So long Sin Boards. Long live Boards.ie.

TheCosmicFrog

I was at a Class Rep meeting today where it was announced that the Sin Boards will be discontinued in favour of this forum on Boards. Bit of a shame really. Sin is a sorry state this year. Not just the newspaper itself, but the website as well. The last digital issue they uploaded was back in November. The articles on the front page are ancient. I laughed at one, "Construction set to continue on campus" :rolleyes:

Reasons given by the SU President weren't very inspiring. Apparently the boards had "run their course". How exactly can a forum "run its course"? Apparently there were also people asking Sin to take down posts which could "damage their future job prospects". Things like arguments with other posters or general campus politics.

To me it just sounds like the Sin crowd don't want to maintain a forum anymore. What are our opinions on this?

brianthebard

In favour of this forum? Feck off if they think they can start spamming this thing. The SU president mightn't be so keen anyways once he finds the 'does the su president do anything?' thread.

dapto1

The Sin Boards used to be quality. Unfortunately due to a number of factors it's declined a huge amount. Not surprised it's getting closed though, with the opinion some in the SU have of it.

Ficheall

With the 500 odd posts made on the boards in the last couple of weeks, the excuse has gone from the sinboards 'not being used anymore' to 'not being used except by older people' - which is true. We've been tasked to get circa 150 regular posters posting by end of semester to save the sinboards. If they're being taken offline within the next week, that may be difficult, but I reckon it's worth a shot.
So register and get posting

dapto1

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

I was at a Class Rep meeting today where it was announced that the Sin Boards will be discontinued in favour of this forum on Boards.

I don't see why they can't both exist to be honest. They are quite different in tone.

Ficheall

Also -

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

To me it just sounds like the Sin crowd don't want to maintain a forum anymore.

SU is in charge of it. The revered Mr. Breslin created it as part of a competition they ran back in the day.
Theoretically it's the SU President who's admin, but neither of the last two Presidents have done any adminning whatsoever.
The moderators have left and not been replaced.

There's no "maintaining" being done to speak of...

CAI6

When I read it first I thought it was another one of those threads by the anti-SU people. But no. FEE WERE RIGHT! THEY WERE ALL RIGHT!!!

PomBear

brianthebard wrote: »

In favour of this forum? Feck off if they think they can start spamming this thing. The SU president mightn't be so keen anyways once he finds the 'does the su president do anything?' thread.

there's alot more of them on sin boards!

Squeeonline

1)Move the database to compsoc server / off site and pay for it thru advertising or donations.

2)Appoint a proper admin, someone who knows what they are doing and has experience with phpBB.

3) post

4) ???

5) profit.

CAI6

Whatever happened to Apoch's attic?

Ficheall

The offer of hosting it elsewhere has been made on a number of occasions, as have a number of people volunteered to admin/mod.

I wouldn't imagine that there should be any cost incurred in keeping the boards going properly moderated etc. If that's really an issue the SU has, then I'll pay for it.

CAI6

An extra euro in the student levy? Not like it would be noticed

Ficheall

Probably more like 1 cent per every 3 students...

TheCosmicFrog

Squeeonline wrote: »

1)Move the database to compsoc server

There's nothing wrong with Stampy 2.0 or whatever they're calling their new box. It's not a case of what server it's running on, it's a case of no one bothering to maintain the boards. Peter also mentioned that it was becoming "too much of a burden" on the SU, having to take down so many posts. Sounds like b*llocks to me.

The SU President also said they were becoming "too much of a burden" on the SU, having to take down so many posts. If this is the case, why don't they just elect some dedicated moderators and admins? It's not like they couldn't find someone to do it.

Proposition:
Perhaps a "Save the Sin Boards" campaign should be launched? We try to bring the Sin Boards back to their former glory. This would involve communicating with the SU to elect some new admins/mods and get an article in Sin pushing the "new Sin Boards". Opinions?

Croppy Bhoy

What exactly is the problem with the boards anyway? Why do they need more mods? As a forum admin and a user of several other message boards, it's usually moderators who ruin sites.

Ficheall wrote: »

Probably more like 1 cent per every 3 students...

This. I run a message board with a couple of hundred users and it costs no more than €100 a year.

aperture_nuig

Ficheall wrote: »

Also -


SU is in charge of it. The revered Dr. Breslin created it as part of a competition they ran back in the day.
Theoretically it's the SU President who's admin, but neither of the last two Presidents have done any adminning whatsoever.
The moderators have left and not been replaced.

There's no "maintaining" being done to speak of...

FYP

I also cannot see why the sinboards are being taken down. Stinks of laziness IMHO.

Columc

complete and utter laziness

Squeeonline

I did see an address to www.boards.sin.ie on a board in my lecture this morning. Well done!

snubbleste

Meh spottedingalway forums was better back in the last century.

TheCosmicFrog

I think the most pathetic/hilarious suggestion mentioned by the President was limiting posting to NUIG IP addresses only. Yes, because people will go to an NUIG PC suite just to post on a forum.

brianthebard

FF'er in not understanding the internet shocker. :pac:

Pupito

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

I think the most pathetic/hilarious suggestion mentioned by the President was limiting posting to NUIG IP addresses only. Yes, because people will go to an NUIG PC suite just to post on a forum.

It's as if the bebo and facebook bans never happened!

Nuggles

So the SU does nothing for an entire year, as always, then randomly decide to get rid of a message board that takes next to zero effort on their part to deal with.

And only give a week's notice. For shame.

Who do I complain to about this?

Ficheall

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

I think the most pathetic/hilarious suggestion mentioned by the President was limiting posting to NUIG IP addresses only. Yes, because people will go to an NUIG PC suite just to post on a forum.

Granted, I wasn't at the meeting - but the suggestion that was put to Peter, and indeed his predecessor, was that only @nuigalway.ie email addresses could be used to register, and only members could access certain areas of the site? Perhaps that was the issue which was confused somewhere along the line?

Squeeonline

brianthebard wrote: »

FF'er in not understanding the internet shocker. :pac:

obvious troll.

Mannion is not in FF.

Nuggles

I'm pretty sure it was a joke. . . .

TheCosmicFrog

Nuggles wrote: »

So the SU does nothing for an entire year, as always, then randomly decide to get rid of a message board that takes next to zero effort on their part to deal with.

And only give a week's notice. For shame.

Who do I complain to about this?

su.president@nuigalway.ie

Nuggles

Does he actually respond to emails?

Ficheall

He's never responded to mine.

But it's best to maintain a positive outlook.

TheCosmicFrog

Education Officer always answers mine within a few minutes. No idea about the President.

Nuggles

What's his email address so? I'll harass him a bit.

Canvasser

right decision to get rid of those bloody sin boards. a lot of libelous accusations do be thrown out on them :mad:

Ficheall

edit:

TheCosmicFrog wrote: »

Education Officer always answers mine within a few minutes. No idea about the President.

True. Emmet's awesome.

Perhaps one ought to email all the officers simultaneously?

su[dot]president[at]nuigalway[dot]ie
su[dot]gaeilge[at]nuigalway[dot]ie
su[dot]socs[at]nuigalway[dot]ie
su[dot]education[at]nuigalway[dot]ie
su[dot]equality[at]nuigalway[dot]ie
su[dot]postgrad[at]nuigalway[dot]ie
su[dot]welfare[at]nuigalway[dot]ie
su[dot]develop[at]nuigalway[dot]ie
su[dot]clubs[at]nuigalway[dot]ie


(These emails are on the SU website http://www.su.nuigalway.ie/ hidden under the "Officers" tab).
I can't remember if this is one of those fora where one isn't allowed post public email addresses. If it is, apologies.

Nuggles

Canvasser wrote: »

right decision to get rid of those bloody sin boards. a lot of libelous accusations do be thrown out on them :mad:

Ah yeah, but it's great craic.

Ficheall

Canvasser wrote: »

right decision to get rid of those bloody sin boards. a lot of libelous accusations do be thrown out on them :mad:

Aye - it's unfortunate that the SU hasn't bothered their arses administrating and appointing mods to keep that in check, eh?


Also - you accusing other posters of libel is bit of the pot calling the kettle black, is it not?

Columc

The sin boards have gone years without a proper moderation, which in terms let the users just post pointless and irrelvant junk o nthe forums, which in turn, makes the forum a horrific place to actualy post about proper going on in college. If they really want to do somethingm nuke the entire boad(exception for the society/clubs sections incause specifi societies want to keep their older posts) and start from fresh with a proper set up moderation team with forum rules/charters that know how to maintain a online disccusion board.

The only good thing about the student union this year is the vice-presidents. both of them have/are working hard in their jobs and reply quickly to any emails given to them, unline the president in which i havent recived an email back from him(sent roughly 5 to him throughout the year).

Ficheall

Columc wrote: »

If they really want to do somethingm nuke the entire boad(exception for the society/clubs sections incause specifi societies want to keep their older posts) and start from fresh with a proper set up moderation team with forum rules/charters that know how to maintain a online disccusion board.

There's no need to nuke the entire board. What's their can be tidied up and built upon. No one likes posting on a forum with no content.

There is definitely room for a large "Stuff" thread, which most of the past couple of years' postings belong to - but there's no real reason to delete it.

Columc

nuke it, nuke it all!

Canvasser

Ficheall wrote: »

Aye - it's unfortunate that the SU hasn't bothered their arses administrating and appointing mods to keep that in check, eh?


Also - you accusing other posters of libel is bit of the pot calling the kettle black, is it not?

who have i libeled?

dapto1

Canvasser wrote: »

right decision to get rid of those bloody sin boards. a lot of libelous accusations do be thrown out on them :mad:

That's part of its charm!

Ficheall

To an extent, agreed.

But I do believe posters should be accountable for what they post.

ValJester

Ficheall wrote: »

There's no need to nuke the entire board. What's their can be tidied up and built upon. No one likes posting on a forum with no content.

There is definitely room for a large "Stuff" thread, which most of the past couple of years' postings belong to - but there's no real reason to delete it.

I'd argue the decline more so came down to the fact that the conversation on the boards had disintegrated into the same endless nonsense than anything else.

Ficheall

ValJester wrote: »

I'd argue the decline more so came down to the fact that the conversation on the boards had disintegrated into the same endless nonsense than anything else.

I've spent long enough in the college to see the same nonsense manifest in every aspect of life again, and again, and again...
People having the same conversations as people every year before have had, all thinking they're terribly terribly original.

Anyway

Apparently the exec are having "another" decision on the sinboards just after 5ish this evening.

So if anyone who wants the boards kept would send them an email, it would probably be no harm...

Robbo

My account it still for sale so save them.

Unless those horse**** lazy megathreads "What made you BAAAAWWWW today" are still going, in which case, nuke it from orbit.

Ficheall

The BH and WH threads are there, I'm afraid.


Coincidentally, there has been a massive bot attack on the boards this afternoon. There hasn't been one in months. Unfortunately this evening Rob had promised to bring the topic of deletion up with the exec once more - now all they'll see is hundreds of spam posts. I can't delete them all as I've very limited mod powers.

After this, I strongly encourage you all to send an email to the exec if you'd like the boards kept. I CCd the SU General Manager, the Sin editor, and the assistant manager.

Croppy Bhoy

So what exactly is the problem with the SIN boards? Inactivity? Spam?

Squeeonline

Robbo wrote: »

My account it still for sale so save them.

Unless those horse**** lazy megathreads "What made you BAAAAWWWW today" are still going, in which case, nuke it from orbit.

Yeah so glad boards.ie isnt like that :rolleyes:

Ficheall

Croppy Bhoy wrote: »

So what exactly is the problem with the SIN boards? Inactivity? Spam?

Not entirely sure.
Almost 50 different people have posted on the boards within the last month.
The better part of a thousand posts made in the last two weeks.
Inactivity, therefore, isn't really a reasonable argument.

There is a problem with spam - because the boards haven't been updated in years, the admin doesn't care about it, and most of the mods have left. Any spam that we are able to deal with, with our limited powers, is dealt with fairly swiftly.

aperture_nuig

Ficheall wrote: »

Not entirely sure.
Almost 50 different people have posted on the boards within the last month.
The better part of a thousand posts made in the last two weeks.
Inactivity, therefore, isn't really a reasonable argument.

There is a problem with spam - because the boards haven't been updated in years, the admin doesn't care about it, and most of the mods have left. Any spam that we are able to deal with, with our limited powers, is dealt with fairly swiftly.

Can we not just make a new mod team which will actually mod, replace said admin and update the boards?

..and after trawling this thread and most of the sin boards, I still cannot find even a half decent reason for closing it down.

Nuggles

Just to update, the plan to get rid of the boards, seem to have been shelved for the moment.

po0k

Robbo wrote: »

My account it still for sale so save them.

Unless those horse**** lazy megathreads "What made you BAAAAWWWW today" are still going, in which case, nuke it from orbit.

I proffer 2.4 cans of hot piss.