(Site is a graveyard - How can boards save itself?) Any update?

OscarMIlde

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122550025#Comment_122550025

Fair enough, I should report more. I tend to call out posters instead. What I was calling for and have all along is more overt moderation to keep things in line. I know this is not possible at the moment but it should be an aim, even if only a pipe dream. I am making this point as people are claiming that the consensus is calling for less current affairs moderation when I and others have called for more active and more even handed moderation (obviously implementing that is resource dependent).

My other point about left wing/right wing is that many people in this thread and on boards in general are seeing everything through an American identity politics skew where posters are being dismissed as either being for or against issues and treating them as an enemy to be defeated rather than someone with an opposing viewpoint who may or may not have something relevant to post. Most people hold nuanced views and don't subscribe wholesale to a bunch of left wing or right wing talking points.

thomas 123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122551160#Comment_122551160

Good faith?

since I started my reply and posted it you have completely changed your comment via edit.

There is a bit of site feedback - display a public edit history.

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122551214#Comment_122551214

that was but one example of a thread being closed with an editorial from a moderator that was not needed

I still fail to see why you take such umbrage with the note closing the thread, it was on point factual, the thread was full of people no longer interested in discussing the topic but rather, just more general bashing of immigrants.

I still haven't figured out what your actual problem with this note was or how it is perceived as bias. What do you think was happening in that thread, if not generic immigrant bashing themed posting?

thomas 123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122551268#Comment_122551268

that’s fair enough overheal, others get it. And to be frank I don’t care if you don’t understand a simplistic bit of site feedback.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122551201#Comment_122551201

This is the media regulator's site…

https://www.cnam.ie/

https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/83829-unpublished-new-media-regulator-coimisiun-na-mean-formally-established-today/

There was a front page story about it in the Sunday Independent two weeks ago(I think), behind a pay-wall though.

This just gives a broad overview of what's being proposed…

https://www.thejournal.ie/media-regulator-asks-public-for-input-on-new-safety-rules-6243610-Dec2023/

z80CPU

I notice on mobile the thread no.longer comes up. Playing the end theme music.

reclose

How about more visibility for everyone to see what posts received a warning?
That way we could all see who was warned and what for.
It might mean we see that even those with the opposite opinion to us is getting warnings too and realise it’s fair.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122551904#Comment_122551904

The fact that posters cannot see when other posters' posts get warned is a serious frustration with Vanilla and one we've unfortunately raised lots of times as an issue.

Sometimes mods will be able to modify a post to add a bit of bold text saying it was warned, but this is easily missed by users, and also it is very time consuming for mods and not really practical during periods of very high workload.

Honestly, this annoys us as much as it annoys you as it gives posters the impression that other users may be getting away with things that they are not getting away with.

pjohnson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122551919#Comment_122551919

I assume ye can edit posts as required so maybe just stick a yellow or red "WARNING" into the sanctioned post?

Absolute pain doing it manually when its not built in but I dont know the backend ye have to know would inserting a word like that be too cumbersome?

Necro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122551944#Comment_122551944

Yeah you can. We do it in soccer. But that's way less popular than CA is nowadays (and soccer is practically no hassle anymore tbh) so it's like comparing apples and oranges.

nullzero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122552044#Comment_122552044

Soccer used to be very different.

There's some lessons to be learned from the changes that happened in that forum.

I.R.Y.E.D

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122551919#Comment_122551919

You also have posters bitching about the mods that do modify their posts with the warning.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122552220#Comment_122552220

Some posters are just looking for a grievance to make hay with.

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122552220#Comment_122552220

'not concise enough! biased!'

EmmetSpiceland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122552227#Comment_122552227

And to act hurt and shocked when someone calls them up on their, frankly, despicable posts.

Packrat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122552220#Comment_122552220

It's the 'mod snip' bit that annoys people. Unless it's something which would get the site in legal trouble it should be left as is, - to demonstrate what is actionable, with "WARNED" in red caps or something.

I agree with awec that the old cards were better but if they're not a feature of Vanilla, then that's that.

As I mentioned above in a different context, - I've never read or posted in Soccer, but I believe it was very bad back around the time I joined boards or before. There's merit in nullzero's suggestion that whatever cleane that place up should be looked at to see if it could help with CA.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122552263#Comment_122552263

Aye nurturing the chip on the shoulder like a prized possession. It is how they justify to themselves lashing out in baseless attacks on other posters and mods.

Timesinks for mods. Wrecking the heads of sincere posters and driving them away.

Need to be failing them faster, getting them out the door not giving them chance after chance.

nachouser

So, to sum up - most people don't really have anyone they know who would use the words "right wing" to describe themselves in everyday life. People who post on here presumably have jobs, lives, cars, a mortgage, kids, a partner. They live in Ireland, they send their kids to schools. Anyone claiming to be "right wing" on boards is nuts to me. It's just an internet thing that doesn't have anything to do with reality.

reclose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122551919#Comment_122551919

I guess it’s plan b then.
Be civil. Be tolerant of other opinions. Enter a discussion being open to having your opinion changed.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122552283#Comment_122552283

You're right wing if you think this chap is a complete and utter muppet.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4A2u3OOtPf/?igsh=b2FvdmpmN3M3amUx

Necro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122552054#Comment_122552054

Ok but you realize that was cleaned up by incredibly strict moderation and a charter that's absolutely monstrous with everything scrutinized to the nth degree so there are zero grey areas?

I'm not saying I'm against the idea, but to me it's what some have been stringently arguing against the entire thread. Some posters have said CA moderation is too strict imagine if they overnight went zero tolerance!

nullzero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122552711#Comment_122552711

The soccer forum enforced its rules evenly across the board. Rival fans stopped pestering each other, stupid phrases and insults were ruled out.

Think back ten years or so, if there was a United v Liverpool game there would be a match thread, all hell broke lose days before kick off, the entire thing was a mess, people calling each other names, slagging off opposing players, managers, pundits, it was a sh1t show and it was destroying the forum.

It's not too difficult to draw comparisons between what the soccer forum was back then to what the CA forum currently is.

There's one phenomenon in CA and related fora where someone will pop into a thread with the expressed purpose of just being a jerk, often to take a pop at a poster they have a history with, supposedly witty one liners, dismissive trolling nonsense that if responded to will likely result in a thread being derailed. That type of thing should be knocked on the head for sure.

I don't have any issue with strict moderation once it's applied evenly across the board, CA doesn't have that currently, some people are getting away with murder, they're the ones who are most vocal here about increasing the level of bias, silencing opinions they disagree with.

If there was zero tolerance and everyone was held to account for their behaviour regardless of what camp they fall into nobody would have grounds for complaint. Oddly enough , the people who benefit from the status quo are vehemently against such a change, I wonder why?

Overheal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122552734#Comment_122552734

oh cheer up like people didn’t just get away with murder on the thread just closed, posts of personal abuse still up and everything. Your kind of people too

nullzero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122552311#Comment_122552311

Seems reasonable. If someone is being unreasonable just pop them on the ignore list.

With regard to some people, ignorance truly is bliss.

Necro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122552734#Comment_122552734

Oh it's definitely easy to draw comparisons. Some threads are like Liverpool vs United match day threads back in the day…only the match has been going on now for about 8 years and half the players are dead from exhaustion but still the battle between the supporters rages on🤣

Goldengirl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122551263#Comment_122551263

No I just continued writing . I often do ,( that is why there is an edit button and usually one can see if it done after a reply because of the time factor .) What you quoted there is exactly the same as it was , just another paragraph which was even more general.

You really jumped on it straight away , didn't you , when I wasn't even talking about you or your posts,on that or the other thread , just in general and how " bashing " is the reason it was shut .

Meant to be 'discussing' , not 'bashing ' on the site . That was the point .

I wasn't getting at you personally , unlike your reply to me .

I will however remove the quotation marks or edit that post if I can if it upsets you because that was not my intention , and maybe you might edit out some of the personal stuff in your post about me ?

Goodnight .

osarusan

This thread has become the kind of thread that plagues CA - a back and forth of bad faith posting, strawmen, and petty insults, crying out for moderation to shut that nonsense down and get it back on track, but the moderation never arrives.

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122552955#Comment_122552955

Precisely. This thread has been a classic example of how a very small number of posters can dominate the site. It gives a bad impression of the site and is not typical of elsewhere on Boards. To give too much credence to them would drive many more members away.

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122549128#Comment_122549128

@Spear @Boards.ie: Mike @Boards.ie: Odhran @Beasty

Well, I started this thread a month ago and can say that, on the one hand, I haven't gotten what I wanted from starting it which was some focused, proactive responses from Boards itself.

On The other hand, it has been a very revealing discussion. Safe to say the accusations of wanting echo chambers are equally felt as being justified by people on every side of the debate.

1 - Can we get a considered response from a suitable Boards representative as to the state of the site.

2 - Can we get a considered response from Boards as to the what they feel are the views expressed in this and the last feedback thread.

3 - I have argued here, and elsewhere that there are debates happening in society, which should be able to happen here, that doesn't mean no rules, or anything goes, but that it can happen and people can be held to account for their views. Maybe that can't happen everywhere on here, but maybe there can be a corner where it can.

4 - I said here a couple days ago that one thing the thread has done has given me an insight in to the pestering that is happening mods behind the scenes. There has to be a solution to mitigate against this whether that be DRP, limited PM's per month to mods or I don't know what.

5 - There is enough interest and quality around here still to have a decent discussion site, hopefully Boards plans will find a way to be able to prioritize positives rather than just focus on the negatives of moderation etc.

6 - More than myself have suggested a subscription service again, if site users can see a positive road map, I think there are possibilities for community funding to help support the site.

If Boards can't engage in a practical manner in terms of communication, threads like this are going to continue to appear and serve as a venting space because there is no other option.

plodder

Couple of random comments

Several years ago I was involved in a debate that "ranged" across multiple threads, when there should have been just a single thread on the topic. People on one side of the debate weaponised the rules by reporting posts that they said should be discussed on one of the other threads but were off-topic on this one. Of course, they gave a free pass to supposedly off-topic posts on their own side. It's just a tactic to exploit rules that are always going to be patchily enforced, to get other views shutdown. Fewer rules the better imo, if mods want an easier life.

While the "Don't be a dick principle" is vague and subject to ideological capture, like what I think happened to the thread I started here a couple of days ago, I know of one poster who was driven off another site, by some really vile, personal abuse, that I know would never be tolerated here. So, it does have some value.

I also don't get the obsession with shutting threads down because they are going round in circles. Some debates will never be resolved. Some people think they are arguing in good faith, but they aren't and never will. If a thread annoys you, then why not just ignore it?