How representative is Boards.ie of the Irish population?

Gingervitis

(Figured I'd throw this thread in AH as opposed to politics to catch a wider audience)

Given the number of people that are registered on boards (anyone?) plus guests, does this population represent Ireland as a whole in any way, or does it just capture the "capable of using the internet, attracted to posting on message boards" demographic?

When you consider major social news sites in America (Digg, reddit etc) they have a fairly definite mindset and often repeat their own memes that are very "in-group" i.e. you'd have to go to urbandictionary.com to figure out what the hell they're referring to.

I know some of that can be seen here eg. yore ma, swans, etc. but can boards.ie aspire to represent a sizeable, diverse voice(sic) of Ireland, or will it forever merely be a niche demographic that sometimes veers towards groupthink?

btw, there is no agenda whatsoever with the mods, they do a fantastic job and never unjustifably censor or silence any viewpoint. However, some viewpoints can be cut to pieces by a smart/funny one liner that can detract from the original point, which can result in the same thing (the OP gives up/is ridiculed down).

Not a rant! Love the discussions, you usually learn something enlightening here. Usually.

admiralofthefleet

i would say it represents a broad spectrum of irish society from people who know very little about computers to complete computer junkies. farmers to urbanites, politicians to anarchists, ect ect...

mayordenis

Would a sponge do this?

*punches wall*

ride-the-spiral

Not much representation of the so called "scum" on here. Either that or they just don't want to let people know lest they be lauded

Degsy

I represent that proportion of the irish population that are complete and utter bastards.

Relevant

If the man:woman ratio was the same in real life as the internet the world would have ended by now

dr.bollocko

I would say it would be more an accurate reflection of perhaps a 18-35 age group rather than representative of the entire population.

My name is URL

I dunno, but considering the amount of people that go to mass every week as opposed to the amount that complain about religion on here, I would say not very representitive

Prof.Badass

Church-going oap biddies don't seem anywhere near as common on boards as in real life.

ride-the-spiral wrote: »

Not much representation of the so called "scum" on here. Either that or they just don't want to let people know lest they be lauded

I don't think many people think of themselves as "scum". Believe it or not, there's actually no set criteria for "scum" (even though you might think there is). It's just a word people use to describe those below them on the socioeconomic scale. It's just classism dressed up as moral concern.

brummytom

I represent the former population of Ireland

Pace2008

The majority of Boards users are middle class and many of them seem to have a hard time understanding or accepting anything that goes against their middle-class sensibilities. It's not blatantly obvious at first, but there's definitely a nasty undercurrent of prejudice and, in some cases, outright animosity towards the working class here.

Aside from that, I think most users are white, Irish born, male (though there's a definite female presence,) and college educated or currently in college. There's a decidedly leftist slant but the conservatives have a noticeable voice as well, as evidenced by the daily 'Hang the drug dealers' threads. Not too bad a mix overall.

Jesus Juice

I think people who post on Boards are more in the ''know''

ejmaztec

My name is URL wrote: »

I dunno, but considering the amount of people that go to mass every week as opposed to the amount that complain about religion on here, I would say not very representitive

And then there's that guy who votes for FF.:pac:

orourkeda

vinylmesh wrote: »

Church-going oap biddies don't seem anywhere near as common on boards as in real life.




I don't think many people think of themselves as "scum". Believe it or not, there's actually no set criteria for "scum" (even though you might think there is). It's just a word people use to describe those below them on the socioeconomic scale. It's just classism dressed up as moral concern.

They need to prioritise. They need their passport for heaven stamped before they all die. Then when they die we can sit here and laugh at them. Hoorah

Pace2008

ejmaztec wrote: »

And then there's that guy who votes for FF.:pac:

And buys the Irish Sun.

asdasd

It's just classism dressed up as moral concern.

Wrong. There are working class people and people from working class areas on boards, we probably predominate. This is evident from the hostility to the D4 accent ( which is a preenial topic). You need to differentiate between the working class - poor, or not - and the underclass.

The working classes have every reason to dislike the underclasses.

As for who this boards represents - its a good sample of the broad middle of society ( middle 80%) - but there is an age bias to the young adult.

Black Swan

Biased sample (including those born Irish but wandering the globe seeking greener grass yet longing for home).

Jesus Wept

My name is URL wrote: »

I dunno, but considering the amount of people that go to mass every week as opposed to the amount that complain about religion on here, I would say not very representitive

Sadly a lot of those people fall into both groups.

citizen_p

Gingervitis wrote: »

Given the number of people that are registered on boards (anyone?) plus guests, does this population represent Ireland as a whole in any way, or does it just capture the "capable of using the internet, attracted to posting on message boards" demographic?

this.....most ppl are internet retards tbh


internet population will grow though....like how many 80 yearolds use it..


so the people who cant use the internet are dying out and the new kids will be using it at 6 or 7 if they dont have it at home because most schools have it now..


tis da fewtour

phelixoflaherty

Where are all the quiet people?

Black Swan

phelixoflaherty wrote: »

Where are all the quiet people?

Not on AH!

AnonoBoy

I represent annoyed people who always assume they're right and are mostly hungover.

I also represent very attractive people.

stovelid

If some of the majority views on boards did mirror those of the majority of the population, I'd be pretty depressed.

homerjay2005

id say most of the boards population are from working class background. most people on here are well educated.

sadly, that cant be said about ireland as a whole. theres a serious amount of scumbags in this country and i dont think many of them post on here.

Abi

stovelid wrote: »

If some of the majority views on boards did mirror those of the majority of the population, I'd be pretty depressed.

My thoughts exactly.

ejmaztec

AnonoBoy wrote: »

I represent annoyed people who always assume they're right and are mostly hungover.

I also represent very attractive people.

Claudia Schiffer?

smk89

It represents the only people that matter. The internet using master race that is the nerd

Archeron

Not very representative at all. Apart from the OP, every other poster in this thread is actually me under a different alias.

Remember kids, resistance is futile.

Fratton Fred

I'd say it represents those that are either to idle to get a job or a bunch of dossers with jobs who would rather surf the internet than work.

And students who aspire to one day be in one of the above two groups,m

smk89

Archeron wrote: »

Remember kids, resistance is futile.

Only if less than 1 ohm

stovelid

I'm probably wrong but the majority views I have in mind are those that you would be most likely to see in students and young people who have been raised in middle-class backgrounds. Or people with scant experience of stuff like parenthood, poverty, unemployment and so forth.

That said, It's probably more likely that this consensus group are just among the most vocal users on boards or just more heavily represented in the top percentile (as in the most well known, frequent posters) of boards users.

Black Swan

All boards.ie users and mods come with this button built into their brains: http://www.wealthnationusa.com/xSites/Agents/wealthnationusa/Content/UploadedFiles/esc%20button.jpg

**B!ue pushes hers**

stovelid

Fratton Fred wrote: »

dossers with jobs who would rather surf the internet than work.

.

muppetkiller

asdasd wrote: »

This is evident from the hostility to the D4 accent ( which is a preenial topic). .

I wouldn't agree with this at all. There's no hostility to the D4 accent, there is however hostility to people who actually think there's no world outside of Dublin

I think though in general Boards has a good representation of the Educated Youth of Ireland.

Prof.Badass

asdasd wrote: »

Wrong. There are working class people and people from working class areas on boards, we probably predominate. This is evident from the hostility to the D4 accent ( which is a preenial topic). You need to differentiate between the working class - poor, or not - and the underclass.

When i say "classism" I'm not talking about posts against the "working class" or "underclass" as strictly defined. I mean general snobbery and looking down on those you see as "lower". It's way more of a sliding scale than the set of clear steps you have made it in your mind.

Gingervitis

Fratton Fred wrote: »

I'd say it represents those that are either to idle to get a job or a bunch of dossers with jobs who would rather surf the internet than work.

Damn, was identified too early:(

However, I'm less interested in class divides, perceived or otherwise, and more in terms of the culture of group think. Is it fair to say that the 18-35 demographic (or any nerdy subdivision alluded to) is really that homogenous in terms of their beliefs, or is there room for debate on somewhat important matters (disregarding the political theory forum, that's just a repetitive echo box etc).

I know it's claimed that reality has a liberal bias, as well as the fact that we all want to appear nice in front of friends/strangers, which colours our posts in a certain way, but does anyone think that going by some extremely thanked posts (kind of thing, you know what I mean), that we as a population are really that predictable?

Warfi

Archeron wrote: »

Not very representative at all. Apart from the OP, every other poster in this thread is actually me under a different alias.

:pac:

Why hasn't your posts got any thanks then , apart from mine, which proves that I'm you

Warfi

AnonoBoy wrote: »

I represent annoyed people who always assume they're right and are mostly hungover.

I also represent very attractive people.

tough gig, but someone's gotta do it

DeVore

In the two referendums on Lisbon we were scarily more accurate then just about any other source. I'd say we are closer to the money then anyone gives us credit for...

DeV.

asdasd

When i say "classism" I'm not talking about posts against the "working class" or "underclass" as strictly defined. I mean general snobbery and looking down on those you see as "lower". It's way more of a sliding scale than the set of clear steps you have made it in your mind.

In terms of disliking "scum" which is where we came in - the dislike of the underclass is more keenly felt in working class areas, whilst the concern for the underclass is disproportionate to the distance the middle classes live from said underclass.

In other words were boards.ie more middle class it would be more liberal, not less.

dr.bollocko

asdasd wrote: »

In terms of disliking "scum" which is where we came in - the dislike of the underclass is more keenly felt in working class areas, whilst the concern for the underclass is disproportionate to the distance the middle classes live from said underclass.

In other words were boards.ie more middle class it would be more liberal, not less.

Yes to a certain extent one could say that snobbery exists on boards on an intellectual level. But that would be representative of most classrooms or work environments I have encountered. I think we are also confusing boards.ie as a whole with AH on it's own.

bluto63

phelixoflaherty wrote: »

Where are all the quiet people?

Here...

kincsem

Boards is pretty representative of the Irish population if the population is male, single, 21, works in a low level IT job and lives with their parents (who also are 21, male. work in IT).

dr.bollocko

kincsem wrote: »

Boards is pretty representative of the Irish population if the population is male, single, 21, works in a low level IT job and lives with their parents (who also are 21, male. work in IT).

Don't worry dude. You'll get out of that call centre some day.

asdasd

Threres a fair amount of living at home, alright.

However the idea that only IT guys use the internet is a bit old, I think.

kincsem

If you look in the Sys/Census section of boards the 2005 census most popular answers were -

Occupation IT Industry & 3rd Level 23.3% each
Gender Male 82.2%
Marital Status Single 55.2%
Where do you live? Dublin 48.3%
What age are you? 18-22 27.5%

Prof.Badass

asdasd wrote: »

In terms of disliking "scum" which is where we came in - the dislike of the underclass is more keenly felt in working class areas, whilst the concern for the underclass is disproportionate to the distance the middle classes live from said underclass.

In other words were boards.ie more middle class it would be more liberal, not less.

I don't dissagree with you. I never said boards was mostly middle class. That's why i find it ironic. For example there could be a thread giving out about "scummers". Some people join in with the "scummer-bashing" not realising that many posters see them as "scummers" .

Then someone will mention say tracksuits or drugs and then they'll make a post saying "i wear tracksuits/ do coke and am definitely not a scummer". Having found themselves at the wrong end of the stick you'd think these people would have learned something about prejudice. Instead they go right back into their bigoted ranting, as if they've learnt nothing.

It also boggles me how the gloating "funemployed" can reconcile their actions with their hatred of "benifit scroungers".

brummytom

asdasd wrote: »

Threres a fair amount of living at home, alright.

However the idea that only IT guys use the internet is a bit old, I think.

Yeah, the majority of people under 50 use the internet now, I'd say.

A lot of people still seem cautious of message boards; so they seem to attract more extroverted people despite appearing to be tools for the introvert

anniehoo

ejmaztec wrote: »

Claudia Schiffer?

Eh..shes livin on a tenner a day. Dont judge a book by its cover boardsie username

Earthhorse

dr.bollocko wrote: »

I would say it would be more an accurate reflection of perhaps a 18-35 age group rather than representative of the entire population.

I'm sure you meant to say IQ.

AnonoBoy wrote: »

I represent annoyed people who always assume they're right and are mostly hungover.

I also represent very attractive people.

Nice to see affirmative action in, eh, action.

CliffHuxtabel

Pace2008 wrote: »

The majority of Boards users are middle class and many of them seem to have a hard time understanding or accepting anything that goes against their middle-class sensibilities. It's not blatantly obvious at first, but there's definitely a nasty undercurrent of prejudice and, in some cases, outright animosity towards the working class here.
.

most people in ireland are middle class and so it wouldnt be strange if most users of boards are middle class.