While a hard ignore means that a nation doesn't exist, a death penalty ignore means that a particular country NEVER existed in your RP world. This is reserved for the most egregious violations of NS protocol and are rarely ever imposed. One example of this is Communist Mississippi/Decisive Action/VoteEarly after the player received a DOS (Delete On Sight) ban.

In addition, I sometimes use a HARD IGNORE on someone I choose not to RP with for reasons that have nothing to do with their RPs. One example is someone who posted graphic threads that I didn't want to read in public places such as libraries or *cough* my job. Another example is someone who flamed me OOC.

Ignoring a country during a war for actions when the ignore isn't legitimate (for instance, a country who RPs a smaller force legitimately beating your larger army or knocking out your supply lines) will get looked down upon. Ignoring a country for so-called number wanking or Godmoding is legitimate. It does NOT mean that the number wanking country has "won" anything except alienation.

If you are the country that's being ignored, your only acceptable course of action is to leave the country who is ignoring you alone. In the most extreme cases, it means he does not want to RP with you. Continuing to post in that country's threads even though you are ignored is grounds for moderator intervention.
Ramissle
22-10-2004, 19:57
Bravo! It is always nice to have definitions cleared up.
Argheraal
23-10-2004, 05:00
What!? This post is not a sticky!!??
It should be!..
DemonLordEnigma
23-10-2004, 05:03
I wish I had seen this topic earlier. Making a note of what was said now.
Granzi
23-10-2004, 06:00
OOC: Nice Job, Sarzonia!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/Granzi/Seal.jpg
Sanctaphrax
23-10-2004, 11:01
Dracoinus would be one such nation who has no idea what an ignore is. I told him that I was ignoring him and he said that that only meant that he'd won:headbang:
Hogsweat
23-10-2004, 11:10
Stickylise it.
Sarzonia
24-10-2004, 07:36
I agree. Please do so mods!
Sarzonia
25-10-2004, 17:19
*bump*
Sarzonia
29-10-2004, 21:09
*bump*
Roach-Busters
29-10-2004, 21:11
What!? This post is not a sticky!!??
It should be!..

((OOC: *Nods in agreement*))
Tenarius
29-10-2004, 21:26
Great thread Sarzonia; come on Mods, sticky this!
Guffingford
29-10-2004, 21:42
I don't believe in ignoring, it's a sign of poor gameplay.
Roach-Busters
30-10-2004, 05:06
bump

(Sarzonia, please check your TG;s)

And, yes, this should definitely be stickied.
Sarzonia
30-10-2004, 05:11
(Sarzonia, please check your TG;s).Consider them checked.

And thanks for the support!
Sarzonia
01-11-2004, 20:54
*bump*
Praetonia
01-11-2004, 21:12
Looks good :)

I would also add the 'partial ignore', where you only ignore a specific thread or a vehicle, rather than an entire nation.
-Bretonia-
01-11-2004, 21:15
I don't believe in ignoring, it's a sign of poor gameplay.

Depends on how bad the person gets. I don't normally ignore people, but people like Hataria...
Sarzonia
01-11-2004, 21:21
Looks good :)

I would also add the 'partial ignore', where you only ignore a specific thread or a vehicle, rather than an entire nation.Thank you. :)

I cover the "partial ignore" somewhat with the soft ignore. It doesn't usually merit the ignore cannon per se, but... well, I think I may add it in.
Praetonia
01-11-2004, 21:22
The ignore has to exist if only to deter people from making random crap like floating carriers and mach 8 planes in modern tech. I agree that it would be nicer for everyone jsut to trust each other (indeed this has worked in other RP games I've been in, but they have been much smaller and more close-knit) but that doesnt work on NS.
Sarzonia
01-11-2004, 21:30
The ignore has to exist if only to deter people from making random crap like floating carriers and mach 8 planes in modern tech. I agree that it would be nicer for everyone jsut to trust each other (indeed this has worked in other RP games I've been in, but they have been much smaller and more close-knit) but that doesnt work on NS.I realized that as I was typing the previous post and then I went to add it to the first post in the thread. That's why I changed in midstream. lol
Sarzonia
03-11-2004, 19:19
*bump*
Aust
03-11-2004, 19:22
Great thread S, Sticky please mods.
Sarzonia
05-11-2004, 18:49
*added information about the partial ignore to the introductory post.
Greater Islands
05-11-2004, 19:18
OOC>Thank you for the thread, as a new player it is very useful.
DemonStanbul
05-11-2004, 21:04
Yea good thread I like your Ignores.
Depends on how bad the person gets. I don't normally ignore people, but people like Hataria...
Come on with out him starting wars this place would start getting a little less interesting ;) I just hope he can RP better though.
Silverrock
05-11-2004, 21:10
As another new player, I agree. This is Very Helpful and should either be stickied or added to Myrth's Big Gameplay Sticky List! in the Gameplay Forum (with full credit to Sarzonia, of course). I do have one question, though. What if someone you've never heard of declares war/starts a thread without asking you beforehand? Would ignoring it be bad form? Even if it was role-played well, I'd have very mixed emotions about a huge country of x billions all of a sudden annexing my country of 18 million.
Sarzonia
06-11-2004, 01:37
As another new player, I agree. This is Very Helpful and should either be stickied or added to Myrth's Big Gameplay Sticky List! in the Gameplay Forum (with full credit to Sarzonia, of course). I do have one question, though. What if someone you've never heard of declares war/starts a thread without asking you beforehand? Would ignoring it be bad form? Even if it was role-played well, I'd have very mixed emotions about a huge country of x billions all of a sudden annexing my country of 18 million.Well, the accepted convention in NationStates is that you contact a player beforehand if you want to do something like declare war on them or launch a terrorist attack (especially the terrorist attack). If someone does NOT contact you, you are well within your rights to ignore it.

Some players are against the notion of having to contact another player before starting such a thread. There are some good reasons (like people who are concerned that it cheapens the idea of free form RP) and there are some not so good reasons (a classic line I read all the time is, "does bin Laden call President Bush and ask for permission to hit the World Trade Center"?).

But for a good RP, one that tells a good story, the best thing to do is to contact the player beforehand and at least agree to some parameters of the thread. There are some players who insist on having every single detail of the RP mapped out in advance. I think that's extreme, but establishing some things like the reasons for a war, the results from the war (such as, if you lose, are you annexed or do you keep your country?), whether or not either of you will accept a nuclear attack, are great to keep an OOC misunderstanding from ruining the fun of a good IC war.
Present Day Comatica
06-11-2004, 01:54
*makes approving humming noise*

I likee, I likee. All in favor of the mods stickying this thread, say I!

I!
Aust
06-11-2004, 11:03
I
Easy green
06-11-2004, 12:32
Well summed up. great help for any new peeps to the game and handy for us older nations to.
its gota b a sticky
"Oh great mods i ask ye to stickifie this thread forever more"
Sarzonia
06-11-2004, 19:44
Thanks for all the support everyone!

Mods, please stickify it!
Roach-Busters
06-11-2004, 19:49
Lol, you should make an IGNORE cannon storefront! :D
Granzi
06-11-2004, 20:07
OOC: Sarzonia, I figured out how transport the full-sized image on DOGA:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/Granzi/2357750b.bmp

Do you want me to redo your aircraft?
Sarzonia
06-11-2004, 20:10
OOC: Sarzonia, I figured out how transport the full-sized image on DOGA:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v297/Granzi/2357750b.bmp

Do you want me to redo your aircraft?

[OOC: Sure.

Love the cannon too, BTW. :)]
Sarzonia
10-11-2004, 04:41
*bump* for the people
Sarzonia
16-11-2004, 18:15
*bump*
Sarzonia
06-04-2005, 14:58
*Added the Death Penalty Ignore to the introductory post.*
Gyrobot
06-04-2005, 15:37
Hey so what did DA do to get deleted?
Sarzonia
08-04-2005, 20:21
Hey so what did DA do to get deleted?I believe he was too graphic in one or more of his RP posts (I *think* he wrote an explicit depiction of rape).
The Macabees
08-04-2005, 20:23
And Communist Mississipi (DA/VE), along with Kahta, always had a way to annoy the mods, especially by complaining over and over to them, and so I think the mods grew a grudge towards him... I would have too, he was one conceited person.
Guffingford
08-04-2005, 20:25
Hey so what did DA do to get deleted?DA was deleted because of rape scenes, and the nation VE was deleted because he had forbidden links in his signature.
The Cassiopeia Galaxy
08-04-2005, 20:41
Wow, nice one Sarzonia.
Sarzonia
04-05-2005, 19:33
bump