Soccer Forum Feedback 2022

awec · 05-07-2022 09:17PM #1

The Soccer Feedback thread for 2022 is now open. The purpose of this thread is for forum members to have an opportunity to provide constructive feedback about the forum and set out how you would like the soccer forum to be improved.

Timeline:

This thread will be locked next Friday (15/07) and will be reviewed by the Mods, Cmods and Admins.

Rules:

Trolling, abuse or breaches of the charter in this thread will be an immediate infraction and 2 week ban for anyone who breaches the rules. If you want to post in this thread you are agreeing to accept this rule, we want this thread to run smoothly as its in all your interests.

Couple of basic ground rules before we get going:

(1) This isn't a platform to attack individuals or Moderators. This isn't to turn into a witch hunt against people you don't like. This is your chance to tell us what we should or should not be doing.

(2) If someone makes a point that you don't agree with then either respond in a constructive manner with a decent counter-point or don't respond at all. Attempted witty one liners to undermine an argument are pointless and will not be tolerated. Most of the time you think you're being funny, you're not. If you think it's not a good idea outline reasons why you think it's not going to work instead of dragging the thread wildly off topic.

(3) Please, when you're making a point take a second to THINK about it and make sure it's what you actually want. So make sure when you're asking for something to happen that you realise it's going to effect you too, not just other users.

(4) As usual, we'll be using 'Thanks' to work out what suggestions seem the most supported, so if you agree what someone says thank their post and it gives us a better idea and makes it easier to keep track that trying to add up loads of individual posts. This is your chance to have your say so if you have an issue and you think it needs to be resolved mention it, but please remember this isn't a place to grind your axe, try be constructive in your input.

(5) Let's have a grown up discussion.

Planned Charter Change:

Under the current charter all warnings for a poster since 01/08/2019 are included in the totting up process. We plan on changing this to a rolling two year period instead. That would mean if a poster were warned today, 05/07/22, their record since 05/07/2020 would be taken into account when determining if they pick up a ban, rather than going back to 2019.

This change makes moderation easier and makes it easier for posters to clear their name with sustained good behaviour.

Thanks.

El Gato De Negocios · 05-07-2022 10:06PM

From my perspective, the forum is in the best place it's been in since I first started using Boards over 15 years ago. This is likely in part down to people getting older and getting more sense and the most spiteful trolls being permanently banned and / or leaving boards. I'd also opine that activity in general is well down across the site since the change to vanilla last year.

Because of this, there generally seems (to me at least) significantly less need for mods to have to mod. Where mod intervention is needed, from what I've seen it's even handed and everyone is held to the same standards. I think it's also fair to say that Shamobuc and Dm7 are the only two active forum mods currently so hats off to them for keeping the show on the road.

The only issue that I can call out relates to rereg troll accounts. There is one in particular that was previously permanently banned by Beasty but they are back actively posting in the same manner that got them banned previously. Are rereg accounts now allowed regardless of historic conduct? I believe since the change to vanilla the modutils does not function the way it did on old boards so maybe the "muppet check" is not functioning as it used to?

Other than that though, it's been enjoyable posting over the last 12 months and the moderation is exactly as it should be, even if United are still in the toilet.🙂

El Gato De Negocios · 05-07-2022 10:07PM

For the record, the proposal to reduce from 2 to 3 years for historic warnings being taken into account is fair.

Headshot · 05-07-2022 10:11PM

Very hard to be negative on the SF when the whole site is shite

NIMAN · 05-07-2022 10:19PM

I can't see the soccer forum on my laptop, only on the mobile site.

And every now and again it can go missing on my phone too for a day or two.

SM01 · 05-07-2022 10:57PM

Soccer forum is much improved since the trolling, and United/Liverpool bytchfest was brought under control. Please keep it up and stamp out any attempts to return to bad old ways.

Brendan Flowers · 05-07-2022 10:58PM

IMO the move to Vanilla has killed the soccer forum more so than any other forum on Boards. It doesn't appear in Google searches anymore, it's not easy to find, it's doesn't appear in the Sports section, and seems to be getting very few new users. Has any consideration been given to not having Soccer as a private group?

05-07-2022 11:05PM

All's right with the world. Keep it up.

Headshot · 05-07-2022 11:08PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119296099#Comment_119296099

It's killed the whole site. Posters leaving in droves and who would blame them.

I suppose it helps the SF because there's less posters and people cannot even find it at the best of times

05-07-2022 11:08PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119296099#Comment_119296099

That is worth considering - but, the increased new/inexperienced users would likely require more moderation. If there's only two active it might mean slipping back to the wild west. But, definitely a valid discussion point re new blood.

Fitz* · 05-07-2022 11:21PM

Whatever happened in 2021 regarding moderation worked big time. There's a few of blatant trolls gone and the forum on the whole is a much better place IMO. You can actually have a decent conservation / debate in many different threads now, wherever it's relevant, and not just confined to one or two threads.

A few good posters lost in the site migration too but I'm sure every forum has that too.

DM_7 · 05-07-2022 11:29PM

Thanks for comments so far. All feedback will be considered, one item I can answer now is that if you have any concerns that a poster may be a rereg of a banned account you can report a post they made or PM a mod to highlight and it can be checked out.

awec · 05-07-2022 11:50PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119296099#Comment_119296099

Making Soccer a public forum has been under discussion ever since we moved to Vanilla, in fact this was something that Boards were suggesting when the move happened as the new site didn't have the same concept of an access restricted forum like the old site did.

Since the move, the discussion has come up a few times. There are a few reasons why this hasn't happened so far.

Moderating on the new site is much harder than on the old. Even basic moderation requires a lot more effort. Going public has the potential to overwhelm the mods.
The feedback thread in 2021 was overwhelmingly positive, and there is a reluctance to take any steps that might undo the hard work of the mods, so we adopted a "wait and see" approach.

Which is not to say that it has been ruled out completely, I'm sure it'll be discussed again as an outcome of this feedback thread.

ShamoBuc · 05-07-2022 11:56PM

I can't remember how many posters were in Soccer previously but currently, we have 6640 members in the Soccer Group. It might seem like less, but alot of posters would be the Read Only variety.

As mentioned above, opening it up Fully, without Proper Mod Tools and only a couple of Active Mods would surely see us going back to the mess we had before. I certainly wouldn't like that to happen.

StringerBell · 06-07-2022 12:15AM

Can't say I'm as active as I once was for various reasons but when I do visit I get the impression that by and large there has been a big improvement in the forum itself.

The site isn't great and that has led to problems in terms of a drop off of traffic I would assume but it seems a lot more reasonable to interact with rival fans (for the most part) also which is great to see.

So yeah, not much more to say really. Whatever ye did keep up the good work. Place seems to be in the best shape it's been in donkeys years

TitianGerm · 06-07-2022 08:34AM

The biggest improvement I see since last year has been the banning of an absolute nuisance poster from the Liverpool thread. He derailed so many threads over a number of years (Liverpool ones and was a regular pain in most soccer threads) it was ridiculous and it's great they are no longer allowed to continue that.

There's still a few who are constantly trolling when they post and I'd imagine most are aware of who these are (one from the Arsenal thread, one from the United thread but a rare poster now and another from the Liverpool thread). Hopefully these will be dealt with over the next while.

Overall the forum has been in a better position and I'd echo the above in that a lot of the big trouble makers being banned/not moving over with vanilla has had a positive impact here.

augustus gloop · 06-07-2022 10:12AM

It’s soooooo hard to find the soccer forum.

why not put it in sports to allow new faces to join

blackwave · 06-07-2022 10:30AM

Not a frequent poster but just want to pop in and say that the quality of modding over the last two years has been great. There is definitely a lot less trolling etc and there's actually a lot more discussion happening.

El Gato De Negocios · 06-07-2022 10:40AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119297136#Comment_119297136

From what Ive read in the site feedback thread, its something to do with the forum being restricted access on old Boards and the move to Vanilla couldn't support having restricted access so now its floating in some form of limbo. If you hit the follow forum button in the top right then it will appear under the "groups" section of your boards profile.

eigrod · 06-07-2022 01:18PM

Much improved since a small number of posters no longer post here, for whatever reason. Some disappointing and childish posting about Liverpool fans on night of CL final but I guess there will always be sporadic episodes like that.

Thank you to the Mods and long may it continue.

NITRO95 · 06-07-2022 01:28PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119298095#Comment_119298095

TBF in years past the CL and all that happened that night would have been an absolute shitshow on here whereas it was only a small couple of bad faith posters making baseless accusations on the night and a day or two after. I actually think that was an example of how generally improved the forum is as a whole

irelandrover · 06-07-2022 03:31PM

The soccer forum is in a much better place that it has been for a long time. Fair play to the mods.

But due to its location it seems to not be attracting new members. Why not have a soccer forum in the sports section that is basically a sticky telling new users how to join the actual forum? Id disagree with making it a public forum as it would just bring it back to the shitfest it was 18 months ago.

Dave0301 · 06-07-2022 04:04PM

Agree with others that things are working well of late in the forum. I do think that it would be impossible to find if you are new to Boards. Is there a way to make it more visible to attract new posters, but also keep it restricted access so that there isn't an influx of trolls?

NITRO95 · 06-07-2022 06:34PM

Would a sticky topic at the top of some of the busier forums (After Hours for example) and on the main home page explaining where to find the soccer forum and how to join work?

awec · 06-07-2022 07:52PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119299019#Comment_119299019

This is an interesting suggestion, thanks irelandrover.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119299217#Comment_119299217

Unfortunately the limitations of the new site means we can either make it a Forum, in which case it's public and open for all, or a Group, in which case nobody can see it until we give access. Anything other than this will require development work and our understanding/experience is that this is unlikely to happen soon.

06-07-2022 11:56PM

There's less posting over the last few years due to the state of the new site, but the posting is better quality for users as the trolls are largely gone, and the mods are on top of it.

~Rebel~ · 07-07-2022 06:18AM

Can only agree with most of what's been said. Where I see some other popular corners of boards starting to skew a bit more contrarian/right wing than they used to be, the Soccer section is a breath of fresh air. I'd definitely rather that it's kept private, but the compromise of having a public-but-locked soccer forum with just one thread explaining how to gain access to the group (with the usual couple of hoops to jump through) is a decent shout.

13-07-2022 05:55AM

I'm not exactly sure how this would work but would it be possible to have something where you couldn't just start whingjng about a whole fan base over what u see on social media, or in your work place or social life, just because you come across people you precieve to be over the top in someway away from here, it doesn't really add anything to the small environment we have here, and generally leads to tit for tat shite, this is a discussion board between members not somewhere to air aggreviences with people who don't even post here.

DM_7 · 13-07-2022 12:20PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119329884#Comment_119329884

Yes this is the kind of thing we can look at. I would say that generic comments about fan bases are unhelpful and can lead to responses in kind.

I think the majority of such comments are not made with any intent to cause problems though. Often they will take place in a clubs superthread (about other clubs fans) that is mainly posted in by fans of that team and the poster is not really aiming the post at fans of the club they are talking about. However posters may not always realise they are inviting reply/reaction.

On the other hand we have had problems before with a poster intentionally going out of their way to make such comments to annoy fans of that club and low level troll - they avoided making the comments in that clubs superthread but would make them in other places, along with general snipes at that club. By operating in that way it took some time to have the posting addressed.

I think any change here in how we mod the forum would have to be on the basis of encouraging a environment where posters would not post that way rather than a specific change to the charter. For example giving a warning for abuse is straight forward and it is easy to be consistent, to be fair to all members. Having a hard rule that will see Football fans taking about football fans leading to a warning would be more difficult to implement and I would not like to see the wider membership suffer because of any poster that purposely operated in that low level area. So starting off I think asking posters to avoid such posting and maybe deleting some posts would help reset the scene. If individual or a group of posters continually ignored the encouragement then warnings would apply for them. Mods already monitor the kind of issues that can be caused like the above posting and we would let posters know if they continue to make certain types of posts it will see them get warnings.

In the end the forum will reflect how the members want it to function so feedback, such as this thread or reported posts, helps with that. I went ahead and made two mod notes and deleted some posts today after reading your comment on this thread and would welcome posters views on if they thought that interjection was actually needed and if it is something they want mods to keep an eye on and help remove from the forum.

In a related item I have deleted posts in the humour thread for similar tit for tat reasons but I know not all posters agreed with that approach in the last feedback thread.

Brendan Flowers · 14-07-2022 08:55AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119299019#Comment_119299019

That's a great idea, and one that'd be very easy to do. Assuming there's no reason why this can't be done, it'd be great to hear a plan from the mods/admins. This suggestion solves all the issues of getting the soccer forum back under the sports category, making it visible to potential new members, and also keeping it restricted.

DM_7 · 20-07-2022 04:21PM

Thank you to all for the feedback. Closing the thread now as the 15th was last Friday. We will review the feedback and update on any changes.

Soccer Forum Feedback 2022

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