Whats wrong with the forum and how to correct it?

andy_g

Ok guys and gals.

Im coming to ask you our users where we need improvement to help us right the forum.

Im doing this off my own back and want to hear your feedback.

Please keep strictly to the topic and civil.

Im going to ask my fellow mods to stay out of this until we see what everyone wants. If there is a question directed to you by all means answer it.
Andy

Stheno

As a browser this forum is my go to place for anything aviation, anytime I've posted a question here, it has been answered with courtesy which I appreciate

knockon

Nothing Andy in my opinion. The threads are solid and really are all aviation related and you can't really legislate for the users. If someone has a question on cabin baggage or a question on anything else aviation related then there they are aviation questions. If anything the classification under Transport could be looked at. Maybe a separate Aviation section? As above .....This is my place to go for "Gen" on what's happening.

JCX BXC

I think there is two groups of posters here that seem to be causing a bit of tension. There's the established posters with alot of experience in the aviation industry, patience can sometimes be short with newer posters with little experience but an interest in aviation. Of course the newer posters post stupid questions etc but that is usually sorted out with a bit of Mod guildence

There's the problem of trolls, who fit into neither of these groups. The mods can be slow to respond, but its hard to know where the line of a new inexperienced poster and a troll lies imo.

Also, in relation to the people who seem to get annoyed at the extreme activity in the FR24 thread. I think if ya don't like it, unfollow it and don't post in it. Alot of users do like it and personally I think it's fine the way it is.

So to sum it up, I don't think there should be anything changed, although a slight change in attitudes wouldn't do any harm.

sully2010

I would say the problem is a lack of moderation Andy. There are moderators who you see here pretty much every day and their opinions, contributions and moderation are very much appreciated.

Unfortunately I cant say that about all the moderators in this forum, some who you don't see for weeks on end;)

highlydebased

There is one key issue at hand- it's a small number of users getting a bit too passionate about saying their piece on an internet forum.

This forum has a really diverse audience, those who work in a variety of jobs in the industry in Ireland and overseas who are willing to share their experiences with strangers on the internet out of shared interest and passion. Anoraks enthusiasts like myself have learned tonnes from these people over the years and that's something we should all be grateful for. It sets the tone of the forum as a knowledgeable one. Feckacting around though, just makes people not want to come back or post anymore.

Everyone has their own opinions and things they feel passionate about, we all know what these kind of things are, but jumping in at any opportunity for this kind of ranting and raving and willy waving is far from ideal.

In short, the only way for the issue to be sorted is to take a moment before posting and think is what I'm about to post going to add genuine value or is it just going to rile other users up in some way. Remember this is only a forum and making it a highly politicised place just over some trivial detail is not worth it. I feel the below image is a good reference.

arubex

I like the split that PPrune made; the pros can post in their own sub-forum whereas enthusiasts can chatter away in geeky detail in the Spectator's Balcony.

Occasionally some cross-over into the other but in general their conversations go in different directions with different aims.

Anoraks enthusiasts like myself have learned tonnes from these people over the years and that's something we should all be grateful for.

It goes the other way, too. Many people who work in the industry don't know much in great depth beyond their particular sphere; they're busy doing their jobs after all. I've had mainline pilots ask me questions that any enthusiast could answer, at first I was surprised but upon reflection I suppose they need to specialise like doctors do.

The forum is mostly fine as it stands, it generally reflects modern day life now, people who shoot their mouths off without thinking and then either not apologising or taking far to long to admit they were wrong in the first place.

The only issues I find are the new posters, the ones with less than 100 posts, these people need heavy moderation, some forums don't publish their posts till they have hit a magic number of posts, why you ask, because this forum attracts odd jobs (trolls) a certain one from the west for example who has set up about a dozen accounts to troll this forum. Weeding them out early would sort a lot of pain. The most recent one in the last 48 hrs I feel was let go for far to long before being sorted out. Back seat modding also needs sorting I've seen one individual on one particular topic acting very much like a MOD and speaking to others in way that should immediately be slapped down on (it puts people off).

Yes it's hard for us that have more knowledge of a particular subject field to get people to accept that what is being said to them by that particular poster is correct and right, it gets frustrating, other posters need to step back and accept the answer, but that is hard for posters who just pop in for a post or two and don't know poster XYZ is actually a professional 777 pilot flying for X airline with 200 years experience. These pro posters can't publish they have said experience for personal and professional reasons. Social media policies are rife within the aviation industry, you can see why when people can watch and listen to ATCOs and pilots having a barney at the holding point and within 5 mins it's being live tweeted on the Internet.

To surmise leave well alone mostly just heavily mod newbies to weed out the trolls quickly and a bit more patience from the professionals and avgeeks and blowins.

knucklehead6

The only changes i'd even contemplate ( and i expect to get shot down for this) would be a list of a who's who.

Unfortunately we do have a few Walter Mitty's that post here from time to time, and yes, they are easily noticed, but there are some who manage to fly beneath the radar and then post as if from a position of experience.

Maybe if there was a thread, managed by the mods of that gave some idea as to who is flight crew and at the business end, who are cabin crew, who are ground crew, and who are good old fashioned plane/plain nerdy self loading cargo.

I know this would require administration, but some of the posters here go on as if they are Chuck Yeager, when they are more of a Charlie Brown, and that leads to a small degree of tension

I only have one issue with this forum......

That us Plane Finder users are sorely discriminated against by the title of the FR24 thread! :P

Apart from that (non)issue, is place has been in good nick to my eyes!

In fact, I might change my name to that I was on PPRuNe..........nosefirsteverytime!

Long Time Lurker

arubex wrote: »

I like the split that PPrune made; the pros can post in their own sub-forum whereas enthusiasts can chatter away in geeky detail in the Spectator's Balcony.

.

As a "geeky enthusiast" I find that rather condescending at best and actually its an attitude (thankfully) which is generally absent from in here. This absence of any superiority complexes is what makes in here so inviting towards us mere enthusiasts.

I've learned so much about the aviation industry in here and hope to continue to do so. As my name suggests I've lurked in here for years - long before I ever posted - in an attempt to bring myself up to some sort of respectability knowledge wise. I've gone from a nervous flyer and a person who always had an ignorant but enthusiastic interest in Aircraft to someone who can now enjoy a flight and know what's going on while I'm at it. To the experienced and industry savvy person in here this might not seem like a big deal but to the ordinary eejit its a great help.

Yup for sure there'll always be a keyboard warrior but I don't think that's gonna change whether or not you segregate the geeks from the pros. I really hope that never happens. I genuinely am very thankful to all the very knowledgeable folk in here who've very simply educated me in the ways of the aircraft world and changed my flying from what was a chore to something I now very much enjoy.

dzilla

Or maybe the forum could continue as normal (a very good forum and the best on boards IMO) and the high horse brigade can climb down and stop trying to keep it aristocratic. Where does it end? Will you have to present your PPL before posting or having an opinion in the future?

PukkaStukka

sully2010 wrote: »

I would say the problem is a lack of moderation Andy. There are moderators who you see here pretty much every day and their opinions, contributions and moderation are very much appreciated.

Unfortunately I cant say that about all the moderators in this forum, some who you don't see for weeks on end;)

To be fair to the mods and this is based on my own experience of moderating a site elsewhere before, it really can be the most thankless of thankless jobs. Believe me, for all of the problems being highlighted here, this site is far better than some on boards.ie and even generally out there.

If you have a liberal approach to moderation, you are accused of being light touch and not doing enough, allowing the undesirables to take root.

If you moderate more assertively, you are accused of stifling discussion, being overbearing, following an agenda, being biased et al.

It really is incredibly difficult to be all things to all men and women, and perhaps the right thing to do is the counter-instinctive thing to do, and that's to ignore what annoys us rather than be upset by it.

Irish Steve

If this forum becomes anything like Pprune is now, the numbers posting will plummet like a stone, and it will be the beginning of the end for the forum.

Pprune has gone downhill badly since it was sold off to "professional operators", and it's impossible to keep track of discussions in very active threads, as the moderation there are aggressively removing massive numbers of posts all the time.

The biggest issue here is the people who are trolling, identifying them and blocking them is a pain, and is dependant on the moderators being available to take action, and the known issue there is the fundamental one of having to do the day job, and there are times when there are no moderators on line, so things can get heated very quickly with no one available to do anything about it.

Don't be in a hurry to change anything, unless there is suddenly a surge of posts all suggesting the same changes, which I think is unlikely, I would anticipate that with schools and colleges returning to action now, there will be a change in the activity levels which will resolve most of the issues.

MoeJay

Just my 2c...

Enforce the charter; e.g. a sticky about baggage/booking/delay/diversion/disruption consumer based issues with a friendly pointer to the travel forum. Those who are only visiting the forum for that reason probably don't read the charter first.

Making sure the "ask the airline pilot" thread actually is such a thing....i.e. asking and answering questions.

Sticky thread for pilot training for recreational/leisure purpose issues, questions, resources etc., and a similar one for commercially minded people - to avoid the same questions being asked over and over in new threads.

Other forums (fora?) have toyed with the idea of checking out people's credentials but in practice I don't think it's entirely workable. Generally speaking the spoofers get found out pretty readily.

If people are getting worked up in front of the keyboard then it's probably time to go and do something else! I have found the report/ignore function usually works pretty well instead of getting caught up in whatever...trolls will troll.

I don't find too much that dissenting opinions (when well presented) are necessarily shot down; no point in throwing a hissy fit if someone disagrees with you, such is life!!

Generally speaking the forum is pretty good; that's probably why "non-standard inputs" stick out so obviously...

martinsvi

I arrived on this forum almost 4 years ago and back then it was a very different place - it was full of knowledgeable people answering genuine questions from people willing to learn. Nowadays it gets flooded with things that either are irrelevant to forum or same questions get asked again and again without ever bothering to use the search function - this obviously creates some friction.

Here's what I think needs to be done:

1) too many topics on this forum have nothing to do with aviation & aircraft - which airline is the best? which meal I should order? when does check in starts? how do I get a seat together with my SO? Frankly I think that's travel chatter, not A&A

2) we have a fantastic thread called "Ask the Airline pilot" - if you go back to very first pages you see real questions followed by real answers.. lately it has turned into some chatterbox, with posts - although still containing useful info, should probably have their own topic or two. If you can keep this thread as a genuine FAQ, new users should have no excuse in coming in and asking same questions again and again.

3) I see no issue with folks discussing FR24.. I genuinely don't care about it, if folks have the need to discuss go-arounds, by all means have fun, as long as you can keep all your (non)events in one topic and not flood the forum with occasional 3 or 4 whenever there's a diversion

4) I plead guilty in having short temper thus I will try not to post at all when feeling annoyed

keith16

Very little wrong IMO. Well run and enjoyable forum.

The only thing I would say is that I don't think the "off topic" thread is always that. Lots of aviation chatter in there.

peter1892

I'd agree with previous comments regarding a 'so you want to be an airline pilot' sticky and the movement of questions related to check-in/seat reservations etc to the Travel forums.

I'd hate to see any kind of pprune-esque split where the professionals have their own section, mostly as I enjoy reading the opinions of those who work in the industry on the various topical issues.

Overall I've found this forum to be extremely enjoyable and very much inclusive of all those who have an interest in aviation. Moderation has been handled well and without the heavy handedness I've seen elsewhere (not necessarily boards.ie).

GTE

My opinion on this is that there is nothing wrong with the forum.

Like it or not, Boards.ie is a large forum with users whose interests span countless areas.

It is not fair or reasonable to expect the userbase to stay segregated to the forums which suit their personal interests. It goes against the advantage of having a single account, which access to information on nearly anything you could think of. Probably, this goes against the fundamental essence of what the site is about.

Given the above and the recent change to the Topic layout which has made the forum more visible to users (a great change, IMO); there will always be people who want relatively basic questions answered.

Afterall, this is the aviation forum. Where else would you want the basic questions sent to and how do you think that forum userbase would like it?

I have noticed this general issue come up in other Boards forums which are somewhat specialist. If the more experienced users have an issue with this, my view has always been for them to go to the extreme of their convictions and setup their own forum or cop on to the fact that this is an open community.

The Motors forum has a lot of newbies who ask basic questions, and they either get answered or filter down away from the front page. This forum is very slow compared to Motors, so perhaps the basic threads being seen for longer causes issues, which if true, is such a silly thing to get annoyed about.

If there are trolls, the mods need to step up but if it is a case that more experienced A&A users are not happy with an influx of new users and/or basic questions, then I can't take that seriously.

Storm 10

I enjoy the forum but I find if someone posts something lets say about Dublin Airport after a while it strays completely off what the starting topic was about. I would urge users to stick to the opening topic and not post things that have no bearing on the post that was started.

smurfjed

According to the list at the bottom of this page, there are 9 moderators controlling this forum, but lately i have only seen two of them responding to issues, and in those cases they responded with infractions, warnings and even a ban.

As for the Malahide guy, that went on for far too long.

So I would like to ask, where are the moderators?

St. Leibowitz

I think the forum works very well, and has a broad cross section of users. I'm an enthusiast, not a professional, but I have been able to make good contributions, and answer questions. I have also learned an enormous amount from the other posters, professional and enthusiast alike.

I used to be a keen reader and contributor to the photography forum on boards years ago. It was a friendly and informative forum. Then something happened, not sure what, and over a few months it became an elitist and obnoxious place to visit. I dropped in about a year ago (maybe longer), having seen a post on the most recent posts on the home page, and discovered that not much seems to have changed. Apart from that visit, I haven't even viewed that forum for years. I'd hate to see this forum go the same way.

Please don't make changes which would give "professional" posters more weight, or separate them out. There are quite a few on here, and how they currently interact is fantastic. As I've said, I've learned a lot here, and find it very relaxed and friendly.

Finally, I think it's a great idea to look at something that appears to be working well, and ask if it can be done better. Great idea andy_g, and the opportunity to comment is much appreciated.

smurfjed

smurfjed wrote: »

According to the list at the bottom of this page, there are 9 moderators controlling this forum, but lately i have only seen two of them responding to issues, and in those cases they responded with infractions, warnings and even a ban.

As for the Malahide guy, that went on for far too long.

So I would like to ask, where are the moderators?

I think we have only 2 dedicated mods for A&A whereas the other 7 cover a multitude of forums and boards on boards.ie and are probably only in here when a post is reported and the dedicated aren't available. One MOD hasn't posted in over 2 months and then only 3 times in 4 months !

EICVD

Nothing wrong with it in my opinion bar the obvious idiot troll asking the same ridiculous questions every 20 minutes. The non frequent flyer constantly asked questions are annoying of course but I just simply don't read them.

sjb25

Very little wrong I don't work in aviation at all but I am interested in it a lot of things I haven't a clue of but it has always been answered by people who know more than me which is great I realy enjoy reading the posts here

I think a problem arises when somebody like me who only has a passing interest asks a silly question or makes a silly comment the silly part is not the problem iv made what turned out to silly comments/questions and I have been corrected and accepted the correction a problem starts when somebody who hasn't a clue starts trying to say the are right and everybody elese is wrong and this ends up exploding
Just my 2 cents from looking in
In general the forum is fine the way it is

LXFlyer

By and large the forum is fine.

I'd also echo what other people are saying - if people are annoying you, then simply add them to your "ignore" list, while also drawing moderators' attention to their posts by reporting it. That will always draw their attention to the problem faster.

I do that if necessary (and I'm not referring specifically to A & A here) and find that it does reduce blood pressure significantly and make reading the forum a lot easier.

You are always going to have issues with perhaps younger newbie posters who while being enthusiastic, may ask 1,000 questions, but generally a well worded post will make them see sense. This clearly didn't work recently for whatever reason with one poster.

People are always going to disagree, that's life, but I think an amount of respect for one another is not much to ask for, and for people to remember that boards.ie is a general forum, which means that not everyone is an aviation specialist! A bit of balance and common sense on all sides is required.

I do think that there might be a need to reassign moderaton to people who have a more specific interest in this field (while not having a vested interest). Some of those listed appear to be there simply because the forum is now a sub-forum of motoring & transport.

We appear to have three active A & A moderators (andy g, tenger and lord lucan) - perhaps you may need one or two more who understand the area better.

I do think that the travel queries (check in times etc) do need to be despatched to the travel forum a bit quicker. It can be a fine line, but perhaps questions about the aircraft are appropriate here.

Other than that, I think highlydebased's post above (#6) sums it up perfectly.

Wise Old Elf

My opinion is that there's a nice balance of enthusiasts and pros and I like the forum as is. It's where I go to when I hear of something aviation related (e.g. like the fire in the hangar in Dublin yesterday), where you're more likely to get some informed opinion/information.
I'm an enthusiast though, so I read more often than I post though, I might appear in the FR24 or the pics thread more often than anywhere else.
I know the travel questions can be frustrating, but that's not specific to A & A, stuff is posted in the wrong area of boards in every forum, especially with newly registered users.

Edit: I don't think I'd like to see it split into a pros/enthusiasts side. It has already been said, but I agree the experiences of those in the industry add greatly to this forum.

Ruu

I just pop in and put occasionally, I really enjoy the forum. It is one I dont feel intimidated by (unlike some other forums).Those mentioning about moderation, how long do you have to wait before action is taken? Keep in mind most have day jobs and go to bed at normal hours. Do you report posts that you see a problem with? It is impossible and unfair for a moderator who does this in their spare time, to have to trawl through pages to find the issue.

IRLConor

PukkaStukka wrote: »

To be fair to the mods and this is based on my own experience of moderating a site elsewhere before, it really can be the most thankless of thankless jobs. Believe me, for all of the problems being highlighted here, this site is far better than some on boards.ie and even generally out there.

If you have a liberal approach to moderation, you are accused of being light touch and not doing enough, allowing the undesirables to take root.

If you moderate more assertively, you are accused of stifling discussion, being overbearing, following an agenda, being biased et al.

It really is incredibly difficult to be all things to all men and women, and perhaps the right thing to do is the counter-instinctive thing to do, and that's to ignore what annoys us rather than be upset by it.

I dunno, I modded a forum here and went on to work for Boards.ie for a few years (and hence had ban/siteban powers everywhere on the site). I almost never regretted banning someone but I frequently regretted not banning someone sooner. If in doubt, nuke 'em from a height. Things can always be straightened out later if the poster is reasonable. If they're not reasonable then there's no harm in leaving them banned.

Other than that the only suggestion I'd have for the mods is to be a little more free about moving threads to the Travel forum.

Oh and as a former mod, please, please, please use the report post function and never engage with a troublesome user on-thread.

PukkaStukka

IRLConor wrote: »

I dunno, I modded a forum here and went on to work for Boards.ie for a few years (and hence had ban/siteban powers everywhere on the site). I almost never regretted banning someone but I frequently regretted not banning someone sooner. If in doubt, nuke 'em from a height. Things can always be straightened out later if the poster is reasonable. If they're not reasonable then there's no harm in leaving them banned.

Other than that the only suggestion I'd have for the mods is to be a little more free about moving threads to the Travel forum.

Oh and as a former mod, please, please, please use the report post function and never engage with a troublesome user on-thread.

Agree with most of this but will add that in my experience that whilst the "nuke from a height option" was great at taking out a troublemaker, it sometimes created more trouble as the nuked troll was usually accompanied by a cluster of minions. These invariably threw their toys out of the pram and then the pram itself. I could go on about how vicious some of it got including nasty and violent threats being made off board, getting nuisance phone calls at home at 3am etc etc.

But back on topic and I have to agree with the general sentiment that moderation here is ok, perhaps a little under-staffed at times, but it is still a thankless job being a mod!

martinsvi

oh I just remembered another thing that gets my blood boiling - every time a crash happens forum fills up with armchair investigators who insist on speculating about possible causes being 10000km away from the site and having no facts known whatsoever.. that thing has to stop - I mean once facts start coming in (e.g. we get pictures of debris field, weather report at the time of the incident, cargo manifest etc), nothing wrong with a healthy discussion about what the known facts might indicate, but as it was in the case of Germanwings where some of the people desperately tried to "prove" their hypoxia speculation just minutes after a crash basing that on absolutely nothing - now that I don't like!

smurfjed

This was one of the topics that kicked off in the last month, from this posting to the moderator taking action was almost 24 hours and 26 messages later. That's why I asked the question where are the moderators?

08-08-2015, 21:17 #27
fr336
Jesus I hope SOMEBODY would if they suspected you were over the limits and about to fly ME somewhere. Some God complex some of you guys have here, guessing you're members of Pprune too.

09-08-2015, 20:28 #53
lord lucan
Moderator

I've issued a number of warnings and infractions on this thread and it will remain closed. Apologies to those who can conduct a discussion in an adult way but if people can't behave and not resort to personal attacks then threads will be regularly closed.

tricky D

I reckon the forum is doing just fine, not perfect, but fine nevertheless. As an informed (well I'd like to think) but zero-experienced* enthusiast located near LAPMO I have this forum on my daily patrol and followed, and love learning from the knowledgeable folks in these parts (many thanks) and contributing what little value (I hope) I can. *Damn my colourblindness.

Forums like this evolve with more knowledgeable posting getting diluted by newbies, trolls, Walts and the like. It's an unintended consequence of increasing popularity. That said there isn't much 'wrong' with this forum. Over-exuberant newbies usually just need a bit of hand holding, trolls and Walts need to be rooted out, just like many other forums which increase in popularity.

To address some points raised in no particular order and without any intended prejudice toward any poster(s):

• Some more experienced posters need to filter more and take less offense from poor postings. Don't like the fluff in the FR24 thread, scan and skip. Some one is a troll or Walt, ignore and/or report them. We mods love when users use the report function.
• DeVore has said on many occasions that any sort of 'us and them' scenarios (verified experts or private forum) are very, very unlikely to happen for reasons that are pretty much bullet-proof.
• More moderation presence or better, more moderators looks like a good idea. A heavier hand wrt back seating and non-reporting of problem posts would be a suggestion too. Note: not having a go at the mods here in any way. As a mod myself I refuse to find or seek fault a fellow volunteer bar extreme circumstances where it is really deserved, which is no where near the case here. /tips hat.
• Some posters need to remind themselves that they too were newbies once upon a time and made silly mistakes and asked stupid questions. Not all users are as competent as we would like.
• Some one's opinions of how the forum should be run are not the same as others'. Posters have varied interests which won't coincide with yours. No one person owns this forum, it's everybody's.
• The cartoon in post #6 is apt. Some times you're better off just saying sod it and going off and doing some thing else.
• When incidents occur, people will speculate, rightly and wrongly. That's the way it is when real knowledge is not yet available, people will put all sorts of good and bad stuff into the knowledge void. It is a natural part of the human condition which gives us stuff like conspiracy theories, idle gossip, etc. but it can also have many positives - ymmv. It's almost impossible to prevent. (Edit) It's also not a requirement that so much offense is taken in these scenarios. Too much offense being taken in general these days, I prefer to give a Gallic shrug instead, it's easier on the soul. I'd also suggest as an engineer, that in such situations you start by speculating as many reasons as seem likely and whittle them down as the evidence comes in.
• What I would suggest change is more explicit and overt moving of meals, seating, connections etc. to the Travel section. It is in the charter but as a mod I know how much they (don't) get read.
• Lastly, to reiterate my first point: if you don't like the content then scan, filter, skip, ignore, use the report function more.

/2c and kutgw

PukkaStukka

There's a prize gobsh!te posting away about the horrors of choppers over in the Arran Islands thread at the mo. Advice given is that he's best ignored and I'm sure his radio will go quiet soon enough.

Strumms

I also think its a well run forum.. however if there are areas that could be looked at to further improve the Aviation forum experience..

* Enforce the section of the charter that prohibits travel chatter and questions and threads are moved or locked down quickly rather then 3 pages of debate. Again you may need more Mods.

*Quicker identification of trolls who drag stuff off topic and who start nonsence topics which should be locked or if relevent just merged to the off topic section.

The upshot seems to be that more Mods may be useful. Lets not forget those who are giving their time to moderate the forum have jobs.. and presumably a family, interests and certainly a life away from the internet also. It would be nice if some of the folks who have been borderline critical in this respect might be some of the first to put their hands up to give a dig out if indeed its decieded more mods should be required.

martinsvi

tricky D wrote: »

• When incidents occur, people will speculate, rightly and wrongly. That's the way it is when real knowledge is not yet available, people will put all sorts of good and bad stuff into the knowledge void. It is a natural part of the human condition which gives us stuff like conspiracy theories, idle gossip, etc. but it can also have many positives - ymmv. It's almost impossible to prevent. (Edit) It's also not a requirement that so much offense is taken in these scenarios. Too much offense being taken in general these days, I prefer to give a Gallic shrug instead, it's easier on the soul. I'd also suggest as an engineer, that in such situations you start by speculating as many reasons as seem likely and whittle them down as the evidence comes in.

/2c and kutgw

that's all fine however you have to remember that behind most speculations, particularly those involving pilot error, people (pilots, crew, engineers etc) are being accused without any evidence. That's not cool

Dbarry55

The forum is great and informative, if I have 1 gripe it would be that it doesn't alert you when somebody answers a question you've asked. !

Irish Steve

Dbarry55 wrote: »

The forum is great and informative, if I have 1 gripe it would be that it doesn't alert you when somebody answers a question you've asked. !

There is an option to set that you will get an instant E-mail notification of activity in a thread. At the bottom of the page, thread subscriptions, set type.

LXFlyer

Irish Steve wrote: »

There is an option to set that you will get an instant E-mail notification of activity in a thread. At the bottom of the page, thread subscriptions, set type.

You can also look up the usercp (user control panel) which lists any threads which you have posted in that have replies on it.

highlydebased

Strumms wrote: »

* Enforce the section of the charter that prohibits travel chatter and questions and threads are moved or locked down quickly rather then 3 pages of debate. Again you may need more Mods.

.

The trouble with those kind of travel posts (e.g how can I checkin online, what size suitcase, how long for connections) is that they are not regular posters by and large. They simply see "Aircraft" and assume that it's the right place when Travel probably fits the bill better. Perhaps a Random Air Travel questions thread would be suitable for these kind of things with all questions dumped there.

Strumms

highlydebased wrote: »

The trouble with those kind of travel posts (e.g how can I checkin online, what size suitcase, how long for connections) is that they are not regular posters by and large. They simply see "Aircraft" and assume that it's the right place when Travel probably fits the bill better. Perhaps a Random Air Travel questions thread would be suitable for these kind of things with all questions dumped there.

I agree to a point.. we could try that maybe.. That could work as another option, all the same id probably slightly more be in favour of more enforcement of that part of the charter by moving topics etc.. the same poster is just going to start a new thread rather then look for the relevent thread anyway..

A Dub in Glasgo

I don't think it should change, I will still continue to post some pics, give an opinion on things now and then. My professional capacity is railway signalling but I don't go onto the rail systems forum demanding people who know little about signalling stop posting. You can challenge and rebut, in a fair way

fr336

This thread has been very interesting, especially with regards those lurkers who have been here for years and happy to read away. Glad they get something out of both the experienced, interesting folk here and also those more lacking in knowledge, enthusiastic folk.

I think a good distinction is to be made between trolls, people posting too much (guilty) and egos being bruised on fair points. It's only the internet but after the behaviour of some people, jesus I wouldn't want to do anything actually bad to them talk about taking yourself seriously :eek: As the mods say attack the post not the poster, well I think it's good to bear in mind whose post you're attacking as some people will just explode. Unsure why a random username on the web would be so important to them.

Anyway, peace and love to all....

fr336

fr336 wrote: »

This thread has been very interesting, especially with regards those lurkers who have been here for years and happy to read away. Glad they get something out of both the experienced, interesting folk here and also those more lacking in knowledge, enthusiastic folk.

Anyway, peace and love to all....

V contented lurker here - I love this forum.

andy_g

So far id like to thank everyone for their comments i havent had a chance to read the whole thread yet but i have taken notes on some of the areas being raised.

I'll give this thread until monday i'll summerize the issues raised and see where we can make any changes if needed.

But remember this is your forum and what you put into it is what you should be getting out of it.

We dont want to have to segregate professionals from anyone not in the industry and the point of this forum is to bring the community together as a whole not drive them away like the Great Plague.

KoolKid

I would just add to the opinions that the place is fine.There is very little friction compared to many places on Boards. The issues are few and far between.
I find the professionals here very friendly & helpful to us mere mortals .;)

Mech1

KoolKid wrote: »

I would just add to the opinions that the place is fine.There is very little friction compared to many places on Boards. The issues are few and far between.
I find the professionals here very friendly & helpful to us mere mortals .;)

If I had time to post anything thought through, it would closely resemble the above.

Crumbs868

At the end of the day this is a sub forum on Ireland's busiest and most general forum. As with all sub forums here it's going to be hard to moderate and will always have a vast mix of posters / threads

From the posts of certain members I see only a few options

1. Hire 20 moderators (who work shift basis) and have a zero tolerance approach to any questions that the experts already know / grinds their gears
2. Set up a new subscription forum and enjoy yer circle jerk
3. Have it like the soccer forum and members only.

However should any of the above be implemented I think that some of the posters who are calling for change will quickly move on as they seem to thrive on bullying. I called up one of the posters on this thread recently on another thread re his irritating posting style and he reported my post and here he is now in the middle of it all name checking posters he doesn't like. Nothing short of bullying while hiding behind the teacher

I think some of the posts here are disrespectful of the moderators here (quoting certain cases where they feel named moderators have done a poor job) who give their time up for free for a thankless task around a topic they love

Poochie05

I'd just like to echo some of the sentiments above. I think this is one of the best forums on Boards and wouldn't like to see it change much. Mainly lurking but I check this forum every day, and always pop in to see the 'informed' responses to events and news on all things aviation. Not only accidents and incidents, but also relating to the proposed IAG takeover and the like.

As a previously nervous flyer, I have found this forum invaluable to get more understanding of aviation and routine operations and events. From having zero knowledge or awareness, I now can identify the ridiculousness of the the Daily Mail type headlines instead of adding another notch to the OMG we're all going to die column!
I appreciate it can be frustrating when you have to answer what might seem like the same questions but thanks to those who have done, I have gained very useful knowledge and love lurking in this forum. And that epic night of the high winds at Dublin airport FR24 thread was probably the single most important event to make me appreciate the skill of pilots and what is routine and all part of a day's work.
On the 'travel' related questions, I agree some of them could be moved quickly to the travel forum, but for some of the airline travel questions such a routing, plane types, etc., you'd get a better answer here due to the number of people who work in the sector in this forum.
And I fully support the use of the 'report a post' button instead of jumping on people on thread, especially if the mods are thin on the ground.

Van.Bosch

I think it is fine as is. At the moment my interest is in the commercial side of aviation so things like the impact of the IAG takeover, new routes for EI/FR, growth at Dublin airport. These topics are covered in a small number of threads so I just ignore what doesn't interest me.

I suspect the majority of posters are into the aircraft side more than me but I think the forum is broad so people can open a thread and decide if they want to read it or not.

I agree that the over analysis / guessing of crashes is annoying so I think the thread split into speculation or facts for MH370 was good.

The constant SNN v ORK debate is unavoidable do I wonder would a specific thread on it be best, rather than trying to stop it, give it its own place where people could discuss if they wanted. This worked well on the infrastructure where one poster continued to derail a thread with his proposed re routing of DART underground.

Peregrine

smurfjed wrote: »

According to the list at the bottom of this page, there are 9 moderators controlling this forum, but lately i have only seen two of them responding to issues, and in those cases they responded with infractions, warnings and even a ban.

As for the Malahide guy, that went on for far too long.

So I would like to ask, where are the moderators?

That list includes all the category moderators which is a consequence of the recent category rearrangement and should be rectified in the upcoming site redesign. The Aviation & Aircraft forum itself has three moderators(Andy, LL and Tenger).