Advertisement
Help Keep Boards Alive. Support us by going ad free today. See here: https://subscriptions.boards.ie/.
If we do not hit our goal we will be forced to close the site.

Current status: https://keepboardsalive.com/

Annual subs are best for most impact. If you are still undecided on going Ad Free - you can also donate using the Paypal Donate option. All contribution helps. Thank you.
https://www.boards.ie/group/1878-subscribers-forum

Private Group for paid up members of Boards.ie. Join the club.

Important News!!

1…6162646667…98

Comments

  • #1892
    New Home
    Moderators, Arts Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 79,502 Mod ✭✭✭✭New Home


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123683761#Comment_123683761

    I was wondering because in the search they're two of the options in the drop-down menu. No biggie, I was only curious 🙂



  • #1893
    New Home
    Moderators, Arts Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 79,502 Mod ✭✭✭✭New Home


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123683781#Comment_123683781

    You may very well be right.



  • #1894
    corkie
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,082 ✭✭✭corkie


    @TetraSonic55 What did you subscribe too that you have both?

    image.png

    #Aras25 | Have your say on the two linked polls? AH & CA
    "There will be a protest vote and absolutely people’s right to do that. There is no intention to take away that right or to stop it in any way." ~ Chair of the Electoral Commission Ms Justice Marie Baker
    "Níl mé toilteanach toil a thabhairt"! 24-09-2025 09:31PM



  • #1895
    gipi
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,491 ✭✭✭gipi


    Subscriber was the pre-Vanilla paid member? People could and did subscribe in the past, I recall seeing "subscriber" under their username. The username was italicised too (or did I dream that!!)



  • #1896
    SickBoy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 3,582 ✭✭✭SickBoy


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123683809#Comment_123683809

    On vBulletin, if you subscribed you either had title of Subscriber or you could put in a title of your choosing(as long as it wasn't offensive).

    I also remember the username either being bolded or italics as you mentioned, maybe it was both?



  • Advertisement
  • #1897
    Glaceon
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 3,205 ✭✭✭Glaceon


    As a former subscriber in the vBulletin days, I can confirm that the username was italicised. Wasn’t bolded though, think that was only for mods and admins.



  • #1898
    Dr Robert
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 1,686 ✭✭✭Dr Robert


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123683928#Comment_123683928

    Those people get the real coke and hookers

    Save boards.ie by subscribing:

    https://subscriptions.boards.ie/


  • #1899
    Polar101
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,128 ✭✭✭Polar101


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123680468#Comment_123680468

    At the moment the site works like s*it on my tablet.. thread bouncing, and typing the first couple of words always overwrites the text. There was talk of removing the Boards customisations - but nothing has happened yet. But maybe i'm the only one who won't subscribe until the site works properly (and yes I understand Boards may be shut down before that..).



  • #1900
    New Home
    Moderators, Arts Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 79,502 Mod ✭✭✭✭New Home


    There was talk of removing the Boards customisations - but nothing has happened yet.

    Be careful what you wish for.



  • #1901
    Appletart Upsetter
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 856 ✭✭✭Appletart Upsetter


    I'm trying to think of an analogy for those reluctant to pay until they're sure that boards will survive.

    Is it a bit like refusing to hit the brake pedal until you know what's at the bottom of the cliff?



  • Advertisement
  • #1902
    Neowise
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,216 ✭✭✭Neowise


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123684141#Comment_123684141

    once bitten twice shy.

    With no plan to have anything but vanilla, the thing that has made boards crap, why?

    Boards was great. Was worth paying a sub for. But then they done vanilla.
    no plan to unvanilla.

    Nope. This is not the same boards that i want to save and have nostalgia over.

    It’s a cheap substitute that only reminds me what i had a tiny bit.

    I’m nearly at the bottom of the cliff now. Brake pedal ready for something that is never going to return.



  • #1903
    Appletart Upsetter
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 856 ✭✭✭Appletart Upsetter


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123684162#Comment_123684162

    What's the alternative?

    Boards is the people that post on here, not the infrastructure.



  • #1904
    banie01
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,558 ✭✭✭✭banie01


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123684172#Comment_123684172

    What was the alternative to MySpace, friends reunited, bebo and whole plethora of other websites that have come and gone? People can and will find, create and migrate to alternative platforms if their current preferred one doesn't meet their needs or preferences anymore.

    Boards already bled a lot of it's user base at the Vanilla switchover and the notion that it can survive as a business whilst deliberately choosing to revert to the original implementation of Vanilla? Is hopeful in the extreme.



  • #1905
    Neowise
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,216 ✭✭✭Neowise


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123684172#Comment_123684172

    hopefully there is a Phoenix from the ashes moment, but maybe the folks scatter and never reconvene anywhere. There have been many spin offs from boards (ipb just one example) maybe a replacement forum/board emerges.



  • #1906
    New Home
    Moderators, Arts Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 79,502 Mod ✭✭✭✭New Home


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123684141#Comment_123684141

    Would you pay upfront in a restaurant you used to know but now don't without even seeing the menu?

    Post edited by New Home on


  • #1907
    Appletart Upsetter
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 856 ✭✭✭Appletart Upsetter


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123684282#Comment_123684282

    Probably if they've never charged me for anything previously!

    To be fair, I don't have a lot of skin in this game. I'm on my 3rd account, I've posted intermittently here over the last 20 in years maybe. Probably amassed 3000 posts max.

    I came back here because I closed all my other social media accounts, for obvious reasons, and I was reminded how cool it is to use this type of site. Maybe it's nostalgia but paying a small bit of money to keep this type of thing going is worth it. I wouldn't give X/Facebook/Etc… the steam of my chips.



  • #1908
    jj880
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 7,190 ✭✭✭jj880


    Nothing stays the same forever. What was viable 20 years isnt now. We're not getting vbulletin back but boards is still worth having imo. Just saved 100 euro from lads over in the broadband forum advising how to setup a mesh network on the cheap. Throw in a few euro to see if the site survives if funds allow.

    >>> BOARDS IS IN TROUBLE - SUBSCRIPTIONS NEEDED <<<

    Info 👉️ Important News!!

    Progress 👉 https://keepboardsalive.com/

    Subscribe 👉️ https://subscriptions.boards.ie/



  • #1909
    Polar101
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,128 ✭✭✭Polar101


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123684109#Comment_123684109

    Yeah, I'd rather get rid of Vanilla altogether, but that doesn't seem to be the plan.



  • #1910
    Unknownability
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,015 ✭✭✭Unknownability


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123684282#Comment_123684282

    Yes, literally did this exact thing during covid by purchasing gift cards to use after the pandemic.

    I get the irony of it saying I'm not a paid member, I assure you I am.



  • #1911
    dublincc2
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 557 ✭✭✭dublincc2


    Really considering subscribing as boards is a font of information and a capsule of Irish online life for much of the past quarter century.

    The rot set in long before vanilla, and lots of information has been lost, for example the amount of closed accounts that have had data scrambled and ‘this post has been deleted’ which messes up a lot of archived threads.



  • Advertisement
  • #1912
    thesandeman
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,005 ✭✭✭✭thesandeman


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123683809#Comment_123683809

    Yep. That was the first time I asked if there was any way I could use Carrier Billing as I wanted to subscribe.



  • #1913
    fits
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 14,318 ✭✭✭✭fits


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123684370#Comment_123684370

    I feel the same. This type of site with no algorithm that you can see posts in chronological order is worth saving.

    https://subscriptions.boards.ie

    Subscribe and save boards.ie



  • #1914
    Glaceon
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 3,205 ✭✭✭Glaceon


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123684907#Comment_123684907

    You're right. I remember that things started to decline when the forums were recategorised in the top navigation bar. It became a lot harder to find forums at that point, which caused a dropoff in traffic for the more obscure ones.



  • #1915
    miamee
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Regional East Moderators, Regional North West Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 13,086 Mod ✭✭✭✭miamee


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123684907#Comment_123684907

    The closed accounts with scrambled posts were the first procedure in complying with GDPR but the procedure was then updated to scramble just the profile details but not the posts.

    Post edited by miamee on


  • #1916
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 54,207 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123685169#Comment_123685169

    Obscure forums tend to become ghettos though. There has been an overspecialisation of topics to the point where many forums cannot generate enough momentum to be self sustaining.



  • #1917
    Deub
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,631 ✭✭✭Deub


    it is not looking good for Boards, is it?

    Only around 500 subscribers for a target of 2000. I would have thought the bulk of subscriptions would be within the first 2 weeks but it is just at 25% of the goal.



  • #1918
    _Kaiser_
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 29,690 ✭✭✭✭_Kaiser_


    It does seem to have lost whatever momentum was there alright - partly because of the sporadic engagement from Odhran who, while I'm sure has other things to do as well, needs to really be putting out his plan for the site over the next year (assuming it survives) and beyond.

    This needs to be more than vague statements of intent such as was the case when he first posted years ago. I re-read that post over in feedback a few weeks ago, and a lot of what was talked about then still hasn't happened or is being rehashed now.

    A clear plan with achievable and defined milestones and targets is what's needed - especially if the community is being asked to directly fund these efforts.

    We also need an update on the financial health of the site factoring in the subscriptions to-date. Has it bought a month? 6 months? A year? As well as providing much needed feedback to those already contributing, it may help sway others currently on the fence if the answers show it's actually making a difference to the future of the place.

    @Boards.ie: Odhran - over to you sir!



  • #1919
    Discodog
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,088 ✭✭✭✭Discodog


    The members can't save Boards unless the owners are 100 percent committed. I have seen little to suggest they are.

    It's needs to be someone's passion with the drive & dedication to a long term future.



  • #1920
    The Rooster
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,328 ✭✭✭The Rooster


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123685544#Comment_123685544

    I struggle to understand people posting so negatively about the financial position. 2000 was the aim, but at least €25k additional income has been generated, which seems pretty good to me

    Presumably the new advert system for non-subscribers would also increase revenues.

    And a lot of free advertisement in the Indo and various others places about the imminent demise would have seen a big bump in casual visitors that i would guess, temporarily, more than offset the loss of casual visitors from googling that is the reason given for the sub request in the OP.

    There is no urgent financial need to close this place down, but the owners can shut it down whenever they want and liquidate their assets. That has not changed and is unlikely to change.



  • Advertisement
  • #1921
    Deub
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,631 ✭✭✭Deub


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123686734#Comment_123686734

    I struggle to understand people posting so negatively about the financial position. 2000 was the aim, but at least €25k additional income has been generated, which seems pretty good to me

    Because the initial post of this thread is quite alarming and particularly these 2 paragraphs:

    We’re now at a crossroads. Without a change to our financial position in the coming weeks, we will be forced to shut Boards.ie down.

    Our goal is to reach 2,000 paying members. We know that’s ambitious - but with a mix of member support and ad revenue, we believe we can keep the lights on.

    I mean Mike is talking about keeping the light on with 2000 subscribers, not thriving. Don't get me wrong, I really hope the site stays.



This discussion has been closed.
Advertisement