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

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008209#Comment_122008209

This sounds like you feel these practices don't exist in other mediums or indeed in real world conversations/debates/interactions. And in the real world, when someone smiles dismissively or references another topic we don't pick up our toys and go home. Or go calling for someone to come in and discipline the offender. Which is what happens here all too often.

And as I said, the picture perfect versions of threads can still exist outside the access only area. It's just having this area allows those comfortable in that environment to find it on the platform.

So they feel they can argue as they feel the need justifies, mods don't feel the need to get involved as frequently. And users no longer have to deal with petty infractions influencing threads as has been happening.

And have your soapboxing, if people can react without fear of infraction, it may be the case that less people are inclined to act like that. This type of area could be self-policing in a way a lot of the site is not.

And aside from this area being access request only, have it so users have to be a member of the site for 3 months and have say 100 or 200 posts on CA topics for example before being granted access. Something like that could minimize those signing up to just act inappropriately.

Cormacca87

If I could offer my opinion (I was once here under a different username) - This whole site is like the bridge of the Enterprise.

It started off with everyone arguing, from the time of the changes being made to the site. The ship was sailing into the sun and no-one could agree on how to save it.

Now, it's even closer still. Starting to break up & no-one is really in control.

What a great place it was, however its days sadly look numbered.

Xander10

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122007967#Comment_122007967

I expected something less flippant

Maybe a basic standard of common sense in modding across all forums is too much to ask for.

Shoog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008183#Comment_122008183

Its generally my experience that action is only taken when a person verbally attacks another boards member with the intent to make them less likely to want to contribute to that thread because of that hostility.

Calahonda52

re

RaichuApr 11, 2024

that’s mad it’s almost as if different forums have different rules and standards of posting? 

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122007649#Comment_122007649

Raichu, it not almost, it is: I have been on here nearly since day 1, am on 5th username, have seen it all and some

Mods are human

I keep asking the question, what are the rules that say you can't delete threads, rather than indulging the crackheads, with bans etc

Tom Mann Centuria

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122007115#Comment_122007115

Maybe this year will be different.

Stand by for change aplenty, the rejuvenation of Boards and the reintroduction of :pac:

Necro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008499#Comment_122008499

Like I said previously, if the admins were to sign off on making soccer public, I'm quite happy to mod it. Won't get any argument from me.

Big Bag of Chips

I miss :pac:

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008597#Comment_122008597

Better than Biggie imo.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008597#Comment_122008597

same can we have it back? I think that will fix everything tbh

redunited

The site has to comply with the law, with the new Hate Speech Laws literally around the corner everything we say has to be moderated.

It's not boards.ie that is a graveyard but the ability to openly and freely discuss online that is dying, the site either applies a hard stance on freedom of expression or it closes up shop.

The mods and Admins are not Barristers, they are not going to test the government to see how far they can push freedom of speech/expression, so they will make a judgment call and be cautious in everything they do. This in the eyes of the poster comes across as harsh moderation but what else can they do? Make a stand and get the site closed down?

If anyone is to blame, then it's the state of our government that wants to shut us all up.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008220#Comment_122008220

Oh, and do they call a moderator in for the stuff that you still want infracted?

Nope. They just get up and walk away or stop debating that topic.

So your "real life" and "other mediums" comparison falls at the first fence.

This is not a charter to encourage debate, it is a charter for trolling, baiting and soap boxing. Killing threads by dragging them off topic. Flooding threads with **** as Steve Bannon would call it. Impossible for any sort of real debate to occur. It would be a toxic cesspit.

So instead of "petty infractions" influencing threads, threads would be influenced by soap boxing, propaganda dumps, conspiracy theories baiting, niggling, threads being dragged way off topic and posters talking past each other as half them will have the other half on ignore.

Self policing isn't going to stop any of that.

And then what sort of debate can occur under those conditions?

It would be a far worse situation than now. It'd be like getting rid of all rules in soccer except yellow and red card offences. You wouldnt get free flowing game of football. Just dragging, holding, tripping shutting down a game from occurring.

You'd have to have mods moderating that forum, for offensive content which breaks the rules, and for when posters respond to the inevitable baiting.

And seemingly moderating the "picture perfect" version of the threads. So you're significantly increasing the workload for CA type mods.

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008763#Comment_122008763

I disagree. Strongly.

When you're ready, let us know your suggestions to improve the traffic, retention and experience of users on the site.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008803#Comment_122008803

I don't have to have made suggestions in order to point out what I see as flaws in what is suggested.

But as it happens, I've already made several over the course of the thread.

As well as listing the positives about the site that bring me here.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008301#Comment_122008301

I understand where you are coming from, but different forums do have different standards. There is a site wide bare minimum expected in terms of posting standards but each individual forum will have their own specifics on top of that. That's just natural in a site that has a very diverse set of forums.

For example, you cannot expect to hold the same standard of post in Current Affairs vs Politics, the two forums are too different.

The Soccer forum has strict rules about abusing players because the childish name calling was a big problem there. It wasn't that we woke up one day and decided we better introduce a new rule on that in Soccer out of the blue, it was Soccer posters who got fed up with the nonsense.

Individual forums will naturally adopt their own rules over time based on what gets reported a lot by the posters who post there etc.

If you are expecting total consistency across the entire site you're going to be disappointed, it's just not possible. What we do expect is consistency in applying the charter in each individual forum.

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008809#Comment_122008809

You didn't point out flaws, you just gave your unproven opinion. Which is fine, it's a discussion innit.

Link to those suggestions please. I want to consider what we can do, not what we can't do. (Or supposedly so)

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009031#Comment_122009031

I pointed out what I see as flaws. So yes I pointed out flaws. It is my opinion they are serious flaws at that. I don't have to justify it any more than that for the purposes of this discussion.

They were already discussed earlier on the thread, I'm not going to drag the thread around in a circle if you didn't see them earlier. There were many posts to the effect that opposite to your suggestion on CA, what is needed is a clamp down on low level trolling and negative, petty posters that don't bring anything to the discussion. Not to create a space for them to troll, bait, soapbox and dump away at will.

There's a bit of a divide in opinion on this thread with feedback about "heavy handed" modding and also feedback that not enough is being done about low level trolling type conduct.

Hodors Appletart

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008874#Comment_122008874

it's not about individual forums having different rules, it was rightly pointed out that in the same forum where mods post derogratory comments about GO'D, in the same forum you aren't allowed use terms like Sleepy Joe Biden.

Now, who gets to decide which figures get the protection from name calling or pet names, and why do they come to those conclusions, and more importantly, how do I know when I post in the forum whether or not I'm going to run afoul of a moderator deciding on spec that my post is suddenly considered impertinent, while another person abusing a different famous person won't?

There's no list, there is no charter point about this, and as we can see, once an opinion gains traction on here it's a done deal who is and isn't allowed to be abused on certain forums.

For the record, I do believe GO'D is a hateful lunatic, but I also think Joe Biden and Donald Trump are too old and doddery to be POTUS. Which of these three people am I allowed to express that opinion on, with colourful language?

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009092#Comment_122009092

In my recollection, that wasn't the situation on the forum at all as has been posted earlier on the thread.

Specifically on the Biden Presidency thread, there was such a warning. Because on that thread, it was being used by drive by posters to drag the thread off topic.

There was another thread setup on CA for Biden's gaffes, and commentary about age and 'doddery' etc was given free reign, lots of colourful language. But strangely, that thread went quiet very quickly when posters couldn't use it to troll and derail the Biden presidency thread. Posters didn't want to seriously discuss it, just use it to bait those who wanted to discuss the Presidency properly.

Shoog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009092#Comment_122009092

You expressed that opinion very clearly without resorting to name calling sleepy jo, simples.

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009072#Comment_122009072

what is needed is a clamp down on low level trolling and negative, petty posters that don't bring anything to the discussion

Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results

That's a quote often attributed to Albert Einstein. Whether he said it or not, it doesn't really matter. What we do know is that what you are saying has been tried continuously and yet we are where we are.

What I have proposed is creating a corner in which this 'low level trolling and negative, petty posters' (your words) can be pointed to so that their presence doesn't affect the site the way it has done.

You may or may not see me as a one of the negative posters you referenced above, it doesn't matter, what I can tell you is that if the site persists in the manner and style of moderation that it has implemented over the last few years, I don't see it as a place I will be motivated to be a part of.

Hodors Appletart

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009110#Comment_122009110

yeah but I did call GO'D a hateful lunatic, do you really not understand my point?

Shoog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009123#Comment_122009123

I think that in this case it's a very descriptive term for her. Very few people (apart from her fans who are similarly hateful loons) would disagree with that description. Shes an extreme divisive figure with no redeeming features at this stage.

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009123#Comment_122009123

Gemmaroid IS a hateful lunatic.

Hodors Appletart

which you have decided, and mods have decided.

But how am I, as a normal joe soap user, supposed to determine which public figures area allowed to be abused with colourful language, and which ones, should I so choose to abuse in a similar fashion, attract the ire of the mods?

Is there something I'm not saying clearly here? Do you still not understand me?

Hodors Appletart

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009144#Comment_122009144

yeah, and Joe Biden IS a doddery old man.

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122007330#Comment_122007330

I think the person in question is rather odd but so are many people - it's a diverse world.

What I'm surprised to see is moderators on this site engaging in what in my view anyway, is hate speech.

I might expect to see a bit of that from regular posters. But honestly I'm very struck to see those who are supposed to be moderating these forums using language like I noted. And it's not just you.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009122#Comment_122009122

What you have outlined is another space where they can be as negative, petty and low level troll as they wish.

It may even bring more of such negative posters to the site, if they know there is such a space. And then spread elsewhere.

Then there's nothing to stop the 'negative' posters from still doing what they are doing at the moment on CA, niggling and driving away positive posters and making it a hostile space for new joiners.

But I don't see how it is a solution at all really to getting and retaining positive posters on the site.

Has it actually been tried to seriously clamp down on such low level trolling? Because from the earlier comments on the thread that wasn't what I got from the comments at all, especially those of Big Bag of Chips. So that is a dubious statement re: doing the same thing over and over again.

Shoog

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009154#Comment_122009154

I see you didn't call him sleepy Joe with all the right wing hate baggage that drags behind it.

Hodors Appletart

it's not that mods are using such language, have at it as far as I'm concerned, but when mods use language like that about one person, and then disallow it about another - and there's nothing anywhere to say what people are allowed to be spoken about in such terms, and which people are not, that is an issue.

Either such terminology is allowed about all people, or none.