Why is Boards so quiet?

Jobs OXO

Hi have been on the site with previous (now closed) accounts for a good number of years. I have never seen it so quiet. Sunday morning and looking at latest posts traffic seems so slow. Is no one posting anymore? AH doesn't seem to be much craic anymore. Anyone notice the same? Any ideas how to improve the situation ?

Tom Mann Centuria

Jobs OXO wrote: »

Hi have been on the site with previous (now closed) accounts for a good number of years. I have never seen it so quiet. Sunday morning and looking at latest posts traffic seems so slow. Is no one posting anymore? AH doesn't seem to be much craic anymore. Anyone notice the same? Any ideas how to improve the situation ?

Firebomb all the infrastructure at Facebook, Reddit and Twitter.

Will I Am Not

It's sunny as f*ck outside.

hill_walker

the powers that be have gagged or banned anyone with a view different thier own

gandalf

Boards has been in decline for years tbh for a multitude of reasons.

However when the owners of the site don't appear to have any vision for it's direction or any visual interest in it then things don't bode well for its future.

Given it's current direction I wouldn't be surprised at a lights out announcement in the near future.

Tom Mann Centuria

gandalf wrote: »

Boards has been in decline for years tbh for a multitude of reasons.

However when the owners of the site don't appear to have any vision for it's direction or any visual interest in it then things don't bode well for its future.

Given it's current direction I wouldn't be surprised at a lights out announcement in the near future.

Their vision was the responsive site wasn't it? I'll be sorry to see boards go if and when it does.

CeilingFly

hill_walker wrote: »

the powers that be have gagged or banned anyone with a view different thier own

100% agree.

If you disagree with a moderator or argue with one or pull someone up for defaming someone, you get banned.

testicles

This post has been deleted.

gandalf

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

Their vision was the responsive site wasn't it? I'll be sorry to see boards go if and when it does.

That was the vision of "consultants" I reckon and it has been half assed at best in its execution, at worst it looks like a bad student project from a third rate technical college!

padd b1975

gandalf wrote: »

Boards has been in decline for years tbh for a multitude of reasons.

However when the owners of the site don't appear to have any vision for it's direction or any visual interest in it then things don't bode well for its future.

Given it's current direction I wouldn't be surprised at a lights out announcement in the near future.

It's hard to see it continuing in the long term as things are behind the scenes.

There's definitely still is a place for an predominantly Irish message board, so I would expect a similar more streamlined site to be set up by admin in the dieing days of this site and a raft of PMs to be sent out inviting us to join.

Harry Palmr

I use the legacy (or is it the pre-legacy?) site and it's as functional as ever bar it's inability to display twitter messages and one or two "invisible" forums - ie they ain't in the drop down menu structure.

Currently Active Users: 3369 (704 members and 2665 guests)

gandalf

padd b1975 wrote: »

There's definitely still is a place for an predominantly Irish message board, so I would expect a similar more streamlined site to be set up by admin in the dieing days of this site and a raft of PMs to be sent out inviting us to join.

I don't know. Maybe sites that are set up around specific subjects but in reality posters interested in subjects like soccer or films will move to forums at already exist catering for those tastes.

Boards began as a gaming site in the 90's around the whole quake scene and grew from that adding on forums as the interest in those subjects swamped the original forums. It thrived because it didn't have competition from Facebook etc in those days as they didn't exist. Facebook as it currently operates is not a platform for discussion, it's mainly an echo chamber.

I still think there is a market for quality discussion sites on the net but the current management of boards seems to think they can turn it into a localised Facebook or similar and they have failed dramatically because in reality they don't actually interact on the site in any visible way at all.

Tom Mann Centuria

gandalf wrote: »

I don't know. Maybe sites that are set up around specific subjects but in reality posters interested in subjects like soccer or films will move to forums at already exist catering for those tastes.

Boards began as a gaming site in the 90's around the whole quake scene and grew from that adding on forums as the interest in those subjects swamped the original forums. It thrived because it didn't have competition from Facebook etc in those days as they didn't exist. Facebook as it currently operates is not a platform for discussion, it's mainly an echo chamber.

I still think there is a market for quality discussion sites on the net but the current management of boards seems to think they can turn it into a localised Facebook or similar and they have failed dramatically because in reality they don't actually interact on the site in any visible way at all.

I think one of the positives about boards is you're much more likely to get someone, who maybe isn't a rabid fan of something just stop by and post. Like the snooker forum recently, people might not care enough about snooker to post regularly about it but like a bit of a chat in the big events. Much less daunting and more welcoming small forums dotted around boards.

Jobs OXO

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

Their vision was the responsive site wasn't it? I'll be sorry to see boards go if and when it does.

If it does go can the content be cached or saved somewhere?

The management isn't solely to blame here. How boards is run isn't solely to blame either. One of the biggest impacts on the site has to be the posters themselves. There's been a noticeable change in poster attitudes in recent years.

DopeTech

Things aren't really that bad are they? Boards.ie is still one of the top visited websites in the country no?

I've been around here for more than 10 years now with a couple of different usernames and while I'm not a fan of some of the sponsored forums popping up I still think the site gives the people of Ireland a great outlet for whatever they want to talk about. The responsive site was a bit of a fail but I still enjoy the using the touch version if I'm honest. If it ain't broke and all that.

gandalf

Deleted User wrote: »

The management isn't solely to blame here. How boards is run isn't solely to blame either. One of the biggest impacts on the site has to be the posters themselves. There's been a noticeable change in poster attitudes in recent years.

I agree with you as I said the decline is because of a multitude of reasons but I am also a firm believer in the mantra of the "fish rots from the head". Without clear leadership by the site owners the foundations are pretty weak before you factor in anything else.

Harry Palmr

Deleted User wrote: »

The management isn't solely to blame here. How boards is run isn't solely to blame either. One of the biggest impacts on the site has to be the posters themselves. There's been a noticeable change in poster attitudes in recent years.

The internet used to be a special slightly obscure place with a somewhat rarefied atmosphere, now its just another utility - fully democratised with all that implies.

gandalf

gandalf wrote: »

I agree with you as I said the decline is because of a multitude of reasons but I am also a firm believer in the mantra of the "fish rots from the head". Without clear leadership by the site owners the foundations are pretty weak before you factor in anything else.

The majority of the issues seemed to happen in or around the MCD lawsuits. It felt like it was around then that things started going wrong. And then the added pressure to be somewhere that appealed to commercial entities as well.

DopeTech

How much of a decline is boards.ie really in? I remember a few years ago seeing a graph on here of active users over the years. Does anyone have any up to date stats? I can't remember who posted it. Presumably was one of the admin since not everyone would have access to that data.

Harry Palmr

Need more threads like this

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055053909

gandalf

FrostyJim wrote: »

Things aren't really that bad are they? Boards.ie is still one of the top visited websites in the country no?

Yep it is showing at #20 on similarweb today. However I am not sure what it's highest rank has been in the past.

boardsuser1

The Fake Sheikh wrote: »

It's sunny as f*ck outside.

Dull as f*ck here

Harry Palmr

http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/boards.ie

http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/IE

Mickeroo

Things will pick up again tomorrow when there's work to avoid.

begbysback

Most users are banned by now, prison forum is the new AH - funny as fcuk

There should be an official one off amnesty - let everyone back with a clean slate

Erik Shin

That graph seems to indicate a very big user drop since January..

alchemist33

Harry Palmr wrote: »

I use the legacy (or is it the pre-legacy?) site and it's as functional as ever bar it's inability to display twitter messages and one or two "invisible" forums - ie they ain't in the drop down menu structure.

I'm on legacy too and have no intention of changing (until I'm likely forced to). Overall I believe the decline of Boards is much exaggerated.

Ursus Horribilis

Quite a few forums I used to post/lurk on have either closed or have tumbleweed blowing through their main street these days. Perhaps the heyday of the established web forum has passed? I wonder what is the age profile of Boards users these days? They're probably not getting as many new younger users now because forums are no longer the only game in town. Social media has most likely eaten forums's lunches. I don't know but maybe losing older users is part of the natural life-cycle of web forums anyway? People's lives change and they don't have the time to post on the forums. They lose interest in what's being discussed or see the same things coming up and up again. I don't think it's as simplistic as blaming the moderators. I for one prefer the moderated environment of boards to the Wild West trollfest that some other arenas are.

Pelvis Parsley

It's a combination of historically poor community management, executive decision making above that again, which ranged from apathetic to needless meddling, politically biased and 'network brane' type moderation, and the dominance of other channels, as have been namechecked already, such as FB.

Boards at one time encompassed all views and none, that time has passed, and the views of the moderators and above, are at odds with much of the user base.

Where it still holds sway though, along with similiar sites, is in what you could call "niche" topics, special interest fora etc. You can't beat the discussion forum model for that.

Insect Overlord

I'd love to see the statistics for the various 3rd level college forums. I reckon visibility is down in those locations since laptops became more affordable, then mobiles and tablets. You're less likely to discover the site by chance or nosiness if it's not on every second screen in a computer lab.

And there's a Facebook group for everything now as well, whether it's the Students Union or the various clubs and societies.

Add in Snapchat, Instagram, and (while it was useful) Yik Yak, and WhatsApp groups for clubs and sports teams, and there's an abundance of extra options for discussion.

Same thing with most of the news and sports websites having comment sections, and the crazy laws about external quoting of articles/sharing links to content.