The slow death of forums *see OP for Admin warning and update 28/02/18*

I just wanted to say the Feedback forum change was a travesty... Could have easily been solved by a min 50 posts/3 month old account rule.

But having said that the internet has changed. I don't think Boards is going anywhere anytime soon but there are more options now for just general social interaction. Forums remain important for other things especially focused interest like... gaming or cycling etc where questions can be asked and answered but forums are no longer the only place to interact like they used to be.

"Cesspit" seems to be a favourite word these days to polarize conversations such as the present.

I hate that word.

I think you need more extreme contributions and opinions to keep a conversation going.

How extreme Boards moderation is willing to tolerate seems to be the issue, and it is a subjective one tbh.

For me it's a pity that moderation at this moment is tuned to the "very sensitive" mode. While we are subjected to all these edulcorated conversations on the radio and other media, it was refreshing to be able to read "real opinions" and debates on boards. When Boards moderation aligns with the more public barometer of what's "offensive" or "outrageous", it simply kills one other source of real conversation.

I like moderation, in moderation. It's not that it is not needed, it's great that moderation is tighter than other sites, to an extent. It doesn't have to be one extreme or the other.

Right now, it is tuned too close to the "uber-sensitive" settings imo, it's too close to sensitive to allow for interesting debate.
It's ok to have a dash of "outrageous", a reasonable dose of "offensive", some uneducated posts, some less knowledgeable or thought out posts.
Surely we're all able to deal with that.
More sensitive posters may use the ignore button, and mods can still ensure legally unacceptable posts are weeded out.

Donald Trump wrote: »

Wasn't like this in my day. Posters had respect for their elders. 'member?

Shouldn't you be out playing golf?

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I agree that 'cesspit' isn't a nice word, but it's what boards has become. All the crap and dung and pish of the day is attracted here, same as to DM and Journal.ie comments, and everywhere else every asshole with an opinion can share it with the masses.

I don't blame the mods at all, when you have to shovel shìt in a cesspit all day, you're going to wind up smelling of it.

The talks of crap and pish make for good sound bites in keeping with your character here and I'm sure will gather some thanks, the reality is that
It's a quick blanket judgment you're making on people who may well be able to engage in discussion, only their viewpoints (and quick post they may have thrown out there for attention seeking purposes) seem extreme, or extremely unpalatable to you.

I think Boards needs those.
I agree with the posts about how great it is for information on some subjects, and specifically Irish based, which is invaluable, but the more general discussion aspect may well be what attracts and retains experts in their own fields, and keeps them active enough to tend to questions in their subject area, so it's important to get it right IMO.

So as I'm typing this, I'm torn between wanting to give my thoughts (again!) and wondering if it's a futile effort as the thread will end up locked closed for review (indefinitely it seems) again anyway!

There's several fundamental problems at this stage..

- Boards.ie's owners and management don't seem to understand the site, its history, userbase, or why people come here. This is reflected in things like the Feedback debacle, the Cafe mess, and some questionable commercial decisions like the Gearbest forum

- The mess that is the UI.. the "temporary" menu on the "legacy" site, and the godawful "responsive" site specifically. Neither of these should have gone live and the former should have been rolled back on when the overwhelmingly negative (and constructive!) feedback started rolling in.
Instead, here we are years later with still the same "temporary" layout, unnecessarily burying forums and then wondering why they've become wastelands

- The Moderation structure... too many Mods, too many levels of Mods, and always from the same pool. It feeds on itself and results in a system that is not actually responsive or suited to the userbase, but more to maintaining the status quo

- The users. Yes, we have to share the blame too. From the permanently offended types, to the petty bickering and (deliberate) derailing of legitimate topics with the intent of getting them closed down (as happens more often than not), to the little groups that form out of the Chat threads and carry over into other threads (these do exist.. I've posted about it before only earlier this week in the other thread on this topic).
All of this kills actual discussion and debate and more than that, it presents an overwhelmingly negative impression of the site to new or casual users which isn't exactly helpful in attracting new blood.

But at this stage I don't see much hope for change. After all, this is the second thread on this subject in less than a week and it's following the same path.. people complain (many with fair points and constructively), Mods get defensive and take a "if you don't like it, leave" stance, and the thread goes round and round for a while until it degenerates into the aforementioned bickering which then in turn legitimises the Mod action of locking it.

But the problems still remain.. and sticking heads in the sand won't do anything to fix it.. assuming there's actually a will to do so anymore which I don't see any real evidence of unfortunately

TheAnalyst_ wrote: »

Thats what they don't seem to get. The site is ours. The content is ours.

If you say no its not, its a private company... blah blah. Fine we will stop using it and the site will not exist. When the removed the policits cafe and one thread in particular was gone forever I was pissed off. All that content was created by us and then somebody comes along and thinks they can end it for whatever reason. Why would we spend time again creating interesting threads and posts?

Nail on head

We are customers. The thought that any business in trouble would tell their customers to feck off somewhere else is just going to lead to one result.

Here's a suggestion. Start a proper feedback thread with a poll giving a list of options recommended by posters to improve the site.

Then & here comes the difficult bit, listen to them & implement changes.

Boards is not a democracy will be the reply.

If you don't listen to your customers you will end up with less & less of them.

By the way, according to Boards it's all these new people & pesky re regs that cause the problems. Look at some of the join dates & post counts here. Many "critics" have contributed a lot to this site .