Boards - What you like, and 1 change you'd make

AckwelFoley

Feedback is nearly 95% negative threads form what i read.

I think it might be helpful and perhaps although not original if we were to mention the feature of Boards.ie that we like the most and suggest 1 change.

The only "change" that is not welcomed in this thread is the discussion of any individual moderator, their actions or that of any other staff group - it will derail the thread

For me, the positives..

I think its a great place to get news first.
It has a great diversity of forums to cater for all types of people.
The social meetings that members arrange.
Suggestions for new forums dont fall on deaf ears.
Because of the huge membership, there is a huge diversity of members.




What would i change?

Im not overly excited by the vBulli]etein forum, although its rarely down, so i suppose its functional..

CuLT

snyper wrote: »

What would i change?

Im not overly excited by the vBulli]etein forum, although its rarely down, so i suppose its functional..

Out of interest, what would you suggest as an alternative? ( and do you have a background in Internet forums and software development? )

Or if you have neither, what do you percieve the problem to be?

Not a loaded question, would be interesting to hear the reasons regular users think the site craps out when it does.

Gandalf23

I'd remove users postcount from threads.

Instead any users postcount could be shown beside "thanked posts" in that users profile.

Might stop all the postcount whores

Doctor DooM

I love the fact you can ask questions on nearly anything and find some helpful answers.

I love the fact that forums like Zombie Survival exist, if I feel like taking a walk on the silly side.

I increasingly hear big news through Boards.

I would say some people might get intimidated by the potential cliqueness of forums, with established mods users and in jokes, although how you would alleviate this I am not sure.

AckwelFoley

CuLT wrote: »

Out of interest, what would you suggest as an alternative? ( and do you have a background in Internet forums and software development? )

Or if you have neither, what do you percieve the problem to be?

Not a loaded question, would be interesting to hear the reasons regular users think the site craps out when it does.

No, im afraid i cant help you on the software development bit.. email and MS paint is about as tec as i get.
Im just referring to the "look" of it.. the skins are pretty nice.. but if you compare it to say for example an IPB board, the buttons and smilies seem a little "dated"
The problem i see with the IPB boards is that they were being hacked and crashed an awful lot more than here.. im using a site that is as big as boards as my example.

Boards is very functional and thats the most important part of course, and im certainly not trying to offend the guy that designed it.. but..

Sully

I always prefered IPB over vBulletin. Always felt that vB was to bloated and IPB was a lot clearner and better organised.. IMO.

Ruu_Old

I think boards has issues with vB because it has been hacked to pieces to add in some extra things to make it more custom to what the users wanted here, unlike many other sites running vB. This is why it makes it difficult to upgrade and so on I imagine. I think one of the admins mentioned this a while ago.

Plusesssss:

Helpful people who are surely some of the best in their field (Tech forums).
Finding out big news on boards.ie first, as mentioned.
Bloody brilliant community.

Random

I love the way that everything turns into a nonsense thread but generally only after people get the answers they want.

I love the way there's a forum that covers everything and then a catch-all forum (AH).

I don't like the way it sometimes takes so long to load pages.

I really dislike the fact that there is no proper mobile theme - I think people would donate even toward it if one was to be purchased even!

Zaph

I love the sense of community, people really do look out for one another and try to be helpful. Well most of the time!

I love that no matter what I want to ask a question on or talk about there's somewhere for me to do it.

I love that something that started for a bunch of gamers is now taken seriously enough to get regular coverage in mainstream media.

I love the Santa Strike Force and the whole idea behind it. The generosity, both with their money and time, displayed every Christmas by Boardsies is incredible.

Unlike some people, I actually like vBulletin. Maybe it's because I also post on another site that uses their own truly appalling software and I spend half my time there wishing they'd switch to vBulletin.

I love Boards beers, in all their incarnations. You're always guaranteed to meet some really nice and interesting people.

I honestly can't think of anything I don't particularly like. I'll be back if something occurs to me.

Sabre0001

Likes:
There is nearly always an answer for any question
Range of forums (and the possibility to request others that aren't already covered)
Some great people
Find out news
Jokes & Lolcats!

Dislikes:
Some thread topics are guaranteed to turn into flame wars rather than an actual discussion about the topic (though Boards is better for keeping this in check than many other sites)
Sometimes the number of forums can actually be overwhelming (particularly if you want to ask a question in unfamiliar territory, and must also then decide which forum will generate enough traffic to get an answer)

Ponster

I'd close down AH for a week, just for the hell of it and force some AH whores to discover some new forums.

Random

Now there's an interesting idea! What about a sponsored shutdown of AH?

DeVore

YES!!! And while we're at it we could find some hornet's nests , you know, for a good shake and a kick!

DeV.

Nerin

I Like
The whole community spirit

The wide range of characters on boards :pac:

The boardsie culture

its all helpful and stuff

its irish


I dislike
some of the feuds (although some make me giggle)

sometimes there can be cliquishness (although when i was new bgrh/cuckoos were nice to me)

some posters freak out about the newer things (example-announcing the new Vb features)

as for Vb, i dunno if i'd change it, it seems modifiable enough, although i'd like to see more random modifications. i'd assume that it takes alot of effort though.

Doctor DooM

DeVore wrote: »

YES!!! And while we're at it we could find some hornet's nests , you know, for a good shake and a kick!

DeV.

You know the Roma brought all the hornets nests to Ireland?

AckwelFoley

Sabre0001 wrote: »

Likes:

Sometimes the number of forums can actually be overwhelming (particularly if you want to ask a question in unfamiliar territory, and must also then decide which forum will generate enough traffic to get an answer)

Very good point imo.

It can be hard to decide where to post a thread. AH seems one size fits all, but not always the best place to look for answers. hat said, AH is fun.

_blank_

I Boards

Good

I met me burd here

The excellent community of people from every conceivable walk of life.

The Boards football team, Boardeaux, which I help set up, and still manage, it makes me smile every week to see a bunch of lads run out in jersies with the Boards crest on it. It's in my sig there, the blue one, that's an actual close up pic of the crest on one of the jersies

The way I can ask a question, and get an almost immediate response. Tonight I asked a question on Laptops, and some really nice people came back very quickly with the info I was looking for.

BGRH. What a success story that has been. Fair play to the mods there. I've made some great friends from it, long may it continue. (BGRH Beers 20th June!!)

The Soccer Forum. I know it gives a lot of trouble, but the mods put in a sterling effort there. I really appreciate them for it. Even if I am a bit of a git at times, I do my best to not be a complete pain in the whole. The Off Topic Thread in there is also good, a bit of banter between the regulars in Soccer is A GOOD THING

The Mods. I appreciate the work done by the mods on all the forums I post on, and even those I don't. My co-mods in Food and Drink especially, thanks for letting me have particular responsibility for BWS

Bad

The god awful ad servers. Tonight Fogra is giving hassle.

mike65

DesF wrote: »

The Boards football team, which I help set up, and still manage, it makes me laugh every week to see a bunch of lads run out in jersies with the Boards crest on it

Fixed that for you.

Mike.

estebancambias

Likes:

The Soccer Forum. Everyone has an opinion and it doesn't seem to be football manager influenced like on other football forums.

The Atheist Forum: I hated it at the start, and I don't post too much there now, but there is always something interesting to read if you're bored.

I like the PS3/GTA IV forum.

I think Boards has some funny charachters.

The way people organise stuff on here and help each other out.

The Dublin forum

RedXIVV: I give him personal mention. I don't talk to him or nothing, but this guys advice in a Personal Issues thread I read was just class.

Don't like:

Permanent bans: No other forum I have ever been on has been as quick with permanent bans. My AH ban should last 6 months max, and then back in, especially if someone continues to contribute to other forums.

The way some people hold things against you, for example Karoma. He/She takes it far too seriously.

The way people can't get my humour.

estebancambias

DesF wrote: »

I Boards

Good

I met me burd here

Almost brings a tear to my eye. God speed Des...God speed.

Toto Wolfcastle

I like that you can find out pretty much anything and be kept up to date with what's happening in the world on Boards.

My mother told me today that if there was an MA in the Internet I'd get a first. She said I always have new things to tell her that I found on the internet; these are all things that I actually find here!

I don't think I'd change anything. If I don't like something (or someone) I just ignore it (or them).

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

one thing I'd change would be an option for the female members of boards to opt out of the subscriber fee and just upload a picture of their tits on slydice instead.

Orion

Mordances with the proletariat wrote: »

one thing I'd change would be an option for the female members of boards to opt out of the subscriber fee and just upload a picture of their tits on slydice instead.

If only slydice didn't have a no-tits policy I'd agree.

Pros:
Great community. I've met some people here first that I now call friends.
There's a forum here for every question I've ever had to ask with helpful people to answer them.
SSF - best charity I've ever sponsored. The whole concept behind it is brilliant.

Change:
Shake that hornets nest - kill AH for a week

Xavi6

Like:

I fucking LOVE a good feedback thread in the morning. Seriously, nothing beats logging to see some clown fight da powah. Lolcats, FAIL! pics etc, the whole lot makes me smile inside.

Love the soccer forum. While there are the odd few plebs in there the fact is the knowledge on the game is probably the best you'll find around. Pretty much everyone is great craic as well.

I like my little AFL forum. We have a tiny tiny little community of about ooooh six or seven people but they are people with a genuine interest in the game and it's good to have a chat over the weekend's events. Plus we have 16 people in our fantasy league which ain't bad for its first year.

Also a big fan of the music forums, giving advice to those moving abroad, AH, and anything really that I can post on. The variety is fantastic.

Dislikes:

Very little to be honest. Only thing that really bothers me is how some mods are too hasty when it comes to locking threads, banning users etc. It is da internetz so just relax a little. Other than that all's good in the hood.

IRLConor

Xavi6 wrote: »

Like:
I fucking LOVE a good feedback thread in the morning. Seriously, nothing beats logging to see some clown fight da powah. Lolcats, FAIL! pics etc, the whole lot makes me smile inside.

+1

Also like:

• Hearing about stuff long before I otherwise would. It has been an eventful time in the Irish shooting world and boards.ie has had a lot of the news first.
• Discussing political stuff in a way which allows the people discussing the matter to quote definitive sources. It's impossible to do this in a face-to-face discussion unless you have a very good memory.

Don't like:

• Banning/infracting users or editing their posts. Maybe I'm just new to the moderating thing, but most of the time I'm disappointed that I have to do it.
• Sock puppets
• Posters who make zero effort to post in readable English.
• The dead time that the backup causes.
• The loss of a proper, condescending rolleyes smiley.

What I'd change:

Magic auto-ban for the muppets who try to ruin boards.ie. If that isn't possible I'd bring back the old rolleyes smiley.

togster

Plus.

Very helpful posters and lots of forums. You can find the answer to any question.
Very good if you are bored at work.


Negatives

The site seems to "crash" quite a bit.

EDIT: That tard of a new smiley.


Other than that boards is pretty nifty

Sherifu

I like the cake. Delicious cake.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

_blank_

mike65 wrote: »

Fixed that for you.

Mike.

And it's smart arsed comments like this, from ill-informed numpties that I hate.

Come to a game buddy, see if you laugh.

Twat.

Keano

Boards has replaced Google - if it aint on Boards it is not on the interweb

6th

DesF wrote: »

And it's smart arsed comments like this, from ill-informed numpties that I hate.

Come to a game buddy, see if you laugh.

Twat.

A Christ! Pissy mood again? Seriously, walk away for a minute and come back smiling. It was a harmless comment.