How Irish is boards.ie?

Pansy Potter

I am quite new to Boards, having joined only in the last few months.
I am very impressed with the breadth of topics that come up for discussion. While not everything interests me, I have spent time reading threads on subjects I had never even known existed.

I am, however, surprised at the number of posters, many of them moderators, who are not living in Ireland. I know the internet is the same wherever you are in the world (well maybe not China!), but some subjects are unique to different countries, and I'm not sure that a poster or moderator that is not living in Ireland is fully tuned in. Its easy to compare prices/quality etc. from different websites wherever you are in the world, but for some things you just have to be there.

Even when a posting can be resolved by pointing the OP to a website, I find it strange when a poster who lives in England, or the U.S. or elsewhere suggests aldi.ie or some other Irish store. They mightn't have a clue how the site performs, or what the recommended store is like since they last saw it when they were last in Ireland.

I suppose many that have moved abroad might miss the 'oul sod' and boards.ie gives them a little taste of home, but what makes Boards stand out from other discussion sites is its Irishness. Many international sites have answers, opinions and languages so diverse as to be mostly useless, and definitely soulless. Everyone on boards speaks the same language, they understand the Irish way of doing things, Irish humour etc. Those things to me are what makes its appeal.

I fear, however, that particularly with moderators from overseas, who are out of touch with the Irish zeitgeist that boards.ie could be colonised by outside cultures.

I am not referring to any specific individual(s) above; its just something I've noticed in my thrawling through many many threads. I can't even remember the names.

I am posting this in After Hours as AH seems to me to be a catch-all for miscellaneous topics. Feel free to move it if its not appropriate.

county

so your point being the mods should live in this country because you feel there out of touch with irish society,complete tripe imo

simu

Pansy Potter wrote:

Even when a posting can be resolved by pointing the OP to a website, I find it strange when a poster who lives in England, or the U.S. or elsewhere suggests aldi.ie or some other Irish store. They mightn't have a clue how the site performs, or what the recommended store is like since they last saw it when they were last in Ireland.

I don't buy it. I'd say a person living in Ireland would be as likely to give out of date info. I might recommend a restaurant based on my experience of it a year ago, not realising it has changed completely since then, for example.

I like the diversity of boards users tbh. Makes the place more interesting.

Gordon

Well I fall under that category as I'm Scottish living in Greece. I have lived in Ireland for some years though.

I don't know why it's a problem really, if someone suggests Aldi.ie and they aren't from Ireland and it's not the best reply - then someone else will put their opinion in.

God you're so racist Pansy Potter!

Nalz

tbh, this is pointless

6th

So keep Boards.ie for the Irish incase it gets "colonised by outside cultures"?

Jesus woman are you serious?

And ftr, this should be in Feedback imo not AH. Posting in AH just to get more viewers in bold.

letterman

Woah Nelly

Well how Irish is Ireland these days. Not being xenophobic about the state of the auld sod but surely the nature of the Boards experience is that it lends itself to aiding the expression of ones links to the homeland.

Good point though about the location of the posters divorcing themselves from the everyday realities of life here today. Getting the info from the web just isn't the same.

Not advocating a stance of Boards for the Oirish Boardies however.

ARGINITE

diversity of boards

FTW.

seamus

The bulk of moderators are

1. Irish, living in Ireland.
2. Irish, not living in Ireland
3. Not Irish, living in Ireland
4. Adopted Irish*, not living in Ireland

The rest are non-Irish, not living in Ireland (obviously).

In any case, many forums don't require "Irishness", or up-to-the-minute in-touchness to be a decent moderator. Most topics are internationally discussable. Most moderators, should they find themselves out of touch on a topic, will have the good grace to step down.

*Adopted Irish = People who have lived here long enough to know what it is to be Irish, without actually being Irish. Think Des Bishop

Bard

Boards.ie Ltd. is an Irish company with a web site which is hosted in Dublin, Ireland with an Irish hosting company (hosting365), and (presumably) the majority of its active members are from or in Ireland. Just like the country of Ireland itself, it's not going to restrict where the people who contribute to it come from, or reside now. That's about as Irish as you can expect it to get, I reckon.

seamus wrote:

Think Des Bishop

Do we have to?!

Pighead

Bard wrote:

That's about as Irish as you can expect it to get, I reckon.

You could squeeze a bit more Irishness out of it by ripping the users off. I dunno, maybe charge 20c per word written and 2 Euro for the privelageof starting a thread. Only then can boards truly call itself an Irish Website.

CuLT

I think your issue stems from a misunderstanding of the role of a moderator.

A moderator is, generally, simply there to ensure that the forum is orderly, users don't abuse each other or do something that could get boards.ie into trouble, and clean up 'when spambots attack (4)'.

It's a forum; advice, questions and opinions are dispensed by the various users of the forum. It's not a Q&A session with the forum moderator.

r3nu4l

Well, I live in Cambridge, England but get home every three months or so and every time I'm home I'm out with my friends, I'm driving around Dublin and Tipperary (gf from Tipp). I'm eating out, drinking out, going bowling etc.

So at least every 12 weeks, I'm out and about at home and in between that time I'm on Skype, chatting with my friends and family at least once a week! I browse Irish websites every day to keep in touch with what's happening at home and generally don't think I'm missing out at all.

Also, whether a mod lives in Ireland or abroad has absolutely no bearing on their ability or inability to mod aboards.ie forum.

I sort of see where you are trying to come from but not a good point at all OP.

mike65

What Cult said.

Moderators are simply chaps with virtual shovel and broom and thier input should not be given any greater weight when posting (in general terms) about a particular topic. If they should commit a factual non-sequitur, don't worry someone will tell them!

Mike.

The Hill Billy

OP - I think that the boards you are looking for are here.

You're not Aine Ni Chonaill by any chance?

TempestSabre

Pansy Potter wrote:

.....I fear, however, that particularly with moderators from overseas, who are out of touch with the Irish zeitgeist that boards.ie could be colonised by outside cultures....

You must be living under a rock. Crawl back under it, the rest of us don't care where people are from. If anyone wants to comment on something they know nothing about about, they can. Welcome to the internet.

challengemaster

Pure tripe talk. You cant do something like that really like there's at least 30% of boards.ie users not in ireland ... like gordon said, "racist".

r3nu4l

Oh sh*t! Now it's been moved from AH to Feedback! :eek:

/hands Pansy Potter standard issue flak jacket and helmet

RuggieBear

I've lived in Ireland the past 26 years...is that long enough to be considered Irish?

monkeyfudge

Pansy Potter wrote:

what makes Boards stand out from other discussion sites is its Irishness. Many international sites have answers, opinions and languages so diverse as to be mostly useless, and definitely soulless.

This is true. Only Irish people have souls.... except the ginger ones.

Lynfo

God Almighty, everybody is very touchy. Surely the whole point of boards.ie is that people can come on here and voice their opinion on any subject?
Seems some people have forgotten this.

r3nu4l

Lynfo wrote:

God Almighty, everybody is very touchy. Surely the whole point of boards.ie is that people can come on here and voice their opinion on any subject?
Seems some people have forgotten this.

God Almighty, Lynfo is very touchy. Surely the whole point of boards.ie is that people can come on here and voice their opinion on any subject?

Seems Lynfo has forgotten this, since she is attacking people for voicing their opinion on the OP's opinion.

Stark

We're the Irish wing of Stormfront.

Gordon

challengemaster wrote:

Pure tripe talk. You cant do something like that really like there's at least 30% of boards.ie users not in ireland ... like gordon said, "racist".

Woah! I was merely being facetious!

Tar.Aldarion

I thought Stormfront was Irish, but I don't know these things, or visit there. Go go gadget assumptions.

mike65

RuggieBear wrote:

I've lived in Ireland the past 26 years...is that long enough to be considered Irish?

Pffffft! I'll see your 26 years and raise you by 6! No you are not Irish yet Ruggie unless you have Bogger Ancestry in which case you are a Plastic but no better than that!

Mike.

RuggieBear

mike65 wrote:

Pffffft! I'll see your 26 years and raise you by 6! No you are not irish yet Ruggie unless you have Bogger Ancestry in which case you are a Plastic but no better than that!

Mike.

damn....well my parents are irish and the family tree goes back to Portadown, about 1750 or so.

I should probably resign my modships so...

Tar.Aldarion

You can keep Cricket you filthy foreigner.

Lynfo

r3nu4l wrote:

God Almighty, Lynfo is very touchy. Surely the whole point of boards.ie is that people can come on here and voice their opinion on any subject?

Seems Lynfo has forgotten this, since she is attacking people for voicing their opinion on the OP's opinion.

I aint attackin nobody! just saying that some people get really up in arms when they disagree with the op, perhaps a tad over the top.

(walking away with a slapped wrist)

Diogenes

pansy potter wrote:

I find it strange when a poster who lives in England, or the U.S. or elsewhere suggests aldi.ie or some other Irish store.

Um you know Aldi isn't an irish store? And that people abroad can look at irish websites right?

Lynfo wrote:

Surely the whole point of boards.ie is that people can come on here and voice their opinion on any subject?

Try raising rascist viewpoints, or discussing porn, or a certain irish concert promoter and see how far you get. Boards is about discussing most things, in this case someone is raising a subject and everyone is vocally saying how assine it is.

Gordon wrote:

Woah! I was merely being facetious!

[penny-arcade.com]Oh I'm sorry! bathroom's that way..[/penny-arcade.com]

monkeyfudge

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

I thought Stormfront was Irish, but I don't know these things, or visit there. Go go gadget assumptions.

It's an international sit with sub-forums for different countrys. Not that I go there or anything... oh no...


(hides white hood under desk)

Beruthiel

Gordon wrote:

Woah! I was merely being facetious!

Fa what now?
Either way, you're both wrong.
The correct term is bigot not racist!

SouperComputer

I guess it depends on what your criteria are for classing someone as "irish"

Like many on boards, im from Ireland and living abroad. I lived in Finglas for 23 years and Clondalkin for 2, thats pretty irish IMO! Ive been living in the US for two months now

In terms of "having current information" its easier to stay up to date now than ever thanks to the advancements of communication, boards.ie being one of them, then you have texting, cheap VOIP calls with local gegraphical numbers, rss feeds and all kinds of wonderful things. The world is smaller than ever. In any case, I still run a small company in in Ireland so I need to keep up to date with things.

Im not quite sure of the purpose of this thread though, perhaps the OP can enlighten me?

CuLT

Check out facetious on dictionary.com Bru.

New words have been added since the Jurassic edition

CherieAmour

*Adopted Irish = People who have lived here long enough to know what it is to be Irish, without actually being Irish. Think Des Bishop

Des Bishop could live here for 100 years and he wouldn't know what it is to be Irish. I saw him at a comedy gig in England and he did nothing but slag off OUR country. I stood in a 1000 strong crowd and never felt so alienated in my life. If he was truly Irish, he would understand why that was a bad thing to do.

You can live here long enough to merit being able to offer a valuable contribution to the threads but knowing what it is to be Irish is a very different thing.

DonkeyStyle \o/

I think they should at least run background checks on non-nationals signing up to boards.
We have enough trolls of our own without importing more.

Pansy Potter

Well it certainly looks like I raised a few hackles here.
Even got the thread moved to Feedback by person or persons unknown.

As usual a number of people strayed off topic and launched into insults simply because they can. It also gets their post count up, which to some appears to be the main purpose of visiting boards. Ooh look at me, I've 20 million posts and 100 stars and a big fat signature picture. Some people even have dictionaries.

Trilla - If this is pointless why bother posting in it. Oh forgot, one more post!

Hill Billy thanks for the link. Your name seems to suit you.

Diogenes - I know that aldi.ie is an Irish store, but I don't know what point you're trying to make.

Anyway, I was not making any racist comments. Read the original post before shooting your mouths off, or borrow the dictionary and look it up.
I was merely remarking on the fact that many of the posters/moderators (anyone know how many?) are not resident in Ireland, and consequently could be accused of not being sufficiently in touch with the facts in all cases.
Maybe in such situations they do actually step back and don't offer opinions on things they know little about.

As I said I'm relatively new here, and it was just something I noticed.
I didn't expect anything like the ****storm that seems to have happened.

letterman

seems to me that a lot of the posts here are off topic and have strayed from discussing the original thread

The_Minister

Mods do not have to be Irish, they just have to be there, ready, to strike down the ever-present muppet. They don't have to take part in discussion.
In the mean-time....

Nevyn

Pansy Potter how many mods do you think there are ?

aidan_walsh

Even got the thread moved to Feedback by person or persons unknown.

Because thats where discussions regarding boards.ie go.

As usual a number of people strayed off topic and launched into insults simply because they can.

Oh, the irony.

consequently could be accused of not being sufficiently in touch with the facts in all cases.

Well, (leaving aside the obvious question on how many of the facts on any matter anyone will ever know at any point of a debate), how so? If its national news, then surely there will be reports about it on the internet. There are many Irish news sites, many Irish blogs commenting on Irish affairs, etc.

If its a regional debate, then would a person from outside the region be exempt from commenting for the same reasons, they don't know the facts, don't understand the region?

RuggieBear

quiet you doodle sketch...wtf would you know about anything outside killarney!?

CuLT

Thaedydal wrote:

Pansy Potter how many mods do you think there are ?

And disappointingly, she appears not to have read my post.

Pansy Potter

Thaedydal wrote:

Pansy Potter how many mods do you think there are ?

Is that a trick question?

How would I possibly know?

aidan_walsh

RuggieBear wrote:

quiet you doodle sketch...wtf would you know about anything outside killarney!?

Hey, thats not fair. I go to Tralee too...

Nevyn

No it is not a trick question.

The information there is there if you bothered to look for it and find out.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showgroups.php

CuLT

Thaedydal wrote:

No it is not a trick question.

The information there is there if you bothered to look for it and find out.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showgroups.php

In fairness Thaed, that only shows Cat Mods, Subscribers and SMods.

Though the mods are listed on the wiki.

r3nu4l

Pansy Potter wrote:

...could be accused of not being sufficiently in touch with the facts in all cases.
Maybe in such situations they do actually step back and don't offer opinions on things they know little about.

Well, I assume your point about mods not being in touch applies to regular users like myself yet you don't seem to have taken on board any of my points in my previous post.

Do you think that leaving Ireland means that you forget about it and stay out of touch?

I have been able to inform my parents about things going on in our local community at home that they didn't know about and yet I live in England!!!11eleventy-one. This was achieved by my reading online websites and local newspapers I also told my friend about the plans for a new shopping centre in her village and she didn't know about that either

Sometimes those of us abroad are more in touch with what's happening at home than people living in Ireland.

i71jskz5xu42pb

RuggieBear wrote:

I've lived in Ireland the past 26 years...is that long enough to be considered Irish?

Nah, that makes you a blow-in

Pansy Potter

Thaedydal wrote:

No it is not a trick question.

The information there is there if you bothered to look for it and find out.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showgroups.php

What has the number of moderators got to do with anything even if I was bothered to look?

CuLT

Pansy Potter wrote:

What has the number of moderators got to do with anything even if I was bothered to look?

Ah fudge off in fairness if you're going to be an arse about it.