Any "dinosaurs" for 2014 on here?

Peterdalkey

Am I alone in thinking that this forum might benefit from an update to it’s charter?

It would be a shame were it to go down the same road as the “accountancy” sister board, where it is mostly used by students and trainees and genuine business related queries elicit very sparse responses, if any! This probably explains why so many topics germane to that forum end up on here. Personally, I have absolutely no issue with students seeking information on here, but I do think they should be obliged to identify themselves as such. Theory and the practical often vary widely in the real business world.

In my view, the race to embrace Political Correctness mitigates negatively against common sense, pragmatic advice and discourse. Is it reasonable to suppress the normal conversational and communication roles of mirth, puns and indeed appropriate sarcasm? Are we supposed to support to the right to post stupid posts but cast smart answers/ripostes into the flames of hell? I am not in any way espousing the use of course, foul or crude language but there are times when posing a question in the vernacular , such as, “ are ya mad in the head or whah?” is quite sound and logical, but of course not PC! The very process of engaging in a rebuttal can very often assist the querist in ordering their ideas and add greatly to their reaching a suitable outcome.

With “Marketing” closed, “Accountancy” being at where it is and “PR” and “Event Management” effectively moribund, this forum is effectively the only platform on boards.ie for businesspeople to interact. Those involved in business are well able to stand up their own views and defend their positions and those who are not will soon learn it is a vital component to stay in business.

I am sure there are more topics that would benefit from clarification or at least adult debate.

Peterdalkey

Other than me of course!

Jesus Wept

If your aim was to alienate readers, you've made a good stab at it
It appears you do not understand the term 'political correctness'.

Peterdalkey

Our Year wrote: »

If your aim was to alienate readers, you've made a good stab at it
It appears you do not understand the term 'political correctness'.

Not a question of understanding, rather one of not accepting having it forced upon me. I am only on here to debate, learn and share the little I know.

Nonetheless, I do appreciate you taking the time to respond.

Peter

Nika Bolokov

I think that PeterDalkey is right. You see fewer and fewer business owners in the forum over the past 18-24 months. Long gone are posters like Hammertime and Mickk who were always a source of great points and information.

There are now a lot of posts by students are younger posters looking for info on importing goods from China without any balance given by other posters setting up more complex businesses.

It would be a shame for this forum to go the same way as the accountancy forum and hopefully the mods take heed of PeterDalkey lest it loose him too.

Gloomtastic!

I've been here long enough to understand that all the silly stuff happens over in AH, while over here on the serious side we need to behave ourselves.

I used to be a member of a tech forum many years ago that was a great place to hang out, bouncing ideas off each other and teaching/learning new skills. However, they were pretty lax in their rules and the place soon descended into pit of bile where all new comers looking for advise were derided and ridiculed until soon nobody new ever came along.

There is a forum on here somewhere that positively encourages you to let loose and blaspheme all around you.

Peterdalkey

Gloomtastic, I am not suggesting anything of that ilk, if you read what I actually said, I contend that on some fronts we need more rules/guidelines! I do not seek any coarse language etc.
I do however wish to see more of a focus on Business Management and Enterprise. The bitcoin thread is a classic example of what I mean, where are all the prolific posters on that topic since? They ran out of road on "Investing" and moved their playground on here.

Gloomtastic!

Peterdalkey wrote: »

Gloomtastic, I am not suggesting anything of that ilk, if you read what I actually said, I contend that on some fronts we need more rules/guidelines! I do not seek any coarse language etc.
I do however wish to see more of a focus on Business Management and Enterprise. The bitcoin thread is a classic example of what I mean, where are all the prolific posters on that topic since? They ran out of road on "Investing" and moved their playground on here.

But I believe that trying to dictate whether a thread is worthy of our time or not is a bad thing. Anybody should be free to post here on any topic relating to business and likewise we are free to answer if we wish or not.

Business is business is business - all encompassing. I don't understand why we even have Event Management or PR as separate fora for example. They are two areas of business that I have considerable experience yet very rarely visit.

I say less fragmentation, not more. You don't know what you might miss!

Peterdalkey

Thanks Gloomster. We often seem to have a differing view on things, which is great for trying to understand another's perspective.

I was not suggesting censorship, just that student posts specify upfront that that is what they are. So there is little between us on that one. I agree with you on the EM and PR forums.

Graham

Student/homework posts should most certainly declare their purpose up front. This would benefit everyone (including the OPs) as such a declaration is likely to fundamentally alter the course of the thread.

I think it's fair to say the E & B M forum has definitely evolved over the last few years and the forum charter would probably benefit from being updated to reflect that. Perhaps the powers that be should also consider introducing the prefix system for new threads (as seen in the development forum). I find myself mentally categorising new threads anyway although I doubt my classification scheme would be appropriate (Entrepreneur, Wantrepreneur, Business Management, Random Idea Wall Chuck, Logistics, ImpExBay, WotBIB, MammyheadPat, Homework, Clueless, Advertising, Low-rent SEO).

EamonOSullivan

Graham wrote: »

Student/homework posts should most certainly declare their purpose up front. This would benefit everyone (including the OPs) as such a declaration is likely to fundamentally alter the course of the thread.

I think it's fair to say the E & B M forum has definitely evolved over the last few years and the forum charter would probably benefit from being updated to reflect that. Perhaps the powers that be should also consider introducing the prefix system for new threads (as seen in the development forum). I find myself mentally categorising new threads anyway although I doubt my classification scheme would be appropriate (Entrepreneur, Wantrepreneur, Business Management, Random Idea Wall Chuck, Logistics, ImpExBay, WotBIB, MammyheadPat, Homework, Clueless, Advertising, Low-rent SEO).

This classification is worthy of a ( humourous ) thread of it's own! I have self-categorised my post for the purposes of clarity.....

Back on topic, people asking questions for their masters paper should in my view not be tolerated. These type of questions only clog up the forum and the responses are generally not massively useful because they are based on theoretical issues, not practical problems that businesspeople have to face day day out.

The charter could easily be updated to exclude these sort of questions so that readers of this forum could be assured that topics covered are practical and applicable. We can all look up textbooks for the theory - personally I like to hear from someone who has held the dirty end of the stick that is business in Ireland ( and elsewhere).

DubTony

So would a new charter mean that my ridiculous answers to ridiculous questions would be frowned upon (if they aren't already)?

This may or may not be viewed as a ridiculous qustion

Peterdalkey

DubTony wrote: »

So would a new charter mean that my ridiculous answers to ridiculous questions would be frowned upon (if they aren't already)?

This may or may not be viewed as a ridiculous qustion

Well it is a good one! From what I can see it is only "smart" answers that draw the wrath of the gods!

terryhobdell

DubTony wrote: »

So would a new charter mean that my ridiculous answers to ridiculous questions would be frowned upon (if they aren't already)?

This may or may not be viewed as a ridiculous qustion

I would hope not DubTony.