Boards.ie Reviews 48

If you keep away from the vile posters in After Hours it's a decent site for advice and opinions on subjects as diverse as satellite TV, farming, DIY, motoring, consumer issues and nature. You'll see see plenty of negative reviews from people who think they should be allowed say what ever they wish, in as racist and xenophobic a manner as they wish, without censure from moderators but that's because the site tries to eliminate that behaviour.

The site's main problem is highly-visible user-moderators, who interfere in discussions and steer them in their preferred direction. They randomly delete posts, close threads, ban people.

It's therefore less a discussion site and more the propaganda machine of these moderators. If the "moderator" feels one way about an issue, they simply censor all contrary viewpoints until it seems that a consensus is reached.

On a technical level the site is a mess and the running of it has been farmed off to the lowest bidder in Canada. I highly doubt they are GDPR compliant.

A very active user since the early 00s who used love the community but I've once again deleted my planks account but this time I'm never going back. I got a warning for telling others not to feed the troll. The trolls win, it is no place for discussion. I can't bare what the place has become.

Every political or woke thread gets shoehorned down a blind alley where you cannot question anything or you get trolled by the mobs (known as the swarms of fire ants) and once identified the thread is reported then you get warned and banned by the evil overlord Beasty for not keeping to the very woke or government agenda.

The Ukrainian thread, don't anyone dare go in there! It's full of the usual trolls who tag team posters and refuse to accept anything that doesn't suit their own agenda. You're not allowed ask questions I've seen new users cluelessly ask questions and get set upon. Every comment gets the usual demand for sources and when they're presented they are dismissed as being from April and clearly out of date! Of course Beasty is in every few days to ban these non agenda keeping posters!

The Current affairs forum is overrun with several government defending bots who get away constant gaslighting by jumping in to try to steer conversations off down an off topic rabbit hole to try deflect and avoid dealing with the topic at hand. Anyone who's not in agreement with the government or asks questions is then labelled a shinnerbot! There's pathetically biased modding, letting, and even helping the trolls and wums dictate and drag the topic down blind alleys, every single time!

There is good news though, there's another site folks. There's a new kid on the block called GUBU.ie where the only rule is don't be a dick. You can have decent conversation there without getting shut down by the overlord. A site where you can speak your mind and where at times the users can agree to disagree. See you all there!!

One word "Beasty" this guys is a complete and utter gobshite. He and others like him have ruined what was once a brilliant source of information and entertainment.

Dreadful. I racked up many Thousands of posts over 12 years but over the past year it's become infested with Trolls & very nasty individuals who opporate with impunity because they push a particular political narrative.

Woke Moderators have destroyed the site, aggressive, rude and disturbingly unintelligent, I also exposed concerns over access to private messages.

Not for me anymore.

This is a forum I have been a member of for over 10 years. It has been completely destroyed by over the top, heavy handed moderation. There is one moderator, Beasty, and his style of modding is very aggressive. He is not objective and is unable to see beyond his own viewpoint. Post regularly get deleted and you get threadbanned without warning. He allows trolls goad and bait posters relentlessly without sanction (namely Boggles and DaCor). His style of modding is very unpleasant and needs to be called out , perhaps he was a school teacher back in the day because I have felt like I am a primary school kid at times. His last private message to me felt like bullying. I felt victimized and censored. I am a well educated mature woman who never trolls, never goads, is respectful and considered yet I was threadbanned and posts deleted because he didn't agree with them. The item I wrote about that got threadbanned was discussed on Irish media the very same day and the very same points were made! Publicly! I was banned for posting an anecdote yet the radio interview was littered with anecdotes from texters that same day on the same subject. Boards is dying and people are migrating to forums that allow free speech. I ended up in tears for the evening after my last message from Beasty. This should be allowed and is completely unacceptable in these times. I have deleted my account. Avoid Boards is you want open and honest discussion. I used to love the site, there are some great threads but constantly looking over your shoulder waiting for a nasty bullying message or threadban has ruined it for me, its like an abusive relationship.

I use this website daily. Sometimes the mods can be a bit over the top but overall, I'm happy with the website. I've been on it since 2010.

Used to be a good site... fair, open & transparent. Nowdays, the " mods" have gone 'native' & just use it as their own egotistical power trip..../ any opinion that doesn't bow down to the 'leader' & that's it.... you're banned. It's farcical really..... there's 2 mods there ( 'beasty' & 'Hannibal Smith') in competition to see who can ban more than each other. There used to be good 'mods' there but they've all bailed out under the new regime.

The site is so badly designed. My discussions closed by admin . No visible option to close them myself. The moderators on some little power trip sending me warning messages. The site is just terrible and the people behind it seem to love handing out warnings for little or no reason

Used to be a decent site. Mods now use it as their personal site. Don't agree with them - ban. While they allow other posters who do agree with them to gang up on you. Standard had been circling the drain for a while now. Covid has killed it.

Avoid this cesspool of an excuse for a site
If you are not an 'ally' of LGBTQSDAREYQZ, Antifa, BLM or the woke in general, your view is not accepted or allowed.
If you have a view that is not in line with the mainstream deceit you are labelled a crackpot conspiracy theorists.
'Moderators' are egotistical and biased.
Avoid this crap show.

I dont know what that gombean is talking about with his bullying alligations but I loved boards.... until the dippers started crying and got me banned :(

Fantastic experience and I will use again.... ;)

Yours truly Osamabindipper

I got bullied and all that other crap people are complaining about here, bunch of left wing far right despots running the place and ruined my little soapbox where I could air all the problems I had with coronation street

Sad

Long time user of the site and I recommend it, in short, because there are few internet forums like it to be found anywhere else, offering the scale of topic or the volume of users with which to engage. There are even fewer internet sites to be found where trolls and generally disruptive users are actively reigned in to prevent derailing discussion.

Each forum within the site may have its own specific rules in addition to the general site rules and it is the moderators - volunteers - who get the thankless task of ensuring that users do not abuse the site, whether it be by warning or by removing said users from the forum for a duration of time where warranted, typically increasing in duration if the user is frequently needing reprimanded.

There is a moderator called Beasty who is a despotic little gobshite.

The whole place is run like a cross between the world lamest doomsday cult and the touring version of Mean Girls - if your “face” fits, you are in but if not they will hound you out or just make up nonsense and ban you. How do you possibly prove you aren’t someone you’ve never heard of when you are accused of it ???

Avoid like the f**king plague.

Generally a site where people go to complain about anything and everything. However, always complaining about the same topics for example IRA, Are teachers lazy (for the 100th time), Feminists am I right??? Etc
Full of cranks and loons. Moderation is inconsistent

Boards is the journal minus the actual content. Just people with their own agenda posting the same crap on repeat mostly just posting abuse of public figures.

The only unique selling point boards has is that depending on what forum you're in you get treated differently depending on the whims of whatever mod or admin has decided to treat that forum as if it were their own social media account and gathered their own little clique to bully anyone who doesn't fit into their circle.

I agree with Kay and others. One of my threads was trolled and I got permanently banned, which doesn't make sense but fine because I won't be using the site anyway after having an awful experience. It's impressive how they don't ban trolls and bullies but instead ban users who got bullied. I was new to this forum and this won't affect me in the long run for sure, but still it didn't feel great. I don't recommend this site at all. Decent users get bullied and banned.

I have to agree with the other reviews here. The site, which in essence is very good, with fora on every conceivable topic, is completely crawling with bullies and trolls. Anyone who reacts, and who wouldn't react to being bullied, gets thread banned. In order to get the most likely, undeserved ban lifted, you are expected to go grovelling to the mods, most of whom are on a power trip and treat users as if they were small children. In fairness not all mods are like that and some fora are still comfortable places to chat. But most are now very uncomfortable. Because of this I would no longer recommend the site for discussions, but it's still worth looking for advice there as many users are decent and there is a lot of information there. Hence two stars.

Threads closed with no reason, "Moderators" with a superiority complex. I found a lot of left wing attitudes by the "Moderators" and most advice on fixing something is usually advised to call in expensive tradesmen which is just covering their arses. Also as said before trolling and bullying is rampant.