My boards story.

Hectorjelly

Ill try and keep this as short as I can.

I started playing poker in 2004, I somehow found this site and began posting. At the time it was a group of friendly guys who mostly played freerolls and small tournaments. Badly. (We were all bad in those days!). As time went on we all learnt together by playing, posting hands, debating theory and arguing. I made friends and enemies in about a 12:1 ratio. Most of those enemies turned to friends after a while. (Oh Rooney Dives, where for art thou!)

I ended up turning Pro. 2 years later I started coaching students, 90% of whom I got through boards. I got a contract to write a monthly article for cardplayer Europe (archived at http://www.cardplayer.com/authors/284-daragh-thomas). I wrote some articles for paddy power.com, and other publications. All of this was through contacts I made at boards, because they had read what I wrote.

I was later employed by Pokerswat (who are now in the process of being taken over) for about a year, again through boards.

A while ago, I started reading and occasionaly posting in the dance music section. I got to hear some great music (and plenty of rubbish! but thats how it goes). I'm fairly sure thats where I heard le mezcla for the first time, which is probably the greatest track of all time. After a while I got involved in a radio station (back on air soon!) and did a weekly radio show which was very enjoyable. One of the reasons I could get involved so quickly was that there was a crossover of posters from the poker forum. I already knew of KevIRL and JTsuited, and respected their opinions, so could get a feel for the vibe of the place, and what posters knew what they were talking about. (clique alert!) Through the radio show I have gotten several gigs, and it has also got me back mixing, which has landed me a primetime techno gig in a few weeks which Im really looking forward to.

Recently Ive been getting into Airsoft, mainly from reading and posting in the Airsoft forum. I've been once, and had arranged a big outing for this Thursday. The venue fell through at short notice, and 20 mins after posting about it in the Airsoft forum I had another venue which sounds amasing. (Cheers bren!)

I've also gotten to play 11 aside football again, arranged solely through boards. (Poker forum hammered the Soccer forum!). Any mods reading this will be glad to know I scored against Lloyd at least once! Ive also several times gotten players for my weekly game.

So to the crux of the post, as you can see I am very appreciative of what boards has done for me. The only thing I've given back is the time I stacked off to De Vore for €200 on a 9TQ board with 9Q. (No prizes for guessing what he had!). Its been an invaluable resourse. But I also think that there is a synergy here, that wouldn't be present if it were all seperate forums. Ireland is a small place, and there is a lot of crossover between forums that can be very helpful. At worst it saves having to log into different forums!

I don't know the details of what happened with Lloyd, and I don't really want to know. I understand he was treated badly, given the amount he has put into the site. (although I haven't heard the other side of the story) But I don't think the damage is irreparable. I would be fairly sure that if Lloyd, Tom and or whatever mods are appropiate got together for a few pints it would all be sorted out. Maybe the poker forum needs more freedom. Maybe we need stricter modding. I doubt that there is such a huge gap between the two side it cant be negotiated.

Now maybe I'm wrong. Maybe LLoyd was mistreated to the point where we/he can't go back. Maybe having our own poker site will be in some way advantageous. (I can think of some small ones, like free custom avatars, but nothing worth haveing to create new bookmark). Maybe they wouldn't have us back. But if I am, tell me why.

If we get this sorted I will donate €100 to Haiti. I think that donating money to Haiti is almost useless, but I understand that almost everyone else thinks differently, so hopefully it may work as a small motivator. (I think Lloyd would like it anyway!)

ps I bought a bike through Boards and it didnt get a puncture for over 2 years. FACT!

Im going to post this in both forums.

RichieLawlor

The problem this time Darragh is the lads are not coming back, that's their site, they have shelled out on it so there staying. This is the biggest problem because as you know it's takes a certain type of character to mod this forum because it's filled with so many different personalities (mostly money hungry gambling degenerate nightcrawlers;)).

While I think most of us will continue to use boards for other forums the core of the Irish poker community (good posters, bad posters, yuletired ect) all that is required to give it that home feeling is not here anymore, imo the way this forum was moderated was what made it what it was. It obv had to be given a differnt approach as was demonstrated when Kinetic stepped in in the immieadate aftermath of the bbv saga.

This place won't die, but to rebuild it needs to adequately replace Kev Ste LL and 5star who are the fundamental reason this place grew so much over the last few years. DeVore could do it as he is essentially one of us in the guise of some serial killer from a book long forgotten:p. But to send Kinetic and his ilk ( no offence to those guys meant ) would result in this place being a troll fest. Were no strangers to organising attacks, just ask Kev.

I think it's a shame there had to be a split, but it only makes sense to go where the action is. Or stay here and talk to DBC who will be along soon imo. We will all pop in and out but home is where the action is.

Just my opinion of course

RasTa

I'm pretty sure everyone will still post on both forums just not the poker anymore. I go over to United matches with a few of the lads from the soccer tickets forum so will continue to post their once I get my username back.

eoghan104

I just realised the new site is blocked in work for me so I am wholeheartedly behind the idea for things to go back to normal and I will also donate €€€ to Haiti if we just have a big group hug and move on.

RasTa

eoghan104 wrote: »

I just realised the new site is blocked in work for me so I am wholeheartedly behind the idea for things to go back to normal and I will also donate €€€ to Haiti if we just have a big group hug and move on.

Try putting an s after the http. My work firewall is so lame that it takes that much to get around it.

Whyno

eoghan104 wrote: »

I just realised the new site is blocked in work for me so I am wholeheartedly behind the idea for things to go back to normal and I will also donate €€€ to Haiti if we just have a big group hug and move on.

Same for me eoghan.:mad:

I think the damage is well and truly done but feel this change was inevitable due to the fact that the volume of traffic and growth of the poker forum alone and the legendary BBV is what spiralled all of us to make this breakaway.

Well this is boards.ie`s loss imo as Llyod and co were invaluable members to this forum and to the whole site.
I'll still use boards.ie in general but as for the poker forum its as good as dead imo. Sure there will be an odd post here and there but for any worth while posting the guys site is the only place to be.

cooker3

HJ for mod!

The Snapper

Nice post HJ. IMHO, that someone cares to take the time and effort displayed in OP, clearly illustrates the depth of feeling about this utterly avoidable fiasco. People (no one in particular ) become so entrenched and identified with a stance on the silliest of details and repeatedly, the baby get's thrown out with the bath water.:mad:

DeVore

True dat Snapper.


The admins are not ogres. They have learned a lot from the last time, hence we didnt put in replacement mods immediately. We also changed our approach and agreed to never again punish a community for the actions of individuals, something which steered us right on another similar issue recently.

I think people are hanging the admins simply because they know Lloyd and the lads. I wouldnt ask anyone EVER to swallow what Lloyd said. For me, "I'm not going to change. Do as you see fit" translates to "two fingers mate, wotcha gonna do about it?".

As I said, I wish the lads well and I'll post on both.

DeV.

JimmyCrackCorn

Good post.
Boards poker forum helped me no end.

I even got relationship advice, im now single.

Flushdraw

Hi Tom,

I think the poker mods showed a lot of unity in doing what they did. Dom/Ste/Kev/Lloyd have done an excellent job modding this forum. I'm going to hazard a guess that it would the forum with the highest number of shills and repeat reg's.

Very few people have anything bad to say about them, and they have always been fair. It's true that a lot of posters here are taking their side because they know the lads. I've met yourself , the mods and a lot of posters on here while playing live and have got to know everyone through boards. I don't think the poker boom would have ever got as big if it wasn't for boards.

The fact is that Lloyd was treated extremely harsh for something shouldn't have gone that far. He is one of the best posters on here, and was voted such on both the soccer and poker forum. Lloyd does shoot from the hip, and what he said can be seen as a 2 finger salute, but did his post/troll actually do anyone any harm or cause such uproar that it warranted the reaction from everyone? Surely there's more than 1 way to diffuse a situation and that the mods should be given a little more slack? It is an unpaid position that takes up a lot of their time, and getting your hand slapped for something so silly probably does sting a little.

I could probably point to more than 50 posts from poker mods that could have been accused of trolling but it’s quite right to overlook things and let mods post “without their mod hat on" in order for them to be seen as part of the community rather than someone that is constantly policing the forum.

Flushdraw

Ughh don't know what happened to the rest of my post...sh1t

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

The Snapper

DeVore wrote: »

True dat Snapper.


The admins are not ogres. They have learned a lot from the last time, hence we didnt put in replacement mods immediately. We also changed our approach and agreed to never again punish a community for the actions of individuals, something which steered us right on another similar issue recently.

I think people are hanging the admins simply because they know Lloyd and the lads. I wouldnt ask anyone EVER to swallow what Lloyd said. For me, "I'm not going to change. Do as you see fit" translates to "two fingers mate, wotcha gonna do about it?".

As I said, I wish the lads well and I'll post on both.

DeV.

No there not ogres Tom ( maybe the odd one is borderline ), but they have either handled this brilliantly or horrendously, dependent on objective.

a148pro

DeVore wrote: »

"I'm not going to change. Do as you see fit" translates to "two fingers mate, wotcha gonna do about it?".


DeV.

Without knowing too much about what happened, beyond the little I read in the varous posts, I agree with this entirely. Realistically, what response did Llyod expect to this. I also have little doubt that some of the people on the upper echelons of this site are a little addicted to power and over indulged it. On both sides, ego and pride seems to have been let get in the way.

I also think the lads were right to move. They want their own forum, and there hasn't been much going on in the poker forum here for the last while anyway. I only log in every week or so, go to the Hand history / theory sections and the same hands are there with feck all posts. HJ's story is a microcosm of this forum - most of the long term posters know how to play poker now, so they've little interest in talking about it. The poker forum has more or less become the BBV, which has virtually nothing to do with poker. Its about a group of mates sitting around chatting. They want to chat with their own rules, they want sem-exclusivity, that is the antithesis of Boards and the lads are right to go and form their own forum.

I also cannot see this forum surviving without them...

a148pro

And Hector, any chance of posting a mix? I remember watching that Ferrari video you did years ago would be interested in hearing more??

mewso

DeVore wrote: »

For me, "I'm not going to change. Do as you see fit" translates to "two fingers mate, wotcha gonna do about it?".

For me Tom, and not to start a row or anything, but from reading the pms that Lloyd posted he said he was standing by his record as a moderator and he fully explained his approach to lighten the mood when things became too serious in threads, this kind of approach being considered trolling by the Admins. Now I only saw the example that was cited in the first pm he received from an Admin but if that was the worst of it then straws and clutching comes to mind. I'm only saying this because thats twice I've seen the "Lloyd said screw you so what are we going to do" rolled out and I don't think it was ever as simple as that or fair to him tbh.

Daithio2

DeVore wrote: »

True dat Snapper.


The admins are not ogres. They have learned a lot from the last time, hence we didnt put in replacement mods immediately. We also changed our approach and agreed to never again punish a community for the actions of individuals, something which steered us right on another similar issue recently.

I think people are hanging the admins simply because they know Lloyd and the lads. I wouldnt ask anyone EVER to swallow what Lloyd said. For me, "I'm not going to change. Do as you see fit" translates to "two fingers mate, wotcha gonna do about it?".

As I said, I wish the lads well and I'll post on both.

DeV.

I don't think that's a fair assessment of the PM exchange at all Tom.

Also, I think that until the admin in question learns how to deal with disputes in a more diplomatic/ less authoritarian way, he/she should get used to receiving responses such as Lloyd's.

I know boards isn't a democracy, yada yada yada, but even dictatorships need to practice good PR for them to succeed.