Why do some people stop using online forums?

AndrewJRenko

o1s1n wrote: »

You clearly have a very short memory in that case. For years this forum has been derided as a leftist stronghold pushing PC agendas - everything from 3rd wave feminism to liberal immigration and economics. There was a period where everything even remotely right was immediate shut down.

Perhaps the userbase has now gotten a little older and some of the far leftie admins have moved on, but it's most definitely a very new turn and not how the website has been known historically.

You need to distinguish between your own personal opinion and "known as".

Wibbs

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

You need to distinguish between your own personal opinion and "known as".

I dunno AJ, to be fair to o1s1n Boards was known as both "over moderated" and a more "left" site down the years, even before the current US imported culture BS.

Yes you had more "right" posters and as you note polls could be skewed that way as per Casey, though if you also looked at other polls like SSM, abortion etc they could be skewed more "left" than wider Ireland.

I would say the right types were/are more obvious because they're reacting to that more left of centre bias. More they can react on Boards, whereas if the Boards community was on reddit say they'd be downvoted to invisibility by the general background trend(just like any echo chamber on reddit right, left, whatever you're having yourself. The fully right wing folks would still be a minority of posters. The vast majority of posters would be centrists with some left or right leanings depending on the subject.

Of mods? I would say the swing is far more on average to the left. If the Casey poll was run just among mods I'd bet the farm he'd have got a much lower vote than in the actual election polls, never mind the wider boards community. Of admins down the years? I can't think of a single one that would be within an asses roar of being "right wing". Hell there would have been few enough centrists.

Graces7

BuboBubo wrote: »

You mean you're not going to bequeath us boardsies with all your worldly goods?

I hope you live a long, happy and healthy life, stay safe Graces.

People move on from different internet stuff. The things I was into a decade ago seem a bit naff to me now tbh.

Worldly goods? roflol! Looks round her place... oh you mean my CATS? They are the only thing of any value I have!

And thank you for your good wishes.. Way past my " three score years and ten" already.

Yes and I dabble in a couple of other forums but tend to take breaks from them - as I do from here. Healthy enough. .

GreeBo

I try to just use it for getting and giving advice on factual matters now.

Anything else, such as giving an opinion or weighing in on something topical inevitably leads to issues that just make it not worth my while to bother, everything in moderation and all that.

Various fora have definite inner groups, often who know each other in the real world, this inevitably leads to imbalance in discussion and how that discussion is managed.

RandomViewer

I'm on 17 infractions, think I'll probably quit or be banned when normality returns

Graces7

Graces7 wrote: »

Worldly goods? roflol! Looks round her place... oh you mean my CATS? They are the only thing of any value I have!

And thank you for your good wishes.. Way past my " three score years and ten" already.

Yes and I dabble in a couple of other forums but tend to take breaks from them - as I do from here. Healthy enough. .

I am amazed and happy you have stuck it out, Grace. I have (incredibly) seen you rounded on in a very unpleasant fashion, and it would have been more than I would be have been able to stomach.
In answer to the OP query I am sure many people stop using various online forums not because of differing opinions, or full-tilt testy debates, but simply because of the surprising callousness of others.
Glad you got your snow recently, Grace. Stay frosty!

Arghus

I don't know if I'd agree that boards was a bastion of the left, even back in the day when there undoubtedly was more of a left wing slant to a lot of the conversation than there is now. Back in the heyday of forums there was a fair few Irish forums I'd frequent and boards was undoubtedly the most conservative and to the right of centre. It wasn't stormfront or anything, but it was more right wing and conservative in comparison to others that I used.

Moderation does appear to lean left for sure, but let's call a spade a spade here a lot of that perception is down to topics started from a right wing/Conservative point of view often become very heated and reactionary quickly and get closed because people can't keep it together and stay civil, so people end up getting carded, threads get locked etc, etc.

I also don't know how it can be argued that the boards user base leans left when you take a look at CA - one of the consistently busiest on the site. Now, CA may be many things, but it definitely isn't a leftist forum. And if you actually believe that to be the case, well, then your perception of left and right on the political spectrum definitely needs a bit of recalibration.

JimmyVik

I just post because im stuck at home.
When i finally get to working somewhere i dont live again, i think i'll get a life again

Wibbs

Arghus wrote: »

Back in the heyday of forums there was a fair few Irish forums I'd frequent and boards was undoubtedly the most conservative and to the right of centre. It wasn't stormfront or anything, but it was more right wing and conservative in comparison to others that I used.

The only ones I would peruse would have been Politics.ie and PROC(as a Dub interloper ). Politics.ie came across to me as a bunch of UCD student types who were into Sinn Fein, but it had its fair share of more conservative types too. PROC was anything but "left wing". The old Politics forum here was anything but conservative with a large cohort of the right on hammering anything that appeared to not be progressive enough, with added stuffiness.

Moderation does appear to lean left for sure, but let's call a spade a spade here a lot of that perception is down to topics started from a right wing/Conservative point of view often become very heated and reactionary quickly and get closed because people can't keep it together and stay civil, so people end up getting carded, threads get locked etc, etc.

Oddly enough it's often the case that it's the more "left" posters who are carded/banned more because they lose their cool.

LimeFruitGum

I have been a member for a good few years, but I just dip in and out. I prefer the advice/craic forums over debating ones, or the arrogant ‘splaining ones (*ahem* Investment forum)

I am probably posting more than usual because I cannot do my usual evening activities, I don’t do mad hours at work, and I am done with the studies now.

GarIT

I think every general election poll has gone to SF.


Back 10 years ago the whole internet was very left. It was mostly people who were nerdy or introverted to some degree myself included educated too.


It's difficult to judge the past from a current perspective. Back in the day same-sex marriage and abortion were the furthest left you could go. Now being in favour of those apparently doesn't even make a party slightly left.


Some other changes bothered me. I disliked the christainity forum stopping being a place to debate Christanity and becoming a safe space that doesn't allow alternative opinions. Similarly, you could debate LGBT issues in the LGBT forum, now disagreeing isn't permitted.



I remember always being told how too far left I was, now I'm constantly told I'm far right. My opinions on things haven't changed that much, if anything I've become a litte more left but society has moved much faster.


Lately I find some of my non woke opinions get shut down quickly and it takes out a bit of the fun.


I miss after hours being a place where you posted when you should be sleeping and every post was responded to with the same 5 jokes, I miss those 5 jokes :pac:

Wallet Inspector

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Here's my regular reminder (which really gets up the nose of right and far right posters) that far right candidate Peter Casey got double the vote on Boards than he did in the real Presidential election. So centre left?

I'm talking about those running the site, but I don't see how Peter Casey is "far" right. And there's more to an entire site's culture and ethos than the views of some regarding one guy.

Wibbs

Your ma. Blasted it with piss.






You're welcome Gar.

Mister Vain

Because its more fun to make dance videos on TikTok.

Glaceon

I'm admitting that I'm a rereg of a closed account by posting this but whatever...

Boards was definitely very left-leaning in the earlier years. I remembered seeing polls in the mid-2000s and dismissing them because I felt that if you took Boards as a subset of the Irish population, we'd be an extremely liberal, atheist country with SF in charge. I could be wrong, but I got the impression that after the "right-wing opinion is dangerous" message was sent from a community manager (I won't name any names) and the DDoS'ing began and doxxing sites started appearing, that such opinion began to be at least tolerated if no rules were broken.

Me personally, well I stopped using Boards for a few years because of a thin skin and mental health issues. While I am back, I'll be steering away from the more controversial threads for my own sake.

Glaceon

Glaceon wrote: »

I'm admitting that I'm a rereg of a closed account by posting this but whatever...

Boards was definitely very left-leaning in the earlier years. I remembered seeing polls in the mid-2000s and dismissing them because I felt that if you took Boards as a subset of the Irish population, we'd be an extremely liberal, atheist country with SF in charge. I could be wrong, but I got the impression that after the "right-wing opinion is dangerous" message was sent from a community manager (I won't name any names) and the DDoS'ing began and doxxing sites started appearing, that such opinion began to be at least tolerated if no rules were broken.

Me personally, well I stopped using Boards for a few years because of a thin skin and mental health issues. While I am back, I'll be steering away from the more controversial threads for my own sake.

It's not that boards was more liberal or progressive until, say, 2010; it's that that's probably when its user-base was youngest and most open to change, and try out new ideas. As we age and accumulate resources, and settle into a mode of living, we fix onto those beliefs and tend to hesitate about, or even reject, change.

I'm not talking about individuals – I can think of lots of exceptions to this — some people even become more open to ideas as they age.

So boards is probably still fairly progressive based on the definition of progressive in the Ireland of 2005. It's a bit like a time capsule in that way. There was no observable shift in the way the site is run (except, arguably the sale of the site, which had some impact). It's just age profile.

0lddog

Deleted User wrote: »

... so she could smoke a big fat passing joint...

Seems like you lot are still passing this joint around

Cant see any other excuse for y'all posting this stuff on a thread titled

"Why do some people stop using online forums?"

:P

A lot of people just give up caring about boring men in their 30’s and 40’s waffling on about the fücking left and right wings. Get a proper hobby.

GreeBo

Politics forum -->

Arghus

This is why people stop using Internet forums.

So yeah that's what I think anyways.

0lddog

Spot on !

Vote Frostie

0lddog

0lddog wrote: »

Spot on !

Vote Frostie

JupiterKid

Lots of reasons - change in life circumstances, migrating over to other online platforms such as social media (Facebook made huge inroads on boards, Gaire etc and many other web based forums), younger adults favouring Twitter etc over web forums.

And then there are the forums that have inconsistent/antagonistic/vindictive moderation and idiot posters and trolls who simply drive many others away, as they can poison the atmosphere of threads and even forums very quickly.

Also, I get the distinct impression - perhaps correctly, perhaps wrongly - that many posters including long-standing ones suffer from mental health and addiction issues, which can quite often come out in their posts. Before anyone leaps to defend themselves or these posters - I am a recovering alcoholic myself!

Batattackrat

I think a lot of people if sent to prison are sick of the smart comments they receive from the moderators when appealing their ban. It really degrades the site if you look through the prison forum. They nearly make you beg and apologize and reply with smart ass comments.

Also I think strict moderation and people just moving on with their lives with kids, work etc. and finally realized its pointless getting into arguments with random people on the internet.

There are much better sites out there with basically zero moderation.

Arghus

To be honest without some form of moderation the site would be an unreadable disaster zone. The crazies would completely take over. You might get a whole lot more conversation going on alright, but not much of it would be worth a shyte.

If you can express yourself without being dickish about it then most of the time you won't even notice the moderation is even there.

Ten of Swords

Thread seriously went off the deep end there, a large number of posts have been deleted for being completely off topic. If you want to discuss politics or politicians there is a dedicated forum for that and it's not After Hours


AndrewJRenko do not post in this thread again

begbysback

People stop using online forums when they think it’s better to discuss topics face to face, then they end up in court for assault and realise this is the safest option.

Hamachi

JupiterKid wrote: »

Also, I get the distinct impression - perhaps correctly, perhaps wrongly - that many posters including long-standing ones suffer from mental health and addiction issues, which can quite often come out in their posts. Before anyone leaps to defend themselves or these posters - I am a recovering alcoholic myself!

Interesting. Can you explain a little your reasoning for that opinion? Personally, I only started posting this past year, due to having more time on my hands working from home and many / all of my non-family social outlets being curtailed.

I haven’t noticed a higher preponderance of people with clear mental health issues posting. Might just be oblivious to these things. Have to say that I do wonder about people in their 30s - 50s with enormous posts counts and who seem to spend their entire day sniffing around threads, goading other posters, and looking for arguments.

Surely there’s a more productive way of passing the day...

GreeBo

Batattackrat wrote: »

It really degrades the site if you look through the prison forum. They nearly make you beg and apologize and reply with smart ass comments.

I 100% agree with this.
Reading the prison forum really doesn't give one a good impression of how things are managed.
Either ignore the person or treat them as you would wish to be treated, at the moment its more of a playground for some.

I like the Prison forum. I’d also bring back the Thunderdome and the banlist.

end of the road

Deleted User wrote: »

I like the Prison forum. I’d also bring back the Thunderdome and the banlist.

would second the ban list and the thunderdome just to experience it.
i believe it was closed before i joined which is unfortunate.

GarIT

Arghus wrote: »

To be honest without some form of moderation the site would be an unreadable disaster zone. The crazies would completely take over. You might get a whole lot more conversation going on alright, but not much of it would be worth a shyte.

If you can express yourself without being dickish about it then most of the time you won't even notice the moderation is even there.

The no.1 rule used to be attack the post not the poster. You could make almost any argument you wanted against a post as long as you left the poster alone. Now petty insults are common and arguments that don't agree with the theme of the forum e.g. something anti-Catholic in the Christanity forum isn't allowed.

Rules seem to be applied based on feelings and playing favourites now.

We also end up with discussions where it's something like a discussion on gender-neutral toilets, with a note saying transphobia will get you banned, and in the thread it turns out disagreeing with a trans person counts as transphobia.