Is Boards aware of the reputation it has across the web?

darkpagandeath

4chan used to be genuinely shocking and intriguing, Now it's populated by people who think they are edgy and think they can troll.

K-9

ibarelycare wrote: »

One of the worst things about boards is the widespread self-righteousness. On reddit, if someone posts a thread (for example) in r/relationships or r/personalfinance they get largely great advice.

On boards there's a huge mob mentality of being a condescending prick to someone who posts about an issue they have. You see it across the site - PI, RI, accommodation and wedding forums (two of the worst, makes them entertaining to read in a voyeuristic way), work and jobs, etc. People love turning on the OP and kicking them while they're down.

There's also a massive "them vs us" mentality between mods and regular users in a lot of forums which is very off-putting. The strict modding restricts great discussion a lot of the time. It also restricts general silliness that used to bring a lot of lightheartedness to forums such as AH.

I'm still here mainly because of private forums where I do 95% of my posting, and I still think it can be a great resource for advice/information. But it's gone way downhill (IMO) from the site it was 6/7 years ago.

Calls for more moderation in one paragraph, down with too much moderation in the next!

Nah, not having a go and there's some truth in there, but that's often the feedback we get, not just from 1 poster but dozens in a forum.

Boards is quite diverse (despite what some say), often it's trying to keep a happy medium, and unfortunately some don't like that. That doesn't mean stuff doesn't come up from time to time or mods are perfect, but I think that is what we try to aim for.

Dyr

K-9 wrote: »

Politics.ie used to have a bad rep, haven't been on it in years.

It amazes me how some people get so wound up about boards, or indeed p.ie, the journal etc.

It's like what is your favourite brand of tea except srs business! If somebody finds Boards too moderated, grand so, sorry about that, but it's just a different style of website. If it isn't to your taste, drink/watch/listen/read something else!

Politics.ie is the main political forum for Ireland by a country mile. People who are involved in national politics and government post there

despite being on the most popular irish forum by a country mile, the various boards politics forums are a distant second to politics.ie

There's a few reasons for that. and the reasons are all four letter words that start with "mod" and with "s"

K-9

Maguined wrote: »

No one is claiming there should be no mods, people are saying that it is overly modded. If the mods eased back a bit the nonsense stuff would still get removed but it would allow more discussion.

My biggest pet hate is when a thread is locked because a small handful of people cross the line. Rather than take action against the one or two people breaking the rules by banning them if necessary the entire thread is locked so no discussion is allowed further.

It is simply lazy and heavy handed.

Ideally if 2 or 3 posters are ruining a thread they should be told take it to pm or thread banned and let everybody else at it. It's a tough one, you get the endless line for line rebuttals, many don't like those but if they are being civil enough, hard to tell them to stop posting.

K-9

Bambi wrote: »

Politics.ie is the main political forum for Ireland by a country mile. People who are involved in national politics and government post there

despite being on the most popular irish forum by a country mile, the various boards politics forums are a distant second to politics.ie

There's a few reasons for that. and the reasons are all four letter words that start with "mod" and with "s"

Yeah, but politics.ie is for politics, though I think like all sites that grow, they discuss other stuff now.

The politics cafe is quite lightly moderated, put it this way, if you get a card or ban there you've usually earned it. Politics general is stricter, and yep, quieter. A reflection on mods? Yeah, I'd say there's stuff we can learn, a reflection on the way the net is going? Probably more so.

Not saying moderation is perfect, but with Facebook and Twitter and probably Reddit, the Internet has gone a certain way the last 7 or 8 years. I get the impression Boards is more the exception to the rule. I do think there is a place for sites like Boards, at least I hope so. Imperfect as it is, it still offers something different.

That doesn't mean everybody has to love us mods!

andekwarhola

Personally I think it's definitely a little overmoderated at times. Not so much towards some of the nuts you get in here but more your normal posters. I think you should be able to disagree more robustly with people than you are allowed to, and were allowed to do so in the past.

There's definitely also a slightly mortifying, condescending and sometimes cliquey attitude amongst admin and moderators (especially in places like prison and feedback or the popular forums like AH) that reflects poorly on the site.

That said, it's hardly worth losing sleep over. I would just express any boredom or disaffection with the site by correspondingly lowering or ending my use of it. It's a bit weird seeing people that clearly dislike the site and so many on it, but yet seem obsessed with it, hanging around complaining about it when, in their own, words, there's other more loosely moderated sites out there.

Spanish Eyes

Totally over moderated especially After Hours.

Just been thread banned for talking about grapes. WTAF.

Anyway, the mods have more power than a bazooka, so I reckon I'll get a ban here too soon. And will post on the feedback then if I am allowed.

Closing my account is an option, but why would I deny myself a bit of fun and pleasure? If all posters are banned for innocuous stuff there will be none left.

Anyway. I will continue to post but the next ban and I'm off. Imagine, I am a mature lady, I do not post horrible stuff at all. But power is to the mods like a drug. Good Day.

eviltwin

Moderation has definitely gone downhill, not sure why. Totally over the top at times and then other things are let slide. Mods are only human at the end of the day. One thing I don't understand is the persistent issues with rereg trolls. Why are they allowed get away.with it ?

RayM

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Just been thread banned for talking about grapes. WTAF.

That sounds very unraisinable.

Spanish Eyes

RayM wrote: »

That sounds very unraisinable.

Posts like that keep me here...sigh.

ClovenHoof

The main comment I hear - and I agree - is that all the mods and the posters who are allowed to control the content of discussions and flow are all civil servants.

maudgonner

RayM wrote: »

That sounds very unraisinable.

Imprunedent, you might even say?

Spanish Eyes

ClovenHoof wrote: »

The main comment I hear - and I agree - is that all the mods and the posters who are allowed to control the content of discussions and flow are all civil servants.

They are the only ones able to post and monitor/mod all day long!

Tea and biccies in between bannings is de rigeur of course too!

Spanish Eyes

maudgonner wrote: »

Imprunedent, you might even say?

Ha ha. See how ridiculous it all can be sometimes. Ah well.

KomradeBishop

K-9 wrote: »

The politics cafe is quite lightly moderated, put it this way, if you get a card or ban there you've usually earned it. Politics general is stricter, and yep, quieter. A reflection on mods? Yeah, I'd say there's stuff we can learn, a reflection on the way the net is going? Probably more so.

In the case of Politics Cafe, that's not always true though - due to a set of bizarre and long-running chain of bureaucratic decisions, from maybe a dozen or so different mods by now, despite having never been banned on the new PC, I am presently able to post on Politics (General) - though I don't bother to - yet not on Politics Cafe, because I was banned in the old Politics (General) ages ago now.

That's just a tiny crumb of that whole story, of course. When the moderation system goes wrong, it's like the bureaucratic equivalent of a rube goldberg machine, designed to painfully screw you over in random convoluted ways.

K-9

KomradeBishop wrote: »

In the case of Politics Cafe, that's not always true though - due to a set of bizarre and long-running chain of bureaucratic decisions, from maybe a dozen or so different mods by now, despite having never been banned on the new PC, I am presently able to post on Politics (General) - though I don't bother to - yet not on Politics Cafe, because I was banned in the old Politics (General) ages ago now.<br />
<br />
That's just a tiny crumb of that whole story, of course. When the moderation system goes wrong, it's like the bureaucratic equivalent of a rube goldberg machine, designed to painfully screw you over in random convoluted ways.

We must sort out that bug in the system forthwith! Joke btw. Tbh, personally, let bygones be bygones, just my personal opinion, I'm more mellowed out as time has gone on. Without going into details (seriously, both of us don't need to go over this old ground yet again), a compromise was offered, us mods did spend time trying to reach a compromise.
A forum was even set up on your request, political economics, so any objective mind can't say we didn't listen.
Plus you aren't quite technically correct, but let's not bore everybody with that stuff!

kupus

ClovenHoof wrote: »

The main comment I hear - and I agree - is that all the mods and the posters who are allowed to control the content of discussions and flow are all civil servants.

civil servants here, never, too busy.:pac:

LuckyLloyd

Wibbs wrote: »

It does and it doesn't. It's certainly losing ground. Much of the efforts of a site rejig is a laudable attempt to stem that decline. The category rejig and now this new Beta. To quote a chap in the Feedback forum on the new look to the site thread


There are more pressures on a Boards type community than before. More distractions out there and that is more than any rejig can "fix". IMH it doesn't need to. If anything the "old style" should be held onto. Chasing the numbers with a new look may only serve to alienate both current and new folks. There is much to be said for the comfortable, the familiar. My take anyway...

I still use a skin that says '2000 to 2012' on it. The rejig and new design is an attack on users like me. Maybe that's the intention?

ZeroThreat

ClovenHoof wrote: »

The main comment I hear - and I agree - is that all the mods and the posters who are allowed to control the content of discussions and flow are all civil servants.

how can they identify which posters are civil servants though?

Galwayguy35

Don't really have a problem with the modding here, there was one guy who carded me and when I mailed him to ask why I was ignored so yeah like in real life some people can be dicks but it's a big site and I've often found it useful for getting advice about DIY etc.

MilesMorales1

ZeroThreat wrote: »

how can they identify which posters are civil servants though?

Whichever ones get the brown envelopes.

Hans Bricks

I laugh at this perception a lot of regular & veteran posters have about themselves here when comparing this site to the Journal or politics.ie. Minus the inevitable click bait morons from social media, I can't see much of an intellectual disparity. The fact that other people can have discussions with each other without being mollycoddled and virtually babysat by moderators on other Irish discussion boards doesn't seem to sit well with the "Reported" types.

Markcheese

Spanish Eyes wrote:

Ha ha. See how ridiculous it all can be sometimes. Ah well.

maudgonner wrote:

Imprunedent, you might even say?

Well it's all currant affairs,

K-9

ZeroThreat wrote: »

how can they identify which posters are civil servants though?

Email addresses I think, remember the dating website thing, papers could trace registrations to companies etc.

Don't be silly, we are all INM employees, oops, I've said too much!

darced

This post has been deleted.

Lurkio

darced wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Indeed, but its not site wide. Never had a problem in AH certainly.

youreadthat

This is one of the more heavily modded forums out there. To be fair it's only a very few topics that cause much of the crack down.

Spanish Eyes

Markcheese wrote: »

Well it's all currant affairs,

LOL.

Now what about Sultanas? You know the wives of the Sultan..

Sour grapes I know.

Discodog

I love Boards & provided they don't wreck it, will continue to use it. The Mods reflect the membership, some good & some bad. A bad Mod can destroy a forum & a good Mod can make it.

But to me Boards feels like an establishment old boys club. My experiences with being forum banned & the subsequent procedure totally changed my opinion. I had this weird idea that Boards might be fair & reasonable :pac:

The variation across the site is a big problem for any new user. Say something in one forum & get thanks, say it another & get banned. Even the variation between the same Mods in the same forum can be significant. The robotic way that the CMods & Admins will just totally support the Mods doesn't help. Yes you can raise a dispute but you will lose so don't bother.

I guess that the likes of the Seamus's, the Wibbs & the Lord TSC's are a dying breed. I think that, rather than paying useless site developers, we should pay the good Mods to run a Mod training program

The site can be so utterly brilliant but I think that it's days are numbered. Moderation should & can be a really good thing. It should encourage the new & the younger posters because they can feel safe.

There is a worrying, underlying, arrogance deep inside Boards that they know best. I remember asking once why Boards wasn't available on Tapatalk. The reply was that Boards was way better & didn't need someone else's mobile platform :rolleyes:

maudgonner

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

LOL.

Now what about Sultanas? You know the wives of the Sultan..

Sour grapes I know.

I think it's time to call it a day with these puns. We're starting to sound like complete fruitcakes.