5,000th Post: My thoughts on the Poker forum (actually just a ramble!!) TL;DR

Ste05 · 27-03-2008 6:38pm #1

Thankfully Lloyd reminded me that my next post was #5,000. So I decided to make a somewhat meaningful post. Although I'd say it will just end up being a ramble and see where it ends up.

I decided to write about my thoughts on the Poker forum and my views on watching it and it's inhabitants grow and evolve. I'll try not name names as I go through but alot of people on this forum have helped me with my game immeasurably. Anyone who has been here as long as me (and longer) will know who the good posters are and basically they've all helped me in one way or another, by explaining something to me, pointing out where my thought process was wrong or even just having a long debate with someone and although I may not have accepted their view point and they may have not accepted mine, but the multiple debates crystallised my thoughts and made me think more about certain aspects and just forcing myself to engage in those debates even when I may be arguing with someone who was clueless about Poker was a huge help.

The Poker forum has become huge these days and much more so then when I first started, in someways for the good and in others for the worst. Back in the day, there wasn't as large a poster pool as there is now, but I think alot of us were at the same sort of development stage and were alot more open to new ideas then seems to be nowadays. A huge % of these posters are still here, but like myself most seem to post less and less in the strategy and hand discussions. I don't really know why this is, my personal opinion is that most of the tricky topics and discussions have been through the mill many times and alot of these people don't really want to get into a huge debate again, it's probably just what happens with the evolution of Poker forums, the old guard discuss things and then a new group come in and some of the old guard join in again and the knowledge is bestowed on them to pass it on and so on and so on.

It seems nowadays that everyone who plays Poker in Ireland knows about boards and either posts or at least lurks. I don't play Live much but when I do, there is invariably a conversation about boards at the table, I usually don't announce who I am, I just listen and enjoy the convo's. (9 times out of 10 I'm also drunk and so am not exactly playing my A game, and I don't want to ruin my stellar reputation should I ever play sober. If my Live image was an on-line account, I'd say it would be worth a fortune). But the size boards has become really hit home for me last week when I was watching the IO on Network 2, every second person shown on the telly seemed to be a boardsie. I think the size boards has become in Ireland is huge and Dev, the Admins and really all the users of boards should be very proud of what has been created.

Anyway, to try and get back on some sort of topic, I'll try and talk again about the Poker forum. Before we got all the strategy sub-forums the main forum was very crowded, and the strategy posters and the community posters (for want of a better description,, i.e. the people who aren't crazy into talking about hands etc.) were on top of each other but there was a great deal of mutual respect, the strategy posters stayed out of the community threads and vice versa. Lately it seems that although we have proper divisions of sub-forums etc. this mutual respect has eroded somewhat. (this could be just me noticing more because of the additional need for me to read more threads due to my mod duties and obviously seeing every piece of bad blood, but it's just an impression I've got). So if anything good comes out of this complete non-sensical ramble, I would love it to be that mutual respect can become more common place and if people don't have an interest in strategy just don't open the thread, similarly if someone isn't interested in what is going on down in the Fitz, again don't open the thread. And if they do open the thread, and feel compelled to comment, make the comment constructive or at the very least non-confrontational.

If anyone has any comments on the running of the forum or how I mod it, (I'm sure 5star and Laf would welcome comments too) feel free to ask or question away here. Any complaints etc. again feel free to ask away here, we haven't had a critique of the forum in a while and a comment 5starpool made in probably one of the only Feedback thread about the Poker forum stood out to me:

5starpool wrote: »

There have been some complaint threads of sorts within poker and there is one 'you are teh mean' thread started by me in there now as well, so we sort a lot of stuff out in house in the open.

So I suppose this is as good a time as any to have another sorting stuff out in the open thread. (At least to give the thread some semblance of a topic :rolleyes:!!)

5starpool · 27-03-2008 7:05pm

This is post is just to threaten anyone with a ban who posts that *group hug* with bodybuilders photo.

I may or may not be serious.

ollyk1 · 27-03-2008 7:19pm

5starpool wrote: »

This is post is just to threaten anyone with a ban who posts that *group hug* with bodybuilders photo.

I may or may not be serious.

This one sums up the poker forum for me.

You are a nice bunch in general but I want your money.....:rolleyes:

ollyk1 · 27-03-2008 7:22pm

5starpool · 27-03-2008 8:10pm

Eeyore looks way to happy there.

Ste05 · 27-03-2008 8:15pm

5starpool wrote: »

Eeyore looks way to happy there.

Just made a perfectly innocent picture look depraved... LOL

dK1NG · 27-03-2008 8:16pm

Ste05 wrote: »

It seems nowadays that everyone who plays Poker in Ireland knows about boards and either posts or at least lurks. I don't play Live much but when I do, there is invariably a conversation about boards at the table, I usually don't announce who I am, I just listen and enjoy the convo's. (9 times out of 10 I'm also drunk and so am not exactly playing my A game, and I don't want to ruin my stellar reputation should I ever play sober. If my Live image was an on-line account, I'd say it would be worth a fortune). But the size boards has become really hit home for me last week when I was watching the IO on Network 2, every second person shown on the telly seemed to be a boardsie. I think the size boards has become in Ireland is huge and Dev, the Admins and really all the users of boards should be very proud of what has been created.

I rarely post on here, but have learned so much just by lurking the past few months. On the other hand though, I probably would have had my PhD finished last year were it not for the time spent on boards.:o

I had the pleasure of playing with a few boards players at the IO, and even managed to see a certain banker going around with his pink tie!:p

Doc Farrell · 28-03-2008 12:03am

This is what the mods really look like. Happy Birthday Ste0!

karlh · 28-03-2008 12:54am

Lafortezza · 28-03-2008 1:03am

karlh wrote: »

You can just see the top of Ste's head in this pic. We usually rest our pints on it.

Kamaldihnio · 28-03-2008 1:31am

Boards is great. Good job. Keep it up. Always learning and trying to add to my game and its a great place to do it. I feel its a must for any Irish player interested in improving there game. Sure if it wasnt for boards poker forum I would think Online poker is rigged. You promised me it wasnt. I am on the bandwagon. Not rigged, randomized, more hands means more bad beats etc etc. Not randomized properly? YOUR HAVIN A GIRRAFE MATE

Any questions I have get answered and posting here I am among the best up and coming players in Ireland who play the big events and give there feedback. What more do you want.

Brando_ie · 28-03-2008 1:43am

ollyk1 wrote: »

Where the hell are Tiggers legs!!!.....

THATS FREAKING ME OUT..........

The Al Lad · 28-03-2008 3:14am

Ste05 wrote: »

If anyone has any comments on the running of the forum or how I mod it, (I'm sure 5star and Laf would welcome comments too) feel free to ask or question away here. Any complaints etc. again feel free to ask away here, we haven't had a critique of the forum in a while and a comment 5starpool made in probably one of the only Feedback thread about the Poker forum stood out to me: So I suppose this is as good a time as any to have another sorting stuff out in the open thread. (At least to give the thread some semblance of a topic :rolleyes:!!)

why dont you lock as many threads as Lafortezzzzza..... he is a locking machine... I think his first words were "LOCK IT":eek:

charlesanto · 28-03-2008 3:32am

Brando_ie wrote: »

Where the hell are Tiggers legs!!!.....

THATS FREAKING ME OUT..........

What is Pooh doing with his left hand ????

DeadParrot · 28-03-2008 1:35pm

charlesanto wrote: »

What is Pooh doing with his left hand ????

yeah, there is something appreciative in Tigger's eyes alright

Bandana boy · 28-03-2008 2:49pm

DeadParrot wrote: »

yeah, there is something appreciative in Tigger's eyes alright

You guys are Sick

Well done Ste
5000 post sure is a lot of ****e talking informed debate

Here is to the next 5000

** BB returns to lurking

LuckyLloyd · 28-03-2008 3:15pm

This post has been deleted.

Mr.Plough · 28-03-2008 3:17pm

He's been laughing at that youtube link 2 years now imo

Hitman Actual · 28-03-2008 3:52pm

Fair play on reaching post 5K, Ste! (Remember it's only a small sample size, though, you don't know your true win rate yet!)

Ste05 wrote: »

The Poker forum has become huge these days and much more so then when I first started, in someways for the good and in others for the worst. Back in the day, there wasn't as large a poster pool as there is now, but I think alot of us were at the same sort of development stage and were alot more open to new ideas then seems to be nowadays. A huge % of these posters are still here, but like myself most seem to post less and less in the strategy and hand discussions. I don't really know why this is, my personal opinion is that most of the tricky topics and discussions have been through the mill many times and alot of these people don't really want to get into a huge debate again, it's probably just what happens with the evolution of Poker forums, the old guard discuss things and then a new group come in and some of the old guard join in again and the knowledge is bestowed on them to pass it on and so on and so on.

I guess I've been here for a while as well; not quite from the start, but a few months in. What you say here is fairly spot on, particularly "most of the tricky topics and discussions have been through the mill many times and alot of these people don't really want to get into a huge debate again". I personally don't have the stomach for another TLS or soul-reading/maths thread, or iPoker/PPP/PokerEvents/Macau is ghey, etc, thread. Obviously there will still be very valid discussions on, say, iPoker, but I just don’t have the desire to get involved anymore. But there are plenty of newer posters to move things on.

And regarding lower posting rates in strategy threads, a HH usually gets properly answered in the first ten replies or so, so there's no need for a big discussion. The threads which go on a few pages are usually the ones where a poster is too stubborn to listen to common sense. Also, we don't have enough higher stakes players who are also technically good and articulate posters, and the ones we have either don't seem to have the enthusiasm anymore or just don't see this forum as a place for good discussion (probably the latter, unfortunately). This hurts everyone, as the board never gets past a small-medium stakes forum. I don’t think there’s a lot that can be done here; you can’t do much about the demographics involved.

Another thing which I think has changed the atmosphere here is the evolution of the poker world in general. In the early days, it seemed like a regular was posting every day about a great session on Tribeca, or doing well in the Fitz EOM (the big one back in the day!), or whatever. Everyone seemed to be killing the fish and getting their share of the dead money. These days all we hear about is the grind of the game, and I think the enjoyment of the game has decreased for a lot of people. Also, anyone playing the game for a few years (us guys around from the start) generally won’t have the same enthusiasm for the game as the newbies, just like any other hobby tends to go stale. I think there’s a knock-on effect in the forum- fewer happy enthusiastic posters = less easy-going forum.

Regarding the mutual respect issue- there has been some negativity recently, but the forum seems to go through these peaks and troughs all the time. I’d hazard a guess that it was a lot worse 18 months ago. Despite the fact that there are a lot of ‘hand-bags at dawn’ here, Boards poker players are a very decent bunch, and I’ve yet to meet anyone from here that I wouldn’t like at my table (personality-wise!). The community aspect of the forum will always be its greatest strength, more so than the strategy benefits. But I do think a situation still exists where newer posters are apprehensive about getting involved in a thread, strategy or otherwise. So I agree with the “constructive response” comment, but again I think things have been worse in the past, so hopefully we’re improving. [I’m sure some newbies will beg to differ here!]

Just one point on the splitting of forums: that may be a reason for the current perceived lack of respect, as posters may feel that they only belong in one group and have no entitlement to be in any other. That’s obviously something that needs to be improved upon.

There’s not much to say about Mods; there seems to be an unintentional ‘good cop/bad cop’ thing going on, but it works well. I personally like that the Strategy forums are kept relatively ‘sterile’, although I’m sure that’s not to everyone’s taste, but the main forum and BBV Sticky exist for a huge range of topics, so every base is covered. Also, I think it says a lot for the strength of the posters here over the years that the forum has grown from such humble beginnings to a main forum and four sub-forums. Okay, so things may not be perfect, but in my opinion the forum is in a healthy state.

And before I ramble to infinity and beyond, that’s the end of my little commentary. [Apologies]