I miss the old Feedback.

Karl Hungus

Yes, I know the lolcats were sometimes overkill, and sometimes the arguments went nowhere, and spiraled off into many tangents, like a jellyfishes tendrils. But you know what? Those were good times. When people came along soap-boxing and making ridiculous claims about moderators being on crack and other such nonsense, people would just laugh at it, poke fun at silly accusations.

Now, I'm sure that this reads like I miss posting cat pics. That's not really it, these days, it's a case of lock thread > take it to feedback, and everyone's complaints are granted the same respect, no matter how off the wall. Before, feedback was a forum where people were addressing other people, now it's all so hum drum and serious, and it's more like people are addressing complaints and feedback to a system. A system that doesn't really give a genuine response, but measured, impersonal responses.

I think boards.ie lost something extremely valuable, a large part of what was the boards community. People addressed a complaint towards boards, and boards as a community responded. Sometimes with mocking and derision, but it was a response from the users; those who make boards what it is, and it was a genuine boards response to people who made silly complaints. The way it is now, Feedback seems to have been taken out of the hands of the community, and a rather 'kid gloves', impersonal, PR kind of response is given out to anyone who has an issue.

I believe that boards has been changing a lot as of late, more rapidly and drastically than before, and not really a change for the best either. I get a sense of a greater rift between the regular users and mods, and the admin team, it's as if the shift towards this model of feedback is saying to the community "we don't want your input, we're handling it from here." Even with thanks being removed in Feedback, it seemed another way of saying to the community; butt out.

It just feels like users are less a part of something now, and that kind of saddens me.

I don't know what I expect in writing this. I'm not demanding that Feedback be returned to it's glory days, I don't even know if that could even be possible now, even if the admins actually tried to return it to that. Feedback as it was, was something that developed naturally from the community and the way users voiced their opinions.

I think people didn't really appreciate Feedback for what it was at a time, maybe some saw it as just people taking the piss, or a shambles of a 'system'. But I think Feedback was truly a part of what made boards.ie a community, it was part of that community's voice, and I think at the very least, it deserves some recognition. Boards just hasn't felt the same since, it lost something of itself.

This is Karl Hungus, user of boards for over 8 years, cheeky bastard on Feedback half the time, over and out.



Fooooooooooooooo!

FlutterinBantam

Post-**** depression K... that's how I sees it.;)

The Recliner

Pretty much agree with all you have writen there Karl

I do think it would be easy enough to go back to the old days, there are enough people willing and waiting to pounce at the first sight of a Fight da Powah thread

They just need to know that the the shackles are off and it is a free for all

Xavi6

Spot on Karl. The old Feedback was a real go-to place whereas this version is pretty much pointless in its current form as the majority of threads are either locked right away or shipped off to Help Desk. The powers that be have been real Buzz Killingtons in this particular situation.

Berty

Ah hell you are just getting old.

Soon you will not be able to read the posts without needing to type the acronyms into Wikipedia/Google.

NatKingColeslaw

Out with the Old. In with the New.


IBTL

:pac:

Boston

Don't like the way every other thread is getting locked simply because it's decided that it has no merit.

mike65

+1 to all Karl Hungus said.

Boards.ie is a business now....

Boston

Old feedback probably did reflect badly on boards LTD

BuffyBot

<admin hat off>Rose tinted glasses tbh</admin hat off>

On a bigger adminy note - everything changes. "Old" feedback couldn't be sustainable, and certainly didn't present a particularly attractive image of boards.ie to the outside world. The site has grown massively, and with that the old ways just don't wash anymore.

There are more users, and a lot more voices. We can't have the shouting matches of old simply because there would be way too many people shouting. I enjoyed them as much as anyone at the time, but I realise that it just could not work that way now.

Of course boards.ie has lost something in it's growth, but it's gained an awful lot too - and it's easy enough to forget that when indulging in nostalgia.

Boston

Rosie you say?

Wibbs

The Recliner wrote: »

Pretty much agree with all you have writen there Karl

Ditto. Well put Karl and I agree with you here;

Karl Hungus wrote:

I believe that boards has been changing a lot as of late, more rapidly and drastically than before, and not really a change for the best either. I get a sense of a greater rift between the regular users and mods, and the admin team, it's as if the shift towards this model of feedback is saying to the community "we don't want your input, we're handling it from here." Even with thanks being removed in Feedback, it seemed another way of saying to the community; butt out.

It just feels like users are less a part of something now, and that kind of saddens me.

I do think there's been some disconnect in the areas you suggest with this growth. Maybe it's unavoidable and part and parcel of such growth. I would hate to see the community go "corporate" in structure though* or be infested with the beige of middle management. It may be natural and easier to copy some of the structure of that as things get bigger, but that doesn't mean new rules can't be written that keep the community as vibrant and inclusive and free rolling as the best bits of the past. This is a new medium and Boards is a new player in that medium. Good opportunity to write some new rules methinks. With the users to the fore. Not mods, not admins, users. That's the community.

I think feedback in the past was a bit too OTT, but IMHO anyway this has been a snapback too far in the other direction.


*this is no reference to Boards ability to thrive as a biz BTW. The better it does there the better for the community. I say corporate in the sense of hierarchy and dealing with any possible faults in the system.

GLaDOS

I'd love to thanks your post but....y'know.

dr.bollocko

I don't mind at all if ye want to make feedback a sub forum of the thunderdome. That should bring about the right spirit in the place.

Jack B. Badd

Imo, boards could well support 2 Feedback-style fora, one similar to this where feedback is aimed at and received by the upper-echelons of the boards community, the other a "community feedback" forum relevant to all levels. However, as much fun as the old Feedback was, as BuffyBot stated, it doesn't present well to the outside world. Then there's also the fact that, as boards already has the current Feedback, Helpdesk, AH and tCN, does it need to further filter the constructive feedback from the soap-boxing?

stovelid

dr.bollocko wrote: »

I don't mind at all if ye want to make feedback a sub forum of the thunderdome. That should bring about the right spirit in the place.

The 'dome works on the principle that you sign up for what comes your way.

The slaughter and/or stupid pictures in the old feedback was uninvited.

Can't say I miss the spectacle of people lining up in their dozens to ridicule people, even if a lot of the time it was warranted.

therecklessone

stovelid wrote: »

Can't say I miss the spectacle of people lining up in their dozens to ridicule people, even if a lot of the time it was warranted.

If I could thank you...

dr.bollocko

Boards has become very large. Too large to be perceived as one site anymore. A load of different communities with different rules and different user interactions which result in different gripes and problems. Perhaps the concept of one central feedback forum will just never fit with how big boards has become.

orestes

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=61953588&postcount=11

Get outa my head Hungus :mad:

aidan_walsh

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Boards has become very large. Too large to be perceived as one site anymore. A load of different communities with different rules and different user interactions which result in different gripes and problems. Perhaps the concept of one central feedback forum will just never fit with how big boards has become.

This, IMO.

therecklessone

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Boards has become very large. Too large to be perceived as one site anymore. A load of different communities with different rules and different user interactions which result in different gripes and problems. Perhaps the concept of one central feedback forum will just never fit with how big boards has become.

Suggest an alternative then?

dr.bollocko

therecklessone wrote: »

Suggest an alternative then?

Category feedback fora might be workable.
When helpdesk is one poster vs. many mods it is always going to look unfair. I am not saying that it is but it could easily be perceived that way.
With old feedback there were too many callous witch hunts and plenty of posters with some axe to grind or other. That is also unfair.
Feedback forums on a cat level might be able to limit the number of axe grinders and get more specific feedback about each different community on boards. Because it splits the issues down to specific categories there are less threads, less posters and the whole thing might be a bit more focused.
There can be no system that everybody will be happy with. We're all ****ed. Run to the hills.

Lafortezza

BuffyBot wrote: »

"Old" feedback couldn't be sustainable, and certainly didn't present a particularly attractive image of boards.ie to the outside world. The site has grown massively, and with that the old ways just don't wash anymore.

In the older days of feedback (and I guess boards.ie in general), nobody really cared how we looked to the outside world. It was all about keeping the user base community happy.

I guess now since DAFT bought a chunk, the new admin organisation, and actual offices and employees as a part of boards, it's inevitable that the website, owners and admins have to think about how the site looks to outside business interests (advertisers, "Talk to...." forums, and the Irish media).

Old feedback definitely doesn't fit into that image, which I think personally is a shame, but since boards.ie is now a full legit company, things have to be done differently.

Boston

New boards.ie LTD now with ten muppets for every Watty or Hagar.

Dudess

The problem I found with old Feedback was the inability of a few vocal regulars to differentiate between those thread-starters having an unreasonable whinge, and those who were attempting, in a reasonable manner, to voice their concerns over something which, while it may have appeared naive of them, was an issue they felt was worth bringing to the table. To see the latter get ripped apart was not nice.
And it didn't make sense to have a Feedback forum at all if that was going to be the kind of reception in there.

If there was a guarantee of a separation between the two, I'd personally welcome old Feedback back. I don't think that can be guaranteed though.

Earthhorse

The old Feedback may have been unsustainable, the new one is useless. Ironically, as boards begins to make money off the back of the content generated by its users they now find themselves with less of a voice. If the reason behind this new Feedback is perception in the broader world then take Feedback private i.e. create a new forum where users with issues are granted temporary access where they can interact with admins and mods or other users involved. As it stands, the current mechanism by which users can have their case heard is ambiguous at best and the present Feedback forum is nothing more than a scarecrow; designed to give the illusion of protection when there is none.

My name is URL

What's changed? Most threads are ignored, or the OPs concerns are dismissed as a fanciful rant with no real merit.. then an admin will come in and say it's a non-issue and doesn't belong in Feedback.

It's a clusterfcuk still, it just has less people now

I agree with Dr. Bollocko, there should be a Feedback section in each category, and if the Cat Mods deem a topic to be of importance they can choose to escalate it to admins

Boston

Say whatever you want about the old feedback, it was a place where you could gain support if you where able to convince the populous you were right, and when you have that support you could force mods and management alike to change decisions previously set in stone. You cannot do that now. Feedback is totally irrelevant now. I've seen a series of moderators quiet in the last few weeks and there's not a word about it here.

NatKingColeslaw

Boston wrote: »

Say whatever you want about the old feedback, it was a place where you could gain support if you where able to convince the populous you were right, and when you have that support you could force mods and management alike to change decisions previously set in stone. You cannot do that now. Feedback is totally irrelevant now. I've seen a series of moderators quiet in the last few weeks and there's not a word about it here.

There were a few thread about mods leaving but they were deleted. Here and on other forums.

Feedback, indeed. One prefers the new one.

eVeNtInE

This post has been deleted.

BuffyBot

In the older days of feedback (and I guess boards.ie in general), nobody really cared how we looked to the outside world

Well, I don't even think anyone thought of it that way - but for the most part the outside world didn't know about boards.ie. We were an island. And a small one. Like Guernsey, but with more sarcasm.

That, however, has changed completely. We're a much bigger island now..and growing exponentially and we're a lot more visible to the world.