Is Boards a little out of touch with real Ireland ?

NASlad

I stopped visiting here regularly several years ago because of the way the community has changed negatively.

But no, boards is totally not a representation of real Ireland and never has been. This place is bizarre and the things people believe here are so out of touch. I'm not even talking politically. I just mean every day stuff. You see the height of ignorance here all the time from both ends of the spectrum.


Neither is this place "left wing" at all. Not even close. Mix of liberal/conservatives both roaring at each other mindlessly.

CramCycle

Bit cynical wrote: »

I think Trinity generally calls its undergraduate degrees, with a few exceptions, BAs regardless of whether they are arts or science degrees.

Precisely, you get awarded a BA in micro or biochem or zoology. This does not make them arts degrees. I never understood why some people seem to think they were.

Arcade_Tryer

CramCycle wrote: »

Precisely, you get awarded a BA in micro or biochem or zoology. This does not make them arts degrees. I never understood why some people seem to think they were.

TSM course in Trinity is essentially an arts degree, of which economics and mathematics are subjects offered.

FixdePitchmark

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

But - by definition, people who sit around writing on the internet

Are
a) connected to the internet.
b) most likely can write
c) under 45
d) lacking real world social connection

Seriously?

red ears wrote: »

I have never met a hardcore sjw type, i read plenty from them on boards but i never meet them in real life.

I'm inclined to wonder at some of the sjw types on Boards, when I read posts that equally blindly support some less than liberal political parties.

I'm inclined to wonder how much of the "social justice" angle is more a defense of a policy decision by a particular party than any particular desire for social justice - especially since some of those posters argue with equal passion against measures that would normally be accepted by those with an interest in social justice, but are not supported by a particular party....

Then again, maybe they're just trolls....

RayM

prkly wrote: »

It's not Leftists being banned from this site en masse, it's conservatives. Just look at the link to the immigration posted further up.

People get banned because of their behaviour though, not their views. I'm not a conservative, but I've been banned from AH in recent months for making jokes (about conservatives) that the mods claimed were in poor taste. I might have disagreed with the mods' interpretation of those posts, but it was my behaviour that got me banned, not some imaginary witch-hunt against people with my opinions. I think right-wingers should maybe calm down a bit and lose the old persecution complex.

Widdershins

RayM wrote: »

People get banned because of their behaviour though, not their views. I'm not a conservative, but I've been banned from AH in recent months for making jokes (about conservatives) that the mods claimed were in poor taste. I might have disagreed with the mods' interpretation of those posts, but it was my behaviour that got me banned, not some imaginary witch-hunt against people with my opinions. I think right-wingers should maybe calm down a bit and lose the old persecution complex.

That's debatable. And there have been feedback threads about it and quite a few mentions about heavy handed or biased moderation. If it was as clearcut as you say I doubt most users would be questioning it.

RayM

Widdershins wrote: »

That's debatable. And there have been feedback threads about it and quite a few mentions about heavy handed or biased moderation. If it was as clearcut as you say I doubt most users would be questioning it.

Are most users questioning it? A few sore right-wingers who lack the maturity to take responsibility for their own behaviour doesn't constitute most users.

Arghus

Widdershins wrote: »

That's debatable. And there have been feedback threads about it and quite a few mentions about heavy handed or biased moderation. If it was as clearcut as you say I doubt most users would be questioning it.

I don't think most users are questioning the moderation to be honest, some are but I honestly think it isn't that big an issue for the majority of users.

Permabear

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meeeeh

What is 'real' Ireland? I'm not Irish but it's comforting to know that I can become part of 'real' Ireland just by watching Mrs Brown.

deadybai

Boards is great for things like bargain alerts but dont you dare give an opinion thats different because you will be ganged up on and slated and/or given a warning. I dont even bother giving a view on this site anymore theres no point.

RayM

RayM wrote: »

Are most users questioning it? A few sore right-wingers who lack the maturity to take responsibility for their own behaviour doesn't constitute most users.

Strange.

I'm neither a right-winger, nor one of those who were banned, yet, I'd consider some of the bans to be a bit questionable, in fairness.

However, this is both OT, and bordering on breaking the don't question the mods on thread rule, so, I'll leave it at that.

dd972

dd972 wrote: »

Surely you don't mean beards in the plural, unless your sister-in-law is acting as one in LGBT parlance?

18 thanks, a record, I must be funny after all.

RDM_83 again

_Brian wrote: »

RDM_83 again wrote: »

Boards is representative of A real Ireland, former TCD grads between 2000-2010, some NUI people from the same era and a bunch of people who work in IT or are professionals.
Generally its not at all though, good example is when the census comes out and people do the OMG most people in Ireland totally arent Catholics thing

I think the Farming & Forestty forum is something like the fourth busiest forum and wouldn't be represented in your summary above.

True I am part of the narrow demographic i am complaining about so i don't see the areas of boards that don't interest me

Widdershins

RayM wrote: »

Are most users questioning it? A few sore right-wingers who lack the maturity to take responsibility for their own behaviour doesn't constitute most users.

Arghus wrote: »

I don't think most users are questioning the moderation to be honest, some are but I honestly think it isn't that big an issue for the majority of users.

I meant most of those who are questioning it probably wouldn't be if it was done differently, I didn't mean most Boards users are questioning the moderation.

RayM your ''sore right wingers'' attitude is out of order.

ThisRegard

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

It's within the science faculty though as opposed to Arts. Others have pointed out the BA/BSc thing which is maybe why it's seen by some as Arts, but I've always known it to be within Science.

Systemsdarken

Some parts of Boards are useful because they reflect people's lives. Some less so because Ireland is more complex than some can cope with.

Samuel T. Cogley

What part of the boards.ie website is liberal or left wing, I'd like to visit it please.

Most of the views in AH are slightly left of Hitler.

PREG1967

boards is a bit like a north korean concentration camp policed by more mods than posters

tonycascarino

deadybai wrote: »

dont you dare give an opinion thats different because you will be ganged up on and slated and/or given a warning. I dont even bother giving a view on this site anymore theres no point.

True. It is like as if there is a weird bunch of liberal pc geeky types who desperately crave for their voices to be heard, who nobody listens to in reality, but who get their satisfaction from the virtual world. I often wonder do mods here have a special button to press which says ''Different opinion alert'' that brings out all those liberal types because god forbid if your opinion differs to theirs. Before you know they are gathered around you like fleas on ****e.

dav3

I think if we take the last general election results, which represent ‘real Ireland’, then Boards is more than a little out of touch.
The actual issues that motivate people to get out marching and protesting differ from what you would see posted on after hours for instance.
Having said that, the dozen or so lads that continually re-reg and create multiple accounts to give the illusion of greater numbers may play a part in all the right wing sh*tposts.

So to answer your question OP. Based on the last general election, Boards is indeed out of touch with ‘real Ireland’. Real Ireland is far more left wing than would be represented on here.

Unless there has been another election in the past 12 months that I haven’t heard about.

RayM

Widdershins wrote: »

RayM your ''sore right wingers'' attitude is out of order.

In what way? They're right-wing and they're sore about getting themselves banned.

mariaalice

And then there is the trolling/windup issue with some/ a lot of the responses to threads.

hatrickpatrick

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

So - is this liberal , left wing talking shop , actually a very small representation of real Ireland ?

I honestly don't see how Boards can be described as a left wing talking shop. The mods and administration clearly veer in that direction and I've spoken out against the unfair persecution of right wing views here, but I'd argue that actually right wing views seem to be in the majority, just often silenced or dissuaded from speaking due to moderation. And I'd actually argue that in this vein, Boards is generally a little further right than Irish society at large.

mariaalice

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

I honestly don't see how Boards can be described as a left wing talking shop. The mods and administration clearly veer in that direction and I've spoken out against the unfair persecution of right wing views here, but I'd argue that actually right wing views seem to be in the majority, just often silenced or dissuaded from speaking due to moderation. And I'd actually argue that in this vein, Boards is generally a little further right than Irish society at large.

So how could you decide whether an opinion is racist, loopy, misogynist ect or a reasonable opinion what criteria would could you use.

hatrickpatrick

mariaalice wrote: »

So how could you decide whether an opinion is racist, loopy, misogynist ect or a reasonable opinion what criteria would could you use.

I wouldn't. An opinion is an opinion. When you state an opinion as fact without any qualification, that's when in my view you're into the moronic territory.

In other words: "I believe that allowing unchecked immigration from warzone countries could lead to terrorist attacks in Europe" - opinion. Not one I agree with, FWIW, but opinion nonetheless.

"Unchecked immigration from warzone countries will lead to terrorist attacks in Europe" - stating opinion as fact, AKA propaganda.

Another example:

"I don't find promiscuous women attractive" - opinion. Again, not one that I personally agree with.

"Promiscuous women are not attractive" - propaganda, stating an opinion as an independent fact.

Personally while I'd disagree with both of the former statements, I wouldn't advocate for censoring either - opinions simply shouldn't be censored, with the exception of those which slander specific individuals because they could invite legal issues. They may offend people, but if people aren't intellectually capable of responding to being offended with debate and argument rather than tantrums, IMO they should just f*ck off the internet altogether and leave the rest of us to enjoy it.

On the other hand, people who state opinions as if they were facts, and provide nothing to back up those opinions, those people IMO are fair game for modding as they just utterly poison any discussion in which they get involved. Clearly identifying opinions as opinions and not disguising them as facts is about as important to a decent conversation as bloggers clearly identifying sponsored product plugs as distinct from their genuine articles.

Regarding libel: I don't ideologically agree with censoring libellous opinions where they are stated as opinions and not as facts, but the law disagrees and to be fair, Boards has been hit previously in this regard because Ireland rather moronically does not have the standard "content platforms are not responsible for policing their users' generated content" laws to protect platforms. Therefore:

"John Doe is a paedophile", and
"I believe John Doe is a paedophile"

are, legally speaking, identical statements - both can invite a lawsuit for defamation of John Doe, unless of course they are backed up with enough evidence for such a lawsuit to fail.

I can foresee that law changing in the near enough future to be honest, after this whole DoB mess - a light has been shone on how Ireland's libel regime restricts the media, both traditional and social, and I think it's very possible that this or the next government will act to offer more protections in the event of a future, similar incident.

rgossip30

tonycascarino wrote: »

True. It is like as if there is a weird bunch of liberal pc geeky types who desperately crave for their voices to be heard, who nobody listens to in reality, but who get their satisfaction from the virtual world. I often wonder do mods here have a special button to press which says ''Different opinion alert'' that brings out all those liberal types because god forbid if your opinion differs to theirs. Before you know they are gathered around you like fleas on ****e.

You play the ball not the man get them banned like a ban sniffer does better to have a right wing mod on your side .The left wing mods are easier to find though . Mods posting is questionable as to disagree with them you play with fire .

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

I honestly don't see how Boards can be described as a left wing talking shop. The mods and administration clearly veer in that direction and I've spoken out against the unfair persecution of right wing views here, but I'd argue that actually right wing views seem to be in the majority, just often silenced or dissuaded from speaking due to moderation. And I'd actually argue that in this vein, Boards is generally a little further right than Irish society at large.

My experience of liberal posting is that you post a point challennging someone's assumption, and they either attack the poster personally or ignore the point altogether and then claim they've been censored.

hatrickpatrick

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

My experience of liberal posting is that you post a point challennging someone's assumption, and they either attack the poster personally or ignore the point altogether and then claim they've been censored.

The Right on Boards has in general been more guilty of this, certainly in the past. During the early years of the financial crisis and the austerity programme, many debates on the politics forums would devolve into personal attacks, with the right wing using phrases like "SF/IRA", "Shinnerbots", "magic money tree", "looney left" etc to attack anyone left of centre. I've acknowledged previously how ironic it is that the left now uses the same tactics it would have rightly disparaged just a few years ago - name calling, shouting down debate with irrelevant and inflammatory rhetoric, etc.

Permabear

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