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

dxhound2005

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Lots of fora outside Ireland are self moderated. You know, report the post and we will see what we can do.

Surely the company can incorporate something like that into the Boards.ie forum. Or is it another Irish Nanny State litigation thing.

I am a member of various fora and many of them are self regulated. Not Reddit just to mention, I cannot get my head around the setup of posts there, but no matter.

It must be terror of litigation, but surely that could be offset by a statement or something by the owners, but this is Ireland, litigation central, sorry forgot, so we are muzzled forever.

Muzzled by laws which existed long before the internet. Anything published in a paper or on the internet is subject to the same legislation.

the_pen_turner

who actually owns the forum or is that a secret

Vronsky

Zoey Famous Aftershave wrote: »

Much the same on all forums of this kind. Facebook etc. have taken the interest of many would be posters.

Isn't the problem that moderation is pushing away existing users, while the outdated confusing site layout serves as a barrier to new users.

Then you have new posters being treated with suspicion and sometimes hostility (from other posters) that serves to drive away many who do join.

Spanish Eyes

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Muzzled by laws which existed long before the internet. Anything published in a paper or on the internet is subject to the same legislation.

Hmmm, so why is it so difficult here on fora like this today?

Many thousands of fora are out there today that do not seem to have the same angst about certain laws. Especially in the US.

But I am sure you will put me right.

dxhound2005

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Hmmm, so why is it so difficult here on fora like this today?

Many thousands of fora are out there today that do not seem to have the same angst about certain laws. Especially in the US.

But I am sure you will put me right.

Irish legislation doesn't work in America.

P_1

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Hmmm, so why is it so difficult here on fora like this today?

Many thousands of fora are out there today that do not seem to have the same angst about certain laws. Especially in the US.

But I am sure you will put me right.

Presumably that's a legacy of when MCD got their knickers in a twist a few years back. Once bitten and all that

prinzeugen

Beasty wrote: »

I think it depends on the forum. I reckon well over half the cycling community in Ireland know of me and my Boards connection. At work I think maybe 20% have had accounts at some stage. I have not introduced my family to the site - they may pick up on it at some stage - maybe I'll provide a link in my will and they can learn about all my exploits when I'm gone:pac:

You were a cycling mod IIRC.

I Replied to a post you made and you ignored me.

Was it a valid point or should I expect a ban?

Spanish Eyes

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Irish legislation doesn't work in America.

Thank you.

So what I said about terror of litigation here is correct.

Though so.

dxhound2005

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Thank you.

So what I said about terror of litigation here is correct.

Though so.

Since litigation is so easy, you could probably find some solicitor willing take on a case against Boards. You seem to have many grounds for complaint.

Spanish Eyes

prinzeugen wrote: »

You were a cycling mod IIRC.

I Replied to a post you made and you ignored me.

Was it a valid point or should I expect a ban?

You need to calm down now. That person you were referring to has probably no recollection of your post.

Sheesh. WTF.

Beasty

the_pen_turner wrote: »

who actually owns the forum or is that a secret

AFAIK Distilled Media retain a controlling interest

Spanish Eyes

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Since litigation is so easy, you could probably find some solicitor willing take on a case against Boards. You seem to have many grounds for complaint.

What?

I doubt you understand the litigation culture in this country yet.

But Happy New Year anyway!

Beasty

prinzeugen wrote: »

You were a cycling mod IIRC.

I Replied to a post you made and you ignored me.

Was it a valid point or should I expect a ban?

Yes I was a Cycling mod

Did you ask a question of me? I don't recall any, and I have not ignored any posts in this thread - you can rest assured I have read them all. That does not mean I am going to reply to them all though

Mutant z

Maybe more people simply have lives that dont revolve around internet forums.

sdanseo

As has been mentioned above, a lot of the discussion happens on the more mainstream social media feeds and therefore doesn't need to be extended to the likes of a full forum. It's horrendous to think that the forum (in general, not just boards) would die, because comment sections do not allow for the depth of conversation that is needed with most topics. They're only providing bite size chunks of opinion.

Certainly a better app would help, the current one in both iterations is outclassed by touch.boards.ie and even that is poor at best. Make boards.ie app one of the group of social media apps that people can engage with as easily as they do with Facebook, Snapchat, what have you.

Also something I'm surprised we haven't seen is some level of integration between thejournal.ie and boards.ie discussions. Obviously both are owned by Distilled and therefore you would think a perfect fit, rather than encourage discussion in the utterly toxic comments section on jrnl, why not host the discussion on boards and use API to show a selection of comments on the article with link to the full site (openable in the new improved mobile app) where discussion could be continued properly.

Spanish Eyes

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Since litigation is so easy, you could probably find some solicitor willing take on a case against Boards. You seem to have many grounds for complaint.

What? Are you serious.

Why the totally over the top moderation so?

Anyway, not worth the worry,

Happy New Year to you and yours,

Grandeeod

This entire thread has gone down the ****ter and I've had several plus problems with mods. But ya know, life goes on and all that. Some are arseholes without a clue, but many are very very decent and I can relate to their responsibility. Are we anywhere near a conclusion? Even close?

Tell me how

Beasty wrote:

Don't know if you are referring to this forum or elsewhere, but I've already provided background to the single closure I can find in AH over the last 24 hours. If you are unsure why threads were closed, did you ask the relevant mod(s)?

No. And don't feel I want to.

In both cases the mod gave an indication as to why they were closing it but in both cases I felt that it was a subjective view which stifled debate more at the risk of it going off track than it having done so.

Vronsky

Grandeeod wrote: »

This entire thread has gone down the ****ter and I've had several plus problems with mods. But ya know, life goes on and all that. Some are arseholes without a clue, but many are very very decent and I can relate to their responsibility. Are we anywhere near a conclusion? Even close?

Does any thread ever reach a conclusion?

Typically they move onto often a more interesting related topic or go niche and then some killjoy steps in and tells us "we're done here". And that's is one of the many problems with the site - there is no reason not to leave these harmless often interesting threads open.

It's not not the main reason the post count has fallen, but it's not helping.

That said moderation had improved on the site to be fair. A year ago, a thread like this would have been certainly locked and probably deleted after an hour.

evolving_doors

Vronsky wrote: »

Does any thread ever reach a conclusion?

Typically they move onto often a more interesting related topic or go niche and then some killjoy steps in and tells us "we're done here". And that's is one of the many problems with the site - there is no reason not to leave these harmless often interesting threads open.

It's not not the main reason the post count has fallen, but it's not helping.

That said moderation had improved on the site to be fair. A year ago, a thread like this would have been certainly locked and probably deleted after an hour.

Give us a tl:dr

Discodog

The procedure is to PM the Mod. Why not have a feedback thread, on the forum, where the issues can be raised ? This would allow other posters to contribute & an opportunity for the Mods to explain & set the tone of the forum. It has to be easier for a Mod to post in a thread than answer PMs

There are frequent complaints that posters don't read the forum charter. Any changes in Moderation only appear either as warnings in thread or changes to the charter. Surely it's better to have on going feedback ?

Lots of posters won't want to send a PM, it singles them out.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

tomwaterford

Vronsky wrote: »

That said moderation had improved on the site to be fair. A year ago, a thread like this would have been certainly locked and probably deleted after an hour.

TBF.....there only locked for review now instead :pac: :rolleyes:

dxhound2005

Discodog wrote: »

The procedure is to PM the Mod. Why not have a feedback thread, on the forum, where the issues can be raised ? This would allow other posters to contribute & an opportunity for the Mods to explain & set the tone of the forum. It has to be easier for a Mod to post in a thread than answer PMs

There are frequent complaints that posters don't read the forum charter. Any changes in Moderation only appear either as warnings in thread or changes to the charter. Surely it's better to have on going feedback ?

Lots of posters won't want to send a PM, it singles them out.

That is a mad idea. Say a thread about travellers or Sinn Fein was locked. The feedback threads would simply turn into the same all over again and have to be locked as well.

How do you know lots of posters don't want to send a PM?

riffmongous

Just had a look at the new years eve thread, no wonder there are no young people on boards, the place is full of old dry ****es :p

Don Kiddick

riffmongous wrote: »

Just had a look at the new years eve thread, no wonder there are no young people on boards, the place is full of old dry ****es :p

Don't hate the playa, hate the game!

Discodog

dxhound2005 wrote: »

That is a mad idea. Say a thread about travellers or Sinn Fein was locked. The feedback threads would simply turn into the same all over again and have to be locked as well.

How do you know lots of posters don't want to send a PM?

Why does a thread have to be locked ? Why can't it just be left to die a natural death ?

Because people are mentioning it here. Why should something that affects all the other posters be private ? Be open about decisions instead of hiding them.

TheAnalyst_

Discodog wrote: »

Why does a thread have to be locked ? Why can't it just be left to die a natural death ?

Because people are mentioning it here. Why should something that affects all the other posters be private ? Be open about decisions instead of hiding them.

Yep. We have been essentially lied to here.
https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=105663817&postcount=254

Even the tag they give themselves "Flaming Ban Hammer Titan" says it all. They revel in it.

dxhound2005

That Mod has not posted anything in the last two days and 19 hours. They might be on holidays.

Don Kiddick

I'm an active poster in the rugby forum, I'm a Munster supporter and don't post in any of the other provincial threads...but Christ it's a mess there,
a mod who hasn't posted in 2 years...a couple of soccer mods thrown in to pad the numbers...3 mods from Leinster, Connacht and Ulster ..now overall . they are good lads & do their best of course .. but the provincial leaning does show thru at times...the Munster mod who was appointed stopped posting...and after a year he was demodded.,
Sooo, at the moment we have some very obvious good natured trolls who I engage with...but quite a lot of idiots who are trying to ruin it for us all....I've been here on and off for 9-10 years, and I have seen the numbers in the rugby forum drop from 70-80 regular posters to about 20....and it's not going to improve until something is done