Boards.ie and you

swiss

Yes, this is my 1000th post on this board, and in time honoured boards.ie tradition I'm going to post about it. However instead of indulging in the usual "1000th post w00tage" I'm instead going to take a look over my time on boards and how it (and I) have evolved along with it.

My very first post on boards was made on this very board here.The irony of being a moderator of two boards after implying that moderation = censorship = bad in my very first post does not fail to escape me. Boards.ie seemed to be quite different back then. There were quite a lot of 'in-jokes' that were frequently banded around by boards regulars. One of the most common was Hobbes and his tinfoil axe (I eventually found out the story to that one). Amp test.

The proliferation of these "in jokes" went hand in hand with the strong sense of community that boards.ie had in the past. This was because the smaller user base meant that people were more likely to be familiar with the next poster. Of course I was still the newbie at this stage (and some may argue that I still am) so while I recognised this community spirit I was not really a part of it. As boards.ie grew and more people joined, a lot of people felt that boards was becoming increasingly anonymous. Some decided to simply leave, either in a blaze or quietly. The more common response, however, was to set up private boards. The original private boards set up (AFAIK) almost expressly for this purpose were the Knights of Comeonbanus and the Freemasons. I still don't know what Lexcorp was/is about.

Some of these boards were viewed as 'elitist', but this ignored the fact that people still wanted somewhere where they could discuss issues with a community that they knew and trusted. More recently, such private boards are less private, and serve mainly to discuss issues that are either too personal or controversial (such as pr0n or drugs) to share with the main boards.ie community. Good examples of these boards is The Illuminati and PearTree house. These boards could also be considered a refuge from the regimented boards.ie forum style, where every possible topic you could imagine (and some you can't) had it's own board, and of course belonged in that board.

I spend a lot of time on boards. Certainly too much time, and although my present post count only indicates that I have been posting approximately only once every day, I read boards far more than I would post. I still feel that I cannot possibly find all, or even most of the threads that would be of interest to me. The increasing number of boards has meant that each particular category has many more boards than it had in the past. Winnowing the threads in each board that are of interest to me against those that are not is now becoming a chore due to this fact. Allowing subscriptions to the boards that were of interest to you made browsing issues of relevance/interest to you easier, but it also meant that you automatically became less likely to browse the fora that were not of immediate interest to you. Boards has become too big and complex for any one individual to know everything that is going on in the site at any one time. In many ways, this is a good thing™, but even a website such as SomethingAwful, with a membership figure far greater than that of boards, has a “GBS” (figure it out) general discussion board, where many of the most interesting and relevant threads are found, a more laid back version of the After Hours board.

As for my posting style, I would have to say that I have noticed a subtle change over my time here. I still hold many of the same opinions and convictions that I held when I first joined, but I have noticed that my debating style has become somewhat less dogmatic than before. As a moderator, I am also conscious that I am expected to uphold a good standard of posting, not just in terms of views and opinions, but in the manner in which I express those views. I also find that a lot of my posts in that capacity as a moderator have been chiding/warning people who breach posting guidelines of the fora I moderate.

As for the future, I don’t know. I can see myself posting on boards for a while longer, at least while I still have internet access. I’ve made some good friends from boards, and I would certainly stay just to remain in contact with them, irrespective of the content of the site itself. In this respect, I would see boards as a positive influence on my life. At least, this is how I justify spending so much time here instead of doing some work .

garthv

Congrats on the 1000th post w00tage m8

Mercury_Tilt

This post has been deleted.

uberwolf

you couldn't just do it quietly could you

Thanks for that though, something interesting things there. I'd say though that there still exist 'in' jokes, but they some times are only made any clearer on the private foums you mention. I reckon this is ok though, there is a core community, which whilst not a tangible group and certainly an evolving one allows those that wish it a more involved experience in the whole thing.

One thing that worries me though is this new complaint about censorship/police state etc. I haven't been around long enough to appreciate any change, but if it were the case the causes and consequences of it would worry, resulting in this place becoming a victim of its own success. This isn't a complaint because I'm not in a position to gauge the accuracy of these reports. Have any of the older members noticed any evidence of this? And what happened in the tinyman (name) revolution?

smoke.me.a.kipper

while there is still an overall boards.ie community, there seems to be an increasingly large number of splitter groups (the fucking peoples front of judea) who all gether around the same boards. if you go into a board you dont visit that often, you can almost be guaranteed to find almost hundreds of users youve never seen before, and if you didnt go back to the board, you can almost bet that 70% of those users you discovered, you wont see again unless you go back. it was quite a shock for me when i realised there were loads of micro-communities going on about the place.

Havelock

A far finer 1,000th than mine. Excellent points, wish I'd been here back then, but have really enjoyed my time here too.

SheroN

jesus man, it's an internet message board.

ClareBear

Originally posted by smoke-me-a-kipper
while there is still an overall boards.ie community, there seems to be an increasingly large number of splitter groups (the fucking peoples front of judea) who all gether around the same boards. if you go into a board you dont visit that often, you can almost be guaranteed to find almost hundreds of users youve never seen before, and if you didnt go back to the board, you can almost bet that 70% of those users you discovered, you wont see again unless you go back. it was quite a shock for me when i realised there were loads of micro-communities going on about the place.

How am I ever going to sleep at night again....

Tazzle

):UGHH

smoke.me.a.kipper

Originally posted by ClareBear
How am I ever going to sleep at night again....

on top of a pile of money, with many beautiful ladies.

Dr. Loon

Originally posted by SheroN
jesus man, it's an internet message board.

ye beat me to it!

T.G Catter

well done everyone

mr_angry

I signed up for Boards back in June, simply because one of my mates (jesus_thats_gre) said that it was a great place for getting help about Broadband stuff. We were just getting setup with broadband at the time, so it made a kind of sense. For the first couple of months, I pretty much ignored the place, but around about August I started to use it to pass the time while I was on the Dole, and waiting for my new job to start in September. Too bad I didn't realise the amazingly addictive quality of Boards, before it was too late.

The Board that really caught my attention was Politics. While I wouldn't describe myself as a particularly politically motivated person, there was a sense of rational discussion there, and its one of the few places where you are guaranteed regular postings, and less 3-reply threads that never gave you a chance to get your teeth into them. On other Boards, any thread with more than 20 replies is a "Free X...", or "What song..." thread that exists purely as an outlet for mindless spam.

In Politics, there's a community feeling aswell. People are predictable. Sovotek's posts will always have a mildly left-wing slant, and Sand's will always be mildly right-wing. At the same time, the discussion never really seems to become boring, thanks to some excellent moderation, I think (well done Swiss).

The recent idea of a political beers amused me initially - from reading some of the posts, you'd think these people would have heated arguments and end up throwing punches while sober, never mind while drunk! But then again, people on the board seem to have the ability to leave arguments on the Board, and be perfectly civil to each other in other matters (I've even managed to have several polite chats with Chill over PM)! You have to respect that kind of behaviour from people with obviously differing viewpoints.

Perhaps the overall original Boards community spirit has been swamped with new posters, but if you look hard enough, there are plenty of quasi-communities out there, and still the same opportunities for in-jokes!

Dustaz

Originally posted by swiss
As a moderator, I am also conscious that I am expected to uphold a good standard of posting, not just in terms of views and opinions, but in the manner in which I express those views.

Bollocks. Theres no rule that says mods must like, write good and stuff, like dude. Thats just your own superiority complex

Also, you have the genesis of the private boards totally wrong.

Hobbes

I dont even remember my 1000 post.

TBH I'm a bit shocked I am back in 2nd position and only a few posts behind WWMan WW)

I think Koopa started the tinfoil axe thing as trying to take the p!ss. Can't remember, so long ago.

Victor

Originally posted by swiss
Yes, this is my 1000th post on this board,

Noob Congrats, I think Monty said the next person to post a thread like this would be banned .

swiss

I think Monty said the next person to post a thread like this would be banned

Yes, I remember. Actually, I think he didn't want threads like this because they were spammy. This one is supposed to convey a point about how I think boards.ie has changed, using the 1000 post epoch as a benchmark for the change.

In any case, I know 1000 posts is nothing special. I just remember when having 1000 posts, unless you were Hobbes, was a big deal.

Thats just your own superiority complex

Oh I can troll too, I just tend to be a little more subtle .

oneweb

*sob* *sob* *sniffle* *sob* :rolleyes:

ban 'im!









and

mike65

Originally posted by mr_angry
Too bad I didn't realise the amazingly addictive quality of Boards, before it was too late.

Sooooo true, checky my daily rate! :ninja:

In Politics, there's a community feeling aswell. People are predictable. Sovotek's posts will always have a mildly left-wing slant, and Sand's will always be mildly right-wing. At the same time, the discussion never really seems to become boring, thanks to some excellent moderation, I think (well done Swiss).

The recent idea of a political beers amused me initially - from reading some of the posts, you'd think these people would have heated arguments and end up throwing punches while sober, never mind while drunk! But then again, people on the board seem to have the ability to leave arguments on the Board, and be perfectly civil to each other in other matters (I've even managed to have several polite chats with Chill over PM)! You have to respect that kind of behaviour from people with obviously differing viewpoints.

You clearly hav'nt been spending enough time on Politics!

As for Swiss reaching 1000 w00ted posts I thought he must have passed that number months ago.

Mike.

TacT

Originally posted by ClareBear
How am I ever going to sleep at night again....

How are we ever going to resist making smart comments again.... :rolleyes:

Nice post

damn I forgot to celebrate my 3000 - I'll wait till I hit 5 :ninja:

Ste-

Originally posted by TacT
damn I forgot to celebrate my 3000 - I'll wait till I hit 5 :ninja:

What's wrong with 4000 ?
Well done Swiss.

Monty - the one and only

I dont believe this....I really dont...

The rule stands swiss, I really dont want to have to enforce it as your not what I would consider a some one who would deliberatly break the rules, but if I let it slide once, it could prove to cause problems later.

Sorry, youll be back in a week.

oneweb

Shall I do a Nelson?

Haa haa