How has Boards.ie Changed over the years?

WarZ

Any long term users want to divulge?

I have been here nearly a year and even in the last few months I have noticed drastic changes. More moderating, more extreme opinions from users, less posting and more politically oriented threads.

Has it changed for better, for worse? Are there users you miss? New users you like?

What for you has been the big changes both positive and negative?

Benteke

A few places on the site are not worth visiting the mods have gone power mad if you disagree with them you get a yellow or banned, They must get paid very well if not they need to get out more

The flying mouse

It's just got better and better since I joined up...

the evasion_kid

Gone too sterilised and sanitised,ive noticed people's posts being deleted has become a regular occurrence and even if I don't agree with their posts every time I see it,it chips away at the time I have for boards

Hunchback

People are testier then ever

Blatter

WarZ wrote: »

Any long term users want to divulge?

I have been here nearly a year and even in the last few months I have noticed drastic changes. More moderating, more extreme opinions from users, less posting and more politically oriented threads.

Has it changed for better, for worse? Are there users you miss? New users you like?

What for you has been the big changes both positive and negative?

The quality of posts has been declining alright. For example, very recently in the Man United thread somebody popped it, made a completely false statement and ignored users who asked for links to back up said statement.

Stuff like this happening on a continuous basis as well as posters invading threads pushing obvious agendas makes the site a poorer place.

Barry Badrinath

The close account option has had both a positive and negative effect.

Usernames that I used to really like are mostly long gone. Some have hung around as new accounts (like myself) but aren't the same.

For me, the fun, cleverness and cheekiness of the online community has diminished.

Most of what's left is blatant passive aggressiveness, unreasonable debate, being offended on someone/some groups behalf, unaccepted arguments when you have no link, petty posts against posters you don't agree with, every type of "ism" imaginable.

It's just mostly a nasty place to be at the best of times. I'm guilty of it myself, it's turned me into a cynical d1ckhead whose primary focus is to discredit another poster because I have a different point of view, usually by being pompous and dismissive. I have tried to be nicer, helpful and to inject a bit of humour but there's too much blackness in the user base.

The commercial aspect of boards has also watered down the social feel of the community. It's sold it's soul at our expense but it needed to.

So, I actually don't know why any of us stick around. Must rectify that.

KERSPLAT!

Mods are worse, or is it better!?

Who knows.

Lyaiera

Fado fado before the bantz had been coined, boards was, essentially about the bantz. At least AH. As time progressed, along with the internet, it became more about extreme views, and extreme ways of saying them.

I think that's becoming common in a lot of places, especially any really big community. The views are polarised in a with us or against us kind of way, and most people don't engage, just look for key words they can shout at and be abusive about.

There's plenty of great internet communities, but they're generally a lot smaller, or more niche than boards.

somuj

KERSPLAT! wrote: »

Mods are worse, or is it better!?

Who knows.

They got better at being worse.

eviltwin

Less moderation when it comes to rereg users, they aren't dealt with quick enough.

AH in particular has just become a soapbox for people with an agenda

A lot of ambition with the Talk To and AMA forums that haven't really worked. Boards was better the way it was.

septictank

The flying mouse wrote: »

It's just got better and better since I joined up...

I noticed that, just didn't like to say.

lawlolawl

I feel like it has gotten much quieter and I notice the same few posters in pretty much every thread.

Also, the moderation has become stricter despite already being fairly strict anyway.

kneemos

Another App might help.

Peregrine

Far too many people out to start arguments, being agressive and piss people off. People need to chill.

Edit: Oh and I've been here for almost seven years. Not as long as others but still long enough to see changes.

cantdecide

It's mainly Father Ted gags these days. It's the only thing left that's not too risque since they did away with the Sexeteria.

Lady is a tramp

I think it's less clique-ey, which is a good thing, I do miss some of the old posters from years ago though.

I do think moderation can be over-zealous at times these days, which probably puts people off.

WarZ

Peregrine wrote: »

Far too many people out to start arguments, being agressive and piss people off. People need to chill.

I think it's more a case of people with different opinions being shouted down by a mob of easily offended 'he's trolling!' backed up by over zealous moderators.

The mods are running away with deleting posts and warning users because they don't agree with their posts or don't like the user under the banner that they are out to start arguments or 'troll'

Trolling has become a by-word for 'someone has an opinion that I don't like'

kneemos

Peregrine wrote: »

Far too many people out to start arguments, being agressive and piss people off. People need to chill.

Nit picking,one upmanship and bitchyness about sums it up.
Oh and staid crap jokes.

donutheadhomer

I think its the same really

Wiseman Drinkwater

Not as much fun, good posters either banned or closed account, too much identity politics. Fear its decline has reached critical mass in the last year.

biko

I assume that when someone starts a thread in AH and mention "boards" they mean "AH".
I've been here for over ten years and tbh nothing much have changed in AH.

On boards generally there are changes; some good, some not so good.

twowheelsonly

kneemos wrote: »

Nit picking,one upmanship and bitchyness about sums it up.
Oh and staid crap jokes.

That and people that look for a 'link' to back up any statement or opinion that you might have. :mad:

Blatter

WarZ wrote: »

Trolling has become a by-word for 'someone has an opinion that I don't like'

Would agree that this is a problem across all online forums.

However it is also a popular argument that actual trolls like to hide behind.

PARlance

twowheelsonly wrote: »

That and people that look for a 'link' to back up any statement or opinion that you might have. :mad:

Have you any examples of this?

People making far too many predictable retorts nowadays.

Felix Jones is God

Boards is ok...it's just the quality of new threads that leaves a lot to be desired

TheDriver

Postings have become much much less as has the community of sharing. Plus lots of people asking the same question that was answered one page back. Gone are the days when people put in as much as they got back out

super_furry

Think it lost a good part of it's sense of community over the last few years if I'm honest. It seems a much drier place to me as well, much of the humour has gone.

That and there doesn't seem to be too much of a desire to let genuine conversation and debate flow at times.

5rtytry56

I registered first on boards.ie as 'gugleguy' in November 2009; closed that account in 2014.
Rejoined in my current re incarnation in January 2015.

What do I see:
Quite a good many newer posters posting with 'think for Number 1' mindset.
This is in evidence in the Education as well as AH fora; Such mindset is often accompanied with a superiority complex.

goz83

I think the mods should delete this disgraceful thread. So much whinging

Yep, there is a fair bit of post deletion. What's worse is when the job isn't done properly and you see part of the deleted posts in quoted responses and it just messes up the thread. Infuriating stuff and I see it almost daily.

Dravokivich

Boards has become a kid too afraid to sit down because a chair has been pulled from behind them once.

SterlingArcher

Don't think I've been around boards long enough to tell how it has changed..

I think in general alot of peoples thinking has changed. All of a sudden masses of people with no interest in seeking actual knowledge. Just Latch on to trending topics. And only agree with the biggest group think within it.

The Donald Trump one for example. Droves of anxious social network users sounding off their trumpets of hate. Oh he said words like this he's wrong. That is the end of their quest for knowledge. No interest in information that isn't At the trend of the rainbow. So Hillary Clinton gets a pass on her actual dangerous possible world ending leadership qualities she has displayed thus far.

Basically the Internet itself on nearly all forums are agree with the group mentality on what's acceptable or get shouted down with racist /bully/ offensive / basically keep it to yourself. And boards has not escaped that.

The flying mouse

I supose for the most part the mods are volenteers.thats a lot of there time they give to running the site.I found its got rather repetative as such i dont post as much as i used to and stay away from the politics threads as most people thete are entrenced in there opinons and wont be changing for no one.
I also find the personal insults being posted is getting worse. With everyone being a scum.scumbag.idiot.tools etc etc
Tltr
I log in most days but don't post as much and am slowly drifting away...

Wibbs

biko wrote: »

I assume that when someone starts a thread in AH and mention "boards" they mean "AH".
I've been here for over ten years and tbh nothing much have changed in AH.

There have been huge changes in After Hours. For fun go back five years and read the pages and thread titles. Very different.

The close account function has not helped the site at all. Apparently it's a legal requirement, but I'd be asking more and better counsel on that to see if anything has changed. I'd certainly not be relying on some government or civil service mouthpiece on the matter anyway.

The category rearranging, rather hiding of forums and communities has fcuked the place badly. It was a stupendously stupid idea.

An even more moronic idea was the new responsive layout. You'd want a neck like a jockey's bollocks to call that mess "responsive".

Yellow and red cards ballsology. I kinda liked the idea at first, but now I think it beyond daft. The corporate drone sheldon cooper types love it as it adds to proceeeedure but it makes the site and the mods look like petty twats "keeping score".

The community feel has defo dropped off. That kinda peaked around 2007-10 I'd reckon. Many forums are now ghost towns. Some are doing well, like the farming one and AH and motors and a few others. BUt yeah the community feel has largely gone. The days of a shedload of Boardsies showing up for a beers has gone too. Maybe in some private forums? Most organised Boards beers these days would be doing well with ten people showing up. It's a real pity. I did love this place, but IMH too many decisions up the line in management were picked out of their arses and they killed the place.

Maybe it'll come back? They'd need to go right back to basics though. Go old style and appeal to the nostalgic IMH.

The_Valeyard

Legacy site. Always.

Go away with your fancy la di da hippy coloured Changes.

WarZ

Wibbs wrote: »

There have been huge changes in After Hours. For fun go back five years and read the pages and thread titles. Very different.

The close account function has not helped the site at all. Apparently it's a legal requirement, but I'd be asking more and better counsel on that to see if anything has changed. I'd certainly not be relying on some government or civil service mouthpiece on the matter anyway.

The category rearranging, rather hiding of forums and communities has fcuked the place badly. It was a stupendously stupid idea.

An even more moronic idea was the new responsive layout. You'd want a neck like a jockey's bollocks to call that mess "responsive".

Yellow and red cards ballsology. I kinda liked the idea at first, but now I think it beyond daft. The corporate drone sheldon cooper types love it as it adds to proceeeedure but it makes the site and the mods look like petty twats "keeping score".

The community feel has defo dropped off. That kinda peaked around 2007-10 I'd reckon. Many forums are now ghost towns. Some are doing well, like the farming one and AH and motors and a few others. BUt yeah the community feel has largely gone. The days of a shedload of Boardsies showing up for a beers has gone too. Maybe in some private forums? Most organised Boards beers these days would be doing well with ten people showing up. It's a real pity. I did love this place, but IMH too many decisions up the line in management were picked out of their arses and they killed the place.

Maybe it'll come back? They'd need to go right back to basics though. Go old style and appeal to the nostalgic IMH.

The problem is the people running the site just don't seem to care anymore. I made a huge feedback thread with thousands of posts and I could count on one hand the amount of times Dav even bothered to respond.

They don't care and they are simply not listening. There's a huge culture of 'we know best' and the level of Mod/Admin snobbery towards regular users has reached breaking point.

The people running the site have let mods run amok turning away the general user. I genuinely feel that pretty soon there will be very few regular users left and the site will be made up primarily of mods.

There definitely seems to be an element that a regular user can't say certain snide, condescending comments but mods seem to have free reign. It's completely unequal and its frustrating that regular users can't get their voices heard. Honestly I am very close to just packing it in.

stephenl15

Blatter wrote: »

The quality of posts has been declining alright. For example, very recently in the Man United thread somebody popped it, made a completely false statement and ignored users who asked for links to back up said statement.

Stuff like this happening on a continuous basis as well as posters invading threads pushing obvious agendas makes the site a poorer place.

:pac::pac:

_Kaiser_

I have been here 15 years now (jaysus! ) and would agree with a lot of the above to be honest.

- AH has definitely become more political and intolerant. You only have to read over the more "emotive" threads to see how damaging this is to any notion of a community

- The same old mix of attention-seeking posters, cliques, and posters with a "hook" that wears thin quickly hasn't changed much

- Moderation has definitely gotten more strict and arbitrary in some cases. You also have Mods who take it FAR too seriously with warnings about going "off topic" and such just because a conversation meandered into a side issue over a few posts

- The commercialisation of Boards has had a few positives in the Talk To forums, but the recent developments on the Gearbest mess and particular the way the feedback on the issue has been dealt with (ie: ignored) leaves a sour taste.
Ditto the whole "New Site" thing..I don't blame Dav and the Admins who have taken the time to respond to people, but I've come to the conclusion that the people who own the site have no idea what the users come here for, and that without their support, there'll be no content for Boards to monetise.

- The site has definitely gotten noticeably quieter in the last 12-18 months and the massive amount of "Closed accounts" is both off-putting and contributing to this IMO

I used to browse all over this site but the above plus the mess that is the "temporary" menu means I mostly stick to my subbed forums now, and use the site as a place to get a quick answer to something or keep up on some current events more than anything else anymore.

Pity because there was a lot of potential here but somehow its all gone a bit sideways in recent times

WarZ

stephenl15 wrote: »

:pac::pac:

I actually provided quotes. However having been infracted already I am not going to post in that thread again.

Like I said, discussion is not allowed unless it correlates to a mods own viewpoint (Lord TSC being a Man Utd fan obviously took issue with my claims)

WarZ

I've just been called a 'whiny bollix' by a moderator for posting a feedback thread.....

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=100230150#post100230150

Barry Badrinath

WarZ wrote: »

I've just been called a 'whiny bollix' by a moderator for posting a feedback thread.....

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=100230150#post100230150

He's right too.

Fleawuss

This again? All online activity has changed and matured. Bulletin boards to instant messaging to mobile phones to Facebook to snapchat. Nothing stands still. Boards is as good as its users make it and as good as its users perceive it. When there's a big group of people your own age there's always a common experience and common language / bantz if you want. People move on. And all online forums are infested with those with an agenda or a mission, some of them such as the "bots" of political parties on a semi professional basis.

Is there something specific about Boards that people think has made it worse than other online activity? It doesn't tolerate what we used to call flame wars and it's right. Look at politics . ie to see where that ends. I'm not here as much as I was years ago but then I live differently.

stephenl15

WarZ wrote: »

I actually provided quotes. However having been infracted already I am not going to post in that thread again.

Like I said, discussion is not allowed unless it correlates to a mods own viewpoint (Lord TSC being a Man Utd fan obviously took issue with my claims)

The "quote" you posted literally did nothing to back up your claim in all fairness.

ED E

Heavy handed modding and our glorious leader selling out is tiring me of the place. Everyone is providing feedback but the team seem to plough ahead regardless.

Ruu

Too many forums.

This is not my original account I had a different account years ago and I was more active. From my experience a lot of the smaller regional forums on Boards have started to be less active, I think its because of people using different sites more like Reddit or Facebook and even After Hours seems less active then it used to be, am I wrong? I still really like Boards and it can be an great site at times but I think the site is losing traffic year by year. I do think Boards as an Irish forum will always have its own place though because its great for talking about local events, local news etc but I do think it is becoming less active.

So how has it changed? There is less discussion, less movement than there used to be in a lot of forums but the site is still great.

WarZ

McGruber wrote: »

He's right too.

The fact that your comment was liked by the mod of this forum says a lot.

Kersplat, do you condone calling users a whiny bollix?

Kersplat your a bollix. On your cue I am assuming this isn't personal abuse.

Fleawuss

Deleted User wrote: »

This is not my original account I had a different account years ago and I was more active. From my experience a lot of the smaller regional forums on Boards have started to be less active, I think its because of people using different sites more like Reddit or Facebook and even After Hours seems less active then it used to be, am I wrong? I still really like Boards and it can be an great site at times but I think the site is losing traffic year by year. I do think Boards as an Irish forum will always have its own place though because its great for talking about local events, local news etc but I do think it is becoming less active.

When you are the only game in town you get all the business....

Barry Badrinath

WarZ wrote: »

The fact that your comment was liked by the mod of this forum says a lot.

Kersplat, do you condone calling users a whiny bollix?

Kersplat your a bollix. On your cue I am assuming this isn't personal abuse.

Ah come on.

You forgot "whiny".....sort yourself out.

KERSPLAT!

I'm not a mod of this forum but you're right all the same. I've unthanked it now.

Forgiveness please

/Bows

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.