The ignore list is a very useful tool. Being placed on a forum member's ignore list results in their not seeing your posts anymore. As a result, they're much less likely to respond to your posts, and hence interrupt a long series of posts on your part with annoyaning answers and displays of their avatar.
Forthwith, a guide to earning a place on the ignore lists of large number of forum members...
Some forum members (like Wrye) are quite cranky and will hit the ignore button if you accidentally misspell their name or even the word "teh". But other members are much more forgiving and generous and will require a bit of extra work on your part to ensure that they ignore you.
First, lets dispense with the profanity option. While you might think that gross profanity and name calling would result in many ignorals, in fact moderators will quickly eradicate such posts, thus preventing them from having any effect. Worse, repetition may result in banning, thus preventing you from posting comments that you would prefer to have ignored. So, profanity!
With the easy profanity option out of the way, here are a series of alternate suggestions.
• Never Read the "Free" Manual! (NRTFM!) Some modders write quite detailed instructions for their mods, covering things to do and not do. Refusing to read such instructions and then asking questions that are covered in them is sure to irritate most modders (and even some would be helpers).
• Never go back a page in a forum topic. You might accidentally read some useful information, and thus be deprived of the chance to ask the question again on the current page.
• Don't think. Yes, it's basic rule, but so often forgotten. Thinking may lead to figuring the problem out on your own, which drastically interferes with the willful clueless that is essential to being ignored.
• Bumping is tried and true. But excessive bumping may result in warnings. Use with care.
• Ignore RELZ topics and start new topics just to post your question. If you post on the original topic, you run a dangerous chance of being answered by people who are knowledgeable. But by posting on an alternate topic, you demonstrate your self-centeredness in a way that is sure to prime other forum members to ignore you.
• Refuse to follow steps that are known to solve your problem. E.g. if someone says that Wrye Bash is the only way to solve a problem, ask for another solution that doesn't require Wrye Bash.
• Ignore statements of impossibility. If someone says that you can't do "X", then ask again anyway. You may want to ask in a slightly different way or on a different topic. Starting an new topic just to ask again is quite useful.
• Post unclear and confusing questions. Mix up two mods and/or the problems you have installing them.
• Never show courtesy or appreciativeness. If someone helps you, don't thank them – this generate positive feelings that would disincline them from ignoring you in the future.
• Never admit a mistake. If someone points out a mistake, ignore it. Whatever you do, don't apologize, admit fault, or gods forbid, try to correct it. You may want to intentionally create mistakes just so that you can not apologize for them.
• Complain when WIPZ/demo mods are not fully functional.
• Use syntactic annoyances. 1) ALL CAPS IS OKAY BUT PERHAPS TOO OBVIOUS AND MAY RESULT IN A WARNING. 2) always speaking in lower caps can also be good and 3 ignoring punctuation is also good since it will help make your meaning unclear 4) l337 sp34k annoys the old fogies
• Talk like an idiot. Use lol the way some people use the f word. Claim to be a clueless moron and act like you don't care. ("whoah dude I have no idea what im doing lol this stuff is just way too hard lol i just want to morph from an imperial to a gian bat lol")
• Include the full text of a very long post in your reply. This is especially effective if the inclusion is pointless. And even more so if your addition after the inclusion is very short. (Again, "lol" is good, although too much repetition of "lol" may give the game away.)
• Once people start ignoring you, you may occasionally want to plaintively ask why no one's replying. (This however is a risky tactic. Someone may actually reply to such a question.)
Good luck! I'll be ignoring you! :thumbsup:
(C) 2008, by Wrye