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varpness
Community Member

Is there a way to block another community member so I no longer see his or her responses in threads?

There is a community member who routinely writes aggressive, unprofessional, or otherwise obnoxious responses to threads here in the Upwork community, often after a question has been adequately answered by others. This behavior would result in job dismissal if it occured in a normal business office, but for some reason we are so used to childish behavior online that this person has been given a pass.

 

I'm not here to get others to agree with me or gang up on this person, but I would like to know if there is a way to block a specific individual. So far, I have been unable to find anything. If it's not an option, and an Upwork employee sees this message, I would ask that my request be passed along to the website engineers.

 

Thank you for any polite responses.

ACCEPTED SOLUTION
BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Mat,

 

You're more than welcome to report any possible violations privately by sending a PM to one of the Community moderatorsClick the link on our name to be directed to our Community page and PM us.

 

Thank you!

~ Bojan
Upwork

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35 REPLIES 35
colettelewis
Community Member

Mat,

 

This is a public forum. If someone has offended you, then either you can answer in kind, which sometimes occurs here and can  escalate - known as popcorn time - until a moderator intervenes,  or you can click on the "report inappropriate content" in the dropdown menu and complain about the offending message.

 

However, you should bear in mind that we are all  freelancers (and clients) here. We are not in the corporate world, nor do we play by corporate rules - except those of Upwork  when applicable - so demanding the sacking of some individual who has displeased you, is out of order. 

 

The moderators do take a hand and do ban community members, but it is usually when a member makes consistently subversive remarks about the company. On the whole, leniency is the watchword here and I think most of us would like to keep it that way.

 

 


Nichola L wrote:

Mat,

 

This is a public forum. If someone has offended you, then either you can answer in kind, which sometimes occurs here and can  escalate - known as popcorn time - until a moderator intervenes,  or you can click on the "report inappropriate content" in the dropdown menu and complain about the offending message.

 

However, you should bear in mind that we are all  freelancers (and clients) here. We are not in the corporate world, nor do we play by corporate rules - except those of Upwork  when applicable - so demanding the sacking of some individual who has displeased you, is out of order. 

 

The moderators do take a hand and do ban community members, but it is usually when a member makes consistently subversive remarks about the company. On the whole, leniency is the watchword here and I think most of us would like to keep it that way.

 

 


@Nichola
Well said.

@Mat
I think the biggest difficulty I have with the forum is that UW tends to rely on it as an alternate free overflow customer service provision. People who are trying to reach customer service for issues that would better be addressed by UW's customer service are often shunted onto the forum because either the customer service interface is too unintuitive for most people to navigate (I work as a technical editor and I find it nothing short of baffling how first-time users can actually manage to orient themselves), or  it takes too long for people with questions to get to an actual human being. I don't find the use of freelancers as alternate free customer service advisors fits my notion of professional practice, but UW, like a lot of companies, does use its forum in this way.

The forum is here for public discussions among platform users of all kinds, not just ones who come from the world of corporate work where people do things like wear ties and pantyhose. There are rules and it is moderated.Comments can from time to time get a bit snarky and acerbic. It may not be moderated to your professional taste. There are a lot of things that about UW that don't fit my professional taste (such as the fact that the company doesn't really do much to crack down on clients and freelancers that use the platform for repeated contract cheating projects, even though UW does supposedly have an academic integrity policy). I would much rather see UW's limited resources pointed at some of those than used to micromanage the forum. 

"The forum is here for public discussions among platform users of all kinds, not just ones who come from the world of corporate work where people do things like wear ties and pantyhose."

Actually, I think ties and pantyhose is a very atractive combination. That said, I always get a human being on the Upwork support phone system -- and find it ironic somehow that posting that number here in a forum thread, in an effort to help others, gets a quick censorship from Upwork. That said, I find the level of technical support on the forum to be very useful as well; people here certainly know the terms of service better than I do. 

The catty tone is just the price we pay, I guess, for having a group of strong, opinionated people. We can't all be sparkles and sunshine, like Jennifer .... 

You can talk to a live person? I don't think that's the case for people living outside the US. I can barely make it past the chatbot. 

Re: ties and pantyhose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FshU58nI0Ts

 

Lol! 😂 I had forgotten that number. 


Nichola L wrote:

Lol! 😂 I had forgotten that number. 


I have no idea how that well that one goes over in contemporary culture. I've been listening to a podcast interview of Louis Theroux talking to comedian Frankie Boyle about the politics of comedy. I think the thing I'm most shocked to discover is that FB does yoga. 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08ybt8d#xtor=CS8-1000-[Discovery_Cards]-[Multi_Site]-[GR07]-[PS_S...

 

The phone support staff is from all corners of the world. Why would they be unreachable to people outside the United States? 
Can't stop irony, I guess. It's one of the strongest forces of nature. 

Anthony,

I'm not sure if you're pulling my leg with the whole notion of an Upwork customer support phone line for freelancers. The phone support staff themselves may be from all corners of the world, but I don't think I've ever seen a phone support number listed, and that may be why the number someone posted a while ago was removed. 

If I go to the contact page, the only number I see, other than an 800 number for enterprise solutions, is the global HQ number (which looks like it's in San Francisco).

Or have you just been calling HQ?

Screen Shot 2022-02-16 at 9.11.55 AM.pngScreen Shot 2022-02-16 at 9.12.14 AM.png


Renata S wrote:

Anthony,

I'm not sure if you're pulling my leg with the whole notion of an Upwork customer support phone line for freelancers. The phone support staff themselves may be from all corners of the world, but I don't think I've ever seen a phone support number listed, and that may be why the number someone posted a while ago was removed. 


I only recently found out about the secret phone number myself. Apparently you and I were the only ones who didn't know!

 


Anthony H wrote:

"The forum is here for public discussions among platform users of all kinds, not just ones who come from the world of corporate work where people do things like wear ties and pantyhose."

Actually, I think ties and pantyhose is a very atractive combination. That said, I always get a human being on the Upwork support phone system -- and find it ironic somehow that posting that number here in a forum thread, in an effort to help others, gets a quick censorship from Upwork. That said, I find the level of technical support on the forum to be very useful as well; people here certainly know the terms of service better than I do. 

The catty tone is just the price we pay, I guess, for having a group of strong, opinionated people. We can't all be sparkles and sunshine, like Jennifer .... 


The phone number was removed because it is meant to be available only to Top Rated FLs, not the general public. Personally, I accept that UW is not built to provide person-to-person support for anybody and everybody with a random question. I'm not interested in paying the astronomical fees it would take to support that kind of infrastructure. 

prestonhunter
Community Member

Mat:

I'm not sure if it is possible to block a specific individual in the Forum.

 

But I can assure you that the Community Forum has excellent and responsive Forum Moderators, who do their best to help ensure that the Forum is a very professional place which is helpful to all Upwork users.

 

There ARE Community Forum guidelines, and if any post violates those guidelines, you can flag that post and report it.

 

It has been my experience that inappropriate posts which are reported are quickly removed. I even use the reporting tool to have posts moved into different sections (such as when a freelancer-specific question is posted in the Clients section), and this is done quickly.

 

If you do these things, then you'll make the Forum better for everybody, not just yourself.

 

You can ALSO send private messages to a Forum poster if she does something that really bothers you. Every regular Forum participant wants the Forum to be helpful to Upwork users as a whole. None of them want to annoy you.

 

re: "...we are so used to childish behavior online that this person has been given a pass."

 

We have all visited other sites and seen the kind of behavior that can be found online. I know exactly what you are talking about. I have seen it on sites such as news sites and fan discussion boards where users rely on the anonymity of the medium to get away with being crude, vulgar, profane, disgusting, negative, etc.

 

This is NOT a "free-for-all" forum, and it is NOT intended to be like that. Don't put the Upwork Community Forum in the same category as sites like that. This IS a professional work site and the standards expected within the Community Forum are much different.

Preston, why do you assume it's a female doing this? There are just as many snarky replies from men on the forums as women.

re: "why do you assume it's a female doing this?"

 

I made no assumptions about gender.

 

I use pronouns such as "she" and "he" to refer to unknown people generically, without any gender implication.

As do I. Also "they."

👏👏👏

BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Mat,

 

You're more than welcome to report any possible violations privately by sending a PM to one of the Community moderatorsClick the link on our name to be directed to our Community page and PM us.

 

Thank you!

~ Bojan
Upwork

Mat: If it makes you feel any better... there are indeed regular Forum participants whose communication styles take some getting used to. (For some readers, this includes myself.) Furhtermore: The tenor of the Forum as a whole may require some adjustment if you are accustomed to seeing hightly structured communication styles in a corporate environment, or certain company Help Forums...

 

There are regular Forum participants who sometimes write posts which might seem wildly inappropriate or simply inexplicable if you're not familiar with them and with this Forum as a whole.

 

But after a bit of adjustment, most people find this Fourm to be incredibly helpful, useful, and friendly.

There are regular Forum participants who disagree with me on some specific points (typically not core procedural questions, but more arcane or "edge-case" stuff). But I know that their involvement in the Forum is positive and motivated by good intentions.

Hi Preston,

 

I assure you, the person in question is not you. I've never found your responses to be unprofessional in the slightest, and the fact that you followed up you initial response with more information to "make [me] feel better" only demonstrates this further.

 

Thank you for your thoughts.

varpness
Community Member

Thank you, Bojan. Now that I know the community guidelines include "posts should be helpful, constructive, and encouraging," I will certainly flag the responses which aren't all three of those.

Mat,

 

As a matter of interest, has anybody on the forum given you  rude or unprofessional advice to your queries?

 

Don't you think that setting up a one-man policing on the forum is a little over the top? Are you going to flag every post that you judge to be offensive?

I suggest you get used to it Mat. It's not going to go away lol. 

 

As a copywriter, let me tell you: nobody can trigger your emotions without your consent. 

 

I know neither you, nor I, nor 99% of other people will be able to live by that statement. Hopefully it opens your eyes. 


Alexander B wrote:

As a copywriter, let me tell you: nobody can trigger your emotions without your consent. 


A similar way I've heard it put is, "Offense is always taken, never given."

tlsanders
Community Member

Mat, the great news is that every post is preceded by the author's name and likeness, and these are prominent. That makes it super easy for you and others to see who wrote a post and make the grown-up decision not to read content you're not interested in. Absolutely nothing bad will happen to you because you see that person's picture and know they wrote something you choose not to read.

lysis10
Community Member

I really hate it when Petra gets all the hate attention. I like a lot of negative attention, and this makes me so mad right now.

 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

kbadeau
Community Member

I understand the we are all grownups and we all have different ways of communicating but every forum I've ever been on has either a "block" or "ignore" feature.

 

I don't think OP was trying to get rid of anyone; just trying to use an easy tool to make his time here a little easier. I myself am super sensitive combined with an inability to NOT look at posts (on other forums) even when I KNOW they're going to upset me. So I personally would see no harm in UW adding a block or ignore feature.

 

Whether we're talking about Petra or not, she speaks the way I wish I could, and her answers are usually 100% helpful even if they're not sugar coated.


Kelly B wrote:

I understand the we are all grownups and we all have different ways of communicating but every forum I've ever been on has either a "block" or "ignore" feature.

 

I don't think OP was trying to get rid of anyone; just trying to use an easy tool to make his time here a little easier. I myself am super sensitive combined with an inability to NOT look at posts (on other forums) even when I KNOW they're going to upset me. So I personally would see no harm in UW adding a block or ignore feature.


Thanks, Kelly. I think that must be all he meant. We've been ranting on for two pages about the right to slightly moderated free forum speech and all the guy is looking for is a filtering device?

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

Exactly, Renata.  That good old automatic mental (and/or visual) **Edited for Community Guidelines** filter.


Wendy C wrote:

Exactly, Renata.  That good old automatic mental (and/or visual) **Edited for Community Guidelines** filter.


I think I'm becoming uncomfortable with the level of censoring we're experiencing. They didn't just take out the modified swear word I used. They took out half of my post.  

 

Any reply I could offer would be bleeped. 😞

tomzilla1
Community Member

Mat, I agree with you. And I am pretty sure I know this individual you're referring to, **Edited for Community Guidelines**

Welcome to the internet. 

I recommend allowing one's skin to thicken. I know that some people here can be rather brash, but the content is often constructive even if the delivery does leave a lot to be desired. It's water off a duck's back for me personally. I'm involved in debate groups that make this community feel like hugs and kittens in comparison. 

We all do.

pgiambalvo
Community Member

I agree completely with you.

6bfcdaf8
Community Member

Ability to "Hide" an accounts posts would be a good idea

sydney-mansaray
Community Member

I am almost 100% sure that I know who you're talking about. 

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