I was muted by someone for having a different opinion. It was a top level comment on a post like this one, in which I disagreed. Several people replied to me asking questions about my viewpoint, but I couldn't answer them because I'd been muted. It's absolutely insane. It was specifically used to prevent discussion and to prevent me from responding to others, it goes against the entire concept of "thoughtful discussion."
Exactly, and people responding that they don't use mute in that manner doesn't really mean anything, because there are some that do. reddit went through the same growing pains, except it involved when/where/how/why to up/downvote. it goes against the entire concept of "thoughtful discussion."
You can reply to people even if you're muted by OP by either replying in your inbox, or in a comment permalink where the muter isn't the root comment. There's a way to do it, I reply in kb's threads all the time. And yeah it was me, quit whining. It should be obvious I've muted you cause my posts will all say "muted here". You may think all your opinions are interesting and warrant discussion but I don't have to agree or put up with them.
No, you can't reply in the inbox. It will say, "You are muted here." If you don't like my opinions, don't listen to them. That doesn't give you the right to stop me from responding to others who asked questions. ---- First person who can describe to me how minimum's actions don't curtail "thoughtful discussion" gets ten points.
I have a sneaking suspicion that it was minimum_wage who muted me, but I have no way of knowing who it actually was (that I know of). There was no content in my post that warranted a muting. I disagreed, and I was punished for having a different opinion.