Important News!!

I don't really think it should be stickied anywhere except where it's relevant - which is CA (where it's already now stickied in the charter). That's the only place these new 'thunderdome' rules apply. Everywhere else just keeps on keeping on quite happily.

I’ve paid for a couple of reasons:

• I like many of the individual post from people who are here to offer tips or find tips
• I’m familiar with the setup and while it’s not perfect it feels less like the junk food versions available on other platforms that I never use
• It’s Irish centric, I’m Irish and like to read about Irish stuff, nothing wrong with wanting to filter out the entire world and discuss relevant things I can relate to
• Probably don’t use bargains enough but I’ve done well over years
• It’s definitely not AS narcissistic as some of the other alternatives
• €50 is nothing proportionate to the time I’ve spent on here. Not sure why people are asking to see accounts, if it goes under next week I will prob of spent more time here then I would paying €50 for some other entertainment and id hazzard a guess many of the whingebags will Spend more for less on other mediums

I’ve come to boards for many years in different clothes (I only ever have had one active acccount) and I haven’t always gotten on with everybody. But unlike alot of the emotionaly immature posters who just suck up all the oxygen in their vacinity, I try to self regulate and to self reflect.

Id say alot of posters don’t realise the absence of a counter argument coupled with “thanks” from similar thinking posters does not equate to you being right. It quite often is people ignoring you , like how I avoid certain people at all costs so I don’t get dragged into their toxic drama black hole.

Honestly, I’d pay more to have a lot of the drama gobsh*tes banned so we could have a forum of civil people who actually could disagree respectfully. Trump supporters and staunch non Trump people actually learning something from each other ? What a crazy idea, people learning to listen to opposing views in a manner that isn’t about showing how wrong and stupid the other side is, fairytale stuff from me I know.

I don’t get involved in high drama stuff for a couple of reasons. One being I like to take some topics from a POV of accepting my limited knowledge and people can think it’s a contrarian view. Regardless of topic , there is propaganda all around us and it’s a case of filtering what’s more likely to be the case instead of jumping to conclusions “because they lied to us before”.

Meh, I’m even getting bored of my own post here so will leave it there. I hope boards survives.

Far out man clicks fingers

If only they could charge a euro for every re-reg troll they would be minted.

I was in two minds for a while last night about subbing.

I still think that implicitly giving credence to the minority who complain most loudly and vigorously about moderation is a retrograde step for boards overall.

And it could be counterproductive, as that part of the site, which is the busiest and most popular as it is, will inevitably become pretty toxic and off-putting to many. And those who you are trying to appease will still not be happy. I think it sends the wrong message if you are trying to re-kindle a community spirit here.

And there's so many questions about the clarity of future plans. What's the road map for boards? What can we expect? It's a big ask to suddenly appear out of nowhere to ask for people to quickly pay up to change from users to consumers, after two decades of the other way around without much clarity about the plans, or even if there are plans in the first place. Or what we can realistically expect. I realise no-one has a crystal ball, but right now it feels like emotional blackmail: give us money if you want the site to survive, don't ask questions.

I value boards a lot and would like to pay to see it continue - in principle I'm not against the idea - but I don't want to be taken advantage of or taken for a ride either.