Site is a graveyard - How can boards save itself? [Threadbanned users in 1st post]

Ten of Swords

Post of the Day

Thread of the Day

Love.php

League of B*stards

None of these survived the migration :(

HildaOgdenx

I used to love the Most Thanked post feature, it often brought me into areas that I wouldn't usually read.

Always interesting or funny.

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121997793#Comment_121997793

I've mentioned this several times on feedback threads.

I used to read those posts on my lunch break and like you said it often ended up in me reading much more of the threads they were on that I may have missed for some reason.

I remember when I saw one of my posts be Most Thanked post for the first time and I legit got a buzz out of it.

I don't like that now, for popular posts, you can't see who has thanked them.

Necro

There's a whole Best Of option in the menu at the moment that has the sum total of nothing contained within. Why is it not populated with the sort of things that people are talking about here, Thread of the Day, Most Thanked, Post of the Day... Seems like a waste of a resource.

PmMeUrDogs

Positives as requested -

1. Post and thread of the day. Loved those.

2. Love.php was always good craic.

3. AH before CA. Now any "current affairs" go to CA, which I understand. But it's dry, serious and quite frankly a handful of posters arguing in circles. My suggestion would be allow current affairs in AH as well as in CA, or get rid of CA. It was always a mix of seriousness and light heartedness when discussing current affairs in AH, and that mix always felt good to me.

4. In general, boards is fantastic as a resource. Why I'm still here, albeit on an "alt" account because I nuked my previous accounts.

nachouser

I'd agree that the site can be a good resource but, let's be honest, "Thread of the Day, Most Thanked, Post of the Day..."

They would all be CA anti-trans, anti-immigrant, 33k civs being killed is perfectly fine, etc. The sh*t posters would win out. You can add the anti-bus lane lads to the list:-)

nachouser

I'd also wonder, why is there an actual allowed Gangland thread? With actual new accounts posting about stuff they've just done?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058103388/gangland-shootings-part-4-read-op-before-posting-updated-30-12-23

Anyone?

Quantum Erasure

SHhhh, you'll spoil the fun for everyone.

If you don't like it you don't have to click into it

Esel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121998782#Comment_121998782

With actual new accounts posting about stuff they've just done?

Can you give examples of the above? I read the thread, but can't recollect any offhand.

SafeSurfer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121991402#Comment_121991402

There seems to be a lack of consistency about what “being civil” means. For example the Russia thread is full of obnoxious racism which is never called out as long as it is aimed in the right direction.
I was banned from the Israel/Gaza thread for suggesting that a future Hamas leader, like the PLO before them, could be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. For this I was labeled, by a mod, “a Hamas apologist”! Merely for pointing out historic precedent.

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121999216#Comment_121999216

This weekend a poster quoted me to say I was talking nonsense, in fact I was talking complete bollocks, and that repeating it was on me than anything else.

Civil?

Apparently so, the mods appear to have no problem with the post. Its inherently a comment on a poster rather than the post, but all good seemingly.

For myself I have no more interest in hearing about being "uncivil".

Goldengirl

Haven't been feeling very positive here lately but mostly enjoy this site and have learned a lot from it since I started here .

Love the DIY, Gardening and "things you remember threads ..helpful , amusing and easy going posters .

Public transport is good too. Some very knowledgeable posters so I rarely contribute just read . Same with Construction etc very specialised but really good info .

Current Affairs can be stimulating when it's going well but it does descend into a lot of fights and circular arguments on all sides. These threads definitely need more mods but the mods that are there are busy but fair and if you get a warning that you think isn't warranted they will look at it again and review it .. might still be upheld but it's a decent system .

Agree that Post of the Day might be overtaken by some not so pleasant subjects these days , sign of the times maybe .

My favourite thing about boards when I started was the advice and genuine help from boardsies in a lot of the practical forums . And the very witty people posting here who make me laugh every day .

Gremlinertia et al on the Nocturnal thread kept me going when I was on breaks on night duty . Brilliant.

I love the Music threads .

They are still all plus points today and there are a lot more positives than negatives to being here. Despite Vanilla . T

Necro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121998604#Comment_121998604

Fairly easy solution to that. Exclude CA from the post of the day/thread etc and have it more focused on the smaller forums. Pretty sure similar used to be done with personal issues as well (for obvious reasons). There's a wide range of forums out there other than CA on Boards, if people could actually find them.

Weather can be great when there's a storm coming. Motors has some nice threads on people's awful parking. A few people mentioned DIY having good threads too, these should be highlighted and not hidden away under the mess of a UI that there currently is to try and find them.

We all know where CA is so I wouldn't have any interest clicking into a "thread of the day" from there tbh.

Shoog

The forums should be a place to discuss politics and current affairs. What's needed is civility when having those discussions.

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121998498#Comment_121998498

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121998604#Comment_121998604

I proposed as part of a larger post that CA could maybe become a members only for the more severe types of conversations.

The forum could be hidden unless you requested access (a la the soccer forum), posts within could be excluded from daily 'most thanked' etc and moderation would be more hands off unless more severe lines were crossed such as direct abuse or anything that might present legal issues for the site.

There's conversations that are unpleasant, and lead to harsh viewpoints but society needs to be able to discuss them in my view. Put them in a dark corner and then maybe the arguing in circles is left to those who want to be a part of it.

This might allow AH to be the AH that it was for a number of years but hasn't been for quite a while.

PmMeUrDogs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121999504#Comment_121999504

Genuinely think that's a great idea.

There's definitely a place and a need for serious discussion, and I've often read CA threads in their entirety because some make for really good reading and knowledge. But AH seems to have been in decline since the separation a few years back or whenever it was.

I agree with the need for a "serious" space like CA, but plenty of people want to discuss current affairs in a way that isn't quite so severe in manner.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121999709#Comment_121999709

It will just evolve as it did before.

There is already the politics forum yet most of the chat happens in CA. CA isnt even the 'serious' space.

Hide CA away and AH will just end up as CA. You will have the same posters and topics that are on CA today but on AH.

Thats why CA was split off from AH.

Look at the top threads in CA. How could they be discussed in a less 'serious' / severe manner? You either couldnt discuss it or they would just end up becoming exactly as they are now. Because inevitably serious / severe points would be made.

SafeSurfer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121993722#Comment_121993722

What I like about Boards is that no matter what the subject. No matter how black and white one believes an issue to be there will always be someone with a different, often well considered opinion.

I think this is the value of the site for me. It should be allowed to be opposite of an echo chamber. Heavy handed modding makes this much more difficult.

Big Bag of Chips

Just a note regarding viewing "Thanks".

On the mobile site if you tap the 3 dots at the top of a post and select "Log" you should be able to see all the thanks.

On desktop it's a little more restricted. You can hover over the "Thanks" button and it shows you I think 6-8 of the thanks.

Can a poster other than a mod test this for me? I know it's visible to us.

con747

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121999800#Comment_121999800

On desktop if you go to the profile of the user you want to check who thanked their post go to "reactions" and you can see more if not all those who thanked the post AFAIK.

Edit

I think it's restricted to 10 thanks.

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121999800#Comment_121999800

There is no 'log' option on mobile on chrome, just a 'flag' option

archfi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121999800#Comment_121999800

On iOS mobile, the three dots on a post when tapped gives only the option to flag a post.

Big Bag of Chips

Thanks both. @sydthebeat are you on Android or iPhone?

sydthebeat

Android.

Hannibal_Smith

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121999781#Comment_121999781

This is it for me too. I think it was the Irish Independent who had the tag line 'Before you make up your kind open it' and this is what boards does for me anyhow. Sometimes I read a news story and I think you have all the angles to allow me make a decision and then I come on boards and you'll have people explain their experiences, or knowledge that fill in the in between the lines bit. It makes it very interesting.

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121999478#Comment_121999478

AH/CA were excluded from POTD back in the day. But it was usually some meme in CVPL that won it.

Tork

I don't understand why there are separate Politics and Current Affairs forums. Sometimes there are threads on the same thing running in both.

Calahonda52

The key to this question is what SEO data is being used to attract advertisers and other revenue sources.

IMO, the platform is far too indulgent of open brackets ( racists….)

The other problem with modern discourse today is that if I take issue with whats happening in Gaza you are flagged as anti Jew

eg inside paywall but enough visible

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/educate-together-row-after-antisemitism-allegations-in-wake-of-ceos-protest-post-and-call-for-boycott-of-israel/a489962002.html

We had the same with the gay marriage/recent referendums etc

Its all reduced to a binary argument: for or against.

BB over on AM just deletes sh$t he does not want on his site, end of.

A lot to be said for it

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121999891#Comment_121999891

Politics is the “high brow” forum, they won’t tolerate CA-style posts.

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121999747#Comment_121999747

I don't think CA is the serious place, it is the 'heated' place. But the heated discussions are the ones that I think need some sort of space, but try to limit their negative impact while allowing them to serve their need better than what is currently happening. The politics forum is indeed the place for serious discussions and works well in this way I feel.

CA being hidden from all except those who requested access may influence this.

And if contentious threads were polluting AH, move them to CA and inform the OP or users that they need to request access to the forum if they want to take part.