Whats wrong with the forum and how to correct it?

sparrowcar

I wouldn't change much tbh. It works well and probably needs a small bit of tighter moderation but then doesn't everywhere!

I like to post "live" info when I can as my position in DUB allows me good access to information and situations. I know there is a genuine interests in aviation as I have had most of my life growing up in the vicinity of the airport. Let's all enjoy it for what it is... Aerosexuality!

Some posters here do post with an air of arrogance but then certain roles in aviation historically have had that trait follow them. Certainly it's become more and more unusual and that attitude is thankfully dying out. In a forum like this we have to accept all posters and all opinions and questions, if you don't like them just ignore them.

olive20

Its fine as it is I think. I use the ignore function for a couple of muppets, when I recently saw him argueing with himself on another site. Keeps his rubbish off my screen.
Quite a few prof pilots have been driven away. Certainly I know a close family member senior captain who had alot to contribute been ridiculed. Saddos

embraer170

The forum seems generally fine, and no worse than any other on the internet. Sometimes I wonder if it could make sense to divide it into:

Aviation in Ireland (Irish airlines and airports)
Aviation Worldwide
General Aviation & Learning to Fly
Virtual Flying

JCX BXC

embraer170 wrote: »

The forum seems generally fine, and no worse than any other on the internet. Sometimes I wonder if it could make sense to divide it into:

Aviation in Ireland (Irish airlines and airports)
Aviation Worldwide
General Aviation & Learning to Fly
Virtual Flying

I suggested the "Airlines, Airports & Routes" sub-division of the Aviation and Aircraft thread before on the fourm suggestions page, it didn't gather much attention at the time but I would be in full support of it.

Peregrine

I think the off topic thread is severely underused. As it stands, it is full of aviation talk anyway.

It may be worthwhile to change it from off topic to a general chat thread. Some posts in the FR24 thread could go there. If the FR24 thread gets too chatty, move those posts to the chat thread and carry on. No harm in that.

CardinalJ

I think there are a few minor problems with the forum. I say this as someone with an interest in aviation and nothing more.

1) People who confuse it for the conspiracy theories forum. Every time there's a significant event, of which there have unfortunately been a few of in recent times, this place goes bananas. I don't work in aviation, but it would grind my gears massively if I did and had to read some of the nonsense that has been posted.

2) Trolls. Mods need to get involved faster, if they can. Rather than responding to them some posters just need to flag the posts.

3) An increasing level of distain for "stupid" questions. As I said, I don't work in aviation, but I enjoy getting information from this forum from people who do. I don't post much on boards, but some posters are getting egos which make the place feel a bit like an old boys club, or somewhere purely for aviation professionals. This kind of thing has almost ruined some forums on Boards (Winter Sports for one) and this feels exactly like how that started.

747 Posts..... look at that.

Mebuntu

I think this is a great Forum (as Forums go) but I have to agree with this point:

but some posters are getting egos which make the place feel a bit like an old boys club

Other than that my only annoyance is the continuing mistaken use on this Board of the word "of" instead of "have".

EG, typing "should of" instead of "should have". It's spreading like a virus:). On another Aviation Forum today it got even worse with "They seem to of stopped boarding"!

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease:).

teamup

olive20 wrote: »

Its fine as it is I think. I use the ignore function for a couple of muppets, when I recently saw him argueing with himself on another site. Keeps his rubbish off my screen.
Quite a few prof pilots have been driven away. Certainly I know a close family member senior captain who had alot to contribute been ridiculed. Saddos

This I agree with. Some time ago I previously contributed to this forum but was driven off by a combination of the muppets and the attitude of some of the more established members. I'm also aware of several professional pilots who simply don't contribute any more, one of whom a friend who is an airline Captain told me he too tired of the above muppets and the attitude of the 'club' members. I too stopped contributing and deleted my account after getting irritated by some of the posters here. When I first came across this forum. I could easily recognise several individuals who I knew in real life as pilots or whatever. Noticeably most are now gone.

Without meaning to sound elitist there are not enough contributors here with actual experience in aviation. Whether they be enthusiasts, pilots, engineers or whatever. Prune had a similar problem but at least they had a hard core of experienced people who clearly were who they appeared to be.

Here that element has drifted or being driven away like Olive's family member, my friend, others and quite frankly me.

You could argue that people should perhaps prove who they are, particularly those who seek to give advice but that didn't really work with flyingireland. But maybe if you're suggesting someone's a fake then perhaps you and the 'fake' should message the Mod with proof one way or other. I was always careful how much I gave away about my job mainly because my identity would be obvious to anyone who knows me of which there are quite a few and easy to find with a bit of googling. As a result I was accused of being fake and had to message a mod to prove otherwise whilst all the while suspecting the accuser was a fake himself or partially so which is exactly as it turned out.

That's off putting. There has to be a way of encouraging aviation professionals and others with aviation knowledge to post here with fear of ridicule or being outed in their jobs.

I'm all for robust debate but there has to be a balance.

This is an aviation forum, first and foremost. If the only people contributing here are wannabees, never been and people who pretend to be. Then there's no point.

IRLConor

teamup wrote: »

This is an aviation forum, first and foremost. If the only people contributing here are wannabees, never beens and people who pretend to have been. Then there's no point.

Unless Boards's policies have changed and I haven't noticed, forums are for topics not for people. In other words, this forum is for discussions about aviation and not for people involved in aviation. If you want a forum for aviation experts then Boards.ie is not the platform for you. Yes, this means that ill-informed people will occasionally annoy you but that's what the mods are for.

(If you want to discuss why this distinction is a good idea or would like advice on how to set up your own, private, professional-only forum drop me a PM to avoid dragging this thread off-topic.)

teamup

IRLConor wrote: »

Unless Boards's policies have changed and I haven't noticed, forums are for topics not for people. In other words, this forum is for discussions about aviation and not for people involved in aviation. If you want a forum for aviation experts then Boards.ie is not the platform for you. Yes, this means that ill-informed people will occasionally annoy you but that's what the mods are for.

(If you want to discuss why this distinction is a good idea or would like advice on how to set up your own, private, professional-only forum drop me a PM to avoid dragging this thread off-topic.)

There we go straight away. A complete misunderstanding of my point. Why the condescending tone for one thing?

I made no suggestion that forum become the exclusive remit of aviation experts. I didn't even mention word expert because I'm not one for a start. But if the knowledgeable people stay away and don't contribute then you don't have an aviation forum. It's like saying teachers should stay out of the education forum or farmers out of the agricultural forum.

My suggestion is that the contribution of people with aviation experience in this forum should be encouraged. In my opinion this hasn't always been the case. None of this precludes contributions from others with an interest. In fact far from it this should be encouraged. I also completely agree with others who complain of the condescending attitude of some to 'silly' questions. It's in everyone's interest to clear up misunderstandings people have about aircraft. The problem sometimes though is that some very sensible questions get very silly answers from people who should just stay out of it.

I wouldn't dream of going onto farming forum and advising farmers how to plough a field. But aviation seems to be fair game to anyone.

IRLConor

teamup wrote: »

There we go straight away. A complete misunderstanding of my point. Why the condescending tone for one thing?

I'm very sorry if you read a condescending tone into my previous post. None was intended.

teamup wrote: »

I wouldn't dream of going onto farming forum and advising farmers how to plough a field. But aviation seems to be fair game to anyone.

It's fair game in pretty much every forum both on this site and on others. You just need to suck it up and ignore it. I tolerate ill-informed speculation all the time when it comes to stuff that I do for a living.

teamup

Ok understood. I am an internet veteran now so have the Kevlar helmet ready. But for the most part I now only contribute to specialist forums these days because frankly it keeps out most of the idiots. I do happen to think that this is a specialist forum too and should be seen as such although not to the extent that non specialists are kept out.

The very fact of the existence of this thread more than implies there's a problem. Sorry to say I have no answer other than to explain my reasons for staying out of it for some years. It was Olive's comment that a family member, a senior Captain was ridiculed on this very forum which prompted me to set up this new account. Simply to express what a pity it is that someone of his experience is lost to this forum. Plus that of my Captain friend. These are the people we need here. Most pilots are aviation enthusiasts in one way or another and love talking about aeroplanes. The more experienced people are here the more obvious the fakes and the trolls are.

That's my point. I hope there are some improvements. I do like the sub forum ideas.

sully2010

teamup wrote: »

Ok understood. I am an internet veteran now so have the Kevlar helmet ready. But for the most part I now only contribute to specialist forums these days because frankly it keeps out most of the idiots. I do happen to think that this is a specialist forum too and should be seen as such although not to the extent that non specialists are kept out.

The very fact of the existence of this thread more than implies there's a problem. Sorry to say I have no answer other than to explain my reasons for staying out of it for some years. It was Olive's comment that a family member, a senior Captain was ridiculed on this very forum which prompted me to set up this new account. Simply to express what a pity it is that someone of his experience is lost to this forum. Plus that of my Captain friend. These are the people we need here. Most pilots are aviation enthusiasts in one way or another and love talking about aeroplanes. The more experienced people are here the more obvious the fakes and the trolls are.

That's my point. I hope there are some improvements. I do like the sub forum ideas.

I think anyone who follows this forum regularly enough knows there are several pilots, both commercial and private, engineers and ground handlers contributing to this forum on a regular basis. There are also those working towards their PPL's and lots of very knowledgeable enthusiast's too.

Of course there are idiot posters as there are in any forum but the professionals mentioned above seem to deal with it just fine here, probably by using the very useful ignore button. Maybe you and Olive's pilot friends are over sensitive and couldn't handle a bit of banter and arguments and failed to use the ignore button for those they deemed idiots. I do recall several posters closing accounts in a huff because they weren't up for fair arguments and criticism of their posts.

Its a public forum, there is going to be posters who annoy and argue with your points, you can choose to ignore them or continue to debate your point. If they are trolling, then ignore them.

teamup

That's fine Sully but is there any reason the forum can't be made a little more friendly to people with the most to contribute? Would that not be an improvement?

You have to imagine someone coming across this forum and reviewing a few threads seeing some of the eye rolling stuff written here and thinking. I'm off back to Pprune.

teamup

I can't edit my last for some reason. But I do like the idea of sub forums. Maybe for example turning 'Ask an airline pilot' thread into a sub forum. It's an excellent thread but perhaps too broad. Maybe a GA forum and a wannabees forum. Enthusiast forum, questions forum. And finally maybe an arguments forum where we can have lots of bunfights.

Irish Steve

teamup wrote: »

That's fine Sully but is there any reason the forum can't be made a little more friendly to people with the most to contribute? Would that not be an improvement?

You have to imagine someone coming across this forum and reviewing a few threads seeing some of the eye rolling stuff written here and thinking. I'm off back to Pprune.

Well, based on long experience in both fora, as well as in a number of other on line fora, the forum here is a LOT more friendly and welcoming than Pprune has evolved into since the original founders and moderators moved on, one of the reasons for that it the eye rolling stuff on Pprune gets moderated off in a very aggressive manner, the problem being that they have a very narrow definition of what's "acceptable", so significant numbers of posts that are relevant but don't fit their criteria are also removed. It makes following long threads over there very difficult, especially when someone replies to a message that's then deleted, it makes it very hard to work out what's going on.

I have to hope that things here won't change too much, it's still possible to have reasonable discussions most of the time, without too much flame, and that is to be encouraged.

JCX BXC

I don't like the suggestion that there needs to be professionals in the fourm. Of course they offer interesting insight and allow developed discussions, but if they are arrogant arseholes then fourms can be better off without them.

Disclaimer : This is not a jab at anyone in this forum, the vast majority of experienced posters here are very helpful and kind, answer questions in a good tone and I have learned a great deal about aviation thanks to these "professionals". Keep up the good work everyone

crosstownk

I mostly lurk here.

I first began posting when the previous LiveATC feed went down. Thankfully another Boardsie took up the baton.

For me this forum is informative. I can weed out those that are trolling or have zero to contribute but I do take into consideration that while some have industry experience, others do not and while questions may appear simplistic they may be the beginning of someones interest in the field - who knows - the same people may become the contributors of the future.

There are many posters who are in the industry and have significant knowledge to contribute and if they were to stop then the forum would be at a significant loss. Just identify the messers and ignore their antics. Hopefully they'll go away. Other forums suffer similar nuisances and survive.

The recent tour of Casement is a shining example of what this forum has to offer.

Personally, I don't agree with creating sub-forums. A&A is slow (compared to others) and creating sub-forums would only slow things down further.

That's my 2c as a lurker for many years.

teamup

Actually what I like about this thread is it represents what the forum should be and that is an exchange of views without any necessary consensus. I put my point but others don't necessarily agree but we keep it civil.

Ideally for me this forum should have a number of pros who can debate amongst themselves about issues that affect their lives. Plus they can offer advice and guidance to those who want to join us.

Plus also just enthusiastic stuff. Hey spitfires and vulcans. Look I fly planes for money but I love it and would fly for free.

I want everyone to enjoy what I enjoy and there is no pleasure I enjoy more than to see pilots move on to better things.

My last job was chief pilot in a small GA operation. Rightly or wrongly I take immense pride in seeing guys move on to better things if I had helped them however insignificantly.

There is no Irish website that fulfils that. Boards could be that website. But right now the Irish aviation world seeing here bears no relation to the the real aviation world in this country. One of the most significant airshows in Ireland never got a mention here. There was even a narrow escape for a well known Irish pilot no one saw when he ran out of gas. Least of all on boards.

So what's wrong with this forum. Perhaps it's irrelevant?

Davidth88

I like this forum, good mix of people. I come from an interested bystander pont of view ( ex spotter of 30 years...... if you ever become an ex spotter and ex PPL holder )

I really enjoy the input from guys who are obviously in the business.

I do wonder sometimes if some of the threads should be moved to the travel forum, you know things like ' whats the hand baggage allowance etc'

I hadn't noticed the bitching , but maybe I was just avoiding the threads concerned.

Peregrine

The travel posts are a pet peeve of mine.

Cabin baggage
How early should I arrive at check in?
Lost baggage
Wrong name on ticket
Connecting flights

I do report them when I see them and, to be fair to the mods, they do move them to Travel when I report them. I just wish more people would report them.

Pat Dunne

I feel that I would like to make a contribution on this topic before it closed.

We have a great resource here and it should not be become a place for ego's and piddling contests. But people being people, need to given definite boundaries to operate within and I believe that a number of additional Mods need to be appointed.

I for one have found the reporting method very hit and miss, with absolutley no feed back whatsoever.

For example, I recently reported 2 posts, one appears to have been dealt with, however the other, well I have no idea as it is still up and running and I received no feedback on either.

The other day I read throught the charter for this very forum (I know, I'm sad) and the following is stated in the very first paragraph. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055763888

First of all pease note.....If you would like to ask about travelling, airline baggage info, times schedules, destinations etc, please ask on the Travel & Holidays Forum.

In my opinion there are a number of topics running in the first page of the forum which fit into this catagory.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057486298
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057485738
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057483101

Can I ask why the charter is been ignored or adandoned?

I commend andy_g for starting this topic, but it needs to be followed up on and implemented upon.

January

Pat Dunne wrote: »

I feel that I would like to make a contribution on this topic before it closed.

We have a great resource here and it should not be become a place for ego's and piddling contests. But people being people, need to given definite boundaries to operate within and I believe that a number of additional Mods need to be appointed.

I for one have found the reporting method very hit and miss, with absolutley no feed back whatsoever.

For example, I recently reported 2 posts, one appears to have been dealt with, however the other, well I have no idea as it is still up and running and I received no feedback on either.

The other day I read throught the charter for this very forum (I know, I'm sad) and the following is stated in the very first paragraph. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055763888


In my opinion there are a number of topics running in the first page of the forum which fit into this catagory.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057486298
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057485738
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057483101

Can I ask why the charter is been ignored or adandoned?

I commend andy_g for starting this topic, but it needs to be followed up on and implemented upon.

Why should you be entitled to know about what action, if any, is taken against another member for a post they have made?

Pat Dunne

January wrote: »

Why should you be entitled to know about what action, if any, is taken against another member for a post they have made?

Cool your jets there pal!

If I make a report on a post, a simple response such as a "thank you", might just suffice. Or in the case that my report is erroneous, "that the post complies with the forum charter".

That's all!

eatmyshorts

January wrote: »

Why should you be entitled to know about what action, if any, is taken against another member for a post they have made?

And high and mighty moderator attitude like that needs to be kept off the forum too.

You're a forum moderator, not some lord of vengeance.

January

Pat Dunne wrote: »

Cool your jets there pal!

If I make a report on a post, a simple response such as a "thank you", might just suffice. Or in the case that my report is erroneous, "that the post complies with the forum charter".

That's all!

Mods are volunteers. They do not get paid for what they do. If they were to pm every member every time there was a reported post they'd be all day at it.

January

eatmyshorts wrote: »

And high and mighty moderator attitude like that needs to be kept off the forum too.

You're a forum moderator, not some lord of vengeance.

It's not a high and mighty moderator attitude at all, as I said above mods are volunteers.

eatmyshorts

January wrote: »

It's not a high and mighty moderator attitude at all, as I said above mods are volunteers.

I think others will agree with me that that was how your post tone came across.

Yes you're all volunteers, what do you want,.... tea, a medal and sympathy?

Growler!!!

January wrote: »

Mods are volunteers. They do not get paid for what they do.

We hear that from every Mod! It's Mod excuse 101 as soon as there's any negative feedback about them.

There's a bit of a civil war going on at the moment in this forum and frankly it's ruining it for all posters. Andy g stepped up and asked for our views and what we think the corrective action should be. It was working until today. In 2 post on this forum you have been condescending and provided no input that was helpful. If you didn't have the Mod title I'd think you were trolling!!

Pat Dunne

January wrote: »

Mods are volunteers. They do not get paid for what they do. If they were to pm every member every time there was a reported post they'd be all day at it.

I am fully aware as to what a Mod is and does. I volunteered as one myself for a good number of years on another non boards forum.

Mods should be respected by the members of their respective fora, as Mods are the one's who pick up the pieces "when the excrement hits the fan", so to speak. As we are all aware, respect is both earned as well as given and you have achieved neither, with your comments and perceived tone.