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Child Item

Humiliation on Boards

Holocene

I have been a long-time lurker on this site. I enjoy it, and love hearing the variety of views on different topics. It is a great website, all told.

However, one thing troubles me, and that is the level of humiliation to which some people are exposed on here.

It seems that anyone who appears on Irish television, radio or other media, however briefly and for whatever reason, is fair game is liable to be be commented upon here and criticized for their appearance, weight, mannerisms etc.

Ireland is a very small country and this is proportionally a very popular website. I hate reading ugly or mean comments about people when I know there is a very good chance that they, their partners, family or friends might be reading too.

I just wondered how others feel about this. Has any attempt ever been made to curtail it? Or do you see it as an unavoidable by-product of our relative freedom of discourse on the internet?

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buried

All Irish "celebrities" are going to be ridiculed because Ireland is a very small country. Most of these people in the media think they're from Beverlly Hills not a 30 minute drive away from the nearest bog. The culture of 'celebrity' only exists in the world as an integral part of consumerism and branding that is used globally for multi-million dollar profit, thats the only way it can work. It is also extremely decadent and when it is attempted on a little island with a couple of million people, it looks absolutely ridiculous, hence the ridicule, and the ridicule happens everywhere and not just on the internet.

Cee-Jay-Cee

I sincerely hope that Twink, the oul piss faced wizened bitch has read all my comments about her, I meant every one of them.

Now what was the question again...

dewsbury

I agree with the OP.

Sometimes people have a talent and become famous for using this talent.
They could be a footballer, a musician or a broadcaster.

Just because they are famous this does NOT mean that it is appropriate to write things in a public forum that would cause offense to them.

Cienciano

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Yeah. S'nice being able to call people 'jumped up losers' behind your fancy spider-web curtains of anonymity.

Sweet sweet irony.

I thought that was the joke?

Chuck Stone

Cienciano wrote: »

I thought that was the joke?

Could be but I reckon not.

Ray von

Lando Griffin wrote: »

She is but if she dosent like it why not a career in IT.

Because she is as thick as sh*t.

giant_midget

Temaz wrote: »

There was a bit of hassle in the fair city thread recently. People commented on how much overweight ,borderline obese a lot of the cast were.

A few posters mostly female threw a fit about it, a lot of them closed their accounts over what was just a few jokes about a actor/actors in a show.

Some people need to lighten the fcuk up!

That niamh bird is mega fat now...and to think when i was in school i used to fancy her :pac:

Mr Benevolent

Holocene wrote: »

It seems that anyone who appears on Irish television, radio or other media, however briefly and for whatever reason, is fair game is liable to be be commented upon here and criticized for their appearance, weight, mannerisms etc.

It's because they're generally cack-handed, provincial and highly embarrasing to the Irish people. Either that or we're extreme begrudgers.

4zn76tysfajdxp

Temaz wrote: »

There was a bit of hassle in the fair city thread recently. People commented on how much overweight ,borderline obese a lot of the cast were.

A few posters mostly female threw a fit about it, a lot of them closed their accounts over what was just a few jokes about a actor/actors in a show.

Some people need to lighten the fcuk up!

Okay, we get it. They're fat.

Jaysoose

Confab wrote: »

It's because they're generally cack-handed, provincial and highly embarrasing to the Irish people. Either that or we're extreme begrudgers.

I begrudge that remark.

In fairness the "talent" knocking around rte have to be paid shedloads cos sky and the Beeb are waiting in the bushes to poach them.. i always wonder how joe duffy hasnt been poached by the big boys because his ham fisted self serving approach to broadcasting is of the highest quality.

CodyJarrett

If I was a celebrity I would be more worried about what was posted about me on YouTube and the like than would be posted here.

Boards goes out of it's way to try and moderate slating for slating sake and I think that is all they can (or should) do tbh as that's all the protection they have in the real world also.

I mean, if Ryan Tubridy is walking down the Grafton St and someone follows him and starts abusing him, he could alert a Guard and get the guy to stop pestering him but if they guy just comes up and says: "You're crap, you don't deserve the money you get and the only reason you got that job was because of nepotism" and then walks off, Tubs would be able to do fcuk all and if he did call a Guard for that, it would be comical.

In other words: for every person in this country that wanna shake your hand when your famous and tell you how great you are altogether, there is ten who want to tell you how much of a twat you and just precisely why that is.

Of course there is always the element out there that would approach the guy, just to abuse them in a nasty way, as there are on Boards and those are the only ones that can or should get moderated.

I know one famous person in Ireland they say what most celebrities will about the Country, in that it's not the best place in the world to be famous for the very reason that we (for whatever reason) don't adore celebritydom the way other countries might and that's just the way it is, they better get used to it as I can't see Irish people changing their attitudes in this regard anytime soon.

gigawatt2007

giant_midget wrote: »

That niamh bird is mega fat now...and to think when i was in school i used to fancy her :pac:

She's up the damo my friend....

AnonoBoy

The sort of thing that gets said on boards about people is the same sort of thing that's been said for decades in pubs and sitting-rooms across the country.

It's just that now it's online so more people can see it.

giant_midget

gigawatt2007 wrote: »

She's up the damo my friend....

Seems like there is a baby hippo in her :pac:

Tombi!

gigawatt2007 wrote: »

She's up the damo my friend....

Is that what they call it these days?

Back in my day "Damo" was the name for the local drug dealer.

ScumLord

Holocene wrote: »

However, one thing troubles me, and that is the level of humiliation to which some people are exposed on here.

It's the humiliation that we come here for. Everyone else is wearing a femskin right?

Boombastic

*off to google Holocene to see what dirt I can dig up :pac:

Eve_Dublin

I remember a year or so ago there was a thread knocking some girl for doing something a bit silly for a bit of limelight which featured in an Irish paper. People completely laid into to her and were absolutely horrible. The girl was only about 21. I posted up some comment like, "leave her alone, She's only a young wun and it's highly likely she's reading this thread". Got a PM from her a week or so later thanking me (I know, I'm great!) but I can't imagine how she must've felt reading what was written about her. It would've destroyed me at her age.

I also know of another known person who read some comments about themselves on here and was deeply hurt by what people said. :cool:

I think in a country the size of Ireland, you have to think that the person who's reading what you're writing might well be reading it. Some of the banter, okay, understandable and goes with the territory but some people get very, very personal...almost hateful.

Bizarre stuff. Why do people care so much about Irish celebrities? Some people claim to despise them but they know more about their every movement then their mothers. They must watch them like a hawk constantly. Strange stuff.

Shryke

Reoil wrote: »

Jumped-up losers hiding behind a curtain of web anonymity.

Which is exactly what you are doing when you insult others on here.

What is said on boards is the least of what is said in the media. It's part of the fame game. Most people who pursue that lifestyle want people talking about them.
Plenty of what is said is lighthearted.
Some of it is spot on and deserved.

If people expressing opinions isn't something a person might like then Saudi Arabia, China, North Korea and other such bastions are out there.

A thicker skin might be required OP.

roast

Eve_Dublin wrote: »

Why do people care so much about Irish celebrities?

Why do people care so much about any celebrity!

Eve_Dublin

roast wrote: »

Why do people care so much about any celebrity!

Yep. But I suppose Irish ones will be the ones reading Boards. A more boring topic of conversation I can't imagine.

ScumLord

Eve_Dublin wrote: »

Bizarre stuff. Why do people care so much about Irish celebrities?

Irish people are complete children when it comes to celebrities. I was sicked the last time I tried to buy a magazine, I was looking to get focus which I thought was a fairly common magazine and all they had in the two Irish shops in tried was celebrity mags, rows and rows of celebrity mags. I was literally disgusted by it.

Eve_Dublin

ScumLord wrote: »

Irish people are complete children when it comes to celebrities. I was sicked the last time I tried to buy a magazine, I was looking to get focus which I thought was a fairly common magazine and all they had in the two Irish shops in tried was celebrity mags, rows and rows of celebrity mags. I was literally disgusted by it.

Awww that's cute

"Mammy, I'm sicked!".

Do you think it's particularly an Irish thing though? I've seen the same elsewhere, just not with Twink but with their own local version...Le Twinky perhaps...

leggo

Ehhh...it's a tough one, with both sides having valid points.

On one hand, agents of these celebs will include the fact that they give up a certain amount of a right to privacy and receive unabated public scrutiny in negotiating their lucrative contracts. So they earn money based on them receiving abuse.

On the other, a lot of the vitriol is sickening and heartless. It reeks of people who are miserable in their own lives needing to focus on the flaws of celebs to make themselves feel better. I've argued for a while that the net shouldn't be anonymous, we should all be forced to ID ourselves so we're accountable for our comments. That'd stamp out a lot of this. You also have to consider that their families, for example, may read what is said and aren't being paid.

What worries me most is the inability to distinguish who is fair game and who's not. Average Joes shouldn't be personalised and subjected to the same level of hate as celebs, for example. Last week's campaign against yer wan on the Treacy Hotel Facebook page, for example (though the thread was closed here tbf). They don't put themselves out there and earn money on that basis. Nor do they have the platform to change perception, so the damage is a lot more extensive in those cases.

Boards is okay for policing this. It's certainly not the worst. However, for me, the Internet should be policed better to force them to be squeaky clean on the issue. And it will be, over time, as the net becomes more integral to people's every day lives.

ScumLord

Eve_Dublin wrote: »

Awww that's cute "Mammy, I'm sicked!".

Do you think it's particularly an Irish thing though? I've seen the same elsewhere, just not with Twink but with their own local version...Le Twinky perhaps...

Yes, it's an Irish thing. I usually only buy things like magazines when I'm going to be stuck somewhere or travelling. You go into a shop in the UK and they'll have a selection of everything. For the most part they only seem to have a handful of celeb mags.

What's the point in having 20 or 30 celeb mags? Seeing those shelves full of celeb mags was one of the most annoying things I've seen this year.

BunShopVoyeur

Reoil wrote: »

Jumped-up losers hiding behind a curtain of web anonymity.

Say that to our face ya coward. Ditch your anonymity or keep the ridiculous comments to yourself.

Eve_Dublin

I used to work in Eason as a student when I lived in Ireland back in the day. Most of those celeb mags came from the UK. Didn't realise there'd be enough Irish titles to fill two shelves worth. Maybe things have changed.

Seanchai

Holocene wrote: »

However, one thing troubles me, and that is the level of humiliation to which some people are exposed on here.... Ireland is a very small country

This. I have little trouble with politicians, presenters and the like getting flack. They are wafflers who do very little actual work so this their chief job hazard. However, I have a problem with private citizens who appear in the media through no fault of their own being humiliated and derided on social fora like Boards.ie by anonymous people.

In a very small society like this an anonymous poster attacking a private citizen who will be known by at least one reader is essentially character assassination by a coward.

Thomas20

Reoil wrote: »

Jumped-up losers hiding behind a curtain of web anonymity.

Say that to my face and see what happens

byronbay2

"Some of the banter, okay, understandable and goes with the territory but some people get very, very personal...almost hateful."
Agree with Eve; piss-taking of celebs and fellow Boardsies is all part of the fun but (and maybe I'm just getting old) there is a line that you cross from slagging to unfunny hatred/vitriol that seems to be happening a lot more now that a couple of years ago.
I know I don't spend as long on Boards (or post as many replies) as most but it seems to me that I see the same usernames all the time, writing things like: "Oh, suchandsuch, I hate that useless cnut, I hope that ......etc." Also, a lot of interesting threads (much more than in olden times) degenerate into personalised verbal brawls between 2 or 3 posters and become impossible to follow.
Dear God, even as I write this I'm realising that I'm..I'm... falling OUT of love with Boards.ie!!!!