Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
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.

'Off-topic' thread for AH - good or bad idea?

124678

Comments

  • #92
    Snowie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 22,048 ✭✭✭✭Snowie


    hey im from the country we regularly sit on fence smokeing cigerates spitting and watching the world go buy slowly.


  • #93
    itsallaboutheL
    Closed Accounts Posts: 11,333 ✭✭✭✭itsallaboutheL


    I'm a boring fence sitter by nature
    Will somebody please give OLP access to a private forum so i can go back to being drunk and asleep...

    pretty please?


  • #94
    vodafoneproblem
    Closed Accounts Posts: 344 ✭✭vodafoneproblem


    I thought the idea of AH was that people could wander off topic and flirt or whatever late at night without fear of being deleted or locked? Has it become a victim of its own success and now harsher restrictions are being imposed to make it a bit more serious? It seems to me there are people arguing on the same side of the fence that want the opposite things, tbh. How about if there was some sort of time-related easing of restrictions? Like, say, between 8 or 9pm and 5 or 6am, people wouldn't be clamped down on for getting too chatty or flirty but at other times people were expected not to take over a thread so much? Would that not be giving everyone part of what they want? (I can understand that people don't want to be treated as performing seals.) As I don't see a voting option for something like this I guess I'll have to go for the boring fence-sitter option.


  • #95
    ascanbe
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,089 ✭✭✭ascanbe


    Good mornin' y'all.
    I'm guessin' this is being proposed because sometimes threads can become de-railed by people abandoning the initial point made or question asked by the OP and using the thread as a forum for gettin' to know ya' better/flirting.
    Not something I engage in but, also, not something that bothers me unduly whilst reading any particular thread; indeed, i feel, it's something that helps to foster a sense of community within AH.
    I've noticed that mods tend to give such interactions short shrift; leniency in this matter, within the current scope of AH, would be my recommendation.
    If that's not on the cards then an off-topic thread is a good idea.


  • #96
    Kiera
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,130 ✭✭✭✭Kiera


    I'm a boring fence sitter by nature
    itsallaboutheL wrote: »
    Will somebody please give OLP access to a private forum so i can go back to being drunk and asleep...

    pretty please?
    There ya go, Sharpy :P


  • Advertisement
  • #97
    ibarelycare
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 58,456 ✭✭✭✭ibarelycare


    No
    I've just read the word "clique" so many times that it's lost all meaning. :confused:


  • #98
    OutlawPete
    Closed Accounts Posts: 17,689 ✭✭✭✭OutlawPete


    No
    ibarelycare wrote: »
    I've just read the word "clique" so many times that it's lost all meaning. :confused:

    Ain't that the truth :p


  • #99
    Wazdakka
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,467 ✭✭✭Wazdakka


    I'm a boring fence sitter by nature
    ibarelycare wrote: »
    I've just read the word "clique" so many times that it's lost all meaning. :confused:

    Well it obviously means This.

    Not too sure how it's relevant though.. :confused:


  • #100
    K-9
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 43,313 ✭✭✭✭K-9


    OutlawPete wrote: »
    In ONE reply, in response to it being mentioned by others.

    Am I not entitled to counter the posts that were made in my absence?



    You didn't just reply, you TOLD me to stop mentioning cliques four times for a reason only known to yourself.

    Here are those four posts in quick succession.









    Why did you keep on with these posts when I had only mentioned 'Cliques' in ONE post tonight, and not after your first post?

    Between this and the other thread, you do go on about it ALOT. It doesn't do your cause any good.

    Anyway, I'll leave your clique and join another one! ;)

    Mad Men's Don Draper : What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons.



  • #101
    OutlawPete
    Closed Accounts Posts: 17,689 ✭✭✭✭OutlawPete


    No
    K-9 wrote: »
    Between this and the other thread, you do go on about it ALOT. It doesn't do your cause any good.

    Anyway, I'll leave your clique and join another one! ;)

    I'm not going get into this with you again today K9.

    I did NOT bring cliques into this and only mentioned the word once before you went on your rant.

    Can we not just leave it now, cheers.


  • Advertisement
  • #102
    Saibh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,431 ✭✭✭✭Saibh


    I'm a boring fence sitter by nature
    OutlawPete wrote: »
    I did NOT bring cliques into this and only mentioned the word once before you went on your rant.
    But in your first post you have written the word "clique" (twice actually) therefore you brought the word into this thread.
    And looking at your first post in feedback, you wrote it 3 times.


  • #103
    OutlawPete
    Closed Accounts Posts: 17,689 ✭✭✭✭OutlawPete


    No
    Saibh wrote: »
    But in your first post you have written the word "clique" (twice actually) therefore you brought the word into this thread.
    And looking at your first post in feedback, you wrote it 3 times.

    You are talking about a quote I included from the Feedback thread.

    Many people, as I have shown talked about cliques after that, so I responded ONCE on this thread.

    The thread was set up in Feedback in response to the replies that I received when I first suggested that an 'Off-topic' thread might be a good idea.

    That was in the Singles Chat Request thread with this post:
    OutlawPete wrote: »
    After Hours should have it's own off-topic chat thread just like tLL :cool:

    Kiera was the first to bring 'Cliques' into the debate:
    Kiera wrote: »
    I think a chat thread would create "cliques" and then going to an AH beers would be a big no no for newbies and the likes who havent gone to a beers like myself.

    My reply was:
    OutlawPete wrote: »
    The "cliques" are there already.

    Dr.B then put it perfectly with:
    dr.bollocko wrote: »
    It will help grow the AH clique (not any one in partic. there has always been an AH clique. Sher we were all in one or five of them)

    So that is why I mentioned them in my OP in the Feedback thread which in turn is quoted here.


  • #104
    Kiera
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,130 ✭✭✭✭Kiera


    I'm a boring fence sitter by nature
    OutlawPete wrote: »
    You are talking about a quote I included from the Feedback thread.

    Many people, as I have shown talked about cliques after that, so I responded ONCE on this thread.

    The thread was set up in Feedback in response to the replies that I received when I first suggested that an 'Off-topic' thread might be a good idea.

    That was in the Singles Chat Request thread with this post:



    Kiera was the first to bring 'Cliques' into the debate:



    My reply was:



    Dr.B then put it perfectly with:



    So that is why I mentioned them in my OP in the Feedback thread which in turn is quoted here.
    Yup it was me.


  • #105
    opinion guy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 11,000 ✭✭✭✭opinion guy


    I'm a boring fence sitter by nature
    Oh no is today Pedantic Wednesday ?

    Goddammit and I thought it was naked Tuesday......

    <searches for pants>


  • #106
    Stercus Accidit
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,758 ✭✭✭Stercus Accidit


    No
    The arguments I saw against this were the clique, won't somebody think of the clique! and having to mod it.

    Fine, get a new mod, have some rules, jeez, its a thread.

    The problem is that AH is seen as some sort of wild uncontrollable animal by people fearing giving anyone in it more of a voice than they are comfortable with, or treated as some sacred thing that cannot be changed by those who have built up their persona as the big cheese of AH, and need to maintain control and the anonymity of the lay poster.

    It is not a wild place, it is an internet forum filled with nerds, its a forum like any other. 'Oh but it's not, because...' It is, it is a forum like any other.

    Clique Clique Clique! A casual off-topic chat area will allow more people to express themselves outside of the dire tabloid threads that inhabit the front page, as such the clique which is in full swing and laying down the law re: an changes to AH will lose its power. The clique will die, and everyone will be able to get to know each other.

    AH is not sacred, it has changed many times, rules, charters, mods, its popular and always will be, one very desireable logical inclusion now isn't going to cause the whole house of cards to come tumbling down. It isn't a house of cards, its a house supported by huge popularity and many posters, it is a house of bricks.

    An off-topic thread will lighten the tone a bit also, alleviating some of the more heated threads of a rant better spent typing a joke in off-topic, any forum that features such a thread has a good atmosphere that I've seen, and I've seen more unknown posters express themselves and become part of the community in such threads than they could by slogging it out with the clique, thanks whoring in some heated heavily moderated thread.


  • #107
    mahamageehad
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,673 ✭✭✭mahamageehad


    No
    Hmmm i still think that if 41 people voted yes to it, it should be given a trial run. Those that voted no don't have to post there or view the thread.

    What harm to see if it would work on a week trial period than b*tch straight away that it would/wouldn't work?


  • #108
    mahamageehad
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,673 ✭✭✭mahamageehad


    No
    I also think it's interesting that 10 current mods have voted in the poll and 9 voted no while one sat on the fence. (That's not including hosted mods like Kiera or ex-mods like TheZohan.)


  • #109
    Saibh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,431 ✭✭✭✭Saibh


    I'm a boring fence sitter by nature
    You could have 1,000 people say they want it, but unless you have the backing of the AH mods I can't see it happening.



    /my 2 cents


  • #110
    dr.bollocko
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 35,948 Mod ✭✭✭✭dr.bollocko


    I'm a boring fence sitter by nature
    mahamageehad wrote: »
    I also think it's interesting that 10 current mods have voted in the poll and 9 voted no while one sat on the fence. (That's not including hosted mods like Kiera or ex-mods like TheZohan.)

    I dont think that's got anyfink got to do with the price of schpuds tbh buddy.


  • #111
    Stercus Accidit
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,758 ✭✭✭Stercus Accidit


    No
    Saibh wrote: »
    You could have 1,000 people say they want it, but unless you have the backing of the AH mods I can't see it happening.

    Then the mods should step down or be removed, they are here to service the forum, the forum is here for the posters, not them.


  • Advertisement
  • #112
    Stercus Accidit
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,758 ✭✭✭Stercus Accidit


    No
    dr.bollocko wrote: »
    I dont think that's got anyfink got to do with the price of schpuds tbh buddy.

    See my above post /\

    I'd say it would be fair for the mods to offer their perspective in this thread on why they think it wouldn't work, but if the posters of AH want it, the mods are here to facilitate that, and as such should sit on the fence for the vote.

    TBH I think it is testament to the fussiness of boardsies who get too used to the status quo and don't want anything to change, once they are catered to, that this is such a major dividing issue, the inclusion of a thread, on a forum.

    Where else will your average new poster get to make friends or get known in AH, in a thanks whore pun fest normal thread?

    Nah, thats the realms of this famous clique, read that mods and regulars likely most against any change.


  • #113
    ibarelycare
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 58,456 ✭✭✭✭ibarelycare


    No
    Stercus Accidit wrote: »
    Then the mods should step down or be removed, they are here to service the forum, the forum is here for the posters, not them.


    Not necessarily. As has been pointed out before, mods are posters too.


  • #114
    OutlawPete
    Closed Accounts Posts: 17,689 ✭✭✭✭OutlawPete


    No
    ibarelycare wrote: »
    Not necessarily. As has been pointed out before, mods are posters too.

    That's true but there is a conflict of interests.


  • #115
    Saibh
    Closed Accounts Posts: 10,431 ✭✭✭✭Saibh


    I'm a boring fence sitter by nature
    Stercus Accidit wrote: »
    Then the mods should step down or be removed, they are here to service the forum, the forum is here for the posters, not them.
    I see your point but just say the next batch of AH mods don't want it either... do you keep changing mods until they agree to it. :D


  • #116
    Stercus Accidit
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,758 ✭✭✭Stercus Accidit


    No
    Saibh wrote: »
    I see your point but just say the next batch of AH mods don't want it either... do you keep changing mods until they agree to it. :D

    Remember the lisbon threads! :D


  • #117
    Stercus Accidit
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,758 ✭✭✭Stercus Accidit


    No
    ibarelycare wrote: »
    Not necessarily. As has been pointed out before, mods are posters too.

    But if as mods, they go against the wishes of 1000 posters, they should be removed. That was the analogy made.

    The mods service the forum, the forum is for the users, if the users want this OT thread, they should have it, and boards.ie cater to that. It is a business after all, and AH is a very popular draw, this thread could increase that substantially by giving average joe poster the opportunity to break into the clique(cliché at this stage!) and as such allow more people to feel more at home, log on more regularly, feel more empathy to the guy they are arguing with and so on.


  • #118
    opinion guy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 11,000 ✭✭✭✭opinion guy


    I'm a boring fence sitter by nature
    Stercus Accidit wrote: »
    Then the mods should step down or be removed, they are here to service the forum, the forum is here for the posters, not them.
    Stercus Accidit wrote: »
    But if as mods, they go against the wishes of 1000 posters, they should be removed. That was the analogy made.

    The mods service the forum, the forum is for the users, if the users want this OT thread, they should have it, and boards.ie cater to that. It is a business after all, and AH is a very popular draw, this thread could increase that substantially by giving average joe poster the opportunity to break into the clique(cliché at this stage!) and as such allow more people to feel more at home, log on more regularly, feel more empathy to the guy they are arguing with and so on.


    Now I don't really think that this is at all fair. First let me say - I'm not a mod now, nor have ever been, but I recognise what a difficult time consuming job it must be (not to mention a headwrecking one having to read some of the drivel thats posted). And lest we forget, they aren't getting paid, its their free time they are giving up. So if the mods think implementing such and such a change is too difficult to moderate, then I think they are entitled to that opinion.

    Stercus, are you volunteering your free time and energy to mod the proposed AH off-topic thread ? Pete, are you ?


  • #119
    Stercus Accidit
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,758 ✭✭✭Stercus Accidit


    No
    opinion guy wrote: »
    Now I don't really think that this is at all fair. First let me say - I'm not a mod now, nor have ever been, but I recognise what a difficult time consuming job it must be (not to mention a headwrecking one having to read some of the drivel thats posted). And lest we forget, they aren't getting paid, its their free time they are giving up. So if the mods think implementing such and such a change is too difficult to moderate, then I think they are entitled to that opinion.

    Stercus, are you volunteering your free time and energy to mod the proposed AH off-topic thread ? Pete, are you ?

    Paid or voluntary, thankless or praised like gods, a job should be done right, regardless of motives.

    The job of moderator is to facilitate the use and enjoyment of the forum, I believe this proposed thread will be beneficial to the forum.

    The mods input is welcomed, but the final say is that of the posters, imo.


  • #120
    Kiera
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,130 ✭✭✭✭Kiera


    I'm a boring fence sitter by nature
    Stercus Accidit wrote: »
    Paid or voluntary, thankless or praised like gods, a job should be done right, regardless of motives.

    The job of moderator is to facilitate the use and enjoyment of the forum, I believe this proposed thread will be beneficial to the forum.

    The mods input is welcomed, but the final say is that of the posters, imo.
    Why should the mods have more work piled on them tho? It will need to be moderated and will be a nightmare seeing as there are so many posters in AH at any one time. Its is their (unpaid) job to look after the forum and if they dont want it then the buck should stop there.

    You dont see people going nuts because we cannot talk about sport and the likes. They move on to a different forum where sports talk is allowed.


  • Advertisement
  • #121
    opinion guy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 11,000 ✭✭✭✭opinion guy


    I'm a boring fence sitter by nature
    Stercus Accidit wrote: »
    Paid or voluntary, thankless or praised like gods, a job should be done right, regardless of motives.

    The job of moderator is to facilitate the use and enjoyment of the forum, I believe this proposed thread will be beneficial to the forum.

    The mods input is welcomed, but the final say is that of the posters, imo.

    That may be so, but the question remains - are you volunteering to moderate the proposed thread ? I think if one is giving their free time to something, one is entitled to say when whats being asked is too much. No ?


This discussion has been closed.
Advertisement