Boards News - October 2019

Boards.ie: Mark

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the season of spook! It's the perfect time of year to read through the long-running "Has anything genuinely creepy or unnerving ever happened to you?" thread. There are some incredible stories shared and some of them may send a shiver up your spine!

The budget, depending on your interests and circumstances, may also be capable of that. There's plenty of discussion happening across the site and, of course, there are a number of forums where you can seek advice or chat about what's been decided upon. There are already threads about Carbon Tax, Motor Tax, and VRT on Used Imports, for example. Meanwhile, you may find or want to start other discussions in Smoking, State Benefits, or many other forums.

This October is the 10th anniversary of one very special thread. On October 21st, 2009, padraiggg introduced their incredible writing to the world with the introduction of Trent, "The Madman?" They submitted their opening chapters to an unsuspecting Creative Writing forum, and it quickly became a classic. It's a blast to read through, hahaha.

Traffic has been picking up in a few forums of late. With the Rugby World Cup underway, there has been plenty to talk about over in the Rugby forum. This was focused on whether Ireland would win the tournament or go out in the group stage, but has been distracted by typhoons, rest days, and paths to the final. We're getting closer to the business end of the tournament now and we can't wait to see how it plays out.



With the state of Ireland's pool and news stories that surrounded Typhoon Hagibis threatening Ireland's progress in the World Cup, there has been some cross forum pollination and interest. Gaoth Laidir started a thread in the Weather forum dedicated to Hagibis, packed with charts, forecasts, and information that will be of interest to rugby fans in Ireland and beyond. While Ireland's game is set to go ahead, Japan vs Scotland is now in the firing line (after two other matches were cancelled). It should also interest F1 fans with the Japanese Grand Prix taking place this weekend. We're sure many in the Motorsport forum would love to see a wet race.

The Weather forum was also an incredible resource for the recent Storm Lorenzo. There were popular threads for general chat as well as technical discussion, which helped to keep people informed. Some great work was done by the regular contributors and it was very interesting to read these threads in the run up to the storm arriving over here and to see how it played out over the course of the day.

For some, Halloween is just a stepping stone to the main event of the year, Christmas. Activity will start picking up in the Christmas Countdown thread, while there are Christmas Movies and Adverts to keep an eye out for. It may be too early for some, but the Christmas forum is full of Christmas enthusiasts year round and it's nice to see that positivity and passion.

While we're on the subject of passion, Boardsies have shown a passion for learning. The daily updated Udemy Courses thread in Bargain Alerts surpassed one million views at the end of last month. If you're looking to learn something new, and something completely different in some cases, this is a great thread that's full of free resources. Thanks to AccessAw for keeping us updated about courses available on a daily basis.

Earlier this month, users took to the Astronomy, Space & Astrophotography forum to ask if anyone else had witnessed a meteor streaking across the sky. muskyj correctly pointed out that it was likely debris from a Chinese satellite that was re-entering the atmosphere.

https://twitter.com/LimerickAstro/status/1180244747119661057

Over in the Golf forum, the Boards Golf Society is on the verge of wrapping up its season. The Boards Golf Society will take on the oldest running society in Ireland, the Reps, in the Ryder Jug on October 26th. Each year, the top 10 players over the course of the season (based on their top 5 scores out of 8 outings during the year) come together to make up the Ryder Jug team. This year, the team consists of Benny79 (Captain), Steve ob, Golfgraffixs, Princess poppy, Pakman, Golfnut203, SEORG, BigcHap1759, Alanm, Rainbow warrior, Roadrunner, and Spacecoyote. Best of luck to all!

We've had some really interesting AMAs of late. Two that are currently open and well worth reading, and perhaps asking a question, are with an Intermediate Care Operative and with someone who has been through rehab.

Back in 2017 the new bridge, a.k.a. St Francis Bridge, was opened in Kilkenny. This was the subject of plenty of discussion online, including on Boards. One Boards user said in the weeks after its opening, "St. Francis bridge has won me over it is a pleasure to drive on it and really opens up the whole area." Now, two years since its opening, Noteworthy is investigating how people feel about the bridge. You can get involved in that particular conversation here; has it delivered on its promises and opened the city up for tourism while improving traffic?

In site related news, we have announced that we will be removing the Responsive Site. You can read the full announcement here.

That's all for us this month. Now back to reading the adventures of Trent!