My News AH thread closure?

K-9

Where Now? wrote: »

Hi

Just to end the speculation, I closed my account because I felt I had put myself in an untenable position. I thought long and hard about it before I did it, there was no rash movements.

I really don't see how you were in an untenable position. I've been in enough "scraps" here to know it wont be held against you, well not for too long as the next "scandal" develops pretty quickly..

My name is URL

Czarcasm wrote: »

If I had my way, and this is only personally speaking, I'd disable the post history and search features altogether and only make them available to Mods in their Mod Utils consoles, for the purposes of weeding out consistent trolls, etc.

That would be the definition of going nuclear!

Site usability - 1000 ..and all for the sake of ensuring that the odd dicktit doesn't abuse a feature which is invaluable for 99% of people?! :eek:

keith16

K-9 wrote: »

I really don't see how you were in an untenable position. I've been in enough "scraps" here to know it wont be held against you, well not for too long as the next "scandal" develops pretty quickly..

Luis Suarez is in your sig! Clearly you have no shame

Czarcasm

K-9 wrote: »

I sincerely hope you didn't start serially reporting posts to prove a point?

K-9 honestly I didn't, I know only too well that'd not only be a waste of my time, the Mods time, and would more than likely lead to none of my reported posts being taken seriously.


I see the goatse sex post is still there btw. I don't think reporting a post of a text gif of a man holding his hole open is just reporting a post for the sake of making a point. It's quite frankly disgusting, and I would expect any poster in AH to be held to a higher standard than that sort of juvenile effort.

K-9

Czarcasm wrote: »

K-9 honestly I didn't, I know only too well that'd not only be a waste of my time, the Mods time, and would more than likely lead to none of my reported posts being taken seriously.


I see the goatse sex post is still there btw. I don't think reporting a post of a text gif of a man holding his hole open is just reporting a post for the sake of making a point. It's quite frankly disgusting, and I would expect any poster in AH to be held to a higher standard than that sort of juvenile effort.

You cam Pm me at anytime with concerns, sometimes we do miss things, we don't claim to be infallible. It's best discussed privately as reported posts are a private matter.

foxinsox

Czarcasm wrote: »

a man holding his hole open.

Just as I was losing all faith in boards, this line appears, I'm sorry, but it made me laugh out loud!

Bestest news ever!

Miss you Where To x

Czarcasm

Super-Rush wrote: »

I called it as i saw it.

I won't apologise for it.

Fair enough. At least you're honest about it, even if we happen to disagree.

We've had several discussions about where we would like the forum to go and have a charter for people to follow but this thread is full of people complaing about it.

No SR, for a long, long time people not just in this thread but in general feedback, have asked for consistency in moderation. I understand each case is taken on it's merits and moderated accordingly.

You want us to go and change it because you don't like it. If you find something you don't like next week do we have to change the charter again?

Not because I don't like it at all SR, I'm all about having a clearly defined set of rules and standards me, something that seems sadly lacking in the AH charter when black and white charter rules are applied Willy nilly and inconsistently, and posters quite frankly are allowed thumb their noses at the charter in the hope of a few thanks and hope the Mods aren't reading the thread.

Things have been going well for a long time

Ehh... Not too often I'm stuck for words, but the above statement is nothing short of astounding, and a prime example of clearly how out of touch some Mods are with how their forum is being run into the ground. Only last week we lost another fantastic poster who was a member of the site since 2004, couldn't take any more of the sexist shìte being bandied about in AH, and everything is "going well" is it?

and i don't see the need to change anything.

Then I urge you to sticky a feedback thread in AH, it's been a long time since we had one, and something is very wrong when long time AH regular posters are closing their accounts like dead flies dropping off a decaying shìte.

Just because and with all due respect SR a forum in your opinion is "doing well", doesn't mean it shouldn't be pushed to do a hell of a lot better.

That's how you grow and evolve a forum, breathe new life into it and keep it fresh so it looks attractive and doesn't become a stagnant cesspool of same old agitated and repeditively regurgitated shìte threads and parodies of shìte threads over and over, and OVER yet again.


Like I said, some clarity would be nice, then it would be much easier for everyone to see the bigger picture with where the Mods want to take the forum and how we can all work together to get there.

Boards.ie: Danny

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Can you not reopen it?

I thought you are just changing group membership like subscriber

No, you are gone completely. No email address for password recovery, a randomly generated password. There is no coming back.

Danny

My name is URL

Boards.ie: Danny wrote: »

No, you are gone completely. No email address for password recovery, a randomly generated password. There is no coming back.

Danny

Is there anything to be said for a mass?

C.K Dexter Haven

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

As long as I have been on boards, there has never been chat threads in AH so it certainly isn't a new thing.

Purely out of curiosity, any reason for not having an off topic chat thread in AH? A lot of forums use that mechanism to collate all the "trivial stuff" into one place?

It can be a good thing, in that the charter tends to be adhered to more in the main forum threads coz people know to have the OT stuff in the chat thread.

ashers222

C.K Dexter Haven wrote: »

Purely out of curiosity, any reason for not having an off topic chat thread in AH? A lot of forums use that mechanism to collate all the "trivial stuff" into one place?

It can be a good thing, in that the charter tends to be adhered to more in the main forum threads coz people know to have the OT stuff in the chat thread.

as far as I can tell it's because AH is the forum for all things trivial, ergo it would be trite to have a thread dedicated to the trivial in a forum dedicated to the inconsequential.

C.K Dexter Haven

ashers222 wrote: »

as far as I can tell it's because AH is the forum for all things trivial, ergo it would be trite to have a thread dedicated to the trivial in a forum dedicated to the inconsequential.

Not necessarily. Even The Cuckoos Nest has a chat thread.

ashers222

C.K Dexter Haven wrote: »

Not necessarily. Even The Cuckoos Nest has a chat thread.

yes but the cuckoos nest posters are not under the illusion that their forum is anything other than the insane asylum of boards. innit.

P_1

I'n not an AH mod so appologies if I guess wrong but I'd say its mainly due to:

1 - The sheer volume of posters in AH that might make it not work, 2 counter examples to this argument are the OT thread in soccer and the BBV thread back in the heyday of the poker forum.

2 - The fear of cliques forming, a counter argument to this is that people naturally tend to form friendships etc and this isn't something that should be feared.

3 - It becoming a total free for all, this can be prevented by laying down a few clear ground rules and applying some common sense.

4 - A fear that it might become a total cluster-fudge due to the 'reputation' that AH has, again this can be prevented by laying down a few clear ground rules and applying some common sense.

Nodin

Czarcasm wrote: »

...........


SR it'd be more in your line now to remove that goatse sex pic post I reported about an hour ago, plus the other half a dozen threads started in AH today that I reported that could be told keep that crap off AH and save it for facebook.
.....

It's not a "sex pic" its a rough drawing made up of dots and dashes. If thats all you've got to worry about, god love ye.

Czarcasm wrote: »

...........
If I had my way, and this is only personally speaking, I'd disable the post history and search features altogether and only make them available to Mods in their Mod Utils consoles, for the purposes of weeding out consistent trolls, etc.

There's no need for ordinary posters to have the ability to search through another posters ten years of posts in various forums all over boards and throw it back in another posters face.

I've had it done to me which is one of the reasons I closed my previous account and why I suspect many others are closing theirs too. It's not pretty, it's not clever, and it's the absolute height of being a dick, which is why I detest such behaviour.
.....

...brilliant. We can all live in a continous present, like goldfish. I take the fairly basic view that - if you don't mean it or aren't prepared to stand over it - you shouldn't post it.

smash

Super-Rush wrote: »

We've had several discussions about where we would like the forum to go

Any reason it can't just take it's course based on where the actual users want it to go?

P. Breathnach

smash wrote: »

Any reason it can't just take it's course based on where the actual users want it to go?

If we defined users as people who have posted in AH in the past, say, three months, we would get a very large number. The overwhelming majority of this group did not post in "My News". You can't claim to know the collective mind of such an amorphous group as the users of AH.

Yes, I understand that every thread in AH would fail the "what users want" test. Hence the need for mods.

[Declaration of lack of interest: I looked briefly at "My News" early in its career; it didn't take long for me to decide that it wasn't for me.]

Czarcasm

Nodin wrote: »

It's not a "sex pic" its a rough drawing made up of dots and dashes. If thats all you've got to worry about, god love ye.

Nodin in my opinion it was, and still is, disgusting. The Mods have clearly decided it falls within AH posting standards, which REALLY makes me wonder now about the standard of poster expected in AH. This is why we need those clearly defined and clarified rules. Goatse is a well known sex meme and the AH rules state no pornography and that boards is a PG-13 website. That pic is like something my eight year old would do, and yes, it'd still be offensive then too, and he'd be quickly told cop the fcuk on because I expect a better standard of him, the same as I expect a better standard of AH.

...brilliant. We can all live in a continous present, like goldfish. I take the fairly basic view that - if you don't mean it or aren't prepared to stand over it - you shouldn't post it.

It was only a personal suggestion Nodin as I said, I know it's absolutely never going to happen. I'm always prepared to stand over anything I post. What I'm not prepared to do however, is make it easier for some clever dick to trawl through my posts in various forums in boards- the regional forums, LGBT forum, TV forum, parenting forum, TLL (AH being the least of my worries tbh!), and use the various posts they picked out to misconstrue and pervert my opinion on a topic.

When I saw that we now had users who would use the search feature quite regularly to make their points, I decided then that I would stick to AH, I don't feel comfortable posting in other forums, that has dented my enjoyment of boards, but I would consider it lesson learned more than anything. I still read what's posted in the other forums I used regularly contribute to, just that now I don't contribute any more because some little dipshìt wanting to win an argument on the internet will go to any lengths to do it, you can report the post all you like, but once it's out there, and no "yellow card" or "red card" makes that shìt right.

Nodin

czarcasm wrote:

Nodin in my opinion it was, ........... .

And your opinion has been judged to be wrong. I report posts all the time, they don't all get acted on. To this date, I - as far as I recall - have never started any dispute over lack of action on any of them. Thats because I accept that I can be wrong. You can use the useful search function to check this assertion.

Secondly, this is a public space. Its not set to your standards, or what you think those standards should be.

czarcasm wrote:

It was only a personal suggestion Nodin as I said, I know it's absolutely never going to happen. I'm always prepared to stand over anything I post. What I'm not prepared to do however, is make it easier for some clever dick to trawl through my posts in various forums in boards- the regional forums, LGBT forum, TV forum, parenting forum, TLL (AH being the least of my worries tbh!), and use the various posts they picked out to misconstrue and pervert my opinion on a topic.

....which strikes me as being the same notion as banning cars because somebody tried to run someone over.

dfx-

I just want to say I enjoyed reading the 'My News' thread.

I enjoyed it more than any number of big but apparently more valid threads that remain open, like the facebook status thread, the things that annoy you thread and the someone unusual you fancy thread.

I'm not entirely sure what those threads - and there is any number of them, not just those listed - provide that the 'My News' thread didn't, but that's not up to me.

Czarcasm

Nodin wrote: »

And your opinion has been judged to be wrong. I report posts all the time, they don't all get acted on. To this date, I - as far as I recall - have never started any dispute over lack of action on any of them. Thats because I accept that I can be wrong. You can use the useful search function to check this assertion.

Nodin I report posts all the time too and they don't get actioned upon, I don't start a dispute about it either. I can accept when I'm wrong too. However in the case of the goatse pic as an example- It's in clear violation of a charter that's there in black and white. The My News thread was a fairly innocuous thread that was closed because it was "a chat thread thread that went off topic" and apparently "added nothing to the forum". You know full well too I have no interest in searching your posts, I'll take your word for it and that's all that's relevant right here right now, not what you said last week, last month, or even last year.

If you can't see the difference between Mod discretion, and Mod inconsistency, then I'm at a loss as to how I can further demonstrate this point to you without picking AH apart with a fine tooth comb.

Secondly, this is a public space.

No it's not. It's a privately owned website run by a privately owned company, offering a SERVICE to the public. It generates it's revenue from subscriptions and advertising.

If it were to be considered a public space, it would be offering it's services for free, generating revenues strictly from donations, grants, and government funding.

You don't believe me? Just ask Dav whether boards.ie is a private or public enterprise.

Its not set to your standards, or what you think those standards should be.

It's falling a LONG, LONG way short of my standards to be perfectly honest about it, AH in particular. I strive for perfection, I am always upping my game to do better and challenge myself. Is it too much to ask that AH not just settle for "doing well for a long time now, no reason to change".

It's NOT just me btw, there are plenty of posters even in this thread alone who have expressed their frustration at the lack of clarity and confusion around Moderation decisions, not to mention the perception of a clique of their own making when some Mods separate themselves from the community they are supposed to be fostering and growing.

It confuses me greatly when on the one hand we're encouraged to look out for each other and be part of a community, then on the other hand we're being told there are rules against getting friendly with each other! WTF is that about? The My News thread was a great example of a group of people growing from a smaller group as new posters joined in all the time- We had births, deaths, hell we nearly had a marriage out of it!

But no- "keep that sort of community building crap for facebook, we's is not facebook, we's is better than facebook... we's is the only communitee you's needs".

Can we have a chorus of cumbiah at this point while we're all talking out both sides of our mouths?

....which strikes me as being the same notion as banning cars because somebody tried to run someone over.

Well able to dip in and out of disingenuous downplaying, heightened hyperbole and extremes of exaggeration when you want to. They're not even remotely the same idea, but I still love you too Nodin!

FoxT

Reading back through this thread, it is clear that AH mods work well as a team & communicate with each other constantly behind the scenes.

This is a good thing.

It is also seems that these conversations lead to an evolving set of shared values. I've seen some statements along the lines of
'AH is not facebook'
and
'we need to keep threads on topic as otherwise they will degenerate into cliquey OT threads'

I expect that AH mods have other values as well.

This doesnt come across when reading the AH charter, though.

I wonder if the AH mods would consider posting an occasional 'Guidance' sticky - something that is not as black & white as the charter but gives all posters some guidance on what AH is about, what issues mods are dealing with (general ones) , etc.

I think that could lead to a more informed discussion - rather than seeing a popular thread closed in a way that seems abrupt to many posters there.

It would also be helpful, IMO , if this thread was scrutinised & AH mods could post a summary of their thoughts on feedback received?

-FoxT

Nodin

Czarcasm wrote: »

Nodin I report posts all the time too and they don't get actioned upon, I don't start a dispute about it either. I can accept when I'm wrong too. However in the case of the goatse pic as an
example- It's in clear violation of a charter that's there in black and white.

So you don't start a dispute, you just drag it up in a feedback thread and go on and on about it.

And again, it was judged by others to be fine. Thats the way it works. Yet here you are......

No it's not. It's a privately owned website run by a privately owned company, offering a SERVICE to the public. It generates it's revenue from subscriptions and advertising.

If it were to be considered a public space, it would be offering it's services for free, generating revenues strictly from donations, grants, and government funding.

It's a public space in that a large group of disparate people interact there.

It's falling a LONG, LONG way short of my standards to be perfectly honest about it, AH in particular. I strive for perfection, I am always upping my game to do better and challenge myself. Is it too much to ask that AH not just settle for "doing well for a long time now, no reason to change".

It's not just your playground. Others have to use it too.

Czarcasm

Nodin wrote: »

So you don't start a dispute, you just drag it up in a feedback thread and go on and on about it.

And again, it was judged by others to be fine. Thats the way it works. Yet here you are......

I was using the post to demonstrate the inconsistency when the charter is applied willy nilly by Mods, at their discretion, and how it shows a lack of standards and creates confusion and frustration in a forum.

I know well the way it works, I was Admin of a dating website with it's own forums for a number of years, I still pop in every now and then to see how things are going and there is a REAL sense of community there, not just "this place isn't for you if you've got something on your mind!". It's a hell of a lot bigger than boards too btw, before you start throwing out nonsense about "but look how big boards is!". Boards is merely a pimple on the àrse of the Internet in terms of it's size. It's not even that well known in Ireland!

If your idea is a community website, then to manage it right, you have to make people feel like they are part of that community and give them the motivation to want to be part of that community and want to help to improve it and grow it and make it better.

The LAST thing you do is foster the perception of the "them and us" mentality. The Moderators job is to guide the forum and help people become better posters, and by becoming better posters, it makes for a better forum, and not the "dregs of boards, full of right wing lefties, PC Brigade knuckle draggers" reputation it has now.

Better posters invest in a forum they're passionate about, and subscribe to the ideals it wants to achieve when they have a clear road map of where the forum is going.

AH is in trouble because it has no clear definition, it's described as the catch-all forum, with no clue where it wants to go only "sure it's grand, has been for a number of years now". How lazy, unmotivated and uninspiring is a response like that to you?

It's a public space in that a large group of disparate people interact there.

A large group? As compared to what exactly? That's like an often bandied around statistic saying one seventh of the world's population are on facebook. It means nothing.

"A large group" indeed. At what point can you tell the difference between a clique and a community?

It's still not a public space by the way no matter what way you try to categorise it, and as for a disparate group- I think the word you're looking for is "disillusioned" group.

It's not just your playground. Others have to use it too.

I know well it's not my playground, I have to abide by the rules of the site that are laid out in black and white. It's the Mods and even the Admins are moving the goalposts when it suits them, ignoring foul play, ignoring numerous posters calling foul, and when they see a group of people having fun they're not having- they as much as run in, grab the ball and go home, because it's their playing pitch after all, it's only the community playing pitch when it suits them.

keith16

FoxT wrote: »

Reading back through this thread, it is clear that AH mods work well as a team & communicate with each other constantly behind the scenes.

I'm not sure that's true. K-9 and humanji have more or less said the thread could have worked (paraphrasing) - others are outright against it.

It's also clear that some have considered all of the salient points put across here, and others have missed the point spectacularly.

Some have rightly express dissapointment at a popular poster closing his account, and yet others have, as another poster eloquently put it, pissed on his corpse.

I have said the thread deserved a warning before it was closed. It absolutely didn't deserve to be shut down with a "k - thread locked now, AH is now NOT the place for this thread".

Let's just say it comes across that there was a large degree of defensiveness and an ever growing number of reasons trotted out when it was challenged here in feedback and posts along the lines of "no, no, this was a team decisions, for ALL these reasons" - which is very different to the closing post in "My News".

Nodin

Czarcasm wrote: »

I was using the post to demonstrate the inconsistency when the charter is applied willy nilly by Mods,........

...which rests again on your presumption that you're right.

Czarcasm wrote: »

I know well the (.......)even that well known in Ireland!,........

Please don't use false presumptions of what I will or won't say to get a dig in at the place in general.

Czarcasm wrote: »

The LAST thing you do is foster the perception of the "them and us" mentality. The Moderators job is to guide the forum and help people become better posters, and by becoming better posters, it makes for a better forum, and not the "dregs of boards, full of right wing lefties, PC Brigade knuckle draggers" reputation it has now.!,........

...whatever thats meant to mean.

Czarcasm wrote: »

Better posters invest in a forum they're passionate about, and subscribe to the ideals it wants to achieve when they have a clear road map of where the forum is going.
.!,........

It's at this juncture I note we've gone long and far off topic. I also think you're confusing AH with some spirtual movement.

Czarcasm wrote: »

AH is in trouble .,........

This is news to me.

Czarcasm wrote: »

It's still not a public space by the way no matter what way you try to categorise it, and as for a disparate group- I think the word you're looking for is "disillusioned" group..,........

And somebody must provide light to their darkness?

Czarcasm wrote: »

I know well it's not my playground, I have to abide by the rules of the site that are laid out in black and white. It's the Mods and even the Admins are moving the goalposts when it suits them, ignoring foul play, ignoring numerous posters calling foul, and when they see a group of people having fun they're not having- they as much as run in, grab the ball and go home, because it's their playing pitch after all, it's only the community playing pitch when it suits them.

Dear o dear o dear.

Czarcasm

Nodin wrote: »

Dear o dear o dear.

Have you any intention Nodin of giving us the benefit of your opinion re the actual subject of this thread?

Nodin

Czarcasm wrote: »

Have you any intention Nodin of giving us the benefit of your opinion re the actual subject of this thread?

It was judged dubious and closed. I failed to see the big deal, which is why I was following the thread. I see, somewhat unsuprisingly, that there seems to be a wider agenda at play amongst at least some of the aggrieved.

strobe

orestes wrote: »

Popular thread closed: Ah bugger, I liked that thread.

Popular thread closed by new mod: Ah man, they used to be cool.

Popular thread closed by new female mod: Who the hell does this chick think she is?! TO FEEDBACK DAMMIT! :mad:

What's with the projection, might want to look into that, hmm?

Anyway...

Xavi6

To those complaining about there being a clique on boards, it's part and parcel of the site. There always has been and always will be one, it's just that those in it have more power and influence these days.

Just accept it for what it is and stay or go. These threads never go anywhere and other than Lockville.