How does Boards.ie represent the people of Ireland?

Archeron

As we all know, there is a lot of different people on boards, regular posters, lurkers, trolls.... Reading through many of the different threads with their millions of subjects, and buckets of advice with a to be expected amount of abuse and flaming, I wonder how accurately does boards.ie represent a considerable cross section of Ireland and its people?

For me, I feel that the majority of posters on boards do seem like decent helpful people. There can be a lot of contempt for stupidity or simple errors made by posters, but in the whole, boards gives off a good helpful vibe. In most cases, it will provide a place to ask a question or advice on almost everything, and I rarely see a question go unanswered.

I think there is a good wit on many parts of boards, and some of the replies to occasionally mundane subjects can be really, really funny. There is also a lot of people who try desperately to be funny, but fail. Miserably. Like me.

Generally, I would say that if Boards.ie represented the people of ireland, those people would be helpful, funny people who seem to have a lot of time, albeit virtual, to try and offer assistance to others, but a people who have become very wary in recent times, and skeptical of a lot of things about their countries current situation. I would say they are impassioned people who will argue to the death to support a cause or opinion they feel strongly about, but also a people who dont like to bear fools, and are not willling to tolerate stupidity for very long. Overall, a good people, but with its own fair share of nutjobs. Also, a people who will no instantly reject a maniac, but toy with them first for their own amusement before dispatching of them with a swift kick. I know it seems that the above post is a bit gushy, but I do generally think that boards gives off a good vibe, and that speaks quite well for its users. What do you think?

(i know that people post on boards from all over the world, but as its an Irish site, I use the thread reference to people living in Ireland. I always feel that not many foreign nationals living in Ireland post here for some reason??)

FlutterinBantam

Hmmm... very profound post.

Lemme think about it!

AlmightyCushion

Definitely agree with the funny part some of the responces and threads you see on here are absolutely hilarious.
Helpfulness as well. In most of the forums when someone asks a question the get a good helpful responce and usually come away having learned a few things. Some posters go out of their way time and time again to help put others here.


I think the reason that people here are more intolerant of stupidity and muppetry is because they are on the internet. In real life they would probably be more likely to grin and bare it.

ntlbell

There's a HUGE population of morons.

A small amount of funny/interesting/helpfull souls.

I'd say it's a mirror image.

Exit

Some of the stuff you said doesn't relate to real life though. For instance, two people may engage in an argument on here, but in real life someone may say something you disagree with, but you may not voice your opinion on it. And if you do, it's unlikely to descend into a back and forth thing like it does on here.

Likewise, I don't think many people on here would jump down someone's throat if they mispronounced a word wrong like they would with a spelling/grammar mistake.

And it's also possible that some people who may be witty and funny on here may not be so in real life.

So in that sense, I don't think boards necessarily represents the people of Ireland.

Opinion wise, I'd say it represents a mainly youthful, fairly well-off and well-educated section of society.

Like you said, there are some groups that you just don't see on here. There aren't many foreign people, there aren't many 40+ people and so on.

Ruu_Old

There are definitely a fair amount of users who are experts and surely some of the best in their field(s). Also there are a couple who go out of their way to make things difficult and I wonder how they get on in real life (tm) with the attitude displayed here.:)

MooseJam

boards.ie doesn't represent Ireland in the slightest, unless the whole of Ireland has turned into young IT workers since last I checked

randylonghorn

Ruu wrote:

Also there are a couple who go out of their way to make things difficult and I wonder how they get on in real life (tm) with the attitude displayed here.:)

Spot on.

mikemac

Exit wrote:

Opinion wise, I'd say it represents a mainly youthful, fairly well-off and well-educated section of society.

I'd say the same thing.
If you remember back to the General Election, FF would have been slaughtered at the polls if it was left to boards members.
As it happens, older voters and others won't/can't use the internet so polls here are useless to gauge something national.
So if you're abroad and trying to gauge the attitude of Irish people, don't limit yourself to just this site.

Most people here are very helpful:)
There is the occasional muppet but they get put down pretty quickly.

looksee

micmclo wrote:

As it happens, older voters and others won't/can't use the internet so polls here are useless to gauge something national.

Older people do and can use the internet, but until a good few of the existing boards users pass 50 or so and demand an alternative general chat room to after hours you won't see too many of them on Boards. The endless variations on sex, penis size and scatalogical discussions do become rather boring, but thats obviously what the existing users want.

It will be interesting to see in the future whether after hours will change or will the older contributers branch off into another forum. The Beer Guts etc forum is a hint of this but it has only put about 10 years onto After Hours. Kind of Middle Aged Boards. Eventually we will get the Boring Old Farts forum, where those of us for whom sex is a distant memory, and who are finding short term memory a bit of a challenge, can discuss All Things Retro from the 50s and 60s rather than the 80s.

insafehands

If boards.ie was the only electorate population in the last General Election, I'm pretty sure FG would currently be in Goverment.

FruitLover

As in real life, the morons and the freaks make the most noise. And I'd say the boards represents the upper echelons of intelligence of the Irish population!

Jebus help us...

Vokes

insafehands wrote:

If boards.ie was the only electorate population in the last General Election, I'm pretty sure FG would currently be in Goverment.

Why would you think that?

ntlbell

SofaKing wrote:

Why would you think that?

maybe he/she reads the politics forum?

at a wild guess

Jesus Wept

Ruu wrote:

There are definitely a fair amount of users who are experts and surely some of the best in their field(s). Also there are a couple who go out of their way to make things difficult and I wonder how they get on in real life (tm) with the attitude displayed here.:)

Yea, be nice Ruu, you're ruining it for everyone else. :mad::D

Vokes

ntlbell wrote:

maybe he/she reads the politics forum?

at a wild guess

At a wild guess, I would say not all of boardsie users post in Politics, so it'd be a hard thing to gauge

dame

Exit wrote:

Some of the stuff you said doesn't relate to real life though. For instance, two people may engage in an argument on here, but in real life someone may say something you disagree with, but you may not voice your opinion on it. And if you do, it's unlikely to descend into a back and forth thing like it does on here.

Likewise, I don't think many people on here would jump down someone's throat if they mispronounced a word wrong like they would with a spelling/grammar mistake.

And it's also possible that some people who may be witty and funny on here may not be so in real life.

So in that sense, I don't think boards necessarily represents the people of Ireland.

Opinion wise, I'd say it represents a mainly youthful, fairly well-off and well-educated section of society.

Like you said, there are some groups that you just don't see on here. There aren't many foreign people, there aren't many 40+ people and so on.

Yea, what he said.

Plus;
I think there are a lot of people on boards who like to assume an intelligent, deep-thinking persona for themselves. A sort of, "the rest of you are sheep led by the gutter press and this consumerist society, but I'm an original thinker and I'm here to enlighten you all and help you question things and set you free....but you'd better listen to me" type thing. In other words, half the people who try to be deep and original and intellectual are dim-witted phoneys.
I think in real life they wouldn't be let air their views so much (people just wouldn't listen), but here they can make a post and it's stuck there for everyone reading the thread to be subjected to.

Boards is the perfect place for people who think they're right all the time to come and pontificate.

And no, I personally absolutely do not fall into any of those categories because I am the perfect specimen of humanity, obviously. :rolleyes:

ntlbell

SofaKing wrote:

At a wild guess, I would say not all of boardsie users post in Politics, so it'd be a hard thing to gauge

No, but a lot do, and thats probably why he said "pretty sure" instead of "would be for a fact"

Time Magazine

Exit wrote:

Opinion wise, I'd say it represents a mainly youthful, fairly well-off and well-educated section of society.

So could you say Boards represents the future of Ireland?

Crumble Froo

ntlbell wrote:

There's a HUGE population of morons.

A small amount of funny/interesting/helpfull souls.

I'd say it's a mirror image.

see, i'd see it as a fair amount of funny/interesting/helpful souls, and a lesser amount of morons....

maybe how we see boards is also a reflection of how we see the world around us in real life (tm) ?

dame

Ibid wrote:

So could you say Boards represents the future of Ireland?

No because not all the young people of Ireland are well-educated (though that can be by choice) and not all are fairly well-off. It is more likely to be the well-educated and fairly well-off young people who are more likely to become figures of influence in society, so maybe. I don't know, time for bed.

Ibid

Ibid wrote:

So could you say Boards represents the future of Ireland?

not about Mary harney anyway?How is her mental breakdown?

leninbenjamin

dame wrote:

Boards is the perfect place for people who think they're right all the time to come and pontificate.

Like me. Except i am always right :cool:

Ibid wrote:

So could you say Boards represents the future of Ireland?

nah it jus represents everything that's wrong about the future of Ireland.

North&South

See? I always knew I was odd.... I'm a 46 yr old mum, nan, wife... I am quite a whiz on the PC, and when I found boards.ie, I was more than pleasantly surprised. the amount of forums in one place, for one is impressive.
Then, on the forums, the banter can be funny, sometimes it's uncomfortable & yeah, at times rather predictable.

But I used to post on another forum & it got very 'them & us' amongst a select few posters - it felt like every time you posted, someone would be waiting to pull your post apart - some threads made really uncomfortable reading - unlike on here - altho the average user will argue their corner & throw the occasional insult, overall, the forums are quite friendly.

If the boards ARE an indication of how Irish people are, then I'm looking forward even more to moving there on the 15th! But to be quite honest, you lot are rather lovely people in real life & so far we've not found a bad thing about yous or your country - Yet!

ntlbell

narco wrote:

see, i'd see it as a fair amount of funny/interesting/helpful souls, and a lesser amount of morons....

maybe how we see boards is also a reflection of how we see the world around us in real life (tm) ?

That's deep man.....you sound very interesting.

As a yank said to me."Man.You Irish are crazy while maintaining your innocence":D

Crumble Froo

ntlbell wrote:

That's deep man.....you sound very interesting.

honestly, hating to burst your bubble... but im really just like a 5 year old who happens to be able to type and legally drink...

thefinalstage

narco wrote:

honestly, hating to burst your bubble... but im really just like a 5 year old who happens to be able to type and legally drink...

You must be a dog than.

Crumble Froo

woof?

Black Swan

Humourous insomniacs obsessed with keyboard implemented virtual human interactions?;)

Crumble Froo

you forgot the narcoleptic bit... naturally , im a narcolepticinsomniac... just boards wouldnt let me keep the long name...

*glares at boards admin*


other than taht, that sounds about right...

tbh

one thing that's impressed me as mod of the LTI forum is the amount of people who post regularly on boards who are getting treated like crap by the medical system, are in fairly significant pain or at least discomfort, but are still pleasant, decent people who don't take the excuse to act like tools.

Agamemnon

Blue_Lagoon wrote:

Humourous insomniacs obsessed with keyboard implemented virtual human interactions?;)

HIOWKIVHI? Damn, I thought that was going to be an acronym for something filthy.

I think boards largely represents the IT workers and students of Ireland, so it's not a reflection of the country as a whole. Most people here are good sorts - there's loads of helpful, witty and entertaining characters on boards. There are a few tossers in need of killing here as well though, much like real life.

zuutroy

Dont forget that the scum community at large dont have computers, are too thick to use them, and dont care about anything except going to work, the pub, the bookies and the chipper. so their important views aren't represented here.

Archeron

zuutroy wrote:

Dont forget that the scum community at large dont have computers, are too thick to use them, and dont care about anything except going to work, the pub, the bookies and the chipper. so their important views aren't represented here.

I thought that too. An "I hate scumbags/scobies/tracksuits" thread never really comes up against any opposition.

Orange69

dame wrote:

No because not all the young people of Ireland are well-educated (though that can be by choice) and not all are fairly well-off. It is more likely to be the well-educated and fairly well-off young people who are more likely to become figures of influence in society, so maybe. I don't know, time for bed.

Id say maybe not.. As far as i can tell its only cretins and gombeen men who really have influence in ireland.. The only exception i have seen to this rule are the universities..

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

so people who go to work, the pub, the bookies and then the chipper are scum?

zuutroy

Mordeth wrote:

so people who go to work, the pub, the bookies and then the chipper are scum?

Yes, thats exactly what I meant.

zuutroy wrote:

dont care about anything except

seamus

If your life can be summed up in the below nerdly equation, then yes, you are scum.

/{work{pubbookies}*chipper}*/

I suck at regexp. That's probably wrong.

Marksie

Exit wrote:

There aren't many foreign people, there aren't many 40+ people and so on.

But there is always one lol

43, english.

If not giving a direct comparison to the population as a whole, it does give useful insights into what a certain demographic think and feel and fret about.

Not to mention the the small proportion who have unreasonable bias on various things (which is encouraging).