[Madelaine Amee]

What started out as a "sort" of joke with my next door neighbor is beginning to unnerve me. We are poles apart on politics, he is very open about his views, I am very quiet and private about mine. He started sending me irritating little snippets across the internet which I ignored, then they got to be more than snippets, now I am getting pages and pages of stuff from some very weird sites. I know I can put him in blocked mail, but does this show up to the sender that I have him blocked? I do not under any circumstance want to aggravate him enough to maybe get a firebomb through my window .... and I am serious here. Please give me some sensible suggestions on how to keep a neighbor and stop this nonsense.

[rubicon]

Perhaps the best approach is to e-mail him and tell him that you simply are not interested in exchanging political views. This nation of ours is in a hyper partisan binge creating tension between family members. For example one of my kids carries the total opposite of my political belief and hence I may it clear such discussions of this nature are simply to be avoided.

[Madelaine Amee]

Originally Posted by rubicon

Perhaps the best approach is to e-mail him and tell him that you simply are not interested in exchanging political views. This nation of ours is in a hyper partisan binge creating tension between family members. For example one of my kids carries the total opposite of my political belief and hence I may it clear such discussions of this nature are simply to be avoided.

Rubicon, thank you for your reply. We too have people in our family with different views and that is OK, as long as we do not discuss it we do fine. I have let this neighbor know that I have no interest in continuing this interaction and I have also brought to his attention that I do not invade his privacy on the internet and, therefore, he should think before he invades mine! Fell on "deaf" ears, which is probably an inappropriate use of the term at this time, but my request has not been honored. I have just had another one calling me an Elitist!

[SouthOfTheBorder]

Originally Posted by Madelaine Amee

What started out as a "sort" of joke with my next door neighbor is beginning to unnerve me. We are poles apart on politics, he is very open about his views, I am very quiet and private about mine. He started sending me irritating little snippets across the internet which I ignored, then they got to be more than snippets, now I am getting pages and pages of stuff from some very weird sites. I know I can put him in blocked mail, but does this show up to the sender that I have him blocked? I do not under any circumstance want to aggravate him enough to maybe get a firebomb through my window .... and I am serious here. Please give me some sensible suggestions on how to keep a neighbor and stop this nonsense.

NO.

Assuming you are talking about your email program and not social media sites, your neighbor will not know you have “blocked” his emails.

Don

[Two Bills]

Maam. If he is married, could you not talk discreetly to his wife, and explain how unnerving it is, and you want it stopped.
If you have a husband/partner, could he not have a quiet word with him.
On the the other hand if you are alone, and genuinly fearful of his reaction to blocking unwanted emails, I think your best recourse is to get the local law enforcement to have a word with him.
He sounds a little unhinged to put it mildly if you think a firebomb could be a reaction. What is he, the local Klan Chief?

[jnieman]

I too have quite a few friends who posted non-stop political on their Facebook pages. I unfollowed countless people for this reason. With email it is tricky. You have already told him you don't want him to try to force his political opinion on you, yet he continues.

Depending on which email service you use there may be a way to stop emails with certain key words from coming to your inbox, like Trump or Hillary. Not sure if they will go back as undelivered however. Of course would that be a bad thing? Then if he says oh by the way my emails are coming back undelivered to your email address, you could say oh it must have been something political, I have a block on all of that. He would then get the message loud and clear.

[rubicon]

Originally Posted by Madelaine Amee

Rubicon, thank you for your reply. We too have people in our family with different views and that is OK, as long as we do not discuss it we do fine. I have let this neighbor know that I have no interest in continuing this interaction and I have also brought to his attention that I do not invade his privacy on the internet and, therefore, he should think before he invades mine! Fell on "deaf" ears, which is probably an inappropriate use of the term at this time, but my request has not been honored. I have just had another one calling me an Elitist!

madelaine : I view this neighbor's actions as harassment and while I understand your concern of not hurting anyone's feelings its simply true that sometimes it pays to be as subtle as a train wreck with some people in order to get their attention. I would say look Charley knock it off or else . You can define "or else" as it means different things to different people. for me its an offer he can't refuse

[retiredguy123]

If you are referring to the private messages on this web site, I would suggest that you ask the administrator to change your user name to something that does not reveal your identity. If you are referring to an email server, you could easily set up a new email address. In either case, I don't think blocking a sender would notify the sender, but I am not certain. But, you could easily test this by temporarily blocking someone you trust.

[Two Bills]

PS. Did not see South of the Borders reply before posting mine. There you go. Block him.

[dirtbanker]

You can sign him up for the political sites he likes (if he is republican, google republican donation sites and insert his email info in the contact page) he will be so busy reading solicitations for donations, he wont have time to discuss your "elitistness".

The other simple solution is sell and move away from him!

[villagetinker]

MA, first, I would keep all of the e-mails, I would then contact the local law enforcement, provide the e-mails and the background with regard to this matter. It may be possible to get a cease and desist order, or something similar. The local police will be able to best advise you on other items that you may want to consider or need to do. You may also consider changing your email address, ask the people that you want to stay in touch with to NOT share your new email address. Some email programs will allow you set an 'out of office' message, but this goes to everyone that sends you mail, so this does not help.
I would also avoid all contact to the extent possible.
Hope this helps, and sorry for your situation.

[TheDude]

First, time heals. Its a political season but will die down. People usually peter out when the thrill is gone.

If it is only emails, just create a 'rule' that whenever an email from this person emails you, then it goes to a folder you choose, like the junk folder.

I don't use Outlook now (I have an iMac), but when I worked I did, and there were a few people who I just didn't want to get an email from, so I created a rule to just delete their messages. They will still be in your deleted folder. They will never know you are deleting the emails, and if you don't empty your deleted items then if you want you could always read them.

How To Auto Delete Mail In Outlook Selectively

I would wait it out and be friendly. My aunt sends me religion stuff at times, I just look at it to see if I am interested in any way and if not, I toss it. She doesn't know, and I am happy she takes the time to send me stuff and would never want to hurt her feelings.

Now, if he is sending you emails to websites that could break the law, you have to go to the next step because that would have to stop because you could get into trouble by going to the links (and if that is happening, then you are stuck with a neighbor who may not like you). I doubt that is happening. So, I'd just wait it out, and if you like him, make him some cookies and be nice. This to will pass. There is only so much he can send before it gets boring.

[juneroses]

I think most email programs have filters available. For example, in gmail, click on ADVANCED FEATURES and then MANAGE MESSAGE FILTERS. Select NEW, select SUBJECT, select FROM. Input offending email address. Click radio button for MATCH ANY OF THE FOLLOWING.

Then under PERFORM THESE ACTIONS click on the elevator button to the right of MOVE MESSAGE TO and select DELETE MESSAGE. Finally click OK.

According to info in gmail, the sender is not notified that his/her messages are filtered.

An internet search using your email provider name and "block messages" might give you more specific info on your situation.

[dewilson58]

I agree with South of................block him and be done with it.

Good Luck.

[diva1]

I know this is a pain, but at this point I would change my email address. If he asks about it simply decline to provide...nicely. It's a shame some people can be so tone deaf and inconsiderate. Personally, I have asked friends to just not send any kind of political stuff to me and for the most part that is honored. The very few that come are simply deleted without a second thought.