Why is Boards so quiet?

buzzwell

Murrisk wrote: »

Meh, very little sympathy for anyone who got on their high horse at the dad in that thread. They absolutely deserve a sharp dressing down, IMO, and if they are confident in their position, they'll be able to defend themselves.

The only solace really is that they stuck out as particularly odious on the thread and that's satifying. Spout your repugnant view? Well, be prepared to defend it.

All the ones admitting to forgetting their own children at various times found a place to share their own experiences guilt free as far as I can see.

Murrisk

buzzwell wrote: »

All the ones admitting to forgetting their own children at various times found a place to share their own experiences guilt free as far as I can see.

And that's a good thing. Their posts were very informative, adding context. I would say every single parent in the thread, if they are honest with themselves, has their own examples to add to the thread. But of course, they'd never admit it, as it would prevent righteousness. Anyone who is a parent has made a careless mistake at some point or another. Without exception. This parent's careless mistake had devastating consequences due to the stars aligning in the worst way possible. Most parents get away with it.

If you are a parent, you have erred at some point in the raising of your offspring. No parents gets it right the whole time. So anyone in that thread righteously claiming that they would never this and never do that got the response they deserved as they were talking through their hoops and it was nakedly obvious to pretty much everyone else.

Books4you

Look I'm all for leaving threads flow as much as possible but that thread made me close boards last night. I've no problem with people discussing the rights and wrongs of the case but calling the dad every name under the sun is just not what I want to read here.

And just so I'm clear, I think the mods were doing a good job there trying to control it.

Murrisk

Books4you wrote: »

Look I'm all for leaving threads flow as much as possible but that thread made me close boards last night. I've no problem with people discussing the rights and wrongs of the case but calling the dad every name under the sun is just not what I want to read here.

Yes, people seem to be particularly disgusted by some of the responses in the that thread. It seems to have struck a chord with a lot of people. Maybe because Ireland is a small country and there is a good chance someone in the poor child's family might see the disgusting things being said about the father.

Thelomen Toblackai

Murrisk wrote: »

Meh, very little sympathy for anyone who got on their high horse at the dad in that thread. They absolutely deserve a sharp dressing down, IMO, and if they are confident in their position, they'll be able to defend themselves.

The only solace really is that they stuck out as particularly odious on the thread and that's satifying. Spout your repugnant view? Well, be prepared to defend it.

No excuse to be throwing around personal abuse regardless of how much you disagree with someone.

What's repugnant to you might not be repugnant to other's so if you can't argue the point without being abusive then you should get short shrift as far as I'm concerned.

buzzwell

Books4you wrote: »

Look I'm all for leaving threads flow as much as possible but that thread made me close boards last night. I've no problem with people discussing the rights and wrongs of the case but calling the dad every name under the sun is just not what I want to read here.

And just so I'm clear, I think the mods were doing a good job there trying to control it.

There was outrage evident. It was emotional.
It was honest, it was reactionary. It was a reflection of people's feelings.
It might not be pleasant reading and reading it was not obligitary.

I read the link that was posted to somehow explain or legitimise this "syndrome" waffle where the child who was left in a car and died in America pulled all of it's hair out.

It didn't legitimise it.

Either a thread can accommodate all views or it's not worth having at all.

Murrisk

Thelomen Toblackai wrote: »

No excuse to be throwing around personal abuse regardless of how much you disagree with someone.

What's repugnant to you might not be repugnant to other's so if you can't argue the point without being abusive then you should get short shrift as far as I'm concerned.

Yeah, abuse isn't on... and yet, I can't work anything other than a shoulder shrug for some of the sharper responses some people received on that thread last night.

Abuse isn't on, in theory. Sometimes, it feels so goddamn right though. :cool:

And people can have their odious views. Ain't nobody stopping them. But people will obviously respond. Very satisfying to see almost universal disgust of those posters in the thread, I have to say.

buzzwell wrote: »

It didn't legitimise it.

Well actually, for a lot of people on-thread, it did.

Thelomen Toblackai

Murrisk wrote: »

Yeah, abuse isn't on... and yet, I can't work anything other than a shoulder shrug for some of the sharper responses some people received on that thread last night.

Abuse isn't on, in theory. Sometimes, it feels so goddamn right though. :cool:

And people can have their odious views. Ain't nobody stopping them. But people will obviously respond. Very satisfying to see almost universal disgust of those posters in the thread, I have to say.



Well actually, for a lot of people on-thread, it did.

Abuse isn't on regardless. Anyone who thinks calling people cnts, assholes, morons etc is acceptable in any discussion are the ones with the odious views imo.

helimachoptor

TBH the thread last night was the most engaged I've been in boards in a long time. Back and forth with posters with different views and no issues, however it did deteriorate later in the night and this morning which is never a good thing.

People should get their wrists slapped for that stuff when it becomes personal

Murrisk

Thelomen Toblackai wrote: »

Abuse isn't on regardless. Anyone who thinks calling people cnts, assholes, morons etc is acceptable in any discussion are the ones with the odious views imo.

Anyone who calls someone any of those names directly outright will get a ban, I've seen a few instances of it in the last few days. One guy got a ban in a thread and said he was happy to take the ban because he needed to express the view. His post got a lot of thanks, more than 50, I think. I'd take the same view. I'd happily take the ban if I thought a poster deserved it. Well worth it. If it's against the rules, boards will sanction it but sometimes there won't be a lot of sympathy for the person on the receiving end of the name-calling. What are you gonna do?

Thelomen Toblackai

Murrisk wrote: »

Anyone who calls someone any of those names directly outright will get a ban, I've seen a few instances of it in the last few days. One guy got a ban in a thread and said he was happy to take the ban because he needed to express the view. His post got a lot of thanks, more than 50, I think. I'd take the same view. I'd happily take the ban if I thought a poster deserved it. Well worth it. If it's against the rules, boards will sanction it but sometimes there won't be a lot of sympathy for the person on the receiving end of the name-calling. What are you gonna do?

There was multiple posts like that in the thread yesterday. "you're a cúnt" and "You're an asshole" got warnings.

The poster with 50 thanks called someone an idiot and an arrogant dickhead. He got an infraction but I seen nothing about a ban.

Another poster posted multiple lines on how someone else was an empty husk of a human being with nothing positive to say about anyone and who would end up alone. That got a lot of thanks too and a warning.

I'm all for easing up on the rules a bit but it's difficult when it comes to outright personal abuse with no effort to do anything else. I'm not sure why a soft line is taken on that stuff and yet the thread will get locked because people behave like that. Seems rather pointless to me.

Murrisk

Thelomen Toblackai wrote: »

There was multiple posts like that in the thread yesterday. "you're a cúnt" and "You're an asshole" got warnings.

The poster with 50 thanks called someone an idiot and an arrogant dickhead. He got an infraction but I seen nothing about a ban.

So the posts were sanctioned, what's the issue? The infractions will be on the poster's record now so they didn't get away with it.

Thelomen Toblackai wrote: »

Another poster posted multiple lines on how someone else was an empty husk of a human being with nothing positive to say about anyone and who would end up alone. That got a lot of thanks too and a warning.

Well, you can't stop the thanks, unless you delete the comment. Again, the post was sanctioned. Why did it receive a lot of thanks? Think about that.

neverever1

I'm not on this site very long but just having a quick glance in this section suggests it may be a mod problem? I'm talking about the thread title, was it much busier before? Are mods too strict? I had a problem in one section with a mod bullying me and then getting their mod pal to ban me. I've reported it but nothing has been done, no response to me, just ignored. I've had people private message me saying that they have experienced the same. Is this a regular thing on boards.ie?

Thelomen Toblackai

Murrisk wrote: »

So the posts were sanctioned, what's the issue? The infractions will be on the poster's record now so they didn't get away with it.

You said they got ban. I'm not sure what you're arguing here. You said it's fine because they will be banned but its worth it. Now you're saying so they got a warning it's been dealt with.

I have a feeling regardless of what is said here you'll find some way to downplay calling other posters cúnts, assholes and dickheads. So it's pretty pointless going around in circles.

Well, you can't stop the thanks, unless you delete the comment. Again, the post was sanctioned. Why did it receive a lot of thanks? Think about that.

It got a lot of thanks because there was a lot of angry people happy to throw and see people throwing insults. It's funny reading the comments actually, everyone thanking posts saying "This thread is disgusting, shameful comments by people, AH really is full of nasty people" and then 2 minutes later "You're a ****, you're an asshole, you're a dickhead" and all manner of abusive stuff and everyone loving it.

So I wouldn't take my queue from what the majority of people in an AH thread do at any given time if I was you...

Anyway this is probably straying a bit off topic.

Stheno

neverever1 wrote: »

I'm not on this site very long but just having a quick glance in this section suggests it may be a mod problem? I'm talking about the thread title, was it much busier before? Are mods too strict? I had a problem in one section with a mod bullying me and then getting their mod pal to ban me. I've reported it but nothing has been done, no response to me, just ignored. I've had people private message me saying that they have experienced the same. Is this a regular thing on boards.ie?

Have you provided the information dudara asked you for in feedback? The admins can hardly respond unless you give them that?

neverever1

Stheno wrote: »

Have you provided the information dudara asked you for in feedback? The admins can hardly respond unless you give them that?

You going to continue your bullying on another thread?

All the information was put on the thread a few days ago. Any further comments I've made have not been posted by whoever is over that section.

Stheno

neverever1 wrote: »

You going to continue your bullying on another thread?

All the information was put on the thread a few days ago. Any further comments I've made have not been posted by whoever is over that section.

No I asked a genuine question as it doesn't appear you've answered it on the thread. What you need to do if you've answered dudaras question is to report her post and ask for your reply to be made public or answered

neverever1

Stheno wrote: »

No I asked a genuine question as it doesn't appear you've answered it on the thread. What you need to do if you've answered dudaras question is to report her post and ask for your reply to be made public or answered

It's post 3.

mahamageehad

The_Valeyard wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

gufc21 wrote: »

Cause yer not on the werewolves forum... crazy busy

Cheers wolfies!
For anyone not familiar with the Forum Games and Werewolf forums, check them out. Great sense of community, good fun and incredible engagement. 22 threads and over 25,000 posts since September in WW alone. We finished up a game today - with only 30 players plus one game admin we generated over 4,600 posts and almost 44,000 views in less than a week. I think it's a great example of a corner of boards that's going strong. The main mod there is fantastic too.

Sex and Sexuality is another neat example, there's a great feeling of community there and it's also pretty active. I was a subscriber for a while a few years back and I remember visiting that forum and it was dead as a doornail. Great to see it come alive now.

Permabear wrote: »

I'd like to make a couple of other suggestions.

One is to clean out all the dead forums and subforums. E.g., I just clicked on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy forum because it's under Steve's name, and it's had three posts since 2014. There are a lot of other forums on Boards like this. In my view, if a forum is getting fewer than 25 posts a month it should be considered for closure. Having numerous forums with tumbleweed blowing through them only sends the signal that Boards is dying.

Another is to address the issue of inactive mods. Mods should be active presences in their forums, but there are "mods" on Boards who haven't logged on in years. Again, this just sends a negative message. I'd like to see automatic demodding after 3 months of inactivity (unless there are extenuating circumstances, of course).

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Seems a pain, but a worthwhile activity - otherwise, as you say, you have the illusion of moderator cover on a forum rather than any actual modding.

Again, automation removes the need for "sweeps". You'll just have a steady trickle of work as mods are removed by rule and coverage issues pop up by extension. At least it will be a trickle of valuable work.

It will also help feed into the second aspect - that of inactive forums. If mods are getting removed by rule and you can't find any users to give the forum to and / or no - one is noticing the fact that a mod has been inactive or removed, it will probably help feed into a review of forums that could be closed or archived.

Archive section the path to victory here - the historical content still has value, and should be searchable.

I agree. I brought up this point recently in the forum requests forum. People were looking for a new social media forum, despite the fact that one already exists. Now, I know there is some issues there with the blogger stuff and moderation there, but a spang new forum wasn't required, just a refresh of the old one and the addition of extra mods. I also mentioned you could fold the online marketing forum into that. That feedback actually seems to have been taken onboard which is nice. For users it's simply preferable to have less forums with more activity instead of dead forums.

BowSideChamp wrote: »

Why is this website dead?
...

- the layout of the new menu is horrible. Feedback was not listened to.

- on the mobile site you cannot navigate easily between forums. E.g. you are in the athletic events sub-forum but here is no link back to the main athletic forum. This annoys me so much.
...

I agree with both of these. It has completely changed my mobile browsing habits, now I have to follow forums I like because it's the only way to find them on mobile. I've been here for years and I'm still stumbling across dead areas of the site. Permabear's suggestion of archiving is defo the way to go imo.

Stheno

Thelomen Toblackai wrote: »

I know people probably don't want to hear this but Reddit really does a lot of things so much better when it comes to creating a platform for discussion and content sharing.

Things like:

• Each article/video/image is its own thread:
  So there's so much stuff that can and does spawn isolated discussions. With everything posted as new threads it also makes the subs look and feel really active and you know there's probably something new there so you continually pop back in to check.
  Taking the cool pics vids and links forum there's a few popular threads where pretty much everything goes. While it has a big interest and a lot of users it doesn't particularly seem too active. The last thread on the front page was posted in on the 13th for example. And because everything is in the one thread I find myself looking at a load of stuff in "sittings" rather than continually checking in to see whats new even though it regularly has new content. Plus it's losing out on the ability to turn that content into talking points to add an extra reason to check back.

• The downvote:
  Probably done to death on here and dismissed several million times but still. Always worth revisiting things. It does tend to create circle-jerks but it also allows the userbase to moderate itself up to a certain point. While not that great that the popular opinions can drown out the minority tbh boards does it no better as you get what you got in yesterdays thread. Everyone feeling like they need to respond to a few posters and turning it into a row that descended into insults. You still get that on reddit but the ability to just click a button to express your disagreement just seems to relieve a lot of posters of that urge to "do something about this guy". It's the converse of the thanks. There that reduces all the +1's perhaps an opposite function would reduce all the upset responses.
  
  It may not be something that can be introduced as it is on reddit but maybe there's something that can be taken from that. Something that users can do to publicly express their disagreement with a post without responding just to have a go at them? Which could go some say in both clearing up the more heated discussions and reducing effort required by mods.
  
  
• User created subs:
  There's a lot of popular subs on reddit and countless failed ones. The ability for people to just create their own sub for whatever they want has resulted in some great things emerging in an almost evolutionary fashion from the lives and deaths of other subs. Something\someone is an overnight sensation, someone chances on something interesting, a sub is created for it, people's fleeting interest is tapped immediately, the sub develops, users subscribe, someone else creates something similar but more in line with what people want and it ends up a huge attraction.
  I know boards is quite different so you cant have that but again maybe there's things to be taken from it. There's a lot of talk by people (but quite a small few in relation to the userbase of boards) about which forums should exist and which shouldnt and who'll mod it and is there enough users who post in those other forums who might post in this one and is the enough people in the new forums forums to support it. The creation of a new forum is a long time in coming and it's all a bit too long and thought out and too deliberate to match the quick turnaround of interests online. I think that's where reddit thrives, if it's grabbed the public's attention for a split second it's on reddit with its own sub and people will flock to it. At this stage no matter what happens you know it's on reddit. It can't be impossible to allow users to create new forums in some sandboxed area. Would be very interesting to see what could develop through something like that.

A lot if what you mention is constrained by the tech boards runs on and the fact that to keep it going, orangeness heavily customised over the years

Thelomen Toblackai

Stheno wrote: »

A lot if what you mention is constrained by the tech boards runs on and the fact that to keep it going, orangeness heavily customised over the years

Even if it's constrained surely there's still opportunities to implement them in some fashion or form that might achieve some measure of success though right?

Steve

Thelomen Toblackai wrote: »

Even if it's constrained surely there's still opportunities to implement them in some fashion or form that might achieve some measure of success though right?

In recent years, boards core ethos has shifted from being steered by people concerned with a great discussion site to more corporate / marketing folks concerned with the site paying for itself through ad and talk to revenue.

Personally, I don't like that and would prefer to go back to a site held together with rubber bands, duct tape and the love and goodwill of the community despite all the faults it had.

Thelomen Toblackai

Steve wrote: »

In recent years, boards core ethos has shifted from being steered by people concerned with a great discussion site to more corporate / marketing folks concerned with the site paying for itself through ad and talk to revenue.

Personally, I don't like that and would prefer to go back to a site held together with rubber bands, duct tape and the love and goodwill of the community despite all the faults it had.

There's still changes that could be made to improve participation and make the site more interesting to use though. Wasn't it always part of the plan to grow the site whether it was held together with duct tape or bled for ad revenue ?

Steve

Thelomen Toblackai wrote: »

There's still changes that could be made to improve participation and make the site more interesting to use though. Wasn't it always part of the plan to grow the site whether it was held together with duct tape or bled for ad revenue ?

I agree.

The question is whether revenue is taking precedent over participation.

buzzwell

Steve wrote: »

In recent years, boards core ethos has shifted from being steered by people concerned with a great discussion site to more corporate / marketing folks concerned with the site paying for itself through ad and talk to revenue.

Personally, I don't like that and would prefer to go back to a site held together with rubber bands, duct tape and the love and goodwill of the community despite all the faults it had.

Can you explain the "love of the community" bit?

What is that, where is that?
The love and the community.
There's little enough evident!

I know it's Friday night and wine o clock and all

Rodin

I can't believe the censorship on this website.

Any opinion, no matter how articulately put, which offends the masses, is frowned upon.

A thread on the death by negligence of a poor 7mo baby girl was closed because some dissenting voices stated the father was to blame for the death... which he was.

So many feel for the family, but when attention is drawn to the awful suffering the child endured, (which is the reason I personally am angry at the negligent father) some delicate souls deem it 'too graphic'.

What ever happened to differing opinions?

TherapyBoy

Rodin wrote: »

What ever happened to differing opinions?

It gets drowned out by whichever mob shouts the loudest.

buzzwell

Thelomen Toblackai wrote: »

There was multiple posts like that in the thread yesterday. "you're a cúnt" and "You're an asshole" got warnings.

The poster with 50 thanks called someone an idiot and an arrogant dickhead. He got an infraction but I seen nothing about a ban.

Another poster posted multiple lines on how someone else was an empty husk of a human being with nothing positive to say about anyone and who would end up alone. That got a lot of thanks too and a warning.

I'm all for easing up on the rules a bit but it's difficult when it comes to outright personal abuse with no effort to do anything else. I'm not sure why a soft line is taken on that stuff and yet the thread will get locked because people behave like that. Seems rather pointless to me.

Four users were banned according to jonnycivic moderator




"MOD - Apologies for the closure but it was necessary for the review.

Gatling, Beyondgone, Persephone Kindness & infogiver banned. All other users are not to quote their posts from this point.

There have been cards and bans given out and we hope that will be the end of that, so from here on in please keep the following in mind or more cards & bans will follow.

No more suggesting that it was done wilfully (immediate bans for anyone who suggests it). And no more suggesting that he was high.

Please remember to be civil to each other here no matter what the opinion, and please do not aim hateful comments towards the family involved in this tragic incident."

Only reason I can quote it is because the page is still open on my tablet.

Link, but it won't workk


http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057745301/39/#post103633373

Thelomen Toblackai

buzzwell wrote: »

Four users were banned according to jonnycivic moderator




"MOD - Apologies for the closure but it was necessary for the review.

Gatling, Beyondgone, Persephone Kindness & infogiver banned. All other users are not to quote their posts from this point.

There have been cards and bans given out and we hope that will be the end of that, so from here on in please keep the following in mind or more cards & bans will follow.

No more suggesting that it was done wilfully (immediate bans for anyone who suggests it). And no more suggesting that he was high.

Please remember to be civil to each other here no matter what the opinion, and please do not aim hateful comments towards the family involved in this tragic incident."

Only reason I can quote it is because the page is still open on my tablet.

Link, but it won't workk


http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057745301/39/#post103633373

None of those banned were the ones that posted the insults. The person who got the red card for calling another posted an idiot and ignorant dickhead was one of the first to post after it was reopened and demand it be closed.

Calhoun

It got deleted because it got way out of hand, folk that didnt like that others were talking about the negligence side of it were losing their minds. Contrasting it to a thread on travellers and other such things, one user even only posted to say the thread should be closed.

The modding itself as usual piss poor, and rather than stop the debate altogether if they didnt want it to be discussed at all they just hand out bans.