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Site is a graveyard - How can boards save itself? [Threadbanned users in 1st post]

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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 829 ✭✭✭z80CPU
    Darth Randomer


    I've received a good peppering of warnings myself over the years since 2009. 4 decent skin mods though.



  • Administrators Posts: 14,690 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Big Bag of Chips


    I haven't seen the posts, or even read the thread so I'm afraid I can't answer. Vanilla doesn't make it easy to go back and see deleted posts. It is up to Furze99 to appeal the warning/ban if they feel it was unfair.

    In general posters don't get warned for simply expressing an opinion.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,510 ✭✭✭Oafley Jones


    There’s no saving it. Times have moved on. These type of platforms are dying out everywhere. They did themselves no favours with the transition, it just accelerated the decline. The site is still useful for the odd item, but the quality of what is here has nosedived. It’s sad to see the place’s reputation now. It seems like a lot of the new discussions are driven by head the balls/cranks and reregs.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,896 ✭✭✭Bobson Dugnutt


    I think people eventually realise that no one ever changes their mind about anything as a result of a stranger’s opinion on a message board. I’ve never changed my mind on a single thing as a result of all my years here.

    Being young is a great advantage, since we see the world from a new perspective and we are not afraid to make radical changes - Greta Thunburg



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,422 ✭✭✭✭o1s1n
    Master of the Universe


    I always find these complaints about moderation gas. Nothing ever changes.

    People were complaining about 'heavy handed moderation' when the site was at its peak.



  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    So you things haven’t improved even though it is obvious the posters are deserting?



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,309 ✭✭✭evolvingtipperary101


    That's not the contradiction you think it is. And conveniently ignores some posters outlining that they're being targeted for their views no matter how they express their points.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 933 ✭✭✭Norrie Rugger Head


    I did, wholly and irreversibly, around same sex adoption.

    Said that I was unsure that it was in the best interest of the child, for societal issues that child would encounter.

    I was, politely yet forcibly, given reams of fact checked research into why I was wrong and that led to me completely changing my viewpoint.

    Edit: completely coincidentally this popped up as a "memory" post on Facebook

    Post edited by Norrie Rugger Head on

    They're eating the DOGS!!!

    Donald Trump 2024



  • Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 52,639 Mod ✭✭✭✭Necro


    What have I got to do with old threads? 😂

    Someone mentioned 'Soccer' being hidden, well unfortunately that's one of the (not so) fun drawbacks of the Vanilla move, you can't have private access only forums which are viewable to all they have to go under the 'Groups' option.

    On the whole 'the site is dying' thing, it's just the way that people using the internet has changed really (Vanilla being absolute dirt has accelerated the decline mind you). I posted something similar to this on another thread recently:

    All the young ones are on Instagram or TikTok following the latest influencer nowadays or watching YouTube for similar. They don't give a **** about 'Leo whatshisface' other than what 30 second clip they see. Forum based discussion doesn't interest them at all from my experience.

    Imagine a world where you had 'Boards Live' where people could post voice and video messages in real time... *shudders*



  • Registered Users Posts: 1,403 ✭✭✭tom23


    I like boards. Been here since 2011 but have started posting a lot more in the 18 months. The likes of the DIY / Cars / computers where you ask a question and you get quality answers, perfect for me.

    I was thread banned of one thread and I thought it was harsh. I guess when you are in the CA topic you need to play it a certain way.

    Overall it works for me.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,830 ✭✭✭Gusser09


    I got a warning for asking if the usual anti sinn fein brigade would condemn Jeffrey Donaldson the way they so quickly and vocally condemn anything they percieve to be negative about Sinn feinn. That was on the Donaldson thread. A fair enough question i thought.

    Im banned from that thread now which is probably fair enough.

    Its hard to know what you can and cant say these days even after reading the warnings. Inconsistent modding to say the least.



  • Registered Users Posts: 4,309 ✭✭✭evolvingtipperary101


    They're not getting banned or warned on this thread because they're entitled to post a complaint and outline their perception on a feedback thread. It's not the same as on a general thread elsewhere. So, that point is disingenuous. Some posters are clearly saying their views expressed, no matter how objective in tone, are targeted. I would be opposite opinion of them on what they're posting, but I can see their point.
    You're second point is loads of posters don't get warned or banned so the warned or banned ones must deserve it. Absolutely no nuance or complexity to that point. It seems to be a paragraph orchestrated to repeat the term dick to prick at people getting warnings or bans. So, "edgy." One mod celebrates 60 replies and over a thousand views… and yet that would suggest the vast, VAST majority view but don't post… perhaps that might suggest something on the figures of warnings in comparison to users.
    Your third point is the world is different. Just a load of ambiguous bollocks again without addressing anything. Apparently, you know we have more angry people in the world. But maybe you really do know because you seem to be one of them. You love using the word dick. But sure look, you didn't insult a poster 🙄
    Considering you've gone out of your way to target some posters without tagging them, using derogatory terms like 'edgy' and using the term 'dick' three times in four paragraphs, will you be changing your name to Big Bag of Dicks?



  • Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 81,016 Mod ✭✭✭✭Sephiroth_dude


    I don't know how anyone can say Reddit is better than boards, Reddit is an absolute cesspit of a place.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,422 ✭✭✭✭o1s1n
    Master of the Universe


    If moderation was heavy enough to be complained about back in 2006 when this was one of irelands biggest websites then it's not the cause of current receding numbers.

    Nothing lasts forever. The world moves on. Boards will eventually just be another casualty like Digg, ask Jeeves and MySpace. I'm amazed it's lasted as long as it has.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,316 ✭✭✭✭pjohnson


    The Enoch thread is a great example in a way. A lot of those that got banned were trying to spin the thread into another anti-trans thread. Which despite Enoch (and those threadbanned) desperately tried to claim was an irrelevant point to what was actually going on/being punished (Enoch's behaviour).

    This lack of comprehension was then blamed on mods (just like the Burkes rambling blame about Judges being to blame rather than Enoch)



  • Administrators Posts: 14,690 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Big Bag of Chips


    You're second point is loads of posters don't get warned or banned so the warned or banned ones must deserve it. Absolutely no nuance or complexity to that point

    The same way that there's no nuance or complexity to the posts here - your own included - about Mod bias and certain posters being picked on purely for having an opinion. No poster is picked on just for having an opinion. There is always "nuance and complexity".

    I am speaking in general terms. I am not discussing individual cases because 1 - I do not have knowledge of every single warning or ban on the site and 2 - it would be incredibly unfair to pick out a particular poster and discuss any action taken against them.

    So this is a general thread, about Boards.ie in general. If you would like to discuss a very specific action, warning or ban then you are perfectly entitled to do so, and we can look at the nuances and complexities there. The channels are available. And, much to the disappointment of many of the regular cranks, a significant number of appeals do get overturned. A decision won't be overturned just because the poster thinks they're hard done by. But decisions have been overturned after discussion and agreement with all parties.

    The question posed is how can Boards save itself - yet has just turned into another moderator bashing thread. Have you any suggestions how Boards can save itself?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,305 ✭✭✭Hippodrome Song Owl


    I have been here since around 2003. I find boards very useful, and I've got a lot out of it. I like it overall. I think there's a lot of factors causing the undeniable decline, most of which are just part of changing modern times and different ways of interacting now.The new site definitely caused a lot of damage, though.

    Moderation has always been a bone of contention, and I don't know if it would ever be possible to find the perfect balance. I don't think it's fair to just dismiss gripes about modding as being from cranks and troublemakers, though - there are fair points made regularly in feedback threads that are just dismissed. I have never received an infraction or ban (just one on-thread warning ever, I think). So I've never had a conflict with mods, but even I feel moderation can be a bit stifling at times. In particular, I just don't get closing threads for spurious reasons about duplication, arbitrarily deeming the topic pointless, or restricting posts from prolific thread-starters. Especially at a time of dying content. But I'm still here, I still like boards and there's really nothing else like it out there for an Irish context.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,823 ✭✭✭yagan


    I agree about Reddit, but even at its height of popularity I found the after hours forum on this site to be as bad a cesspit.

    I never understood how people could get so invested in emotional arguing with strangers on the internet.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,893 ✭✭✭Allinall


    What a load of waffle that actually says mothing.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 214 ✭✭bartkingcole


    I get the whole point of ‘don’t be a dick’ - that is sage advice, but I would also say that there are some who should stop looking for ways to be offended on their own behalf and on behalf of others.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,099 ✭✭✭deirdremf


    And about the Donaldson thread, the whole business is in a different jurisdiction, so it's very hard to understand being banned from discussing it in an Irish as opposed to a UK forum. Mad altogether to think we're able to discuss and even disparage Trump in the US, Putin in Russia, but not something happening in the UK.



  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Help & Feedback Category Moderators Posts: 9,807 CMod ✭✭✭✭Shield


    ”Have you any suggestions how Boards can save itself?”

    Yes! And I sent my ideas across to the sole owner of Boards some time ago but none of them were even discussed let alone trialled.



  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 21,749 Mod ✭✭✭✭Brian?


    depends on the forum. These days i action 100% of the reported posts from the fitness forum. There’s about 1 per month.

    I banned someone for the first time in 5 years a couple of weeks ago. It was after warning multiple people for not arguing with moderation in the thread and politely asking for PMs.

    We aren’t all trigger happy and drunk on power. I’d say very few of us are. If you’re being treated harshly, it’s probably because you were being a dickhead.

    Having said that, I have stopped posting in AH and Current affairs because it feels pointless. Impossible to have a debate.

    they/them/theirs


    And so on, and so on …. - Slavoj Žižek




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,896 ✭✭✭Bobson Dugnutt


    In some ways the site has gotten better. There used to be a forum where total dorks and jobsworth dweebs would go around measuring the length, width and image size of posters’ signatures and reporting them if they were a pixel too big. This really used to happen.

    Being young is a great advantage, since we see the world from a new perspective and we are not afraid to make radical changes - Greta Thunburg





  • To do with site income versus potential legal costs. Big sites can afford to take a lot of risk owing to the sheer amount of advert income they enjoy.



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  • Before I looked at the head of your post I thought for a short moment if was valid 🤣



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,508 ✭✭✭funkey_monkey


    Reddit is dung. Consensus views are promoted and dissenting viewpoints are voted down. There is no real flow to the threads.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,695 ✭✭✭Ezeoul


    The basic rule of "Don't be a dick" still stands.

    But does it also apply to mods? Because I've seen some mods behaving like absolute dicks and not just on the forums they moderate.

    Surely mods should be expected to behave in a manner that upholds the standards they are supposed to enforce on the rest of us?

    Aside from that, as already stated, my biggest issue with the moderation on boards is the hit and miss inconsistency of how it is done.

    Some posts/posters warned or sanctioned on thread while others saying the same thing or behaving worse in the same thread, go completely ignored by the mods.

    It's frustrating to the point of giving up on some forums completely.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,263 ✭✭✭The Continental Op




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,138 ✭✭✭✭Tom Mann Centuria


    I think he lost interest very soon after starting, if he ever had any interest that is.

    Oh well, give me an easy life and a peaceful death.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,494 ✭✭✭✭ednwireland


    130 replies in 2.5 hours , yeh nail the lid of the coffin shut.

    🤔



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,496 ✭✭✭✭Fr Tod Umptious


    People complaining about moderation are like opposing fans at a sports event, they all give out about the ref.

    It's the same with complaining it's gone too right wing, the other side are complaining it's gone too left wing.

    The two week outage for the move to the new platform was a killer.

    Soccer used to be a great forum for the likes of myself who don't follow a team but are generally interested.

    Now it's a dead zone, lost, with nothing but team super threads.

    Other sports forums like GAA have dried up.

    In GAA you used to have a match thread for every game from the quarter finals onwards, now a single championship thread is sufficient.

    I suppose it's just the way social media is going.

    The tech specific forums are still good though for getting questions answered.

    But things like Current Affairs is just full of cranks.



  • Administrators Posts: 14,690 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Big Bag of Chips


    But does it also apply to mods? Because I've seen some mods behaving like absolute dicks and not just on the forums they moderate.

    Surely mods should be expected to behave in a manner that upholds the standards they are supposed to enforce on the rest of us?

    Yes it does. Moderators have been nudged, advised, warned etc just like other posters. Moderators have been spoken to about their style of moderating. And moderators have been demodded or quit themselves after being spoken to.



  • Registered Users Posts: 873 ✭✭✭purifol0


    I recognize all the posters in this thread. And it's not because I post often. The userbase is shrinking



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29,776 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko


    This is exactly as I'd expect. The problem is the lack of any feedback loop on reports.

    I'm not blaming you for this, but it would be great if posters were getting feedback to know if reports were accepted and actioned or not. This would help in knowing whether I'm wasting my time in making future similar reports.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,716 ✭✭✭✭Arghus


    Nothing brings the place back to life more than discussing its imminent death.



  • Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 11,882 Mod ✭✭✭✭Say Your Number


    I remember last year the Eurovision thread was noticeably quiet, especially during the voting and the Late Late Toy Show thread got as much posts as an average LLS thread in 2016, Rock and Metal forum has only had a handful of posts this last month.

    This site probably will go for at least a few more years, but the difference between now and 5 years ago is definitely hard to ignore.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,797 ✭✭✭This is it


    It would be great if there were enough mods to provide feedback but there's not enough, and they're volunteers.

    Boards struggled for mods when I was a mod/cat mod 6 or 7 years ago, I can only imagine the difficulties now. Hard enough to get through the reports without having to justify the action either way.

    I don't bother reporting posts anymore, but I did appreciate the time posters took to report genuine problem posts.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 635 ✭✭✭BaywatchHQ


    I've never had positive interactions with moderators online in general but the ones here are particularly aggressive and speak to you like a school teacher would. I have loads of warnings from them but learned to stop even opening their messages.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 635 ✭✭✭BaywatchHQ


    I can't even use most sub reddits as I can never get my karma high enough. I usually post about blackpill incel related topics so it is very easy to rack up the down votes. Reddit is the perfect example of an echo chamber as they only allow views that are popular.



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  • Registered Users Posts: 4,309 ✭✭✭evolvingtipperary101


    When it comes to that mod, I know I will be targeted. Multiple threads now. And that's because I complained about the mod and their treatment of posters on Feedback (related to the Tubridy thread). Numerous good posters lost due to the mod's behavior on that thread. Of course, that feedback thread was binned. The usual clique. Within a short time to that, I got banned from the Gangland thread for posting about drugs and their ties to gangland when it's about gangland hits. When I tried to create a gangland and drugs thread, it was closed because there was already a gangland thread!!! That's the kind of targeting posters are talking about and sick of, I'd imagine. Same mod warns me for posting about Donaldson's expenses from 2009 - yet it was absolutely nothing related to the recent charges which the mod said not to post about. You can't win. Looks like that mod has been taken off the thread now but no good to me or you when we've been warned or thread banned.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,052 ✭✭✭✭Strumms


    this is an excellent post which really explains succinctly the problem with boards.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,716 ✭✭✭✭Arghus


    I think moderation is the epitome of an impossible task. There's no way to do it in a way that keeps everyone happy. Some people want more, some want less.

    Without a degree of moderation the place would become a shytshow.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29,776 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko


    Fair enough on the mod time demands. Even some automated system would be great, to tell us the outcome of each report.



  • Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 81,016 Mod ✭✭✭✭Sephiroth_dude


    This is already being done, In CA or after hours for example if I or another mod warn a poster for something, generally we will edit the post and write "Mod warned for this"



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,045 ✭✭✭Backstreet Moyes


    The charter in CA really needs to be updated really because most bans are at the whim of mods.

    Anyone who is a regular and not biased can see the bias towards certain posters.

    Probably the best one was when people on the less favorable side were warned about talking about Biden in a Biden thread while the more favorable side kept on talking about Trump.



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Regional East Moderators Posts: 18,604 CMod ✭✭✭✭The Black Oil


    Learned a lot here, whether it's the Cooking Club, parkrun, travel, how to run a marathon or buying cars. I've been a mod for 6 years and haven't banned anyone, though tbf, they're pretty non-controversial fora.

    I can't think of any old school type message board I know that's thriving, though. Really started to drop off probably 10 years ago. It's a shame. Vanilla has made such an unholy mess this place, dreadful.





  • but that’s never been the case. Why do you suddenly need feedback when never before was it necessary?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,689 ✭✭✭Signore Fancy Pants


    I'm here since 2007, it was great craic.

    For me, the downfall started with the GDPR and account closure option, combined with discussion limits (rightly or wrongly), Vanilla clusterfcuk, changing demographics, and site leadership lack of communication killed it.

    It's had a minor bounce back, but I'm not sure how long it realistically has left



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,392 ✭✭✭✭Furze99


    " In at least 50% of the cases a moderator will decide no action is needed."

    You see this is interesting and whilst it may only be a generalisation, it implies that in 50% of cases a moderator does intervene in some way. So the tactic by some of reporting posts is a valid one, you get a 1 in 2 'success' rate. Given that many posts are not reported and people just let them slide, it also implies that this is not a very efficient way of monitoring.

    Obviously only certain people are privy as to who are serial reporters. It must be possible to generate reports of a posters reporting history.

    FWIW, there are clearly forums where very little moderation is required. If I were to suggest an improvement, it would to assign a particular mod to contentious threads as they arise in AH/CA or elsewhere. Let them follow it but not participate in it and adjudge whatever actions are needed on the basis of the thread as a whole and the charter and with little or no input from reports. I'm fully aware and appreciate a lot of work is done on a voluntary basis. However the number of threads that are contentious and long running are not that great in number. This I think would be fairer in the round. As it is, it's impossible to express quite valid, every day and reasonable opinions on some threads without censure.



This discussion has been closed.
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