The slow death of forums see OP for Admin warning and update 28/02/18

paleoperson · 29-12-2017 11:42pm

mIRC and ICQ... them's were the days. :rolleyes:

I hate reddit and the layout of it and all the stupid jokes there that are ridiculous, but for some reason a lot of knowledgeable people seem to post there. I've been dragged into it.

Tigger · 29-12-2017 11:43pm

Don Kiddick wrote: »

"How can I get the space bar and the b key to work properly"??

spell check fixes itvpeefectly

Gael23 · 29-12-2017 11:44pm

Been said a number of times but it’s the overzealous moderation which borders on censorship at times. People will lose interest eventually after their threads are continuously locked for saying something even the slightest bit not PC.

gandalf · 29-12-2017 11:45pm

looksee wrote: »

It was always the way, in any organisation, the biggest group of complainers, of people who criticised everything 'the committee' did, who carped and gossiped and did their best to break things up, were the people who never made any actual contribution to the organisation. Kinda sad really. Yes, the committee might get it wrong sometimes, might be a bit over authoritative at times, could not suit everyone all the time, but they were the ones who were actually putting in the time, discussing the options, trying to make the organisation the best it could be. While the 'experts' propped up the bar and whinged, then went home till next time.

While you may be right about some of the "complainers" as you call them you are ignoring the fact that a significant minority have contributed to this site in no small manner. This complete and utter small mindedness and disregard for the community that has permeated the thinking of the current moderators, the admins and the management of this site actually betrays the work that those who contributed before them put in and in a lot of cases has dismantled what they put in place.

Now no one is saying they are against progress or modernisation but shutting down the communities ability to provide open feedback is absolutely wrong and goes against the site I was a member of from inception and that I contributed to moderating and category moderating for over ten years!

Tigger · 29-12-2017 11:50pm

gandalf wrote: »

While you may be right about some of the "complainers" as you call them you are ignoring the fact that a significant minority have contributed to this site in no small manner. This complete and utter small mindedness and disregard for the community that has permeated the thinking of the current moderators, the admins and the management of this site actually betrays the work that those who contributed before them put in and in a lot of cases has dismantled what they put in place.

Now no one is saying they are against progress or modernisation but shutting down the communities ability to provide open feedback is absolutely wrong and goes against the site I was a member of from inception and that I contributed to moderating and category moderating for over ten years!

the site moved on the people who owned itvmade a few quid and the people that worked away for years for nothing more than a thankyou; well theybgotvtheir thankyou

ROAAAR · 29-12-2017 11:51pm

YouTube comments are where’s it’s at these days. No mods

Necro · 29-12-2017 11:51pm

tomwaterford wrote: »

I do apologise on the committee remark....Red it wrong

But I don't see why peoples opioion should be disregarded on basis of post count??.....like seriously...how lacking in substance is your point that you have to go look at someone's account and use the amount of posts they have as a means to dismiss them

Literally definition of playing the man not the ball/attack post not poster etc

Well ya see for me when it comes to discussing how the site works that comes from the regular members. Someone coming in with the billy big balls speeches of committees etc is one of... ah you know what I'm on about!

I don't ever look through post counts unless playing Werewolf btw, do not see the point at all in that side of things. :P Tigger there's another Werewolf mention

OldMrBrennan83 · 29-12-2017 11:52pm

This post has been deleted.

Tigger · 29-12-2017 11:52pm

ROAAAR wrote: »

YouTube comments are where’s it’s at these days. No mods

+1 youbtube comments are indicitative of what you get with no moderation

Tigger · 29-12-2017 11:53pm

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Tiggerish

Jobs OXO · 29-12-2017 11:53pm

Vronsky wrote: »

It's not really fair to blame moderation for the fall away on number of users since other lightly moderated Irish forums have suffered falls in users. That said boards hasn't done itself any favours and one can look to a number of decisions/issues that probably wouldn't have prevented the decline but have certainly considerably hastened it:

*The hack of 2010
*Request for access for soccer/politics cafe. This has effectively killed politics cafe.
*The disaster with the poker forum.
*Changes to feedback forum alienated a lot of long time users
*The site redesign - the site is unusable outside of Ireland.
* The redesign of the site categories, which added clicks and complexity to getting where you wanted to be.
*More screen space given over to ads.

On a more wider scale, the now thirty something's that grew up with boards have now grown up, married with families and do not have time to arse about posting anymore. Boards format is is too restrictive and moderation too heavy vs the likes of Twitter and Reddit, which has kept younger users away.

I can echo the sentiment with having a post written and then not bothering to post it because often it's not worth it.

What happened with the poker forum?

Tom Mann Centuria · 29-12-2017 11:53pm

Tigger wrote: »

+1 youbtube comments are indicitative of what you get with no moderation

Horrendous then.

gandalf · 29-12-2017 11:53pm

Tigger wrote: »

the site moved on the people who owned itvmade a few quid and the people that worked away for years for nothing more than a thankyou; well theybgotvtheir thankyou

Is your space-bar on the blink!

29-12-2017 11:55pm

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

She is just a poster here, offering an opinion. I could say lumping every "mod" in together is everything that's wrong with certain peoples criticism of the site. I have no interaction with mods on this forum any more than you do, and I'm pretty sure looksee doesn't either.

Mods sticking up for other mods :pac::pac:

Tigger · 29-12-2017 11:55pm

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

Horrendous then.

well yeah
i mean i read the comments on a few little youbtube posters inenjoy butvthe general stuff is acually hell

Tom Mann Centuria · 29-12-2017 11:57pm

Tigger wrote: »

well yeah
i mean i read the comments on a few little youbtube posters inenjoy butvthe general stuff is acually hell

It isn't nice reading what a few female gamers I follow have to put up with on their channels.

Tigger · 29-12-2017 11:59pm

gandalf wrote: »

Is your space-bar on the blink!

no its fine thanks
point is that people like you slaved away for years for the site but there was never more on offer than a thankyou
we used to joke that the mods would get a share if the site was moneytise but it never hppened

Tigger · 30-12-2017 12:00am

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

It isn't nice reading what a few female gamers I follow have to put up with on their channels.

i can imagine
its why moderation is important

Vronsky · 30-12-2017 12:00am

looksee wrote: »

The really funny thing is that the small cabaal of people - the clique of complainers - who keep going on over and over about the sins and shortcomings of the site, for some reason stick around!

There is a whole internet out there, surely they could head off and start a site that works the way they want it to? This site was started by a few interested people so many years ago (in internet terms) with no funds, no organisation, just themselves. If they could do it surely those dissatisfied with this site could do the same? You will know what pitfalls to avoid, what the people want, it should be a doddle.

It was always the way, in any organisation, the biggest group of complainers, of people who criticised everything 'the committee' did, who carped and gossiped and did their best to break things up, were the people who never made any actual contribution to the organisation. Kinda sad really. Yes, the committee might get it wrong sometimes, might be a bit over authoritative at times, could not suit everyone all the time, but they were the ones who were actually putting in the time, discussing the options, trying to make the organisation the best it could be. While the 'experts' propped up the bar and whinged, then went home till next time.

It's ok getting things wrong, but what is not forgivable is recognising and acting on mistakes once they become obvious.

Two examples - the new "touch" site. Totally unusable and foisted on overseas posters. When I've been away for any length of time I've rarely posted because it's so difficult, so yeah - I stopped posting

Example two: Politics Cafe. This was a lively forum and I used to frequently contribute to it. Rules changed and you had to ask for permission to post. Now forgive me, but I'm not asking anyone on the internet for permission to post so I don't post there. I'm not alone in thinking this either - so it's gone from a busy forum to a zombie one overnight.

RDM_83 again · 30-12-2017 12:01am

Aidric wrote: »

Very erudite for a new joiner with 5 posts.

Just because somebody a new account and they are saying something negative doesn't mean they are a new user or a bad poster. How many accounts did posters like dudess? (Think that's right anyway) run through back in the day

Tigger · 30-12-2017 12:02am

RDM_83 again wrote: »

Just because somebody a new account and they are saying something negative doesn't mean they are a new user or a bad poster. How many accounts did posters like dudess? (Think that's right anyway) run through back in the day

5?

30-12-2017 12:02am

gandalf wrote: »

While you may be right about some of the "complainers" as you call them you are ignoring the fact that a significant minority have contributed to this site in no small manner. This complete and utter small mindedness and disregard for the community that has permeated the thinking of the current moderators, the admins and the management of this site actually betrays the work that those who contributed before them put in and in a lot of cases has dismantled what they put in place.

Now no one is saying they are against progress or modernisation but shutting down the communities ability to provide open feedback is absolutely wrong and goes against the site I was a member of from inception and that I contributed to moderating and category moderating for over ten years!

Not sure of the background to this post but I will say that certain fora have been notorious for being cliquish. If Boards is attempting to break that up, then that is a positive. In the Politics forum, for instance, by having partisan moderating - i.e. deeply anti-republican & leftwing/pro-Fine Gael & rightwing - from all (OK, a token leftwing republican was appointed a mod about two years ago, but didn't last) the mods what seems to be permanent damage to its ability to attract people with opposing views has happened. It's a mere echo chamber now - or at least was the last time I looked a few years ago. The History forum is not much better. I don't expect any improvement in moderating as the only solace the mods get is the power buzz. Fair enough, let them at it but with that quid pro quo the environment in such fora is very toxic so loads of people stay away.

30-12-2017 12:03am

In all seriousness I do understand why Boards.ie has to shut down conversation sometimes to cover their own backs and make sure they don't get sued for something posted on here or something. Reddit is a much bigger site with a much bigger backing financially but the shutting down of conversation does hurt the site sometimes.

Boards is great for some things that Reddit isn't as good for, for example the Waterford City forum is great for local news, MMA forum on here is a great little community (MMA community on reddit is way to big). I hope the site does get a new generation of users and keeps going because Boards.ie is a great resource for Irish people imo. Does the UK have a similar site?

Boards has been great to me over the years, the community has,helped me gain information about colleges, jobs, schools, parenting, travelling and much more. The community is great

mariaalice · 30-12-2017 12:04am

Find myself posting less and less, hard to say exactly why its the repetitiveness of a lot of it, someone post something about welfare que outrage vitriol and astounding nastiness and if said article on welfare is about a woman its added vulgar nastiness. Thant's just one example.

Be interesting to see a bit of research on how often the same topics come up on boards.

Necro · 30-12-2017 12:06am

Vronsky wrote: »

It's not really fair to blame moderation for the fall away on number of users since other lightly moderated Irish forums have suffered falls in users. That said boards hasn't done itself any favours and one can look to a number of decisions/issues that probably wouldn't have prevented the decline but have certainly considerably hastened it:

*The hack of 2010
*Request for access for soccer/politics cafe. This has effectively killed politics cafe.
*The disaster with the poker forum.
*Changes to feedback forum alienated a lot of long time users
*The site redesign - the site is unusable outside of Ireland.
* The redesign of the site categories, which added clicks and complexity to getting where you wanted to be.
*More screen space given over to ads.

On a more wider scale, the now thirty something's that grew up with boards have now grown up, married with families and do not have time to arse about posting anymore. Boards format is is too restrictive and moderation too heavy vs the likes of Twitter and Reddit, which has kept younger users away.

I can echo the sentiment with having a post written and then not bothering to post it because often it's not worth it.

1. What has a hack of nearly 8 years ago got to do with Boards now?
2. Soccer is perfect the way it is. They opened it up for the last Euros and it became an unintelligible mess of idiots drooling about random stuff. It's bad enough with the Utd/Liverpool sh1te already... and you want it opened to the masses? Politics café... meh. Dunno much about it but it seems so many bots re: parties are being set up to soapbox and stifle proper debate so...
3. No idea what you're on about re: poker.
4. Feedback is a genuine gripe. BUT. If I recall a mass of moaners continued to b1tch and whine about the same issues... Over. And Over. And Over again. Fighting with mods and admins. Calling anyone who didn't agree with their idea of a utopia wrong and shouting them down. Any normal feedback thread was derailed by said group. You want my personal opinion? I would have sitebanned the lot of the whingers and the place would have been fine.
5 and 6. You do know we have a 'My Forums' link right? Follow the forum, go to top right hand corner... one click involved. Site redesign I do agree with tbf....responsive site is a quivering pile of sh1te.
7. Ads are everywhere, not exclusive to Boards. Every second post on Facebook and Twitter is some business selling their wares. Not an issue for me cos it's done everywhere.

_Dara_ · 30-12-2017 12:06am

The Pheasant2 wrote: »

The least they could do is sort out the bloody search function

Keira Thankful Target wrote: »

Ok that was less than 60 seconds to ban a re-reg.

Impressive, but we're waiting on a functional search function for how long now?

Prioritise a bit lads.

I find the search function very easy to use, thorough and useful and I’m no techy. What’s people’s issue with it?

The odd time it stops working. Is that what people are referring to? Yeah, that’s annoying but when it works, which is 99% of the time, it’s good.

arybvtcw0eolkf · 30-12-2017 12:06am

ROAAAR wrote: »

YouTube comments are where’s it’s at these days. No mods

Well there is in so far as the owner of the channel can pick and choose what they want posted.

I've one particular clip up which is generating a lot of discussion, as soon as it gets trolled or someone advocates domestic violence their comments and deleted and the user blocked from my channel.

Necro · 30-12-2017 12:08am

Deleted User wrote: »

Not sure of the background to this post but I will say that certain fora have been notorious for being cliquish. If Boards is attempting to break that up, then that is a positive. In the Politics forum, for instance, by having partisan moderating - i.e. deeply anti-republican & leftwing/pro-Fine Gael & rightwing - from all (OK, a token leftwing republican was appointed a mod about two years ago, but didn't last) the mods what seems to be permanent damage to its ability to attract people with opposing views has happened. It's a mere echo chamber now - or at least was the last time I looked a few years ago. The History forum is not much better. I don't expect any improvement in moderating as the only solace the mods get is the power buzz. Fair enough, let them at it but with that quid pro quo the environment in such fora is very toxic so loads of people stay away.

I asked this before and didn't get an answer. Where is cliquish on boards? I haven't come across it at all

arybvtcw0eolkf · 30-12-2017 12:08am

_Dara_ wrote: »

I find the search function very easy to use and thorough and I’m no techy. What’s people’s issue with it?

It is singularly the worse search engine of any forum I use.

In fact if I want to search for something on boards.ie I use google, I just couldn't be arsed trying to search boards.ie anymore.

Tefral · 30-12-2017 12:10am

Problem is in my mind: the vast majority of the forums are echo chambers.

Beasty · 30-12-2017 12:12am

mariaalice wrote: »

Be interesting to see a bit of research on how often the same topics come up on boards.

That will vary significantly dependent on the forum. AH for example is almost an open book in terms of potential topics, yet some do appear quite regularly. However the "repeats" do tend to die down fairly quickly. A lot less repetition in something like Soccer. We certainly used to get quite a lot of repeat topics in Cycling, but managed to cap it by introducing megathreads on certain "regular" topics of discussion

Subtle · 30-12-2017 12:14am

Kyra Whining Sailfish wrote: »

It is singularly the worse search engine of any forum I use.

In fact if I want to search for something on boards.ie I use google, I just couldn't be arsed trying to search boards.ie anymore.

Haha, 100% true - I have resorted to doing the same, usually including site:boards.ie in the search box! Thought it was just me!!

Necro · 30-12-2017 12:16am

RDM_83 again wrote: »

Just because somebody a new account and they are saying something negative doesn't mean they are a new user or a bad poster. How many accounts did posters like dudess? (Think that's right anyway) run through back in the day

Grand if someone wants to do that. I just don't get it. Like at all. You wanna post stuff online, grand. Stand over it instead of hiding behind closed accounts and re-regging.

*My opinion, not necessarily right

gandalf · 30-12-2017 12:16am

Subtle wrote: »

Haha, 100% true - I have resorted to doing the same, usually including site:boards.ie in the search box! Thought it was just me!!

Nope we all do it.

Sweetemotion · 30-12-2017 12:17am

Tefral wrote: »

Problem is in my mind: the vast majority of the forums are echo chambers.

The politics forum being one of the worst.

Rjd2 · 30-12-2017 12:17am

Tefral wrote: »

Problem is in my mind: the vast majority of the forums are echo chambers.

Politics ones at the time seem to be. Its very lefty orientated and don't really see any differing point of views atm. Its not to say that right wingers on the site are all perfect,many immigration, muslim and welfare threads when they are finished would make Nigel Farage proud. :eek:

Can understand why those in the centre which in Ireland is the majority don't want any part of it sadly.

Necro · 30-12-2017 12:19am

I don't go near politics because I have no interest in what some anonymous person on the internet has to say about it. If I want to discuss politics I'll do it in person with mates etc.

prinzeugen · 30-12-2017 12:24am

Rjd2 wrote: »

Politics ones at the time seem to be. Its very lefty orientated and don't really see any differing point of views atm.

Its a waste of time that's why. Post with a different opinion and you are carded/banned for "trolling". One mod is very bad for it.

Basically don't go near politics unless you are a EU loving, Jeremy Corbin/SNP voting, anti British sort of person.

B.A._Baracus · 30-12-2017 12:29am

Well nothing lasts forever.
If you were to go back 10-12 years ago... actually say before youtube was out there and say how Xtra-Vision, HMV, Chartbusters and more would close due to do online-streaming (netflix) you'd laugh at the thought. But yet here we are.

Things change and you have to change with them. It's not that boards or other forums are broke. Just how people discussed online has changed.

Sure who uses chat rooms anymore?

dxhound2005 · 30-12-2017 12:31am

Tefral wrote: »

Problem is in my mind: the vast majority of the forums are echo chambers.

Honourable exceptions I'm sure you'll agree, are Paranormal, Creepy & Mysterious and Scuba Diving.

Necro · 30-12-2017 12:32am

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

Well nothing lasts forever.
If you were to go back 10-12 years ago... actually say before youtube was out there and say how Xtra-Vision, HMV, Chartbusters and more would close due to do online-streaming (netflix) you'd laugh at the thought. But yet here we are.

Things change and you have to change with them. It's not that boards or other forums are broke. Just how people discussed online has changed.

Sure who uses chat rooms anymore?

Haha so true. I remember my first cajoles onto the internet being to a place called chathouse (may or may not be true). LONG since defunct.

Vronsky · 30-12-2017 12:36am

Necrominus wrote: »

1. What has a hack of nearly 8 years ago got to do with Boards now?
2. Soccer is perfect the way it is. They opened it up for the last Euros and it became an unintelligible mess of idiots drooling about random stuff. It's bad enough with the Utd/Liverpool sh1te already... and you want it opened to the masses? Politics café... meh. Dunno much about it but it seems so many bots re: parties are being set up to soapbox and stifle proper debate so...
3. No idea what you're on about re: poker.
4. Feedback is a genuine gripe. BUT. If I recall a mass of moaners continued to b1tch and whine about the same issues... Over. And Over. And Over again. Fighting with mods and admins. Calling anyone who didn't agree with their idea of a utopia wrong and shouting them down. Any normal feedback thread was derailed by said group. You want my personal opinion? I would have sitebanned the lot of the whingers and the place would have been fine.
5 and 6. You do know we have a 'My Forums' link right? Follow the forum, go to top right hand corner... one click involved. Site redesign I do agree with tbf....responsive site is a quivering pile of sh1te.
7. Ads are everywhere, not exclusive to Boards. Every second post on Facebook and Twitter is some business selling their wares. Not an issue for me cos it's done everywhere.

The hack is important because the site lost a number of quality posters at the time, even though it's a long time ago. Some, like myself came back under a new username, but many didn't.

I don't like the idea of asking for permission to post. Moderation is the tool to use to keep the peace. But in fairness we can last the blame for the stupidity in soccer on the posters (many long time contributors) given they are so easily worked up over something so trivial.

It's been a while since the poker debacle, but iirc the admins succeeded in turning one of the busiest forums on the site to a ghost town. Much like politics cafe.

Feedback is more than a genuine gripe, it's non existent, but really and truly and changes that can be made now are only going to prolong the inevitable. The admins may as well run the site into the ground as they see fit because there is no way back to the heights of the past. It's managed decline at best now.

The site should be easy to use and follow features is no excuse for poor site layout. New users don't know these features, but what they do see is a clunky somewhat hostile interface that puts the user last.

Ads are a problem throughout the internet, and like boards, I find I'm engaging less with Facebook and the likes because of the increasing obtrusiveness of them.

AllForIt · 30-12-2017 12:40am

Tefral wrote: »

Problem is in my mind: the vast majority of the forums are echo chambers.

I don't think echo chambers are something unique to the internet, rather they reflect real life. I mean if one was a member of a political party or a church I'd guess their living in a non-virtual echo chamber. The positive thing that comes out of this is the internet and the term itself echo chamber has exposed and highlighted this phenomenon and that's a good thing because it gives members of such chambers cause for thought about where their views are coming from and reinforced.

_Dara_ · 30-12-2017 12:50am

Kyra Whining Sailfish wrote: »

It is singularly the worse search engine of any forum I use.

So people keep saying but they never elaborate. I don’t have any issues with it at. You can search by forum, username, thread title or all three or just search for words. When the results come up, you can order it from newest to oldest, oldest to newest, you can filter it by forum. I find it very useful and, more importantly, easy to navigate. I’m genuinely at a loss as to what more people want from a search facility. I’ve never struggled to find what I’m looking for. You’re not spoonfed when using it, sure, but why would anyone expect to be?

Necro · 30-12-2017 12:52am

Vronsky wrote: »

I don't like the idea of asking for permission to post. Moderation is the tool to use to keep the peace. But in fairness we can last the blame for the stupidity in soccer on the posters (many long time contributors) given they are so easily worked up over something so trivial.

Agreed totally on the Soccer forum. The malice in there over a game is unreal at times. Politics is kind of the same though if you think about it. It's more understandable that people get worked up about Politics as opposed to Soccer... but... come on, it's anonymous people on the internet!!

Feedback is more than a genuine gripe, it's non existent, but really and truly and changes that can be made now are only going to prolong the inevitable. The admins may as well run the site into the ground as they see fit because there is no way back to the heights of the past. It's managed decline at best now.

I miss Feedback tbf. But, as I said already (and as is generally the case for everything) - the few derailing everything and soap boxing, shouting: 'ME ME ME - I'M RIGHT EVERYONE ELSE IS WRONG' is what caused that to happen. So in essence this group wrecked it for everyone and now continue to use it as a stick to beat admins and mods over the head with. (Not suggesting you are/were a part of it btw.)
The logical thing would be to rout out the serial moanbags and siteban them but they are also the typical type who game the system then scream blue murder if they're pulled up on it.

Beasty · 30-12-2017 1:01am

B.A._Baracus wrote: »

Well nothing lasts forever.
If you were to go back 10-12 years ago... actually say before youtube was out there and say how Xtra-Vision, HMV, Chartbusters and more would close due to do online-streaming (netflix) you'd laugh at the thought. But yet here we are.

Things change and you have to change with them. It's not that boards or other forums are broke. Just how people discussed online has changed.

Sure who uses chat rooms anymore?

You've reminded me of a comment I heard a while ago, about the advances in technology over the years. Back in the 60s TVs were the new thing, and they grew in popularity during the 70s, 80s and 90s. Then you had "traditional" computers first seen to any real extent within business in the 80s, and again gaining traction in the 90s and through into the 21st century, and their internet connectivity

Then along came the mobile phone in the 90s, which became the smartphone a decade later. They have really taken off in the past decade, but they are reaching saturation point, and there does not seem to be much more you can cram in beyond what you already have. I'm sure something else will appear in the next few years which will further revolutionise technology and business and social interaction

The point the guy made was there was one similarity in all these developments. They typically had a "half-life" of 20 years once they had come to dominate in their particular area. So maybe in another 5 years the internet will be "old hat". Maybe Boards will have evolved into a completely different social media platform. Maybe it will die off, as has happened to a lot of things over the past 20 years. Who knows? Certainly not me, as I claim no ability to predict the future. I do though recall pretty much all those prior technological advances and wondering at the time how the world had survived without them!

arybvtcw0eolkf · 30-12-2017 1:09am

Subtle wrote: »

Haha, 100% true - I have resorted to doing the same, usually including site:boards.ie in the search box! Thought it was just me!!

Its the only way to reliably find something on this forum. Although I do use a biker forum which (hard to believe) has a worse search engine than here.

I said it in another thread, if this place disappeared tomorrow I wouldn't miss it for a second.

In fact I thought I'd closed my account a few months back, went through the whole procedure and didn't check boards at all for three months (I've been diagnosed with diabetes and took it really hard so I chose to get away from anything which was causing me stress).

I was a moderator at the time (the worse status to have on boards). But I checked my email and seen a notification that I'd PM on boards ~ clicked the link and I was still a member, but not a Mod (thank fvck) and so here I am again.

I get a hell of a lot more enjoyment from facebook where I can join the groups I'm interested in, Judo/BJJ, motorbikes, cycling and Israel/Palestine and I don't have to work about offending some nameless, faceless moderator and getting warned/infracted or banned at their whim.

But I'll end here on a positive.

Some forum are great. I got fantastic help, advice and encouragement from the lads in the diabetes forum in the Long Term Illness category.

The guys in the motorcycling and cycling forum are generally really helpful & friendly.

ROAAAR · 30-12-2017 1:22am

I imagine forums will go much the same way as chat rooms in the near future.

backspin. · 30-12-2017 1:52am

Shenshen wrote: »

Forums have mods and certain minimum requirements - things like no text speak, no personal attacks on posters, a set of banned curse/swearwords and enforcing general basic levels of civility. You know, all those "PC" things that people already have to put up with in real life for fear of getting decked otherwise, but the likes of Twitter and Facebook have no problem with whatsoever.

I think what we're seeing is that there are far fewer people than we ever thought interested in any real form of discussion or exchange of ideas, and that there are actually untold numbers that just want to rant, bully, and generally be the kinds of b*stards they don't dare to be in real life. And they found the perfect places to live out their deepest, darkest fantasies.

The more people have experience of 'discussions' on online forums the more they realise how futile they are. Nobody every changes their position so it becomes parallel echo chambers. Its ends up one side agreeing with their own sides posts and the other side doing likewise. With nobody budging from their original position.

I remember back about 2009 / 2010 reading some of the public v private debates. A poster would make an assertion and then someone else with completely dismantle it with cast iron facts and figures. A few days later you would see the original poster back spouting the same old tripe that had been thoroughly debunked a few days before. They hadn't changed their position at all despite the facts being presented.

ROAAAR · 30-12-2017 1:58am

backspin. wrote: »

The more people have experience of 'discussions' on online forums the more they realise how futile they are. Nobody every changes their position so it becomes parallel echo chambers. Its ends up one side agreeing with their own sides posts and the other side doing likewise. With nobody budging from their original position.
Public va Private are very VERY different worlds

I remember back about 2009 / 2010 reading some of the public v private debates. A poster would make an assertion and then someone else with completely dismantle it with cast iron facts and figures. A few days later you would see the original poster back spouting the same old tripe that had been thoroughly debunked a few days before. They hadn't changed their position at all despite the facts being presented.

Also on boards most of the posters tend to be working within the public second especially in the private forums on this site at least.

The slow death of forums *see OP for Admin warning and update 28/02/18*

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The slow death of forums see OP for Admin warning and update 28/02/18