If you are hosting events on Stitch, you may from time to time discover that there is another member in the community you would prefer did not come to your events and activities. This doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's helpful for you to know the different options you have for choosing that certain members do not come to your activities.
The method you choose depends to some extent on why you are choosing to block the member in question.
If it's because you believe they behave in ways that are out of step with the Stitch Community Rules & Guidelines, then instead of simply blocking them from your activities, we would prefer you report them to us. That way we can assess whether they need to be removed from Stitch altogether, so that all organizers can be protected from their behavior, not just you.
When you report someone, however, we don't usually ban them immediately, as we need to gather enough evidence that they truly need to be removed from Stitch, such as corroborating reports from other members, message history, and so on. So you may still wish to use one of the methods outlined in this article to ensure they don't attend your events.
Other valid reasons for preventing someone from coming to your events could include:
You want to avoid your ex-partner, who has also joined Stitch
You want to ensure that only people who are suitable to attend your activity come along
You find you have a personality clash with another member and would prefer they didn't come to your events
Stitch provides two ways of preventing someone from attending their activities:
You can Block a member from your Stitch Group, to prevent them from accessing any activities or discussions within that group
You can add someone to your "Do not invite" list, to prevent them from being notified about the activities you host
We generally encourage people to choose the second option, as we have found there can be unexpected negative impacts that arise from blocking someone from a group, as we outline in the sections below.
Adding someone to your "Do not invite" list
If you add someone to your "Do not invite" list, they will not be notified about any events you publish, and they will not see your activities listed on the Stitch Activities page.
(If someone else forwards them a link to your activity, however, they will still be able to see the details and attend, just as they would if someone else told them the details of the event themselves. Stitch does it this way to reduce the chances that the member in question finds out they have been added to your list.)
You can only add someone to your "Do not invite" list if you previously communicated with them using Stitch Messaging.
To add someone to your "Do not invite" list:
Open the Messages page
Find your conversation with them. It should look something like this:
Select the View Profile button at the bottom of the header section:
This will expand their profile in more details. Scroll to the bottom of their profile, where you will see the "Do not invite" control:
If you turn this control on, the member will be added to your "Do not invite" list.
Blocking someone from your Group
The "Do not invite" feature lets you avoid another member without alerting them to the fact they have been blocked. If you want to block someone from participating in your activities and discussions altogether, you can choose to block them from your Stitch Group.
As long as you create your events within your Group, the member in question will not be able to click into them to see the details, even if someone else forwards them a link to the event.
They will, however, receive a message informing them they have been blocked. In our experience, they often take exception to this, and create other problems for the organiser in the community. For that reason, we recommend using the "Do not invite" feature first, and only resorting to blocking them from a Group if all other options fail.
The video below provides some background on both features, as well as a tutorial on ow to use the Do Not Invite list.