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Non GAA Discussion => General discussion => Topic started by: ardmhachaabu on November 15, 2009, 08:07:34 PM

Title: orchardcounty.com
Post by: ardmhachaabu on November 15, 2009, 08:07:34 PM
I see the site has been pulled by its owner.  Anyone know what was said on it to lead him to do that??
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: pintsofguinness on November 15, 2009, 08:15:47 PM
He probably got fed up trying to please everyone.
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: Square Ball on November 15, 2009, 08:20:21 PM
was it not pulled a few years ago only to come back a few weeks later?
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: pintsofguinness on November 15, 2009, 08:25:26 PM
Quote from: Square Ball on November 15, 2009, 08:20:21 PM
was it not pulled a few years ago only to come back a few weeks later?
Yeah he pulled it because their was a fuss kicked up over ones discussing whether players should be dropped or something.

As a result there was no criticism allowed of any player, referee or county board on the forums. 
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: fitzroyalty on November 15, 2009, 09:26:55 PM
Was wondering, can he not just put a big disclaimer on the front page???
Altough it went to the dogs it was good for getting club results and fixtures, far better than the county website. Can someone get centrehalf to join gaaboard???
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: JUst retired on November 15, 2009, 09:52:26 PM
It was pulled because some apparent new kids on the block were naming minor club players and running them down as players. IMO he was correct to do this as these players are children and dont deserve to be written about in this manner on public forum.
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: Orior on November 15, 2009, 10:01:38 PM
Quote from: JUst retired on November 15, 2009, 09:52:26 PM
It was pulled because some apparent new kids on the block were naming minor club players and running them down as players. IMO he was correct to do this as these players are children and dont deserve to be written about in this manner on public forum.

Could Barry just have stepped up the moderating and banned the perpretators?
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: mountainboii on November 15, 2009, 10:09:35 PM
Yeah its a shame, there were a couple of decent posters on it. The place was over run with kids who thought it was great craic to slag each other off constantly. Can't have been much fun to run the place when you have to spend hours cleaning up that crap.

I wonder could it be brought back with registrations allowed from uni and work addresses only, I know a lot of the soccer forums do this and it seems to work well enough. I'd imagine that would eliminate a lot of the school kids, and generally make everyone more considerate of what they post.
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: pintsofguinness on November 15, 2009, 10:12:49 PM
Quote from: AFS on November 15, 2009, 10:09:35 PM
Yeah its a shame, there were a couple of decent posters on it. The place was over run with kids who thought it was great craic to slag each other off constantly. Can't have been much fun to run the place when you have to spend hours cleaning up that crap.


I wonder could it be brought back with registrations allowed from uni and work addresses only, I know a lot of the soccer forums do this and it seems to work well enough. I'd imagine that would eliminate a lot of the school kids, and generally make everyone more considerate of what they post.
That's true, hope they don't come over here.
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: JUst retired on November 15, 2009, 10:15:32 PM
What about ussuns that dont go to uni.or work?
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: pintsofguinness on November 15, 2009, 10:16:19 PM
Quote from: JUst retired on November 15, 2009, 10:15:32 PM
What about ussuns that dont go to uni.or work?
and not everyone that works has an work email address
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: mountainboii on November 15, 2009, 10:29:31 PM
Quote from: pintsofguinness on November 15, 2009, 10:16:19 PM
Quote from: JUst retired on November 15, 2009, 10:15:32 PM
What about ussuns that dont go to uni.or work?
and not everyone that works has an work email address

Dunno, but I'm sure there are ways around it for genuine posters. Perhaps you could use the email address provided by your Internet Service Provider (j.bloggs@btinternet, @virginmedia, etc.).
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: mountainboii on February 26, 2010, 11:02:49 AM
Website Closed Permanently

What's the craic here?
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: deiseach on February 26, 2010, 11:18:17 AM
Quote from: Orior on November 15, 2009, 10:01:38 PM
Quote from: JUst retired on November 15, 2009, 09:52:26 PM
It was pulled because some apparent new kids on the block were naming minor club players and running them down as players. IMO he was correct to do this as these players are children and dont deserve to be written about in this manner on public forum.

Could Barry just have stepped up the moderating and banned the perpretators?

Because a time comes when the effort required in policing the trolls cancels out any pleasure from running the site. www.upthedeise.com is gone for what I presume are similar reasons
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: orange2009 on February 26, 2010, 12:31:58 PM
When you run a website like that as a hobby and for the good of everyone else, and you continually have to worry about libellous comments being posted by young lads that have no idea what they're at, then it gets to the stage when its not worth it anymore. 
Its his name on the line with this stuff as its his website.  It'll be a miss but I don't blame him for the decision hes taken.  As usual a tiny minority ruin it for the majority
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: camloughlad on February 26, 2010, 01:08:00 PM
I had a feelin it was going to happen soon cause the likes of that we fella cdoyle were talkin pure shit about stuff they hardly new of.with the Armagh down game comein up soon the craic would of been good on the oc
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: pintsofguinness on February 26, 2010, 01:09:43 PM
Quote from: AFS on February 26, 2010, 11:02:49 AM
Website Closed Permanently

What's the craic here?
that's the 4th or 5th time it's been closed "permanently"
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: Skiddybadoo on February 26, 2010, 01:17:58 PM
Not as many childish posters that is being made out here. OC was much superior to this site from an Armagh perspective. Much more debate in the run up to and following games. Bit of a pompous attitude on here at times toward what was a great resource.
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: pintsofguinness on February 26, 2010, 01:19:46 PM
Quote from: Skiddybadoo on February 26, 2010, 01:17:58 PM
Not as many childish posters that is being made out here. OC was much superior to this site from an Armagh perspective. Much more debate in the run up to and following games. Bit of a pompous attitude on here at times toward what was a great resource.
There must have been some change from the last time I read it!
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: Skiddybadoo on February 26, 2010, 01:29:48 PM
Since Barry carried out the last 'sweep' and increased the number of mods there was a very noticeable up turn in the quality of posts and debate. Many 'respected' posters from this site would have contributed more to OC than here, esp with their analysis of games. I think the Westmeath game had something like 20 pages without a comment from a ba. 
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: mountainboii on February 26, 2010, 01:50:14 PM
Quote from: pintsofguinness on February 26, 2010, 01:09:43 PM
Quote from: AFS on February 26, 2010, 11:02:49 AM
Website Closed Permanently

What's the craic here?
that's the 4th or 5th time it's been closed "permanently"

Think it was only ever suspended before. Reckon it'll be gone for good now though, only so many times you can try to get the same point across. Too many wee shitheads using the computer lab in school to slag off boys that are probably sitting two seats over from them. Banning all talk about underage football would've cut out a lot of that silly shit.
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: ArmaghGAAforum on February 26, 2010, 03:33:58 PM
I had to close mine too.  Got a letter from GAA solicitors saying something about infringing gaa rights.  I asked for evidence and they wouldn't give any.  All they said was that I said be policing the forum myself and it was in my best interests to close the place or face court action.  3 Supporters sites biteing the dust around the same time!  Shame on the GAA to force closure of these sites.  I've went down the blog route but I may actually clear the entire forum and open it up again.  That way I don't have anything "infringing" and armagh supporters have somewhere to go.  In fact, that's exactly what I'm going to do.......
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: TacadoirArdMhacha on February 26, 2010, 03:56:40 PM
Quote from: ArmaghGAAforum on February 26, 2010, 03:33:58 PM
I had to close mine too.  Got a letter from GAA solicitors saying something about infringing gaa rights.  I asked for evidence and they wouldn't give any.  All they said was that I said be policing the forum myself and it was in my best interests to close the place or face court action.  3 Supporters sites biteing the dust around the same time!  Shame on the GAA to force closure of these sites.  I've went down the blog route but I may actually clear the entire forum and open it up again.  That way I don't have anything "infringing" and armagh supporters have somewhere to go.  In fact, that's exactly what I'm going to do.......

Now that's an interesting twist. Very bizarre that they would make allegations of infringing rights without providing any details. Was this from the Armagh County board solicitors or the central GAA? From what I remember the County board were always very keen to censor any criticism that emanated from orchardcounty. While it may not within the spirit of the GAA in some instances, fair comment and genuine opinion on the performances of players and officials are not actionable at law.

It may be that you have been infringing copyright, did you display the county crest or other logos / images / videos owned by the County Board without their permission? If this is the position then if you remove the offending items I can't see how the GAA could object to the site. Certainly it would be a bizarre precedent for a sporting organisation to claim legal control over any discussion of their sport?! Haven't seen the FA trying to close down the BBC website lately.
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: ArmaghGAAforum on February 26, 2010, 04:30:48 PM
Quote from: TacadoirArdMhacha on February 26, 2010, 03:56:40 PM
Quote from: ArmaghGAAforum on February 26, 2010, 03:33:58 PM
I had to close mine too.  Got a letter from GAA solicitors saying something about infringing gaa rights.  I asked for evidence and they wouldn't give any.  All they said was that I said be policing the forum myself and it was in my best interests to close the place or face court action.  3 Supporters sites biteing the dust around the same time!  Shame on the GAA to force closure of these sites.  I've went down the blog route but I may actually clear the entire forum and open it up again.  That way I don't have anything "infringing" and armagh supporters have somewhere to go.  In fact, that's exactly what I'm going to do.......

Now that's an interesting twist. Very bizarre that they would make allegations of infringing rights without providing any details. Was this from the Armagh County board solicitors or the central GAA? From what I remember the County board were always very keen to censor any criticism that emanated from orchardcounty. While it may not within the spirit of the GAA in some instances, fair comment and genuine opinion on the performances of players and officials are not actionable at law.

It may be that you have been infringing copyright, did you display the county crest or other logos / images / videos owned by the County Board without their permission? If this is the position then if you remove the offending items I can't see how the GAA could object to the site. Certainly it would be a bizarre precedent for a sporting organisation to claim legal control over any discussion of their sport?! Haven't seen the FA trying to close down the BBC website lately.

It was Central GAA as far as I can gather.  Nothing within the letter states its from the County Board although they have been on my back quite a few times.  I guess it was the videos that were infringing.  The GAA had contacted me a few months ago about the crest which I removed immediately.  That time was a call and an email to sort the issue out but they went to great lenghts to get hold of my address to send me this letter.  Frightening when I got it, I only wanted to have a forum to armagh gaels to discuss the games.  I'm going to sweep the entire forum for infringing content and it will re-open this evening.
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: illdecide on February 26, 2010, 05:10:08 PM
Did you seek advice from a solicitor yourself to see where you stand and if they can do anything to you?. As you say if you take down anything that is copyrighted then what else can they do to you
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: camloughlad on February 26, 2010, 05:43:42 PM
Could you sent me the link to your forum plz
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: ArmaghGAAforum on February 26, 2010, 06:29:55 PM
Quote from: illdecide on February 26, 2010, 05:10:08 PM
Did you seek advice from a solicitor yourself to see where you stand and if they can do anything to you?. As you say if you take down anything that is copyrighted then what else can they do to you

No I never sought advice, it looks more a threat with intent if I ignored it but I've removed everything I believe is copyright of the GAA and reopened the forum.  No videos or gaa related images can be posted.  Discussion of all things GAA is obviously allowed and the GAA do not own freedom of speech however this attempt at shutting supporters forums may lead me to think otherwise!

Quote from: camloughlad on February 26, 2010, 05:43:42 PM
Could you sent me the link to your forum plz

in its in sig mate but you can click here http://armaghgaa.info/forum/
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: Rufus T Firefly on February 27, 2010, 01:38:11 AM
Quote from: Skiddybadoo on February 26, 2010, 01:17:58 PM
Not as many childish posters that is being made out here. OC was much superior to this site from an Armagh perspective. Much more debate in the run up to and following games. Bit of a pompous attitude on here at times toward what was a great resource.

Couldn't agree more! Very sorry to see this happen - I was introduced to GAA internet discussion through Barry and Orchard County, way back in 2002 - between the Sligo games - never met Barry in person, but exchanged messages on line - came across as an absolute gent and a loyal Armagh supporter. If this is the last we see of OC then that is an absolute shame - thanks though for all the time and effort Barry.
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: JUst retired on February 27, 2010, 07:33:53 AM
I would also like to thank Barry for all his efforts. Absolute gent.
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: ardmhachaabu on February 27, 2010, 08:13:17 AM
This time it's for good. I've had enough. A comment made on Wednesday night disgusted me so much that I decided I had to pull the plug. Its a shame that one or two idiots ruin it for everyone. End of an era after 10 years.

Thanks for all your help, it was greatly appreciated.

Barry


I received the above from Barry when I emailed him asking if it was likely the site would be back at some stage.

Very sorry to hear it and I have to say that it was the best single resource for Armagh Gaels.  Thanks Barry
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: ArmaghGAAforum on February 27, 2010, 12:45:13 PM
Quote from: ardmhachaabu on February 27, 2010, 08:13:17 AM
This time it's for good. I've had enough. A comment made on Wednesday night disgusted me so much that I decided I had to pull the plug. Its a shame that one or two idiots ruin it for everyone. End of an era after 10 years.

Thanks for all your help, it was greatly appreciated.

Barry


I received the above from Barry when I emailed him asking if it was likely the site would be back at some stage.

Very sorry to hear it and I have to say that it was the best single resource for Armagh Gaels.  Thanks Barry

Orchard County now redirects to the official webpage so it looks like he is sticking to his word and closing permanently.

I got a simialar email to yours from Barry.

Any way.......Life moves on and we must create the same buzz around http://armaghgaa.info/forum/ so spead the word folks.
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: GetOffThePitch on March 11, 2010, 12:59:47 PM
I was a member of orchardcounty more or less since the very beginning. It was a fantastic resource for not just Armagh fans but fans of the game in general, people from all counties in Ireland and also to exiles around the world. The reason for the site's success was not necessarily in the strength of the sites membership, it was almost certainly because of the dedication, enthusiasm and love of Armagh football of the administrator there.

I was saddened to see the site vanish, as i was when it was previously suspended once or twice but i also had a brief insight as a member into the time,effort and committment needed to maintain and develop it-  and that was even before the policing of juveniles and morons on an internet message board was a fulltime headache.

People are getting stupider, thats my view. The internet has dumbed down society as a whole, and it's  not just the orchardcounty website that's having to put up with that.

Someone mentioned earlier Barry "came across as a gentleman"- he most certainly is that and i would guess (and it's only a guess) it's probably p**ed him off as much having to take this action. Nothing ever seemed to be too much hassle- but the line (and it's bang on) was that players personal lives, and personal insults around such simply wouldn't be tolerated.

I've sampled some of the alternative sites down the years and to now, and i don't anticipate they'll have the same committment, membership and/or subsequent success as OC.com did.

http://www.orchardcounty.com - good times!!
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: ziggysego on March 11, 2010, 01:04:17 PM
I'd have dipped my toes in a few times as a lurker. Shame to see it go, as it was indeed a good site for Armagh wans. Pity it's always one or two that ruins it for everyone.
Title: Re: orchardcounty.com
Post by: GetOffThePitch on March 11, 2010, 01:05:23 PM
Quote from: ziggysego on March 11, 2010, 01:04:17 PM
I'd have dipped my toes in a few times as a lurker. Shame to see it go, as it was indeed a good site for Armagh wans. Pity it's always one or two that ruins it for everyone.

ah sure the game itself's goin that way too.... its not just one for the purists anymore.