Introducing the Current Affairs/IMHO forum

batgoat wrote: »

Must say it's actually working out well.

Define working well?

From what I can see, all that’s happening is that AH is being stripped of any decent threads that it started.

And why are Admins moving threads from Ah to CA? Surely AH mods should be doing this, or do you not trust them to do their job?

You’re killing the goose that laid the golden egg, if you wanted to close down AH you should have just done so. But I suppose then you wouldn’t have had your content for CA.

I can guarantee you that if you stopped moving threads from AH to CA, that CA would not survive on its own.

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

I can guarantee you that if you stopped moving threads from AH to CA, that CA would not survive on its own.

Obviously. Do you not understand the point of the forum? It's to remove the more serious threads out of AH, of course we'd be doing that

Baggly wrote: »

I dont agree Dougal. There are fewer current topic threads, but plenty of light hearted ones left in AH, with very handsome participation. Participation in both forums seems high, imo.

Most of the AH mods are modding both fora, so there is no lack of trust that i can see.

Im glad its going well (from my perspective). Ah is fulfilling its purpose, as is CA.

Why would we stop moving current affair threads to CA?

It seems to me that AHs only purpose now is to generate threads for CA.

At the rate it’s going the light hearted threads that will be left will be toilet threads, and chit-chat/circle jerk threads.

Skylinehead wrote: »

Obviously. Do you not understand the point of the forum? It's to remove the more serious threads out of AH, of course we'd be doing that

So what happens when the regulars in AH stop posting in AH, what will you be left with then? How will CA survive?

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

It seems to me that AHs only purpose now is to generate threads for CA.

At the rate it’s going the light hearted threads that will be left will be toilet threads, and chit-chat/circle jerk threads.

Well the idea would be that people will start posting the serious threads in CA, rather than in AH ( & therefore they wont need to be moved).

I dont agree re: the light hearted threads that will remain, nor how you characterise them. I think there are a lot of people who enjoy and use them; and i think more will come. If they arent for you, thats fine, but you can always start some other lighthearted threads that you think arent toilet threads / chit chat threads, if you so wish! Not every thread made in AH is going to be moved. Just the ones with serious chat in them.

I dont believe they (posters in non-serious threads in AH) werent being well served mixed in with serious topics, as we previously had in AH.

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

So what happens when the regulars in AH stop posting in AH, what will you be left with then? How will CA survive?

The best threads in AH have never been particularly topical, so we'll be left with those. I'm ok with that.

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I'm pleasantly surprised as well. Fair play to the admins for working to make it happen.

lol Not sure why you're surprised tbh. After Hours has just been cut and pasted :P

AH was Boards' current affairs forum (the busiest on Boards) and so why wouldn't the new current affairs forum 'work' when all you're essentially doing is creating a traffic diversion: Current Affairs this way please >>

Skylinehead wrote: »

The best threads in AH have never been particularly topical, so we'll be left with those. I'm ok with that.

Never? Ah come on. As I said many years ago:

OutlawPete wrote: »

AH is a froum where current affairs are it's life blood.

Making the Current Affairs forum work was/is never going to be a problem, it's keeping After Hours working that'll be the issue, given that its life blood) now has a forum of its own. The Current Affairs forum will look after itself (traffic wise) given the userbase now has no option but to use the new forum when they wish to discuss current affairs, but they now must do so in a different tone than was permitted in AH.

Last year I said:

Outlaw Pete wrote: »

So, let After Hours rest in peace and just rename this forum 'Current Affairs' as to continue to call it After Hours is to do so in just name only, as the ethos and spirit of the forum that once was, has long since passed.

So, it hasn't been renamed, more gutted of its life blood. The new forum will thrive, naturally, but the old forum will now die, or at the very least become a sad reflection of what it once was. I think that's obvious.

I mean, joking about and having pub type humour on current affair topic threads is now a thing of the past (apparently) and that was the guts of what After Hours was about. Sure, not all threads were current affairs (and time moves on - we'd probably all get arrested for the advice we gave Feeky Magee for a start) but largely they were all threads which the current affair forum will now cater to, and the ones that weren't (like the Feeky thread), only did as well as they did because they were on a forum with a high volume of traffic, lets not kid ourselves.

Can After Hours survive without current affairs? I doubt it. What happens when someone starts a lighthearted thread there about some politician and the discussion turns serious? Will that thread be moved? Even if the OP wanted a lighthearted pub type chat about it? Seems to me threads like a TD suing over falling off a swing is the kinda thing people would be talking about down the pub and so should have a home in AH. No way you can keep lighthearted jokes out of a thread like that and so my prediction is that the current affairs forum will largely just turn into After Hours over time and After Hours itself will die (traffic wise at least).

Seems to me someone just stuck a new sign above the door is all that's happened and many people that didn't like the 'Where are you now/What are you eating' type threads will be delighted as the "Current Affairs" forum is now (or at least shortly will be) the After Hours many wanted it to be.

After Hours is dead. Long live After Hours 'the Current Affairs' forum.

Deleted User wrote: »

... it was angering me to read and write. Too much vitriol for my soft soul with [users] constantly flinging ****.

Hey I agree with you, it undoubtedly had become a little too much over the last few years but, like I said last week, there were reasons for why it had become that way and, in my view, inconsistent (and oftentimes biased) moderation was in no small part responsible for it.

A userbase will only behave in ways they are being let behave in, and are being given the impression is okay to behave in, and that'll be inferred by what mods are and are not actioning.

There have been multiple examples of AH moderators flaunting the rules of the charter over the last few years (attacking users rather than their posts for example) and that just sends entirely the wrong message. In my opinion, moderators should set by example. They can hardly be surprised when users are uncivil to other members when they themselves are. Don't act like a dick they say, well, you first. One post last year an AH mod told a user to go out and buy a primary school book if he needed further explanation. Come on now like.

All I can say is I hope CA is going to be more consistently and fairly moderated. Where users on both/all sides of the political divide are subject to the rules of the charter and not just one. For far too long users with a liberal point of view have been given carte blanche to do and say what they like while those who disagree with them are actioned for daring to give their opposing views. This has resulted in one side being able to use the report button as a tool of debate and while not all mods are as easily swayed by volume of reports equaling a user needing to be actioned, some undoubtedly are. Hell, some even cite it.

So it's all well and good apportioning blame to the userbase for AH becoming something of a free for all, but if there isn't some inward reflection with regards to what role moderators played in it all, especially around the area of inconsistent moderation, well then I think the CA forum will very likely have many of the issues that AH did. Not to go all Jerry Springer, but treat users fairly and respectfully and they'll behave that way in kind, to mods as well as each other.

I have to agree. It’s like AH has been given a new lease of life. You can really feel the change in atmosphere, it’s less oppressive or something. Some craic in there the last few days. Long may it continue!