The Irish politics / Economy forum

Tim Robbins

Hi,
I think the politics forum is one of the best forums on boards and I think the mods are brilliant and do a very good job.

However, given the mood in the country this forum is under a lot of pressure. Many of the posts are big long rants. Many people start brand new threads just to have a big rant rather than reading other threads and seeing where they could add their comments. In addition, many new threads are started but they are the same old discussions on the lines off:

"I hate the public service and this is why."

Or

"FF could you please go?"

Do we really need separate threads for such topics?

This makes it very difficult to dig your way through the discussions and find something interesting, and it also makes it difficult when you are trying to have a genuine discussion or find out more information about the IMF or bond markets.

I think the way things are going there could be too much work for the mods.
My suggestion is to have a separate forum for political / economic rants and to allow mods direct people there. Also, the mods are probably being a bit too nice and I would support them taking a tougher line on people who are just ranting and not adding anything to the forum. Finally, I would also suggest that posters make their points succintly. Some of the posts are absolutely huge.

Thanks in advance.

Biggins

I can understand where your coming from but just a few points to dwell on...

* Some threads while just filled with indeed useless vitriol are a pain but some are fill partially with useful knowledge with you have acknowledged, can be useful.
* Some of of larger posted threads are complex and/or have to be detailed for summery only might not give the subject full justice - and the wording/grammar skills of the poster also in attempting summery, might not be able to put across their view point/information just as clear in a shortened version.

I will/might be accused of kissing mods backside but they do a fair job I find generally in the politics section alone (rightly told me off once or twice).

Some postings have to be huge - because of the subject matter, they have to in order to cover as most extending areas as possible, especially if a matter can have a domino effect on other areas!
Rather than just give bullet simplified points like a cheap tabloid paper, I'd personally prefer the longer detailed version and then depending on my mood skin over a posting or look in depth.
At least with a longer posting sometimes, I have a choice.

Tim Robbins

I don't think it is fair to expect the Mods to be reading through some of the posts that are getting posted. The forum is getting a huge amount of heat right now. Just a few moments I go I saw 77 logged in users looking at it!

And I find it hard to read through the forum because things are becoming disjointed. You have to read through about 10 rants or glib remarks and then you find a very interesting gem.

I think it would be good to get some more feedback from regular posters and the mods and see what can be changed (if anything).

Biggins

Tim Robbins wrote: »

I don't think it is fair to expect the Mods to be reading through some of the posts that are getting posted. The forum is getting a huge amount of heat right now. Just a few moments I go I saw 77 logged in users looking at it!

And I find it hard to read through the forum because things are becoming disjointed. You have to read through about 10 rants or glib remarks and then you find a very interesting gem.

I think it would be good to get some more feedback from regular posters and the mods and see what can be changed (if anything).

In fairness, 77 people logged in is nothing sometimes.
Have a look at the numbers of "After Hours". Some the mods there should be rewarded with Valium some days for the stuff they have to cope with.

If you find many glib useless remarks from posters, I would suggest using the "Ignore" function a bit more.
It might make skipping thru' the stuff you want to avoid, a bit easier.

Wolfe Tone

They are working on getting more mods.

Scofflaw

MUSSOLINI wrote: »

They are working on getting more mods.

We are, although I would we were doing it faster.

Hi,
I think the politics forum is one of the best forums on boards and I think the mods are brilliant and do a very good job.

However, given the mood in the country this forum is under a lot of pressure. Many of the posts are big long rants. Many people start brand new threads just to have a big rant rather than reading other threads and seeing where they could add their comments. In addition, many new threads are started but they are the same old discussions on the lines off:

"I hate the public service and this is why."

Or

"FF could you please go?"

Do we really need separate threads for such topics?

This makes it very difficult to dig your way through the discussions and find something interesting, and it also makes it difficult when you are trying to have a genuine discussion or find out more information about the IMF or bond markets.

I think the way things are going there could be too much work for the mods.
My suggestion is to have a separate forum for political / economic rants and to allow mods direct people there. Also, the mods are probably being a bit too nice and I would support them taking a tougher line on people who are just ranting and not adding anything to the forum. Finally, I would also suggest that posters make their points succintly. Some of the posts are absolutely huge.

There's a good bit of truth in that, but unfortunately creating a new forum for rants wouldn't work, as far as I can see, because the people who do the ranting are the least willing to see their posts as anything other than legitimate political 'debate'.

What we'll probably have to do is adopt a policy of zero tolerance for sub-trolls - people who just don't seem to be able to rise to the minimum standards we'd like to see, even if their intentions are more honest than those of a genuine troll.

However, taking a tough line is actually part of the problem, in a sense, because, again, the people who are trouble on the forum are also the people who are most trouble to expel from the forum, strange as that may seem. I'm happy to go troll-hunting, but each troll expelled brings with him/her a raft of PMs from the querulous to the abusive, along with Dispute Resolution threads I then have to go and look at wearing my CMod hat.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Tim Robbins

Scofflaw wrote: »

We are, although I would we were doing it faster.



There's a good bit of truth in that, but unfortunately creating a new forum for rants wouldn't work, as far as I can see, because the people who do the ranting are the least willing to see their posts as anything other than legitimate political 'debate'.

What we'll probably have to do is adopt a policy of zero tolerance for sub-trolls - people who just don't seem to be able to rise to the minimum standards we'd like to see, even if their intentions are more honest than those of a genuine troll.

However, taking a tough line is actually part of the problem, in a sense, because, again, the people who are trouble on the forum are also the people who are most trouble to expel from the forum, strange as that may seem. I'm happy to go troll-hunting, but each troll expelled brings with him/her a raft of PMs from the querulous to the abusive, along with Dispute Resolution threads I then have to go and look at wearing my CMod hat.

cordially,
Scofflaw

Well I feel sorry for you - it must be a lot of work.

Here's a suggestion which I could take to another thread if you think that makes sense. Would it possible to have another forum for people who only got access if they passed a general knowledge test on politics?

The forum could have read access for all but only write access for those who past the test.

I know it's a bit elitist but I love reading some posters who really know a lot about things. However 90% of people just want to moan the couldn't be arsed checking facts out from CSO or whatever. Those posts can be really tiring.

Anyway just an idea...

tbh

To stick my oar in... The people starting the type of threads you're talking about aren't interested in recieving information, they are interested in blogging - telling people how they feel without being interested in any sort of feedback. This means two things - they don't check first i anyone else has already said what they want to say, and they don't check if it's ok to say what they want to say. Therefore, making more rules is ineffective because it won't change the behaviour - because they won't read those rules. As scofflaw said, these are also the type of posters who won't accept that their opinions are inappropriate and will pm endlessly invoking the right to free speech etc. You may be able to cut down on it , but I have to say, op, that the secret to a happy life on boards is to learn to simply filter them out. If you figure out how to do that, tell me how