Coffee & Tea Forum

Hodors Appletart

Hi,

Is anyone moderating the Coffee & Tea Forum these days? I reported a couple of questionable posts 2 days ago, and another one a few mins ago (not expecting a response to that one, just mentioning it)

There are a couple of new users posing in the forum, one posting about Bowel Movements, which is hardly on topic for the forum (these are the ones I reported a couple of days ago), and another user with a name that indicates they maybe a cafe owner, and recommending products on long forgotten threads they are dragging up to post in.

It's a great little community with a small number of interested, knowledgeable people who all seem to enjoy interacting. It would be a shame to let it descent into a spamfest, simply for the lack of an interested mod.

Shield

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058283704/coffee-tea-forum

The two moderators for that forum are @Mr Magnolia and @adrian522 so hopefully they’ll see this and comment as appropriate.

-Shield

adrian522

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058283704/coffee-tea-forum

Hi,

I have seen both of these reports and don't see anything that I can do in terms of bans or warnings. I won't typically reply to the reporter where no action is being taken. That is not the same as not being interested.

The first reported post was a throwaway comment and not deserving of mod action in my opinion and the second one, while coming off as a bit weird is not posting links or advertising a business. I don't see what rules have been broken, certainly not indicative of a "spamfest".

Hodors Appletart

Fair enough, thanks for the reply. If you are happy to have threads and comments about bowel movements remain up and visible, well then that is setting a tone for the forum that did not exist before, and not a forum or community I'm interested in continuing to be a part of.

On the user with a named cafe in their handle, posting in long forgotten threads recommending products, there is, in my opinion, something very off about that too - but in that instance, it may be just me who thinks that.

Bowel Movements though, on a beverage forum. Really?

Hotblack Desiato

There is (or used to be anyway) a site-wide rule against signing up to promote a business and this included having your business name in your username.

Hodors Appletart

Yet more bowel movement nonsense today, I really have no idea why you dismissed the concerns raised around that, perhaps you'd give a bit more detail around that decision to leave those comments unmoderated, because that thread and comments are only going to attract more posts like that.

I'll say this, it absolutely comes off as a disinterested moderator if they are not willing to take concerns about the community seriously.

There's a lovely small cohort of people posting in that forum Adrian, I'm pleading with you now - please do not let it descend into a nonsense forum. It's the only place on the internet where people with a niche interest (speciality coffee drinkers in Ireland) can communicate in a nice atmosphere. It honestly baffles me why you chose not to do anything about it after the first report.

The most recent post is absolutely disgusting, and serves no purpose other than to troll and shock the regular posters in the forum. Your decision to leave the original post visible has lead directly to this situation. I thank you for that.

Hodors Appletart

So it's more than obvious what's going on now. Shall I spell it out?

Interesting to see what the so-called "powers that be" do to address the current unfolding situation, which could have been avoided if the forum was moderated correctly in the first place.

Boards.ie: Mike

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120239053#Comment_120239053

How would you like to see this resolved?

Hodors Appletart

Mike, respectfully, that is not up to me.

Did you even look at the thread in question before asking me that? I'm genuinely curious. I'm curious to understand if you see anything wrong, anything that you yourself feel could be corrected.

As you doubtless tell a plethora of others, Boards.ie is a private site with it's own rules, and people like you, other Admin and employees, the Cmods and mods will do as you all feel necessary. Far be it from me to start telling you how to run the site.

When I first raised the topic, via the Report Post Channel, I gave it a few days to see if anything would be done - I felt an adequate amount of time had passed and heard nothing back so raised it here - at this particular moment in time, given discussions in other threads, it is not clear if the mods of the forum are engaged, missing in action, or felt no action was necessary on the posts which I reported. I feel it was a fair point to raise in this Site Feedback section.

The mod replied and stated that they saw no reason to intervene. I then asked a clarification question, to which the mod has not responded, rather you have taken it upon yourself to intervene.

Your intervention further leads me to believe that the moderator-->Cmod-->staff\admin channel actually do not care about the niche forums and communities. What has happened now is that the very point I raised in my reported post, has now come to pass. Posters who, for whatever reason, have an interest in bowel movements and all they entail have taken it upon themselves to insert themselves into the community and begin trolling.

Two things can happen, as I see it.

One. The site can continue to ignore this behaviour (which the mods have done so far, taking no action has had the same outcome as ignoring it), which will result in the community breaking apart and disappearing, because I don't really think most normal people are interested in reading about bowel movements, not least the small community who have happily been discussing Coffee (and to a lesser extent, Tea) up to now, on that forum. The site can continue to indulge these trolling posts and not do anything about it, which is the easy path.

Two. The site can look at the situation that has occurred, where a number of posters have unquestionably started to troll the forum by posting about bowel movements (I'm not sure this can be seriously disputed). The site and it's arbiters, of which you are indeed one, can look at the situation and decide I'm right. I was right when I reported the post some days ago, and I was right this morning when I reported the further post referencing bowel movements, that trolls have indeed been attracted to the forum, specifically to make posts about bowel movements, to attempt to upset the nice community that has grown there, for their own amusement.

There are long established processes on this website for dealing with trollish behaviour, why you are seeking my input on a resolution is genuinely a question I find myself asking - why not do what the terms and conditions, the forum charters state will be done.

I'll tell you this - the users currently posting in that thread will continue to do so, and will continue to troll the forum, and they will pretend to be shocked when called out. I know this, the mods know this, I'd even deign to assume that you, Mike, know this to be how this will play out.

It can be easily stopped though.

EmmetSpiceland

Have to say, I didn’t even know there was a “Coffee and Tea” forum, until now, H. Had a look over, interesting enough. I’m not a coffee drinker, myself, so was looking mainly at any tea threads or the one looking for a coffee drink a non-drinker might enjoy.

Was hoping to see a Lyons vs Barry’s thread or one laying bare the merits of “discount store” own brand teas. Did see one about Lyons and the bad taste that it seems to have, noticed that myself.

Anyway, if I’m being honest, I’m surprised that there hasn’t been a “coffee bowel movement” thread before. Again, I’m not a coffee drinker but one of the things I often hear coffee drinkers talking about is the laxative effect coffee brings on. There’s even funny, meme-like, videos about it on Instagram.

It’s a wonder that coffee doesn’t come with a warning, like you see on sugar free chewing gum. Or is there one?

Is this something coffee “aficionados” ignore, or just refuse to talk about. Does it only occur with low-grade instant coffee?

adrian522

From a moderator perspective I don't have an issue with the thread, its a valid conversation to have, if you find it distasteful feel free to ignore it but there is no cause for any mod action that I can see. @Mr Magnolia can you let me know your thoughts?

Mr Magnolia

Hadn't noticed this thread and actually just PM'd you. No need to reply.

If you don't like a particular thread, don't click into it.

Hodors Appletart

Unbelievable, but expected.

Thanks for the input.

And totally ignoring everything else I've posted.

Boards.ie: Mike

@Hodors Appletart

I did not try to make any kind of intervention or go over any Mods/ Cmods/ Admins head here. I was curious and asking a genuine question.

The Coffee & Tea Forum is a great asset to Boards.ie I agree. I have read a few of the threads there. I for one am delighted that here on site there is a wide variety of conversations taking place. It gives the site substance. Boards has been around for 20+ years and is somewhat of an institution. It is Irelands largest community forum. That doesn't just happen on its own. It happens because there is such a wide variety and scope of conversation here. Boards.ie is full of friendly users who are interesting, curious and who appreciate conversation and debate. Thankfully that has been my experience since joining here.

It may not seem desirable to have that thread on top of that forum for some but as was discussed in other threads conversations shouldn't be snuffed out because they are disagreeable to some. Perhaps if it is let run its course without breaching terms of use it will fade away into the archives. This new thread in question may seem distasteful to some. To others however it is informative. Each to their own. There isn't currently any graphic descriptions or imagery. Although it may not be creditable there is some survey information there on the topic also. It does not contain anything Illegal, Disrespectful, Defamatory or otherwise breaching terms of use, currently at least. I don't believe that anybody is intentionally trolling the forum.

This is a food and drink based discussion on the effects of consuming a particular drink and I personally don't see anything wrong with it being in this section or on the site for that matter. As long as its content doesn't directly affect another user or go against the terms of use.

There was a lot of talk on other forums, some of which have now been closed, that express peoples opinions on how moderation is handled on threads. Many of the comments suggest that users should be allowed the freedom of their opinions and that it is not any one persons right to decide what constitutes good or bad or pointless content. That is why there are moderators here and not editors. Volunteer moderators at that, who give up a lot of their free time to allow the site to function and threads to run with everything descending into complete chaos as best as they can.

I appreciate that you reported a number of posts here. I'm glad that this function works correctly. If a post is deemed to have breached the terms of use that we have here then it should of course be reported and dealt with correctly according to those terms. When I asked you what resolution you would like to see I was genuinely curious. I'm confident that the Mods, Cmods and Admins will continue to do their best when dealing with trolling behaviour or anything else that is deemed to go against the terms of use.

Hodors Appletart

There isn't currently any graphic descriptions or imagery

you didn't read the thread

I'm sluicing out a solid log in minutes

i can hear my guts gurgling and wont be far away from the toilet

I understand what's happening here Mike, with yourself and the mods of the forum.

Once again it's content over all else, gotta get them clicks.

It's a pity, because I agree with you, the forum has been an asset to the site, and since the disaster of a migration it's been my most used forum probably. I won't continue to use it while this sort of content is tolerated there.

There are definitely people purposely trolling it at this stage, and if both yourself and the mods are ignoring that, in fact denying it's happening, then there isn't much else to say.

Boards.ie: Mike

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120240273#Comment_120240273

I'll review all the posts in the thread now myself taking the time to edit/remove as necessary.

I can assure you there is nothing "happening" with me and the Mods of the forum. I may be mistaken but I don't think I have had any interactions with the mods in this particular forum yet . Unfortunately I haven't met everyone here yet, luckily there are a lot of mods across the site. Perhaps now I will.

I would hate to think that it would be a case of "content over all else". A few clicks are not worth any damage to the site that we all love to be a part of.

megaten

Considering the cack thats in some of the busiest forums I won't begrudge people a light hearted thread on bodily effects of caffeine. Should really be an after hours thread but that dog has had its day.

Oscar_Madison

Ah OP relax a bit- you’re right I’ve got some great information from the forum recently around coffee grinding and what not but I’ve looked at the thread you’ve mentioned and it’s tongue in cheek at worst and actually pretty reflecting reality in terms of what coffee CAN do to the olde insides. Gross and all as it might seem, it’s science and biology in the main.

It will die down- drawing attention to it will likely just attract more posts- it’s not that bad and the forum won’t become like the mustard forum has 😀

Dial Hard

Have to agree that the OP is overreacting. When I first read their comments I thought we were talking along the lines of the AH "Etiquette" thread and my immediate thought was "Does Boards really need another scatalogical thread?" But when I read the thread in question yesterday it had a grand total of 6 replies and they were all fairly neutral, apart from one poster who does seem to be mildly (and oddly) obsessed with this particular bodily function.

Hotblack Desiato

Probably best to just move it to After Hours.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120243594#Comment_120243594

I think we can predict what type of responses it would get there and the OP seemed to be looking for more ah sincere responses.

When I first saw it I thought perhaps nutrition and diet, but glad to see it is getting some helpful diplomatically worded replies.

Dial Hard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120243594#Comment_120243594

One megathread o'shíte in AH is enough, thanks.

Hotblack Desiato

Well merge it then 🙄

Hodors Appletart

yeah that won't happen.

you can't question the mods here, if you do they back each other up nothing is wrong so be off with you.

It's abundantly obvious that thread has no place in that forum, but because someone dared to question it they double down and say it's grand sure it's on topic.

Mike even amended a post to make it so. He pretended he read it, then when it was pointed out he didn't read it, he was pretending he did. off he went and used his editorial powers to pretend he was fixing things. He pretended to be interested in the feedback for a minute, but that was window dressing, he doesn't actually address any points made.

the only thing that matters is clicks, eyes on content.

Of course a thread about siht is on topic for a forum about tea and coffee. You must be mad if you think it should be somewhere else.

Question the mods here, and your card is marked. The default position is that nothing is wrong, and if you say there is they gather round and make up the rules as they go along.

That thread shouldn't be there, it was a great forum, niche topic, people genuinely interested and chatting among themsleves. Now it's ok to post threads about bodily functions. The only reason they are allowing it is because it was questioned. You can't have the plebs questioning how they run things.

I might go and start a thread about piss in the motorbike forum, one time I was on a motorbike and I needed a piss, it was yellow and smelled weird, did that ever happen to anyone else?

Dial Hard

This really is a remarkably asinine hill to choose to die on, HA.

cal naughton

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120248294#Comment_120248294

Are you suffering from a lack of coffee or something? That is some rant.

On the topic in question i have a bowel condition and i have been told numerous times by health care professionals to avoid triggers like coffee.

The coffee thread is wonderful and feel the topic is in the correct place.

Hodors Appletart

yeah, I know it's a waste of time and doesn't matter at all, still though, it's weird to be gaslighted

Dial Hard

I don't think anyone is gaslighting you, dude, they just don't see an issue with the thread. There's no grand conspiracy here.

Hodors Appletart

I mean the gaslighting is in this thread, I pointed it out.

Mike posted this

There isn't currently any graphic descriptions or imagery

There was, then when I pointed it out to him, he went and deleted parts of comments to make it seem like there was no issue

It actually worked on you DH, you commented in this thread AFTER Mike made the changes to the posts I was asking about, the gaslighting worked.

Dial Hard

Incorrect, I read the original thread while the more, shall we say colourful, descriptions from PPL were in situ.

Anyway, I'll leave you to it. You complained, the posts you had a problem with were mod-snipped accordingly yet here you still are.

Maybe go for a walk or something.

One eyed Jack

I can see where HA is coming from - small forum of regulars with a real community feel to it, then someone who isn’t a regular and clearly doesn’t care for getting a feel for the forum starts a thread like that, knowing the sort of replies it will attract? The expression “like flies to a shyte” were never more apt.

It’s just vulgar, and I do understand why it’s not appropriate for the forum. It’s not good enough IMO to simply suggest one can ignore the stink in the room if it’s a forum they care about and wish to see standards maintained. It wouldn’t matter if one never drank coffee, there are some things are best kept to oneself.