National Forum

Move To National Forum Only Model

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it started with the kilkenny, laois, cork and waterford forums a few years ago but why just decimate the forums that were v active..Limerick, Kerry, Clare, Galway,mayo, Leitrim, westmeath, wexford seemed to be very vibrant and alive. i used to like going into them seeing all the local hurling news, the way the new setup is now you cant find anything because there are simply too many topics there now.

preddan (Kildare) - Posts: 760 - 04/10/2021 11:52:13    2384347

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Still no word from the admins, getting rid of the county forums is the equivalent of nando's no longer serving chicken.

bostonredsox (Wexford) - Posts: 4368 - 04/10/2021 15:02:23    2384384

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The removal of county forums means Hoganstand has lost this member anyway. Mad decision. Sure the national forum isn't going to have info on lads in or out of county minor teams, manager moves, etc. The national forum is generally wind-up merchants on about Dublin and Kerry, a waste of time. Hope another website fills this huge void.

icehonesty (Wexford) - Posts: 2559 - 04/10/2021 15:54:37    2384391

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Replying To wexico15:  "Still no word from the admins, getting rid of the county forums is the equivalent of nando's no longer serving chicken."
totally agree with you. or pizza hut not selling pizzas even

CillTormoir (Galway) - Posts: 499 - 04/10/2021 16:36:02    2384399

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Replying To CillTormoir:  "totally agree with you. or pizza hut not selling pizzas even"
Change for the sake of change. A disaster in my opinion.

Gaa Fan (USA) - Posts: 762 - 04/10/2021 18:54:35    2384412

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Replying To wexico15:  "Still no word from the admins, getting rid of the county forums is the equivalent of nando's no longer serving chicken."
Doesn't make sense, you can create as many "new topics" as you like so no less work for administration.

The county forum is really just a menu system so you can quickly find the posts that interest you.

If they are struggling with admin, sure just put in a "report" button for users to report any posts that should be removed. You can post whatever you like on Twitter so what's the difference?

Or put in some AI program to monitor.

WEX98 (Wexford) - Posts: 474 - 04/10/2021 20:13:35    2384419

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Replying To Galway9801:  "As another poster mentioned a few pages back admin must have assumed that many posters would leave due to the new format.
This change was to help them focus their resources more efficiently but if everyone just moves over to the national forum theyd still have the same amount of traffic to manage,so they'll have taken people leaving into account."
Still think they could have archived the other forums for posterity or whatever.

Tacaí Liatroma (Leitrim) - Posts: 1126 - 04/10/2021 20:29:00    2384423

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This is such a monumental disaster of a move, Hogan Stand. The proper craic, the banter, the rumours, the odd fact and the analysis were all on the County forums / fora. That's what we enjoyed. Bring it back quickly, if at all possible or watch readership and engagement numbers collapse.

togoutlads (Galway) - Posts: 974 - 04/10/2021 20:44:45    2384425

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Lads can you ease up on the thread creation here, it's getting very messy and you're ruining the hoganstand experience for us Cavan and Meath folk.

Breffni40 (Cavan) - Posts: 12200 - 05/10/2021 10:27:07    2384459

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This is an extremely odd move. I see my own counties forum is being kept, but some very active forums have been removed. I like nothing better than to drop into another forum every so often in the build up to a game with that county and see what the chat is, maybe post a message myself an stir things up a bit! Really hope this is changed back.

I'm one of the longest on this forum. I've been here over 20 years (despite my post count - I was more active years before when it was just a message board) and as one of the longest here, I always felt that the changes made over time have consistently been poor ones. Our soccer brethren had their own board Elevenaside and they all disappeared when that was merged over to here. I can see the same happening here for local forum posters.

I have been very critical of the layout of the forum in the past. It is nowhere near a modern layout, and other GAA forums are far more modern and useable. I feel that this a doubling down of using a poor system rather than actual effectual change. You driver users away, and then you try adjust more to consolidate, not realising you'll drive even more away.

The forum doesn't work. It needs to be completely overhauled. I would recommend the following:
* New forum structure (templates available like boards.ie, gaaboard and such are accepted and modern standards on many forums). Get this with your own slant/spin on it to show it's HS. These allow proper linking, a reply function that is actually readable, upvote posts, ability to follow users, and check all their posts in one place and so on. It offers so much more than we currently get
* With this, you can still keep local county forums. They won't take much looking after.
* Take on volunteer moderators. Every forum (bar here) uses these to keep things in the right. There are many who are here daily, and they can moderate replies. They can highlight or remove problem posts, suspend users, and so on. Final word to be with yourselves, but it would lessen the load on you to moderate everything yourselves.
* If the above happens, posts can appear instantly. This thing where you have to wait for each individual post to be moderated (or for your work day to start) before being posted is just ridiculous. Post them all, but have a forum system in place to moderate as and when needed.

The doubling down on a poor forum set-up is a bad call. We've lost so many posters over the years. This used to be my first port of call during and after matches to see the chat, but it's all disappearing as it's not a good forum to use and it's not as busy. Try and make it easier to use and for us to have our chats. Otherwise I can see that this is the beginning of the end, and none of us want to see that.

Loughduff Lad (Cavan) - Posts: 2450 - 05/10/2021 10:53:44    2384463

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Replying To Breffni40:  "Lads can you ease up on the thread creation here, it's getting very messy and you're ruining the hoganstand experience for us Cavan and Meath folk."
:) :) :)

Sorry 'bout that!!!!

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2621 - 05/10/2021 11:17:22    2384467

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Replying To Tacaí Liatroma:  "Still think they could have archived the other forums for posterity or whatever."
I have said semilar myself, a lot of history wiped out.

KingdomBoy1 (Kerry) - Posts: 14092 - 05/10/2021 11:28:41    2384472

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Replying To Loughduff Lad:  "This is an extremely odd move. I see my own counties forum is being kept, but some very active forums have been removed. I like nothing better than to drop into another forum every so often in the build up to a game with that county and see what the chat is, maybe post a message myself an stir things up a bit! Really hope this is changed back.

I'm one of the longest on this forum. I've been here over 20 years (despite my post count - I was more active years before when it was just a message board) and as one of the longest here, I always felt that the changes made over time have consistently been poor ones. Our soccer brethren had their own board Elevenaside and they all disappeared when that was merged over to here. I can see the same happening here for local forum posters.

I have been very critical of the layout of the forum in the past. It is nowhere near a modern layout, and other GAA forums are far more modern and useable. I feel that this a doubling down of using a poor system rather than actual effectual change. You driver users away, and then you try adjust more to consolidate, not realising you'll drive even more away.

The forum doesn't work. It needs to be completely overhauled. I would recommend the following:
* New forum structure (templates available like boards.ie, gaaboard and such are accepted and modern standards on many forums). Get this with your own slant/spin on it to show it's HS. These allow proper linking, a reply function that is actually readable, upvote posts, ability to follow users, and check all their posts in one place and so on. It offers so much more than we currently get
* With this, you can still keep local county forums. They won't take much looking after.
* Take on volunteer moderators. Every forum (bar here) uses these to keep things in the right. There are many who are here daily, and they can moderate replies. They can highlight or remove problem posts, suspend users, and so on. Final word to be with yourselves, but it would lessen the load on you to moderate everything yourselves.
* If the above happens, posts can appear instantly. This thing where you have to wait for each individual post to be moderated (or for your work day to start) before being posted is just ridiculous. Post them all, but have a forum system in place to moderate as and when needed.

The doubling down on a poor forum set-up is a bad call. We've lost so many posters over the years. This used to be my first port of call during and after matches to see the chat, but it's all disappearing as it's not a good forum to use and it's not as busy. Try and make it easier to use and for us to have our chats. Otherwise I can see that this is the beginning of the end, and none of us want to see that."
Good.points. I got home at 10.10pm last night and tried to post and forgot you can only post between 7am and 10pm or something! Posts can take an age to appear so no proper chat or flow to any conversations. I do wonder if this is a deliberate run down of the forum with a few to wrapping it up altogether. Would be a shame, but most people will drift away next few weeks/months I'd imagine

London125 (UK) - Posts: 55 - 05/10/2021 11:32:04    2384473

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Enjoyed the banter, the info, the rumour mill, the latest updates on fixtures, results, tables and all local GAA matters over the years. Sorry to say I'm signing off now with this national forum only model. It was great while it lasted.

Like others, I'm bitterly disappointed that no notice was given to forum posters about the change. I hope it's not indicative of the GAA in general where the lifeblood of the organisation suffers to benefit the capitalists and the elite.

Sad times.

Good luck all.

RedRum (Fermanagh) - Posts: 278 - 05/10/2021 11:57:34    2384478

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Replying To RedRum:  "Enjoyed the banter, the info, the rumour mill, the latest updates on fixtures, results, tables and all local GAA matters over the years. Sorry to say I'm signing off now with this national forum only model. It was great while it lasted.

Like others, I'm bitterly disappointed that no notice was given to forum posters about the change. I hope it's not indicative of the GAA in general where the lifeblood of the organisation suffers to benefit the capitalists and the elite.

Sad times.

Good luck all."
Good luck, Have to agree with you also.
Its an absolute mess on here. Whatever the thinking was behind this change it's not working.. Pity really because the county forum was where it was it.

skillet (Limerick) - Posts: 1103 - 05/10/2021 12:37:53    2384483

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The fact that we have now a 'Galway Junior C' topic at the top of the national forum should be indication enough to the admins that this was a bad idea.

Onfor15 (Wexford) - Posts: 533 - 05/10/2021 12:43:24    2384485

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Is it just me, or does the number of threads on the first page of the forum keep changing? Sometimes it's 15, and sometimes it's 40.

Can understand why they might have more threads there, so less chance of having to go to Page 2 to find something. But then can't understand why they keep changing between them. Please leave it at either one or the other!

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2621 - 06/10/2021 15:20:57    2384625

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Replying To Pikeman96:  "Is it just me, or does the number of threads on the first page of the forum keep changing? Sometimes it's 15, and sometimes it's 40.

Can understand why they might have more threads there, so less chance of having to go to Page 2 to find something. But then can't understand why they keep changing between them. Please leave it at either one or the other!"
It should be adjustable like on other forums. you should be able to alter how many threads you see on any page of the forum

KillingFields (Limerick) - Posts: 3674 - 06/10/2021 16:08:31    2384634

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Replying To Pikeman96:  "Is it just me, or does the number of threads on the first page of the forum keep changing? Sometimes it's 15, and sometimes it's 40.

Can understand why they might have more threads there, so less chance of having to go to Page 2 to find something. But then can't understand why they keep changing between them. Please leave it at either one or the other!"
Maybe it depends on the type of device your using.

bostonredsox (Wexford) - Posts: 4368 - 06/10/2021 17:02:52    2384641

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Replying To wexico15:  "Still no word from the admins, getting rid of the county forums is the equivalent of nando's no longer serving chicken."
I would love a Nando's right now

The_Fridge (Tyrone) - Posts: 2092 - 19/10/2021 10:40:35    2386204

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