Where has it all gone wrong?

dajaffa

Well as I'm sure many of the older ucd boardsies are only too aware, this place is not what it used to be. What I want to know is what caused a recent shift and well if we can identify the cause maybe we can fix it. Polls private so people vote how they feel, not how they want to be seen to feel, if you get my drifter....

The_Minister

Did you ask the mods about this?
I get the feeling that this may not last long......

EDIT: "Drifter"?? You have become so D4.

2nd EDIT: The problem is people like Grimes. Before he left.

Pantsless

The_Minister wrote:

Did you ask the mods about this?
I get the feeling that this may not last long......

why? what exactly is wrong with it ?

Scraggs

Theres been a definite change in the atmosphere compared to what it was 'before' but in my opinion its just because many of the regular [and popular] posters have graduated/gotten a life, I can think of 5+ users who don't post anymore.
I don't think its fair to put it on teh mods and even though this place seems to be Hackistan lately I don't think its 'Hacks' either. And that leaves the 'Ourselves' option... one thing I've noticed particularly in the last few months and I think has contributed to the change, is that some posters seem to have a kind of grudge against one or two particular users and seem to spurn every suggestion they make and just a general condescending attitude whether its intentional or not. Thats my input anyway, there could be something obvious I'm missing and could well be contributing to it unknowingly.
Out of interest what do you think dajaffa? And what do others think?

Vorsprung

I voted for the Ourselves option, a lot of people have graduated, there are grudges which have meant people have stopped posting, and then some people just disappeared. What happened to Grimes anyway??

The_Minister

Pantsless wrote:

why? what exactly is wrong with it ?

The phrase "take it to feedback" springs to mind. Or, the mods could be annoyed that the blame may be put on them. I just think that a PM to the mods, telling them that this was here, would have been appropriate.

humbert

I can see this just being a long list of "Ourselves" responses, that being the safest option. Though what scraggs says is true, many of the characters of the forum have left us, seb/mr. nice guy, irlrobins, blondie, our beloved peachy and that has made a difference. But I’d be insincere if I didn’t say the moderating was a factor. During the reign of peachy(nostalgic tear) there was a great social atmosphere on the forum, sure the spam levels were a little high but the place wasn’t in the least bit cliquey, n00bs were very warmly welcomed and there was a bit of spammy banter to take part in. During the exams the spam levels got out of control, certain names spring to mind, ye know who you are Hulla was the man for the job. Unfortunately as a result I think the forum has gone from one extreme to the other and the atmosphere has gone from social and friendly to formal and official. I think in this atmosphere the hacks thrive and multiply. I’m biased when it comes to the SU, I’m not pretending to be otherwise, but I do think this forum is not the place to discuss who might be nominated for what etc. The SU motions thread and things that do affect students I can abide but the rest belongs on UCDSU IMO.We’ve a forum full of politicians(in the SU/youth politics sense anyway) moderated by lawyers!! :eek:

Oh and I know hulla and he’s dead on, I’m not criticising him at all. I don’t want to offend anyone, I think this “could” be a constructive discussion. I didn’t vote on the poll because I don’t think it’s any one of them.

I can think of three grudges between pairs of people on the forum that the forum could do without, well one of them is funny but the other two anyway:rolleyes:

*climbs into little bunker and pulls quilt over his head.

Umaro

I'd say the forums have greatly improved in the past few months. There's less spam and "oh I just saw you in 9-1-1 LOL!!" crap. I like Sangre, he's harsh.. harsh but fair.

And frankly, I haven't noticed any bad atmosphere here now - just the usual battle of the sexes and hack nonsense that is the bread and butter of the UCD message boards.

I voted for Sangre on the poll, although to "blame" him is wrong.. he's the catalyst for changing the board the past while.. I think. And also, I'm really anti-authorities, and we're talking totolly here.

orangerooster

Hmm this is probably a fitting thread to make one of my first proper posts in ages on boards. I'm going to agree with the whole leaving of people as a main reason for why its not as good anymore, not to say that the newbies are bad or anything (hey the tone of the post is mainly diplomatic so I'll roll with it).

I stopped posting to study for exams in November but even since the new college year started the quality has declined. Its probably not something that can really be changed that much since its down to people graduating or whatever.

Garret

i blame S&M and hugh brady


oh and Enron too

Stepherunie

It's definitely not as fun as it used to be here. I'm gonna agree with a lot of people - lots of the good regular posters have upped and left us and moved on to bigger and brighter things. I guess that's the nature of a college board though - always changing.

I think in a way when we lost the woohoo/anti moan thread and it's nemisis the moan thread a bit of the fun was taken away - I mean yes they were a bit spammy but you always had a bit of a laugh at them and it brought everyone in together in that general life is great/ life sucks thing that we all love to celebrate/lament (delete as appropriate). Seems now the board is like a gigantic moan thread about how bad things have gotten in UCD. Maybe our fair board is reflecting student feelings as a whole in the college?

For all of that though I think all is not lost, a bit of ingenuity and enthusiasm from those of us who see the difficulty and aim to improve it and we'll all be fine.

boneless

The loss of a good fun spammy type thread has been the reason I stopped contributing on a regular basis. The fun has left UCD Boards.

Sangre

I just spent the last hour consoling Hulla on the phone. I hope you're happy you bunch of ungrateful bastards!

We are mods, we feel. If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you mock us, do we not cry?

hullaballoo

Thread locked.
















































j/k.

gubbie

I blame Truckle cos he's not here anymore


God I miss Truckle


I especially miss the fact that I have his log in details for another forum so keep putting up very classy "revelations" about him :rolleyes: OH WAIT I don't miss that

JustCoz

What do you mean by blaming the hacks?

hullaballoo

By the way, I blame everyone. I also blame no one. You cannot define what makes a forum go from a fun place to a argumentative place.

I saw someone try to say that when there was a lot of spam here, it was friendlier to newbies, but that's not true. I hardly ever posted here then because I felt out of the loop, as if I didn't know anyone, even though a fair few of my friends post here.

The place was overrun by a certain few people who just posted non-stop and the in-jokes and referring to each other by real names meant that there was no chance anyone who was new to either the site or the forum could get in on the fun.

So, to those of you who want the forum to go back to the spamalot that it was: forget it. Not over my dead body. We've had more new members posting here this year than I can remember us ever having before.

Also, despite the fact that I'm sick saying this, I never banned woo-hoos or moans. I just banned the threads. You can start a thread about a woo-hoo whenever you have one. The only caveat is that it's UCD-related and not just any old tripe that comes into your heads.

I think Truckle and I were fair-handed with those threads, and even with other spamtastic threads in that we gave ample warning to cut out the nonsense before we did anything about it.

Also, I don't know where Sangre got this reputation for being heavy-handed. He's anything but! I don't even think he's banned anyone yet. Nor has he locked any threads (afair).

pretty*monster

It's only a message board lads.
It's less spammy, cliquy and generally rubbishy than it was over the summer. If that's made it less friendly well... that's what real life is for.

cast_iron

The turning point, for me, was the mass bannings last summer. The nonsense OT posting stopped after that, and in fairness to the mods and the posters alike, the amount of OT posting / spam seems to be very low these days.

This isn't Bebo, MySpace or any other social network, so if people want to make personal, OT comments that most people will neither get, nor care to, then how can it be considered a bad thing?

I read or wrote on boards for quite a long time before I started posting on the UCD forum, simply because it appeared so "cliquey" and riddled with spam.
Some people seem to think they were the "good old days". They may have been fun for the quite few numbers involved, but certainly no on else.
I knew others who were on boards who were equally as uninterested in reading or contributing to the spam that was here.

Certainly, the Mods are "responsible" for this, but not to "blame". They actually haven't had alot to do as of late. The "problem" posters seem to mainly have either behaved themselves or left.

I'm a bit shocked by the current poll results assigning "blame" to the new Mod. If anything, I would say Sangre is much more lenient than Herr Hulla:D. I actually think the poll options are flawed - there should be an option pointing to the new "Moderation" as opposed to any particular Mod. I feel that's what the 33% actually may mean. I don't think the word "blame" should be in the question either. Like most polls, it's all in the phrasing of the question.

Now, I'm beginning to feel queazy with all that Mod ass licking, so I must stop now.

abelard

As silly as it's going to sound, I think it's a bit of a combination of all the options. As someone said, it's hard to define exactly what causes a change in perspective across a community such as this, so I don't think any of the options would properly sum it up.

I suppose the fact that it's recognised could start a gradual shift towards something better. Someone else mentioned that the forum has one from one extreme to the other, so hopefully we can just find a happy medium?

Waltons

I find that the forum seems to be a lot less fun than it was before, and I think it is mostly to do with ourselves, rather than any sort of interference by mods.
I've never been the most active poster on this board (or boards in general) but, as of late, I've found that there seem to be a lot fewer interesting topics - of course, in my opinion. I wouldn't be inclined to shift blame because of this though; responsibility for this is in my hands too...

As with everything I suppose there are peaks and troughs in the lifecycle, and it's fairly clear what we're in at the moment.

Stabshauptmann

"older UCD boardsies", that made me laugh.
You've not even been on boards a full year.

Im not claiming to be old skool, but the crap that this board degenerated into in the second half of last year (coincidently when you started posting) was ridiculous.

Threads became so OT that you'd rarely find the answer to your question. For a discussion board it was totally useless.

Yes a lot of the regulars have left, kittenkiller, irlrobins, peachy, seb, MNG, Grimes - and whats worse (to many ppl) is that they have been replaced by a hoard of SU types.

When I was in first year I dont remember (m)any SU discussions.

Some posters think that the UCD board has changed - in truth its getting back to normal. Boards is a big website, each fora has its regulars and a community spirit and this board does too, and I for one thought that the extreme childishness of the spam last year was more indicative of the JC forum that a university one.

Jonny Arson

Lads lads lads, it doesn't matter really. No one is to blame, I don't even know what there is to blame? If I had choice between now or 8/9 months ago give me now anyday. The forum was treated as a general chat forum which it isn't, I don't think anyone has a problem with people joking or having banter but when that ruins the purpose of the forum and what it is meant to be utilized for. If there wasn't a clampdown so to say then that could eventually lead to people chatting in PI or Politics forum, Boards is a massive website and unfortunately that means it has to have generally strict measures as a precident for other forums. I think the mods past and present here have been pretty sound and have got most decisions right, once people aren't having a conversation with someone else about what sandwich they ate for lunch I dont think the mods would be at all heavy handed with the ban stick for little bit of chat.

iTS onlY tEh iNTERNERTZ1

padser

dajaffa wrote:

Polls private so people vote how they feel, .

Its a small point, and maybe Hull or one of the other mods can clarify.....but I assume that mods (or at the very least admins) can see how people vote in a private poll?

Back on topic, as a Boards poster from UCD who generally doesnt contribute to the UCD I didnt like the way it was before for most of the reasons that Hull has already stated.

That said, I dont like what its turned into either.....so its gone from somewhere that I wouldnt post...to somewhere I'm still not inclined to vote into.

Please dont anyone point out the irony of me posting in forum to point out that I dont post

hullaballoo

Mods can't see who voted in a private poll, no.

I can't say whether the admins can or not. There's nothing in normal vB software that allows an admin to see the people who voted, but it's possible that there's a hack out there to let them (or maybe they could just scan the databases). Either way, they wouldn't be inclined to check unless it was something really important.

Whether or not the UCD forum is better now than it was before or vice versa is hugely unimportant.

Sangre

Maybe if we modularised the forum it would be better.

The_Minister

/Takes an elective in **** jokes.

Red Alert

I have been around the block here for comparatively a long time now - i must be one of the oldest now that peachy, blondie and irlrobins are all but gone.

When this forum started up I can't remember who the mod was - not sure if there was one before Truckle. Then it was peachy and now hullaballo. The 'mod' option on the poll is silly. I have had my disagreements with a couple of the mods here on occasion, when you're around that long it's naturally going to happen. It's not the mods fault if the prevailing atmosphere is general muppetry or spammy comments - it's just a snapshot of those logging on.

There's a general hackiness about here that wasn't here before. Back in the old days it basically consisted of a few randomers with little or passing interest in the SU who used to log in all the time. Now I've no problem with the SU having a large contingent here of people who happen to sit (or attend) council or whatever. However a number of threads have descended into minor bickering about exactly whether (or not) various procedures were followed at council. That's exactly what pisses a lot of people off and in IRL gives the SU council a hackish whiff to the average punter.

A lot of people seem rightly annoyed with changes that have happened across campus. Especially those foisted with little or no consultation. Compared to when I was in first year, the college reforms have probably brought a lot of good, but they were ill thought out. Consultation was cursory and suggestions were not really welcome or listened to. The proof is in the pudding - a lot of threads here are asking questions that the college does not or cannot answer. That's obviously going to get people pissed off. This forum would be out of touch with UCD if it didn't reflect that overall. Sounds reasonable?

Overall though, it's still a good place to be around. And it's one of the more active college forums too - big group hug everyone

BKtje

I'd have to agree to a large extent with Waltons. I used to check religiously a couple times a day till about exam time last summer just before the ol spam brigade came to their height. I then got lost if i didn't check every couple of hours. That said it's just as bad now as i have no interest whatsoever in SU type stuff and a lot of threads just seem to disintegrate (from my pov anyway) into those type of arguments.

What i really miss is the UCD boards from September-December 05, there weren't that many of us who posted regularly and it all seemed to make more sense to me. I guess more posters is a good thing in general but i do pine for the "good ol days" when moderation wasn't even really needed purely cos not enough of us posted

None of the poll options seem to be right, where's my "i'm an old fart who doesn't want the world to change" option!

Stabshauptmann

Red Alert, the forum was created without a mod and following a thread in feedback ubrewolf was made mod IIRC

panda100

bigjimthefirst wrote:

What happened to Grimes anyway??

He's still a regular poster he just posts under a differnt name.