Is it time to get rid of the politics Mega Thread

Bards

Well boys and Girls , With the election fast approaching is it time to get rid of the politics Mega Thread and return the forum to normal discussions?

barneystinson

Bards wrote: »

Well boys and Girls , With the election fast approaching is it time to get rid of the politics Mega Thread and return the forum to normal discussions?

I would've thought one thread on politics is enough for a local forum, and let discussion about politics/elections in Waterford go there.

There's a politics forum for talking about politics generally.

I've got this as one of my followed forums, and I don't follow the politics forum. So I'd just as soon not be bombarded with, or have my feed spammed by, political threads in what's supposed to be a local forum.

No, leave things as they are

I do think there should be more threads for politics. This is the Waterford discussion forum and as long as threads aren't intentionally malicious then discussion should be allowed. I have would find it suspect that a mod is involved with a political party and does that create bias when it comes to moderation.

wellboytoo

Things have cooled with the new format,it was horendous and nearly unbalanced the whole Waterford section with the heat generated by the constant negativity . No thanks for a return.

barneystinson

Lads there's only, what, 10 or 15 people who post with any great regularity in the forum, and I'd say it is a subset of that who are firing out this conspiracy about political modding.

Firstly, sad and all as it must be, to be a mod of a relative backwater, how sad would he actually have to be to be politically modding it?!

Secondly, how do other local forums navigate these treacherous waters?!?!

(Thirdly, how sad are the people who are actually exercised over this.)

longshanks

No, leave things as they are

There are too many stickies in this forum, it just leads to automatically scrolling down part them. It's not like the forum is busy either, losing some stickies could generate more threads.

No, leave things as they are

I was here on the Waterford forum years ago on my old account that I closed and this forum was so much busier years ago. People like Seany/abouttobebanned kept the place going

honeybadger

yea need to open the windows lads let the fresh air in

fuzzy dunlop

No, leave things as they are

barneystinson wrote: »

Lads there's only, what, 10 or 15 people who post with any great regularity in the forum, and I'd say it is a subset of that who are firing out this conspiracy about political modding..)

No conspiracy. It was obvious certain people who should know better using the forum to pimp Fine Gael and smooth over the the disgraceful treatment of the city by the government. Cabaal was in the habit of accusing us of "Tin Foil Hat" stuff for suggesting the series of events around the hospitial was driven by political parochialism. Subsequently confirmed by the national media! I suppose they are paranoid conspiracy nuts as well? Practically all the criticisms of Fine Gael, Phil Hogan and Brendan Howlin that have been levelled at them with regard to WIT and WRH have been discuused here before the media got hold of them.

barneystinson wrote: »

Firstly, sad and all as it must be, to be a mod of a relative backwater, how sad would he actually have to be to be politically modding it?!

This is the second busiest regional forum. Its almost as busy as the Dublin City Forum.So hardly a backwater.

barneystinson wrote: »

Secondly, how do other local forums navigate these treacherous waters?!?!.)

Not by a Megathread.

barneystinson wrote: »

(Thirdly, how sad are the people who are actually exercised over this.)

How sad are the people who think its sad?:rolleyes:. How sad are the people who feel the need to stifle debate? It only affected at three or four threads consistently such as the University upgrade. So their was no need for it. Forgive us for giving a ****!

fuzzy dunlop

No, leave things as they are

Bards wrote: »

Well boys and Girls , With the election fast approaching is it time to get rid of the politics Mega Thread and return the forum to normal discussions?

Don't worry Bards! I expect normal service will resume when FG/Labour get kicked out:D It will be OK to criticize the government again.....

old gregg

Political discussion on the interwebs is of zero interest to me personally so happy with things the way they are here and I can pass it by painlessly.

robtri

No, leave things as they are

as elections approach a lot of stuff will be wanted to brought up. I think get rid of the thread for the time being and put in a sub forum for just politics to keep all the threads together so multiple threads are not opened up on the same issue.

Sully

fuzzy dunlop wrote: »

No conspiracy. It was obvious certain people who should know better using the forum to pimp Fine Gael and smooth over the the disgraceful treatment of the city by the government. Cabaal was in the habit of accusing us of "Tin Foil Hat" stuff for suggesting the series of events around the hospitial was driven by political parochialism. Subsequently confirmed by the national media! I suppose they are paranoid conspiracy nuts as well? Practically all the criticisms of Fine Gael, Phil Hogan and Brendan Howlin that have been levelled at them with regard to WIT and WRH have been discuused here before the media got hold of them.



This is the second busiest regional forum. Its almost as busy as the Dublin City Forum.So hardly a backwater.



Not by a Megathread.



How sad are the people who think its sad?:rolleyes:. How sad are the people who feel the need to stifle debate? It only affected at three or four threads consistently such as the University upgrade. So their was no need for it. Forgive us for giving a ****!

This is exactly the type of immaturity that resulted in the mega thread. The answer to the question is answered with this idiotic post.

Aside, I'd be in favour of taking down stickies to see it if made a difference posting wise but it's worth noting there probably the most active threads on the forum so I wonder is it them being stickied that results in that?

lassykk

Please don't take politics out of the megathread. Before it came along every single thread became a dick measuring contest between those affiliated or fans of the various political parties.

If a bloody dog went missing they'd find a reason to blame each other.

Surely one megathread and the whole dedicated politics forum is enough for anyone.

fuzzy dunlop

No, leave things as they are

Sully wrote: »

This is exactly the type of immaturity that resulted in the mega thread. The answer to the question is answered with this idiotic post.

Ah Sully! The very man! Immaturity is it? Perhaps but some might say it was there so FG supporters like yourself who co-incidentally are also moderators did not have to experience the embarrassment of seeing the governments role in issues like the hospital downgrade and endless other issues being discussed. It was not politics that was being discussed it was FG's role in it that was the problem. It simply isn't possible to discuss a hospital downgrade without also discussing the role of politicians who were the major impetus of said downgrade. Why is this so hard for people to understand? To try and change that is to create a level of censorship that would make North Koreans blush.

Sully wrote: »

Aside, I'd be in favour of taking down stickies to see it if made a difference posting wise but it's worth noting there probably the most active threads on the forum so I wonder is it them being stickied that results in that?

This obfuscation aside there was only a few threads where politicians were open to criticism for their involvement. The claim that every thread was descending into a political d1ck measuring contest is a bollix. No pun intended. If you look at the list of threads there are only about 10% of them that consistently discussed the role of the government which was completely on topic. Again it begs the question why anyone would fear such discussion? It didn't seem to be a problem when FG were in opposition.

Trick of the Tail

No, leave things as they are

I'd also like the word 'definitely' to be spelled correctly.

barneystinson

Trick of the Tail wrote: »

I'd also like the word 'definitely' to be spelled correctly.

Thank God it's not just me!!

Potential-Monke

I'm pretty sure i speak for quite a lot of people when i say i couldn't give 2 continental fooks about politics. At the end of the day, it's one rich guy trying to get richer by making other rich guys richer. And the odd local issue sorted to keep the voters voting. There is a specific forum for politics, keep it there. There's already too much political talking in this thread!

obezyana

I say keep it where it is as the other threads don't get jammed up as much as they used to. Having it free for all means it also gives an excuse for people to have a pop at Sully which is not really fair as everything get turned into a FG bashing thread when he joins in he is an easy target. I am not defending him as I wouldn't agree with some of what he may post or what he may believe in and I would not go attack him just because of his political affiliation which unfortunately seems to happen alot so having just one thread for all things politics keeps the other threads someway on track. The only thing id like to see on the Waterford forum (and others) is more sensible modding by a certain mod but that is another story that we will never be allowed talk about.........too quick to close is what I say

Wanderer78

obezyana wrote: »

I say keep it where it is as the other threads don't get jammed up as much as they used to. Having it free for all means it also gives an excuse for people to have a pop at Sully which is not really fair as everything get turned into a FG bashing thread when he joins in he is an easy target. I am not defending him as I wouldn't agree with some of what he may post or what he may believe in and I would not go attack him just because of his political affiliation which unfortunately seems to happen alot so having just one thread for all things politics keeps the other threads someway on track. The only thing id like to see on the Waterford forum (and others) is more sensible modding by a certain mod but that is another story that we will never be allowed talk about.........too quick to close is what I say

ah modding in general is pretty poor on boards but then again if that was sorted i wouldnt have people to be arguing with

7upfree

Sully wrote: »

This is exactly the type of immaturity that resulted in the mega thread. The answer to the question is answered with this idiotic post.

Aside, I'd be in favour of taking down stickies to see it if made a difference posting wise but it's worth noting there probably the most active threads on the forum so I wonder is it them being stickied that results in that?

Annnnnd he's back.:D

7upfree

obezyana wrote: »

I say keep it where it is as the other threads don't get jammed up as much as they used to. Having it free for all means it also gives an excuse for people to have a pop at Sully which is not really fair as everything get turned into a FG bashing thread when he joins in he is an easy target.

Hmmmmm. I wonder why?:rolleyes:

Cabaal

7upfree wrote: »

Annnnnd he's back.:D

If you have something constructive to add then by all means post away, otherwise let's have less of this type of nonsense

barneystinson

7upfree wrote: »

Hmmmmm. I wonder why?:rolleyes:

Because some people just love to piss and moan, and are as biased in their views as the people who tow the FG party line are in theirs...?

Hence I favour the pissing and moaning being restricted to one thread where I don't need to see it...

Bards

No, leave things as they are

The main reason for setting up this poll was to point out the unfairness of the Waterford City Forum. originally the mods set up the Mega Thread to calm down Waterford City Forum (which I think has served it's purpose) for a few months, but to think this censorship has gone on for almost the full term of the present Government just proves it was not to settle down the Forum but to Censor disent of The main Government Party - How else can it be defended?

Please people wake up and demand equality for the Waterford City Forum and allow free and open debate on the issues affecting waterford, it used to be a great forum but over the last number of years the life has gone out of it.

VEC gone to Wexford, The breakup of the hospital network, WRH now an outpost of Cork UH, Water Charges and Property Taxes are here, but hardly a debate on this forum. this is not good for democracy. Would the other Regional Forums put up with this form of censorship? So why are we?

barneystinson

Bards wrote: »

The main reason for setting up this poll was to point out the unfairness of the Waterford City Forum. originally the mods set up the Mega Thread to calm down Waterford City Forum (which I think has served it's purpose) for a few months, but to think this censorship has gone on for almost the full term of the present Government just proves it was not to settle down the Forum but to Censor disent of The main Government Party - How else can it be defended?

Please people wake up and demand equality for the Waterford City Forum and allow free and open debate on the issues affecting waterford, it used to be a great forum but over the last number of years the life has gone out of it.

VEC gone to Wexford, The breakup of the hospital network, WRH now an outpost of Cork UH, Water Charges and Property Taxes are here, but hardly a debate on this forum. this is not good for democracy. Would the other Regional Forums put up with this form of censorship? So why are we?

The fact that you think water charges or property tax an issue suitable for a regional forum is exactly why there needs to be a politics megathread...

obezyana

Wanderer78 wrote: »

ah modding in general is pretty poor on boards but then again if that was sorted i wouldnt have people to be arguing with

You cant argue with anyone anyway as some mod will ride in on his bike and shut it down. But back to matter at hand.....keep the politics thread

Wanderer78

obezyana wrote: »

You cant argue with anyone anyway as some mod will ride in on his bike and shut it down. But back to matter at hand.....keep the politics thread

do what i do, continue the argument with the mod via pm

obezyana

Wanderer78 wrote: »

do what i do, continue the argument with the mod via pm

That I would not bother with as it will get you no where anyway. I don't see how debates/differences of opinion cannot be left in the open.

Wanderer78

obezyana wrote: »

I don't see how debates/differences of opinion cannot be left in the open.

probably doesnt agree with the charters opinion!

7upfree

Cabaal wrote: »

If you have something constructive to add then by all means post away, otherwise let's have less of this type of nonsense

Annnnnd he's back too. Sully calling for reinforcements again? I suppose with an election pending he'll need them!:D

7upfree

Bards wrote: »

The main reason for setting up this poll was to point out the unfairness of the Waterford City Forum. originally the mods set up the Mega Thread to calm down Waterford City Forum (which I think has served it's purpose) for a few months, but to think this censorship has gone on for almost the full term of the present Government just proves it was not to settle down the Forum but to Censor disent of The main Government Party - How else can it be defended?

Please people wake up and demand equality for the Waterford City Forum and allow free and open debate on the issues affecting waterford, it used to be a great forum but over the last number of years the life has gone out of it.

VEC gone to Wexford, The breakup of the hospital network, WRH now an outpost of Cork UH, Water Charges and Property Taxes are here, but hardly a debate on this forum. this is not good for democracy. Would the other Regional Forums put up with this form of censorship? So why are we?

That's it in a nutshell. Forced censorship. Disgusting really. And then mods backing it up.

lassykk

Bards wrote: »

The main reason for setting up this poll was to point out the unfairness of the Waterford City Forum. originally the mods set up the Mega Thread to calm down Waterford City Forum (which I think has served it's purpose) for a few months, but to think this censorship has gone on for almost the full term of the present Government just proves it was not to settle down the Forum but to Censor disent of The main Government Party - How else can it be defended?

Please people wake up and demand equality for the Waterford City Forum and allow free and open debate on the issues affecting waterford, it used to be a great forum but over the last number of years the life has gone out of it.

VEC gone to Wexford, The breakup of the hospital network, WRH now an outpost of Cork UH, Water Charges and Property Taxes are here, but hardly a debate on this forum. this is not good for democracy. Would the other Regional Forums put up with this form of censorship? So why are we?

I was one of the main advocates of the megathread and it was nothing to do with censorship. It was to do with being sick of all the moaning and complaining about politics ruining every thread in this forum. I literally couldn't give a **** who is in power.

Also, people mentioned that the sticky is missed when people come to the forum. Just unsticky it. If there's enough interest in politics (which I'd say there is) it will stay on page 1

lassykk

Bards wrote: »

The main reason for setting up this poll was to point out the unfairness of the Waterford City Forum. originally the mods set up the Mega Thread to calm down Waterford City Forum (which I think has served it's purpose) for a few months, but to think this censorship has gone on for almost the full term of the present Government just proves it was not to settle down the Forum but to Censor disent of The main Government Party - How else can it be defended?

Please people wake up and demand equality for the Waterford City Forum and allow free and open debate on the issues affecting waterford, it used to be a great forum but over the last number of years the life has gone out of it.

VEC gone to Wexford, The breakup of the hospital network, WRH now an outpost of Cork UH, Water Charges and Property Taxes are here, but hardly a debate on this forum. this is not good for democracy. Would the other Regional Forums put up with this form of censorship? So why are we?

I was one of the main advocates of the megathread and it was nothing to do with censorship. It was to do with being sick of all the moaning and complaining about politics ruining every thread in this forum. I literally couldn't give a **** who is in power.

Also, people mentioned that the sticky is missed when people come to the forum. Just unsticky it. If there's enough interest in politics (which I'd say there is) it will stay on page 1

fuzzy dunlop

No, leave things as they are

lassykk wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

So the best chipper in town thread was ruined by political discussion? Be honest if you don't care who is in power then criticism of any political entity shouldn't bother you. If there was nothing to moan about then the moaning wouldn't be credible. There was a whole whack of things that happened with regard to the Council Merger, VEC merger and hospital downgrade that were driven by politicians.Politics is an intrinsic part of the discussion and particularly local politics. If it bothers you that much why not just stay away from those threads? There is only ever about three of them going at the most at any one time. So to say it is not censorship is not credible.

barneystinson

fuzzy dunlop wrote: »

So the best chipper in town thread was ruined by political discussion? Be honest if you don't care who is in power then criticism of any political entity shouldn't bother you. If there was nothing to moan about then the moaning wouldn't be credible. There was a whole whack of things that happened with regard to the Council Merger, VEC merger and hospital downgrade that were driven by politicians.Politics is an intrinsic part of the discussion and particularly local politics. If it bothers you that much why not just stay away from those threads? There is only ever about three of them going at the most at any one time. So to say it is not censorship is not credible.

There's a politics forum for talking about politics though, isn't there, and a politics cafe for chatting wittily about politics. You are (unless I'm mistaken) not being prevented from making your point, you're simply being told "place and time".

One man's censorship is another man's peaceful enjoyment of Boards without having to watch All Ireland standard axe grinding...

wellboytoo

barneystinson wrote: »

There's a politics forum for talking about politics though, isn't there, and a politics cafe for chatting wittily about politics. You are (unless I'm mistaken) not being prevented from making your point, you're simply being told "place and time".

One man's censorship is another man's peaceful enjoyment of Boards without having to watch All Ireland standard axe grinding...

Spot on, I have an interest in Politics, but the constant peeing competition on here, was soul destroying, a lot of it by the very people who are now advocating bringing it back! No Thanks.

longshanks

No, leave things as they are

How about unstickying the politics, bargain alerts, random chat and jobs threads?
If people want to post in them they're just a search away, if they don't want to post there they don't feel obliged to.
As things stand there are too many stickies.

obezyana

Regarding Stickies... I don't get why the restaurant one is there, maybe that is one that could do with being taken down.

Cabaal

7upfree wrote: »

Annnnnd he's back too. Sully calling for reinforcements again? I suppose with an election pending he'll need them!:D

Ok so you have nothing constructive to add here, thats fine.
Take a break from the forum for one week.

You ignored a warning, you decided instead to use it as a opportunity to try and get a dig in at mods and Sully in particular.

This isn't on and you are well aware of that and hiding it being a emoticon doesn't make it ok.

You're on boards.ie long enough to know whats acceptable and whats not when it comes to responding to mod warnings. You're also around on this forum long enough to know that when you step out of line you will be infracted, warned or banned.

Cabaal

obezyana wrote: »

Regarding Stickies... I don't get why the restaurant one is there, maybe that is one that could do with being taken down.

Having a quick glance at the stickys I spotted the bargain alerts one has its last post almost 10 months ago, so its clearly not a very active thread.

I've now unstuck it,

The Restaurants thread actually seems to be a pretty active thread as sticky threads go

obezyana

Cabaal wrote: »

Having a quick glance at the stickys I spotted the bargain alerts one has its last post almost 10 months ago, so its clearly not a very active thread.

I've now unstuck it,

The Restaurants thread actually seems to be a pretty active thread as sticky threads go

Yeah I noticed it is fairly active alright which to me is surprising. I'm still not sure if a stickie is needed. Maybe im jealous I cant have any fancy restaurant food.....Mcdonalds for me is all

Wanderer78

obezyana wrote: »

Mcdonalds for me is all

posh

fuzzy dunlop

No, leave things as they are

barneystinson wrote: »

There's a politics forum for talking about politics though, isn't there, and a politics cafe for chatting wittily about politics. You are (unless I'm mistaken) not being prevented from making your point, you're simply being told "place and time".

One man's censorship is another man's peaceful enjoyment of Boards without having to watch All Ireland standard axe grinding...

Censorship is censorship and there is no justification for it other than to keep the heat off FG and Labour. Yes there is a politics thread. There is also a Food and Drink thread.....For the best chipper in town thread if you want to be that pedantic. If you think can discuss the downgrade of a hospital which is politically driven and has proven to be without discussing local politicians then you have no business being on the thread in the first place.Ditto for the University discussion. Again there is no justification for it so the only logical reason someone is Ok with it is if their own particular political darlings are getting deservedly filleted and this is the only way to prevent it. I'll say it again. People like you weren't complaining when FF where getting it in the neck here......

Bards

No, leave things as they are

Mods - Seems like the majority are in favour of removing the Mega Thread. If democracy is to mean anything then please respect the wishes of the majority of posters here.

Out of 45 votes (I would assume that includes most of the users that frequent this forum) 55% for versus 45% against

Referendums were past on much closer margins than this

barneystinson

Bards wrote: »

Mods - Seems like the majority are in favour of removing the Mega Thread. If democracy is to mean anything then please respect the wishes of the majority of posters here.

Out of 45 votes (I would assume that includes most of the users that frequent this forum) 55% for versus 45% against

Referendums were past on much closer margins than this

Bear in mind Bards, I very nearly didn't even open this thread because the word politics is in it, I wonder how many other users didn't bother even opening it...

And just because a thread you unilaterally started ends up with that outcome, doesn't mean it's a valid democratic vote; anymore so than if you set up your own personal polling station in town and ran the Bards version of the local elections...

Bards

No, leave things as they are

barneystinson wrote: »

Bear in mind Bards, I very nearly didn't even open this thread because the word politics is in it, I wonder how many other users didn't bother even opening it...

And just because a thread you unilaterally started ends up with that outcome, doesn't mean it's a valid democratic vote; anymore so than if you set up your own personal polling station in town and ran the Bards version of the local elections...

even though the Mods said that the Mega Thread was only going to be temporary when it was set up at the time.

Other forums are allowed to discuss politically sensitive topics like this one http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057247249

So why can't we?

Annasopra

No, leave things as they are

Bards wrote: »

The main reason for setting up this poll was to point out the unfairness of the Waterford City Forum. originally the mods set up the Mega Thread to calm down Waterford City Forum (which I think has served it's purpose) for a few months, but to think this censorship has gone on for almost the full term of the present Government just proves it was not to settle down the Forum but to Censor disent of The main Government Party - How else can it be defended?

Please people wake up and demand equality for the Waterford City Forum and allow free and open debate on the issues affecting waterford, it used to be a great forum but over the last number of years the life has gone out of it.

VEC gone to Wexford, The breakup of the hospital network, WRH now an outpost of Cork UH, Water Charges and Property Taxes are here, but hardly a debate on this forum. this is not good for democracy. Would the other Regional Forums put up with this form of censorship? So why are we?

Censorship? Putting discussion of one issue into a megathread is censorship?

As an outside observer mod from another region this is an interesting discussion but I do think claims of censorship (just because politics can only be discussed in a megathread!!!!!!) is wildly exaggerated.

Bards

No, leave things as they are

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

Censorship? Putting discussion of one issue into a megathread is censorship?

As an outside observer mod from another region this is an interesting discussion but I do think claims of censorship (just because politics can only be discussed in a megathread!) is wildly exaggerated.

It is when only one regional forum is afflicted.

How can you have a debate about anything when everything is muddled together into one topic. Try and impose this in all the regional forums for fairness so

Annasopra

No, leave things as they are

barneystinson wrote: »

Bear in mind Bards, I very nearly didn't even open this thread because the word politics is in it, I wonder how many other users didn't bother even opening it...

And just because a thread you unilaterally started ends up with that outcome, doesn't mean it's a valid democratic vote; anymore so than if you set up your own personal polling station in town and ran the Bards version of the local elections...

The vote is public by the way. I voted just to check if it was public or not.

Annasopra

No, leave things as they are

Bards wrote: »

It is when only one regional forum is afflicted.

How can you have a debate about anything when everything is muddled together into one topic. Try and impose this in all the regional forums for fairness so

It's really not censorship. Noone is being censored. The discussion is being moved not censored.