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Boards is becoming a Ghost Town

  • 02-05-2016 10:22pm
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 972 ✭✭✭


    Is it just me or is boards.ie becoming extraordinarily quiet? It's something I've started to notice and its making me go elsewhere (Reddit is incredibly busy in comparison). I'm not sure if its because the quality of posting is taking such a dive or if its because of over zealous moderation. Perhaps both. I think a balance needs to be struck; posting needs to be better but at the same time a lot of mods in the forum have over exerted their influence to the extent where we've lost so many great posters. The site is becoming too nany-esque however I'm aware the site was suffering from a huge problem with trolls and racists. I'm just wondering what are the thoughts of the admins on this issue?

    Seems like boards is dying out.
    Post edited by Shield on


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Comments

  • Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,774 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    It's dying all right but I'd put it down to an almost antediluvian search function rather than anything else.

    The bad news is that it gets even worse when you switch to the new site.

    If they sorted the search out, I'm nearly sure they'd see a rise in users.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,678 ✭✭✭jjbrien


    Me I stopped posting as I dont like this new look. I loved the old look where all the recent topics were on the main page. Now it just looks like a glossy version of windows 8


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 18,299 ✭✭✭✭The Backwards Man


    Is boards becoming like a ghost town?

    You must not be one of The Specials.









    I'll get my coat


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,524 ✭✭✭✭Gordon


    WarZ wrote: »
    I'm just wondering what are the thoughts of the admins on this issue?
    posting needs to be better
    Is there anything to be said for another mass?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,732 ✭✭✭weisses


    Gordon wrote: »
    Is there anything to be said for another mass?

    Boards could do with some divine intervention .. Good point :D


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  • Moderators, Regional East Moderators Posts: 23,238 Mod ✭✭✭✭GLaDOS


    Some of the smaller forums I frequent definitely seem to be quieter these days.

    A lot of good posters have closed their accounts in the last couple of years and that can really have an affect on content generation on a small forum.

    Cake, and grief counseling, will be available at the conclusion of the test



  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,217 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    More competition from Facebook/Reddit is a major pressure. That can't really be helped from what I can see. The drift towards more viewing on mobile devices is another pressure.
    I'd put it down to an almost antediluvian search function rather than anything else.
    The search is pretty bad alright H. I gave up on it TBH and if I do want to search Boards I'm as likely to use google to do it.

    The category rejig down to four headings didn't help. At all. With a few of the forums I'd have subbed, traffic went off a cliff pretty much immediately after the introduction of that. Actually the category rejig actually went down to two headings as far as the "old" community goes; Topics and regional. That rejig was a mistake IMH. Looked like a great idea on paper and the kind of "streamlining" that is fashionable when outside agencies are consulted.

    The new layout rolled out recently - again with it seems outside agencies being consulted - is a mistake /end, full stop, period for our US viewers. Consultants gonna consult and too often management forget that they have to justify their existence by consulting for change. It would have been a bloody hard sell when Boards what at its peak, it's a true head shaker of a decision when it's seeing a downturn.

    The ageing demographic is another trend. Even a fair few years back I had heard "Boards was for older people" as a thing, now it's more in play. Where once it was mostly folks in their twenties, they've gone on into their thirties. I certainly feel less of an old fart around the place than I did ten years ago. That can sometimes bring a "stuffy" more "middle management" dynamic to things.

    There have been successes. Politics Cafe was/is one. Granted it had some issues, but as far as bums on seats goes it was getting people in. Hopefully the rejig encourages more in. Farming and Forestry went ballistic too and After Hours seems as popular as ever.

    On the latter score, AH is one of, if not the main gateway into the rest of Boards(after search engines). That should be looked at as a way to guide people around the rest of the site. IMH if the aforementioned Politics Cafe had just been added into the main Politics section minus the permanent link in AH it would have been a ghost town(though doesn't seem to have had that much of an influence on the Irish language forum?). I'd look at a serious culling, rather melding of forums too. There are too many, especially under the two heading category system. Too many clicks to browse for the casual user.


    My 3 cents anyway.

    Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.



  • Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,774 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    The Irish language sub-forum might not be busy but there are regular posters. I put its inactivity down to an overall absence of Irish language users on the site. The Gaeilge forum, which allows English use, is only slightly busier and mostly it's people looking to have meaningless "inspirational" sentences translated or looking for information on Irish learning IRL (which is the best way to learn any language, so in no way is the latter description intended to be as disparaging as the former.)


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,217 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    There's that too many forums thing right there H. Two forums that basically cover the same subject.

    As an experiment it might be an idea to add a third forum link to the AH page, maybe the main Politics forum(s)? Just for a month and see what happens to the traffic. I'd be willing to bet it would go up. And by a fair bit too. Politics is another set of forums I'd amalgamate into just one; Politics. With the Cafe left for the lulz. You could go through the Science forums with the amalgamation scythe too. And so on. That way you get more people in the one place and that leaves things far less vulnerable to dying forums when keystone members drift away.

    Another thing that's more a psychological one is the "Closed Account" option. Maybe it's just me to be fair, but I think that sends a really bad signal. 1) it makes your account, you seem less "valuable" and 2) comes across as a negative when reading a thread*. Locals of longer standing know that most come back after a time, some the next day, but to a newbie or lurker it makes Boards look like a declining concern rather than a going one and that's bound to influence how they feel about the site. I'd really be looking hard and asking questions about the actual legal need for that option and if there isn't one getting rid of it with utmost speed.






    *Not just old threads either where the list of those who look like they've left can be a bit mad, you can see this on even recent threads. I clicked into one on the main page of AH earlier and over the weekend there are two "closed account" users.

    Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,175 ✭✭✭intheclouds


    Wibbs wrote: »
    The category rejig down to four headings didn't help. At all.

    This.

    This combined with literally no proper search facility.

    Plus the new layout looking crap compared to the old one.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,229 ✭✭✭✭Dial Hard


    Have definitely noticed a decline in activity recently. I suspect a lot of people just didn't come back after the DDOS attack/subsequent bugginess.

    Wibbs is right about the move to mobile having an effect too. The touch site and app are both barely usable.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,944 ✭✭✭✭Links234


    Wibbs wrote: »
    Another thing that's more a psychological one is the "Closed Account" option. Maybe it's just me to be fair, but I think that sends a really bad signal. 1) it makes your account, you seem less "valuable" and 2) comes across as a negative when reading a thread*. Locals of longer standing know that most come back after a time, some the next day, but to a newbie or lurker it makes Boards look like a declining concern rather than a going one and that's bound to influence how they feel about the site. I'd really be looking hard and asking questions about the actual legal need for that option and if there isn't one getting rid of it with utmost speed.

    As well as that, a big problem is also the amount of banned users you see, which is giving a really skewed false perception. As an example, from my experience moderating the last while in the Rock & Metal forum, there's a thread where it looks like half a dozen people who've been posting in that one thread alone are banned. Now the reality is actually quite different, all those accounts are the same person who keeps coming back after being banned by the admins several times, but for anyone else looking at the thread, "Holy crap, all these people are being banned for no reason at all!" is the impression it's giving.

    There's a painful lack of transparency with bannings, and I'll be honest, folks seeing banned accounts left right and center with no explanation is giving a really, really bad front of shop. Your average user should be able to see why a person was banned, maybe something on their profile, and it should be clear and transparent. Anyone looking at any one of the banned accounts in the thread I allude to above, and trying to figure out why that person was banned will come up lacking, and can only come away with the conclusion that boards is way too strict. Something has to be done about that.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,807 ✭✭✭Custardpi


    Make clicking on a "banned account" user link to a Prison thread?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 36,434 ✭✭✭✭LuckyLloyd


    Traffic is inarguably declining. I guess the question is whether it is declining at a faster than anticipated and unacceptable rate? If the redesign indicates "yes" to that question then I'd suggest it's an unfortunate way to attempt to deal with it!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,500 ✭✭✭✭DEFTLEFTHAND


    Is it just the way online message boards in general are going? There's so many other options available to people these days.


  • Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 18,774 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    It's hackneyed at this stage but people (not just the young uns) have a dreadfully poor attention span these days as well.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,355 ✭✭✭gallag


    No one going to talk about that there giant elephant standing in the corner? Boards fell down the liberal pc hole of no return! What was it the head honcho Dav said about right wing opinion? Then 90% of mods being left to ultra-left has created an atmosphere of hostility for about 50% of the population, if yous want more traffic then stop moderation on a ideological basis and show more respect to anyone who simply has a differing opinion.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,175 ✭✭✭intheclouds


    gallag wrote: »
    No one going to talk about that there giant elephant standing in the corner? Boards fell down the liberal pc hole of no return! What was it the head honcho Dav said about right wing opinion? Then 90% of mods being left to ultra-left has created an atmosphere of hostility for about 50% of the population, if yous want more traffic then stop moderation on a ideological basis and show more respect to anyone who simply has a differing opinion.

    What do you mean by this?

    First of all I have no idea what Dav said about right wing opinion.

    But, more importantly, (a) are 50% of the population really right wing? and (b) I really havent noticed any hostility to people holding a right wing opinion - do you have any examples of that?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,084 ✭✭✭✭Esel
    Not Your Ornery Onager


    "Are you now, or have you ever been, a moderator on Boards.ie?"

    :)

    Not your ornery onager



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 39,022 ✭✭✭✭Permabear


    This post has been deleted.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 31,152 ✭✭✭✭KERSPLAT!


    New site and close account function would be the main issues, IMO. The close account function has ruined the site and the new site will kill it off.

    There was a sense of community in my early years, posters I held in high regard. Now when you look through some of the older threads its a mix of closed and banned accounts. Anyone gets squeezed into a tight spot in discussion, close account, get a warning from a mod, close account, etc, etc.

    I would second the suggestion from someone above, the close account function should be revisited and if possible, removed.

    The new site. Well, so far its awful but at the same time it isn't the finished product so we'll see how that goes.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,576 ✭✭✭✭MEGA BRO WOLF 5000


    I'd hazard a guess that moderation is the real reason people are leaving in droves. It's becoming impossible to have an opinion in After Hours or the soccer forum anyway. Moderated to death.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 713 ✭✭✭Edward Hopper


    I'd hazard a guess that moderation is the real reason people are leaving in droves. It's becoming impossible to have an opinion in After Hours or the soccer forum anyway. Moderated to death.

    Soccer forum has been more heavily moderated than most forums for years, it hasn't got worse, it's less harsh if anything recently so I don't buy your argument there tbh.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 31,152 ✭✭✭✭KERSPLAT!


    I'd hazard a guess that moderation is the real reason people are leaving in droves. It's becoming impossible to have an opinion in After Hours or the soccer forum anyway. Moderated to death.

    Read: it's impossible to be a dîck, you always get banned :(



    Thousands upon thousands have no issues with moderation but you always get a few who act the bollox, get banned, get carded, etc and blame moderation rather than look at themselves. Then you've the reregs who hate the site and moderation but still stick around because... Well, I don't know why, you'd have to ask one of them.

    Moderation is far from perfect on boards but it wouldn't be a leading cause for the downturn in users, IMO.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 40,061 ✭✭✭✭Harry Palmr


    It's hackneyed at this stage but people (not just the young uns) have a dreadfully poor attention span these days as well.

    If one can't keep focused on something as transitory as a boards.ie thread then there is no hope at all.

    I'd gut the place to be honest - far too much peripatetic guff around the edges - and work on the core forums both internally and externally. "Boards - now you're talkin'" is no longer the case when it comes to the wider world.

    Boards should have a greater Irish internet presence than is the case. Look at the churnel for goodness sake - everyone's heard of that (name checked frequently on radio for example) and yet it's terrible really.

    Within Distilled Media's portfolio it sticks out as not fitting in with the rest really - property being the bulk of the titles now, the place hasn't won an award in years - remember how pleased we all were when Golden Spiders were the rage?

    Perhaps it's time for some manufactured outrage to bring the name to the public attention. Sponsorship of a naked ramble round Ireland for de-criminalising sex work maybe!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,944 ✭✭✭✭Links234


    gallag wrote: »
    No one going to talk about that there giant elephant standing in the corner? Boards fell down the liberal pc hole of no return!

    Quite frankly, that's giant elephant dung. Constantly you see threads about travellers, immigrants, people on the dole, feminists, etc, and they're brimming with, if we're being polite, decidedly un-PC opinions. Quite frankly, there's some absolutely blatant racists on boards, yet users have gotten carded for calling people racists/bigots, it's laughable.

    If there's anything killing boards, it's some of the outright nastiness that goes on from overly hostile users with a bug up their ass and an axe to grind about whatever their pet subject is. The Ladies Lounge was absolutely buzzing with activity, but the life was practically stamped out of it by people who were quite aggressively derailing every other thread, the mods there are doing a good job trying to turn it round, but it's barely recovered and might not fully recover at all. Some folks are just making boards a seriously hostile place, and people are leaving because of it. I've quite a few friends who've left boards entirely, and it's that hostility that's the reason, it's fracturing any sense of community.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 34,809 ✭✭✭✭smash


    Wibbs wrote: »
    Another thing that's more a psychological one is the "Closed Account" option. Maybe it's just me to be fair, but I think that sends a really bad signal.

    Whether displayed under a username or not, I think the feature itself is a necessity these days with the amount of targeting of users being done. Both on site here and on other forums.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,015 ✭✭✭Ludo


    Pointless forum duplcation. Online TV and TV...What? Why? utterly pointless. Topics heading is terrible also. I Used to regularly browse around and visit some forums which I no longer do. And dont bother say abut adding them to My Forums. I dont want that turned into another massive menu. I recently looked for discussion about the government formation as it interests me. Couldnt find the politics forum with a discussion about it quickly (never had that problem with old navigation menus) so I went off to politics.ie.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,084 ✭✭✭✭Esel
    Not Your Ornery Onager


    smash wrote: »
    Whether displayed under a username or not, I think the feature itself is a necessity these days with the amount of targeting of users being done. Both on site here and on other forums.

    It might be just optics - but could Closed Account be instead titled Resigned?

    Banned could be Retired.

    Think 'outplacement'...

    Mainly Closed though.

    Not your ornery onager



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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,160 ✭✭✭Felix Jones is God


    KERSPLAT! wrote: »
    Read: it's impossible to be a dîck, you always get banned :(



    Thousands upon thousands have no issues with moderation but you always get a few who act the bollox, get banned, get carded, etc and blame moderation rather than look at themselves. Then you've the reregs who hate the site and moderation but still stick around because... Well, I don't know why, you'd have to ask one of them.

    Moderation is far from perfect on boards but it wouldn't be a leading cause for the downturn in users, IMO.

    Sick of that old chestnut... Thousands never get carded.... Frankly...nobody cares!
    If you're in an active forum with debate, chances are you will pick up a card or 2....if not, well you're either a lurker with nothing to contribute bar banging the thanks button or someone who has nothing original to say imo


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,766 ✭✭✭Bongalongherb


    I'd hazard a guess that moderation is the real reason people are leaving in droves. It's becoming impossible to have an opinion in After Hours or the soccer forum anyway. Moderated to death.

    Are you kidding ?. The amount of crap I produce when in a euphoric and drunken state and cringe the following day expecting bans and red cards when I log on in pm... Amazingly there are none.

    It's not the moderation in my opinion, not a chance. I think the moderation is fair. It's in the right place and it never bothered me and I received my fair share of bans and infractions since 2008. I didn't try the new site-look, I'll be sticking with the original until I have to move ahead and then will get used to it, adapt and overcome.

    The recent DDOS attack I can understand, as that could very well put a lot of folk off with the glitches and slow-downs etc...

    The search feature was never very good in the first place as I even gave up on it and just used google to retrieve a boards.ie thread much faster. People come and people go. But that DDOS attack really fecked up the site and not many folk can handle slow forums. It will pick-up again when it is made fully stable. You have to admit though, there is a great information database here on boards.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 31,152 ✭✭✭✭KERSPLAT!


    Sick of that old chestnut... Thousands never get carded.... Frankly...nobody cares!
    If you're in an active forum with debate, chances are you will pick up a card or 2....if not, well you're either a lurker with nothing to contribute bar banging the thanks button or someone who has nothing original to say imo

    "It's everyone else's fault, definitely not mine"

    Plenty engage in discussions with no issues.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,160 ✭✭✭Felix Jones is God


    KERSPLAT! wrote: »
    "It's everyone else's fault, definitely not mine"

    Plenty engage in discussions with no issues.

    Who's blaming anyone? If I get a card, grand, no issue, I move on...but if you are on boards for 5 years, and don't pick up an infraction, it probably means you frequent a forum with no traffic or real discussion. Again, just my opinion,


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,166 ✭✭✭Fr_Dougal


    Who's blaming anyone? If I get a card, grand, no issue, I move on...but if you are on boards for 5 years, and don't pick up an infraction, it probably means you frequent a forum with no traffic or real discussion. Again, just my opinion,

    I'm on Boards 4 years and post mainly in AH; no infractions.

    I think the issues with the site, between DDoS and then infrastructure issues, have contributed towards a decline. Other factors would be the way social media has changed, people have Facebook and Twitter accounts to communicate.

    Any of the very dead fora, well they're either not relevant anymore, or have been moderated to within an inch of their lives.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,689 ✭✭✭Tombi!


    Mixture of social media overtaking forums. Social media now is basically "look, I'm special" with Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and every eejit known to man with a blog or video on Youtube.

    Doubt the moderation has much to do with it. While regular reregs who would wind up users might be gone so more activity on that side is down, discussion hasn't died. And I could look at a few people who've gotten a card or two in AH and haven't been a problem. A card isn't the end of the world. Plenty of people go through Boards without being a problem. I think that's the issue most people don't seem to understand.
    A card or even a ban once, okay if you learn your lesson and reign it back in to follow the rules. Seems to me that the people that complain about moderation the most are either: the ones that can't reign it in/would rather break the "don't be a dick" rule or else (understandably in this case): see a lot of mods posting in bold and think they're being heavy handed because they don't know what's going on behind the scenes.

    Case in point would be the Prison forum - plenty of idiots in there that are just reregs. They look all nice and innocent till they get told they're a rereg then they start trolling/being abusive.


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  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,217 Mod ✭✭✭✭Wibbs


    Links234 wrote: »
    If there's anything killing boards, it's some of the outright nastiness that goes on from overly hostile users with a bug up their ass and an axe to grind about whatever their pet subject is. The Ladies Lounge was absolutely buzzing with activity, but the life was practically stamped out of it by people who were quite aggressively derailing every other thread, the mods there are doing a good job trying to turn it round, but it's barely recovered and might not fully recover at all. Some folks are just making boards a seriously hostile place, and people are leaving because of it. I've quite a few friends who've left boards entirely, and it's that hostility that's the reason, it's fracturing any sense of community.
    Great in theory if that's the theory one is trying to prove, but the reality doesn't bear it out. I modded the place for years from right off the bat and well past the peak of activity and we had muppets from day one. Oh and by the by, not just men coming by to troll. We also had the women who were at various levels of "outrage" because it wasn't the forum they wanted or what they thought "it should be". And it weathered those. Indeed at the height of the "the Ladies Lounge is an abomination to men/free speech/my flavour of feminism"[delete as applicable] with near monthly Feedback threads and toys outa the pram by all and sundry, at times requiring the ministrations of The Office(™) to sort, it was still flying along and garnering new people posting. At the very peak of "buzzing with activity".

    If you look at when it went from a rolling 100 odd number of posters to under 20 it happened within months if not weeks of the category rejig. Hell, as I said I modded the place, stopped subbing to the forum and rarely looked back in because it was just too many extra clicks beyond my "couldn't be arsed" threshold. Granted I'd have the "couldn't be arsed" threshold of a 16 year old with ADHD, but it seems I'm not alone in this. The proof of the pudding an all.

    You also reckon that "outright nastiness" is killing the site and I'd bet After Hours would be in the firing line there(as it usually is, as night follows day), yet it's in many ways too popular a forum that is dragging bums on seats away from elsewhere. Dav himself has mentioned this. "outright nastiness" isn't the issue as far as numbers go, that child has many fathers, one of whom is the "streamlining" of the site. There are forums outside the outrage sensitive forums that have also fallen off a cliff.
    Smash wrote:
    Whether displayed under a username or not, I think the feature itself is a necessity these days with the amount of targeting of users being done. Both on site here and on other forums.
    That appears to make sense S. I did type appears. So Wibbs gets targeted by others. I close my account. Big whoop. My posts and username are still attached and clearly visible. What has changed? Feck all. I rereg a day later when I've recovered from all the awfulness and soon enough my new handle is noted(the number of users I can think of that have done just that). What has changed? Feck all again. It's one of those security ideas that actually has near zero security involved. Big Idea; If it gets too much and that's fine, then just walk away and stop posting. Whether that be for a while or for good. Simples. Nobody is holding a gun to anybody's fully grown adult's head here.
    Fr_Dougal wrote:
    I think the issues with the site, between DDoS and then infrastructure issues, have contributed towards a decline. Other factors would be the way social media has changed, people have Facebook and Twitter accounts to communicate.

    Any of the very dead fora, well they're either not relevant anymore, or have been moderated to within an inch of their lives.
    That would be the bones of it alright.

    Rejoice in the awareness of feeling stupid, for that’s how you end up learning new things. If you’re not aware you’re stupid, you probably are.



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,116 ✭✭✭RDM_83 again


    Links234 wrote: »
    Quite frankly, that's giant elephant dung. Constantly you see threads about travellers, immigrants, people on the dole, feminists, etc, and they're brimming with, if we're being polite, decidedly un-PC opinions. Quite frankly, there's some absolutely blatant racists on boards, yet users have gotten carded for calling people racists/bigots, it's laughable.

    If there's anything killing boards, it's some of the outright nastiness that goes on from overly hostile users with a bug up their ass and an axe to grind about whatever their pet subject is. The Ladies Lounge was absolutely buzzing with activity, but the life was practically stamped out of it by people who were quite aggressively derailing every other thread, the mods there are doing a good job trying to turn it round, but it's barely recovered and might not fully recover at all. Some folks are just making boards a seriously hostile place, and people are leaving because of it. I've quite a few friends who've left boards entirely, and it's that hostility that's the reason, it's fracturing any sense of community.

    I will reuse this recent post of mine to a different user
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Samaris View Post
    I dunno, a few times I've faded off Boards but it wasn't due to moderation. It was actually due to being sick of some of the nastier stuff that got posted. I stopped going to AH for a bit because I was so damned sick of the constant feminism-bashing and dole-bashing. When there's several threads in a row down the page that's basically the same **** over again it's a bit "nope, not even bothering".

    Can I ask though, when did you not find After Hours like that? Like I'm not very politically correct at all and when I first opened an account I used to avoid it because it was a bit much.
    The people who complain about AH changing to be much more safe and politically correct do have a really big point, its incomparable now to what it was.
    Now I can understand the need for "nicer" spaces but the feeling is the entire site is turning into a very safe space, online (and media in general) is becoming more polarized by the current culture wars but the middle ground still exists, the significant numbers in the opposing fringes should be catered for but they shouldn't be allowed to shift the dynamic so much of already existing thriving forums, look at how the Politics Cafe is about the only new success on Boards, there is a lesson to be learned from that however if you take Dav's statement on the thread

    We didn't suddenly start banning Right Wing opinion, Right Wing opinion has become dangerously extremist because the rest of the world has become a more tolerant place.
    This thread

    The lesson to be taken is that one side is to be cordoned off while the rest of the site is to become more PC/left liberal.
    Incidentally on that thread I took the time to look into how threads on the refugee crisis were treated on AH and it was clear that those who's OP's were more positive to migrants/refugees stayed open and weren't moved while those that weren't were.

    I'm not arguing that the site shouldn't be moderated but perhaps AH isn't for everyone and shouldn't try to be, I know sub division can spell death but why not push those that want a Nice/PC space to a different forum on the site the same way the Nasty/Right wing has been pushed to the Politics Cafe instead of trying to push the middle of the road people into some PC utopia where they don't want to be.


    Perhaps the Ladies Lounge has died because the users moved to After Hours?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 34,809 ✭✭✭✭smash


    Wibbs wrote: »
    That appears to make sense S. I did type appears. So Wibbs gets targeted by others. I close my account. Big whoop. My posts and username are still attached and clearly visible. What has changed? Feck all. I rereg a day later when I've recovered from all the awfulness and soon enough my new handle is noted(the number of users I can think of that have done just that). What has changed? Feck all again. It's one of those security ideas that actually has near zero security involved. Big Idea; If it gets too much and that's fine, then just walk away and stop posting. Whether that be for a while or for good. Simples. Nobody is holding a gun to anybody's fully grown adult's head here.

    it could be one of the issues. A lot of people just don't feel safe online any more and that's why so many social networks are upping their privacy game but it's an area where forums have failed miserably. In fact forums are pushing for more social platform integration without any of the back up for when something goes wrong for a user.

    I'll add to this that the big boards hack a few years back made a lot of users leave and the continuous DDOS attack down time doesn't make users feel safe either.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,766 ✭✭✭Bongalongherb


    Jezz, no matter what way the site is made-up or advanced to make folk happy, folk will nonetheless complain because it is not to each individuals liking. Ye can't make every 'Individual' happy of course.

    Though this 'Political Correctness' scenario in a lot of threads does my head in, I still put up with reading it at times. PC gone mad it has become.

    PS: Indeed, the Boards hack a few years ago was a real problem and I can imagine a lot of folk leaving from that one, especially subscribers.


  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 27,753 Mod ✭✭✭✭Posy


    I definitely browse less since the topics disappeared into one big heading. I never, ever stumble across random topics anymore whereas before that, I would have often seen a topic and thought 'I didn't know there was a forum for XYZ' and give it a click.
    Wibbs wrote: »
    There's that too many forums thing right there H. Two forums that basically cover the same subject.
    I totally agree with this- there could be so much streamlining done with various 'dead' forums/fora. Less than 50ish posts a year and I fail to see the point of a forum, when a thread somewhere would suffice.

    Wibbs wrote:
    Another thing that's more a psychological one is the "Closed Account" option. Maybe it's just me to be fair, but I think that sends a really bad signal. 1) it makes your account, you seem less "valuable" and 2) comes across as a negative when reading a thread
    KERSPLAT! wrote: »
    New site and close account function would be the main issues, IMO. The close account function has ruined the site and the new site will kill it off.
    +1
    I was reading a thread started last month in AH and the first page had several 'closed accounts'. It just looked so bad.
    Accounts seem like a throw away thing now, I know several posters who are completely open that they are on account number 7/8/9.
    It looks like at least 50% of users are either 'closed accounts' or 'banned.' It really negates the community spirit that boards once had.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,404 ✭✭✭Lone Stone


    I use to be fairly active in after hours and enjoyed the topical posts about things for the casual rant but barely bother anymore with it since mods dump any interesting stuff into politics which I don't really like the atmosphere in those forums.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,084 ✭✭✭✭Esel
    Not Your Ornery Onager


    I composed a long post, but then I clicked back.

    Not your ornery onager



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,084 ✭✭✭✭Esel
    Not Your Ornery Onager


    The gods cannot hear
    Shouting in their ear
    Thesis? Jebus
    Golgotha is near

    Not your ornery onager



  • Posts: 18,749 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    KERSPLAT! wrote: »
    Read: it's impossible to be a dîck, you always get banned :(



    Thousands upon thousands have no issues with moderation but you always get a few who act the bollox, get banned, get carded, etc and blame moderation rather than look at themselves. Then you've the reregs who hate the site and moderation but still stick around because... Well, I don't know why, you'd have to ask one of them.

    Moderation is far from perfect on boards but it wouldn't be a leading cause for the downturn in users, IMO.

    I got barred from a thread, with no explanation at all.
    It's not even a thread I'm in that much, but without a reason why, it really grates.
    It would put me off the whole site tbh.
    A reason, or an explanation why, would go a long way.
    It would make me move if it keeps on happening


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,766 ✭✭✭Bongalongherb


    bubblypop wrote: »
    I got barred from a thread, with no explanation at all.
    It's not even a thread I'm in that much, but without a reason why, it really grates.
    It would put me off the whole site tbh.
    A reason, or an explanation why, would go a long way.
    It would make me move if it keeps on happening

    You do know that there is a boards thread for this... If any-one has a dispute you can easily forward the information to be analysed by other mods/category mods or administrator if necessary.


  • Posts: 18,749 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    You do know that there is a boards thread for this... If any-one has a dispute you can easily forward the information to be analysed by other mods/category mods or administrator if necessary.

    I did
    I still didn't get an answer
    Then I went back to the original mod that barred me
    Still no reason/ explanation


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,084 ✭✭✭✭Esel
    Not Your Ornery Onager


    You do know that there is a boards thread for this... If any-one has a dispute you can easily forward the information to be analysed by other mods/category mods or administrator if necessary.

    Not sure if ironic, or the problem.

    Not your ornery onager



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,766 ✭✭✭Bongalongherb


    Esel wrote: »
    Not sure if ironic, or the problem.

    Paranoid the lot of you are. Get back in a thread and make it happen, bring something funny to the fore and expand it accordingly, no excuses. This is not a thread you should be spending your time on, it should be spent advancing the good stuff on After-Hours and getting deeply in on the action..

    And it takes a stone-head to make you understand this. Move forward ye-all into making boards.ie more crazy and titillating to folk with the catches and bombardments of good things. Now off with you all.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,084 ✭✭✭✭Esel
    Not Your Ornery Onager


    Paranoid the lot of you are. Get back in a thread and make it happen, bring something funny to the fore and expand it accordingly, no excuses. This is not a thread you should be spending your time on, it should be spent advancing the good stuff on After-Hours and getting deeply in on the action..

    And it takes a stone-head to make you understand this. Move forward ye-all into making boards.ie more crazy and titillating to folk with the catches and bombarments of good things. Now off with you all.

    As I said.

    Too many words to assimilate.

    Can we please (not) appeal
    To the lowest common

    Denominator

    Not your ornery onager



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,766 ✭✭✭Bongalongherb


    Esel wrote: »
    As I said.

    Too many words to assimilate.

    Can we please (not) appeal
    To the lowest common

    Denominator

    There is no common denominator, all things are different, and as such should be expressed accordingly.

    Be well Esel.


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