After Hours - A weed?

The_Minister

I have complained about AH before, and I'm about to again because I think that it is killing other forums. Like a weed which blocks the sun from other plants, after hours is strangling other forums. Things like going nuclear or not and the census are discussed while Humanities and Politics lie quiet. After Hours is taking away the traffic from other forums. Humanities has gone quiet and politics only has three active threads.

Hobart

How is this affecting your life?

The_Minister

I just hate to see Humanities turned into a wasteland. You can hear the tumbleweed in it.

Heinrich

Don't knock AH just because other forums do not have as much general interest;)

kittenkiller

What do you suggest be done about it?
People will post where they want to & on topics that interest them.
You could try flooding the fora that seem to be lacking in interest with threads with titles saturated with double intendre & inuendo (in-YOUR-end-o) & pm links to the threads to people you know may be interested in them, but apart from that, there's very little that can be done.

Gordon

Report the post if you think that it belongs in a different forum.

edanto

It's up to the mods if they want to move threads or not. On one hand, Politics might be more quiet than usual (it's exam season after all), but on the other there was a recent thread in AH about developing countries that got far more exposure and posts than it might have gotten in Politics.

FireSpinner, I see where you're coming from, but I don't agree with your analogy. If you think a thread is in the wrong forum, why not just post in the thread and say that?

The_Minister

I just don't understand why more threads aren't moved? If threads are moved from after hours are moved then the other forums are revitalised because people follow the thread and in future use that forum. It seems to be getting worse and thats a pity.

Edanto wrote:

AH about developing countries that got far more exposure and posts than it might have gotten in Politics.

But then why have politics at all?

Karl Hungus

Do you really want the kind of crap that's on AH clogging up other boards? Do you really think that would be a good idea?

Although I do agree to a certain extent that there's been some topics as of late that are better suited to Humanities and Politics.

Hobart

Gordon wrote:

Report the post if you think that it belongs in a different forum.

Now you are just asking for trouble.

ntlbell

Right now there's two television threads, consumer issues, all sorts of cr*p, in it. I Would be in favour of getting rid of it full stop.

From the charter

Pointless Threads and Polls
- Posting any pointless thread or poll will result in the thread being locked. You can be banned for this. Think before you post. If you don't have anything to say then don't bother posting a new thread. Please try to comment as much as you can on any threads you create. If you create a thread in which you ask people to contribute in, contribute first.

If this was enforced there wouldn't be _any_ threads, so lets just get rid of it!

stevenmu

edanto wrote:

FireSpinner, I see where you're coming from, but I don't agree with your analogy. If you think a thread is in the wrong forum, why not just post in the thread and say that?

It's much better to just report the post imo, posting in the thread will probably just turn it into an argument about what forum it belongs in and leave it of no use to either forum.

azezil

Firespinner wrote:

But then why have politics at all?

I agree, its a stuffy old place with a bunch of pissy moaners, get rid of poilitics, free cabbages for all! *\o/*

Talliesin

Threads do get moved from AH into other forums, but half the time they're then deemed moronic by a mod of the forum they were moved to and deleted.

The_Minister

Karl Hungus wrote:

Do you really want the kind of crap that's on AH clogging up other boards? Do you really think that would be a good idea?

Although I do agree to a certain extent that there's been some topics as of late that are better suited to Humanities and Politics.

My understanding of AH is that it is for "lighter" discussion and general topics. When discussions become serious they should be placed in the appropriate setting.


ntlbell-there is no need to get rid of AH

Azazeil-if we got rid of it someone would just make it again, it was a popular forum for a while.

ntlbell

Firespinner wrote:

My understanding of AH is that it is for "lighter" discussion and general topics. When discussions become serious they should be placed in the appropriate setting.


ntlbell-there is no need to get rid of AH

Azazeil-if we got rid of it someone would just make it again, it was a popular forum for a while.

lighter discussions? like what?

"What's in front of you"
"teh slagging on msn mah bebbo!!"
"Do you talk like you type" WTF??
"What time is the lotto draw at"

There's moronic, and then there's AH.

I always thought boards was full of creative intelligent users.

AH scares me.

WhiteWashMan

Firespinner wrote:

My understanding of AH is that it is for "lighter" discussion and general topics. When discussions become serious they should be placed in the appropriate setting.


ntlbell-there is no need to get rid of AH

Azazeil-if we got rid of it someone would just make it again, it was a popular forum for a while.

apparently the lighter topics of dicussion are 'would oyu rather be raped or beaten' if i recall...

but, instead of complaining about it, id rather you came up with a solution.

if you feel that topics are best placed in another forum, why not just report them and say so.

#and fwiw, i do move many threads to different forums, however, i dont think the mods of the politics forum, or the humanities forum would like me to pass over threads where every other post is 'i ****ing hate knackers, they are all scum', or 'i think you are teh ghay' or 'i dont know about nuclear power, but doesnt my bebo page rock' etc etc etc etc.

now, all i seem to see from you are complaints about the after hours forum and how you cant post what you want in there, and now youre complining about things that are put in there.

when you come up with your 101 point plan on how boards.ie can be run, please feel free to present it, but im just getting slightly bored of your mindless moaning and bitching, and less than helpful attitude in actually providing a reasonable solution.

now, on another thread you propsed something, and when i ask you some direct and reasonable questions, you swore at me and told me to '**** off'.

at what point is anyone going to take your gripping seriously?

feel free to become an AH mod and wave your magic fairy-power wand and make everything better.

or even better still,. why not just go and start some interesting humanities or political threads on the appropriate forum.
no one said you couldnt have the same thread on 2 different forums.

AH is low brow stuff. if an intelligent debate breaks out, dont blame the mods.....

Asok

ntlbell wrote:

I always thought boards was full of creative intelligent users.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

*Ahem*
Yes, Yes it is.

WhiteWashMan

FYI

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054921850

moved from AH to Humanities not 10 seconds ago.

ntlbell

Asok wrote:

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

*Ahem*
Yes, Yes it is.

Maybe I was too subtle

The_Minister

WhiteWashMan wrote:

FYI

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054921850

moved from AH to Humanities not 10 seconds ago.

Thats all I want. Intelligent and serious (relatively) threads moved to the appropriate forums. I used the weed analogy because I feel that the second thread in AH is always quicker to grow. As such it becomes the main thread on the subject and subsequently supplants the smaller one as everyone who wants to voice they're opinion heads to AH. Thus, the forum thread shrinks.

whitewashman wrote:

#and fwiw, i do move many threads to different forums, however, i dont think the mods of the politics forum, or the humanities forum would like me to pass over threads where every other post is 'i ****ing hate knackers, they are all scum', or 'i think you are teh ghay' or 'i dont know about nuclear power, but doesnt my bebo page rock' etc etc etc etc.

I said that I thought that AH was for light treatment of topics and the other forums for serious discussion. Obviously, if a thread is filled with just Bebo stuff then it should stay in AH.

whitewashman wrote:

feel free to become an AH mod and wave your magic fairy-power wand and make everything better.

Somehow I don't think I will be made an AH mod.
I am aware that it is the biggest forum and I know that you and the other mods have lives outside modding it and it is hard work, I just wish you would be more...proactive....on enforcing the charter. It is such a big forum that you cannot be everywhere or give the attention that small forum mods can give but I'm told that its quite easy to move threads around......

whitewashman wrote:

now, on another thread you propsed something, and when i ask you some direct and reasonable questions, you swore at me and told me to '**** off'.

I thought that you were trying to paint me as a rapist, remember? I admitted later that I had been overdefensive.


EDIT: Corrected last sentence.

WhiteWashMan

Firespinner wrote:

Thats all I want. Intelligent and serious (relatively) threads moved to the appropriate forums. I used the weed analogy because I feel that the second thread in AH is always quicker to grow. As such it becomes the main thread on the subject and subsequently supplants the smaller one as everyone who wants to voice they're opinion heads to AH. Thus, the forum thread shrinks..

well, youre certainly entitled to believe that, but thats not what happens.
many people stay away from AH becuase there is seldom a discussion worthy of debating outside of the 'youre ghey' variety.
but thats up to people.

like i said, if you want a debate, why not start up the topic in another forum.

Firespinner wrote:

I said that I thought that AH was for light treatment of topics and the other forums for serious discussion. Obviously, if a thread is filled with just Bebo stuff then it should stay in AH..

well, its not often youre right, but youre wrong again.
bebo threads get moved to the cuckoos next.

im beginging to see that you actually have very little knowledge of what AH is for, what it does for the site in general, how its run and what its rules and regulations are according to the moderators.

Firespinner wrote:

Somehow I don't think I will be made an AH mod.
I am aware that it is the biggest forum and I know that you and the other mods have lives outside modding it and it is hard work, I just wish you would be more...proactive....on enforcing the charter. It is such a big forum that you cannot be everywhere or give the attention that small forum mods can give but I'm told that its quite easy to move threads around......
.

more proactive on enforcing the charter...

we tend to moderate on common sense. what exactly would you like us to enforce, and why?

moving threads is quite easy. is this the only 'enforcing' you want us to do?
and is that really enforcing the charter?

becuase i actually dont recall the charter saying 'stupid thread s only, please put threads that Firespinner deems as worthy of humanities or politics forum, in the appropriate forum, thnx'.

and i think ive already explained why some threads get moved and some dont.
perhaps you missed that, or maybe you just disagree with it.

Firespinner wrote:

I thought that you were trying to paint me as a paedophile, remember? I admitted later that I had been overdefensive.

i do recall, but you obviously dont. you claimed i was calling you a rapist, not a paedophile.

you wanted threads about being raped or beaten. i pointed you to a site and said there was probably discussions on such topics there., along with a number of downloadable movies, although i did add a cavaet suggesting you doidnt watch them.

so, please feel free to give more feedback on what you feel we should be doing, but i have yet to see any real reason to make a change.

but i am always happy to listen to suggestions.

The_Minister

WhiteWashMan wrote:

im beginging to see that you actually have very little knowledge of what AH is for, what it does for the site in general, how its run and what its rules and regulations are according to the moderators.
.

I thought it was a general forum for threads that don't fit in elsewhere on boards.

The_Minister

Before anyone points it out, I see the intense irony that traffic in Politics and Humanities has picked up just after I start this.
Still, I am pleased.

Hagar

After Hours is the easy chair of boards. A lot of us like it the way it is. Nice and comfy.

hullaballoo

I get the point you're trying to make Firespinner, and it's a fair one. AH does seem to suck up some topics that might be relevant to other fora, but there is a simple solution.

If you think, say, that a thread discussing a certain politician in AH would be more appropriate to the Politics forum, then you are perfectly entitled to start a thread along the same lines as the one in AH.

The difference is the target audience that you'll get. Some people who frequent AH, only go to AH, and they'll post in whatever thread they like. The standard of the replies is, on average, not always the most knowledgeable, because different people have different areas of expertise, whilst they all have an opinion.

If you start the thread in the relevant forum, then people who are interested in looking at it from that forum's perspective will reply to a more expert standard.

If threads are moved from one forum to another, you get the "who are ya" phenomenon. That is, if a thread on tax liability is started in AH and a load of AHers respond with their layman's advice, and then it's moved to the Work or Legal Discussion forum, the regular posters in there will immediately pounce on the layman's advice and say things like "where did you get that misinformation?" and other hurtful things, causing the AHers who were following the thread to run away from the forum, never to return.

The other thing is, that the regular posters in the destination fora will give out about people posting nonsense in there. For example, in the LD forum, there is currently a thread about Justice Curtin. Now, the responses in the forum are based around legal technicalities and principles that lawyers and those akin to lawyers will be used to. If such a thread was started in AH, you're likely to get the likes of "fcuking pedrofiles should be burnt!" and "Imho he should be put behind bars for infinity billion years".

The_Minister

I seem to be having an effect, these three were moved today:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054921973

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054921684

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054921601&page=4

All by Monty-The One and Only.

Gordon

All fascinating stuff but Hitler does not care one jot.

Karoma

Firespinner wrote:

I seem to be having an effect...

Karl Hungus

Gordon wrote:

All fascinating stuff but Hitler does not care one jot.

Roffle! That is just quite brilliant, I must say.

simu

http://www.boards.ie/wiki/index.php/Simu%27s_Law - often, the mods don't get there on time.

If you want more discussions on humanities or elsewhere, start them yourself. You could even start one based on the threads you see on AH. Humanities will be quieter than AH because it's more serious and posting there requires more effort than posting in AH. Get over it.

Dave!

Karoma & Gordon -- LMAO

OT, there is no need to be dogmatic about this stuff, it's an online forum. Mods use common sense, so if they see a stupid thread it gets closed, and if it's in the wrong forum it usually gets moved. But if there's 10 pages of discussion on a subject before a mod sees it should they close it? What's the point? There's obviously alot of people who use the thread, so closing it is stupid. And moving threads to another forum for the sake of keeping traffic high in that forum is the most ridiculous thing I've heard. If a forum isn't getting any posts, it gets deleted. I know the Politics and Humanities forums sound really intelligent and sophisticated, but that doesn't mean they should be the centre of the site. Start an advertising campaign in your sig if you want to increase traffic!

The_Minister

simu wrote:

http://www.boards.ie/wiki/index.php/Simu%27s_Law - often, the mods don't get there on time.

Thanks. There are so many rules that I haven't heard of.

simu wrote:

If you want more discussions on humanities or elsewhere, start them yourself. You could even start one based on the threads you see on AH. Humanities will be quieter than AH because it's more serious and posting there requires more effort than posting in AH. Get over it.

I have no problem with silly threads staying on After Hours, its when those threads are conducted in a serious and productive manner, with much intelligent input that I think they should be moved.

Rb

My God, another thread about AH Firespinner?If you don't like it so much, why not just stay away from it?
Do you ever stop complaining?

Karoma

Firespinner wrote:

I have no problem with silly threads staying on After Hours, its when those threads are conducted in a serious and productive manner, with much intelligent input that I think they should be moved.

So, it's OK to start the threads in AH,but not to continue them once they reach a level which (you consider?) is considered acceptable. At which point they should be dumped in another forum.

Right.

...


Do you EVER think anything through before creating a thread?

The_Minister

Karoma wrote:

So, it's OK to start the threads in AH,but not to continue them once they reach a level which (you consider?) is considered acceptable. At which point they should be dumped in another forum.

Once they become so intellectual that they belong in Politics. It is annoying to see people hopping between forums, posting the same posts on both threads.

Karoma wrote:

Do you EVER think anything through before creating a thread?

Yep. I try to make sure that they suit the forum and then I post. I hope to suggest a dream forum soon.

The_Minister

rb_ie wrote:

My God, another thread about AH Firespinner?If you don't like it so much, why not just stay away from it?
Do you ever stop complaining?

I do like it, I just hate to see people drawn away from politics and humanities, leaving those forums empty. (The recent lull may have been temporary as both forums have picked up today. As long as both forums are healthy and have relevant threads in them then I can live with the rest.)

Karoma

Firespinner wrote:

Once they become so intellectual that they belong in Politics. It is annoying to see people hopping between forums, posting the same posts on both threads.

So, by your reckoning, the thread from AH should be moved to Politics (in this example) or merged? So, duplicate threads or duplicate posts are desirable in your world?

Yep. I try to make sure that they suit the forum and then I post.

I'll give you that much credit. But that's as much credit as you get.

I hope to suggest a dream forum soon.

It is obvious but, "keep dreaming".

simu

Firespinner wrote:

Thanks. There are so many rules that I haven't heard of.

Uh, it's not the law or anything - more of an observation!

The_Minister

Karoma wrote:

So, by your reckoning, the thread from AH should be moved to Politics (in this example) or merged? So, duplicate threads or duplicate posts are desirable in your world?

No but they are better than a messy and inefficient boards. Duplicate posts can be lived with. If the thread survives they soon become irrelevant

Karoma wrote:

I'll give you that much credit. But that's as much credit as you get.

Ouch:)

Karoma wrote:

It is obvious but, "keep dreaming".

It would be a small forum but I think it could work. They always have dreaming threads in te Paranormal that they don't want and many people have interesting dreams. (I'm still considering it)

WhiteWashMan

Firespinner wrote:

No but they are better than a messy and inefficient boards. Duplicate posts can be lived with. If the thread survives they soon become irrelevant
)

were not running a fukcing business here.


and thats your opinion, not a law or something.
i happen to like AH the way it is. if i dont like something, i get it changed. tis really that easy. the mods that run AH keep it like that, becuase thats just the way it is.

if you want order, start yourself a third reich forum and keep away from AH.
honestly. just stop bloody complaining will you.

Karoma

WhiteWashMan wrote:

were not running a fukcing business here.

Aye. It's some kind of scam,possibly scamola.

Boo-urns!



*pip* How about giving an option (alongside Virgin, Subscribed,etc.) on the front page to ignore AH posts. Possibly, another to include AH, and TCN,etc. ?

Fighting Irish

Firespinner wrote:

I have complained about AH before, and I'm about to again because I think that it is killing other forums. Like a weed which blocks the sun from other plants, after hours is strangling other forums. Things like going nuclear or not and the census are discussed while Humanities and Politics lie quiet. After Hours is taking away the traffic from other forums. Humanities has gone quiet and politics only has three active threads.

There are way too many sub forums on boards, if you look at another site as big as boards i.e. offtopic.com they have one main forum(like AH) where anything goes(even if a sub forum is set up for cars, ou can still talk about cars in AH) its easy going and imo is 10 times better than boards, except boards is irish so that kinda evens it out

WhiteWashMan

gosh. im surprised you dont go there and not come back.if you can bring your little bit of 'oirishness' to the party, sure, wouldnt it be 20 times better than boards.ie then?

i think you need to give it at least a good 12 months over there, just to be shure to be shure...

Fighting Irish

WhiteWashMan wrote:

gosh. im surprised you dont go there and not come back.if you can bring your little bit of 'oirishness' to the party, sure, wouldnt it be 20 times better than boards.ie then?

i think you need to give it at least a good 12 months over there, just to be shure to be shure...

i've been over there 2 years already great place once you get use to some of the dumb americans

$5 a month for a sub over there( i have a year sub), i'd never buy one on boards though not until some of the power hungry mods step down

kippy

Reporting threads to be moved seems to be asking for a sarcastic comment from either the OP or people who have already posted in the thread....

The mods have a tough job and it isnt easy to know if something belongs in a certain category or not-so I report posts that are in AH that I think would belong in a different forum-most of these would be obvious topics.....but I may not be correct in reporting it-dont want to annoy the mods too much.

I often see people advise others who have posted a specific questing in a different forum being advised to post in AH as they will get more exposure......is this the correct way to do things........
Is AH there so that certain topics can get more exposure.....and again if so what is the point of the other fora?
Kippy

bonkey

Firespinner wrote:

Like a weed which blocks the sun from other plants, after hours is strangling other forums. Things like going nuclear or not and the census are discussed while Humanities and Politics lie quiet. After Hours is taking away the traffic from other forums. Humanities has gone quiet and politics only has three active threads.

And only a few* months ago, I unsubscribed from AH because it was effectively dead.

In and around the same time, I think, there were suggestions that we needed to split Politics in two, because discussions on US / International issues were killing off discussions on Irish politics.

Today, the majority of discussions on Politics are about Ireland, and almost no international issues are discussed.

In three months or so, it'll all have shifted again. Once that happens, any effort taken to workaround whatever-flavour-the-perceived-problem-is-this-month will be effectively wasted, and some other poster will get up in righteous indignation that we need another restructuring because people aren't posting where they'd like them to on what they'd like them to be posting about.

Swings and roundabouts.

jc

* May be more than a few

Fighting Irish

kippy wrote:

Reporting threads to be moved seems to be asking for a sarcastic comment from either the OP or people who have already posted in the thread....

The mods have a tough job and it isnt easy to know if something belongs in a certain category or not-so I report posts that are in AH that I think would belong in a different forum-most of these would be obvious topics.....but I may not be correct in reporting it-dont want to annoy the mods too much.

I often see people advise others who have posted a specific questing in a different forum being advised to post in AH as they will get more exposure......is this the correct way to do things........
Is AH there so that certain topics can get more exposure.....and again if so what is the point of the other fora?
Kippy

I agree everything in AH could possibly be moved to another more suitable forum(there are so many) its up to the mods really

Hobbes

Firespinner wrote:

I thought it was a general forum for threads that don't fit in elsewhere on boards.

AH spawned from the Quake forum to stop people posting crap into what should be Quake related discussion.

From that you found numerous people started posting humanties based topics but had to put up with the crap some people post as well as people complaining.

So a humanities forum was made, from that politics forum was spawned. and so on.

AH may be where the weeds are but its a good place to start off. For every 5 or so crap posts you get a few gems.

The only reason I can see enforcement of moving a thread is where you wanted a serious discussion to begin with. Sub forums reduce the noise ratio.

tbh, the AH forum has always been the red headed step child (TCN similar, but had problems tying its laces ) but the forum is being run fine.

WhiteWashMan

Hobbes wrote:

but the forum is being run fine.

woohoo!

validation!

The_Minister

kippy wrote:

I often see people advise others who have posted a specific questing in a different forum being advised to post in AH as they will get more exposure......is this the correct way to do things........
Is AH there so that certain topics can get more exposure.....and again if so what is the point of the other fora?
Kippy

Its not allowed but it is often done.

AH Charter wrote:

Larger audience
- Posting on AH simply "to reach a larger audience" may result in a ban. The thread will be moved/deleted. If your thread is more suited to another board then please post it there. After Hours is to discuss non-specific topics and issues in a general way. If you have a serious Political or News post, they should be posted on their specific forums.