Host overriding a red thumb via invite

[FrankJones]

If a host tried to invite someone who has been red thumbed by another player already sitting at the table, it should handle it exactly the way it is handled if that red thumbed player tried to sit without being invited.

This only happened to me once. I clicked to join a game and the interface said, "One of the players at this table wishes to not play with you."

Have that exact message pop up when a red thumbed player gets invited to an incompatible table.

If I'm the host and I want to play with one of my actual friends that another player has red thumbed, why should I as the host be forced to play without my friend and instead play with a stranger?

Because of all the reasons mentioned above.

Your desire to play with a friend does not supersede the desire of another player to not have to play with a bullying, harassing, insulting stalker. This site has a zero-tolerance policy toward that. Why should your desire to play with your friends take priority over the red thumb system that is designed to support the most important feature of this site (no harassment, bullying, insults, etc.)?

If you want to play only with your friends, then create a game that is invite only, and then invite only your friends and not strangers. Nobody if "forcing" you to play with strangers, but yet, you want to force a player to play with someone who has been bullying and harassing him or her? Really?

[Jellby]

If I'm the host and I want to play with one of my actual friends that another player has red thumbed, why should I as the host be forced to play without my friend and instead play with a stranger?

If you're the host, you can expel the other player and invite your friend, no problem there.

The problem is not simply the bypassing, but that no warning or message is issued to the player who red-thumbed. And even in real-time tables, having a confirmation screen is not enough, because you don't necessarily remember the people you've red-thumbed (play against a random stranger who behaves abusively, red-thumb them... are you expected to remember their name a few months later?).

[RobertBr]

BGA has the strictest zero-tolerance policy toward bullying, harassment, insults, and even mild criticisms of other players compared to any other forum I have participated in.

And yet, the system allows a player who has been red-thumbed to join a table and annoy/harass/bother the player who gave the red thumb? This seems puzzling and inconsistent.

Its not, you are just conflating two completely different things. The red thumb is not there to stop harassment, you should report that and BGA will take a very dim view of it. The red thumb is a personal preference thing which people can use for any reason at all (don't want to play with people whose name begins with S, go ahead and red thumb them). As a result, and because there are potential ways you can abuse that the red thumb system can be bypassed or over-ridden by other considerations. Yes, there probably is a more graceful way the system could handle this situation but its not as straightforward as it seems.

[FrankJones]

BGA has the strictest zero-tolerance policy toward bullying, harassment, insults, and even mild criticisms of other players compared to any other forum I have participated in.

And yet, the system allows a player who has been red-thumbed to join a table and annoy/harass/bother the player who gave the red thumb? This seems puzzling and inconsistent.

Its not, you are just conflating two completely different things. The red thumb is not there to stop harassment, you should report that and BGA will take a very dim view of it. The red thumb is a personal preference thing which people can use for any reason at all (don't want to play with people whose name begins with S, go ahead and red thumb them). As a result, and because there are potential ways you can abuse that the red thumb system can be bypassed or over-ridden by other considerations. Yes, there probably is a more graceful way the system could handle this situation but its not as straightforward as it seems.

Yes, but as the OP in this thread (and other people in other threads) has noted, sometimes a red-thumb is used because of something more serious than just "players whose name starts with S", and is used by someone who has been bullied or harassed to prevent the perpetrator of the bullying from joining their games.

Yes, the OP and other people in similar situations can report the player for bullying or harassment, but that does not seem to result in a permanent ban, which then leaves only the red thumb as an option.