Important News!!

Richer Sounds must still sell a good bit of stuff through here. I bought a TV off them once.

I always found the 'Talk To ..' forums useful. Something similar would be good

I remember getting a whole years Electric Ireland bills refunded because some young fella from EI rang me trying to get me to renew and about 3/4's way through the call I told him no thanks I was moving elsewhere which I was. So, off I went to a cheaper provider

However, he had put me through as renewing then the threatening letters came and even for cutting me off, all the while I was with someone else.

Well, rather than go through phone hell I came on here and talked to Electric Ireland and it was sorted and within a few weeks they refunded me the whole previous year for the hassle.

So yeah, that was a good set of forums :)

Anyone remember the Currys Managing Director on here - that was good as well.

Richer Sounds are excellent on here too.

Genuinely saddened at how a uniquely national forum with massive goodwill keeps on making such blunderous missteps in such cack handed ways. Even the 'important announcement' is completely half arsed. This just was not thought through at all - back of a fag packet stuff - which gives the impression the current owner doesn't really give a toss in earnest, and their statements further that perception.

The current 'plan' appears to be to get approx 2k users to subscribe, but am dubious this can be achieved. Maybe it could with a clear thought out roadmap, and genuine supporting content, but my understanding of 'the plan', is 'let's ask dedicated Boardsies to hand over their hard earned cash, and in return they will be given a worse version of what we have now'.

How long did it take to have this brainwave (just now, on the cusp of closure, despite a subscription model previously existing?), and once it was had, was it just immediately communicated without any supporting work? Appears so.

Not a great sell, even to someone who does want to support the site. There is a distinct lack of trust of management for me a this juncture, and they don't seem to have the energy or the ideas to make a success of it, even with all the usp's of Boards.

Probably the best thing that could happen is the site is effectively donated to pillars of the community to manage. It would be a travesty to lose the site and it's content, even after the move to 'Vanilla'.

One thing that has never been clear to me is why vBulletin was not sustainable - what occassioned the move to 'Vanilla' in the first place? That unfortunately looks like it may have been the start of the end for Boards.

I bought a good bit of gear from Richer Sounds, having discovered them here. They're an excellent company to deal with and they give great advice too.

Monday noon and no posts from the boards.ie: …. Profile's yet today?

Hope they are not busy fixing accounts for people not using their boards email?

I boosted my social post yesterday 3 times yesterday, and just again now. I don't think I will be keep doing it. Because people on the feed might get tired of seeing the same post again. (Not a repost but same post recreated with a new time stamp on it.)

I got 3 reposts since Saturday, 1 from a boards profile I recognized.

Great post there and highlights much of what is wrong. The site appears directionless, the owners appear detached and a bit clueless (maybe burnt out), the rescue "plan" is half-assed and half-hidden. It's not even clear whether the aim is simply to break-even or generate a profit for the owner. I've no problem either way, but the lack of clarity is very worrying as it reinforces the feeling of drift. And it's not clear what the actual implications of "strip it back to plain Vanilla" are, but it sounds like a recipe for more chaos and disgruntlement rather than a magic bullet. And what's worse it sounds like a tech solution (of sorts) to what is actually a business problem. With the greatest of respect to the owner, this needs someone with significant business experience to get involved (even if briefly) and conduct a top to tail review and set-out the options towards viability. Everything else revolves around that.