Is it worth bothering with this board any more?

[magpie seanie]

I see that Bud has deleted his account and has left us. It got me thinking - with the way things have gone round here is it worth hanging round when we're losing posters like Bud and being inundated with morons?

I have enjoyed this board over the years but its beginning to be a total joke. Am thinking of moving on myself.

What do ye think?

[Candyman]

Totally Agree!!!
Although i do enjoy the odd bit of banter on here it has become cr*p and is only used for slagging/cheap digs etc....
Yes i know its a discussion board where everyone is entitled to their opinion but some of the rubbish posted here is beyond belief and it has sadly gone to the dogs!!

[AZOffaly]

What can be done about it?  Short of a Stalinesque purge of everyone who p*sses people off?

[Croí na hÉireann]

Am thinking of moving on myself.

Move on where though? It's getting to the stage where I think people would be more than willing to contribute for a mod who is going to vet every new member and keep watch over their first 50 posts say. One mention of "sc**bag", "tr**p" etc and they're out. Think it's no concidence of the recent hoganstanders signing up what with the board being highlighted in the media...

[bennydorano]

I've been getting a bit fed up with a lot of it myself lately, mostly just check in on the Armagh Club thread a lot of the time.

[TirEoghaingodeo]

A qualified yes. Been a lurker and occasional poster for about 5 yrs now, and when i first joined, nearly every thread was worth a read, regardless of topic, as there was informed opinion, humour everywhere, and good friendly banter. I'd go for a read, and 3 or 4 hrs later i could still have been at it.
These days half an hour and i'm done and i've read anything worth reading. If we keep losing men like Bud, there'll soon be nothing worth reading.

Sad but true

[stephenite]

Thinking the same Seanie - mainly just check the Local board and the Non Gaa stuff. There is still lots of good info for those of us based overseas but the amount of shite you have to wade through is getting ridiculous

[Denn Forever]

 
Can you not self regulate?  Look at who starts a topic, what the title is.  You can then make the decision whether it will be shite or not.

[Square Ball]

Diddnt realise that Bud had left us, any reason give or last post?

he was a remarkable bloke and an Gentleman.

[el_cuervo_fc]

It definitely is true that standards have slipped.  There used to be good heated debates without the result of a complete slagging match.  One of the biggest issues I think comes from people who use multiple usernames, with the only aim to come on the Board to start winding everyone up.  

But then again, it is a public forum, is there really any point in creating loads of restrictions?

[heineken_on_tap]

Just joined the site a few months ago lads - just never heard of this site before this. Have to say not every one that joined recently is a muppet who is zero GAA knowledge and main goal is to annoy others. Granted some of the topics and rubbish wrote would even annoy me at this early stage. But  can I ask is there a little bit of 'snobbery' here i.e. if you have not been on the site a few years and have 1500 + replies then you are branded 'hoganstanders'

[Gaaboardmod3]

Hi All,

I'd like to apologise if things have been getting a bit crazy around here recently, but you have got to bear in mind that the moderators, myself included, are all working in the real world, and at times do not have the capacity to monitor every post and user. We rely on reported posts to identify any trouble makers, as happened a couple of times earlier in the year and they were dealt with.

Unfortunately, we also must rely on a high level of personal self policing with regard to inane topics and general rubbsh posts. It appears that this self policing is sadly lacking in a few people.

I, personally,  would love to have a full time job as a moderator, that would allow me to enforce high standards of etiiquette etc, but a) I don't have that job, and b) there would be a deluge of protests about censorship. You can't have it both ways.

The approach for a part time moderator on this site is to a) appeal to people's common sense, and b) delete or ban members and posts that are blatently out of order, or are reported by other users.

Again, I'm sorry that I don't have the time over the past few weeks to devote more time, and I imagine the same holds true for other moderators, but in all fairness, if people set out to destroy the board a lá hogan stand, then it would take a full time moderator and a very unpopular censorship line to police it.

Cheers

[screenexile]

The forum has definitely had a turn for the worst. When the forum was smaller there was good debate and a lot of good banter with contributors... with more posters came more people offended by the banter and also those who took the banter a bit too far which has led to both extremes of people taking more offense and others taking their wind ups further.

There is probably a case to have an elite forum where only certain people have access to it but as someone said. WHo is going to vet potential applicants/stop WUMs etc. Even with that there are times when reputable members go over the top with their remarks so it would be extremely difficult to police!

As someone has mentioned the local club pages are where most have the decent debates but once it starts going on county teams there is too much crap that goes on!

[ziggysego]

I guess the board was shut down today to put manners on us ;-)

[Guillem2]

This board has gone to the dogs in the past 6 months to a year. I rarely look in at all now and I used to be a regular. Standards have definitely fallen.