What happened to Boards.ie - genuine question

Strong vibes of this emerging.

Dial Hard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762640#Comment_120762640

It really isn't that unusual. Stuff like that just sticks out to some people. I do a lot of proofing and copyediting for work and writing styles and tics are very, very noticeable to me.

Likewise, I'd say if you handed a bunch of anonymised essays to an English teacher, they'd be able to tell which of their students wrote pretty much any of them.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762640#Comment_120762640

Maybe I'm just more observant and pedantic?

Anyway, at least it should be obvious that I didn't need information from mods to reply to you, I could figure it out on my own.

tesla_newbie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762663#Comment_120762663

Fair enough, I’m just lazy or don’t commit enough rigour to chat forums, I read them like text messages and type accordingly

tesla_newbie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762665#Comment_120762665

“ pedantic “ , I wouldn’t go using that word after what you posted earlier, you might be unusually observant but irony appears to have bypassed you

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762677#Comment_120762677

Congratulations, you've just made an observation of your own!

...Ghost...

Maybe the real issue is boards leaning toward those who push...

THE MESSAGE

These discussions are just chaos and filled with hate and intolerance. Depending on whether you are left, or right, that statement will mean the same thing and that it is you who is on the righteous side.

...Ghost...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762729#Comment_120762729

Ask the left, they say the right.

Aske the right, they say the left.

Ask who shuts down discussion on issues and maybe, just maybe you have the right answer 😊

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762640#Comment_120762640

For me it's just obvious. A few simple examples have been given. Either you see it our you don't. No important either way.

Annasopra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762391#Comment_120762391

Look for yourself

suvigirl

I also had issues with a mod, in my previous life here. Clearly the mod did not agree with my views and when I reported serious personal abuse, said mod would completely ignore them.

Another 2 mods messaged me privately over different things the mod had done/not done in relation to my posts, both stating they were wrong and biased, but yet nothing was ever done. It's hard to post when a mod of that forum has something against you.

Annasopra

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762609#Comment_120762609

But but but you can't know that unless a mod told you. You're not allowed post facts around here unless there's an encyclopedia back up 😁

There was less things to do on the internet when boards.ie was at its peak. Boards launched in 1998 and it's peak was early-to-mid 00s.

Many of todays most popular sites were not founded until much later. Youtube, facebook, instagram etc. None of them were around during boards peak. People got onto the internet, said 'what can I do' and message boards were one of the popular things.

In the mid to late 00s there was an explosion of big sites/services, they grew huge userbases and invested heavily into psychology research, how to keep people staring at the screen. Likes, short videos, dopamine hits, the algorithms that suggest content, all that stuff, there's science behind it all.

All these modern sites are competing for users attention, they want to keep you on their site/app as long as possible and they use science to do so. Discussion forums didn't stand a chance in comparison. They're just not as compelling, particularly for young people.

The way that people access the internet also changed. People used desktops and laptops in boards heydey. iPhone launched in 2007, within a few years the smartphone was the way most people accessed the internet. Discussion forums don't suit phones, nobody enjoys typing a long post on an onscreen keyboard.

All the comments about bad moderation, bad platform etc - they're absolutely true but they're not the main driver behind boards decline.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762837#Comment_120762837

Do you have proof of that? You can't throw out these kinds of statements without linking to peer reviewed research to back up your claims.

I propose we should all be required to add in-text citations and a full reference list at the end of all our posts.

PommieBast

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762633#Comment_120762633

Back in the mid-2000s FB was an actual "social" platform which out of conveniene became a de-facto internet non-stop-shop but then monetisation really kicked in and this turned it into the advertising-driven clickbait cesspit it is today. Trouble is being an almost monopoly player people thought that was what the internet was supposed to be like.

blade1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120758656#Comment_120758656

I think it might be a chrome extension. I have it so long I can't remember how I got it exactly 🙈

Tell me how

Combination of things.

Disastrous strategy and implementation of the Site upgrade a couple years back. From not knowing the steps the contracted company were going to take to complete the work to clearly not having an appropriate template for what features were nice to have versus need to have once the new platform was going to be active meant that it played out as it did. Though, when I saw the person who was said to be managing it being introduced on a YouTube video as starting a new senior role in a different company at literally exactly the same time as the upgrade was happening, I didn't hold out much hope. Now what is left is a platform that looks similar to the old boards but with what seems like less features than that platform had that actually lead to the enjoyment of the users. You can effectively no longer see who has thanked a post, can't easily find previous posts of your, or other users, and so on.

But, from the time of the revamp, moderation went off the deep end. Initially, it is fair to say, probably out of necessity as the tools to be effective moderators were removed (see above) but then for an extended period that still exists as far as I can see because of the weak moderation structure that remains and which is heavily influenced by one individuals ad hoc application of moderation and that weak structure that remains meaning appeals, discussions, understanding around the whole process seems to be close to non-existent. I think people underestimate the influence this last point has on the environment, if I can explain it with an analogy, good bouncers won't make a nightclub decent, or a place that people really want to go to, but bad ones will make it the opposite.

As a consequence of the above, the fun and supportive elements of Boards that existed when I joined and up to the changeover have all but disappeared I feel. There's no longer 'fun threads' that I would spend a couple of hours reading in days and weeks after it was active if I came across it. I remember one particular thread soon after the new platform up and running and the thread was very active in the hours after it was started (very active for the new platform)with over 30 different posters contributing in a fun manner. It was started in a music forum because the subject was a song that was popular at the time, but with the volume of posts that were made, the conversation turned in to an After Hours type conversation, which even the OP was ok with if I recall. That thread was then locked and when I dm'ed the mod asking why, the question the OP had asked, had been answered. So intstead of moving it to an appropriate forum, it was shut down and that conversation died.

Those lighthearted and supportive fun threads I think oiled the gears for the rest of the site, they were fun and non-provocative and made it a pleasant space. What exists now is just niche conversations with few participants, or the provocative ones, neither which entice building community. Even on this thread, the barbed comments from some about others is painfully visible.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762857#Comment_120762857

I've been a member of other forums longer than boards has existed and they are mostly still going strong.

None have the technical issues boards had, and still has. I've recently had to switch browser to use boards on mobile.

I think Facebook is a different medium.

It's mad how seriously some people take the internet. Death threats, setting up brand new forums just to slag off another forum, long running feuds with complete strangers using pretend names. Thank fook though, let them stay on the internet so I don't have to encounter them in real life.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120763361#Comment_120763361

I'm happy to confirm there wasn't any credible death threats or fantasies of same.

I'm afraid poor Emmet changed his signature in vain.

Goldengirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120762862#Comment_120762862

In fairness this is an opinion thread , so while I get you are being tongue in cheek, it is different when people are making statements in a more factual thread .

Context is important.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120763757#Comment_120763757

I get that, but there's instances where posters will demand them from others, but won't offer any to back up their own point.

It's also an issue when proof is demanded for less serious matters, as in the reason the discussion kicked off in this thread.

I think when you look at a thread with 40 new replies, it's a good thing if it's fun and lighthearted like back in the day, but bad if you know it's going probably going to be messy and full of conflict. I don't open most threads I've bookmarked when I come on the site.

With other platforms, it's always new conversations, so it's easier to slip in and out. The ban lists get ridiculously long too and you end up with posters banned from an entire topic for years because they're banned from that one thread.

Goldengirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120763771#Comment_120763771

Yes agree ;)

Flaneur OBrien

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120763811#Comment_120763811

There'd be some security needed these days! I’ve been to a good few boards beers, mod beers and forum beers. But I don’t think the vibe is there anymore, which is sad.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120764071#Comment_120764071

Good for you.

Gloomtastic!

So if message boards have had their day how does one explain the above?

lmao10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120764158#Comment_120764158

They have stricter moderation and it's harder for the types who want to ruin the forum to be successful. Just have a look at reddit ireland. A much nicer place than here.

CGI_Livia_Soprano

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120763424#Comment_120763424

There were graphic murder fantasies. You can dismiss it because they weren’t “credible” all you want but the fact remains that someone did explicitly post a murder fantasy about posters in the so-called “bekind” mob, an obvious reference to mine and another poster’s signature.

You’re complicit in covering it up by pretending that there was some “context” to explain it but you’re talking out of your hat with that pretence.

The truth is that they were about posters that you have had runs in with on many occasions, so in your mind it doesn’t matter if someone posted violent murder fantasies about them.

If it was a friend of yours or someone you’re not happy to dismiss as a troll then you would be falling over yourself to register your outrage about how “uncivil” it was. You and your mates are hypocrites.

anewme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120763424#Comment_120763424

How do you really know though?

its all anonymous posters. Could be anyone.

I don’t think you are being fair to the posters here in this instance. They were badgered to give examples, just one. And they did. And when they did, it was, ahhh that’s just one. People were saying, give another.

You might think they are being a bit over dramatic, but many people would be pretty creeped out by the kind of language used. Can’t really blame them.

Seems a bit weird to be honest.