Very quiet in here

Ha Long Bay · 23-04-2025 11:17PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123384125#Comment_123384125

Sorry I missed the edit.

What kind of question is that as to "what I'm going to do to improve CA? "

I provided feedback as requested.

Big Bag of Chips · 23-04-2025 11:20PM

Here

I'm asking regular posters of CA what they can do, and what they will do to make CA a better place.

ShamoBuc · 23-04-2025 11:42PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123384073#Comment_123384073

I agree, however, which Dickheads??

Opinions vary alot on who is actually a Dickhead - hence it isn't as Simplistic as Ban Dickheads unfortunately.

Circle on left - leftie poster

Circle on right - rightie poster

Bottom Circle - central/general poster

Where they Align in the middle - Ban all those Dickheads - Absolutely.

However, Ban Dickheads fails when Only 1 Circle believe a poster is a Dickhead - Does a Mod Ban anyway? Would it still be fair???

What about if 2 Circles agree a poster is a Dickhead - is that enough for a Mod to Ban them - afterall, they may feel agrieved and start a Thread about it and Some may agree and some may disagree.

But what happens if you have 4/6/8/25 different circles - which Boards clearly has - different posters believing different posters are Dickheads and should be banned and quite often - vice versa.

Charters are there Because Ban Dickheads can be too simplistic.

Feedback threads help Tighten/loosen conditions of posting for various different Forums - and rightly so.

Hardly perfect but imho, better than ban dickheads - as there can be way too much grey area at times and can indeed cause as many problems - unless they fall into the Small area where Everyone agrees - but that would be a Far Smaller Percentage of actual Dickheads - hence which Dickheads?

Threads like these - when on track - do actually work I think. Some good ideas that can be utilised for the bettermnent of a Forum.

JP Liz V1 · 24-04-2025 12:09AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123384038#Comment_123384038

I think let appeals start after 1 month ban at max but not on 6 month ban

Also do mods read over posts from same poster when warning and banning as the last post which gets sanctioned could have been asked or lead up from other previous posts, the thread debate flow etc., e.g. if you are asked for proof and you provide same, then you should not be banned for "link dump" which imho also needs clearer defining

I will hold my hand up, both hands up as some issues, debating can get heated, I am guilty

I have been sanctioned and if I am honest I probably will be again but it does irk me when I am sanctioned for something then I see someone else do same or similar and no sanction that I can see, usually with a banning - so so cannot come to the thread so don't quote them - as a poster when you are baited or trolled, it is hard to hold your tongue

Everyone has an opinion and a view, anecdotes in general should be allowed but not to back up something as proof fact, maybe also defining use of anecdotes could be clearer

I thought Hamachi mentioning his family and siblings families was just a general anecdote, nothing to warrant a 6 month ban then site ban

I think for CA is where I pick up the sanctions no where else really

Also what can we post for IMHO part of that forum?

It would be good if this thread does not end up closed like previous ones were, it is good for posters and mods to air their grievances as at the end of the day, everyone wants to keep Boards going

Big Bag of Chips · 24-04-2025 12:11AM

So, what are you going to do @JP Liz V1 to make CA a nicer forum?

JP Liz V1 · 24-04-2025 12:21AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123384311#Comment_123384311

PM you only when I want to vent, complain and report, bypass all CA mods and cmods 😉😄

It is hard to change as what you say today can get you sanctioned tomorrow if you say it

McBain11 · 24-04-2025 01:42AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123383518#Comment_123383518

I am currently banned from CA. I'm going to say my piece here and I hope it is allowed even though I am banned from that CA forum.

Just on Irish Aris post above, I could not disagree more with the first paragraph. The notion that there hasn't been any significant news lately - in terms of asylum seekers (as part of the wider immigration discussion), the use of private hotels etc all over the country have been huge news for the past 2 or 3 years - and in the past 2 weeks there has been 1 huge story and another big story.

The huge story was Dundrum House and the fact that most of the media have finally started doing their job and finding out where these vast transfers of wealth are going (in this case, to a firm that did not exist 3 months ago, with capital of just 120 euros, and to a single Spanish director Ana Maria Fernandez Sanchez). The stench off this deal in on another level. I have no doubt there will eventually be huge political blowback over this contract.

The other big story was the D4 asylums seekers not being housed in the former Sachs Hotel. The biggest part to take notice of in this story is the actual headlines, in particular in The Independent. 'It's like I've won the lotto. My house would be of no value.' - I believe that this headline would not have even been contemplated by that newspaper editor 12 months ago. It signals a massive shift in how the media are now reporting asylum seeker accomodation issues.

These 2 pieces of news alone were worthy of lots of discussion over the past week or so. Instead on the Immigration thread, all topics were being drowned out by a spamming machine of a poster. One single poster in the space of 2 weeks obliterated that Immigration thread, completely and utterly untouched by moderation. This poster contributed absolutely nothing but spam, deflection, outright lies and last but not least, contempt in the tone of their posting. I'll say it again, completely untouched by mods.

Now, I can take my bans on the chin. I absolutely did not follow mod orders a number of times, and I bit at the bait that was consistently being shunted in everybody's face in the past fortnight by this 1 poster. What I cannot accept is the level of moderation for myself, but not for others. Genuine question, and I'm not being smart here - have the mods actually read the Immigration thread over the past fortnight?

I've had my back in forth with mods via PM's over this. There's no point going over that, if mods feel I was harsh in my tone towards them or how I described that certain posters spamming the immigration thread, I stand over what I wrote in PM's to numerous mods.

The immigration topic is a hugely important topic. To let it be absolutely sh*t on in the manner it has been recently was a sad sight to behold. Remember, this is a thread where there is another specialist in spamming and repeating the same stuff as nauseum to deflect from the actual real conversation. That spammer is at it a long time now, and they were put in the corner by this machine gun spammer. So anyone reading that thread a long time is well versed on certain tactics, but this was off the scale spamming recently. How in the name of God has it been left completely unmoderated?

I'll finish on part of a quote from said machine gun spammer poster. This is the level of absolute drivel and bad faith posting that has been allowed uninterrupted for hundreds of posts over a fortnight.

'You're aware that economic stability at 9% is a full 50% more than immigration at 6% are you not? That's far more. If you've 50% more cash in your wages or benefits you'll be far happier. And then you have housing/homelessness at 28% which is a whopping 4.7 times more of concern than immigration, cost of living 3.2 times. All very few people voted with asylum seekers and refugees in mind. Oh hang on, they did. They voted AGAINST the anti-immigration parties.

Do you really need a reminder that those parties opposing people fleeing war and persecution got a sum total of zero seats in a Dáil with a hefty 174 of them available. Not even one seat that would have earned 0.57% representation. Zilch. Nada. 0% representation in our native parliament. Maybe it's time that sunk in and the realisation that hateful views are unattractive in 21st century Ireland.'

Ah lads.

Necro · 24-04-2025 08:19AM

Ah lads, indeed.

That ^^ is what the mods have to put up with in that thread from either side, every single day. And then people wonder why there are loads of bans in the forum right now.

osarusan · 24-04-2025 08:23AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123384263#Comment_123384263

The ones the mods think are dickheads.

I'm sure we're all familiar with the experience of a poster arriving on a thread, and it's a case of 'oh FFS here we go again, they'll drag this thread down the toilet with their bad faith bullshyte that makes actual discussion impossible.'

Some people on here have been doing that for years. If I can see it, mods can see it.

To use the analogy boards has used for years, that of a customer in a pub - if the pub owner arrives a conclusion that a certain customer is just more trouble than they are worth for business, they don't create and adhere to some lengthy point-based system of dubious validity, they just tell them to get out and not come back.

Big Bag of Chips · 24-04-2025 09:19AM

We do that... And then are accused of mod bias, or abuse of mod powers!

It's up to each poster to be responsible for their own posting. If you do bite and fall victim to a "bad faith" poster as we'll call them, and post a bit of attack-the-poster then you have to accept you've broken a rule and earned a legitimate warning.

We've already had a poster here ask that people who "technically" break rules don't be warned and posters who are not breaking any rules be banned.

I can imagine the feedback threads!!

Overtime problem posters are dealt with. But each poster is responsible for what they post on the forum. You cannot control anyone else.

I do find it interesting that having posed the question a number of times now "what are you going to do to make CA a better place", nobody has answered. Except @JP Liz V1 who will be blocked and ignored if she starts spamming me with PMs 😉

nullzero · 24-04-2025 10:08AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123384655#Comment_123384655

You're framing what I said as some sort of unreasonable request.

The point I made was that someone mentioning something before the courts or presenting an anecdote for the first time shouldn't be getting slapped with an immediate ban.

It's a step below someone openly abusing another poster for example.

You framed this as something to be ridiculed and mentioned that I only want certain rules to be applied to myself and people I agree with. Which ignores that I've called for equal application of rules across the board.

There is no equal application of rules however.

The technical stuff I alluded to could be seen as housekeeping issues. The real meat of moderation is supposedly dealing with problematic users, seemingly the housekeeping stuff is higher on the agenda than people being openly abusive to other users, something which is consistently not actioned. I could list users who consistently get away with being abusive to others and they all seem to share the same overarching opinions so it's no wonder people see a divide.

You asked what people can do to make the forum better.

What I've done is stop using it as frequently, and when I do I blanket ignore a huge cohort of people who only ever interact with me in order to wind me up and derail discussion. I do this because even when they openly abuse me nothing ever happens to them, they have free reign to act like dicks, that's the nub of the issue.

You need to stop EVERYONE acting like a dick. Then things will run smoothly.

Seriously, moderators coming here berating users behaviour while allowing openly abusive posting boggles the mind.

Until you apply the rules evenly it's always going to be a disaster.

Irish Aris · 24-04-2025 10:17AM

To be fair to everyone, I never had a bad pm interaction with anyone - well, just once, but that was a troll who thought it a good idea to pm me and call me various names.

I had people PM me a bit on edge, and I am always mindful to be as polite as possible, use a lot of neutral words in order not to aggravate the situation further, but also not come across as condescending. I'd like to think that I have achieved that in every occasion, but of course if anyone feels hard done by or offended by what I said to them, they can always tell me or someone up higher, so I can improve my communication technique further.

The one thing I will say is that there is quite a bit of "look over there", "what about that poster" in some of these PM discussions. It's unfortunate, but it is what it is and I (sort of) get it. But as I said in the previous feedback thread, this entrenching of opinions and sides isn't really productive and, in my opinion, doesn't help improve the discussion and make it more robust.

suvigirl · 24-04-2025 10:35AM

I think you are a very fair, calm and just mod @Irish Aris and I appreciate any interaction and advice you may have sent me. Most mods included also. I also note that you do delete abusive posts, or sometimes parts of posts, which I realise is a lot of work, so fair play for that.

It can be frustrating sometimes if a post or reported and it looks like nothing has been done. For example I reported a personal abusive post a number of weeks ago, and I know I wasn't the only one to report it. Nothing was done until 2 days ago and only because it suited the situation. It wasn't actioned because it was abusive towards me at the time. It was later actioned because it was advantageous for it to be done. That just seems underhanded and unfair on everyone. Perhaps sometimes frustration from incidents like that, posters may post things that are 'uncivil'

eightieschewbaccy · 24-04-2025 10:45AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123384776#Comment_123384776

Honestly mentioning a court case even if vaguely, seems like a pretty guaranteed way for a poster to end up responding in relation to the case. So I can sort of get the mod responding like that.

Necro · 24-04-2025 10:46AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123384776#Comment_123384776

The point I made was that someone mentioning something before the courts or presenting an anecdote for the first time shouldn't be getting slapped with an immediate ban.

This simply isn't happening though - if someone initially breaks a rule like this then the first instance will almost always be a zero point warning (which comes with no ban and they are not counted in the incremental process) - assuming the poster has no record of this behaviour in the past.

Mods have access to this to see if a poster is a repeat offender or if this is, as you say just a minor slip where someone neglected to read the rules in the OP of a thread for instance.

What is important is context - if someone is repeatedly breaking these rules - as minor as they may seem - what other recourse have the mods other than to use the ban function.

And remember, the warning is issued for the post, that still hasn't changed - what has changed is the fact that bans are incremental and come with every single pointed warning a poster receives in CA at present.

You would expect that posters, having received one day, three day, one week, two week, and month long bans would wise up and adjust their posting style but that is not happening.

So what may on the outside be seen as a minor rule break now becomes the reason for a poster getting a three month, or a six month forum ban. Because they refuse to listen or heed the advice of the mods to adjust their posting style and continue to break these rules.

That's as general as I can make my point without discussing specific posters which would be unfair.

McBain11 · 24-04-2025 10:52AM

I'll hold my hands up. Every single PM I've had with Irish Aris and other mods over the past couple of weeks have very much been in the "look over there" and "what about the other poster" mode. tbh, it went a lot further than just that in terms of my thoughts on that other poster. My language was in no way as civil as it would be while posting on the CA forum itself with that other poster.

The thing is, I don't for a single second regret my actions in that CA forum. I also don't for a second regret my PM conversations with mods. They probably think from my PM's at I was screaming look over there, it's not my fault I didn't do anything wrong , but I wasn't. I was just wondering where the fairness in the moderation had gone? I was wondering why one poster can so openly go onto a thread with a machine gun spamming style, contribute nothing but lies and contempt, drowning out any decent level of discourse, and other posters including myself can end up banned for following up with this certain poster continuously (I was told this was baiting) and looking for responses to these clear falsehoods. Anyone with a clear head and no bias could see that what this other posters intent was over the past fortnight. It was not open and civil discussion. It was clearly spamming and baiting. Maybe mods are so deep into dealing with bullsh*t in the CA forum that they can't even see such a blatant example of a troll anymore. Or maybe there's another reason this was left to go on and on with this certain poster, honestly I just can't get my head around it

It's funny because Necro mentions it above about the mods putting up with 'either side'. Everybody in that Immigration thread and mods are obsessed with sides. It's really really strange. There are numerous posters with a completely different viewpoint to mine on Immigration issues in Ireland who have posted in that thread and the older immigration thread for years now. I don't agree with 99 percent of what they say, but at no point was I agitated by what or how they were posting. Only 2 posters in CA in my time there have clearly used certain tactics to derail discussion. One has been banned numerous times previously but is still in there somehow consistently spamming. The new spamming contributor is another level altogether though, they should be given an award for the volume of spam allowed in that Immigration thread in such a short time and completely unmoderated.

Honestly, I'm just not sure what is going on. I do know this though, no matter what side anyone is on in any forum on boards, to allow that level of spam from an individual poster go unchecked for so long will kill any thread. Job done by them I suppose.

suvigirl · 24-04-2025 11:15AM

One posters spam is another posters valid point 😊

eightieschewbaccy · 24-04-2025 11:15AM

Haven't opened that immigration thread in a long time and much of it appears to be pushing a far right conspiracy theory TBH... I'd say posters are being given a lot of leeway.

nullzero · 24-04-2025 11:18AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123384864#Comment_123384864

I received a ban for supposedly being sarcastic when ending a post to another user with the phrase "bye now".

I had a PM exchange with the mod and explained I wasn't being sarcastic then mid way through that conversation I was told the ban was being upheld because in another post I mentioned that a murder had taken place (didn't discuss it in any detail, just mentioned it had occurred) and it was before the court and I was lucky not to be getting a longer ban.

When I see people posting some of the open abuse that gets absolutely no mod action and I'm being banned for saying "bye now" at the end of a post what other conclusion can I reach but that some people can do no right and other can do no wrong in the eyes of moderators?

I see one poster in the immigration thread was warned yesterday to tone down their behaviour, which they have completely ignored and continue to post abusive snarky crap with no intervention.

Just apply the rules across the board.

This whole issue is being overly complicated for no good reason at all.

Big Bag of Chips · 24-04-2025 11:27AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123384845#Comment_123384845

This is not correct. There was no active moderator in that forum. The post was seen (not the report) when the poster was being investigated for something else - so there blows the theory that good posters are get banned for "technical" breaches and not a pattern of posting.

That post was unacceptable, but the report was not seen by anyone. When I saw the post I warned it - using the posters own words, which he took great exception to!!

Anyway, not everything is as it seems on the surface. Posters don't see what is going on in the background. And what is going on in the background is rarely what posters think is happening.

suvigirl · 24-04-2025 11:35AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123385000#Comment_123385000

That's fair enough. I didn't realize there was still an issue with not enough mods.

Pretty sure other mods saw it at the time, can mods from other forums substitute in?

Big Bag of Chips · 24-04-2025 11:36AM

Again this comes back to, look after yourself and your own posting and don't be worried about others. It'll make life easier for the moderators to deal with all those problem posters if others don't also pile in.

Ignore those you don't want to engage with. It's actually quite simple. There are some posters I just scroll past and don't read any of their posts because I know I won't agree and will end up annoyed. So why would I knowingly annoy myself.

We do also have an ignore feature. You absolutely don't have to read anything in here you don't want to. If you choose to knowing that you are likely to get irritated then it's on you. And if you respond in a way that moderators deem to breach the forum rules then you have to accept the warning is fair.

Big Bag of Chips · 24-04-2025 11:38AM

Again - very little response to what posters personally will do to turn CA around. Expecting other posters, moderators, forum rules to all change to suit them.

If everyone looked to themselves then the forum overall would improve. There will always be dickheads. They exist. In real life and online. If you avoid and ignore them in real life you should be also able to avoid and ignore online.

If you seek them out just to argue with them, then the moderators will have to continue to deal with that.

Necro · 24-04-2025 11:46AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123385032#Comment_123385032

It's not permitted no, we can only mod within the forums we're assigned. Anywhere else we're just a normal poster really. Mind you I do feel that mods while absolutely being allowed to have opinions should try at all times to set the example in terms of acceptable posting even outside of their own forums. For me that opinion is more about having respect for your fellow mods than anything related to a particular viewpoint!

For example if I was to action a post in After Hours where I'm not a mod then that would be a big no no as I don't have permission to do that.

suvigirl · 24-04-2025 11:50AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123385060#Comment_123385060

Ok, thanks for the clarification

EmmetSpiceland · 24-04-2025 11:54AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123384801#Comment_123384801

Awhile back now, I had an “interaction” with a mod. I had racked up a number of warnings within a short time. This mods pointed this out and said if it didn’t change I wouldn’t be on the site much longer.

I did the usual of pointing out what others were up to but the mod asked had I reported them. I said no as, at the time, I wouldn’t report “on principle”. The mod said without reports nothing would happen and if I kept reacting to those posts I would be getting warned, as my posts were being reported.

After that, I changed my way of posting and started working with the mods. Sure, I’ve gotten warnings since, some were overturned after a PM and some were not but they were, thoroughly, deserved. Still, I haven’t had to wear the “prison bars”, or anything like that, yet.

So it was solid advice and I would encourage others to work on their posting “style”, if they are getting into hot water frequently.

Big Bag of Chips · 24-04-2025 12:00PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123385032#Comment_123385032

No. They only have moderator privileges in their own forum. And moderators tend not to look at reports of other forums. As we tell moderators, outside of their own forums they are just posters like everyone else.

JohnJoFitz · 24-04-2025 12:16PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123384382#Comment_123384382

Any thread that poster does not like is spammed relentlessly, all day every day, weekends, holidays. I don't know how they find time to feed their cats.

McBain11 · 24-04-2025 12:43PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123385154#Comment_123385154

I noticed this is some random thread in AH a few months back, I think it was about drink driving or something along those lines. He absolutely obliterated that thread. Tore it to pieces with utter drivel post after drivel post. By the end of it, absolutely nobody was going to be discussing the original topic, they had all left. Job done.

The intent in such posting is so obvious. Stifle conversation, interrupt any flow to it, and hopefully everyone will just give up discussing it. It's why I cannot get my head around the moderation. If that style of spamming is allowed to go unchecked, all you end up with is tumbleweed.

One posters spam is another posters valid point was mentioned in here. That is a classic tbf. Well played. I honestly don't think the mods around this place see what's going on right in front of them. It's a running joke at this stage.

Boggles · 24-04-2025 12:47PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123385222#Comment_123385222

TBF you seem to have an ongoing problem with one specific user across multiple forums and not the running of CA.

We use have the Thunderdome for this.

I imagine it is long gone though.

Very quiet in here

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