Does Boards.ie Have Any Power?

A thought came to me today while listening to the radio. Does boards.ie have any power with regards to nowadays things like chart music, political issues etc.

Just with the sheer number of registered users, would it be a force to be reckoned with?

Zaph

Surely you must have noticed how it's impossible to get people to agree on things around here? Trying to get anough organised to influence a vote/music charts/whatever would be pretty much impossible IMO. Of course it might be fun to try.

Mr Magnolia

Certainly would have thought so.

One thing springs to mind but I/we can't discuss.

Lands Leaving

Forums are the WORST place to get people agreeing on things. Too many different views.

Unless it was on boycotting Hitler being resurrected or something else universally wrong you wont see agreement here.

Lands Leaving

Mr Magnolia wrote: »

Certainly would have thought so.

One thing springs to mind but I/we can't discuss.

Asking for trouble. Agreed. but sssshhhh...

zaph

zaph wrote: »

Surely you must have noticed how it's impossible to get people to agree on things around here? Trying to get anough organised to influence a vote/music charts/whatever would be pretty much impossible IMO. Of course it might be fun to try.

I thought it would be an interesting experiment to, say, record a song, convince a few shops to stock it around the country and gets boards.ie users/friends of users to buy it, to see if we could get it to number 1. It can't be that hard, I mean the tellytubbies and crazy frog did it.

It could be a charity event, with the majority of the profit going to some charity organisation.

There's loads of possibilities.

Sleepy

Well, the success of the Santa Strike Force would indicate Boards.ie has the power to do some good. Likewise it's prominency in the Irish media whenever broadband issues are discussed etc. would indicate there's some power base here.

Until we can convince Dev to run for the benevolant dictator of the wurdled thought we're not going to see any real change coming from the site.

AlmightyCushion

Look at the likes of the santa strike force. I'm not sure how much money it raises for charity but I'm sure it is a fairly considerable sum.

Edit: Sleepy bet me to it. Guess he's not as sleepy as his username suggests.

Sleepy

Deleted User wrote: »

I thought it would be an interesting experiment to, say, record a song, convince a few shops to stock it around the country and gets boards.ie users/friends of users to buy it, to see if we could get it to number 1. It can't be that hard, I mean the tellytubbies and crazy frog did it.

It could be a charity event, with the majority of the profit going to some charity organisation.

There's loads of possibilities.

That'd be pretty easy, can't imagine it takes too many sales to get a single to number one in Ireland!

Pigman II

Deleted User wrote: »

A thought came to me today while listening to the radio. Does boards.ie have any power with regards to nowadays things like chart music, political issues etc.

It has the power to show us today what PodgeNRodge & ThePanel will be talking about 3 weeks from now.

Mr. CooL ICE

So, when are we resurrecting Hitler?

JIZZLORD

Lands Leaving wrote: »

Forums are the WORST place to get people agreeing on things. Too many different views.

aye, take this for example.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055184186

Overheal

welcome to Boards.ie; Ireland's leading Democratic Party - agreeing on nothing, and commiting hatecrimes on everything.

doonothing

how many fairly active users of boards is there?
it would be great to try out... imagine the power MUWAHAHAHa. ahem.

zaph

zaph wrote: »

Surely you must have noticed how it's impossible to get people to agree on things around here? Trying to get anough organised to influence a vote/music charts/whatever would be pretty much impossible IMO. Of course it might be fun to try.

Out of 80,000+ registered users, I'd imagine 10,000 are active? (maybe dev or someone can give a more accurate figure)

more than enough to get a number one over here anyway

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

timmywex

Deleted User wrote: »

Out of 80,000+ registered users, I'd imagine 10,000 are active? (maybe dev or someone can give a more accurate figure)

more than enough to get a number one over here anyway

97178 to be exact





Whats wrong with hitler?

ziggy

ziggy wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Flash mobs.

They don't go down too well here.

the_syco

Lands Leaving wrote: »

Unless it was on boycotting Hitler being resurrected

He may know a decent way to get rid of the corrupt f**kers in the Dail?

ziggy wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Flash crowds? They suck.

Does anyone know how many singles you have to sell to reach number 1 in ireland?

and to stop this from being moved to somewhere else, what other issues could be dealt with?

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

Toto Wolfcastle

Deleted User wrote: »

Does anyone know how many singles you have to sell to reach number 1 in ireland?

Well, according to IRMA:

This release amassed an incredible 40,000 sales in its first week

. (Gnarls Barkley, 'Crazy')

So if that's 'incredible', not a lot.

I know that it doesn't take much to get into the top 10. Again, according to the IRMA website, sales figures are confidential, only certain people are allowed know. (Why??)

thelordofcheese

LordChessington wrote: »

So, when are we resurrecting Hitler?

not soon enough!

Oman

Omg lord of cheese your 1000th post. what a waste
anyway didnt boards used to have 1 million members, i mean have i missed something

Time Magazine

Oman wrote: »

anyway didnt boards used to have 1 million members

No. There are currently 125,330 registered members.

It holds no sway in political circles. It's good as a barometer of what the Irish internet clique feels, but that's all. We're far too heterogeneous a group to be considered important, particularly in our highly-segmented electoral system. The Internet - A Not So Serious Business.

Oman

anyway boards should have its own TD he'd get at least 100,000 votes enough to get into parliament

randylonghorn

Ibid wrote: »

It holds no sway in political circles. It's good as a barometer of what the Irish internet clique feels, but that's all. We're far too heterogeneous a group to be considered important, particularly in our highly-segmented electoral system. The Internet - A Not So Serious Business.

True enough, Ibid, but as more and more people become internet savvy (or should that be addicts? ) I suspect politicians will pay more and more attention to sites like Boards, even if mainly as market research or as a barometer, as you put it.

Jeez, considering we are now seeing politicians with bebo and facebook profiles ... :rolleyes:

Oman wrote: »

anyway boards should have its own TD he'd get at least 100,000 votes enough to get into parliament

I'm not sure this country would survive another DeV ... >_>

Ibid

Ibid wrote: »

No. There are currently 125,330 registered members.

It holds no sway in political circles. It's good as a barometer of what the Irish internet clique feels, but that's all. We're far too heterogeneous a group to be considered important, particularly in our highly-segmented electoral system. The Internet - A Not So Serious Business.

But not in the political circles solely. Would it be possible to get a single to number 1 with boardsie's alone.

It's an interesting topic though, seeing if boards has any power.

thelordofcheese

Oman wrote: »

Omg lord of cheese your 1000th post. what a waste
anyway didnt boards used to have 1 million members, i mean have i missed something

No post calling for the ressurection of hitler is a wasted post!

But in hindsight, i should have done something better, ohh well.

monkeyfudge

Everyone's always in favour of saving Hitler's brain but when you put it in the body of a great white shark, ooh, suddenly you've gone too far.

randylonghorn

Well, we're not putting it in a bloody monkey, 'k?!! :mad:

Rhiannon14

*admires boards' power stick*

Sleepy

Well, thinking about it, it was just a matter of time before Boards.ie decided to flex it's muscles and see how strong it was.

Duiske

I'm not sure if boadsies could get organised enough to change much, but a couple of threads recently have had the power to make a couple of large companies to get the finger out.

The 3 Broadband thread forced 3 to offer boardsies a way out of their contracts, and everyone knows what happened with the Netopia Router thread.

Jigsaw

Boards is an enjoyable way to pass some time.

It has no power.

It is a bloody message board website ffs.

If I left my house now with the requisite intent I could kill many people. A website cannot. I am therefore more powerful than Boards, and I am by no means powerful.

Wisesmurf

Jigsaw wrote: »

Boards is an enjoyable way to pass some time.

It has no power.

It is a bloody message board website ffs.

If I left my house now with the requisite intent I could kill many people. A website cannot. I am therefore more powerful than Boards, and I am by no means powerful.

Your definition of power is off the mark son.

Bush for instance has less physical power to strangle a man than a turtle-neck jumper has. But the man has actual power.

Jigsaw

Wisesmurf wrote: »

Your definition of power is off the mark son.

Bush for instance has less physical power to strangle a man than a turtle-neck jumper has. But the man has actual power.

Fair point. Doesn't mean Boards has any power either though.

And to the best of my knowledge I am not your son.

Hobbes

Only these guys would have a chance of getting people on boards to work together (the cowboys, not eds ).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk7yqlTMvp8

Archeron

If all the active users joined that Niall Mellon township trust scheme in South Africa, it could result in the construction of a brand new city!
Boardsopolis.

Nevyn

ziggy wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Yeah that happens a few times a year it is called the boards beers.
Whens the next one ?
15th Dec,

There is not just the SSF but there is also the B Team which will be rolling out in the new year to give charities/schools/ communities a once of helping hand, this will be done by boards posters giving of their skills and time.

Also a lot of people did get themselves registered to vote in the last election due to the help and info in the politics forum, esp those who has been knocked of the register.

So yeah boards.ie can make a difference if we the posters choose to make a difference.

roy123456789

From Eircom comcore Stats ;

OTHER INTERESTING FACTS
* Boards.ie is the most visited discussion / chat site by Irish users in September 2007
* Unique visits to discussion / chat sites have increased 16% in the last year
* 1 in 4 Irish users visited a discussion / chat site during September

So it looks as though it could have some power of persuasion if it got behind a cause....... Health Service anyone?

bytesize

Boards wouldnt have much, if any power, at all. If you trail through the members section you can see that the site only has those numbers cos the admins won't do what most other good fora do. That's delete inactive members who fail to log in after a certain period of time. Look at all the users under 100 or even 50 posts that haven't logged in in 6+months. Or all the banned for life users whose accounts clerly wont be used again. And the accounts that have been registered that have 0 - 10 posts that were never used again. If the admins cleaned up the members list I could almost guarantee the member count would be cut in at least half. Maybe up to a third or even a quarter of what it is now.

It would also open up for those usernames to be used again by people who may want them but can't have them cos they are registered but being unused.

Anyway, the members who are active do good things like SSF so it's not all a lost cause

seamus

Well, like any kind of movement, the key to gaining membership is to start small and get behind things which people are rather passionate about and which nobody can really argue against. It takes work though. Once you've built your base, you need to continue adding in more crusades and policies - slowly draw in people with other interests while trying to maintain that initial support base.

For example, you could start on a single-issue platform - free healthcare for all children under five (if we already have this, pretend we don't ). There are hundreds of thousands of parents out there who would support this and few people who could give you a good argument as to why it's a bad idea.
So you have your initial support base. Now tack on another goal, let's say phased abolition of VRT. Again, hot topic, many people who would support it and few who can give good arguments as to why it's a bad idea. From your initial support base, you'll get a few who don't like this new goal. But they still like the healthcare idea, so most of them won't jump ship. The VRT issue will pull in a lot of younger people, particularly males, who couldn't care less about child healthcare. Support base grows.

And so on. It's not easy though. Your support base is lazy and fickle. The entire movement needs to be managed by a small number of individuals who will do all the work and receive little credit from the support base. The process of how to attain your goals is irrelevant to the support base, it's the goals that are important, so trying to get agreement from them is pointless and futile. Those of the support base who do give their opinion, won't be able to agree on direction and it'll fall down. So you drive the process towards attaining the goals, all you need to do is convince your support base that you're making progress and that you're doing the work. They'll give you their signature and their support, just don't expect any work from them.

You also need to ensure that your policy portfolio is fresh. If your goals get achieved, why would people continue to support you? If your goals become stale (no progress) or irrelevant (superseded by something better) then people will lose interest.

So in essence yes, boards.ie can have some real power. It would just require a small amount of people doing all the work and not looking for specific consensus from the boards population, just a general one. You would also need to adjust your policies to take account of boards's demographics. You may get wide support for free, countrywide broadband (a frivilous policy), but very little support for double the standard State pension for PAYE workers (an important policy). If your demographic isn't passionate about your policies, they won't be passionate about you.

As others have pointed out - the Santa Strike Force uses this power in the perfect manner. You have a small number of individuals putting in the effort to compile the wishlists, collect the presents and distribute them. The support base are given a method of participation which suits them best - providing credit card online payments without leaving their seat.

Terry

roy123456789 wrote: »

From Eircom comcore Stats ;

OTHER INTERESTING FACTS
* Boards.ie is the most visited discussion / chat site by Irish users in September 2007
* Unique visits to discussion / chat sites have increased 16% in the last year
* 1 in 4 Irish users visited a discussion / chat site during September

So it looks as though it could have some power of persuasion if it got behind a cause....... Health Service anyone?

Health service?

Post #42 was made by someone with the username "bytesize".
As soon as Harney sees that, she'll just slither away.

Earthhorse

To get back to the OP's record a single idea, a lot of casual users would resent the idea of buying something just because it came from the site, even if it was for charity.

LordChessington wrote: »

So, when are we resurrecting Hitler?

thelordofcheese wrote: »

not soon enough!

What is it with the upper class and resurrecting Hitler?

randylonghorn

Earthhorse wrote: »

To get back to the OP's record a single idea, a lot of casual users would resent the idea of buying something just because it came from the site, even if it was for charity.

But it wouldn't be just because ... I don't know, I think a lot of people would support something like that which they felt they had some small bit of ownership of / involvement in.

2 stroke

Breasts have more power than Boards.

Earthhorse

randylonghorn wrote: »

But it wouldn't be just because ... I don't know, I think a lot of people would support something like that which they felt they had some small bit of ownership of / involvement in.

A lot would but my gut feeling is an awful lot more wouldn't. What I'm saying is, I don't think you'd get to number one. Probably not even into the top ten.

randylonghorn

Earthhorse wrote: »

A lot would but my gut feeling is an awful lot more wouldn't. What I'm saying is, I don't think you'd get to number one. Probably not even into the top ten.

Ah ... fair enough. Tbh, I wouldn't much care (tho' I do grasp that it is kind of central to the point of the thread! ) ... I just think it could be a bit of fun and a good way to raise money for something like SSF.

Bros123

Just saw the title of this thread "Does Boards have any power"
If it does PLEASE have a look at this thread i started on,in my opinion,one of the most important issues in the EU today.



http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=54469769&posted=1#post54469769

bug

I dunno. Interesting enough though.

If someone decides it does, could we start with the transport system please?

Thats a common thread between us all, everyone has to get somewhere at some stage.

I often wondered what the point of boards was.

Gas though, if the two blokes more or less responsible for it ran for election and advertised here, they would probably be more recognised than most.