The ATS Thread Flagging System

flagging seemed more based on the person who opens the thread than content. maybe it's little groups of people flagging and starring each other. I've seen some very ordinary threads with multiple flags even though there end up being few replies because there is little to say or even speculate about. other threads just as interesting get almost no attention. no flags suggests a thread not worth bothering with. it's not that i'm objecting to flags, only flag inflation. same with stars. i've seen one line posts with multiple stars, and certain posters get multiple stars on their posts no matter if the posts adds to the thread or not. i have no solution to offer, just the observation that it defeats the purpose of the flags and stars to award them to individuals rather than the actual thread or post.

It's pretty bad when a thread author has the next three posts as his own sock puppets, both giving the author praise and negative reply.
These people must have a lot of time on their side and a strange personility to be basically "talking to themselves".
Many of these threads only serve to act as trolls to stir up the members who actually contribute to the site.
Although, on the conspiracy side, are they acting as disinfo agents? Are they deflecting the site to silly questions and answers? While the real content is getting hidden by "junk" content?
I've also noticed some forum threads that seem to be trying to get members to post content that could get them into problems with law enforcement "homeland security" types.
Why are these posts getting loads of stars?

That's a bannable offense here on ATS, and we have indeed terminated user accounts for activity such as you describe. If you believe this is truly happening, please use the alerts to let our staff know.

From my anecdotal sampling on ATS I see a division of kids and adults.

The kids, teenagers, college students, gosh wow types, appear to be greater in number these days. They are avid posters of threads and questions. They seem to get into the report card aspect, starring, flagging, adding friends, etc.

The more mature members, professionals, experts in certain areas, more politically sophisticated and generally more skeptical, provide much of the new information and particular insights.

They aren't into the game aspect of it and often have lower point scores, less stars, etc.

While the mix of the types makes for interesting encounters, those wanting to have serious discussions often get shouted down, accused of being disinformation agents, or just ignored.

I notice a lot of them taper off or just stop posting after awhile.

This may not be immediately perceptible to the staff, as numbers are up as well as activity. But I think this contributes to a dilution of the content quality.

Thoughtful knowledgeable exchanges are valuable commodities. They need to be cultivated and encouraged.


Mike

I hope i shouldn't feel guilty for being part of the 'teenager' group but i sincerely agree with your post. If i could star you 20 times over i would as i've seen the exact thing with members who i thought had very interesting and intellectual standings. Cheers.

reply to post by serbsta

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I'm part of the "teenager" group, too. Don't feel guilty. There are great teen posters, and poor teen posters... just like there are great adult posters, and poor adult posters.

sounds like a great idea, a flag system for articles that have a lot of evidence and good information which the people would really like. So in other words if people think it's a very good article it rises to the top.

S&F i enjoyed this post Chembreather. look forward to future ones.

I have a question about the flags. I thought that once you flagged a thread, that it would show somewhere what you have flagged so that you could find the thread again? I have looked through my account though and have not found these again, but I thought for sure that I used to be able to see what people have flagged in their profiles.

reply to post by Jessicamsa

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No, it doesn't work that way.



What you need to do is click the 'Subscribe' button which is in the same location as the flag button is.

Once you do that a new button appears to 'Unsubscribe' if you are tired of reading the thread.

Oh ok. Thank you.

deleted by KK posted to wrong thread.

[edit on 7-9-2009 by kinda kurious]

I seem to have forgotten how to view my flagged threads. Can someone pleas explain?

reply to post by PhotonEffect

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Someone from staff may want to confirm this, but I believe they did away with that feature a few months ago. I think the only way to now keep track of threads that interest you is to subscribe to them.

Hope that helps a little.

reply to post by schrodingers dog

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Thanks schrodingers. I for one preferred the other way much better.

They should consider setting it up so that when you flag a thread you also automatically subscribe to it. It's going to be quite difficult now trying to remember all the threads that I've flagged as interesting...

As soon as I read "cunning use of flags" I thought EDDIE IZZARD!

Ty for explaining the whole flagging thing i just didnt know what it was

I could not find a definitive place to u2u a suggestion, but one of them related to the flags:
(copied from my post in www.abovetopsecret.com...)


Because of the sometimes large threads, could I suggest (if not already available) that ATSers could have the option of the threads being sorted by date as well as flag count on posts?
That way, when jumping into a large multipage thread, you can then optionally filter by flag count and therefore read the best rated responses first.
Usually the flagged posts contain the most relevant comments/facts/answers.


And Suggestion 2:
Is there any stats available for the # of visitors to ATS from the following domains, as it would be interesting to see how many visits ATS gets from:

1. .GOV. domains (also the govt domains from other countries).
2. mainstream media domains (eg; fox.com, cnn.com)

I think it would make for interesting reading for ATS members to be able to 'watch the watchers'.

does not look good.

Oh the Hubris: just how little that we know about anything.

So what could this Thing Do?!

blow up, blow out: once, after I read some about this failure to cap; I had a runaway Imagination of a volcanic eruption of oil. the black column is immediately struck by lightning either in the column, like in volcanic eruptions, or from a gulf thunderstorm. Then the whole thing catches fire, a huuuuge fire that no one can get near to and put out.

It burns for months and years, emitting more CO2 per minutes, in the combustion gases, then all of the earth's/mankind's production of CO2, per year! Then add some unburned methane.
result within a year or two, 8% CO2, 2% methane, as an atmospheric composition, and this is for years and years.
Global runaway greenhouse effect, then: 90 degrees far. at North pole, 24/7/365! and 120 degrees everywhere else.
*and* how much oxygen will this sucker then use up?! everyone ends up living at 10,000 feet above sea level *at* sea level.

or....

will just lots and lots of oil just spew out. Everyone west of Tampa and all around the Gulf, has to leave for good, maybe up to 20 to 80 miles inland.
Maybe the fishermen will end up working in warehouses in St Paul, Minnesota, never ever to be outdoors again. Gulf becomes a permanent toxic waste Zone.

or....

will the earth heal far more than we think, that natural forces will stop the oil on its own, again belittling our own efforts.

lesson here again: if a REAL catastrophe were to happen, like a total Yellowstone eruption, do not depend upon anyone to fix it!! there will be a million chickens running around with their heads off, in the leadership departments. Do not even depend upon anyone to know what is going on and what could one to get away, either!

the only thing then to do is to begin PRAYING as their are supposed to be no atheists on the battlefield, or next to blowing Yellowstone!

freestone

Hey All,

Do other users feel that the 'Flag Contribution Level' emphasis quantity over quality? I'm flagging alot more now, but not always based on the quality of the thread or the OP, more to get my level up so other people will flag my threads! A vicious cycle. Do you feel that flags are losing their purpose because of this?