What happened to Boards.ie - genuine question

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762032#Comment_120762032

Someone who posts that excessively almost always provides lots of opportunities for curtailment.

Annasopra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120758596#Comment_120758596

Yeah.

That story doesn't sound credible....

Moonbeam

I haven’t read the other replies yet but …

The internet was a different place 20 years ago . DSL had just come to Ireland !

Things evolve , People move on . The teenagers and 20 year olds that we were are now parents of teens and kids and have time for different things.

We didn’t have Facebook etc and a lovely little community grew here from people with similar interests and concerns.

It was more personal.

I met a few people here that are now very good friends.

There was a big site “upgrade” many years ago and it became harder to navigate which I found frustrating so only moderated and did not really read forums for years .

Annasopra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120761661#Comment_120761661

There is very few genuine new posters though. A lot of rereg accounts.

I still find boards good for specialist topics, but I no longer really engage with anything to do with current affairs and politics type topics online.

I just find it’s culture war stuff imported from the U.S., and it’s angry and depressing. That’s not unique to boards but in general it’s put me off a lot of social media

I also find that the level of ability to discuss is just obliterated online. People increasingly seem to just make things personal or have absolutist arguments where there’s no nuance at all.

The other big one on boards for me is the technology. The new forum software is just not nice to use and the lack of a dark mode at this stage is just ….

As for organising things online that happen in the real world. Not a chance of that now. Too many agressive posters and I think many people have become a lot less naive about being very open online. Things like that are just resulting in a much cagier level of engagement.

Flinty997

The issues with this site in my opinion have nothing to do with evolution, or any other "age" group.

Backstreet Moyes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762316#Comment_120762316

Have your proof of that?

How can you know this unless your a mod or a mod is giving you that information?

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762319#Comment_120762319

Mostly agree with all of that.

Though I think even in some of the boards tech forums they withered because one or two posters just drowned out everyone else. Though there are still some wise old heads around. Motors for example is still decent.

I still think you can discuss things online. But only in small specialist forums with strict moderation. One UK forum I'm in just banned a member who basically posted quite similar to what you see daily in CA on boards.

Annasopra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762365#Comment_120762365

Have a look at all the recent banned accounts

Low post counts

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762365#Comment_120762365

Can't obviously. Though posters style of posting is like a fingerprint. People can't change their habits. Even with a new reg is often obvious.

Backstreet Moyes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762385#Comment_120762385

That is not proof of anything.

Can you provide proof for your statement?

Unless you are a mod or a mod is giving you this information I have no idea how you could know what you stated.

Backstreet Moyes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762390#Comment_120762390

I know the poster can't provide proof unless someone is giving information.

It's one of the biggest issues with boards, people making statements that they cannot back up.

Then disappear when asked to provide proof for a statement.

hometruths

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762405#Comment_120762405

I think one of the biggest issue with boards is that people are no longer able expressed an opinion based on their experiences and observations.

Any opinions offered are countered with "Prove it."

Backstreet Moyes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762420#Comment_120762420

This must some way funny to you but I'm not sure what your on about.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762405#Comment_120762405

If you're familiar with a previous account's posting style you can spot them if they rereg.

A new account starts posting inflammatory comments from the first post = troll.

A relatively new account has some benign posts and then kicks off = banned rereg.

You've highlighted another issue with Boards. If anyone makes an observation calling a spade a spade they're immediately accused of insider information and being in cahoots with a mod.

Backstreet Moyes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762434#Comment_120762434

The poster didn't make an opinion, he stated something as a fact.

tesla_newbie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762447#Comment_120762447

Surely many posters would have a similar style ?, not too many Tolstoys around the place

Backstreet Moyes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762447#Comment_120762447

I didn't accuse anyone of being in cahoots with a mod.

I stated unless the poster got that information from a mod they could not know what they said.

Dial Hard

Anaaaand the above exchange is a perfect example of why a lot of people just don't bother anymore.

There are so many needlessly hostile posters around. Is it not exhausting being so antagonistic/confrontational all the time? There are a couple of posters who as soon as I see their names start to pop up as the most recent contributor on a thread, I know they're off again.

Likewise, if you see a really innocuous-looking thread on a really boring topic on the front page and then when you log back in an hour later and it has 57 replies, you can pretty much guess which posters have found it.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762454#Comment_120762454

I'll use your post as an example.

You have a space before a question mark and a comma immediately after it. Then you started a second sentence with lowercase and didn't add a fullstop at the end. If all your posts were like that, and I was familiar with your posts, I would spot if you reregged.

Now, imagine if my hobby horse was unicorns, and I posted a lot in the unicorn forum, and my opinions were known. What if I close my account, rereg and post the same opinions in the unicorn forum? Do you not think others would recognise me?

hometruths

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762451#Comment_120762451

In a discussion about what they think is wrong with boards the poster simply said: There is very few genuine new posters though. A lot of rereg accounts.

It's quite clearly simply expressing an opinion based on what they've noticed about the posting style of new accounts.

And yet you jumped all over it, accusing of stating facts without proof, yadda yadda.

If they ignore you, your all over them for disappearing when asked to provide proof of facts.

If they engage it derails the discussion.

This little exchange is a perfect example of the nonsense that is rampant on boards now, and it is killing any chance of reasonable debate and discussion.

Leg End Reject

If there's a contentious thread and a mod posts to dial it down and says there have been a lot of reports it's also fairly easy to work out who will have reported certain posts. Our own bias shows in debate, you don't need to be a genius or given insider information to figure it out.

If you are able to spot re-regs and then actually give a shïte about it then you really need to consider putting down the phone and heading outside for some fresh air and exercise. Mad auld behaviour.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762540#Comment_120762540

Who said they give a shite? Being able to see something doesn't mean there's any shites given at all.

tesla_newbie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762485#Comment_120762485

i see , I guess some folks are more forensic in how they read chat forums , I never take much notice of such detail , perhaps I need to take the experience a lot more seriously

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762557#Comment_120762557

Nothing forensic or serious about it, it's basic observation.

Some posters seem to want to make a big deal of it all the same.

Slutmonkey57b

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762470#Comment_120762470

Exactly. A humourless boring diversion which added nothing other than some self congratulatory pedantry. Instant ban in my book.

Dial Hard

It's not exactly the third secret of fatima that people re-reg. Sure we've multiple people in this very thread with join dates of this year talking about stuff that happened on here years ago.

People re-reg for manifold reasons, some genuine, some not. Pretending it doesn't happen or demanding absolute proof that it does is just bad faith nonsense.

yagan

I can't help but feel that forums like Boards suffered when social media really took off. Social media like Facebook allowed people to be consumed by their own biases to the detriment of open discussion.

The way I see it is that at the height of internet forums in the 2000s (I've seen some interesting takes that 2008 was the peak) it was mostly those seeking knowledge who populated such forums. Then as social media like FB spread they personalised the internet; many people who had never used the internet came to it via FB on their first smartphone and treated it as their personal space, they were territorial about it.

That probably fed back into anonymous forums where new information was now being treated as a personal affront. The old internet where no one knew you were a dog was not to take anything personally and move on was now being crowded out by entrenched personal biases that end up railroading open discussion.

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't boards spring up out of gaming as a platform for sharing Doom cheats? I think in 1992 we were close to half of the population being under 25, so maybe Boards was a demographic frontier and suffered as many boards users settled down to mundane settled lives.

Edit to add I think the forum still has a huge value for specifics like the car forums, careers etc... just as it was intended when it was about cheats for Doom.

tesla_newbie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762583#Comment_120762583

well it appears deeply forensic to me , maybe im less observant than average? but even the way you cited my post was remarkable in its forensic detailing , hardly basic ?