Is it worth bothering with this board any more?

[gaaboard]

The standard of debate has taken a dip recently and we'll look to rectify it.
There are too many personal duels and jousts going on that lower the tone of things.

It can be tricky to police from an admin point of view. Short of widespread and heavy handed censorship, you have to hope that people debate in a reasonable manner.

Apart from the empty vessels who post rubbish, its always disappointing to see normally reasonable contributors taking the bait and getting drawn in to slagging matches.

[joebloggs]

I think the main problem with the board is that people cant post a message without the first reply being some sort of sarcastic remark which is nearly always totally uncalled for.

[pintsofguinness]

I'm not sure what the mods could do about it lads, I mean, what would you delete of the main board?  You can't go around deleting stuff that bores you, it's up to the posters themselves to come up with interesting discussion and debate though with some of the posters that isn't easy.
I noticed when we moved to the new board our Ips are constantly stored with every post, so I'd like to ask the mod/admin can they not see who are using multiple accounts and can these not be deleted?   
There are also too many WUMs, only interested in winding. 
To many personal battles and posters who'll disagree for the hell of it. 
And in the middle of it all we'll have some knob starting to correct someone's spelling. 

I think a big problem for some of us who have been here a long time is that it all gets very repetitive.  How many times have we done the best X players over the last 15 years, how many times have we seen the same arguments? 

[darbyo]

A lot of lads seem to be complaining about the standard of post/poster but admit themselves that they hardly ever post on the main page any more. If more of ye made an effort to post on topics then the quality might rise again. Some interesting general GAA topics have quickly slipped down and off the first page over the last 4/5 months because lads seem to be unwilling to get involved unless it's specifically about their own county or the thread is slagging the Dubs/Kerry/one of the Ulster counties. It's a discussion board, if your not happy with the topics or the standard of posts then get back involved rather than walking away. If your club was going down the tubes you could sit by a bitch or you could get back involved and help change things. It's up to us..

[GAAboardmod1]

It is hard to put a finger on what is actually wrong with the board. My own opinion is that most of posters are from Ulster, and with the early exit of Tyrone and Armagh some of the better posters have slipped away into the club section and have no interest beyond their own county colours. It is to be expected, as it would be similar to how I would act.

POG, the difficulty with IP address is that a lot of posters might be using the one connection and one IP address from work or college, so by banning one IP address you may be blocking regular posters that have nothing to do with it. What could be done, and I have seen it on other boards, is that during the registration process posters have to use proper email addresses and not the hotmail or gmail accounts. This should cut out some of the WUM and alter egos.

There is not a whole pile we as mods can do about the standard of posting, ban users because they are not interesting or insightful!!!

[Orior]

I think that message boards have a life. Something similar to radioactive decay curve. There a slow beginning, then gradual growth, it always peaks at some stage, followed by a slow gradual decline, until we're left with Drici, like on the old board. Until there is something better, then there is nowhere else to go.

Perhaps some university student can do a thesis on the lifecycle of message boards.

[thebandit]

Is it time to introduce a nominal fee for annual membership (very small) that would be put to a GAA related good deed, i.e. the Cormac Trust?

[darbyo]

I understand what you're saying Fionntamhnach but I generally just respond to the intelligent (as I see them) posts and if someone comes on with a WU or simply daft comment I ignore it. Like I say I enjoy this board and feel that those who want to engage in serious GAA discussion should try to do so rather than give ground to muppets.

[pintsofguinness]

POG, the difficulty with IP address is that a lot of posters might be using the one connection and one IP address from work or college, so by banning one IP address you may be blocking regular posters that have nothing to do with it. What could be done, and I have seen it on other boards, is that during the registration process posters have to use proper email addresses and not the hotmail or gmail accounts. This should cut out some of the WUM and alter egos.

Can you not ban the user though?  Say two posters are acting the bollocks and have the same IP address would it not be likely they are the same person and could their two usernames be banned? 

I don't think the thing with the email addresses would work, I mean what sort of addresses would you accept?  The only "proper email address" I would have access to would be an aol one and I can set up 10 or something of these if I want. 

Is it time to introduce a nominal fee for annual membership (very small) that would be put to a GAA related good deed, i.e. the Cormac Trust?

That would cut out a lot of shite though you'd have knobs signing up and paying and then they think it's there right to post what they want. 

[GAAboardmod1]

Yes that can be done POG, but you would be surprised how little it happens. Or given that there are around two thousand posters how do you check all the IP addresses and what if they log in at work and at home. There are a good number on the ban list at the moment!

[ONeill]

Every year this happens; the board is dead blah blah blah. Absolute crap.

Look at the first page:

      Is it worth bothering with this board any more?
      CORK V KERRY MUNSTER ALL IRELAND SENIOR FINAL
      Lulu Carroll RIP
      Tomas Mulligan RIP
      Out of All-Ireland...who do we get behind now ?
      GAA Board Charity Bet
      Anti Dubs feeling on the board
      Armagh's Dyas Headed for Oz
      best XV in the country
      Above and Beyond    
      Dublin v Kerry all ireland SF
      Would Mayo's Cora Staunton thrive in men's football?
      Bredagh talks Sam & Liam 2007
      Greatest GAA Songs
      Derry Laois AI Minor SF
      Cormac McAnallen
      O'Se brothers
      Will Spillane and the Southern Meeja have the balls to tell the truth???
Top 15 Footballers of the last 15 years

Now, tell me what on earth's wrong with that? Take a look at the old boards - not much change at all. If people think the board's slipping, then post threads of the quality they think is on the wane, and quit moaning about it.

[ziggysego]

Is it time to introduce a nominal fee for annual membership (very small) that would be put to a GAA related good deed, i.e. the Cormac Trust?

This is something which I suggusted last year. I for one would be willing to do it. I am member of another non-GAA board and there was a one-off payment of £2 by credit/debit card only. It cut out a lot of the nonsense, in fact in the last two years I can remember only two incidents where the admin had to step in.

That said, the summer holidays are coming to an end and I suspect that the hoganstandism will end along with it. However I am sad to see Bud decided to leave.

[magickingdom]

why did bud quit? cant be losing guys like him.. dont know if the board is as bad as some make it out, it is an open forum and all that involves. instead of trying to stay small i'd much rather if the gaa or someone could create a board that the whole country uses ala the realfooty board for aussie rules. there is no connection here for instance to the kerry board which can be very good. its a pity really because there can be some very good stuff on the board. as for the mods, where are they going to get the time..

[ONeill]

Very surprised at Bud's decision. Looked at his last posts as I don't read every thread (a lesson to some - you don't have to..) and it seems he got involved in a slanging match with someone (Dublin v Kerry) and huffed. There might have been a post deleted.  Maybe he wanted a way out. Didn't think he would run like that. If you think an idiot is trying to goad you, rise above it - they go away.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Sad to hear of Bud's departure, he's a big loss, and any board that loses posters of his calibre and passion routinely won't last, though I'd hope his action in this particular instance was somewhat precipitate. These things go in cycles, and there definitely has been a hoganstandesque turn much for the worse lately, which may (or may not) coincide with the time of year; here's hoping, and better to stay and fight for it than to walk away (and avoid the dross as much as possible).