But who will pay for that?
Boards.ie could be "forced to shut down"
- Thread starter blackdog
- Start date
Which user?
The moderation of the competing section of boards likely drove some of that audience to them.
At least you're providing a service and it's helpful to people. The modding is also only somewhat biased. Boards is off the scale. In addition boards is so very massive it's hard to get around it.
Grasshopper
Boards has been becoming less and less relevant over the years. It probably still has some active areas where nothing has replaced it but for anything where you are looking for input from a wide group it’s not reflective.
It’s also gone pretty right wing. Was clear when you compared election results with polls they had done.
Reddit has replaced it in a lot of ways but also Facebook groups. It’s awful to search but there is lots on there about things like holidays.
I’m not sure if they could have actually stayed relevant.
I suspect this is only delaying the inevitable even if they get enough paying members unless they make some big changes.
It’s also gone pretty right wing. Was clear when you compared election results with polls they had done.
Reddit has replaced it in a lot of ways but also Facebook groups. It’s awful to search but there is lots on there about things like holidays.
I’m not sure if they could have actually stayed relevant.
I suspect this is only delaying the inevitable even if they get enough paying members unless they make some big changes.
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Brendan Burgess
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So is their modding bias off the scale to the left or the right?
And is the Askaboutmoney modding "somewhat bias" to the somewhat left or somewhat right?
Both! Different Moderators have different perspectives. And it's all related closely to where on the political spectrum one stands.
From my location (slightly to the right of Genghis Khan and just behind Atilla the Hun) some of the moderating tends to be very subjective: on politics threads, woe betide anyone who tries to make fun of the Social Democrats or ridicule the likes of Paul Murphy TD, whereas the likes of the Healy Raes, Mick Wallace and Clare Daly are all fair game.
Of course, one tends to notice moderators only when they do something that either annoys a reader or meets with their approval. One thing that used to annoy me was the refusal of Moderators to remove incorrect information from threads dealing with topics like tax and social welfare - two areas where I believe that accurate information is essential.
in short I reckon that there are three broad types of Moderators on Boards:
- the majority: sound and sensible, with a minimalist approach.
- the pocket Napoleons: "it's my way or the highway, bud"
- the snowflakes: "don't be so mean! Of course trans men are women and should be allowed to play womens sport if they want to"
COMMENT: I note that this response, like some others that I have recently posted, has been flagged as "awaiting Moderator approval"
is this a new AAM procedure or have I been selected for special treatment?On many sub forums you literally couldn't post a comment unless it aligned with the group think or moderation bias at the time or you'd be attacked and sanctioned.
Certain posters on one side of a discussion would be allowed to make personal attacks against the forum rules. Others on the otherside of a discussion would be constantly checked by the mod for nothing.
No consistency and constant bias meant the forums died as they became monologues so people just left.
Brendan Burgess
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This forum does not require people to be registered in case they have a question about "how do I register?". So it attracts a lot of spam. Which is why posts have always been put in a moderation queue.COMMENT: I note that this response, like some others that I have recently posted, has been flagged as "awaiting Moderator approval"
But we might review that as the other anti-spam measures seem to be effective.
That's true as a generalisation. But boards something else was going on.
Facebook is awful these days. The local groups I use to follow are just full of noise even spam. The EV group full of anti EV posters and deliberate misinformation. I quit out of almost all of them. Facebook interface is unbelievably bad. Losing vast numbers of users daily.
Agree 100%. It's become impossible to find things.
Relying on external non members traffic to keep a site alive seems a flawed strategy.
As the people post less and of less quality it will be less relevant to external searchers. Boards used to be a place I might look up information about something. But no longer.
Absolutely. And that, as you wrote, is why it has lost so many fine contributors over the years.
In fairness, they're pretty easy to ridicule
Brendan Burgess
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I have brought the potential demise of boards.ie to the attention of the National Library and the https://dri.ie/
Brendan