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Why is Boards so quiet?

Jobs OXO

Hi have been on the site with previous (now closed) accounts for a good number of years. I have never seen it so quiet. Sunday morning and looking at latest posts traffic seems so slow. Is no one posting anymore? AH doesn't seem to be much craic anymore. Anyone notice the same? Any ideas how to improve the situation ?

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Chorus_suck

This post has been deleted.

[Deleted User]

An File wrote: »

I'd love to see the statistics for the various 3rd level college forums. I reckon visibility is down in those locations since laptops became more affordable, then mobiles and tablets. You're less likely to discover the site by chance or nosiness if it's not on every second screen in a computer lab.

And there's a Facebook group for everything now as well, whether it's the Students Union or the various clubs and societies.

Add in Snapchat, Instagram, and (while it was useful) Yik Yak, and WhatsApp groups for clubs and sports teams, and there's an abundance of extra options for discussion.

Same thing with most of the news and sports websites having comment sections, and the crazy laws about external quoting of articles/sharing links to content.

boards still would rank pretty high for various different things, especially when you're looking for stuff on Google. They're kind of lucky with SEO, so that when you look for different terms (especially something relating to Ireland) boards would very likely be showing on the first page, so it wouldn't have much to do with different platforms.

The biggest competitor that this place would have would be reddit.

snowflaker

The Alt Right infestation damaged the brand imho

Insect Overlord

Jobs OXO wrote: »

Hi have been on the site with previous (now closed) accounts for a good number of years. I have never seen it so quiet. Sunday morning and looking at latest posts traffic seems so slow. Is no one posting anymore? AH doesn't seem to be much craic anymore. Anyone notice the same? Any ideas how to improve the situation ?

Was it yourself who posted a thread about this exact same topic exactly one year ago?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=99590627

What's with the agenda?

Jobs OXO

An File wrote: »

Was it yourself who posted a thread about this exact same topic exactly one year ago?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=99590627

What's with the agenda?

Nope that wasn't me.

What's with the paranoia?

Solomon Pleasant

An File wrote: »

I'd love to see the statistics for the various 3rd level college forums. I reckon visibility is down in those locations since laptops became more affordable, then mobiles and tablets. You're less likely to discover the site by chance or nosiness if it's not on every second screen in a computer lab.

And there's a Facebook group for everything now as well, whether it's the Students Union or the various clubs and societies.

Add in Snapchat, Instagram, and (while it was useful) Yik Yak, and WhatsApp groups for clubs and sports teams, and there's an abundance of extra options for discussion.

Same thing with most of the news and sports websites having comment sections, and the crazy laws about external quoting of articles/sharing links to content.

I'm a college student and use boards fairly regularly. In my opinion snapchat, Whatsapp or any other social media outlet that I use doesn't come close to boards in terms of being able to have a reasonably educated discussion. It's rare enough for students to have a full on conversation via their phone about politics or other contemporary topics. Boards is fairly decent for this.

I am quite disappointed at the lack of activity on the forum dedicated to the college I attend but most others seem to be similarly inactive.

Insect Overlord

Solomon Pleasant wrote: »

I'm a college student and use boards fairly regularly. In my opinion snapchat, Whatsapp or any other social media outlet that I use doesn't come close to boards in terms of being able to have a reasonably educated discussion. It's rare enough for students to have a full on conversation via their phone about politics or other contemporary topics. Boards is fairly decent for this.

I am quite disappointed at the lack of activity on the forum dedicated to the college I attend but most others seem to be similarly inactive.

I agree with you.

The problem is that everyone is distracted by the myriad other apps. There's a lot to see and read and react to before you can think about getting into a decent, intelligent debate.

And even when people (students or otherwise) are using Boards, it's on smaller or more personal screens, so there's less chance of other students seeing it and thinking of joining in.

Those are just two factors in a long list of changes over the last decade.

osarusan

I don't think the sits/apps mentioned are really all that similar to boards - they are for different things.

Perhaps the age of having the same arguments over and over again with anonymous strangers is coming to a close.

dfx-

alchemist33 wrote: »

I'm on legacy too and have no intention of changing (until I'm likely forced to). Overall I believe the decline of Boards is much exaggerated.

Similar to me...on the legacy site as well. I have a slate of various fora I'd visit/read/post and they're still pretty busy. You can still keep sane if you avoid the left/right politics warfare that is currently being conducted online.

I would say that having 'disposable' accounts through the close account feature is still a major source of trouble (dating back before any site change I think). The aggression in discussions will always escalate if you can just go nuclear, ditch the account and start anew everytime.

If I was in power, that's the first thing I'd change.

Canis Lupus

I'm legacy too. The day they take it from me is the day I leave :P

Having said that I find it's just as busy for the things that interest me. Nothing much has changed over the years.

I would agree with the above. The entire closing accounts and making new ones is annoying.

Calhoun

Combination of things but i think primarily it comes back to bad management decisions that resulted in posters being chased away.

Boards is like a social studies project gone wrong, for years we have been told that the mods ect give of their time freely and we must respect them ect. The thing is nothing in life is free and what we ended up getting were mod teams i would say its safe to say were politically loaded.

Just like facebook we were the actual product and what we were selling was an opportunity for certain viewpoints to dominate. Anything not compatible has been removed a long time.

Jurgen Klopp

Currently 500 members online with circa 1700 guests

What I'd love to know is how many members log in daily

Yourself isit

snowflaker wrote: »

The Alt Right infestation damaged the brand imho

LOL at "infestation".

Yourself isit

dfx- wrote: »

Similar to me...on the legacy site as well. I have a slate of various fora I'd visit/read/post and they're still pretty busy. You can still keep sane if you avoid the left/right politics warfare that is currently being conducted online.

I would say that having 'disposable' accounts through the close account feature is still a major source of trouble (dating back before any site change I think). The aggression in discussions will always escalate if you can just go nuclear, ditch the account and start anew everytime.

If I was in power, that's the first thing I'd change.

The people who close accounts to over ride a forum ban are auto site banned. You can't rereg if you are site banned.

So the only people closing and re-registering are clean posters. Which makes your point invalid.

The_Valeyard

Yourself isit wrote: »

The people who close accounts to over ride a forum ban are auto site banned. You can't rereg if you are site banned.

So the only people closing and re-registering are clean posters. Which makes your point invalid.

You are not meant to, but people do.

Ludo

I believe it is losing it's place due to over-administration/moderation. I know it sounds cliched but I see a no speculation rule being enforced a lot recently. I don't ever remember that in years past. Part of chatting and talking is speculation. Now that is being clamped down on unnecessarily. If people not allowed speculate then no point discussing things. Yes, of course people will then make **** up and present it as fact...but this is a discussion board. They will be called out on it pretty quickly.

Also a new trend seems to be only one side of a discussion allowed. For example, a discussion about a possible new motorway in Cork has a rule now in thread saying no one is allowed discuss the campaign against it or why it may not be a good idea. Those people have been given their own thread to discuss this. So everyone goes to their own silo to discuss in a bubble. Whats the point in that?

Mod actions like that stifle discussion and go against the very slogan of the site..."Now ye're talkin". Actually I cant see that slogan anywhere anymore...maybe it's gone which explains a lot. (EDIT - oh I see it now in the browser tab title.)

s3rtvdbwfj81ch

The_Valeyard wrote: »

You are not meant to, but people do.

not meant to what?

IT's entirely discretionary (at the moment) for a person to close one account and start another. Their previous record follows them around, and I'd say 90% of the time the Admins will spot and correctly identify the owner of a new account if they've previously been active under a new name.

It's not, nor has it ever been, kosher to start a new account to get around any kind of ban.

Yourself isit

The_Valeyard wrote: »

You are not meant to, but people do.

And they are dealt with.

The_Valeyard

I'm talking about those site banned who use vpn or proxy and are always back in another form. In aware of the script read ability to catch them, but usually they just post on a slightly different style.

The_Valeyard

seems to be a cat and mouse game, but I can promise you it's not unique to this website.

seamus

At the end of the day, websites peak and trough. Boards is a social media site, in one of the earliest incarnations of what that meant, and the internet has moved on, as has the way people use the internet and the way people interact online.

The same sites that would have been considered powerhouses of content generation and discussion in the first decade of this century have all been displaced by new sites and new formats. Digg, SomethingAwful, Slashdot, del.icio.us and hundreds of other incredibly popular sites, including boards, have been supplanted by Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and a pile of other interaction formats. Of course, these sites themselves replaced USENET as the dominant interaction platform.

People are no longer as interested in the flat discussion forum style that boards offers, and younger users are not taking part. And that's fine. It happens. Technology changes, culture changes, and a format moves in to meet the needs of both, supplanting all the rest.

At some stage boards will pare back the offering of forums and trundle along with a small userbase who still want this kind of chat while everyone else has moved onto the next big thing. In 10-15 years' time something else will be the new Facebook, the new reddit, the new Twitter. And that's fine too.

Boards will easily make it to its 20-year anniversary as a very busy site in Irish terms. And that's a big achievement.

[Deleted User]

Yourself isit wrote: »

And they are dealt with.

Not always. A certain group of people often creates rereg accounts - have seen one such person seemingly boasting about having 30+ rereg accounts that they'd use regularly to troll.

Jobs OXO

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Not always. A certain group of people often creates rereg accounts - have seen one such person seemingly boasting about having 30+ rereg accounts that they'd use regularly to troll.

What? 30 accounts ?

[Deleted User]

Jobs OXO wrote: »

What? 30 accounts ?

Sadly yes.

Jobs OXO

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Sadly yes.

Any link ?

Erik Shin

I've had upwards of a dozen myself....not precious about post count it anything, just like trying to think of witty names...the day I can't think of one is the day I leave for good

Harry Palmr

snowflaker wrote: »

The Alt Right infestation damaged the brand imho

They are certainly in danger of killing After Hours.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=103447131&postcount=50

Calhoun

Harry Palmr wrote: »

They are certainly in danger of killing After Hours.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=103447131&postcount=50

Not sure what the quoted link is as only admin can see.

What i find with the so called alt right is its actually a differing opinion from the more liberal status quo and many do not like it. There are always posters who will go to far but allot of the folk i have seen crying foul of the alt-right would as quickly hang you out to dry.

Question is why has it started rising on the likes of boards ect, i think part of it comes back to the reasons people have already mentioned. If you don't engage in conversation and push an established viewpoint a counter culture point of view will grow.

Harry Palmr

I think boards.ie has been targeted (among others no doubt) by the right, I'd be interested to know if the admins are checking IP addy's to see how many are Irish and how many are American. There is certainly an obvious rash of newbies all spouting the same ideology.

Jurgen Klopp

1073 members and 4054 guests currently

Man, highest ever online was actually only 2 years ago, with circa 20,000 online at once