Losing retailers and sites

ricka

Why are we're losing retailers and sites from the paid forums.
Probably the busiest site in the country has recently stopped its subscription.The Offfice Block has just stopped and I know another retailer not going to renew next month.Some of you may not care but the retailers and sites forums only work when their active with many contributors.If we lose more, I could easily see the whole thing collapsing
What can we do to save it

Captain Commie

having run my own business before (different field) and paid for advertising on a forum its never nice having some rules laid down. Some people feel that because they are paying to be able to promote their business on the forum that they should be above rules and that simply aint the case.

There is also the fact that companies may just not want to shell out €30 odd a month to have a thread here, some people can be very pig-headed about spending money for advertising

Or, there is the possibility that they want their customers to use their own websites/forums and feel that paying for a thread on another forum is counter-productive

Im not saying that this is what is happening, simply 3 possible ideas that ive been thinking myself, it really is the same in any business

gerrowadat

Think of your average airsoft site -- why would they have a thread now? All most of the threads really say is "Great games fair play, airsoft's the real winner". and are then quiet for the week. Special events can go in the events forum for nothing (although these seem to be getting locked randomly now as well).

That, and the moderation here has gone to absolute ****e. Completely inconsistent and biased toward moderators mates. Example: The 'sniper school' thread, which andy_g was involved in. They were charging money, they got a front page thread basically unfettered for the entire time. Also, the "Let's get together and practice tactics" threads by Sperminator (the guy who ran sniper school with andy_g) also allowed on the front page, despite the the fact that practicing combat tactics is WAY more illegal in Ireland than other stuff we're not allowed even talk about.

Actual airsofters aren't reading or taking boards seriously any more, leaving the sleeve chewers. Which, let's face it, are the same folks who are tyre-kickers in shops, and whinging mongoloids on the field.

TNTQ

ricka wrote: »

What can we do to save it

Ban Facebook :pac:

Seriously though, I'm sure it's not the money (which isn't that significant). I think it may be (in some cases) the restrictive nature of playing within the rules. I know the rules are the rules but in some instances "the man" can be a bit finnicky.

Lemming

Not much that can be done by the community other than to spend money realistically; which a lot of people are thinking twice about given the economic times we now find ourselves in.

As for sites not renewing membership, I imagine one of six possible scenarios might explain why;

1. "I'm not payin' no subscription!"
2. Boards.ie has upped its commercial rates. That is a matter between boards.ie and the commercial entities unfortunately and anyone else really doesn't have a leg to stand on commenting on the matter (as much as we may or may not like to)
3. Commercial interests, like customers are feeling the pinch and scaling back on costs.
4. Commercial interests thinking that they are getting higher throughput of traffic on their websites/other means than via boards.ie and thinking they can forgo interacting with the community on boards.ie
5. We don't like boards.ie any more.
6. Whoops! Didn't realise!

There's only a couple of those that the community itself can influence (points five and six) short of spending money as I said above. The rest - imo - fall under the category of business decisions.

Firekitten

To be honest, established well known shops and sites dont need it anymore... if someone is interested, they can email the store, because they know the website...

for new retailers? grand, great idea. But established ones don't need the overhead presented by a subscription to a forum for the right to advertise.

bullets

Damn loads of replies to this thread before I even managed to write my novel.
will be reading the thread backwards now.

While boards seems to have the most amount of traffic as an Irish webpage used by Irish airsofters I despise this way the airsoft section of boards has gone with regards to the catch 22 situation you have because of the retailers/site section.

Retailers are forced to pay a subscription fee in order to communicate with
other posters here openly or to provide news to people. Its understandable
that boards.ie wont want them to have free advertising.

But this also has a knock on affect to ordinary users where if they cant
openly discuss sites and shops that may exist but have NOT paid for a thread.

The locking of the airsofting in Limerick thread really pissed me off at the time, where ordinary skirmishers were chatting about where they were going skirmishing the weekends (mostly the same skirmish site) this place
did not have its own paid for thread, so it was seen as the site getting free advertising and was locked (more than once). The users that mentioned the site were not affilliated and were not trying to advertise the site but only wanted to freely be able to discuss/chat etc like you do on boards!!

(Same Site later got their own thread and have also since decided to cancel
their subscription as they reckon they can have their own webage for a year for about a months fees here on boards and go by their own rules!)

At the same time if people went and discussed going to Berget or traveling to sennybridge etc (who were not Irish retailers or sites) you did not see the same threads getting locked, so people scream double standards.

When people have got pissed off of boards and tried to create or open other
Irish related airsoft forums where people could chat, they did not really take off and traffic was low, so people either fecked off to arnies or started to lurk here and not post.

The Irish Airsoft Association webpage had potential I honestly thought
the forum there would take off and become one of the main places
where people discussed things and were very active but I'm guilty myself
or forgetting to even look at the site for weeks/months at a time or until
I realize I need to renew my membership.

It would be nice to have
One site to rule them all, one site to find them,
One site to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

The IAA fourms may be more active if the retailers were allowed post there
free of charge and draw more traffic and may make it more of a focal point on the web where anyone new to airsoft will find. Not sure if thats even a possibility or not, may encourage retailers and sites to become affiliated with the IAA and in turn it allows its affiliates to post/advertise on the webpage. Everyone benefits.

~B

Firekitten

To be fair bullets, Sennybridge, or other events like that, and Berget, are as I said... Events. Events discussion is separate from retailers/ site discussion. Berget and Sennybridge (Ta events, lets be honest)
I can't see boards demanding someone front for a subscription before allowing people to talk about an upcoming event...

Events discussion is perfectly permisable within Boards rules...

Other sections of boards allow discussion of gigs, or events, while retailer 'advertisement' or 'presence' is by subscription.

Afterall, Boards.ie has to make money... subscription for advertisement rights seems only fair. The method... perhaps a little hinky.

Br4tPr1nc3

it seems boards take advertising very seriously in certain sections of its site, which seem to have a fair bit of traffic.
main ones I come across are airsoft, and after hours.

But i see three other areas that aren't as heavily "policed"...

giving up smoking thread:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055796757

bargain alerts section:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=346

pc building and upgrading:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=842

all of which show shops, Irish and foreign freely without threads being locked for advertising.


If I remember correctly, the only sites and retailers that were allowed to advertise, were ones posted by either mods, or people who were subscribers to boards, which costs 5 euro a month. and now it costs a retailer or site 25 to 30 euro a month.


Also I have heard, through hear say and what not, that many people are shying away from boards, because of issues similar to what gerrowadat mentioned.
Even though mods are supposed to be be impartial and what not. The are going to mess up in certain circumstances. such as somewhat double standards.


I understand boards has to make money, and should'nt just be used as free advertisement, but lets face it, 30 euro a month is a lot, for being able to have 1 thread in 1 section of boards.ie

ricka

There's no doubt that facebook and twitter have an influence here.There both FREE and from talking to most guys in the business, their geting more returns from posting there.It's funny I never used to think about the sub here till recently, now I question it.Maybe I'm at the early stages of leaving here myself!
The overiding problem I see with this forum and I HEAR it everyday is the negativity that surrounds it.I come into contact most days in the shop with people who hate this forum.You wouldn't believe how many times i'm told in a week that they 'don't do boards', can't stand it!
I take some of that with a pinch of salt as often their able to recount a particular thread and who said what, so they must be logging on.
But this is the important point... there's no doubt that noobs aren't been guided to boards anymore by experienced players both on sites and if i'm honest by me either.
Personally, I still get a lot from here.From my point of view there's a lot of good info imparted here that helps with my business.There is however large cracks growing and I think the forum is losing its hold on the larger airsoft community.
I don't have an answer but the collapse of the retailers or sites sections would be another big blow for the forum.After posting last night I had a text from yet another site that is dropping its thread next month.Not good news

Firekitten

This will happen with time. The community grows, and diversifies from its roots. Boards.
It happened in England too, we used to roll with one main forum too... UKAN The very first. (UK Airsoft Network)

then Arnies Airsoft was born, along with Ukan's death, Ascuk rose from the ashes. That died and became UKAZ (uk airsoft zone)

(And we dont talk about zeroin)

Things change, alegances, comunity bases.... etcetera. Shops find better methods to advertise.

I do note however. Irish airsoft needs an independant Irish Airsoft forum.

I know some exist, but the traffic is apawling.

If Ireland had its own independantly run airsoft forum, like nearly any other country... as its hub of airsoft, rather than part of a comercial forum, retailers could advertise for free, or reduced cost, sites could advetise.


This isn't some 'ah if only we were freeeeeeeeee' post, but an observation of what happens.

Personally I'd be happy to donate (Like boards subscriber system) to the upkeep of a website / forum just for us.

I ditched boards subscription because I honestly couldn't work out who I was helping.

Was i keeping boards online? no. I was just volunteering to help them make money. meh.

sliabh

Boards is a commercial site, so it is entitled to charge those if thinks can/will pay. What surprises me is the pretty inconsistent way they go about it. There is a big difference between advertising, and just talking about a product/service. I think the powers that be here need to step back and look at how the rules are being applied (certainly in the Airsoft forum, I don't know how it works elsewhere), because they are beginning to look silly when even discussing something commercial is verbotten.

It's pretty clear cut that when the SEAirsoft guys post up about a special offer that is advertising*. But discussing what happened on a site at the weekend is not. Just for example - do you think the GAA pays boards €30 per month to allow people talk about what happened last Sunday in Croke Park? Not likely.

Let me give another example of the silliness here. Suppose I started making (or more likely just re-badging) airsoft guns in Ireland. I would be told that to tout my Shamrock branded guns on boards I would need to pay €30 per month. Fair enough. But if I don't does that mean no one can mention my wonderful Bren, or FN FAL? Can I then insist that in the interest of a level playing field VFC, G&G and all the rest have to stump up as well, or else I want the full power of the mods and their ban hammer brought down upon any boardsie who dares to mention those brands?

It could be the cynic in me, but it looks like there is an element of Boards only chasing those they think they can get money from. Small Irish airsoft shops, or sites are fair game. If they went to the companies who's products are heavily discussed/featured in Music (e.g. EMI, Warner, etc), Motors (e.g. Volkswagen, Ferrari), Consumer Electronics - Apple Media Devices (e.g. Apple) to look for money they would get a short sharp answer.


* Am I guilty now of advertising by proxy? Will I be asked to pay €30 to keep posting?

Firekitten

Thats pretty much bang on the money there. Bravo.

Arkslippy

Another point is that if someone asks for a recommendation for a gun or a vest for example, people link to sites. And noone gets locked or banned.

But my suggestion would be to roll the questions, reviews, technical and general forum into one and take a much laxer approach to modding.

Anybody who breaks the general boards rules should be kicked, or anybody who is advertising their own services likewise.

Hivemind187

bullets wrote: »

The IAA fourms may be more active if the retailers were allowed post there
free of charge and draw more traffic and may make it more of a focal point on the web where anyone new to airsoft will find. Not sure if thats even a possibility or not, may encourage retailers and sites to become affiliated with the IAA and in turn it allows its affiliates to post/advertise on the webpage. Everyone benefits.

~B

Um ... they are?

Affiliated sites have had their own sub forum on the IAA site since it was opened - a forum that everyone can read and post to.

Firekitten

Nah, the separation is really useful... helps things be less cluttered.


And its who is advertising that matters in policy iirc.

Individuals can say it as far as Im aware, with no relation to a shop or business.

For someone who is related, its 'shilling'?

bullets

Hivemind187 wrote: »

Um ... they are?

Affiliated sites have had their own sub forum on the IAA site since it was opened - a forum that everyone can read and post to.

Doh! my bad! it reminds me to look again, I only briefly went in the other day
to renew my membership and to take a quick look at the fourm.
Did not realize that the retailers could post freely there.

~B

cobra 08

Just want to point out that if boards loose the sites and retailers then the forum is just going to die. I know I only ever cone on here nowadays to use the retailer and events sub forum and I'm pretty sure alot more users are the same.

Airsoft Reloded

The problem with that though is a HUGE amount of sites and retialers don't want to affiliate because there is only over powered oversight and no benefits to join anymore. When we joined it was because of the great work of Fayer and Gerrowdat (sorry if I spelled that wrong Dave) but since then its been crap.

But to get back on topic its what Richard and James siad, €30 is to much to pay for boards regardless of how much your making overall, we were getting less than a person a month from here and kept it open only for our customers to have a place to chat, meet other airsofters and other places to play but our own forums can do that.

Other than that you have very bias mods who only lock threads THEY disagree with and only lock threads from the sites they play on after they lock someone elses and want to avoid a lot of crap with posters.

Simply put most people hate boards because of the overly strict rules, and allowing unfair mods to do what they like doesn't help. If you have to pay for a forum then you deserve professionalism. We get more business from AI and they're free.

bullets wrote: »

Doh! my bad! it reminds me to look again, I only briefly went in the other day
to renew my membership and to take a quick look at the fourm.
Did not realize that the retailers could post freely there.

~B

Firekitten

I don't think most do. I for one haven't really had much desire to look in the retailer section.

Ive bought from Irish retailers, but i just go on thier website.

Boards for me, is the people, and the craic. Thats not going to go away.

Airsoft Reloded

All of the funniest people and the most knowledgeable people have left already sure. Other than the retailers and gun fixers (but sure they'll leave too if everyone keeps going).

I think most of us still post here out of habit, I know I'm active in a couple of other sections so its not boards itself, it has to be the mods of the airsoft section (funny enough the same thing everyone always said it was)

Firekitten wrote: »

I don't think most do. I for one haven't really had much desire to look in the retailer section.

Ive bought from Irish retailers, but i just go on thier website.

Boards for me, is the people, and the craic. Thats not going to go away.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056210929

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056210929&page=2

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056245938

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056238835

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056207960

Theres a few that we're allowed to stay open (notice that mods have posted in some of them) and thats fine but how come only certain sites/people are allowed to do that and some are not?

I hope the people that opened these threads or own these sites understand that i'm just trying to make a point and have no problem with them or the fact that their threads were left open (kudos infact) but http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056283868 how is it fair when one of our old customers was asking a question just like in the other threads mentioned thier old (and current customers in most cases) customers were asking questions or straight up advertising them and the one mentioning us got closed?

cobra 08

Firekitten wrote: »

I don't think most do. I for one haven't really had much desire to look in the retailer section.

Ive bought from Irish retailers, but i just go on thier website.

Boards for me, is the people, and the craic. Thats not going to go away.

Maybe for some. But I see little craic going on here lately and very little information. Even when a useful thread comes up it always seem to turn into a personal argument between certain users in here which why I hardly ever bother to post anything because the on topic posts just get lost in all the crap.

But each to their own I suppose

sliabh

cobra 08 wrote: »

Just want to point out that if boards loose the sites and retailers then the forum is just going to die. I know I only ever cone on here nowadays to use the retailer and events sub forum and I'm pretty sure alot more users are the same.

It may already be in the death spiral.

Just look at the train wreck that is the "front page" of the airsoft forums. Some stickys, three locked threads, a couple of whinges, some redirected threads and some crap ones which refuse to die (like the "Airsoft Player Census"). All chaff, no wheat. Looking at what is on offer I wouldn't hang around too long as a first time visitor.

I realised the other day that other than the events thread where I need to keep an eye on the Rionegro game, I have stopped looking at the site. I might scan once every few days to see if something interesting has turned up but apart from the odd thread like this I just couldn't be bothered.

I took the recent moaning threads with a pinch of salt. But when I asked myself what was different I realised it was the modding. This place has gone from having a list of things that are banned, to effectively having a list of things that are allowed. My "Seriously, WTF" moment, where I realised how bad things have got, was when Andy handed out a slap for talking about computer games in the Off-Topic thread last week!

The free wheeling lively spirit is gone out of the forum, and people are being driven away. The more that leave the less value the place has for players or retailers.

Airsoft Reloded

sliabh wrote: »

It may already be in the death spiral.

Just look at the train wreck that is the "front page" of the airsoft forums. Some stickys, three locked threads, a couple of whinges, some redirected threads and some crap ones which refuse to die (like the "Airsoft Player Census"). All chaff, no wheat. Looking at what is on offer I wouldn't hang around too long as a first time visitor.

I realised the other day that other than the events thread where I need to keep an eye on the Rionegro game I have stopped looking at the site. I might scan once every few days to see if something interesting has turned up but apart from the odd thread like this I just couldn't be bothered.

I took the recent moaning threads with a pinch of salt. But when I asked myself what was different and what made I realised it was the modding. This place has gone from having a list of things that are banned to effectively having a list of things that are allowed. My "Seriously, WTF" moment, where I realised how bad things have got was when Andy handed out a slap for talking about computer games in the Off-Topic thread last week!

The free wheeling lively spirit is gone out of the forum, and people are being driven people away. The more that leave the less value the place has for players or retailers.

Sure it already has, Redbarn is gone from boards and they are one of the best sites in the country so theres a lot of people not even bothering to post anymore so now all you have really is your own constant customers posting on your thread and your paying for it.

Its like some of the mods are actually trying to cause arguments and push people off the forum for some reason. The way things are it should be free, certain mods should be made to step down and as per what you said above, why is it called the off topic thread so?

Truth be told what I might do is call the boards advertising team back and agree an advertising deal with the stipulation that certain mods are kicked and some things are changed becuase as loads of people pointed out Boards.ie is a commerciall entity who wants to make money, the way things are being run here is losing them money and thats not fair to the people who actually depend on boards for a wage not to mention the reputation of the people in charge of it and the forum itself!

UrbexJunkie

I think its crazy that no matter how many people i talk to about airsoft in Ireland when boards.ie is mentioned the tone changes. Although boards maybe good for adverts and retailer news everything else is dead.

You ask a question it gets locked. You go off topic it gets locked. This place reminds me of school if your not in with the possy your nobody. When i first started airsoft i was asking questions in here and i was laughed at and my threads were closed.

I think boards needs to cop on and give airsofters what they want and ditch the politics and power tripping mods....

Firekitten

Boards needs to cop on, and give airsofters what they want?

Airsofters can **** off for all boards cares. We're a tiny sub forum, of a massive comerical entity. Like they care if a few airsofters whine...




Kicking/ forced resignations of mods....


Lets not start this rubbish again, Every few months a new witchhunt starts from whichever subset of posters decided they have been wronged this time.

I honestly dont see how its going down the pan? Boards airsoft is fine?

We get plenty of discussions, we get plenty of new posters.


To all of those posters here, and in other exactly identical topics griping about the lack of topics....

Why not make one? If you feel boards hasn't got enough interesting material? Add some. Boards is not here for your entertainment alone. You need to give, if you want to get something back from a forum. The two way relationship cant work without it.

You want change? Be the first to make a step towards it. Sitting at the back complaining is like wetting your pants: Only you get the warm feeling, and everyone else just sees a miserable stain.

Airsoft Reloded

Its not rubbish when its fact, you can't start any interesting topics because they'll get locked. You have several posters, a site owner, a retailer and old posters saying the same thing here.

Trust me boards cares, they care about every €100 because they are a business. I just think a phone call to thier office has never been bothered with. Think about it why would they allow thier forum to be ran poorly when its losing them money, they need the money to pay the bills don't they?

Firekitten wrote: »

Boards needs to cop on, and give airsofters what they want?

Airsofters can **** off for all boards cares. We're a tiny sub forum, of a massive comerical entity. Like they care if a few airsofters whine...




Kicking/ forced resignations of mods....


Lets not start this rubbish again, Every few months a new witchhunt starts from whichever subset of posters decided they have been wronged this time.

I honestly dont see how its going down the pan? Boards airsoft is fine?

We get plenty of discussions, we get plenty of new posters.


To all of those posters here, and in other exactly identical topics griping about the lack of topics....

Why not make one? If you feel boards hasn't got enough interesting material? Add some. Boards is not here for your entertainment alone. You need to give, if you want to get something back from a forum. The two way relationship cant work without it.

You want change? Be the first to make a step towards it. Sitting at the back complaining is like wetting your pants: Only you get the warm feeling, and everyone else just sees a miserable stain.

Arkslippy

Firekitten wrote: »

Boards needs to cop on, and give airsofters what they want?

Airsofters can **** off for all boards cares. We're a tiny sub forum, of a massive comerical entity. Like they care if a few airsofters whine...




Kicking/ forced resignations of mods....


Lets not start this rubbish again, Every few months a new witchhunt starts from whichever subset of posters decided they have been wronged this time.

I honestly dont see how its going down the pan? Boards airsoft is fine?

We get plenty of discussions, we get plenty of new posters.


To all of those posters here, and in other exactly identical topics griping about the lack of topics....

Why not make one? If you feel boards hasn't got enough interesting material? Add some. Boards is not here for your entertainment alone. You need to give, if you want to get something back from a forum. The two way relationship cant work without it.

You want change? Be the first to make a step towards it. Sitting at the back complaining is like wetting your pants: Only you get the warm feeling, and everyone else just sees a miserable stain.

Seriously.

95% of posts are on the adverts side.

The rest is just fluff.

Arkslippy

Viva la revolution !!!!!!

Make the call Brian , someone may at least discuss internally why things are falling down

horgan_p

Airsoft Reloded wrote: »

Sure it already has, Redbarn is gone from boards and they are one of the best sites in the country so theres a lot of people not even bothering to post anymore so now all you have really is your own constant customers posting on your thread and your paying for it.

But Redbarn havent closed down , in fact if anything they've gone from strength to strength.

Airsoft Reloded wrote: »

Its like some of the mods are actually trying to cause arguments and push people off the forum for some reason. The way things are it should be free, certain mods should be made to step down and as per what you said above, why is it called the off topic thread so?

If you have a problem with mods , there's a procedure in place for that.Bitching here wont do any good.As has been proven over and over again.

Airsoft Reloded wrote: »

Truth be told what I might do is call the boards advertising team back and agree an advertising deal with the stipulation that certain mods are kicked and some things are changed becuase as loads of people pointed out Boards.ie is a commerciall entity who wants to make money, the way things are being run here is losing them money and thats not fair to the people who actually depend on boards for a wage not to mention the reputation of the people in charge of it and the forum itself!

And if boards.ie would change the mod team on ANY forum just because a commercial interest asked , it would set a horrible precedent.
If you want to mod your own forum I believe it's in the "talk to" section. And I understand its a hell of a lot more than €30 a month.

Airsoft Reloded

horgan_p wrote: »

But Redbarn havent closed down , in fact if anything they've gone from strength to strength.

You missed my point

horgan_p wrote: »

If you have a problem with mods , there's a procedure in place for that.Bitching here wont do any good.As has been proven over and over again.

Using the complaints procedure doesn't do any good as proven over and over again

horgan_p wrote: »

And if boards.ie would change the mod team on ANY forum just because a commercial interest asked , it would set a horrible precedent.
If you want to mod your own forum I believe it's in the "talk to" section. And I understand its a hell of a lot more than €30 a month.

The money isn't an issue, its the fact that there are less people interested in boards because of the way it is being run, the unfair modding (which can't be denied) and I guess yeah... Value for money, the place is being run poorly and people are leaving so why pay for a drowning horse. Not to repeat myself but why would someone pay for a sites section when other sites can have threads open in the main section?

!!DAR!!

Put it this way, this forum is dieing because of the fear of mods locking the threads
I for sure wont bother opening a topic again on here because I might be wasting my time.

As for how active the site is, i joined a urban exploration forum about 3 months ago and have over 1500 posts ( is that active enough )
the reason for this is because i have no fear of mods locking my threads ( i am one of the mods but i still stick to the rules )
there is about 8 mods in total and not one of us have locked a thread that was un called for.
if there was a topic or post that wasn't abiding by the rules we simply snipped the post and asked if the user could explain them self ( in another post ) or edit the what they said. Not just lock the thread and just say, not following the ruled, snipped and locked and leave it at that.
The site is only for urban exploration and already has a total of around 11000 posts since starting ( which isnt long as its a new site )


So the fact that a forum for a sport and not just a hobby or interest is so strict and full of rules is exactly what is driving most users away from boards.
It is not all about the money, this forum was known as a place to find all the information you wanted on the sport and ask any questions you need to, now its a place that we just have a quick look at to see if there is anything interesting for sale or just to contact what users is left here.

UrbexJunkie

Airsofters can **** off for all boards cares. We're a tiny sub forum, of a massive comerical entity. Like they care if a few airsofters whine...

// They would care if retailers stopped using the forum due to lack of airsofters not having interested in the forum.

I honestly dont see how its going down the pan? Boards airsoft is fine?

// Why dont you do a survey on how boards airsoft is going? I think you will find a lot of negativity..

Why not make one? If you feel boards hasn't got enough interesting material? Add some. Boards is not here for your entertainment alone. You need to give, if you want to get something back from a forum. The two way relationship cant work without it.

// I am sure many people have tried adding interesting material but if its not up to the standards its locked.

horgan_p

Redbarn obviously found a better place or way to advertise.That was my point.


If the complaints procedure is broken and the mods are annoying you , then post somewhere else. Lots of retailers are now using social media (facebook , twitter ) and seem to be having great success with it.My own theory is that the "community" feeling is gone from boards but people still get that "community" or "being a part of something" from twitter or facebook.
Maybe forums are things of the past and people are gravitating towards other ways of keeping in contact with each other and finding out about services and products which interest them.


In fairness , boards have been made aware of problems some members have with the mods here.

They obviously dont see that there's a problem , so why continue to try to force a square peg into a round hole ??

Airsoft Reloded

horgan_p wrote: »

Redbarn obviously found a better place or way to advertise.That was my point.

Ok

horgan_p wrote: »

If the complaints procedure is broken and the mods are annoying you , then post somewhere else. Lots of retailers are now using social media (facebook , twitter ) and seem to be having great success with it.My own theory is that the "community" feeling is gone from boards but people still get that "community" or "being a part of something" from twitter or facebook.
Maybe forums are things of the past and people are gravitating towards other ways of keeping in contact with each other and finding out about services and products which interest them.

I have done all that from the start, I'm not worried about our site. We never really got a lot of business from boards but I liked using it. I've been using it for years now and I care about it, I like the fact that we have a massive forum with hundreds of subjects. I want it fixed.

horgan_p wrote: »

In fairness , boards have been made aware of problems some members have with the mods here.

They obviously dont see that there's a problem , so why continue to try to force a square peg into a round hole ??

Or perhaps it hasen't been driven home to them that they are losing business because of it?

Firekitten

[QUOTE=!!DAR!!;72507853

So the fact that a forum for a sport and not just a hobby or interest is so strict and full of rules is exactly what is driving most users away from boards.
It is not all about the money, this forum was known as a place to find all the information you wanted on the sport and ask any questions you need to, now its a place that we just have a quick look at to see if there is anything interesting for sale or just to contact what users is left here.[/QUOTE]
look in questions... there are plenty of questions asked per day.

!!DAR!!

Firekitten wrote: »

look in questions... there are plenty of questions asked per day.

then why the f*** was mine locked and told i was advertising without even getting a chance to explain myself or fix my topic.

!!DAR!!

UrbexJunkie wrote: »

Why not make one? If you feel boards hasn't got enough interesting material? Add some. Boards is not here for your entertainment alone. You need to give, if you want to get something back from a forum. The two way relationship cant work without it.

// I am sure many people have tried adding interesting material but if its not up to the standards its locked.

i being one who tried to post something very interesting to the airsoft community, i was told i was advertising and my thread locked.

I gave and all i got back was a locked thread and no explanation or chance to fix it.

So why bother adding to the forum??

Firekitten

!!DAR!! wrote: »

then why the f*** was mine locked and told i was advertising without even getting a chance to explain myself or fix my topic.

**** happens honey.

Moderator made a call. Wait for him to get back to you before throwing your toys from the proverbial pram. It seems, that dispite this ,you've managed to discuss the site, and get the information you wanted in your reaction topic.... so whats the big deal?

Internet is serious busines.

Arkslippy

So anybody know any good cbq sites in the kildare area.

MagicIRL

To be honest, the way I see it the Airsoft forum needs a complete overhaul.

This is all personal opinion of course.

Wipe every forum/sub forum clean (Retain the valuable stickies, and other threads deemed important for newcomers and oldies alike) and start again. We've learned what went wrong this time, start it over and try again. That way, the "useless thread" brigade will be pleased and we can add more valuable topics to the forum and keep it organised and clean.

The forum should be divided into the following. AIRSOFT -> Adverts, Events (Restricted forum, threads can only be posted by members who have requested permission from Mods to use the forum for an upcoming event), Retailers and Sites (As one subforum), Airsoft Chat and finally Airsoft Tech/Questions.

I would have a sub forum just for the airsoft chat and banter. This would be an area more lax on rules and such. This would be the place for any and all random threads (akin to After Hours) that are Airsoft related. That way, those who find these genre of thread to be annoying, will not have to visit that subforum.

I would allow retailers to be spoken about freely in other threads if a user has a question, presumming it is advertising on the sites behalf is baffling.

In relation to the locking of threads, sniping posts and such, I think it is way out of hand. By all means uphold the rules, but locking a thread because the discussion has evolved is stupid.

My 2c.

!!DAR!!

Firekitten wrote: »

**** happens honey.

Moderator made a call. Wait for him to get back to you before throwing your toys from the proverbial pram. It seems, that dispite this ,you've managed to discuss the site, and get the information you wanted in your reaction topic.... so whats the big deal?

Internet is serious busines.

why did it take another thread to do so. could they not just have left the first open minus the link, was my point.

As for the whats the big deal.
There's none, i simply replied to everyone's comments. which pointed out how bad the mods actually were and how bad the forum has gone.

Dav

Some points of note as there seem to be a lot of assumptions.

1) Boards.ie has often been told "either you pull that thread/poster/mod or we pull our advertising!" The result? The advertising disappears. If the company loses out, it loses out, but community comes first. This is a fundamental aspect of how this site works and how this company supports that. We consider the Site and the Company 2 seperate entities with the company being here to support the community whilst doing it's best to minimise it's impact on it.

2) Retailers leaving - it is unfortunate for several reasons - mostly because it's one less useful stream of information for members of this site. Twitter and Facebook are free and are reaching just as many if not more people and for a lot of businesses this is a far more effective and useful means of reaching their target audience. That's the reality of what's happened with the internet overall. The revenue is missed of course, we have some significant operating costs, but that loss of revenue should not concern the Community, that's a Company concern if you get my meaning (but on the other side of that same coin, I genuinely apreciate the concern folks ).

3) There's a fine line between Advertising and Discussion and I will come right out and say it, I think a couple of mistakes have been made on that here lately. This is my fault, as I haven't been clear with the mods about what I/the company thinks is good and what is out and out shilling. So please direct all your ire on that subject at me and please accept my apologies. A couple of people have linked to other parts of Boards where this isn't as much of an issue and the truth is, we've been working hard on how to address this in a fair manner for all concerned, so that's an issue that's very much in flux at the moment, but again, I'm putting my hand up here and saying mea culpa.

Airsoft Reloded

Spot on Magic and the sites/retailers/event organisers should be allowed to mod their own threads. This saves on the amount of mods needed which will mean less stagering for a mod out of small pool of people/arguments between mods and posters/ customers and as your not allowed to post anything negative in any retailer or site thread (well some anyway) it wouldn't be an issue.

Airsoft Reloded

Dav wrote: »

Some points of note as there seem to be a lot of assumptions.

1) Boards.ie has often been told "either you pull that thread/poster/mod or we pull our advertising!" The result? The advertising disappears. If the company loses out, it loses out, but community comes first. This is a fundamental aspect of how this site works and how this company supports that. We consider the Site and the Company 2 seperate entities with the company being here to support the community whilst doing it's best to minimise it's impact on it.

Without the sites and retailers the community dies and at the end of the day noone is asking for anything that would be against the interest of the community, just fair modding and some little changes but again it is the users asking as it has always been. Why not try a little change and see what happens?

Dav wrote: »

2) Retailers leaving - it is unfortunate for several reasons - mostly because it's one less useful stream of information for members of this site. Twitter and Facebook are free and are reaching just as many if not more people and for a lot of businesses this is a far more effective and useful means of reaching their target audience. That's the reality of what's happened with the internet overall. The revenue is missed of course, we have some significant operating costs, but that loss of revenue should not concern the Community, that's a Company concern if you get my meaning (but on the other side of that same coin, I genuinely apreciate the concern folks ).

Why not work with us so we can all benefit from a reformed board, you get your subscription which is only fair and we get a well run interesting forum which is lively and encouraging our business/club/sport.

Dav wrote: »

3) There's a fine line between Advertising and Discussion and I will come right out and say it, I think a couple of mistakes have been made on that here lately. This is my fault, as I haven't been clear with the mods about what I/the company thinks is good and what is out and out shilling. So please direct all your ire on that subject at me and please accept my apologies. A couple of people have linked to other parts of Boards where this isn't as much of an issue and the truth is, we've been working hard on how to address this in a fair manner for all concerned, so that's an issue that's very much in flux at the moment, but again, I'm putting my hand up here and saying mea culpa.

Thank you for your input and attention Dav

Firekitten

Thankyou Dav, thats pretty much got it perfectly. Thankyou for taking your time to post. I think we should all read your post very carefully and take note.

Lemming

Airsoft Reloded wrote: »

Without the sites and retailers the community dies

I disagree with that completely. Before yourselves, redbarn, or a hundred and one other retailers or sites were ever even thought of, this community was here. We had one site; HRTA. No retailers.

And the community grew.

Eventually we had two retailers; MIA and after a while again, the (then) fledgeling niche passion project that was Eirsoft.

Community still here and existing. No dedicated retailers threads and a single site thread which is still running to this day.

And the community was still here. And short of airsoft being legislated against over night by the government, the community will still be here long into the hereafter.

This isn't some "nyeay nyeah nyeah" post against you AR; but a reality check against some of the - quite frankly deliriously ludicrous - prophecies of impending apolcalypse that invariably follow someone/site/retailer declaring that they are removing themselves from airsoft on boards.ie. No it's not a good state of affairs, but neither is it some hysterical shrill banshee wail either and I think a little less hyperbole and a bit more calm & rational thinking might be of benefit for all and sundry.

The beauty of a community is that it is subject to change but it needs continuous dillegence and work to do so by everyone. People can & do leave, but they're free to come back later and see if what compelled them to leave has gone.

Leftyflip

gerrowadat wrote: »

Think of your average airsoft site -- why would they have a thread now? All most of the threads really say is "Great games fair play, airsoft's the real winner". and are then quiet for the week. Special events can go in the events forum for nothing (although these seem to be getting locked randomly now as well).

That, and the moderation here has gone to absolute ****e. Completely inconsistent and biased toward moderators mates. Example: The 'sniper school' thread, which andy_g was involved in. They were charging money, they got a front page thread basically unfettered for the entire time. Also, the "Let's get together and practice tactics" threads by Sperminator (the guy who ran sniper school with andy_g) also allowed on the front page, despite the the fact that practicing combat tactics is WAY more illegal in Ireland than other stuff we're not allowed even talk about.

Actual airsofters aren't reading or taking boards seriously any more, leaving the sleeve chewers. Which, let's face it, are the same folks who are tyre-kickers in shops, and whinging mongoloids on the field.

I'm sorry Gerrowadat, but what in the name of Christ is your problem with Andy_G . Besides if the moderation is so shíte - why are you here? They were not charging money, they were showing ideas and schools of thought, the host site was charging money to cover costs of electricity, etc. Not the the sniper school - get your facts right please.

It's airsoft tactics and if you've been to one - you'd know what it's like, but I guess it'd be too much effort to come off your high horse and do that. It's tactics for airsoft - which in no way correlate to real world and military. If what you're saying was to be taken at face value, any teams or groups of individuals who hold "training games" or "team practices" are also breaking the law. So does that mean The RATs, what's left of the Hawks (if ye are still going), the Ghosts, AON, etc are all breaking the law?
Teams used for examples - if you have a problem with it let me know and I'll remove from the list, thanks.

I'm an actual airsofter, Thermo is an actual airsofter, Dogwatch, MerryDespot, Firekitten, Lemming, Harveey, Puding, Dar, horgan_p are all actual airsofters, yet we frequent Boards not to whinge or moan or chew sleeves, but to contribute to what good is in the community, to help the new players, offer advice, see what's going on around the Irish world of airsoft. I'd rather be able to see a thread for any site that says "Great games today guys, good honest play" and all that on every page, than turn up at a site with little or no knowledge behind the way it's run or what the crowds are like.

So Gerrowadat, your opinion is valid and witholds some truth, however I must respectfully disagree with you. If it seems like I'm having a go at you, I apologise - you do however seem to be singing the same song every time a topic like this comes up.

Ger.

Airsoft Reloded

Lemming wrote: »

I disagree with that completely. Before yourselves, redbarn, or a hundred and one other retailers or sites were ever even thought of, this community was here. We had one site; HRTA. No retailers.

And the community grew.

Eventually we had two retailers; MIA and after a while again, the (then) fledgeling niche passion project that was Eirsoft.

Community still here and existing. No dedicated retailers threads and a single site thread which is still running to this day.

And the community was still here. And short of airsoft being legislated against over night by the government, the community will still be here long into the hereafter.

I didn't mean that boards would never have a single airsoft thread left but there sure wouldn't be a large vibrant usage if there was nothing to talk about.

Lemming wrote: »

This isn't some "nyeay nyeah nyeah" post against you AR; but a reality check against some of the - quite frankly deliriously ludicrous - prophecies of impending apolcalypse that invariably follow someone/site/retailer declaring that they are removing themselves from airsoft on boards.ie.

I never said or gave the impression that the place would end when we or any one entity leaves. I said when we all leave, Ricka is an (or was an) avid supporter of boards and even he is thinking about it. Boards has lost the redbarn players already and ours now. Once more and more leave you'll be back to just HRTA and no retailers. Sounds great

Lemming wrote: »

No it's not a good state of affairs, but neither is it some hysterical shrill banshee wail either and I think a little less hyperbole and a bit more calm & rational thinking might be of benefit for all and sundry.

It has been said calmly millions of times, people have freaked out and some have just left so what you call a "hysterical shrill banshee wail" is necessary to get the changes we want (saying that I'd hardly call it a shrill, wail or anything of the sort) but rather a balanced argument for what we see as changes that need to be made to a forum that we have enjoyed using.

The beauty of a community is that it is subject to change but it needs continuous dillegence and work to do so by everyone. People can & do leave, but they're free to come back later and see if what compelled them to leave has gone.[/QUOTE]

Exactly

Leftyflip wrote: »

I'm sorry Gerrowadat, but what in the name of Christ is your problem with Andy_G . Besides if the moderation is so shíte - why are you here?

Dave is an actual airsofter, Dar is an actual airsofter, I am an actual airsofter too dude. Whats your point there? His problem with Andy is obviously his modding and are you saying that if there is a bad mod and you don't like it you should leave because I'm assuming boards would disagree?

Leftyflip

Nope what I'm saying is that everytime this subject comes up - he feels it's totally fit to start having a go at Andy, I'm kind of annoyed - if he doesn't like the modding, then why does he set himself out to be a target?

Airsoft Reloded

Leftyflip wrote: »

Nope what I'm saying is that everytime this subject comes up - he feels it's totally fit to start having a go at Andy, I'm kind of annoyed - if he doesn't like the modding, then why does he set himself out to be a target?

Fair enough on your point I guess but I would be with him on in it. You shouldn't be allowed to be a mod if the people you are modding absolutely disagree with how you are doing it and you constantly show to be bias towards certain sites.