What happened to Boards.ie - genuine question

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120815971#Comment_120815971

I personally don't believe the chasm can be bridged, however much I offer counsel to the contrary.

As other posters have already said, it may very well be too late for that. The people who want Boards.ie to become an echochamber for their own opinions are starting to learn and appreciate what happens when that eventuality becomes reality; the sheer consequences of what they want.

It's not so rosy when you want everyone to agree with you, is it?

In the real world it means things just wither, that things just die. What a damn shame, too. But that's the way it is, so who am I to complain.

Arghus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120815942#Comment_120815942

I'd suggest your hypothetical of 90% of posts being reported by 10% of users could be as much down to the majority of people not being arsed really - as opposed to evidence of bad faith.

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120815985#Comment_120815985

I guess I'm not following. I see a lot of different folks around here. The 1st reply of this OP has 90 thanks, that's a lot of casual posters, readers, lurkers, etc. and depending on the thread or subject or time of day can all have wildly different cliques and opinions, eg. the trans sports thread where as you said, there's a large clique of a predominant opinion, some of whom have openly expressed a desire to silence the minority opinions in the thread. Those same users, on some other thread about Russia or Israel etc. might all be in complete agreement about those topics and things. I disagree with the characterization that's there's a "the chasm" here there are just microcosmic 'chasms' with regard to specific topics and differences of world view or whatever else have you. So ultimately I disagree with the characterization that there is any particular group that wants boards to become an echochamber.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120815992#Comment_120815992

It's far more likely that the tiny minority are over-reporting posts because they want to create a permanent consensus on the forum.

That's the very nature of ideological zealotry, to want the opposition to either be punished or censored.

"Permanent consensus" and "discussion forum" are about as aligned as "Communist China" and" democracy".

It never works.

It always, always fails -- and for obvious reasons, too.

Real Donald Trump

Looking at the OP, I wonder how the newspapers would describe this forum today?

Arghus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816015#Comment_120816015

And do you think that issue, even if it's the case - it's highly debatable - is the main reason for the decline in traffic on the site?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816034#Comment_120816034

Of course it's multifactorial. We're dealing with social media, for example, which doesn't align with how discussion forums used to operate.

What I'm saying is that in this specific case -- yes, it's a factor.

Not the sole factor but not a factor worth ignoring, either.

Arghus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816049#Comment_120816049

Fair enough, I would agree with you that it's multifactorial.

But it's a hard thing to judge if someone is reporting in bad faith, in my view. How do you quantify abuse or overuse of the report function? In much the same way that it can be hard to judge whether someone is posting in bad faith. And someone could still post something in good faith that could be objectionable. Being sincere doesn't necessarily mean that what a person has to say is beyond reproach.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120814699#Comment_120814699

calling a poster out so bare cheeked like that is absolutely shocking behaviour. There’s absolutely no excuse to tag someone and complain they didn’t bullet point a summary of a thread or post for you.

you’re too lazy to read a thread and you have the cheek to call someone out for not breaking it down to the core points? Give me strength.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120815992#Comment_120815992

not necessarily often times you’ll see a lot of the reports are just people who disagree with the sentiment or opinion exactly like Jupiter said.

whats genuinely frustrating is as often as this happens you will have the odd thing that’s actually actionable in some way mixed in with the spurious reports. So you end up going through say 10 reported posts and only 1 or 2 were rule breaking.

It’s a real head wreck because the site is sort of slow at the min i kinda of have to set aside time to go through the reports cos it’s not worth jumping in and out doing one or two imo.

lmao10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816273#Comment_120816273

You realise how god awful the search function on this forum is right? Nobody is going to start trawling through that.

I would ask for a more detailed clarification if I was genuinely interested in conversing with the poster but if it was a known time waster I would just assert my opinion on whatever the subject was and move on.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816292#Comment_120816292

I’m aware but it’s one thing to ask someone to summarise a thread for you it’s totally off the wall to then later on @ you in their post to complain you wouldn’t to another user.

There’s just no excusing that imo

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816300#Comment_120816300

It wasn't even to summarise the entire thread, it was asking a user to summarise their own opinions.

It just looks like a petty attempt to undermine a poster because they can't debate or refute their argument, like a child sticking their fingers in their ears and saying "I can't hear you".

Arghus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816289#Comment_120816289

I wouldn't dispute that there's many instances of people reporting a post because they disagree with the sentiment of a post or have a particular issue with a poster, rather that what has actually been said. I'd imagine that a good whack, even the majority, of reported posts aren't actually actionable when they're looked at. It's hardly a new phenomenon I would say?

It can work both ways I guess: some posters post things, whether in good faith or not, that they believe to be fair comment, but are actionable. And equally, on the other hand, there's posters who report on posts, which they believe to be unfair comment, but are, when looked at, not worthy of sanction/deletion etc.

I just have my doubts that it is something that has an oversized effect in terms of stifling debate. But, as a mod, you'd have a greater knowledge than myself of whether this is the case. Maybe it is a genuine issue, but, as a major cause for boards decline, as a whole, in activity and numbers - I personally don't think it's anywhere near the top of the list.

But, truth be told, I'm not a hardened CA warrior. I often feel there's a few long running sagas in play in this forum between posters and it's like I'm dropping in somewhere late in the fourth or fifth season of a long running drama, with only a dim idea of how it all started or what happened last season, or even, in most instances, what it's all about really.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816302#Comment_120816302

utterly crazy but to take it further and then directly mention them to have another dig and then come here to complain they won’t leave them alone

it just boggles the mind

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816347#Comment_120816347

i mean what kind of reasonable conversation can be had when you disagree with someone and your first response is to seek mod intervention?

Annasopra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816370#Comment_120816370

Would you not just report the posts then instead of continuing with all the bonkers back and forth childish bickering that took over this thread?

Hodors Appletart

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816371#Comment_120816371

exactly, the mods should be sanctioning the thoughtpolice who do this.

Almost guaranteed this sort of guff comes from a certain cohort too, the permanently offended on behalf others.

purifol0

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120813927#Comment_120813927

This is literally why Reddit defeated traditional BB forums. Inline replies meant other users could effectlively hide comments that branched off into their own thread, and just get on with the main topic. It also means dropping in direct from google you could immediately see the relevant comments without have to backtrack 5 pages because 2 people had a spat.

Flaneur OBrien

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816273#Comment_120816273

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816370#Comment_120816370

First thing: Are you not a mod of this forum? It says you’re a mod of social and fun?

Why are you not taking mod action on these posts, instead of being here (pardon the term) bitching about what’s going on?

If you’re not a mod here, I apologise, vanilla sucks. But I hope you’re reporting those posts?

Secondly, it might not be lazy. reading very long meandering posts is difficult for some people (dyslexics, ADHD etc). I have ADHD and I have huge trouble reading long posts, especially if they’re not broken down into paragraphs.

I see no problem whatsoever in asking politely for people to clarify, or as that poster did, arrive on a huge thread and asking the proponents what exactly are the dangers coming from the left, instead of attempt to break it down from over 1,700 posts (a lot of which is bickering fluff, tbf)

suvigirl

It's not much wonder that posters report things that may not be actionable, how are we supposed to know what the rules are?

I received a warning for 'low level trolling ' I have no idea what that means and I only asked a poster a question! In fact, I was nice about it. But I received no response when I tried to find out what exactly was wrong in the post.

And another time I reported a post for something that I had read here is against the rules, but that stayed up and I don't know why.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120817121#Comment_120817121

Secondly, it might not be lazy. reading very long meandering posts is difficult for some people (dyslexics, ADHD etc). I have ADHD and I have huge trouble reading long posts, especially if they’re not broken down into paragraphs.

You can't expect other posters to accommodate your request for a summary any more than you can request a dyslexic poster to correct their spelling and grammar.

It just stinks of bad faith posting and a petty attempt to undermine the point made. Debate with them, or get out of the kitchen if you can't stand the heat.

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120817573#Comment_120817573

It's not unreasonable to ask for a synopsis of what the core message is every now and then. It's no different to a long conversation in real life where somone asks for a summary every now and then.

There was a very active thread on here for a long time with people complaining about multiculturalism. I used to go in to the thread every2-3 weeks or so to see posts from people saying 'no one can give any benefits of multiculturalism' and I would list several bullet points on thread.

Many of the people complaining about the question being asked in this particular instance on here were active on that thread (some under previous monikers albeit) so if they didn't take the time to read the thread, or acknowledge what was written, they're not really in any place to tell others to do the same thing. No?

If you feel strongly enough about a topic, to discuss it in depth, but don't want to clarify what it is you are saying, if reasonably asked to do so, you are being disingenuous in my view.

Flaneur OBrien

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120817573#Comment_120817573

So we just exclude people with ADHD? That's not mad sound. (I didn't ask for the summary btw)

If it was asked politely, I really don't see the problem. The OP could easily just say no, politely.

But in this case* I thought it was fair enough to ask for a summary as it was a thread called, "You've been looking in the wrong direction, the dangers are coming from the Left" that was over 1700 posts long, to see what people are actually considering to be dangers from the left. Rapidash subsequently did so. So there was no problem.

I don't 'expect' anything from other posters, and I generally don't 'demand' anything either (unless people post nonsense without backing it up).

*I think all these things need to be taken on a case by case basis, there shouldn't be blanket rules.

nullzero

Jesus I thought that discussion was brought to an end yesterday.

RobbieTheRobber

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816892#Comment_120816892

I have been sanctioned for 3 laughing smileys.

That means someone on the right on side reported me for posting 3 laughing emojis and nothing else in a post.

It's not one side that is only reporting.

🤣🤣🤣

Another 3 laughing emojis, come at me reporters.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120817901#Comment_120817901

Many of the people complaining about the question being asked in this particular instance on here were active on that thread (some under previous monikers albeit)

Says it all really.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120817915#Comment_120817915

So we just exclude people with ADHD? That's not mad sound.

I didn't say that so that's whataboutery.

What do you suggest? Should boards train us all to recognise SEN and how to reply to posters we suspect have additional needs?

I still don't accept that posters should be required to summarise their points, it's nothing but an attempt to undermine.

Flaneur OBrien

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120818070#Comment_120818070

I never said it should be a requirement. You're being disingenuous now. It was a polite request, the OP said no, another user then synopsised the thread.

I think @Tell me how put it best when they said,

If you feel strongly enough about a topic, to discuss it in depth, but don't want to clarify what it is you are saying, if reasonably asked to do so, you are being disingenuous in my view.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120817934#Comment_120817934

You and me both.

Flinty997

I think think since this thread started all the issues described in it have only got worse.