Boards.ie could be "forced to shut down"

[Brendan Burgess]

What would be the biggest Irish chat forum or Internet blog now, Reddit and Facebook are international not Irish? It's probably still boards is it not?

In the other thread I listed the forums which discussed Irish issues.

Can boards.ie be fixed?

Are all the forums infected? For example, are the various sports forums full of abuse and do they require moderation? The McGregor thread started off as place were only posts worshiping the ground he stood on could be made. I almost got banned by a mod for posting something else about him...

www.askaboutmoney.com

 

[DazedInPontoon]

What would be the biggest Irish chat forum or Internet blog now, Reddit and Facebook are international not Irish? It's probably still boards is it not?

While reddit is an international site there are loads of Irish-specific subreddits. While /r/ireland is the biggest and most general there are regional ones like /r/cork and ones about more specific topics like /r/irishpersonalfinance . Having a mix of global or general subs and local and specific ones all in one place is one of the reasons reddit has been taking users from other forums. The other main one is probably how useful upvote/downvote based crowd-sourced moderation is, and of course anyone can create a new subreddit if they're not happy with the existing ones.

 

[AlbacoreA]

Looking at the most recent threads on boards theres still decent traffic to it and very active threads. If they downsized their ambition.

If they switched to a working forum software, trimmed all the dead threads, don't migrate all the ancient stuff, cut all the troublesome forums, it's survivable.

The moderation and vexatious posters or any legacy debts is a harder circle to close.

 

[tallpaul]

As a start, they need to get rid of the dreadful After Hours forum. It is is simply a load of nonsense that seems to be very difficult and time consuming to moderate and adds nothing.

Boards would be far better focusing on the multiplicity of very active, relatively niche fora that cater to specific audiences where information and help is willingly shared. If Boards became known as a source and repository for these types of discussion, they could jettison the bigger ones like the aforementioned After Hours, Politics and possibly soccer. Surely this would be more attractive to advertisers who would be clearer in knowing what audience is being reached.

The site has been dragged down by fools and their opinions for far too many years.

 

[AlbacoreA]

The site has been dragged down by fools and their opinions for far too many years

Isn't that the truth.

 

[faketales]

The site has been dragged down by fools and their opinions for far too many years.

Applies to the internet tbf.

 

[Dr Strangelove]

If Boards became known as a source and repository for these types of discussion, they could jettison the bigger ones like the aforementioned After Hours, Politics and possibly soccer.

I take a passing interest in infrastructure which is almost completely ignored by the media unless there is an overspend.

There is genuine expertise in depth on boards.is on this topic and it’s a real resource for someone like me who takes an occasional interest. There is some contrarian opinion but, a bit like AAM, the majority view is generally the correct one.

 

[endlessdrama]

If one thread explains the downfall of boards its the "you laugh you lose" one where people posted memes. By thread 20 the mods threatened to ban people for the audacity of reposting memes.

 

[Leo]

Surely this would be more attractive to advertisers who would be clearer in knowing what audience is being reached.

The site has been dragged down by fools and their opinions for far too many years.

They're using Adnxs/AppNexus, They already have the ability to charge more for better targeted ads.

Fools are often an advertiser's target audience!!

 

[walktothewater]

I pay for it myself and am happy to do so. At one stage we had a whip-around and it caused more hassle than it was worth. People felt that if they donated money, they should not be moderated! ( I have seen the same today on the boards.ie thread "If we pay you €6 a month, will that mean that you won't moderate us?")

Technical support: $1450 = €1,200
Hosting £1308 = €1500
Xenforo annual license and support $86 = €73 (There was an initial purchase price)
Anti-spam and other add-ons : c.€200

Total annual running costs: <€3,000

Please don't start posting "You can get free hosting on xyz website and sure I will give you a hand with the technical support". It's working well and professional support and hosting is cheaper than volunteers!

As a poster who doesn't always agree with your views, I must say that this level of transparency reflects very well on you, Brendan.

It is an excellent resource that you have created, and we do appreciate it.

 

[walktothewater]

Boards would be far better focusing on the multiplicity of very active, relatively niche fora that cater to specific audiences where information and help is willingly shared. If Boards became known as a source and repository for these types of discussion, they could jettison the bigger ones like the aforementioned After Hours, Politics and possibly soccer. Surely this would be more attractive to advertisers who would be clearer in knowing what audience is being reached.

The site has been dragged down by fools and their opinions for far too many years.

I agree that some of the niche fora on boards - motoring, cycling and the like - work well, but also I think there a potential space on a website like boards for something like 'After Hours' , which is basically a section for people talking random nonsense and not to be taken seriously.

What I find more problematic about boards.ie is the complete lack of transparency as regards ownership, financing and, frankly, constantly re-registering posters with strange and questionable agendas. In their defence, they have (belatedly) made some attempts to ban long term trolls and openly racist/fascist and hateful posters, and have apparently recently introduced a subscription facility , but as far as I'm concerned they are, as the old phrase goes, "a day late and a dollar short". I wouldn't contribute, even if I had the funds, which currently I don't.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

I agree that some of the niche fora on boards - motoring, cycling and the like - work well, but also I think there a potential space on a website like boards for something like 'After Hours' , which is basically a section for people talking random nonsense and not to be taken seriously.

But do these two very different types of forums need to be under the same umbrella?

We have Shooting the Breeze and Letting Off Steam, but you have to have 50 posts to be allowed to post there. So it's for people who use Askaboutmoney for the purpose for which is intended, to let off a bit of steam. You can't register on Askaboutmoney and immediately starting posting this stuff.

Boards could do the same. If someone has contributed to the motoring or cycling forum and has been a member for at least a month, then give them access to the GAA or CA forums. It would dramatically reduce the traffic on boards but what would be left would be much better. I suspect that the people using the motoring and cycling forums would be happy to pay €50 a year.

 

[tallpaul]

which is basically a section for people talking random nonsense and not to be taken seriously.

As I said previously, it is a forum that adds nothing but takes up moderation resources. They should simply analyse all of the fora that take the most effort and time to moderate and cull them. Let the racists/fascists/weirdos etc. find somewhere else to spout their rubbish.

 

[walktothewater]

But do these two very different types of forums need to be under the same umbrella?

We have Shooting the Breeze and Letting Off Steam, but you have to have 50 posts to be allowed to post there. So it's for people who use Askaboutmoney for the purpose for which is intended, to let off a bit of steam. You can't register on Askaboutmoney and immediately starting posting this stuff.

Boards could do the same. If someone has contributed to the motoring or cycling forum and has been a member for at least a month, then give them access to the GAA or CA forums. It would dramatically reduce the traffic on boards but what would be left would be much better. I suspect that the people using the motoring and cycling forums would be happy to pay €50 a year.

This is above my paygrade to solve!

I suspect that boards traffic has already dramatically reduced in recent years, for various reasons.
I think that they have a system that requires new users to amass a certain number of posts before starting new threads, IIRC.

But Askaboutmoney is financial advice, with add ons. Boards.ie is, so-to-speak, broadly based. In my view, they've always had far too many sub-sections, but that's just my take.

There will always be an element of trollery/piss-taking on a website like boards that would be frowned upon on Askaboutmoney.

Of other forums I frequent, mainly music related, these have mostly very small traffic these days, and a small bunch of regular posters who have known each other for decades. In most cases, dormant posters just moved on with their lives, or migrated to Twitter/Facebook/Reddit etc.

Personally, I wouldn't pay boards.ie in washers if they required €50 a year to access special interest sections - in my case, largely cycling and motoring. Whether others would, I have no idea. I don't rely on boards for advice on those issues to the extent that I would be happy to fork out €50 a year.

For example, as regards motoring, backroads is an excellent website. They discourage political debate, and most posters respect that. I'm sure there are cycling specific fora also, if not, Reddit etc.

If I may mention an 'elephant in the room', another website that was mainly focussed on financial matters and used to be relatively popular is still active. But given the strange agenda (extreme far right, conspiracist) that has taken over that site in recent years, it is not a website that rational folk would wish to be associated with.