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

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121999969#Comment_121999969

So you could have threads on the same topic, say Russia-Ukraine war Or say Hate Crime Bill.

On Politics, CA, and AH.

And the same posters potentially posting on all three? With the same standard of posting in CA and AH.

I can't see it working. It will be very obvious from the outset of most threads that it will end up heated.

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.

That's exactly what was happening and why CA was created. This will just restart and repeat the cycle.

EmmetSpiceland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121999969#Comment_121999969

It would be great if a ban from CA could extend to AH or, even, “Social & Fun” in its entirety.

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121999985#Comment_121999985

With the same standard of posting in CA and AH

No. That is the point.

And it might seem so much like things becoming heated, that people just stay away. I'd imagine it would become an echo chamber of sorts for some discussions. But that might be a price you have to pay if it means allowing more of the platform to function as it is intended. Its a room with no windows and you have to ask to enter.

Tell me how

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

Politics is Pat Kenny

CA is Niall Boylan

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122000052#Comment_122000052

People can stay away from Current Affairs as things stand today.

If you pitch this new CA forum to have a lower\looser standard of posting than CA does now, it will presumably still need a lot of moderation for personal abuse, trolling, threadbans etc. And CA is one of the most actively moderated forums I imagine given volume of posts.

I don't think the platform intended to function as an echo chamber either nor as an unmoderated free for all for such discussions.

And then seemingly you have AH discussion of current affairs moderated to the same standard CA is now. Or else the topics not discussed at all. So even more heavily moderated actually.

Doesn't add up for me at all, but you have made your case so it is for the powers that be to assess.

EmmetSpiceland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122000098#Comment_122000098

A much “lighter touch” form of moderation in CA would be great. Let posters know that reported posts, short of abuse, won’t be actioned.

This would keep the CA “types” away from the, more, normal parts of the site and you could have, somewhat, serious discussions in AH while, also, having a laugh.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122000124#Comment_122000124

I don't see the benefits. Based on what you have outlined, you would just have the CA discussions that are happening now in CA in AH. And possibly some free for alls in CA with lighter touch moderation - maybe that would appeal to some.

But nothing to stop the CA "types" from "moonlighting" on the corresponding AH threads, posting to the same standard they are currently posting to in CA right now. So why wouldn't they?

pjohnson

CA was created to keep some of the more troll like dregs away from AH iirc.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122000165#Comment_122000165

It seems like shuffling the problem posters around rather than tackling root cause.

Bobson Dugnutt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122000165#Comment_122000165

It was and it was effective for the most part. I loved getting stuck in to a good old tit-for-tat in CA the odd time; that shinnerbot lad with 80 accounts was always good for sport.

awec

@Gusser09 this isn't a place to moan about specific mod actions against you. Take it to DRP.

Post deleted.

Dial Hard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121999969#Comment_121999969

It's however many years later and they still can't even stop PI/RI threads appearing on the front page. So I can 100% guarantee that all of the above is utterly beyond Vanilla.

Goldengirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121999969#Comment_121999969

Then how is it decided who takes part in the discussion?

Another can of worms!

While I agree with you that the discussion needs to be allowed to flow, the problem with that is how far , as some will take that as am excuse to troll and be uncivil and it will still end up being moderated then in the end ?

I also agree with what you said about moving CA so it's less visible but not with making it a private group .

It'll end up as a group of the same posters with similar views and most likely just an echo chamber so that there won't be any inconvenient disagreements.

I think the contentious CA threads need more moderators than a lot of the hobby sites and the charter needs to be updated to limit repetitive arguments , spamming and low level trolling

Also @Big Bag of Chips are banned posters rereg-ing more common now since Vanilla or is it the same as it always was or more difficult to spot ?

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122000124#Comment_122000124

A sensible suggestion there now.

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122001030#Comment_122001030

"I think the contentious CA threads need more moderators than a lot of the hobby sites and the charter needs to be updated to limit repetitive arguments , spamming and low level trolling"

Be careful what you wish for!!! It'd certainly reduce the post count from a good few.

Goldengirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122001221#Comment_122001221

I am fully aware and think that may be a positive in some threads .

If it makes for a more constructive and pleasant experience for all or certainly for those who just want to discuss freely without constant bickering or without being got at personally I am completely on board ,no pun intended .

Would be some of the other fora that need more post traffic .

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122001030#Comment_122001030

Then how is it decided who takes part in the discussion?

Another can of worms!

Same as it is decided on the soccer forum. Those who want to be in that environment request access to it and then take part as they wish. Those that don't, don't.

Goldengirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122001569#Comment_122001569

Have never wanted to be in the soccer forum so would not have known that!

So do people get refused access and on what basis , is my point or why is that access pemission necessary ? Or is it to just block browsing or reading/ lurking / repeat offenders ?

I can see how it would reduce footfall alright to those discussions or control them .

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122001826#Comment_122001826

soccer used to be open for all many many moons ago.
But soccer is a contentious topic at times and trolling etc was unmanageable so it became restricted access.
if it was opened up to everyone again t would be Armageddon for the mods.

I’m not a soccer mod but that is my understanding of the reasons.

Calahonda52

More of the binary type stuff that is a problem here and else where

German university rescinds US scholar’s job offer over pro-Palestinian letter

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/apr/10/nancy-fraser-cologne-university-germany-job-offer-palestine

the following is striking

"Cologne University said in a statement its decision to cancel the invitation had been made “with great regret”. It said the reason was that in the letter signed by Fraser, “Israel’s right to exist as an ‘ethno-supremacist state’ since its foundation in 1948 is called into question. The terror attacks by Hamas on Israel of 7 October 2023 is [sic] elevated to an act of legitimate resistance.”

ethno-supremacist state… wtf

A lot of BS could be removed if troublesome stuff was just deleted: what will they do?

go to ECHR ….

Tom Mann Centuria

Soccer opened up for big tournaments before and was tolerable, and since the considerable drop off in numbers I honestly don't see the harm in at least trying.

ShamoBuc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122002258#Comment_122002258

Soccer had many trolls and reregs. Between being banned and the Vanilla move, Soccer is a lot better I think at the moment. The quantity of posts is down overall but the quality has improved.

Opening Soccer up could lead it back to the bad old days and really would be an absolute headache for Mods - far less Soccer Mods now than before also and getting New Soccer Mods is a lot harder than you think.

If we opened it up and it didn't work, I'm not sure how easy it would be to revert to a Group, would each poster need to be Re Admitted by a Mod like they currently are ( That would not happen) or can Vanilla do it with a flick of a switch, for all 6894 posters who currently have access? I wouldn't trust Vanilla to get it right if I'm honest - but maybe it is something Admins can do easily?

As it currently stands, if you want access to the Soccer Forum, a 1 line post in the Soccer Access Thread is all that is needed. Once you have 50 posts, or are a long term poster with less, you will be given access 99% of the time - if you have a Rake of Warnings, you might be asked to try again in a couple of months if free from any further warnings.

If a poster won't even post 1 line for access. I very much doubt they would add very many posts to the Forum anyway or have any interest at all.

con747

How about putting restrictions on certain posters who have a constant need to open new threads about complete sh1te? There is a few come to mind who are like a plague with the amount of new threads about nonsense and it is just mad to leave them at it. I think most here know who I mean.

Xander10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122002258#Comment_122002258

But a weird one recently was the Stephen Kenny thread in AH, that was allowed run. It ended up a thread with a few individuals constantly posting personal insults about SK, with a lite touch modding.

Never understood how it was deemed OK outside the soccer forum.

Hodors Appletart

I had a look into the Soccer Forum last week for the first time in years, I think I even posted in the LOI thread.

It's a shadow of it's former self, and I'd have been posting in it since the early 00s if not before. I was there the day it was closed and eventually re-opened under the access rules.

It's such a pity to see it's just megathreads, and not much else. Is there just not the user numbers to have discussions separated out into more niche, narrow topic threads? Do the users not make threads discussing things that are not megathread material, or are threads started and then shunted into the megathreads? Not being a regular there I just don't know. I'd never click into a megathread of a club I don't support, or a league I don't support a team in.

Christ, just looking again, only 9 threads have had posts today. Wow, I'm honestly shocked by that.

*****

Maybe related, maybe not - I think the main issue with the site, from my own personal perspective is that low level trollery is just not actioned as quickly as it should be. I'm also an ex-mod (not on this account) and I remember you'd almost need a book of evidence before taking any sort of "severe" action against someone, over and above a yellow or red card, certainly a forum ban or whatever.

A while ago, I had cause to report someone who had taken it upon themselves to start trolling me and follow me into a forum where I do regularly post, and start threads and make posts that were clearly and obviously designed to disrupt - it took weeks of back and forth with mods, Cmods and eventually Mike, to get anything done about it. There was historically in the distant past, more recently with the incident I'm talking about, and it seems even now, a sort of reluctance to do anything about these disruptors, for fear of offending an innocent or something. It's weird.

*****

Positives - honestly, I come here daily for the niche forums I have an interest in, where there is still a small community of like-minded people, and it's still the only place on the internet where you can get wholly Irish answers to what are often hobbies or interests that get overtaken by americans or brits on other forums, or sites like Reddit. I'm big into coffee, and love the coffee forum here. Irish Cricket, Darts, Beer Wine and Spirits, Food and the Politics forum are other ones I visit when the mind takes me. They are generally well modded, and have people just happy to have others to chat to about those things, in an Irish context.

But there is no real camaraderie like there was in the old days, and it's a pity. I'm in a WhatsApp group of ex-Boards members, most of us have been mods at some point afaik, and none of us are regulars here any more. We "met" on this website through a common interest, had good craic on the forum "chat" thread and became friends in real life.

That aspect of boards is gone, and I think it was by design at one stage.

Anyway, boards is still a good place to get niche Irish answers to what are either very local issues, or interests, or specific Irish input to what can be global imterests, it just might take a day or two where in the past it was an hour or two.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122002690#Comment_122002690

not joking can you send me a link to that thread if possible? I’ll take a look.

Tom Mann Centuria

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122002556#Comment_122002556

Due respect and all that, but people aren't going to apply to join a soccer forum when they probably have no idea one even exists on Boards, they are never going to see anything that's discussed on the front page.

They'll never think ooh, actually I think Chelsea WILL win the League next season, and Pochettino IS a great manager etc. I'd like to add my insightful response so I'll apply to join the soccer forum.

As I said previously, it opened up for Euro/World Cup before and wasn't bad, and that was when we had loads (and loads) more posters, including a few low-level trolls and I don't remember anyone thinking it was a disaster. If the argument is there aren't enough mods, they should make more of/some kind of effort to get more.

If they want to trial it, mothball Groups, I'm sure they could leave it untouched and revert back to it if Soccer in the big wide world of Boards turns in to a shítshow.

Just a suggestion anyway, I doubt it would be done, as I doubt anything meaningful will be done.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122002906#Comment_122002906

This is it. Was closed by yourself in the end actually

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058248941/cult-of-stephen-kenny

ShamoBuc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122002907#Comment_122002907

I see your point, but, it is hardly fill out an application form is it, a one liner shouldn't put anyone out.

Every Sport - including Soccer - is listed under Sports on the homepage, so not exactly hard to find and it contains the Access thread.

There has been a lot of work trying to get new Mods down the years, believe me. There are only around 4 active Soccer Mods and you would be surprised how few posters actually want to step up.

Mothballing Groups - it would be interesting to see if that could be done - with the issues we still see with Vanilla, I'm not sure could that be a runner. If it is a possibility, I'm sure Admins will look into it.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122002920#Comment_122002920

Ohh yeah I remember that one now the major problem if I recall correctly was posters who were banned from soccer were using the thread to discuss soccer generally and act the maggot.

Suppose it’s an example of why it might not be a great idea to open up soccer to all.