Is there an clique on boards.ie who are immune to the rules?

gandalf

err Ponster for clarity I'm just plain gandalf, not Gandalf23

The Recliner

Gandalf23 wrote: »

Its telling that people here are so defensive ... I'm just making comment and feedback (critical admittedly, but valid comment nonetheless). I reacted to dev, but only after he took the first shot at me. I understand why some of you feel the need to defend him by attacking me.

Actually you took the first swipe when you had a go at DeV in the first post in this thread, DeV was defending himself against you

I will reply to anything specific from deV, Beru or Seamus. I'm fighting a loosing battle with the rest of the community, but as I said before, meh.

And why do you think it is that you are fighting a losing battle?
Is it because people don't agree with you and don't think there is a clique or just don't care if there is

Steve

Gandalf23 wrote: »

Steve, I always liked your style, and I have taken you as a decent bloke who always has something intelligent to say. It's true, I suspect you take the side of boards a wee bit too much, but I would always read and respect your posts.

Can I ask you a question? Why are you calling me a troll? If I am a troll surely deV is one too? Do you admit he took the first swipe at me and I was only defending myself?

I'm not gonna fall out with you over this because you are a good bloke.

Maybe I seem to take the side of boards, maybe my opinions are aligned better with the ethos of the site - there's a difference, I'm not on a crusade, I just happen to (mostly) agree with how it's run. If there is something I don't agree with then I'll voice that.
If boards evolves into something that has an uber strict set of rules and no fun then I'm sure I'll be posting my thoughts elsewhere. I'm confident it won't though.

I'm not calling you a troll, you can and do write some excellent posts here and I respect you for that.
I am, and there is a difference, accusing you of trolling with this thread as you don't seem to have a specific issue to address - or as orestes pointed out, the issue keeps changing.

DeV didn't take a swipe at you, he voiced his opinion same as everyone else here, you took it as a swipe simply because he has gold stars under his username and therefore must be part of a clique that is conspiring against you.
Can you see how silly that sounds?

I hope you don't fall out with me, I'm not one for making enemies, life is too short for that bullshit.

To answer your original question about cliques, yes of course they exist, the same way they exist in a local pub or in a classroom. It's human nature.
Are they all power tripping mods? No.
Are they users (rank excluded) that share opinions and get along with each other? Yes.
How do you join such a clique? - easy go join in the fun that is boards and make some friends, it's not hard.

I hope that made some sense.

Steve.

Gandalf23

Thank you thaed ... very cool reply.

My opinion of you increases with almost every post of yours I read.

Thaedydal wrote: »

I think you asked a daft question which was aimed to goad people or you daftly goaded people by asking a question. Doing a search on it would have been more informative.

Probably was a daft question ... in hindsight I could have phrased it better and in a less confrontational way. I sometimes forget what a bearpit feedback is. I was just being honest though. Whatever you think of me I was making valid feedback which I thought might inspire a discussion. This is the kind of thing the new community manager will be asking btw.

Thaedydal wrote: »

Hey I ask pain in the arse and provocative questions myself and get people's backs up but dude seriously you don't tick off the admins, seriously.

This annoys me. Why not piss them off? Why not challenge them? They are made of stern stuff and can take criticism. Challenge the status quo ... if it is robust enough it'll survive.

The admins should be thanking us for challenging them.

Thaedydal wrote: »

Well I would urge people not to abuse you cos clearly you just want it too much.

I dont like abuse (see my very first post), but unfortunately thats the way people here react. Such is the life of the feedback OP with something critical to say ...

Daithi McGee

Gandalf23 wrote: »

Thaed, I asked a valid question in a (totally vain) attempt to start a discussion. I was stupid enough to think something good might come if it. My failing is that I never learn ... I was not disciplined enough to keep this thread on topic, which is a shame because there were some good points being made. I failed because I rose to the flamebait and let the thread descend to this. My failing ... pity.

Its telling that people here are so defensive ... I'm just making comment and feedback (critical admittedly, but valid comment nonetheless). I reacted to dev, but only after he took the first shot at me. I understand why some of you feel the need to defend him by attacking me.

Most of you might not believe that my intentions were good, but meh, I'll sleep well tonight anyway. Maybe you should just for one second think if I made any valid points at all in this thread ... if not thats cool, you can dismiss me as a troll. If I made even one of you think its been worth it.

I'll happily bow out here. Everyone please feel free to take your best shots. I'll thank any abuse I get ... feel free to do your worst. Under the new precedent thats been established you wont get banned if I thank you.

I'm outta this thread but I will reply to anything specific from thaed, deV, Beru or Seamus. I'm fighting a loosing battle with the rest of the community, but as I said before, meh.

Your point was valid and true. There are circles within circles on boards, that is just the way things pan out. If you say for example that there are 5,000 active members, and thats a hell of a lot of people, then boards will imitate life. Friends have friends. Mods have friends etc.

If you can change human nature then well done you.

I'll buy shares

Overheal

seamus wrote: »

Mostly. But then at the same time it is justified to take someone's past into account when taking action. If a poster has a long history on a board of being gruff and confrontational and generally stirring **** eventually pisses the mod off enough, they may be banned, without having done anything specific. Another poster, who's been continually helpful and a decent poster, loses the rag at the aforementioned troll and fires an outburst at him on the thread. Yet he gets an infraction.
On the face of it, the latter "offence" is more serious than the former. But the real point of moderation at all is to act in the best interests of the site/board; it's not to punish users and apply rules.

I'm compelled to agree. And no, I would not consider myself part of the clique. Mainly because Beruthiel is part of the clique (admit it!) and she was having none of it. Most of the clique as I see it seem to know each other at least somewhat in RL. And Nerin stalking me that one time outside of the Penny's in Carlow when I went to buy a Hash Pipe, does not count. Because I never saw the Ninja Bastard.

Rb

SteveC wrote: »

How do you join such a clique? - easy go join in the fun that is boards and make some friends, it's not hard.

What if you don't manage to within your first, for arguments sake, four years on the site? Would it be safe to conclude the problem lies with one self and not with the site/its users?

Just for arguments sake of course.

Gandalf23

Rb wrote: »

What if you don't manage to within your first, for arguments sake, four years on the site? Would it be safe to conclude the problem lies with one self and not with the site/its users?

Just for arguments sake of course.

Dude, did you get my PM?

Nerin

Overheal wrote: »

And Nerin stalking me that one time outside of the Penny's in Carlow when I went to buy a Hash Pipe, does not count. Because I never saw the Ninja Bastard.

you just had to draw me into it didnt you

Rb

Nerin wrote: »

you just had to draw me into it didnt you

I knew you were the type to search your own username to see if you're being talked about :pac:

Vainity, eh?

Nerin

Rb wrote: »

I knew you were the type to search your own username to see if you're being talked about :pac:

Vainity, eh?

i cant help it :pac:

to be honest, ive been reading this thread since the start, but didnt want to add anything serious, as ive been taking a break from feedback.
and although (i hate to admit it ) i have respect for gandalf23, this thread i getting to heated, and he appears to not be in the mood for any points id make. i dont feel like being labelled a boardsie fanboy again

(good to see you back Rb....clique clique )

Steve

Rb wrote: »

What if you don't manage to within your first, for arguments sake, four years on the site? Would it be safe to conclude the problem lies with one self and not with the site/its users?

Just for arguments sake of course.

I would conclude that whoever you are referring to has not yet found a suitable place on boards to nest in and call home. Maybe the correct forum has not yet been created and needs to be campaigned for.

People who really don't fit in here tend not to make it four years.

You're a notable exception though Rb.. *

(*I'm kidding there Gandy, see.)

Gandalf23

Just to clarify ... there are probably cliques on boards ... I dont know for sure, but as a few people have said above cliques are inevitable and not always a bad thing.

My problem is that cliques ARE definitely a bad thing when the members of the clique get preferential treatment. Would we accept members of the Government being allowed to drink drive (an extreme example to illustrate my point). There would be uproar from some of the people trying to defend the very same thing here!

Maybe some of you are happy to accept cliques getting preferential treatment on boards, but I just dont agree with it. I think its bad for the community and has the potential to cause problems.

As for my spat with dev ... I just dont agree with him. DeV, you called someone a cnnt here. I accept that we can all get angry after a long day but personal abuse is the lowest form of communication. You have also set a very silly precedent by saying ...

DeVore wrote: »

I don't think what I said to him was abusive.

... That leaves a rock solid defense for all the muppets who now want to call people cnnts ...

Do you still think what you said was not personal abuse? Is it now allowable to call people cnnts on baords.ie?

Nevyn

Gandalf23 wrote: »

Thank you thaed ... very cool reply.

My opinion of you increases with almost every post of yours I read.

I think my sarcasm decetor has failed.
/kicks it.

Gandalf23 wrote: »

Probably was a daft question ... in hindsight I could have phrased it better and in a less confrontational way. I sometimes forget what a bearpit feedback is. I was just being honest though. Whatever you think of me I was making valid feedback which I thought might inspire a discussion. This is the kind of thing the new community manager will be asking btw.

You can catch more bees wtih honey tbh, and the community manager most likely will be a boardsie and know the score I hope.

Gandalf23 wrote: »

This annoys me. Why not piss them off? Why not challenge them? They are made of stern stuff and can take criticism. Challenge the status quo ... if it is robust enough it'll survive. The admins should be thanking us for challenging them.

So you get cross and you crossly ask questions and you think you have the right do do so. Eh how would you feel if everything someone got cross and het up they got antagonistic with you cos they felt they had the god given right to do so ?



What if it was 1 person a month, what if it was 1 a week what if it averaged 7 posters a week over 7 years. You'd get sooooo totally pissed off.
Seriously log out or kick the neighbors cat instead instead of picking on the poor beleaguered admins and mods. How the admins have put up with this type of bad behaviour from people who are guests on their site I don't know.

Personally if this was my site and you had behaved in such a fashion I'd be looking to the laws of hospitality and picking between making sure you never darken my hall again or if I could take your head as a trophy and display it on a table to make other people mind their manners and not post in such ire.

Gandalf23 wrote: »

I dont like abuse (see my very first post), but unfortunately thats the way people here react. Such is the life of the feedback OP with something critical to say ...

It's not what you say it's the way that you say it.

Rb

Nerin wrote: »

i cant help it :pac:

to be honest, ive been reading this thread since the start, but didnt want to add anything serious, as ive been taking a break from feedback.
and although (i hate to admit it ) i have respect for gandalf23, this thread i getting to heated, and he appears to not be in the mood for any points id make. i dont feel like being labelled a boardsie fanboy again

(good to see you back Rb....clique clique )

Why thank you very much Nerin, I presume I shall be seeing you at the monthly clique meeting in the secret hideout?

Nevyn

Gandalf23 wrote: »

Just to clarify ... there are probably cliques on boards ... I dont know for sure, but as a few people have said above cliques are inevitable and not always a bad thing.

My problem is that cliques ARE definitely a bad thing when the members of the clique get preferential treatment. Would we accept members of the Government being allowed to drink drive (an extreme example to illustrate my point). There would be uproar from some of the people trying to defend the very same thing here!

Maybe some of you are happy to accept cliques getting preferential treatment on boards, but I just dont agree with it. I think its bad for the community and has the potential to cause problems.

Alrighty then please back up your assertions with cites and links.
Please show me where this happens, I don't really all of the forums the site is far to big
so please show me where this happens.

Daithi McGee

Gandalf23 wrote: »

My problem is that cliques ARE definitely a bad thing when the members of the clique get preferential treatment. Would we accept members of the Government being allowed to drink drive (an extreme example to illustrate my point). There would be uproar from some of the people trying to defend the very same thing here! ?

We do. They have friends of friends. Check out the current bank situation.

As I said when you find the cure I for one will be buying shares.

Rb

Thaedydal wrote: »

the community manager most likely will be a boardsie and know the score I hope.

http://jobs.ie/ApplyForJob.aspx?Id=895827

If it's not a boardsie, things could go very badly imo. This site is quite unique and to bring an outsider into such a position could potentially cause ruckus.

I hope it's a boardsie though.

Daithi McGee

Rb wrote: »

http://jobs.ie/ApplyForJob.aspx?Id=895827

If it's not a boardsie, things could go very badly imo. This site is quite unique and to bring an outsider into such a position could potentially cause ruckus.

I hope it's a boardsie though.

Fingers crossed for Gordon!

Gandalf23

Thaedydal wrote: »

So you get cross and you crossly ask questions and you think you have the right do do so. Eh how would you feel if everything someone got cross and het up they got antagonistic with you cos they felt they had the god given right to do so ?

I didnt ask "cross" questions ... I probably should have been smarter and asked them in a different way, but as I said above, meh.

Thaedydal wrote: »

What if it was 1 person a month, what if it was 1 a week what if it averaged 7 posters a week over 7 years. You'd get sooooo totally pissed off. Seriously log out or kick the neighbors cat instead instead of picking on the poor beleaguered admins and mods. How the admins have put up with this type of bad behaviour from people who are guests on their site I don't know.

So what? I didnt realise there was a limit on feedback.

Thaedydal wrote: »

Personally if this was my site and you had behaved in such a fashion I'd be looking to the laws of hospitality and picking between making sure you never darken my hall again or if I could take your head as a trophy and display it on a table to make other people mind their manners and not post in such ire.

Lucky its not your site then ...

Thaedydal wrote: »

It's not what you say it's the way that you say it.

Is that irony? After your last post

Gandalf23

Thaedydal wrote: »

Alrighty then please back up your assertions with cites and links.
Please show me where this happens, I don't really all of the forums the site is far to big
so please show me where this happens.

Please see my first post for what I believe to be an example.

In fact, 2 examples.

But I could be wrong, I was just asking the question, and I seem to be getting some agreement. Looks like I'm not the only one to ask if cliques exist and get favoured treatment here ...

Overheal

Thaedydal wrote: »

The irony.

Daithi McGee

Overheal wrote: »

The irony.

And I thought I was the only one.

Thanks.

Gandalf23

Could I ask a feedback mod to contact rb and ask him if he is intending to stick with the agreement we made as brokered by cult please? We previously agreed to avoid each other (especially in feedback) and I have the pm's to prove it which I can fwd if necessary. I have tried to contact him but he must have me on ignore.

gandalf

/facepalm

This is like a car crash, you know you shouldn't look but you just can't help it. I have become the internet version of a rubber necker!!

Daithi McGee

Gandalf23 wrote: »

Could I ask a feedback mod to contact rb and ask him if he is intending to stick with the agreement we made as brokered by cult please? We previously agreed to avoid each other (especially in feedback) and I have the pm's to prove it which I can fwd if necessary. I have tried to contact him but he must have me on ignore.

PM's are private messages.

Irony.

Get it?

DeVore

Sorry, I should be clear.

1. Yes I called him a cnut in anger.

2. Yes that was personal abuse and I shouldnt have. I was wrong.

3. I am then stuck between editing my own post to remove it, (a power users dont have so am I abusing my power then?) or leaving it there. I would prefer to remove it because I contend its not indicative of my character generally.

4. When I wrote the first half of my post on this thread I didnt think I had been abusive (I didnt read the whole thread), I then went back and read my post again and edited my post here and wrote the second part of it. Hence the seeming incongruity between the first and second paragraphs. I've cleared that up, up above.

However, this is feedback and I allow a lot more language here then I would elsewhere and I wouldnt have banned say, Boston, for posting that post so I DONT feel like I'm giving myself special treatment. (I take it you dont consider Boston to be in the "clique", or do you?).


I hope that clear up the questions you had for me, because I have some for you in my next post.

DeV.

Nevyn

Overheal wrote: »

The irony.

I don't look like that card at all.
My hair has not been that short in 16 years and I would never wear a belt like that with those boots.

As for the point you are trying to make, I like it here, I like the site and I apprenticate all the hard work that goes into it and what the admins have done.

But there is a bit of a difference between being cheeky and putting your boots on the table
in the great hall and getting up on it and defecating.

Not my fault if people can't figure that one out.

Daithi McGee

Thaedydal wrote: »

I don't look like that card at all.
My hair has not been that short in 16 years and I would never wear a belt like that with those boots.

.

pwnd

Overheal

The point I was trying to make was ironic humour. Lighten up

Card: "I'll post what I bloody well like!"

Thead: "I can post how I bloody well please"

Ironing. It was pure coincidence it looked like your former avatar.

DeV let him wail on you in the Thunderdome and call it a day. Karmic Retiribution