Metal Warfare - Irish Metal Forum

There's some threads on the forum which are generally self-contained but the discussion can get fairly heated at times, with some of it leading the constant arguing or name calling. How would everyone like to see these topics handled in the future? Keep everything as it is?  Heavier moderation? Move it all to a separate area where anything goes?

Please add any other ideas you have.

I went for the new area option. Debate is fine and dandy, essential even but when it descends into bickering and petty back-and-forth, it's tiresome.

Generally this site is much better and more respectful than Metalireland. I'd largely say leave well alone but one or two individuals could do with giving it a rest. The Trump Thread a classic example.

Leave it alone. It's easy to ignore and nice to occasionally scroll through. I honestly think Chris and Kev are really starting to make progress on certain topics too and it would be irresponsible to cut them off now when they might actually save the world pretty soon. Or at least convince someone with the hammering of their left/right opinion.

I think in general it's grand, once there's a bit of back and forth and actual debate. But the last couple of pages the Trump thread add nothing since it's essentially one lad telling everyone else to shut up, dunno if he was on the sauce last night or what was going on

Defo looked like the old Mexican Fuhrer was hitting the tequila.

Leave it as it is, reckon most folk here are big enough and warty enough to engage in a bit of back and forth without getting all offended about it.
I enjoyed the boys going at it last night !

I went for the "MW meet-up with yokes (provided by astfgyl)" option.

More seriously, I'll take just the making of this thread as Hambeast (at whose pleasure we are here, after all) requesting that we make a bit more of an effort to keep the tone civil. Message received. And if you do end up going with one of the other options, also all good with me.

I'd leave it as it is, as long as it's not personally abusive, most of that stuff goes over my head anyway.

I think the Trump and PC brigade threads do a good job of keeping all that shite out of other threads as it is.

Was there not an ignore function on this website before, or did I imagine it?

Quote from: Black Shepherd Carnage on January 30, 2025, 12:59:45 PMMore seriously, I'll take just the making of this thread as Hambeast (at whose pleasure we are here, after all) requesting that we make a bit more of an effort to keep the tone civil. Message received. And if you do end up going with one of the other options, also all good with me.

I'm mainly trying to gauge how these threads are perceived by everyone in general. Is everyone in these threads happy to argue back and forward, or is it getting too heated and needs to be shut down? Are other users happy to simply ignore these threads if they don't care or dont want to get involved, or is it annoying to constantly have to avoid threads which are actively bumped to the top? Is the site seen in general to be leaning one way in particular, or are these threads seen to be contained instances where each opinion belongs to the invidual user?

It's up to everyone to know when they need to step away from a thread, but it's problematic if it's actively making people avoid the forum or driving people away. I'm not saying this is happening, I'm more trying to figure out if it is happening.

Based on the comments so far it seems like everyone is wanting to continue with how things are, although I'm aware there's people who don't post and people who don't even have an account. It's interesting to see the poll results so far and I'll be keeping this open for further input from everyone.

Quote from: Giggles on January 30, 2025, 05:25:14 PMWas there not an ignore function on this website before, or did I imagine it?

Yes, you can click your username at the top of the page, then "Ignore List", then you can add anyone you want to ignore.

Leave it as is would be my opinion. If people don't want to see/engage that's easily done and it's currently contained in only a couple of threads. Everything else pretty much stays on topic as a result.

Could have off topic section only visible to registered members for the next six months to gauge whether or not it's the case that off topic in general is keeping people away from the site.

Perhaps Chris should change his avatar to Marty McFly, or Caoimhin could change his avatar to a Star Trek villain like Khan or Q just to keep things consistent. Another option would be to start afresh as He-Man and Skeletor, or Captain Planet and Hoggish Greedly. Thanks.

 :laugh:

 :laugh:

I think the tone is generally a lot better than it was (the trump/covid era in particular was a total shitshow for the site) and the debate in the threads mentioned is genuinely interesting, but the name-calling is just pathetic and it turns the threads to shit for the next while. When it went out of control previously, the site was genuinely unpleasant to visit. There aren't that many of us on here, it's a fairly niche corner of the internet these days, so operating above the level of a petulant child shouldn't be so problematic given the common interest which draws us here in the first place.

Quote from: Maggot Colony on January 31, 2025, 11:49:23 AMPerhaps Chris should change his avatar to Marty McFly, or Caoimhin could change his avatar to a Star Trek villain like Khan or Q just to keep things consistent. Another option would be to start afresh as He-Man and Skeletor, or Captain Planet and Hoggish Greedly. Thanks.

I aim to please.

Albeit with absolutely minimum effort  :laugh:

 My work here is done. :laugh:

Just relegate Caomhaoin to his own echo chamber shit pit sub ala KurtCocaine

Jaysus I forgot about Kurt. Is he still knocking around?

(https://i.ibb.co/zj4rBPh/Screenshot-20250207-120904.png)

He's literally been banished to his own sub asylum  :laugh:  :laugh:

 :laugh:  :laugh:  :laugh:

I still feel bad for Kurt about that one tbh but regarding the political/offense threads, I think people could just ignore them if they liked (though I'm one of the worst offenders for being in on those tbf) but I don't see the need to moderate them any more heavily unless people start getting genuinely personal, or the absolute deal breaker for me of any forum, which is spilling it over into real life threats etc.

Doing a great job, leaving the place pretty much alone, hambeast.

Browser/ sometime contributor here.

Politics has no place on a music forum I feel, keep it to yourselves. Politics bores me and divides people in general. Just my opinion.

Quote from: astfgyl on February 10, 2025, 09:29:46 AMI don't see the need to moderate them any more heavily unless people start getting genuinely personal, or the absolute deal breaker for me of any forum, which is spilling it over into real life threats etc.

Was it not you that got deaths threats on here a while back or someone wished death on you over something you posted in one of the political threads?

Personally I would be up for getting rid of politics on the forum as mentioned above me it has no place on a music forum. I have been doing my best to stay away from it over the last while but you still have those weak moments. No point in trying to debate with certain people who think they know it all and refuse to see any other point of view.

Debate is all well and good but the Trump thread for example has just turned into a few people who seem to have too much time on their hands trying to one up each other on whatever articles they can post from obscure websites to show how bad the orange man is no actual debate is taking place.

No I don't think anyone made any threats like that against me on here it must be somebody else you're thinking of. Like lads can say all the funny shit they want to me on here and I wouldn't care because it's only forum stuff and hardly anyone here ever met me in real life so no I'm fairly certain that wasn't anyone saying that sort of lark to me and I definitely didn't say that to anyone either. Dunno I think something happened like that with mugz and he got the hammer although that wasn't anything to do with me either and I didn't mind him either at all but iirc there was something like that there but again it's ages ago and fairly hazy. I generally enjoy the cut and thrust of a good forum argument and don't take them personally

Probably someone posting this in Now Playing:

Pretty sure the death wish was from the covid thread. Somebody got emotional over Astfgyl's covid views and wished a covid death upon him. Then they fucked off for a few months, copped themselves on and became a regular poster again  :abbath:

As for politics having no place on a music forum, well it's in the Off Topic section, which literally means anything that is not necessarily metal or music related. We all know which threads are the political shit shows, and we don't have to click into them if we don't want to.

Quote from: astfgyl on February 10, 2025, 07:28:45 PMNo I don't think anyone made any threats like that against me on here it must be somebody else you're thinking of. Like lads can say all the funny shit they want to me on here and I wouldn't care because it's only forum stuff and hardly anyone here ever met me in real life so no I'm fairly certain that wasn't anyone saying that sort of lark to me and I definitely didn't say that to anyone either. Dunno I think something happened like that with mugz and he got the hammer although that wasn't anything to do with me either and I didn't mind him either at all but iirc there was something like that there but again it's ages ago and fairly hazy. I generally enjoy the cut and thrust of a good forum argument and don't take them personally

It was you I remember you also did the forgive and forget a while later when the person came back to the forum. Yes Giggles is right I got mixed up it was in the Covid thread.

Ah there was nothing to forgive there from my end. Covid made a lot of people emotional, including myself. I do remember that but absolute water under the bridge and tis a fella I'm fond of on here anyway and have great time for chatting about music with

Leave as is. There's a healthy level of discussion on here I find. And as to politics on a music forum.. It's called the off topic section.

I'm deducing that since he hasn't posted in a month and a half, since the very day of his last run in with Kurt Cocaine, that we've probably lost Burgermeister/Juggz. Off-topic was also the cause of hellfire, Kev, and probably several others leaving too. The problem is a general one of difficulty of engaging in good faith discussion. This comes to a head regarding metal every so often, where people take opinion for fact and get thick-headed about it, or can't take as strong as they give, but it's about 100 times more likely regarding anything political.

It's great having an off-topic for non-metal music and other "purely" cultural interests (movies, books, sport, telly) but at this stage I'd cast my ballot for having the forum a politics free zone, and even lock the existing politics threads, as it's not worth losing more members over... especially since, as I know well from my own experience, political views and taste in metal don't necessarily overlap at all at all.

We can bé assured with 100% accuracy that Kurt C. wasn't the reason that Kev has absconded...

I personally would totally ban politics but the poll is showing a vast majority wanting to keep things as they are. There's 0 votes for a total ban so it's clearly not a popular idea.

Another problem is deciding where to draw the line. Any topic about current events can easily turn political. The covid thread started off as a thread about a disease and now look at the state of it. Movies and music can easily go the same way depending on who is involved in them. There's also the personal responsibility of everyone to know when to disengage from a thread.

I'm aware KC is a controversial poster and a troll at times but it's hard to judge what is "too much". People also need to stop taking the bait and feeding the troll. And then I end up looking like another "middle grounder" who enables the entire mess...

Quote from: Barnacle Billy on September 27, 2026, 09:53:39 PMWe can bé assured with 100% accuracy that Kurt C. wasn't the reason that Kev has absconded...

Kev absconded because he wanted to have his cake (dismissing sources I used, such as Channel 4, out of hand as "extreme" when they disagreed with his opinion) and eat it (argue that his sources were reliable even when the source was a youtuber who openly worshipped the SS and quoted literal original theorists of fascism). Similarly, hellfire absconded because he became convinced, by an Israeli he worked with, that Israel were doing nothing wrong and therefore he couldn't bear the avalanche of available evidence clearly showing that what he wanted to be true (that Israel were conducting a humane war against "human animals") was not.

My point in mentioning Kev and hellfire, knowing full well that me arguing against their political opinions was operative in them leaving, is that - outside of politics - they were both people I could easily have great discussions with about metal. Which is what this place, and MI before it, were originally for.

I hadn't voted at all yet, so that'll make one for limiting off-topic to, broadly, art and sport.

I thought Kev said he moved to Russia, figured that's why he stopped posting, joining in the good fight and all that

Ah, you're right, the last exchange was over Russia. And, ominously, this was his last post:

Quote from: Caomhaoin on March 04, 2025, 11:04:22 PMI called my ex-wife a spastic in 2022. Up in court in June for gender violence. Watch out in the Spanish papers. I wish I was joking.

 :-X

Might be a good time to remind people out there that should you find a particular poster's views abhorrent to the point where they impare your will to post on here, we do have an extremely handy "ignore" option.Very handy for obvious trolls in particular.

Quote from: Pentagrimes on September 30, 2026, 11:33:47 AMMight be a good time to remind people out there that should you find a particular poster's views abhorrent to the point where they impare your will to post on here, we do have an extremely handy "ignore" option.Very handy for obvious trolls in particular.

Where is the ignore function?   I have never been able to find it.... (Thorn costs me too much money  :laugh: )

 :laugh:

You've to go to your own profile and there's an Ignore List you can add users to. It's not much as a feature (though better than nothing): the user's posts are still there but just read "You are choosing to ignore this user" with an option to click to see the individual post anyway.

Alas, poor Thorn I knew him so well  :laugh:


(am 100% joking).   

 :laugh:

Quote from: Black Shepherd Carnage on September 30, 2026, 02:27:45 PMYou've to go to your own profile and there's an Ignore List you can add users to. It's not much as a feature (though better than nothing): the user's posts are still there but just read "You are choosing to ignore this user" with an option to click to see the individual post anyway.

Thank you. You have just improved this board for me no end.

I had improved my own mere moments before   :laugh:

Quote from: Black Shepherd Carnage on September 27, 2026, 04:54:38 PMI'm deducing that since he hasn't posted in a month and a half, since the very day of his last run in with Kurt Cocaine, that we've probably lost Burgermeister/Juggz. Off-topic was also the cause of hellfire, Kev, and probably several others leaving too. The problem is a general one of difficulty of engaging in good faith discussion. This comes to a head regarding metal every so often, where people take opinion for fact and get thick-headed about it, or can't take as strong as they give, but it's about 100 times more likely regarding anything political.

It's great having an off-topic for non-metal music and other "purely" cultural interests (movies, books, sport, telly) but at this stage I'd cast my ballot for having the forum a politics free zone, and even lock the existing politics threads, as it's not worth losing more members over... especially since, as I know well from my own experience, political views and taste in metal don't necessarily overlap at all at all.

I like Juggz on here but the point deserves to be made that if K.C. left over something that Juggz said, you wouldn't be making this point at all, which somewhat invalidates it.

Look at all the arguing meself and yourself did over the covid thread and it didn't make either of us throw in the towel and didn't leave me having anything against you, and I haven't gotten the impression that you've anything against me either.

I stay away from a lot of the politics on here nowadays myself but that's just because I've lost the heart for it the last year or two, and not because I've a minority opinion. I reckon the threads should stand in the off topic but what does drive me wrong is when it spills over into other boards and threads and I'd be very much in favour of hard moderation on that point alone, even if it's something I agree with.

I hope lads don't leave over disagreeing with other lads and we are all big enough boys and girls to understand that things look worse written down than they would sound in a real world conversation, with maybe a tongue in cheek element to them.

I'd have a pint with pretty much anyone on the forum here and chat about tunes and that's what the place is here for at the end of the day.

Peace and love

There's two different things at play: a user leaving because they can't take as good as they give, and a user leaving over an incorrigible troll (slight tautology). For all the disagreements we've had, I know you're neither the former nor a troll.

Cheers man, I get that lads can drive each other mad on here as well and I didn't know about the ignore button that I won't be using but I'm probably just the sort of lad who doesn't take any of it personally even when it looks heated. I'd leave quicker if everyone agreed and I still think if we all just took a few yokes together it would all be fine in the real world lol

I've taken a bit of a hiatus from the place over the summer - I realised that I was being a dick (about a lot of the people at the Metallica gigs being weekend warriors and not into metal), and it wasn't good for my own noggin.

I'd like to think Juggz/Burger had a similar "just need a break" (for whatever reason) buzz.

son of the Morrigan, it's been a while pal.