General CA trolls - it's embarrassing

Folks, you should probably have a re-think about where CA is going. I know it was created as a way to corral the malcontents to a place in the site that they wouldn't impinge on the rest of the place, but it's a joke now. Racist, bigoted, trans hating on a daily basis. There's not enough mods to clear out all the sh*te. It's a failed experiment at this point.

I.R.Y.E.D

Not to disagree but you are going to have a certain number of idiots and scrotes on any forum of size.

The silly thing is that they think that it provides them with anonymity.

Gatling

Not true,

I Think people don't like being challenged and want to have one sided discussions where only certain pro agendas cohorts can post on topics,and Wave the bigotry,misogynistic, transphobic, racism cards to get any discussion closed,

odyssey06

If that's what you think of CA don't go near After Hours.

It's far more likely to be moderated on CA.

On After Hours you can be as bigoted, insulting or sectarian as you like as long as you don't actually abuse a specific poster by name. And even then...

Arghus

I just don't bother with CA 99% of the time.

An internet forum where people can post anonymously about Current Affairs, well, you know what you're going to get sadly.

I remember not too long ago that even posting a harmless photo or gif was forbidden in CA.

Even if the photo was statistics or something relevant to the discussion.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120532468#Comment_120532468

I think that was a performance issue with boards handling images and CA being such a busy forum.

EmmetSpiceland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120531620#Comment_120531620

Yeah, I actually think that it would help AH if CA was less moderated.

What’s happening is that lads are getting threadbanned, or forum banned, in CA and just hopping over to AH to avail of its laidback, or light touch, moderation and just “dumping” all over it. The prison bars are, usually, a giveaway. Never a good look.

There’s really no need for the imported, American, “Culture Wars” being dragged into, more normal, forums like AH so often.

Now, don’t get me wrong, if these “Culture Wars” have done one thing they are keeping a certain cohort of people distracted and giving them a sense of purpose, just stops them from getting in the way of anything important in “real life”, but would be better if regular, normal, users were spared the angry nonsense and it was just kept to CA.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120532510#Comment_120532510

Or the crap shouldn't be tolerated on AH either, as I don't think they would confine dumping to CA threads. There's no telling what threads they will dump this stuff on in AH as they can't let it go.

Even if CA is less moderated, well whatever the boundary is, the most blatant of this type will still hit it. It is obvious early doors the trajectory certain posters are on.

Beasty

Moved from Feedback. Forum specific issues are dealt with in Help Desk

Beasty

I've just spent the past 2 hours and 10 minutes dealing with the "sh*te"

We get to it. It may not be immediately (I was on a 6.40am flight out of London this morning and have since driven 200km or so home (and spent the whole of yesterday travelling), but we get to it all

CGI_Livia_Soprano

It’s unfortunate but this site has become overrun with bigotry towards immigrants, transphobia, Islamophobia, and racism. Usually it’s veiled under “concerns about identity” and other dog whistles but it has corrupted every corner of the site, not just Current Affairs.

Sadly posters such as myself who challenge these views are treated with contempt by the boards.ie moderation team who believe that a quiet life without any “conflict” is better than standing up to hateful dogwhistling and coded racism. They would rather someone spew bigoted bile in a manner that is perceived to be “polite” than another poster challenging them in a heated manner.

I have seen good poster after good poster being run off this site because they have been banned or threatened to be banned by moderators aghast that someone isn’t polite to racists. (One example is @RobbieTheRobber )

It is systemic on this site now that bigotry is tolerated. It’s been a slow creep over the past few years but it’s simply part of the culture now: boards.ie is a right-wing hate site.

Furze99

A good general guide is if you can't stand the heat in the kitchen, then get out. Rather too many here can't or won't tolerate that others simply have different views. They take umbrage and off to the mods with them.

HBC08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120533365#Comment_120533365

Lol!

Keep fighting the good fight.

questioner22

I don't bother with CA much. Last time I was there, someone reported me for making what they thought was a transphobic remark but completely misinterpreted it. That was bad enough, but the mod seemingly agreed that it was transphobic (or did not respond when I asked what their reasoning was). 

There are people in there waiting to pounce on anyone who doesn't partake in whatever alternate reality they've constructed, because anyone who's not in that same reality must by default be totally against their existence - this is the attitude. And so anything said that even touches on an issue remotely related to trans is pounced on and gone through with a fine tooth comb it seems by some of this group. Some are just totally paranoid. This would be fine if the thread was in the LGBT forum, but in CA this agenda should not be so pushed so much as if nobody else can speak on the issue or have their own view on it.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120533365#Comment_120533365

It’s unfortunate but this site has become overrun with bigotry towards immigrants, transphobia, Islamophobia, and racism. Usually it’s veiled under “concerns about identity” and other dog whistles but it has corrupted every corner of the site, not just Current Affairs.

The poster is not wrong about this. ^

hayrabit

what happened to the "Balbriggan Postcode Gangs" Thread @Beasty ?

the one in the, seemingly, poorly moderated CA forum 😏

not as much as a : "too much bickering - thread closed" . Just disappeared without a by-your-leave 🙂

plenty of #inferred racism. those who (presumably) wanted no discussion on the topic calling out others as racists etc etc, or wanting to goad someone into a reaction #inferring racism that wasn't there, from others' posts 😴

were ya too lazy trying to dance on a pinhead trying to find an excuse to close the thread? that's if it was you, and am guessing it was

figured here's as good as any spot to bring the topic up - seeing as there's plenty of eyes/posts on this thread

sorry mods if this is the wrong place

☺️

Larbre34

All of Boards is subject to the situation described in this thread.

Boards is a shadow of it's one time self, which gathered pace since the platform change.

Gatling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120533933#Comment_120533933

They are wrong just like their generalisation sig ,

CGI_Livia_Soprano

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120533933#Comment_120533933

I am absolutely dead right about it. Maybe I’m being too hard on the moderators but there are a lot of bad actors on here.

This forum is flooded with American style whataboutery and bad faith gotcha questioning. The same old braindead, stupid arguments put forth by the usual useful idiots you see online.

”Oh you think trans people should be treated with dignity and respect, do you? What about transwomen in women’s sport and prisons?”

So stupid.

Beasty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120533959#Comment_120533959

The OP is now permanently sitebanned. When doing the banning I inadvertently deleted all their content. Unfortunately although their "comments" were retrievable, all their "discussions" (ie threads started) remained deleted. I suspect this is another anomaly of this platform, but I have not noticed that before

The OP clearly wanted to stir things from a racial perspective and I had already deleted a number of their posts before sitebanning them. They have caused problems throughout their time on the site. I suspect they were a re-reg of a banned user, but although there were one or two links I could not pin them down enough to confirm that they were a re-reg. It was a case of allowing them enough rope and today was when it all came to a head. I had closed the thread with a note explaining there were a load of reports to work through before I dealt with the OP

I am posting this to explain what happened, but am not going to comment further on that user or the banning. It is not something for anyone to discuss further in this thread

Dial Hard

I don't post in CA. I don't engage with the "Wokeism of the Day" stuff in AH. I generally just avoid anything I know is going to act as a flare for certain factions on either side of the extremes of debate. But honestly, how any of you can sit there and say with a straight face that there isn't a *very* vocal right-leaning and seriously bigoted contingent on here - and that you're somehow being mistreated - is actually fcuking hilarious.

Give your heads a wobble, lads. Seriously.

I've asked to have my account deleted. Done. This place used to be fun but I'd rather not be associated with it anymore.

Jequ0n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120534226#Comment_120534226

That’s sad. We will miss your positive attitude and friendly posting style.

pjohnson

CA waa always a holding area for the trolls.

The prison bars thing is a weird feature. 99% of the time the bars are just replaced with an outright ban.

As by coincidence a new user pops up.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120533365#Comment_120533365

Boards isnt a right wing hate site.

Theres an element on boards like that but also as posts with opposite views and posts challenging such views. If boards was such a site those posters wouldnt be sanctioned by mods and or banned. They are.

But I think the mods need to be wiser to them and their whistling tactics and constant low level trolling and bad faith posting - especially in AH.

Also such tactics of low level trolling not just used by those on the right.

looksee

But I think the mods need to be wiser to them and their whistling tactics and constant low level trolling and bad faith posting - especially in AH.

Most of the time the mods are aware, but if they actioned every dog whistle - which by its nature is an indirect and often superficially harmless looking comment - and every bit of similarly debateable low level trolling, then you have posters whining about restrictive and officious moderating.

This is not a recent development reflecting the decline of Boards, there has always been aggressive, destructive, trolling posting, though there were more mods to deal with it. Then the big complaint was about heavy-handed modding.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120534188#Comment_120534188

This sums it up. Why people bother with the never ending refugee or green policy threads now is beyond me. A few forums are still ok though.

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120533987#Comment_120533987

Yes but part of the reason is that veteran After Hours posters simply got old but it hasn't sunk in yet.

What happens to someone who was a fun-loving, leftish but not boring-about-politics, spontaneous person in their 20s when they hit 38 or 40? They have become so acclimated to professional office culture that they are now a scold, managing other people's social attitudes in their spare time (their spare time!)

Of course they still think they are fun, youthful people and don't recognise their own staidness.

Then of course they clash with all the right-leaning people who have fled to internet forums - including ex-posters of politics.ie after that site was ruined - because official rl political discourse carefully excludes non-left opinions. Tedious arguments ensue.

In general political discourse is too bitter. The American-influenced "liberal" and "conservative" political tendencies both encompass a lot of vengefulness, in practise, and that is reflected on boards too. Yet many people become addicted to the tit-for-tat.

Usually when a person says they don't care about politics or they hate politics I take that as a good sign, since what they often mean is they dont like resentment-fuelled bickering.

However many boards posters say they don't like bickering but they also expect perfect conformity to their own left-wing opinions, which they will insert into any and every discussion, including After Hours threads (and later complain that AH has become politicised).

Lastly, I would just say that a person who speaks like a Human Resources Officer would speak in all their interactions with people in rl will rarely receive any pushback. Only when that person has left the room will people say what they really think. The left-leaning AH poster takes this surface reflection as meaning that "everyone" agrees with them.

Think logically: if polls continually show that 70% of Irish people have doubts about immigration (and they do), and you and two of your friends walk into a room which contains 7 other people then... Yeah.

growleaves

As for the prison bars, to me it carries about as much real stigma as being sent to jail during a game of Monopoly.

Thelonious Monk

I think no matter what way you look at it the site is now a very conservative leaning site when it comes to politics. It's in its final days. Just look at younger sites like reddit ireland if you are worried about how right leaning and anti everything ireland has become, it gives you at least a little hope.

Oh and I'm 42 and feel like I have nothing in common with most of the other aulfellas who post here.