Questions About AMA Threads

People the quote below is from Springer.
Every answer will have the members name in the Reply To tab, you only need click that to see the question.

And it is one question only

ADMIN NOTE:

PLEASE be considerate of your fellow members and only ask one question, don't ask three or four in one post, don't post several single question posts, they will be removed and your account may be restricted from posting all together.

Please do not write a long winded buildup to your question or a dissertation on your knowledge of the topic, that's why we have Bill here.

Please treat our invited guest with the respect you would give any invited guest at anyone else's ho,me or business. Any rude, trolling, or otherwise ridiculous posts will be removed and the account banned from the site.

Enjoy this opportunity to ask one of the brightest minds in aviation history ANYTHING.

edit on 3-24-2014 by Springer because: (no reason given)

reply to post by Sauron

Every answer will have the members name in the Reply To tab, you only need click that to see the question.

That is a huge pain in the ass in a long thread. Opening new pages 100s of times when the guest can just hit a different button and quote the thing he is replying to.

They don't need to edit the thing or chop it down. They can just hit quote and answer what they want. Why is ATS being weird about this? It's not rude or hard to ask a guest to push one button instead of the other. I'm not suggesting they get super technical, just hit ONE BUTTON INSTEAD OF THE OTHER.

The Jesse Ventura AMA on Reddit at the beginning of this month was easy to follow. It won't be here if the guy just hits reply because the site is structured so differently. If the owners want this site to be successful with AMA threads they need to step up and throw the members a freaking bone. All they have to do is ask that the guest pushes the button next to the other button.

Domo1
reply to post by Sauron

 

Every answer will have the members name in the Reply To tab, you only need click that to see the question.

That is a huge pain in the ass in a long thread. Opening new pages 100s of times when the guest can just hit a different button and quote the thing he is replying to.

They don't need to edit the thing or chop it down. They can just hit quote and answer what they want. Why is ATS being weird about this? It's not rude or hard to ask a guest to push one button instead of the other. I'm not suggesting they get super technical, just hit ONE BUTTON INSTEAD OF THE OTHER.

The Jesse Ventura AMA on Reddit at the beginning of this month was easy to follow. It won't be here if the guy just hits reply because the site is structured so differently. If the owners want this site to be successful with AMA threads they need to step up and throw the members a freaking bone. All they have to do is ask that the guest pushes the button next to the other button.

If you click the link I provided you on the first page you will get a straight answer from Springer. You will notice I was shot down for suggesting what your suggesting so be prepared.

I totally agree with what your saying and it does not take much for the AMA to hit the quote button, though Springer will have you know we are being.....well, see for yourself.

Spiro

reply to post by Spiro


Appreciated.

So we get to ask one question and need to make it brief and are going to have to click and open a new page every time we try to figure what a guest is replying to. What a wreck.

Domo1
reply to post by Spiro

 

Appreciated.

So we get to ask one question and need to make it brief and are going to have to click and open a new page every time we try to figure what a guest is replying to. What a wreck.

Yes, that is basically it my friend. It would be so much easier if the AMA was to hit the quote button so that we as members don't have to go back and forward....back and forward....back and forward all freakin day long. But, as you seen from the replies I got, we members are not important enough and should be honoured that we have such AMA's. Yes I honour them and thank ATS for it but they have shown not to listen to our questions.

At the end of the day, it's us members that keep this place going.

Yes, what a wreck indeed

Spiro

I tried this AMA thread a while back, I got to page 3 and then I was just fed with the total lack of visibility. I don't care which guest shows up, Sad those threads are filled with information just going to waste, unless you have the stomach to bear it trough.

Good Idea!

Domo1
I would also like to know what exactly I am allowed to ask. Am I good as long as I remain respectful and within the T&C?

Imagine you've been invited to a house party. Once there, some people you know, some you don't. As you wander about, you notice a famous person surrounded by a few guests, engaged in an interesting exchange where the person is answering meaningful questions in a straightforward and honest way… to the best of their ability.

You suddenly have a great question. But, is it one where all the other people will gasp in astonishment, followed by a long awkward silence? If so, don't ask.


Apply the same standard to guests here for their AMA threads.

SkepticOverlord

Domo1
I would also like to know what exactly I am allowed to ask. Am I good as long as I remain respectful and within the T&C?

. . .
You suddenly have a great question. But, is it one where all the other people will gasp in astonishment, followed by a long awkward silence? If so, don't ask.


Apply the same standard to guests here for their AMA threads.

imho . . .

The civility part of that feels quite fitting and fine . . . probably to most of us.

However, strictly followed . . .

your criteria, standard--it seems to me . . .

kowtows overly much to the gestalt so religiously IMPRINTED on all of us by decades of careful and calculated oligarchy propaganda via the MSM and every other available means--

in terms of

what is "kosher," "sane," "civil," "politically correct," "cool," "smart," "hip," "polite," . . . etc.

And with such a diverse membership and readership . . . the notions of what functionally FITS within YOUR criteria on all those . . . will likely easily match the usual bell curve.

Some of us . . . often through no fault of our own . . . grew older [vs 'up'] with VERY DIFFERENT notions of what merely "polite" is.

e.g. I thought I was WELL WITHIN [by several layers] the expected standards re my comments about Stan Friedman ON THE PREP thread--not even the AMA thread. Yet, I was thrashed vigorously about the head and shoulders and could not even understand why . . . what word or phrase triggered such fierce punishment. My comments were well within the phrases and questions I'd communicated to Stan face to face with--in a casual, informal small polite group setting at a conference.

Yet, somehow, I was evidently seen as an evil ugly brazen cretin on the prep thread, for whatever reason.

I think following the T&C is MOSTLY easier to imagine matching than is the standard of

whatever would cause awkward silence and head shaking at a cocktail party.

Actually, some of us have probably attended less than 3 or less cocktail parties in our entire lives.

And the last one I attended . . . virtually any question or comment would have been engaged with. Any awkward silence would not have lasted long.

Your criteria might well solve the problem, S.O.

I just don't think that the homogeneity on ATS is anywhere remotely near close enough to make it a slam-dunk.

.

I think a couple things matter. 1, Ive seen a 1 sentence question at the end of 4-5 paragraphs of explaination, history and background. Thats an issue-length getting to the question itself.

And 2, Ive seen lots of members upset because they didnt get answered. Nowhere that I know of, does the AMA thread guarantee any answers...or that the guest will even READ the question or choose it for an answer.

reply to post by Domo1

but I think it needs to be asked until the issue is fixed.

The issue is fixed, you click on the "reply to" link at the top of the post.
You mean until they give in and ask the guest to use the quote link...
Is it really that hard to click a link?
Only takes a second
The second window opens automatically, so all you have to do is delete it when you've read it
By using the quote option the thread would be ten times bigger with maybe 100's of pages because people can't be arsed to click a link...

Would it be acceptable if a member took the time to make a thread that makes it simpler to read? I can do it I think, unless an unexpected job pops up out of the blue.

Domo asked;

So I know this has been asked, but I think it needs to be asked until the issue is fixed. Can we request AMA guests to hit quote instead of reply?

Answer

The request to hit quote is one I loudly applaud. However the members must make their posts short and to the point as requested by ATS otherwise it becomes tedious reading.

Something like that I was thinking

reply to post by TKDRL


The answer to that previously has been after the AMA is done. We don't want to detract from the event.

Spiro
Yes, that is basically it my friend. It would be so much easier if the AMA was to hit the quote button so that we as members don't have to go back and forward....back and forward....back and forward all freakin day long. But, as you seen from the replies I got, we members are not important enough and should be honoured that we have such AMA's. Yes I honour them and thank ATS for it but they have shown not to listen to our questions.

I agree that clicking the reply to link to see the question is a big pain and it's part of the reason I've lost interest in the AMA threads to some extent. Thanks to Bo Xian for reformatting some in a more readable manner but that's too much work.

I do have a suggestion for a possible compromise that SO may want to consider as it addresses this issue on another site very satisfactorily to me. The other site is a chan, and you hover your mouse over the link to the question (this link is already in place in the AMA threads). What happens then on the chan is that the question appears as long as you hover the mouse over the link to the question, so you can see the question without having to click the link. I find it an excellent solution to this whole problem. Here is a screenshot showing how you can see the question (post 244483 asking "What's it like to be successfully self-employed?") when you hover your mouse over the link to that post that shows as ">>244483":

boards.4chan.org...

I think they are doing it with _javascript since if I block _javascript on that site the feature doesn't work, so of course it won't work on mobile devices that don't support _javascript. There may be better ways to code it, I don't know, but it's a really cool feature that could benefit ATS users not just on AMA threads but any time the reply to links are used.

reply to post by Arbitrageur


THANKS! Much appreciate your kind words.

I think your suggestion is a very reasonable and functional compromise.

Of course, I'm a layman and not the programmer! LOL.

I did finally learn a reasonably quick way to edit and reduce the threads to a LEAN MODE.

However, it still took a lot of time. I gave it up largely because it did not SEEM to be of that much value to that many readers/members. Perhaps they just didn't bother to say so . . . which is another kind of 'values statement.'

And, in some cases, I just wasn't willing to go to that much bother for a particular AMA person or topic.

And, there were some displeasurable hassles that seemed to be more or less totally negative when I didn't think totally negative was called for, given all the work I'd put out in behalf of the members and the site. And that was particularly . . . ironic . . . on a site that PRIDES ITSELF in being the model of civility, if not graciousness, on the net. LOL.

WHEN one goes to extreme effort to add value to an AMA thread for all concerned . . . and THEN it SEEMS like some . . . uhhh . . . folks . . . bend over backwards . . . do back flips even, . . . to find things to carp about--without a shred of affirmation or thanks for the good done--nor even mention of the good done--at some point it hurts and is terminally disgusting. It brought new meaning to the "no good deed goes unpunished." Frankly I don't need ANY more of THAT!


AT this point, I still don't have much of an idea as to how many readers would even LIKE that result enough to prefer to and bother to read the LEAN MODE.

I think I started the first time partly because I wanted to read the LEAN MODE myself and didn't know any other way to get there but to do it myself. LOL.

I think it does make for a much more WORTHWHILE expenditure of reading time.

Thanks again for your kind words.

.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


That seems completely fair. I like the analogy. Thanks, and thanks for taking the time to quote the questions.

reply to post by Domo1

Yes, I'd also like to thank ATS for making the Jesse Ventura AMA thread much easier to read...I see Springer's name on Ventura's posts so I'm guessing we have him to thank for inserting the quotes?

Thank you! It really does make a much better read.

Also thanks to fellow ATSers who seemed to do a better job of asking questions that were to the point, and without prefacing them with a book. All in all I think it was probably the best AMA so far. Well done.

Yes, thank you thank you thank you

It makes it so much easier and keeps the flow going.

Thanks a LOT ATS

Spiro

I agree with everyone else in that I (we) have no idea what question the guest is answering unless we have two windows open and search out the original question.

Why can't the guest's reply post right underneath the post with the question? So when you hit 'reply' both question and answer are attached. That would make it SO much easier to follow and the thread would be nice and tidy.

Also, it really sucks for the person replying to a post when you can't read what you are replying to and have to resort to memory. I don't know how anyone can just hit reply and answer questions, which is why I almost always use the quote feature. Why can't we see the post we are replying to while replying and then it disappears once it's posted?

I may not be making much sense because I'm tired and when I'm tired I make very stupid mistakes.