Welcome to the new Boards.ie platform - Version 1.0 :)

embraer170

Sorry but this is a total disaster and I'm ready to give up. I actually probably would also be gone if there was a good alternative. I find FB groups too limited, and Reddit really doesn't do it for me.

I understand that the previously IT backend was apparently not financially viable, but then why were the owners/administrations never transparent about the problems and instead promised a quick and easy move to an improved platform?!

Heighway61

Asked a couple of weeks ago but don't see an answer. Is Soccer to be permanently hidden or will it be moved back to it's previous visibilty at some stage?

Deja Boo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117702762#Comment_117702762

As a member since 2002, this ^ speaks volumes. :(

Please listen Boards, this forum community is important to so many of us.

shanec1928

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117702817#Comment_117702817

another perk of vanilla. Private forums are hidden out of sight on groups.

Leftwaffe

I think the site is pretty much done tbh. The fixes needed for it to survive are not coming. Traffic is down probably 90%. Both the mobile and desktop site are not fit for purpose and the majority of user queries don’t get addressed.

Well on its way to becoming a total graveyard.

Wibbs

Now forums under categories have vanished. Well except for the Technology category for some reason. That escaped the "improvement".

So let's recap; Boards management - and I use the term loosely, it seems you didn't run enough testing, sought bugger all feedback from the members of the site, y'know the ones who make the bloody site, went with a company a timezone away, who doesn't seem to work beyond 9-5 and takes ages with update requests, screwed up with some users profiles/email addresses and now you've made an already stupidly difficult site to navigate even worse and have caused traffic to fall off a cliff? Is that about the gist of it?

Fly_away

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117703127#Comment_117703127

I think it's time for the powers that be to face reality. They have two options:

1) Plough ahead with current strategy, which isn't working, and kill the site for good within weeks/months

2) Throw the dice and radically change approach. If this means migrating to another platform that's more suitable, then so be it. Even if it means another couple of weeks down time, it might save the site.

Imo you need to cut the cord with Vanilla. It isn't working and it's not going to be made work. There's no magical breakthrough on the horizon.

Make the decision before it's too late. Not guaranteed to work of course but this current strategy **is** guaranteed to fail.

Loughc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117703465#Comment_117703465

At this stage I'd settle from some feedback from the Office team, about what the plan is.

I found the Daily updates useful and am disappointed they have stopped for a while now.

Caranica

Something drastic needs to happen to save the site. The tumbleweed in fora is unsustainable. People will just stop coming back.

Leg End Reject

Maybe everything here should be archived and the whole thing started afresh on a newer version of VBulletin or an equivalent?

2 new sites have sprung up with an easy to use and functional platform.

Fly_away

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117703649#Comment_117703649

The communication has been poor but I'd imagine the silence indicates that there's been no fresh thinking.

I feel for them because they are undoubtedly putting huge effort into trying to recreate features that existed on the old site. But even if they do ever manage to succeed in this area to the satisfaction of users, the major problem outside of this is the speed of the site. The fact they haven't managed to resolve this aspect yet, indicates that there's a real problem and they may not be able to fix it at all. And that is a deal breaker, even if their efforts on fixing specific features do eventually bear fruit. A slow, clunky and jumpy site cannot succeed in 2021.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117703649#Comment_117703649

Odhran needs to do it, Niamh is being sent out like a lamb to slaughter at this stage. Niamh is an employee, she doesn't call the shots and you can be damn sure she had to check with Odhran before addressing the email issue.

Shield

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117703465#Comment_117703465

Odhran stated they simply don’t have the money for option 2. It’s Vanilla or nothing. No rollback. No second option. This HAS TO work.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117703748#Comment_117703748

Unfortunately it very clearly isn't working.

Fly_away

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117703748#Comment_117703748

That might be the case. But equally these kind of things sometimes get stated in the belief that it's a 'position' that will give the current strategy the best chance of success. If you start giving hints that a change in strategy is possible, people might stop trying to make the current strategy work.

Tldr: don't always take what what's said about these things at face value. Although I accept it may be the truth in this instance, I really hope it isn't!

MowldyCabbage

I used to use boards previously for many years but left. I heard about the new site so popped back in to see Boards evolution in progress. Initial thoughts were it was horrible but I've been hanging around to see if I can get used to it.

And I can't. I'm on mobile and it's just so hard to use. If I didn't already know the general layout of boards, how it used to work and what I was looking for I'd be lost. Even just tracking a thread you post on is so unintuitive. Having to bookmark each one or go to your profile to search your own comments when you forget to bookmark a thread.

This vanilla thing really does seem like a support ticket system with different verbiage.

Pelvis Parsley

I could see this thing coming full circle.

What I mean is, boards could go back to a niche corner of the internet, run on volunteerism, as it used to be with the original five admins (who had varying levels of involvement along the way).

This lad is not a manager-he has abjectly failed. I have great sympathy for the two members of staff who are in a very difficult situation.

Has the time come to dispose of the site to a crowd funded venture? "They", as in the shareholder(s) of boards.ie ltd., whoever they are now, get the monkey off their backs, and the users take it on?

First two agenda items are surely setting up an oversight group to manage the consolidation/archiving/technical migration to a different platform, followed by looking into financial sustainability (crowd funding initially) to recompense those involved in some shape or form, and cover hosting costs for a pared back platform with appropriate archiving of older content. You're not paying a CEO for a start, or premium office space in the capital, with foosball tables and fixie bikes hanging off the walls, or a hosting company on the other side of the world.

Bigger forums than this are running away nicely on a lot less, many of them one man shows. This is not exactly reinventing the wheel.

They really should just create a html+js version of the menu system and put it in the header. You don't need database queries.. Just static information. Unfortunately, they've ignored every bit of coding help over the years so none of us are going to do it for them.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117703930#Comment_117703930

Ignoring all the coding you and others have provided is the biggest head scratcher of them all.

It's suggests an unhealthy "I'm in control and always right" attitude from the top.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117703949#Comment_117703949

I put like 30+ hours into an extension, paid the $5 fee to publish it, but forgot to include a privacy policy so it got rejected.

The attitude from the staff made me just not bother publishing it. If there was the remotest chance they'd incorporate the fixes, I would put in the privacy policy and publish it, but it's not worth the hassle if not.

Esel

It is the Not Invented Here syndrome.

Tom Mann Centuria

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117703649#Comment_117703649

I hadn't noticed any improvement at all from the fixes they used to list on their updates anyway.

Is traffic down much? It feels like it is down loads, but I'm never sure if that's just me (I mean Rugby League was only ever me anyway!)

Cookie_Monster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117703722#Comment_117703722

Niamh, allegedly, is the community manager. She should be out front and centre every day fielding questions and providing info at every available opportunity. Hiding away is the antithesis of her role...

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117704232#Comment_117704232

She doesn't call the shots though and has to toe the line. Do you genuinely think she could have addressed the email issue yesterday without consulting Odhran first?

Once it's put in writing you can't deny it.

retro:electro

A lot of the trust in the site has been eroded I’m afraid, and that’s hard to get back. The old site was held together with tape but at least things felt secure, everything here from the back end to the user front feels extremely shoddy. Everything feels like a bit of a gamble, like cross your fingers and hope it all works out. Not at all good enough.

ohnonotgmail

Is it just my imagination or has moderation completely disappeared since the migration?

alchemist33

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117703867#Comment_117703867

Can you find your own comments on mobile? I can't see this option but it would be useful because it's so hard to find threads at times

MowldyCabbage

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117704405#Comment_117704405

On your profile page there's links at the bottom. Comments, discussions, inbox etc.

CantGetNoSleep

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117704323#Comment_117704323

Yeah there has been a bit too much "we know this is unacceptable" responses from Boards in relation to some of the various privacy issues that users are understandably concerned about.

If you know it is unacceptable then take the site down and get all of these fixed before launching.

Caranica

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117704359#Comment_117704359

The mods haven't had the full panel of tools available to them but I have seen threads closed and posts deleted so they should be able to do at least that. That they clearly haven't (on some fora) and many mods are posting on this thread shows that it's not just basic users who are struggling with the new site.