Hi all - it’s been a while since I’ve posted here but just to let you know I’m alive and well. Been very busy getting things back in order work wise and my sister in Holland was seriously ill and in hospital for a long stay but fortunately she is on the mend.

Now I know that we should not really discuss other Internet forums as we all have our own agendas and rules but lately I’ve been very - to put it mildly - upset at one well known forum in particular. Not the general site as it has lots of good forums with good, intelligent posters but one in particular has been haemmoraging members like crazy lately and a few on here may know which one in particular I’m talking about.

Real nastiness about, with posters not posts being attacked, a general air of negativity and aggressiveness, rampant bigotry (yes, homophobia too), total judgementalism and ignorance abounding and totally unbalanced moderation. It’s all about opinions - the more offensive seemingly the better - and if you disagree, you’re fair game for abuse. It’s sad as it used to be a rather colorful and interesting forum with varied and interesting posters. Some of those posters are still on the forum but much less and less these days.

I would certainly hope that this fate would never befall the message boards here as yes, there have been abusive posters here in the past but they were swiftly dispensed with.

I myself a few years ago fell foul of the webmaster and their assistant webmaster on a USA based space forum for daring to challenge the comfortable orthodoxy that prevailed and it was only because of a simple, innocuous question. I think it is never good for those who are in charge of web forums to abuse their power in this way. I subsequently chose to leave that forum than face abuse.

Good moderation is key, and it’s important IMO for mods and admins to be fair and consistent in their approach. I know the boards here have got much quieter in the past few years but I think this is affecting many other web fora as FB, Twitter,Snapchat etc become more popular.

And I suppose a big question is - is there a future for web fora in the long term? I would sincerely hope so as there can be great online debate and discussion but I do al think that exposing oneself to nasty, negative opinions online can lead to mental health problems.

Thoughts?

I believe, as bad as it can be most of the time and other times really bad. It is a useful tool, for people to vent and there are those who abuse that. Is it better to know, what people are thinking and how we re-act too it is an issue?

I think the boards on this site have become very nasty of late towards anyone with a different point of veiw and not in with the in crowd.

The 'Debate' went out of fashion for a bit.. It became 'My Opinion is the only one that matters'.. I think the power of the debate is slowly starting to make its way back..

I read somewhere recently that your opinions tend to be very black or white until around 30 years of age. They become more nuanced after that with experience. Don't know how much truth is in that.

I can see that happening for many people, especially if you keep an open mind.

I don't see it?
The boards have been a bit quiet, but I don't see any nastiness towards people.

No, I don’t see any real problems with the boards here at all. One or two posters may challenge the prevailing views expressed on here but as long as the post is being challenged and not the poster being personally attacked, I think things are fine. In fact, I’d argue that the boards here in earlier years were much more lively in terms of sometimes very heated debate.

I think a lot of you know the web forum I’m referring to. A mod there (a really decent chap) actually PMd me asking me not to leave as in his opinion I was one of the better posters who actually had an informed opinion on issues and didn’t stir up sh*t for the sake of it. But it really has got pretty nasty as of late with bickering among posters being the least of its problems. Trolling is getting to almost be the norm there. For instance, in a thread about gay conversion therapy possibly coming to Ireland over 24% polled thought that it was a good thing and that women who are raped/assaulted were basically sluts who are “asking for it.” And that’s some of the milder threads there. As you can imagine, bigotry, ignorance and racism abound.

Of course we here on Gaire had some more “colorful” posters in the past. I’m sure many of you remember them.

I think the unfortunate general trend seems to be towards trolling on public forums and social media. It is more important to be controversial than to be truthful or thoughtful.

When you see reports in the news of people's bigoted ignorant rants on twitter etc, its only natural that people would emulate such behavior just for attention.

When it comes to personal attacks, I am always reminded of the phrase "argumentum ad hominem", where rather than argue the point it is easier for some to attack the person

I agree moderation is key for any good forum

Just look at unmoderated (or very lightly moderated) chan sites and you can see how this kinda of behaviour flourishes

I have gotten dogs abuse on one site for trying to defend Human Rights, it has become so vile that I just blocked a couple of people and tend to ignore the rest, they hate it when you don't react.

Right, I’m practically done with the forum in question on this thread.

Take a look at this delightful thread on that forum and form your own conclusions...

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057860291

Sorry but I don’t find much offensive in that thread. I did find your post a bit OTT.

Screaming homophobia at every opportunity is ridiculous. Stop it.

The After Hours forum on boards.ie is a horrible place. I avoid it like the plague.

Most posters on that thread were grand. But did you see/read what a few had posted Shaggy? A little more sensitivity on your part wouldnt hurt...

Didn't know boards.ie was still going, but it can't be as vile as Liberal.ie.