This forum has gone to $hit

jank

Is it me or does this forum resemble twitter most days. Loads of new threads with "Where can I get a job/visa/phone/handjob... speil"

Maybe some new stickys are in order.

Xavi6

I agree and it's basically just pure laziness on the part of the new posters. On the one hand it's understandable as they just want their specific questions answered but of course it is really annoying and clutters the forum.

In fairness to the mods they're pretty quick off the mark, particularly hussey.

ClutchIt

Also, why is it called 'Australia New Zealand' and not 'Australia & New Zealand' ?

Vorsprung

Agree + 1 million.

People want their visas, regional work, bank accounts, flights all organised for them. What happened to researching and looking up stuff on the net?! People asking about where the cheapest flights can be found is the one that gets me the most, pure laziness :mad:

Hussey as mentioned above is getting noticeably sick and tired of it.

If I can help writing stickies, let me know.

Zambia

Rest assured this has not gone unnoticed. Thanks for the offers of help lads we may be taking you to up on them.

jank

Vorsprung wrote: »

Agree + 1 million.

People want their visas, regional work, bank accounts, flights all organised for them. What happened to researching and looking up stuff on the net?! People asking about where the cheapest flights can be found is the one that gets me the most, pure laziness :mad:

Hussey as mentioned above is getting noticeably sick and tired of it.

If I can help writing stickies, let me know.

Yeap, its one thing asking about specific things like ato, gigs, housing but all this "organize my whv for me" is quite annoying

aido79

I agree too. I've posted about this before as well. some people just don't seem to know how to use google! It fair enough asking for advice from people who may have been through the same thing but some of the questions are daft!

Ozeire

I guess only way out of it is FAQ section not sure if that's possible in a forum of not.

So much great advise from everyone all over the place but your right people get very lazy and don't search for stuff just ask.

astonaidan

Just thought Id throw it out there after reading all the posts from start to finish in the forum, a boring few nights in college, I regretted some of my posts but not all of them

brendansmith

Maybe there could be a sub-forum or something?

I say that because I have just gone back and searched for a nz sponsership thread I posted on here months ago in which I found asking on this forum to be waaaaaaaay more sucessful than trawling through the nonsense which google churned up.

Sometimes its handy to ask amd research to ensure you dont miss anything but I agree that 'Who does cheapest flights' 'Visafirst, any good?' every week can be irritating.

Jumpy

ClutchIt wrote: »

Also, why is it called 'Australia New Zealand' and not 'Australia & New Zealand' ?

Because thats the way we say it over there.

ANZ

ANZAC

etc

Feelgood

I don't know to be honest lads....just moved to Oz a while ago and I found the ANZ forum to be bang on particularly when your a useless cnut like me who knows nothing about living or moving to Australia. I've had all my queries answered and got lots of invaluable info from here.

You guys are seasoned posters so it maybe worthwhile keeping in mind that not everyone is vbulletin guru and not everyone knows how internet forums work which is why you might be seeing a lot of repeat posts as they aren't being searched etc.

I don't have much time to be trawling back through posts either tbh, lifes to short. Make some stickies!!

woolymammoth

Ozeire wrote: »

I guess only way out of it is FAQ section not sure if that's possible in a forum of not.

sticky to a biki!?

we could start selectively responding only to intelligent questions.

brendansmith wrote: »

I found asking on this forum to be waaaaaaaay more sucessful than trawling through the nonsense which google churned up.

but the point is people won't even search this forum for previous answers never mind google.. I prefer when people have at least made some effort and come up with a genuine or original question.

hussey

as mandrake said we noticed and are working through some new stuff (all of us have jobs and so will take time)

I'm lucky as I use the internet all day to look here a few times a day, and I'll try close / redirect all lazy questions.

I have noticed a vast majority of new posts are from users with less than 50-100 posts which indictate they may not know how to use the search bar (or find the any key)

I guess with the economy in so much trouble everyone is asking the same question.

Please give us feedback on how to improve this.
Ideally we can move all generic questions into one thread
and leave more specific questions here.

I don't think it's gone to 'sh*t' but certainly the levels of "ireland is crap get me out of here, I'm too lazy to search" has gone up

But please - genuine feedback is welcome (even by PM)

Mackman

It can be annoying alright. I try to answer any questions that people have because i can understand where they're coming from. But asking a question like "how do i apply for visa??" is just rediculous.

Maybe a sticky for Visa's Only with links to all the info on the immigration website. The website can be a haystack to look through but all the info is there. And any specific questions for visa's can go in there too.

Maybe a sticky with "Places to See" (We had a thread on this not too ong ago AFAIR) or "Pro's and Con's of living in Sydney/Perth?melbourne/Brisbane etc."

hussey

brendansmith wrote: »

How about this,

A sticky where one poster, be it mod or aspiring mod, is deemed to be incharge and responsible for ensuring questions are answered accordingly called 'Ask (posters name)'

Not really a workable solution. If someone asked <name> a question in a sticky it could go unanswered for days/weeks.
Also if new who would you know to ask?

I can't see this working at all

pclancy

hussey wrote: »

I have noticed a vast majority of new posts are from users with less than 50-100 posts which indictate they may not know how to use the search bar (or find the any key)

You've hit the nail on the head there. Its always been like that on Boards, newbies stumble across the website and see a forum of interest and think oohhh i'll ask that question i've been thinking of without delving any deeper into the forum then page one. The only way around this is well placed highly visable stickies and good moderation. Many people just don't realise they can search the forum's past posts easily. We get 100s of "how do I become a pilot" threads in A&A even though theres lots of info in the stickies already. C'est la vie.

I think ANZ is a great forum and has plenty of good info for expats such as myself and for potential expats, visas are always going to be spoken about here so maybe the visa sticky is a good idea. Mods keep up the good work is my 2c!

brendansmith

hussey wrote: »

But please - genuine feedback is unwelcome (even by PM)

No probs.

pclancy

Feelgood

hussey wrote: »

Not really a workable solution. If someone asked <name> a question in a sticky it could go unanswered for days/weeks.
Also if new who would you know to ask?
I can't see this working at all

Me either to be honest as that would be going under the presumption the one person knows everything, which I think we can safely agree is not the case.

ballooba

Jumpy wrote: »

Because thats the way we say it over there.

ANZ

ANZAC

etc

ANZ is:
"Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) 2011 ABN 11 005 357 522"
ANZAC is:
"ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps."

Beachband

Reasons why this board becomes cluttered by the same questions asked & answered etc is because:

1. New posters are not aware of the search function.

2. New posters are aware of the search function, but - are looking for up to date relevant information concerning their query, so instead of replying to a query from an ancient post (where the answers suited that post) - a new thread suits better.

3. New posters think their query will be addressed sooner if they post a new thread, instead of replying with their own query to an ancient thread (they dont realise that an ancient thread will be bumped up to the top of the page, just like a new thread would).

4. New posters/Threads - A new thread increases importance, as opposed to posting a query from an ancient thread.

5. Laziness.

6. No Subforum (important) - which is the cause of clutter to the current platform.


I understand why the above happens and it's to be expected, but also it's not as if hundreds of identical threads are created/asked everyday either.

Xavi6

I think a thread for each state would be handy.

Doc

Xavi6 wrote: »

I think a thread for each state would be handy.

Typical W.A. If you guys could snap yourselfs of from the rest of Australia and float away you would.

myhorse

I'll go a little against the crowd here. While tedious at times seeing the same subjects being brought up at least it's generating footfall on the forum.

There were times here you could not logon for week and when you came back the first page still had the same threads with little or no activity over the period.

Forums live and die by their members activity and as (in proportion) we are but a small parish on boards.ie I think any increased thread counts is a good thing.

Xavi6

Doc wrote: »

Typical W.A. If you guys could snap yourselfs of from the rest of Australia and float away you would.

Biggest and best tbh :cool:

woolymammoth

still think we can have a biki, or multiple bikis, and link directly to it with a sticky. Wikis are great for FAQs and much more easily updated.

the_syco

Jumpy wrote: »

Yep.

:pac:

=-=

I'm here cos it popped on the main page.

Sticky, bold, caps, and flashing if possible: CHEAP FLIGHTS TO OZ & QUICK VISAs

Who cares if it's a half lie, it'll get most of the people coming to the forum.

First post should have little information, such as:

Cheapest flights, check out www.skyscanner.net
Want a Visa, check out X thread...

So the new people don't just see a block of info, say "screww this", and post a new thread.

Jumpy

If you need a thread merger, I am available. However as of April I will be on Aussie time. Not sure if thats good.

The Sweeper

Hmmmmm

Visa subforum would take care of a lot of the lazy visa questions. Make it strict - visa questions only.

Main forum stickies could include:

Managing your Finances in Oz - what cards will and won't work, sorting out a bank account, being aware of tax requirements, the going wage in different industries in different places, so on.
Doing your own Tax in Oz (could go under the finances one?)
Shipping - your whole life, some stuff, your pets
Renting - how to find accommodation before you get here and when you arrive

On a lot of forums on this site, there are stickied threads that don't really need to be stickied. The purpose of stickying a thread is to ensure that new users to a forum see it first and foremost before having to do a search on the forum, or before starting a new thread on the subject.

Stickying a thread is not to save lazy posters from having to look for it. There's a thread subscription function on vbulletin that lets you line up all your favourite threads - you're supposed to be using THAT to manage what you browse, not relying on the mods stickying threads.

Subseqently, megathreads could start off on the forum for each of the main cities and they could take off in popularity, but you don't need to sticky them. (Logically if they're that popular they'll keep appearing on the first two pages anyway as people contribute to them.)

This could also be said for 'places to see in [insert destination]' type threads and other similar threads about where to go, what to do, etc.

/my 2c.

hussey

Jumpy wrote: »

Yep.

ballooba wrote: »

Do you think that the way in which you dismissed that comment might be perceived as a bit nationalistic? Do you assume to speak for all Australians?

MOD Give it a rest you two.

bourgeois

People are going to come here and ask questions no matter what you do.
Some guys are pi$$ed at answering these questions non stop-then let someone else answer them.

The people asking these questions don't want a generic answer-they feel that their set of circumstances is unique and their question will have a different answer from everyone elses.

How much traffic to this forum is from newish users looking to ask questions on visas and that? I'd say the majority.

I suppose its better than the "wheres the best Irish bar in town" sh!te.

I don't post here that often. I pop in to see whats happening every so often. TBH the place is dead most of the time apart from the "lazy" questions as ye like to call em.

universe777

Anyone saying a forum is crap, I would question what their input has been into the forum.
Different people asking the same question or similar often might infuriate some people but this is 1 country and people coming here are going to have similar questions to ask.
Why limit answers to those questions to a handful of people and make that a sticky? A handful of people can't give totally accurate un-biased opinions or information.

If someone asks how much is a flight from X to Y that is just pure laziness.

If people are not happy with the forum may I give a suggestion, have a couple of sub forums like british expats - Immigration/Visas etc (for people wanting to come here) & The Barbie (for people already here)

Xavi6

universe777 wrote: »

Anyone saying a forum is crap, I would question what their input has been into the forum.
Different people asking the same question or similar often might infuriate some people but this is 1 country and people coming here are going to have similar questions to ask.
Why limit answers to those questions to a handful of people and make that a sticky? A handful of people can't give totally accurate un-biased opinions or information.

And that is why they should be using the search function because chances are that the answer is already there for them.

If someone asks how much is a flight from X to Y that is just pure laziness.

If people are not happy with the forum may I give a suggestion, have a couple of sub forums like british expats - Immigration/Visas etc (for people wanting to come here) & The Barbie (for people already here)

The problem with the subforum idea as suggest above is that you essentially cut the forum in half and establish two communities. However people coming over need the people already here so if they're posting in two different places then you lose that high level of support that does exist.

I don't the issue is people creating threads, it's lazy people creating threads before they bother their arse to look beyound page one.

woolymammoth

Xavi6 wrote: »

The problem with the subforum idea as suggest above is that you essentially cut the forum in half and establish two communities. However people coming over need the people already here so if they're posting in two different places then you lose that high level of support that does exist.

can't it be configured so that the main forum would also show all threads from subforums? that way there's no split, you see everything in the main forum, but you can still filter out specific information in a sub forum.

Spirow

I use google to search this forum all the time.
Typing site:boards.ie and your question here... works a treat
For example
http://www.google.com.au/search?q=site%3Aboards.ie+Where+can+I+get+an+Australian+visa&btnG=Search&hl=en&source=hp&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

I know, I know...many of you will already know this but it is a great tool for people looking for specific information on a site.

jank

I will help with a NZ FAQ if you want.

Zambia

Good stuff jank

Mackman

Spirow wrote: »

I use google to search this forum all the time.
Typing site:boards.ie and your question here... works a treat
For example
http://www.google.com.au/search?q=site%3Aboards.ie+Where+can+I+get+an+Australian+visa&btnG=Search&hl=en&source=hp&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

I know, I know...many of you will already know this but it is a great tool for people looking for specific information on a site.

Wow, i never even knew this existed.

:eek::o