The slow death of forums *see OP for Admin warning and update 28/02/18*

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5

Arghus wrote: »

Moderation is something that is carried out by regular people who have their own biases, so of course it's not going to be perfect 100% of the time. In general: If you don't act the dick you won't have any problems and I feel a lot of people who serially complain about it have acted the dick in the past and probably continue to do so. Moderation may not be infallible, but people need to take personal responsibility for what they say as well.

Every day After Hours is clogged up with threads bashing different sections of society, filled with barely articulate posts with people making wild assertions based on nothing but their own prejudices - acting the dick. Sometimes other people have to step in and take the megaphone away from the mouths of the idiots - it has to be done sometimes.

I'm not against hearing opposing views to my own - there's posters on here who I don't agree with on many issues, but I respect them, without agreeing with them, because they can make their points with a degree of coherance and without having to resort to insult or just downright ignorance.

I'd agree with this. There are plenty posters who'd be far to the right of me on many issues, but manage not to litter their posts with cuck-this sharia-that feminazi-the other. There are others who seem to be concentrated lumps of barely controlled rage on some issues, primarily women, but they still can spew it without losing that bare control. Interesting people to interact with, scope for insight and educating yourself when you read or respond to their posts. And then yeah, there are the people whose posts are "look at this libtard cuck snowflake ****...WHY AM I BANNED! It's because I dared to question transgenderism isn't it?" It's like someone who drives straight over a roundabout, up a one way street, knocks over a load of bollards and then somehow thinks they were arrested for "just driving a car".

The fact of the matter is, the userbase now and always has skewed left on social issues. That is not some grand conspiracy though, or a deliberate agenda; it's a reflection of the demographic that posts here and it would be the exact same if we were all having this conversation in a pub. It's REALITY that has a liberal bias.

But, that means that even when someone reasonable and articulate posts a right wing view or question, they're likely to get several different posters quoting and taking issue with their one post. They have to respond to all those, more people join in, and they end up feeling ganged up on or like this is something that was pre-arranged or something.

electro~bitch that is a very good post, but those with genuine to the right views that are articulated thoughtful and backed up with evidence don't tend to to thin skinned are usually well able to fight their point.

boombang

Just a small point about moderation. Here's a thread that's just been closed because the mods didn't like the way it was heading. I didn't see the need to shut it down. Running away from difficult debate isn't going to enhance the future of boards.ie

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=105682237&postcount=62

Army_of_One

TheAnalyst_ wrote: »

No joking but I saw it on a cv before when i was on a job panel. I made sure they didn't get an interview.

wait a sec...you didn't give an interview cause someone had it that they were a mod on boards? Not because they under/over qualified or didn't have the skills?

Says more about you than the mod.

The mod dodged a bullet there tbh.

scamalert

it would be interesting to see general stats for boards, since AH motors, property, IT and few other forums seem to be most go to places, and many sub sections having just bare numbers of people who support em, what seems like it.

think boards main lure its Irish thus easy to get answers related anything to that and ease of use with limited intrusion.

downside is its very moderated on topics so you got limited topics to discuss.

thou compared to reddit theres sections for almost anything but it seems reddit is somewhat complex even for used person to get its head around with so many diff sub forums, so i sort of can see that many old timers would pick boards but new generation picks up likes of reddit in no time and having your own subreddits there and little moderation with mass user base makes boards slowly die off with main forums constantly being AH,motors,farming,law,property and rest are maintained by few dedicated people who still have interest.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

boombang wrote: »

Just a small point about moderation. Here's a thread that's just been closed because the mods didn't like the way it was heading. I didn't see the need to shut it down. Running away from difficult debate isn't going to enhance the future of boards.ie

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=105682237&postcount=62

Poor example. The OP said they had gotten the answers they wanted and would not be back to it.

Jobs OXO

I'm sure a reduction in the obsessive closure and deletions of threads might stem some of the decline.


Less of the "and we're done here" nonsense....

TheAnalyst_

Army_of_One wrote: »

wait a sec...you didn't give an interview cause someone had it that they were a mod on boards? Not because they under/over qualified or didn't have the skills?

Says more about you than the mod.

The mod dodged a bullet there tbh.

For a developers job paying 85K is that dodging a bullet? A boards mod is not the sort of person I want in my team. Certainly not one that advertises the fact on their cv as if it was a positive as that shows very bad judgement.

_Dara_

I reeeeaaaally miss the Feedback forum. There basically isn’t one now. It used to be so interesting.

TheAnalyst_

Jobs OXO wrote: »

I'm sure a reduction in the obsessive closure and deletions of threads might stem some of the decline.


Less of the "and we're done here" nonsense....

Can you imagine taking that attitude into the real world. Having coffee with 5 colleagues talking about some topic and someone decides "thats enough now I don't like where this is heading" and everyone has to shut their mouths and walk away. Ridiculous.

Tom Mann Centuria

TheAnalyst_ wrote: »

Can you imagine taking that attitude into the real world. Having coffee with 5 colleagues talking about some topic and someone decides "thats enough now I don't like where this is heading" and everyone has to shut their mouths and walk away. Ridiculous.

I can't imagine your attitude in the real world either.

McCrack

Army_of_One wrote: »

wait a sec...you didn't give an interview cause someone had it that they were a mod on boards? Not because they under/over qualified or didn't have the skills?

Says more about you than the mod.

The mod dodged a bullet there tbh.

Not really, id be cautious if a prospective employee disclosed they were a moderator on a discussion forum

I would be concerned they would be modding on the job - in other words on company time

Arghus

TheAnalyst_ wrote: »

For a developers job paying 85K is that dodging a bullet? A boards mod is not the sort of person I want in my team. Certainly not one that advertises the fact on their cv as if it was a positive as that shows very bad judgement.

That's kinda crazy talk in fairness.

Beasty

boombang wrote: »

Just a small point about moderation. Here's a thread that's just been closed because the mods didn't like the way it was heading. I didn't see the need to shut it down. Running away from difficult debate isn't going to enhance the future of boards.ie

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=105682237&postcount=62

I've just had a look at the background to that closure. I can see two reported posts from the thread. One suggesting it's not a thread for AH and perhaps moving it elsewhere. The second pointed out the OP had responded indicating they had the answers they were looking for, suggesting the thread be closed

So the mod decided to act on the "feedback" in that second report. Nothing to do with "the way it was heading". Simply saying yes, I think that's a reasonable position to take

dxhound2005

McCrack wrote: »

Not really, id be cautious if a prospective employee disclosed they were a moderator on a discussion forum

I would be concerned they would be modding on the job - in other words on company time

That wouldn't make them any different than the majority of workers.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/growing-numbers-of-employees-using-social-media-at-work-1.2643057

Three out of four workers are using personal devices to access social media at work with the trend continuing to grow.

TheAnalyst_

Arghus wrote: »

That's kinda crazy talk in fairness.

Look I'll explain.

If I was a mod and a normal thinking person reading this thread then I would pack it in straight away. You see that the website is dying. Why are you putting in your free time for a private business. The community? But the community have been very vocal in saying the modding is killing the site. So you put in all this work for people that don't even want it and actively dislike it. Any reasonable person would walk away but I think mods tend to have a certain personality. Maybe a personality disorder that they want some status or control in self contained environment because maybe they have no status in the real world.

Why would I want to work with a person like that?

MadDog76

Arghus wrote: »

I think there's an obsession with moderation from certain quarters on boards, rather than it being a real problem.

Boards has always been moderated, even back in the day when it was bustling with activity: there was plenty of moderation then and people going on about it constantly- and it didn't seem to hurt the site's traffic one bit.

Moderation is something that is carried out by regular people who have their own biases, so of course it's not going to be perfect 100% of the time. In general: If you don't act the dick you won't have any problems and I feel a lot of people who serially complain about it have acted the dick in the past and probably continue to do so. Moderation may not be infallible, but people need to take personal responsibility for what they say as well.

Every day After Hours is clogged up with threads bashing different sections of society, filled with barely articulate posts with people making wild assertions based on nothing but their own prejudices - acting the dick. Sometimes other people have to step in and take the megaphone away from the mouths of the idiots - it has to be done sometimes.

I'm not against hearing opposing views to my own - there's posters on here who I don't agree with on many issues, but I respect them, without agreeing with them, because they can make their points with a degree of coherance and without having to resort to insult or just downright ignorance.

Without a degree of oversight it would be an absolute sh!tshow in here and as bad as it sometimes is, it would be a whole lot worse.

The world has changed dramatically in the last few years to the point where what were "normal" opinions previously on certain issues have now become, according to some, biased opinions, ie. nobody is sure of what they can and can't say, what's acceptable/unacceptable, what the right/wrong opinion is etc.
The perfect place to explore these issues is a discussion site but unfortunately Boards reacted to these relatively new issues with panic Modding for fear of offending somebody somewhere because of something posted on Boards by somebody.

dav3

scamalert wrote: »

it would be interesting to see general stats for boards, since AH motors, property, IT and few other forums seem to be most go to places, and many sub sections having just bare numbers of people who support em, what seems like it.

Here are some stats if anyone is interested.

https://www.similarweb.com/website/boards.ie

There's a good chance most of the people constantly whinging about boards and hoping for it's demise, will probably die before the site does.

Arghus

TheAnalyst_ wrote: »

Look I'll explain.

If I was a mod and a normal thinking person reading this thread then I would pack it in straight away. You see that the website is dying. Why are you putting in your free time for a private business. The community? But the community have been very vocal in saying the modding is killing the site. So you put in all this work for people that don't even want it and actively dislike it. Any reasonable person would walk away but I think mods tend to have a certain personality. Maybe a personality disorder that they want some status or control in self contained environment because maybe they have no status in the real world.

Why would I want to work with a person like that?

It sounds like in your role on the "job panel" you were letting a lot of your pre-existing biases stand in the way of trying to make an objective decision - all the while jumping to lots of conclusions.

So moderation is a role that attracts people with potential personality disorders? You do realise how bizarre that sounds?

McCrack

dxhound2005 wrote: »

That wouldn't make them any different than the majority of workers.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/growing-numbers-of-employees-using-social-media-at-work-1.2643057

Three out of four workers are using personal devices to access social media at work with the trend continuing to grow.

Accessing ones own social media and being a moderator are quite apart.

I would be reluctant to employ a self confessed moderator..and if the truth be told I wouldn't. Its not a role that can be reconciled with a paid position without taking the piss out of the paid position...and its a certainty

dxhound2005

McCrack wrote: »

Accessing ones own social media and being a moderator are quite apart.

I would be reluctant to employ a self confessed moderator..and if the truth be told I wouldn't. Its not a role that can be reconciled with a paid position without taking the piss out of the paid position...and its a certainty

What about employing people who surf the net for holiday ideas, or do a bit of online shopping on your time?

McCrack

dxhound2005 wrote: »

What about employing people who surf the net for holiday ideas, or do a bit of online shopping on your time?

An internet usage policy will come into play there

dudara

Amp test

dxhound2005

McCrack wrote: »

An internet usage policy will come into play there

Are there companies which allow their staff to do private stuff on the internet during working hours?

McCrack

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Are there companies which allow their staff to do private stuff on the internet during working hours?

Ive no doubt whatsoever there are

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

McCrack wrote: »

An internet usage policy will come into play there

dxhound2005 wrote: »

What about employing people who surf the net for holiday ideas, or do a bit of online shopping on your time?

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Are there companies which allow their staff to do private stuff on the internet during working hours?

And we wonder why people give up on threads?

looksee

TheAnalyst_ wrote: »

Look I'll explain.

If I was a mod and a normal thinking person reading this thread then I would pack it in straight away. You see that the website is dying. Why are you putting in your free time for a private business. The community? But the community have been very vocal in saying the modding is killing the site. So you put in all this work for people that don't even want it and actively dislike it. Any reasonable person would walk away but I think mods tend to have a certain personality. Maybe a personality disorder that they want some status or control in self contained environment because maybe they have no status in the real world.

Why would I want to work with a person like that?

Well no, the community have been quite quiet in fact. Currently there are around 4.5k posters on the site, 1.5k are registered. On this thread, in AH, there have been what - maybe 20 people going on and on negatively. I might be out a bit with that number, I haven't counted. But one post arguing positively got over 160 thanks, so it isn't really all going your way.

And now you are reduced to silly arguments about personality disorders and no status. How childish is that?

TheAnalyst_

looksee wrote: »

Well no, the community have been quite quiet in fact. Currently there are around 4.5k posters on the site, 1.5k are registered. On this thread, in AH, there have been what - maybe 20 people going on and on negatively. I might be out a bit with that number, I haven't counted. But one post arguing positively got over 160 thanks, so it isn't really all going your way.

And now you are reduced to silly arguments about personality disorders and no status. How childish is that?

Listen kid you're talking to the ANALYST.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_(statistics)

Mountainsandh

MadDog76 wrote: »

The world has changed dramatically in the last few years to the point where what were "normal" opinions previously on certain issues have now become, according to some, biased opinions, ie. nobody is sure of what they can and can't say, what's acceptable/unacceptable, what the right/wrong opinion is etc.
The perfect place to explore these issues is a discussion site but unfortunately Boards reacted to these relatively new issues with panic Modding for fear of offending somebody somewhere because of something posted on Boards by somebody.

True, and vice-versa. What are now offending or outrageous opinions that Mods' sensitivities drive them to ban may very well be more acceptable in 5 years' time (or less, or more !).

Of course individual mods can't be expected to predict what may or may not be morally acceptable in the future, but what could be done is simply to ease back in a general manner on banning or infracting ideas that are currently unpopular, taboo, but presented in a respectful and acceptable manner.
(I am obviously thinking of immigration threads, for example, where what are deemed shockingly right-wing ideas could perhaps become more mainstream were a senseless attack on innocent people in Ireland to happen)(hopefully my example is poor and it'll never happen).

I think it would stand to an entity such as Boards that they were open enough to allow debate on thorny or delicate issues rather than align to the bland, filtered discourse we're fed daily on Irish media.

edit : very worried now that someone might find the above offensive. No offense intended whatsoever. Just saying, whatever topic, morals and public opinion change. To be edgy Boards might just, like other less moderated sites, loosen up. Just enough to retain some of its customers.

the_pen_turner

everything in moderation even moderation.
there are lots of times that you can question why a mod has taken the action they have. we all see it and wonder
we all see threads where members are complete tools and horrible to other members but nothing is done even after its reported.
then on other threads something minor happens and the cards are flying everywhere.
a bit of applying the rules evenly and fairly would help a lot
especially the grammar Nazis . they take all the joy out of posting


but we all must agree that we need moderation . look at you tube and what a disaster that is. the comments are full of trolls calling for people to be raped. dogs poisoned, parents killed, children molested or abandoned in the middle of nowhere , all because an uploader missed a days vlog or posted something the collective didn't like.

there are a lot of things wrong with moderation but without it this place would e chaos and not worth visiting