Boards.ie

Infobox Website
name = boards.ie



caption = Now Ye're Talking
url = http://www.boards.ie
commercial = No
type = Classified discussion boards
language = English, Irish; some subforums for other languages
registration = optional; required to post
owner = Tom Murphy, John Breslin, Dan King, Jerry Connolly, Gerry Shanahan
author = John Breslin
launch date = 1998 (rebranded 2000)
current status =
revenue = lowercase|title=boards.ie

boards.ie is an Internet forum based in Ireland. It is considered one of the largest indigenous Irish websites online. [ cite news
last = Gordon
first = Smith
title = Boards.ie acquires Boards Group in expansion play
url = http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single7767
publisher = Siliconrepublic.com
date=2007-02-08
accessdate = 2008-06-11] As of 2008 the site has over 900,000 visitors a month [cite news | last = Boran| first = Marie | title = John Breslin
url = http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single10273
publisher = Siliconrepublic.com
date=2002-02-18
accessdate = 2008-06-11] , 135,000 registered accounts, 700,000 threads and more than 10 million posts. A wide variety of topics are discussed, mostly from (but not limited to) an Irish perspective.

History

In 1998, Dr. John "Cloud" Breslin created a single forum under the name "Cloud Boards" to enable discussion amongst Irish users of the id Software game "Quake" [cite news | last = Boran| first = Marie | title = A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
url = http://johnbreslin.com/wiki/images/3/3e/20080214b.pdf
publisher = Irish Independent
date=2008-02-14
accessdate = 2008-06-11] , while employed as a researcher at the National University of Ireland, Galway. This forum was a response/expansion to the IGN "quake.ie" forum, and utilized "Matt's WWWBoard" software. The site gained in popularity until the size of its threads exceeded the capacity of the software. Breslin came into contact with Tom Murphy, who had been administrating a Quake-related forum called "Quakapalooza", utilizing Murphy's ASP software. Cloud Boards then began using Ultimate Bulletin Board Software. [ cite news
last = Mulley
first = Damien
title = A new Net visioned He - Interview with John Breslin
url = http://www.mulley.net/2005/12/05/a-new-net-visioned-he-interview-with-john-breslin/
publisher = Mulley.Net
date=2005-12-05
accessdate = 2008-06-11] Breslin proposed a more general (not just Quake-related) forum, dedicated to general Irish issues, in 1999, and considered the name "boards.ie" to be a more useful and desired domain.

In 2000, Cloud Boards was then rebranded for a more general audience. Limitations in what organizations could register prevented private individuals from registering vanity or custom domains. Breslin had previously been unsuccessful in registering the domain "cloud.ie" with the Irish domain registry. Murphy entered a bet with Breslin that he could successfully register a domain for a rebranded web forum. Murphy renamed his company Spin Solutions to Boards for a day, registered the paperwork with the Irish domain registrar for Boards.ie, and was granted the domain. [cite news
last = Stewart
first = David
title = The Friday Interview: Tom Murphy, Boards.ie
url = http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single4427
publisher = Siliconrepublic.com
date=2005-02-11
accessdate = 2008-06-11]

In 2003, boards.ie achieved one million posts to its forums. [cite news
last = Lillington
first = Karlin
title = Boards.ie knows how to get people talking
url = http://johnbreslin.com/wiki/images/9/93/20030829a.pdf
publisher = ireland.com
date=2003
accessdate = 2008-06-11]

In 2007, the boards.ie Ltd. company acquired the rights to "boards.us" and other domains from Breslin. [ cite news
last = Gordon
first = Smith
title = Boards.ie acquires Boards Group in expansion play
url = http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single7767
publisher = Siliconrepublic.com
date=2007-02-08
accessdate = 2008-06-11]

In 2008, boards.ie hired its first full-time developer. [cite news | last = Boran| first = Marie | title = A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
url = http://johnbreslin.com/wiki/images/3/3e/20080214b.pdf
publisher = Irish Independent
date=2008-02-14
accessdate = 2008-06-11] For the 10th year anniversary of boards.ie the complete data set of its discussions with semantic markup (see SIOC) was published and a competition looking for interesting creations based on this data was launched. [cite news
last = Boran
first = Marie
title = Making use of a decade of online Irish banter
url = http://siliconrepublic.com/news/article/11118/digital-life/using-a-decade-of-online-irish-banter
publisher = Siliconrepublic.com
date=2008-07-29
accessdate = 2008-07-30]

tructure

The site is owned by five individuals, known as the administrators, or "admins", who delegate administrative and editorial control over the site to hundreds of unpaid moderators. Daft.ie has recently purchased a minority stake in the forum [ [http://www.rte.ie/business/2008/0815/daft.html Daft Media buys Boards.ie stake] ] . Each admin has a one-fifth stake in the rest of the "boards.ie" parent company, Boards, Ltd. [cite news | last = Boran| first = Marie | title = John Breslin
url = http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single10273
publisher = Siliconrepublic.com
date=2002-02-18
accessdate = 2008-06-11] One stakeholder, Gerry Shanahan, holds the position of "Managing Director" and is paid full-time by the organization, from income generated by Google Adsense. [cite news
last = Lillington
first = Karlin
title = Boards.ie knows how to get people talking
url = http://johnbreslin.com/wiki/images/9/93/20030829a.pdf
publisher = ireland.com
date=2003
accessdate = 2008-06-11] There are over 1,000 forums, public and private.

A new forum can be proposed by anyone, but requires a certain amount of support from other members. Most users do not pay any usage fees, although subscription is offered with benefits such as free webspace.

Expansion

The "boards.ie" site took its successful formula for web forums and created a number of sites aimed around other countries, including "boards.us" (United States), "boards.jp" (Japan), "boards.com.cn" (China), and "boards.co.nz" (New Zealand). Sites associated with classified advertising ("adverts.ie") and social networking ("social.ie") have been started as well.

Awards

For his contribution to Irish society, Tom Murphy was awarded a Net Visionary Award by the Irish Internet Association in 2004 in the "Social Contribution" category. [cite news
last = Stewart
first = David
title = The Friday Interview: Tom Murphy, Boards.ie
url = http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single4427
publisher = Siliconrepublic.com
date=2005-02-11
accessdate = 2008-06-11]

Dr. Breslin was awarded Net Visionary Awards by the Irish Internet Association in 2005 [cite web | url=http://www.netvisionary.ie/5awards11.html | title=L-R: IIA Chairman Colm Lyon, Category Award winner John Breslin of Boards.ie with Category Sponsor David Curtin of IE Domain Registry | author=netvisionary.ie | date=2005-11-17 | accessdate=2008-06-11] and 2006 [cite web | url=http://www.netvisionary.ie/6awards6.html | title=IIA Chairman Colm Lyon, Online Trader winner John Breslin (boards.ie/adverts.ie) and Category Sponsor Stephen McDonagh of Realex Payments | author=netvisionary.ie | date=2006-11-16 | accessdate=2008-06-11] .

boards.ie was awarded a Zeddy [cite web | url=http://johnbreslin.com/wiki/images/1/10/20010831a.pdf | title=2001 Zeddy Winners (Archive of Announcement) | author=Ireland.com | date=2001-08-31 | accessdate=2008-06-11] in 2001. (The Zeddy Awards have since been discontinued.)

References

External links

* [http://www.boards.ie boards.ie main page]
* [http://wiki.boards.ie/ boards.ie Wiki] (a.k.a. "Biki")
* [http://wiki.boards.ie/wiki/Category:Boards:_The_Gathering The Gathering Cards]
* [http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=98 boards.ie FAQ]
* [http://www.johnbreslin.com Homepage of Dr. John Breslin]
* [http://johnbreslin.com/wiki/index.php?title=Boards.ie/Media_Coverage Media coverage of boards.ie]