For those looking to customize their commenting experience here at MLB Trade Rumors, the website now has a mute button available. Once you’re logged in, you’ll see that each comment has the option to like, reply, flag, or mute. If you decide you would prefer to hide all comments from a specific user, including all comments on a thread they’ve started, hit the mute link. A box will pop up asking you to confirm. You can edit your mute list on your profile page. The Trade Rumors iOS app now has a flag button, but does not yet have the mute button.
Moving forward, the comment section will now be open on political and COVID-19 posts, while remaining closed on those related to domestic violence. Please review our commenting policy, which still does not allow attacks, insults, trolling, or harassment. Off-topic commentary is also not allowed, so please do not leave comments that are unrelated to the subject matter of the post. If you see comments that violate our policy, please flag them, consider muting the person, and do not reply. We can’t attempt to assess who started it.
We’ve created a “View Comments” button on each post, so that entering the comment section will be a conscious choice. Consider that you may be better off sitting out certain discussions. We’ve set up some guard rails, but the comment section reflects the attitudes and opinions of many different people. We’ll try to review everything that violates our policy, but we can’t moderate out stupidity, insensitivity, and various other subjective things. We’re hopeful that the mute button will allow MLBTR commenters more control over their experience.
Great!
Speaking of “edit” so you’ve replaced the edit button w/the mute button. So instead of taking one step backwards it’s now two. Can’t wait to see what’s next. Ahahahaha!!
We now have a new leader is “most blocked”
Nope! Just temporarily turned off the edit functionality for a few hours while we worked out some minor bugs with the new feature. Ahahahaha!!
Lol, that’s great Tim! Kind of grows on you after a while doesn’t it, like Costanza. [sings to the tune of the By Mennen jingle] Co-Stanza!
Well kinda great. A quick question for MLBTR: why is this mute button not avail for the app as well?
Umm, I should also first say thank you as this was one of the requests I made when you polled us for how the site could be improved. So thank you.
Just a work in progress – that involves different developers.
Translation- that costs more money. Lol
Yay
Darn, I thought this meant for MLB telecasts, we could rename it the Joe Buck button
Touché!
Hold on, no more 5 minute edit window? That’s something I will miss, why is it gone?
We just had to disable it temporarily while we worked a few bugs out. It’s back now.
Superbly done Sir!
I can’t upvote this enough.
You’re really gonna hate jeopardy.
well the OP made my day but now it’s ruined. reality is often dissapointing.
Test failed human hold breath for 10 minutes and try again.
Is this considered one of the off topic comments? I think the test comment would but not mine.
Don’t mute me I might say something funny or insightful and you will miss it. OK slight chance it is funny very low probability it is insightful.
Could be a stat for the stat nerds. WCxFC/IC{£}. The last part have no idea what it means just looked cool and more official.
With every word you typed you made me want to mute you even more
now, no need to get testy Tim!
Thanks for the effort and resources put forth to improve the site.
First time ever that I’m going to have to watch it muted with closed captioning.
perfected
Pretty sure your tv already has a mute button.
Inning Over!
It stuns me that Buck is still allowed to broadcast any games. And when he’s paired with the only “broadcaster” who is actually worse, Aikman, it’s even more horrendous.
Not only is he allowed to but they’re paying him $6M a year to do so. People like you is the reason there’s now a mute button. Ahahahaha!
Joe Buck is emotionless about this statement.
I have a question- why does everyone really hate Joe Buck though?? I just don’t see it lol- his voice sounds very involved in big games and not boring at all. Idk
He’s terrible. What are you talking about?
He’s absolutely terrible to listen to, cmon now.
Did you like Tim McCarver, too? As an announcer that is, not as a player.
I don’t hate Joe buck. It’s his broadcasting that I dislike.
Does the mute option function in both directions? If I were mute someone, I assume I can’t see their posts. Can they still see and reply to mine?
Yes, they can still see and reply to yours, but you would not see that reply.
Isn’t this not solving the problem? I’ve seen a lot of bullying on this site, it would be better if one person who blocked the other one totally severed them both from ever seeing each others comments.
I think this tool will be more useful/impactful if it goes both ways.
I think that makes sense, I will look into it.
That’s what she said.
Thankfully there’s a mute button now….
@Kayrall Exactly, if you can’t handle the banter back & forth then you probably have bigger issues to address. Have a feeling it won’t be heavily used but for those very sensitive folks out there enjoy!
@kayrall
The same may be said about you.
Soooo, correct me if I’m wrong here but what you’re saying is, that if I mute everyone on here I wouldn’t have to read their posts but they’d still have to read mine? That’s beautiful baby, BEAUTIFUL! Ahahahaha!
chisoxfan is pissed
I imagine the people you want to mute most change their screen names and/or email addresses on a weekly basis.
Sad but true.
He can change his name….but a leopard can’t change his spots….it will be easy to pick him out.
Cool. I’m posting this here to give people a chance to mute me without looking too hard.
Halo,
I’m on an iPad so I can’t mute up you yet…
Lol. Only kidding.
diplomacy
YaY
You can mute me now! (if you want)
Muted
Nah your takes are the best! Bring back name of the day
Please don’t. It’s dopey.
Jimbobroy was my “test” subject, but thanks.
Censorship, the wave of the future is here now!
How is it any different than blocking a number on your phone? LOL Its not censorship
You should look up the word “censorship” in a dictionary because you must not know what it means.
Sorry, maybe censorship is the wrong word. Perhaps I should have said “feelings protector”. We wouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s feeling now would we.
There are a million reasons you might not care to hear someone’s opinions aside from having “hurt feelings.”
Anyone should have the right to walk away from an unpleasant conversation with an unpleasant person. Do you agree?
That’s primarily the reason I don’t go out and socialize with the neighbors. They aren’t pleasant and the last thing I need is a Negative Nancy while enjoying a beer on a Friday after work
Tim, please rush the mute function for iOS. I need it already…
Yes. Why cant I avoid sarcastic responses from people who dont want to have a honest conversation? There’s plenty of “OMG YOURE DUMB BC YOU DISAGREE WITH ME” people out there and if I dont want to deal with that I have that right. You block numbers, defriend people on Facebook, walk away from conversations, quit jobs that harm you mentally, break up with people you dont want to see anymore. Is all that censorship too? MLBTR isnt censoring you. They are allowing others to choose what the ysee and dont see. To say others HAVE to see what you say is not “free speech”. Being able to say it period is free speech and MLBTR is allowing you that oppurtunity while also allowing us the freedom NOT TO see it.
I’m confident Shamrock is a bot account made to illustrate how necessary this feature is.
I withdraw my objection to the mute button. Who wouldn’t want a discussion site where everyone agrees with them. Wave of the future! No need to mute me, I probably will look for a new site.
Congrats Jimbobroy! You’re the first person I am muting with the new feature!
Where did I say it was to mute people who disagree with me? This whole conversation started bc I disagreed with you and shared my opinion lol I didnt mute you, I didnt insult you and I didnt dismiss you. Im doing what you claim to want to do on this site but now youre the one leaving. I hope you dont leave. This site is the best and I hope you continue to share. I just disagree with the thought that having am ute button is censorship. I thought I made that clear but if I didnt then I apologize as that was not my intent.
Jimbob
There is a big difference between a civil adult discussion and a rant that turns into insults. There are some on here who resort to insults the minute someone disagrees with them. Maybe we can rename it a maturity button rather then mute.
Jimbobroy, sounds like a great idea! Goodbye, enjoy your new site.
Thanks for the feature, Tim!
Thats the smartest thing you have ever said.
“Sorry, maybe censorship is the wrong word. Perhaps I should have said “feelings protector”. We wouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s feeling now would we.”
He seems ironically unironically upset about this.
Safe space is here. Buddha box.
Jimbob, I’m constantly enthralled and amused by folks who are beautifully, hypocritically outraged by other folks being outraged. How can you not see the irony? “All these mute buttons from such babies who can’t take a difference of opinion! I hate that opinion and am rage quitting!”
I consider the mute button noise canceling head phones that really work well.
Jumbo, I don’t mind people disagreeing with me. What I hate is people purposely distorting my opinion then arguing against the distortion and not the opinion. What I hate is people trying to “win” instead of an honest exchange of ideas. What I hate is people talking at me rather than to me.
I’m 100% in favor of an honest exchange of ideas.
Don’t let the door hit ya…
@Timdierkes So rather than waste all your time or ours how about just list 10 other reasons and I’ll give you 10 minutes for that cause if there’s a million it should be easy to come up with just 10. K, thanks we’re waiting. Lol
So since Tim can’t list 10 reasons to mute someone other than your feelings are hurt can anyone else out there??? Tim stated there are a million and 42 others liked his comment so love to hear why else! If it’s vulgar, racist or off topic comments you can ignore or flag comment. Just seems like some people may like to dish it but can’t take it back
Some people don’t think this site should be about dishing anything out or having to take anything back.
Thanks for allowing me to test the feature.
Not really..other users choosing to ignore you isnt mlbtr censoring you.
You can still post. You can still comment. You arent being stopped from doing those things.
not how it works but okay. actually this was supposed fo be a happy medium allowing for more comment sections to be open but okay.
I’m all about less government, freedom, free speech, and individual responsibility, but to call a mute button censorship is pretty silly and frankly, ignorant.
“You can edit your mute list on your profile page”
I tried doing this, but there is an issue – when I click the “X” next to the user I would like to unmute then click save, it tells me “This username already exists”… I am wondering if it is possible to have the ability to unmute users independent from the “Edit Profile” page.
It sounds like some sort of bug, though I’m not able to reproduce it. We’ll check it out.
Thanks, Tim! I love what you do here!
Tim, out of curiosity, have you seen any need implement this for the discussion boards on your three other rumors sites?
I expect it will be utilized on Pro Football Rumors. I’m not sure about the other two.
I didn’t know football had it available to reply. Thanks for the info
i think the replies on some of the other sites are a tab borked. still works but they show up odd.
This seems like a not very positive reflection on baseball fans. Or is it simply a function of the volume of comments on this board compared to the others?
@blueskies- Seems that this particular board gets many more comments than the other 3 combined. I have no actual statistics to use as evidence, but I’ve routinely seen zero or just a few comments on major stories for the other 3, but have not seen 0-3 comments on a story on this site in tons of years. While MLBTR gets comments in the 3 figures, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen that be the case for the other 3.
I don’t look at it that way Blue Skies, we all know there are great people who enjoy baseball and there are those who can be pretty terrible. Unfortunately the terrible ones can be loud. I’ve lived in and travelled the county and seen good and bad everywhere. I love this game and enjoy my time with most of the people I conversation with. I actually live near LA, and most of the Dodger fans are great people passionate about their team. But they get a bad reputation because the worst of the fans are louder and garnish most of the attention.
@Metsman22. Noxious opinions and loudness go together like peanut butter and jelly. It’s always been true, but now more than ever.
MLBTR definitely has much higher comment volume than the other sites, which makes sense because it has about 6-10x the traffic of Hoops Rumors or Pro Football Rumors (and much more than PHR).
Its on Hockey rumors already too.
Please put it on PFR. So many racist comments!
I’ve been very offended myself and had to take a day off.
This decision is a huge mistake.
Agree. Maybe a short term fix but a longer term problem.
How so? This sounds like a one-stop shop to tailor your discussion preferences… thanks MLBTR!
How is it a long term problem? Serious question. Not being an ass.
Because it will censor reasonable discussion because of the few who choose unreasonable discussion. Someone doesn’t want to answer a reasonable question…..you’re blocked! The good news I suppose is that less feelings will be hurt.
MLBTr has chosen this path rather than continuing to moderate via closed comment sections. This is a pro- free speech move, not censorship. You can say “mostly” whatever you want.
Schwender is spot on. This puts the power of censorship into the individual user to customize their experience rather the MLBTR just shutting down speech all the time. It is a pro-freedom move all the way. Freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom to ignore.
It seems the mute button is not to silence differing opinions, it’s to silence people who can’t communicate those differing opinions in an adult manner. Insults towards people you don’t know doesn’t provide any value and MLBTR is tired of babysitting. I don’t blame them.
@alwaysgo4two- Yeah, but you don’t have to worry about that if you choose not to block people. Those who are quick to mute will just have less discussions. That’s their problem.
How will it censor reasonable discussion?
@Schwender, Steve-O and Dirk- Bingo, Bango, Bongo! Spot on, all 3 yous guys
Because the term reasonable discussion is a relative term. I love a good discussion. I doubt that I’ll be blocked but I prefer idiots to expose their idiocy. But that’s just me.
My answer to that, is doing you really want to discuss something with somebody who blocks you because you disagree with them in the first place? They are letting you know that they are a waste of time to discuss baseball with in the first place.
It was voted on by the vast majority of posters, sorry you are in the minority that you think having anonymous comments sections ala youtube in the mid 2000’s is healthy (its not, it never is – even youtube reigned it in)
Isn’t YouTube as well as MLBTR still anonymous, even with a mute button? I mean, I’m using my first name here but nobody can connect what I say here to me irl. Personally I enjoy remaining anonymous, so I’m curious as to why you think it’s unhealthy.
For some being anonymous seems to remove all filters and polite discourse goes out the window. Some feel emboldened to act like complete ……. .
My thoughts exactly MarkoRock68. Some people feel empowered to be nasty or act like a complete….. when they know no one can connect them IRL.
I see your points, but I don’t think getting rid of anonymity would solve that problem, plenty of people still post hate speech on Facebook to this day. Anonymity benefits me on a site like YouTube because there I use a genderless name, so there’s less misogyny and less gender-specific stuff thrown at me there than there is here.
The great thing is that we can identify as whichever gender we prefer, regardless of the name, so I never make any assumptions anymore.
Not really. These comments have always been incredibly toxic. Filtering out the trolls might actually make them worth visiting
You could moderate out stupidity but it would require permanently closing the comment section.
I imagine they’ll still moderate stuff. I recently saw a person direct some misogynistic comments toward me and while it doesn’t bother me that much, it doesn’t belong on a website like this and people without an account who can’t mute probably don’t want to see that.
I can mute myself! Woo hoo!!
“i would never be a part of a comment section that would have me as a commenter”
I laughed uncomfortably hard at this…
dont encourage me…
I’ve been whyhayzee through ESPN message board, savedbythebellhorn (an abject disaster) and now here.
I’ve always been annoying about the yankees but I’m trying really hard to not be annoying any more. I would like to think the Mute Button has been helpful in my self awareness / growth process. My wife still listens to me after 35 years but not about baseball. Good work.
Man, you had like a year’s long stretch of posting “suspicious” under every single Yankees article lol
Good times. Sigh.
This is good. Thanks, Tim, for working on a way for us to continue to have responsible, respectful baseball conversations that involve some difficult context. We appreciate it to a wonderful degree! I think this is a good idea, and also agree wholeheartedly with the decision to continue closing comments when it comes to domestic violence issues. Here’s hoping we never have to see another one of those posts again!
Tim–will there be a mute button available for the Android app, or is Android muting moot?
I second this motion… Android app. is lacking in certain features… thanks again!
We will add that eventually, but I’m not sure when. Hopefully this year we can get it up to speed.
When I read this, I honestly wondered, “Who is ‘Mute Button’?” is he a baseball scribe that I never heard of? Then it hit me….
But seriously a mute button (lower case) is a good idea! 🙂
He’s been traded for a Comment to be Named Later.
I thought he was being traded for comment considerations.
Or inconsiderations, as the case may be.
I’d rather be for them giving me cash considerations for my contributions to the comment section…
I’ll make it real simple,
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” Mute that.
This is an internet forum, not the right to speak out against the government without being arrested.
That’s it, for that snarky, little condescending remark you’re muted. Ahahahaha!
muted – per your request
@riffraff
Great! So now I can tell everyone what a maroon you are & there’s nothing you can do about it. I think I’m gonna like this mute button thing. Ahahahaha!
Oh my, the irony of calling someone a “maroon”
I’ll mute you so fast it’ll make your head spin mister! Ahahaha!
Lol you’re really going all-in with this maniacal riddler routine, huh
Lol, I’m just trying to have a little fun & prevent myself from going stir crazy.
A better name is the A-rod button
That’s a good one too.
How about the Chris Russo button?
Nah he breaks the mute button
Just like with Joe Buck, as soon as I hear his voice, I change the channel. (or switch MLB.tv Audio to the radio broadcast).
alright everyone that’s muted me, say “I”!
nay
NAY!
If I ever mute you DS, half the MLBTR comments won’t show up! All joking aside, you bring reasonable and fun discussion here and I will always consider you a digital “friend” for that. Cheers buddy, aloha!
haha expected that to take another direction but certainly appreciate it.
I think what people forget about freedom of speech is that when the concept was created and implemented people knew who was saying what… there were no avatars, there were no dark webs and lack of transparency on who said whatever incendiary message.
It’s simple- if you value your “freedom of speech” don’t hide who you are.
Exactly, this is ultimately the issue here – it’s really weird that certain commenters are bringing up freedom of speech…when…they…are…anonymous…
The anonymous realm means no freedoms for anything. How hard is this to understand? Come off anonymous or private and post all your personal and work info if you want to talk about “freedom of speech” (which also does not apply to a website and private companies).
Ultimately its the people who parrot fox news who don’t have a clue what they’re even trying to say.
I’m near positive you’ll be near the top of the mute standings
I’m near positive you are trying to eliminate any anti-fox news posters, so fox fake news will reign supreme. Did you know they legally arent even allowed to call themselves “news”? They are supposed to remove the word “news” from their name but Americans havent gotten their ish together yet to do a class action lawsuit to force them to change it.
Keep showing your true self though, we all know who you are….
I’m near positive you are part of the problem UK. FIrst, pretending you are a baseball fan living across the pond. Second, pretending you know baseball being across the pond. Third, pretending you are insightful in news, politics and current events across the pond.
You are the prime example of what the mute button is for. I won’t mute you. I find your comments comical. Keep it up.
The upvote button is still anonymous. So the people upvoting the person you disagree with are still unknown.
So there’s always that. It’s not like this is disquis.
But they all wore wigs. 😉
and were members of the Whig party
Were they “Wigging out”?
Being muted doesn’t not impede freedom of speech. You still get to say what you want, but people who don’t want to listed are able to avoid it.
Really don’t get any issue here.
So Arty, Marty, and that ilk will be talking to themselves essentially within the multiverse. Like we’re on Earth 1 and they’re on Earth 99.
Can we ever bring up down votes?
They were retired when A-Rod did, too.
I like the changes, good work.
Thank you, Tim!
Does the mute option block the poster from just the muter’s view or does it blocked it from all to see?
Is there a limit to how many people can be muted? Also, thank you for doing this.
I read the headline and think “Who is this commenter Mute Button? And what is he available for? I wonder if he’s Dick Button’s kid? Now there’s a commenter!”.”
This should be a net positive. It’s not censorship, anyone can say virtually anything they want, just allows people to tailor their experience .
Meh, I won’t mute anyone. I love it when I’m called a troll.
yeah I like to see what people are saying, but i think the idea of the button is at least nice given it helps comment sections be open.
Why would you like it that you come off as a troll? Really, why would anyone want that?
Entertainment value l
Since I do not come on this site to read other peoples political views, I wish they would save me the trouble and stop them from getting to me.
Let’s talk baseball.
I’m logged in and don’t see the mute option
Drop us a line through the site’s contact form and we’ll check it out.
Really a shame that there are so many jerks on social media who think it’s fun to just be a jerk.
we will all become Muteants. I am going to be wolverine.
Thank God. I’ve been wanting to mute that bobtillman character for five years.
And yes, I read the headline as identifying a new correspondent. So after we pass it by Pooperman, we’ll have to motor it by Mute.
Lotta people in this thread who don’t understand how 1A works. Thank god I can finally mute some of the people that make the comment section on this site insufferable
I read this as someone with the username “Mute Button” could now comment.
I would mute him.
I am going to mute everyone who thinks they are more interesting than anyone else.
I come for the trolls, I stay for the trolls, not the boring, trade Trout for 3 minor leaguers cast of characters.
What if someone makes a completely hypothetical comment?
Is there a Moot Button?
well if there ever was a post to trigger a mute, that was it. 😀
Consider yourself mooted.
I deserve everything I get for that.
Sorry, what did you say? You must be mooted.
I got all dressed up before I did that. I wore my moot suit.
Let’s start a Moot Suit Riot! I’ll take another bottle of beer…
Ya but it doesn’t matter.
Ah, clever take on the moot point!
punmaster
Frankly all the nastiness here in the comment section started when ESPN closed there comment section, it’s nice to see a non nuclear option.
I miss those days. Those comment sections were so toxic but entertaining.
Will MLBTR keep track of how many people mute a particular user? And if so, will there be a threshold that gets that user banned?
better yet, just release the stats for all to see!
I really like this. Easily gets the comments section back to a place where I can learn things about baseball and have conversations and even respectful debates with other fans.
It might be interesting if one could see how many different readers muted them. I don’t mean identifying the muters, just a count of the number of different muters. If a lot of different readers mute someone and they could see that then perhaps they might realize they need to be more careful with what they post.
Would I mute someone simply because I disagreed with their thoughts? No, but if that person kept annoying me, then I might.
Nice addition although one I hope to rarely if ever use. Regardless, nice option for posters. BTW I don’t see the mute option as a selection on my iOS device at the moment.
…and just re-read your post noting iOS has a flag button. Will a mute option be available eventually? What happens if you mute someone through the website? Will that carry forward to any iOS devices?
It will be in the app eventually, and I believe it will not carry over right now.
Thanks. Appreciate the update.
SHUUUUUUUUUSH!!! 😉
Tim Dierkes –
Thank you for this and for running a fantastic website. Hats off to you, sir!
Of course half of the posts here are people arguing about whether or not it’s a good idea to mute people. Hopefully it helps drag this stuff out of the gutter so we can talk baseball without all the BS like the old days
Thanks Tim!
I can’t wait to cancel like 90% of you.
Finally!!!
I wonder how much I contributed to this decision with my edgy, posts ^_^
“Please review our commenting policy, which still does not allow attacks, insults, trolling, or harassment.”
After reviewing the commenting policy, it appears that in political posts it’s not against the rules to attack, insult, troll or harass the relevant politician (president/governor/mayor) as long as they aren’t commenters on MLBTR.
The same can be said on Rob Manfred on almost all other posts.
*I’ll show myself out*
So if we mute a blogger do their blogs not show up?
Baseball is where i go to get away from the insanity.. Thanks for trying to bring back the sanity of baseball..
Comment section has been exceedingly glitchy since y’all put this in. I also don’t see the option to edit or delete my comments once posted.
I’m going to seriously miss that ability to edit. Many is the time I have used that 5 minutes to “cool down” & rewrite or delete a knee jerk comment.
Wait, I just listed the above post & realized I can still edit. What is it I’m missing?
An unintended effect of this is it made it SUPER easy for us as commenters to tell who changed their name to what.
Good point. I’ve been on boards where the most obnoxious commenters change their account names every few days to evade the mute option because, you know, everyone must listen to their insults, politics, and personal attacks. We can be sure this will happen here too.
Softy mf’s
The comments section needed this direly, thank you!
Edit: Edit seems to be working for me…
This can only be a improvement. Say what you want (within reasonable boundaries) and let others decide whether they feel like reading you. It’s very democratic (small D) and lets us be grownups. And, I can definitely see the five minute edit button….and just did.
Just another “safe space” for the mentally weak. If you’re “offended” by a post then the real issue is in the mirror.
This is great. No more baseballpun
This is my first and possibly only comment for mlbtraderumors.
I almost never read comments.
I have a paid subscription because I appreciate the information the professional writers provide. Why take the time to read opinions from readers who may know more but likely know less than I do? There must be chatrooms or whatever where fans can bs/rant/opinionize about their favorite (or least favorite) teams.
As with other sites I subscribe to, my rare comments are intended as feedback to the site owners.
If you are muted by someone, will you know it?…
Because you dont tell ppl when they are banned, so im just wondering about it
They already said that if someone mutes you you can still see their comments. So no, you won’t know it. Although if they are regularly not replying to your replies to them then they probably did mute you.
They may not tell people when they are banned but if your comments don’t show up it’s pretty obvious. FWIW at least they don’t shadow ban people. I’ve always found that practice cowardly.
Comments stay, you just cant comment again with no reason given
It also appears to be the case that if someone mutes you, you can’t reply to their comments. Although you can still see them.