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

04-01-2018 01:59AM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Jesus this thread turned into the 'order your own personal boards.ie' didn't it

Thanks to the mods who hung around to fight their corner long enough for the discussion to die down from initial frustration and turn out to be interesting and illuminating from both sides.

Yes it did a bit. Where After Hours is concerned I'm happy overall with how the forum stands and think the mods do a good job with it. Posters use Boards in different ways and that's what makes it good in my opinion. It can offer something for everyone. I stand by my belief that there is space for all here.

_Dara_ · 04-01-2018 02:13AM

Deleted User wrote: »

Trialing having less chat threads will only be fair if we trial having less serious threads.
I say this because why should one group of posters lose out on something they enjoy?
Surely a better compromise is possible.

Well, of course. But a compromise is going to mean that some of the chat threads have to go. That’s inevitable.

Personally, I’m not asking for there to be all serious threads. What AH used to excel at was non-serious engaging threads. Chat threads and less serious threads aren’t one and the same.

04-01-2018 02:28AM

_Dara_ wrote: »

Well, of course. But a compromise is going to mean that some of the chat threads have to go. That’s inevitable.

Personally, I’m not asking for there to be all serious threads. What AH used to excel at was non-serious engaging threads. Chat threads and less serious threads aren’t one and the same.

I would like there to be no threads about a person's relationship issues such as cheating partners because they belong in PI. Also it would be no harm to wait until closer to the abortion referendum date to open a thread on that. Next up I think social welfare related threads should be in the state benefits forum.

If those changes are made then you have yourself a deal

_Dara_ · 04-01-2018 02:33AM

Deleted User wrote: »

I would like there to be no threads about a person's relationship issues such as cheating partners because they belong in PI. Also it would be no harm to wait until closer to the abortion referendum date to open a thread on that. Next up I think social welfare related threads should be in the state benefits forum.

If those changes are made then you have yourself a deal

Sadly not up to me. And the stance that there are too many chat threads is an unpopular one.

04-01-2018 02:40AM

_Dara_ wrote: »

Sadly not up to me. And the stance that there are too many chat threads is an unpopular one.

Exactly. My previous post was very tongue in cheek. I couldn't care less how many abortion, social welfare, and cheating partner threads pop up on After Hours. Other posters like them and that's good enough for me. When some people want to close popular threads just because they aren't to their liking then I think that's very unfair. Let people have their escape, their discussion, their rant. Like I mentioned earlier there is room for all.

evolving_doors · 04-01-2018 04:13AM

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

Telling people to mind their language and stop singing silly songs while they're drunk and partying is moronic, though - would you not agree?

Well no I wouldn't in the sense that context is important.
After a match near a stadium perhaps yes it's moronic.
In a quiet country pub invaded by a stag party on the lash then a warning might be in order.

evolving_doors · 04-01-2018 04:28AM

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Exactly. My previous post was very tongue in cheek. I couldn't care less how many abortion, social welfare, and cheating partner threads pop up on After Hours. Other posters like them and that's good enough for me. When some people want to close popular threads just because they aren't to their liking then I think that's very unfair. Let people have their escape, their discussion, their rant. Like I mentioned earlier there is room for all.

It's not that 'they aren't to their liking' as if it's done on a whim. There's probably a good reason.
Would you let people just go off on a racist or sexist rant ? (As a non-AH mod id have the luxury of toying with the idea, but thinking about the aftermath and work involved is it fair to let it continue).

Or should boards just create an access only
Thunderdome and turn off the mod buttons?.. as long as yer not selling drugs or guns or hiring hitmen there etc..

Mountainsandh · 04-01-2018 09:12AM

I get the point about too many chat threads being annoying, but I know myself if I'm looking for a more serious thread I just seem to be able to block them out when I scroll the Latest threads.

My point being, if it's serious you're after, it's still as easy to look for it, imo.

I never looked at the best looking men/women or stingy threads, so if there's going to be a cull, cull these ones please and thank you very much

Boom_Bap · 04-01-2018 09:59AM

Chat Threads
Where to start on this one, maybe with the TA thread as it's long running and has had a few evolutions.
It started off as a thread to post your daily annoyances. It turned into a chat thread and was the same posters chatting and there was little or no new posters joining in on the chat. I'll hold my hands up, I was one of the people in the circle in that thread.
So the mods and CMods came together due to the reports and ongoing behaviour of the thread and made the decision to enforce no chat to try keep a brilliant thread alive, but to cut out what had derailed the thread.
This was effective, more people contributed, the thread sprung into a new life.
Chat started to creep back in, but it was decided to allow a bit but not let people get carried away and turn it into a chat thread.
Any time chat was getting out of hand, there would be a little joke about 'tapping the no chat sign' or something to that effect. This reminder worked.
In the latest evolution of the thread, the no chat rule doesn't really require enforcement as everyone appears to be well behaved, there are a core group of posters that frequent often, new users post, some users pop in randomly....it's what I think is the thread in AH that has the most mixed bunch of posters engaging together on a theme and being nice to each other and with respect for the rules and charter that go with it.

The TH thread had a similar evolution.

Then there is the Stinge thread. Such a brilliant thread but then some malice crept into it. to get rid of the malice, the no stinge, no post rule was kicked in. As time goes on, similar to the TA thread, this I imagine will eventually be reduced/lifted.

Those type of thread need time to evolve after having a strict NO type ruling in place. It's normally a big bang that leads to the ruling, and in the history of AH, it's been tried and tested many times and gently reducing the rule has been the most effective approach to getting threads to be a success again.

In terms of having a dedicated chat thread in AH, this is something that the mods are constantly talking about and there can never be a consensus reached on it. Even in this thread alone, there are plenty of folk against, and plenty of folk for. Based on the feedback here, the AH mods will engage on this again to see if we can trash something out.

There has been plenty of feedback on AH here as well that the mods are going to discuss.

Fr_Dougal · 04-01-2018 10:18AM

Just to be clear, I’m against chat threads in AH, but if one singular chat thread means no chat in other threads then so be it. It’s a fair compromise.

If a dedicated chat thread was to be introduced, along with the chat in the existing threads, then that would be a mess. That will ultimately kill the forum with schite content.

I could spend an hour reporting all the chat posts in those threads you mentioned btw.

Beasty · 04-01-2018 10:49AM

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

I could spend an hour reporting all the chat posts in those threads you mentioned btw.

You do realise you have to leave a minute between reporting posts? :pac:

04-01-2018 12:30PM

Keira Thankful Target wrote: »

As for the chat on the trivial annoyances thread, honestly why are ye reading it if ye find it so annoying and cringey?

Being honest, I found it great for a while but then it became dull as dishwater to me when being cold became a trivial annoyance over and over or a family member dying (how's that trivial?!). So I unsubscribed from it and now just look in the odd time. Sometimes I do a drive-by post if something's annoyed me trivially and immediately unsub again. As you say, nobody is forcing you in there!

NollagShona · 04-01-2018 12:38PM

Did Twitter kills Boards for inane arguments???

NollagShona · 04-01-2018 12:40PM

Omackeral wrote: »

Being honest, I found it great for a while but then it became dull as dishwater to me when being cold became a trivial annoyance over and over or a family member dying (how's that trivial?!). So I unsubscribed from it and now just look in the odd time. Sometimes I do a drive-by post if something's annoyed me trivially and immediately unsub again. As you say, nobody is forcing you in there!

Omackeral, I think it may have been my post that you referred to.

I wasn’t ta-Ed my nan died. I was taed I no longer had grandparents. Big difference.

At 38 a lot don’t I imagine

04-01-2018 12:50PM

NollagShona wrote: »

Omackeral, I think it may have been my post that you referred to.

I wasn’t ta-Ed my nan died. I was taed I no longer had grandparents. Big difference.

At 38 a lot don’t I imagine

It wasn't you. It was from last year.

NollagShona · 04-01-2018 12:55PM

Omackeral wrote: »

It wasn't you. It was from last year.

It was last year

retro:electro · 04-01-2018 12:58PM

04-01-2018 01:14PM

I didn't take the new year into account. It was the year before last. You registered less than a month ago. It wasn't you.

Nice gif work Anna, well played!

hatrickpatrick · 04-01-2018 02:05PM

*sigh* Check out the locking of the thread about the Dundalk attack for the latest in micromanagement. Why can't those posting sh!te not just be given thread bans or have their posts deleted like on most other forums? Why does the entire discussion have to be shut down, temporarily or otherwise? No other forum has this sort of stop-and-start thread locking style moderation that I can see.

Comparing other forums to Boards in terms of this is like comparing rugby to American football, in that the former gives you a relatively clear shot at play whereas the latter involves stopping the clock several times a minute.

Boards should at least consider adopting the standard moderation model of most internet forums - deletion / locking of entire threads reserved for when the thread title or OP is breaking the rules, and any on-thread rule breaking only results in sanctions against the specific posters involved, not moderation which affects the entire discussion.

jmayo · 04-01-2018 02:26PM

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

*sigh* Check out the locking of the thread about the Dundalk attack for the latest in micromanagement. Why can't those posting sh!te not just be given thread bans or have their posts deleted like on most other forums? Why does the entire discussion have to be shut down, temporarily or otherwise? No other forum has this sort of stop-and-start thread locking style moderation that I can see.

Comparing other forums to Boards in terms of this is like comparing rugby to American football, in that the former gives you a relatively clear shot at play whereas the latter involves stopping the clock several times a minute.

Boards should at least consider adopting the standard moderation model of most internet forums - deletion / locking of entire threads reserved for when the thread title or OP is breaking the rules, and any on-thread rule breaking only results in sanctions against the specific posters involved, not moderation which affects the entire discussion.

The thread has to be locked so that anyone not following official and sanctioned narrative can be purged.

It will be interesting what will go down around here when we surely truly experience even a tiny fraction of what the likes of Paris, Berlin, Nice, Stockholm, Barcelona, Brussels have been forced to endure.

Skylinehead · 04-01-2018 02:54PM

jmayo wrote: »

The thread has to be locked so that anyone not following official and sanctioned narrative can be purged.

With respect, bollocks. There is no narrative, can't remember the last time I talked to admins regarding AH stuff. We closed it because the thread is snowballing with reports and we need to stop posts for a while to deal with those, or it's a never ending loop. It'll be open again soon.

GreeBo · 04-01-2018 02:56PM

Skylinehead wrote: »

With respect, bollocks. There is no narrative, can't remember the last time I talked to admins regarding AH stuff. We closed it because the thread is snowballing with reports and we need to stop posts for a while to deal with those, or it's a never ending loop. It'll be open again soon.

If you just ban the users initiating the posts the problem will just take care of itself though.

However, I can understand locking it to stop the reporting noise.

NollagShona · 04-01-2018 02:59PM

Omackeral wrote: »

I didn't take the new year into account. It was the year before last. You registered less than a month ago. It wasn't you.

Nice gif work Anna, well played!

My previous handle

04-01-2018 03:00PM

It's back open. It was closed for about 10 or 15 minutes. That's barely time to have a cup of tea. Surely there's no issue with it being closed for a few moments for some housekeeping.

04-01-2018 03:01PM

NollagShona wrote: »

My previous handle

Well how in the heck am I supposed to know it was posted under some previous username?! I'm good Nollag, I'm not that good!

04-01-2018 03:03PM

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

*sigh* Check out the locking of the thread about the Dundalk attack for the latest in micromanagement. Why can't those posting sh!te not just be given thread bans or have their posts deleted like on most other forums? Why does the entire discussion have to be shut down, temporarily or otherwise? No other forum has this sort of stop-and-start thread locking style moderation that I can see.

I'm a huge fan of a 24 hour ban or temporary thread ban- call it something different, like a "sin-bin" or something- just enough to cool the heels of the offender a bit without making a whole big deal out of it. Maybe 2/3 of these leads to a more formal ban but we can all relate to a "sin-bin" and it doesn't have to have the baggage attached to it like formal bans have.
It could be reserved for those posters like these..

GreeBo · 04-01-2018 03:08PM

Deleted User wrote: »

It could be reserved for those posters like these..

No one should be banned for discussing something on a discussion site.
You get a ban (or sin bin or whatever we are calling it now) for a breach of the site/forum/thread charter.

04-01-2018 03:16PM

GreeBo wrote: »

No one should be banned for discussing something on a discussion site.
You get a ban (or sin bin or whatever we are calling it now) for a breach of the site/forum/thread charter.

I believe that someone posting like a dog with a bone on an issue that they just won't let go no matter what, should- they're not quite trolls but they do engage in thread wrecking . And then they complain that their freedom of speech has been impaired when they get banned- my heart bleeds for them :rolleyes:

....... · 04-01-2018 03:45PM

This post has been deleted.

GreeBo · 04-01-2018 03:47PM

Deleted User wrote: »

I believe that someone posting like a dog with a bone on an issue that they just won't let go no matter what, should- they're not quite trolls but they do engage in thread wrecking . And then they complain that their freedom of speech has been impaired when they get banned- my heart bleeds for them :rolleyes:

Presumably they are responding to other posters and not just posting to themselves....thats called engaging in discussion...on a discussion forum.

If no one wants to engage them then they will stop responding, if people do engage then they are fully entitled to reply... thats a discussion.

If you dont like having to put up with the fact that someone has more to say on a topic than you would like...well I guess my heart bleeds for you.

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

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