Will 'Boards' have any effect on the General Election?

blackcard

I presume most of the larger parties have someone employed to post on their behalf, some may use a number of pseudonyms. I expect they will be very busy in the run up to the General Election. You will also have general supporters of parties posting. Some of the posts will be biased or inaccurate or misleading as these keyboard warriors attempt to influence your vote. So, do you think 'Boards' will have any effect on the way you vote?

Buona Fortuna

No

Pintman Paddy Losty

Minimal effect I'd say.

Boards demographic is mostly young low income males in late twenties to early thirties. You get a lot of lefty and republican types so it can seem like that side of things is on the rise, but the core of the Irish electorate (middle Ireland) don't spend their time arguing about Irish Water and a united Ireland online.

melissak

What exactly is meant by middle Ireland? Would you say boards has more men than women. Was there a poll for demographics?

Pintman Paddy Losty wrote: »

Minimal effect I'd say.

Boards demographic is mostly young low income males in late twenties to early thirties. You get a lot of lefty and republican types so it can seem like that side of things is on the rise, but the core of the Irish electorate (middle Ireland) don't spend their time arguing about Irish Water and a united Ireland online.

melissak

I might be swayed by arguments On here.I haven't a clue who I will vote for. I have serious reservations about them all

jamesbere

Tarquin Fin-tim-lin-bin-whin-bim-lim-bus-stop-F'tang-F'tang-Olé-Biscuitbarrel is getting my vote anyway

darkpagandeath

Pintman Paddy Losty wrote: »

Minimal effect I'd say.

Boards demographic is mostly young low income males in late twenties to early thirties. You get a lot of lefty and republican types so it can seem like that side of things is on the rise, but the core of the Irish electorate (middle Ireland) don't spend their time arguing about Irish Water and a united Ireland online.

I'm sure you have Data to back that up ? Where have I heard Middle earth before... Let me think.

Pintman Paddy Losty

melissak wrote: »

What exactly is meant by middle Ireland? Would you say boards has more men than women. Was there a poll for demographics?

Middle Ireland is Terry and Tracy Taxpayer. Professionals and middle income earners. The ones paying for everything.

I think there was a census done years ago and the site is majority young male.

I think boards ran a mock GE in 2011 with transfers and all to predict the results. Needless to say the Republican Socialist Utopia that boardsies voted for never materialised in real life.

mad muffin

Enda Kenny is best Kenny! Our dear leader will rule on!

All hail our dear leader!

darkpagandeath

Pintman Paddy Losty wrote: »

Middle Ireland is Terry and Tracy Taxpayer. Professionals and middle income earners. The ones paying for everything.

I think there was a census done years ago and the site is majority young male.

I think boards ran a mock GE in 2011 with transfers and all to predict the results. Needless to say the Republican Socialist Utopia that boardsies voted for never materialised in real life.

Is "I" think fact ?

The Randy Riverbeast

Probably not, we have enough people spouting their political ****e as if they were being paid for it so most people should know how to spot it and glaze over anything they post.

The Moldy Gowl

Pintman Paddy Losty wrote: »

Minimal effect I'd say.

Boards demographic is mostly young low income males in late twenties to early thirties. You get a lot of lefty and republican types so it can seem like that side of things is on the rise, but the core of the Irish electorate (middle Ireland) don't spend their time arguing about Irish Water and a united Ireland online.

Come here to me you.

Where have I seen your username?
I have a vague feeling of seeing or hearing of pint man paddy losty and him drinking 80 pints or something, this week.

XR3i

the moderators control the gubbermint

For Forks Sake

I'd imagine it'd be as reliable a barometer as a journal.ie poll, which usually shows 50-60% support for Sinn Fein. Somehow this fails to play out in the real world.

blackcard

darkpagandeath wrote: »

I'm sure you have Data to back that up ? Where have I heard Middle earth before... Let me think.

I sometimes drop in to the 'Irish Water' thread for a laugh, seems to be about 3 or 4 posters on either side of the argument each trying to convince the other side of the merits of their argument but there is not a chance in hell of that happening. I imagine any thread about the General Election will follow the same path.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Absolutely zero impact from AH, as the population here is very remote from the country as a whole. The politics forum will have more balanced debate but will still have minimal impact as, again, boards users are not typical of the general population.

mikeym

No.

Berserker

Little to none. I recall a boards poll before the last Presidential election which showed that the SF candidate was a country mile ahead of the rest. He ended up finishing a poor third, if I remember correctly, getting half the votes of the candidate that finished second in that election. Boards is a snapshot of the feeling amongst a small section of the voting public. The majority here are politically to the left too, socially and economically.

cml387

I always follow the advice of our great poet WB Yeats..

The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Wx

Pintman Paddy Losty wrote: »

Minimal effect I'd say.

Boards demographic is mostly young low income males in late twenties to early thirties. You get a lot of lefty and republican types so it can seem like that side of things is on the rise, but the core of the Irish electorate (middle Ireland) don't spend their time arguing about Irish Water and a united Ireland online.

Are you sure of all of what you say?

For Forks Sake

jamesbere wrote: »

Tarquin Fin-tim-lin-bin-whin-bim-lim-bus-stop-F'tang-F'tang-Olé-Biscuitbarrel is getting my vote anyway

Is he running in North - Central?

Pintman Paddy Losty

Pintman Paddy Losty wrote: »

Minimal effect I'd say.

Boards demographic is mostly young low income males in late twenties to early thirties. You get a lot of lefty and republican types so it can seem like that side of things is on the rise, but the core of the Irish electorate (middle Ireland) don't spend their time arguing about Irish Water and a united Ireland online.

Across all forums?

blackcard

melissak wrote: »

I might be swayed by arguments On here.I haven't a clue who I will vote for. I have serious reservations about them all

I don't think you should believe a fraction of the stuff that is posted on here

quarefarmers

This site is just a piss take,pinch of salt

Fleawuss

Cason Plain Monogamy wrote: »

Absolutely zero impact from AH, as the population here is very remote from the country as a whole. The politics forum will have more balanced debate but will still have minimal impact as, again, boards users are not typical of the general population.

I would agree with you if you wrote "zero impact ON AH."
There is among the brilliant repartee, incisive analysis and savage put downs a general ability to spot BS a mile off. The poor souls in the Other House are mere party apparatchiks hoping for a pat on the head from a party grandee and to elbow their way into a photo of a sod turning for the local rag.

benjamin d

The more I hear online from the socialists/Sinn Fein/AAA and the likes the more I feel that Fine Gael could nick an overall majority come election time. For all the bluster of the left wing it doesn't really translate to votes. I'd consider myself left wing but at the minute I think Fine Gael are our best option pragmatically because I feel totally alienated by the idiotic policies and career protesting antics of the alternative. I would have considered myself a Labour voter before now.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Fleawuss wrote: »

I would agree with you if you wrote "zero impact ON AH."
There is among the brilliant repartee, incisive analysis and savage put downs a general ability to spot BS a mile off. The poor souls in the Other House are mere party apparatchiks hoping for a pat on the head from a party grandee and to elbow their way into a photo of a sod turning for the local rag.

My point is thus proven.


No similarity to opinion in the real world.

Thanks.

Son Of A Vidic

Thread could have been locked after the second post.

B.A._Baracus

Not to imply that boards.ie is small. It's just when you compare the amount of users who use the forum against the population of Ireland.... It's a very low percentage.

So no. Boards.ie won't have any big impact.

dxhound2005

blackcard wrote: »

I presume most of the larger parties have someone employed to post on their behalf, some may use a number of pseudonyms. I expect they will be very busy in the run up to the General Election. You will also have general supporters of parties posting. Some of the posts will be biased or inaccurate or misleading as these keyboard warriors attempt to influence your vote. So, do you think 'Boards' will have any effect on the way you vote?

I presume you have some evidence to back this up? Another poster started a thread a while back claiming that some of us on AH were being paid by political parties. I challenged them to produce the evidence and they failed to do so.

Everyone on here is using a pseudonym. But we are all limited to one.

The_Valeyard

Unless a pyrotechnic or arsonist is running for election, AH will have little influence.

KomradeBishop

There are about ~450 people on AH right at this moment, and almost ~6000 on the site overall (though who knows how accurate the guest figures are), which is pretty good going, and translates into a hell of a lot of people over the course of weeks/months/years.

Each of those people aren't just individuals who can potentially be influenced, but who - if they can be influenced - can potentially pass on learned views to family/friends etc..

So yes, it should be obvious that there's a desire to try and influence, control or disrupt narratives on the forum - there's tons of precedent out there of this being done on social media for political reasons, and we even see some of the ridiculous/obvious cases of it here on Boards, like the Israel/Russian shills - who are only so obvious, because they were tactless enough to dispense with any pretence of credibility to begin with.

In my view, it's a fact of life now that - just like you will read propaganda/shills in the newspapers - it's going to become a permanent presence on social media, including internet forums, as well now. It's inherently really difficult to root out and expose as well - especially as some of it is probably ingrained in part of the culture of certain industries.

MilesMorales1

Are we having a general election then? Christ.

Boards won't influence me, since I won't vote for any of them, they're as useless as each other. Unless of course, its boards that has influenced me into that opinion, if so then good job.

The_Valeyard

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

Are we having a general election then? Christ.

Christ isn't running.

dxhound2005

The_Valeyard wrote: »

Christ isn't running.

The anti Christ is.

MilesMorales1

dxhound2005 wrote: »

The anti Christ is.

Bertie?

Irish Steve

Brutal reality?


It won't matter if AH, or any other thread, or topic, or forum on boards has an opinion, or makes any serious discussion possible, as the election result won't change much, the politicians don't run much, the people that run things are the top level civil servants, and the "Golden Circle", and they're VERY experienced at getting the politicians to see it their way.

Classic example was today, when Enda stood up and said that it wasn't possible to change things to make one authority to control the Shannon in order to sort out the issues with flooding.

Really? So Politicians can't change statutes, and laws, and "management bodies" or any of the other excuses that were trotted out.

No, what he really meant was "There are so many comfortable secure civil servants all with their fingers in the pie, if we change it, we'll have a load of people without a real job to do, and we won't be able to find something else to occupy their time, so our masters don't want us to rock the boat too much, and make it evident that there is a massive structure in place that's not really doing too much any more".

That said, the last couple of weeks has been headlines all over the place about the problems in the west with flooding, but has there been an outcry on boards about it? Hardly a peep, even in places like infrastructure, where it might be discussed, or weather, where it's been discussed in a scientific way, but without much detail about the effects on the day to day lives of significant numbers of people. The most active thread in infrastructure seems to be on the way in which Eircode has been messed up and badly implemented, which seems to be attracting the most attention right now.

I lost interest in the Irish Water thread a long time ago, because it's become clear that the civil servants that are now running that have it so well sewn up, it won't matter what the people think or say about it, they can do what they like, and no one, not even the politicians, can change it.

So, while there may well be all manner of angst about the forthcoming forest of posters on the lamp posts of the major towns, what's actually going to change? Very little, because regardless of who actually wins, the real controlling interests will have things back "under control" within a matter of weeks, and it will be "business as normal" for the golden circle and the ruling elite that have things so well set up for their own protection and interest.

dxhound2005

Irish Steve wrote: »

So, while there may well be all manner of angst about the forthcoming forest of posters on the lamp posts of the major towns, what's actually going to change? Very little, because regardless of who actually wins, the real controlling interests will have things back "under control" within a matter of weeks, and it will be "business as normal" for the golden circle and the ruling elite that have things so well set up for their own protection and interest.

There is actually a very clear choice for the electorate. In every constituency there will be at least one "anti austerity" candidate, probably several, who will abolish property tax and water charges if they get into power. So if enough people vote for them they will make those changes. And the civil service will be powerless to stop them.

Sinn Fein intoduced bills in the Oireachtas to abolish the Household Charge and then the Local Property Tax. They were voted down but that proves that they are comitted to abolishing both if they get into government, and if it is a coalition they will insist that their partners must adopt this line.

So you have a clear choice.

Guy:Incognito

I hear they arent having a general election at all. It's just going to be done by a boards poll.

MilesMorales1

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

I hear they arent having a general election at all. It's just going to be done by a boards poll.

Is Atari Jaguar an option?

benjamin d

dxhound2005 wrote: »

There is actually a very clear choice for the electorate. In every constituency there will be at least one "anti austerity" candidate, probably several, who will abolish property tax and water charges if they get into power. So if enough people vote for them they will make those changes. And the civil service will be powerless to stop them.

Sinn Fein intoduced bills in the Oireachtas to abolish the Household Charge and then the Local Property Tax. They were voted down but that proves that they are comitted to abolishing both if they get into government, and if it is a coalition they will insist that their partners must adopt this line.

So you have a clear choice.

It's not actually a clear choice at all. There are plenty of people who are anti water charges and property tax etc, but that doesn't mean they are pro any of the left wing parties. Sinn Fein et al and their policies are so poorly thought out, so plainly unworkable, that most voters know they'll never be in power.
Anyone with half a brain can see that exponentially increasing spending while simultaneously slashing all sources of income (scaring off the MNCs and "super rich", cutting income taxes, abolishing property and water charges etc) is not realistic.
I'm completely left wing on social issues, but economically I'm MUCH more conservative, because I like to think I'm not a reactionary gob****e. I think there are many more like me.
Sinn Fein would have had us in the same position as Greece. Austerity has worked and there's no two ways about it.

Irish Steve

dxhound2005 wrote: »

There is actually a very clear choice for the electorate. In every constituency there will be at least one "anti austerity" candidate, probably several, who will abolish property tax and water charges if they get into power. So if enough people vote for them they will make those changes. And the civil service will be powerless to stop them.

Sinn Fein intoduced bills in the Oireachtas to abolish the Household Charge and then the Local Property Tax. They were voted down but that proves that they are comitted to abolishing both if they get into government, and if it is a coalition they will insist that their partners must adopt this line.

So you have a clear choice.

Not if you think that a water charge system (NOT the Abomination that is Irish Water) is appropriate, and prefer that everyone (Including unemployed and social welfare recipients) carry some of the cost of providing local services in their area.

The real need is for the present state system to be fundamentally changed to be more accountable to the people that are paying the bills, not protected for life regardless of ability or performance, which is the travesty of the present system.

I'd also make changes like put motor tax on fuel duty, and do away with the whole motor tax disc system.

Merge things like social welfare cards, medical cards, driving licences, why do we need 3 different plastic cards and large departments to basically serve one function, provide identity and access control systems.

The HSE is another abomination that was never properly structured or sized, it simply put all the local services under the one umbrella, with no economies of scale when it came to staffing, and the harsh reality is that we really don't need the number of high level management grade civil servants at "county" level with the huge costs involved for a population the size of Ireland, 4 management structures for the provinces, with separate bodies for Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway is plenty of top level posts for the population we have. Same can be said for things like fire services, and other county based structures,

There's plenty of other candidates for pruning in the semi state and quango areas, but the political will to take on these interests doesn't exist in any party, because they know that they'd have a massive fight on their hands from the very well organised unions that are so strong in the state sector.

endacl

mad muffin wrote: »

Enda Kenny is best Kenny!

Nowhere near the best Enda, of course.

DivingDuck

endacl wrote: »

Nowhere near the best Enda, of course.

It had never occurred to me at any point that your username was "Enda Cl". :eek:

I always assumed it was End-ackle, as in the end of an-- Um.

Boards is bound to attract a few people from various political parties, who have read a book on how to uses social media to influence people, influencers:pac:

Can you imagine anyone trying to pitch that one to an Irish political party...." i am an influencer and expert on social media"


Boards is most likely to have little to no impact on the general election.

MilesMorales1

mariaalice wrote: »

Boards is bound to attract a few people from various political parties, who have read a book on how to uses social media to influence people, influencers:pac:

Can you imagine anyone trying to pitch that one to an Irish political party...." i am an influencer and expert on social media"


Boards is most likely to have little to no impact on the general election.

Sure I'd say they have lots of people like that. Twitter and facebook accounts and the like.

opiniated

mariaalice wrote: »

Boards is bound to attract a few people from various political parties, who have read a book on how to uses social media to influence people, influencers:pac:

Can you imagine anyone trying to pitch that one to an Irish political party...." i am an influencer and expert on social media"


Boards is most likely to have little to no impact on the general election.

Boards has its fair share of political activists, who are adroit at defending the indefensible, regardless of which party they support.

Will they influence people? Doubtful. You can spot them a mile away....