ATS Circle of Trust Network

Has anyone ever brought up the idea for an ATS Circle of Trust Network.

What it is...

A network (ATS Trust Network) of individuals who have voluntarily Identified themselves beyond their ATS screen name handles.
The trust network would have designated "Notaries" in geographical locations around the world and would be able to "Vouch" for a ATS member's identity.
A ATS member can be a "Trusted" member (with Points increase maybe) by approaching in person, a ATS Trust Network Notary and presenting their ATS screen name/handle
and a valid picture ID. Once a member is verified, the notary can activate the "Verified" flag on the member's profile. No personal info need be stored anywhere.
A verified Checkmark could even be attached to the member's mini profile on the boards.
A list of ATS Network Notaries by location (example: Country / State - Province / city) would need to be maintained on the ATS site. A member seeking to be verified would locate
the nearest notary in their area, U2U the notary and setup/schedule a mutually convenient public meeting.
ATS and the internet at large use anonymity as an important element in their design. This would not really change.

Benefits?

It would establish a trust between long term members.
It would/could add weight to member's post. A verified member is less likely to "Troll", and banned members would never be able to get verified.
Outrageous and unsupported posting could be scrutinized more efficiently.
It could help in situations like Simulacra's at this board thread:
www.abovetopsecret.com...
Or could answer questions like this thread:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

It could be modeled after something like the thawte trust network at:
www.thawte.com...
Does anyone have any thoughts on something like this?
Would it be desirable or even possible?

Just an idea

maybe i'm just being slow today but.....

basically you want people to officially state their name, location etc thus gaining them enterance to a ATS elite??????

I've been on boards that have done this before...it's a good idea. It actually saved a life once. One of our members had recently lost her mother and father and had no one left other than a brother in another city. We noticed her posting becoming strange...talking about her mom coming to pick her up for the holidays but hasn't shown up (this was the holiday season last year, not this year) The admin had agreed to hold names and numbers and tried to call her, she wasn't answering the phone and had stopped posting....we all finally agreed to call the police...she was found in bad shape, not taking medications, not eating and was taken by ambulance to the hospital where she recovered.....
that was a much different type of baord though.....

Originally posted by UK Wizard
maybe i'm just being slow today but.....

basically you want people to officially state their name, location etc thus gaining them enterance to a ATS elite??????

No, not to gain access to ATS, that could remain the same as it always has.
And no name etc... is recorded anywhere, just the fact that you have been verified. And would be completely voluntary of course. Your ATS sign on name would not be changed nor would anyone be able to gain any info about you (except for what you put in your own profile: some already include location data).

Like I said with Simulacra's post, it could help the situation.

LadyV, that is a great story, but would require personal info being recorded somewhere. I suppose that could also be a voluntary thing.

I don't think this would create a group of elite people at all. Like also said, ATS and the internet use anonymity as an important element in their design and that would not be taken away. The only person who would know who you are, is the board trusted Notary you meet with.

There is nothing stopping you from setting up a second (-untrusted-) ATS logon name now.

[edit on 12/27/2004 by Notme]

No.

Sorry guys, but no.

No large scale gathering of other ATS'ers personal information for any reason, not by staff, not by members.

Originally posted by Kano
No.

Sorry guys, but no.

No large scale gathering of other ATS'ers personal information for any reason, not by staff, not by members.

I already knew this..... as I stated above...that was a different type of board.

Originally posted by Notme
There is nothing stopping you from setting up a second (-untrusted-) ATS logon name now.

There is...

If I remember right the admin can see if there are more than more account per IP address.

Originally posted by Kano
No.

Sorry guys, but no.

No large scale gathering of other ATS'ers personal information for any reason, not by staff, not by members.

Oh well, was just a thought anyway....

but in my own defense I did look at the Terms & Conditions
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I didn't think it would violate any board rules,
No large scale gathering (one on one) and no personal info recorded (just verified).
I've seen posts about Large ATS conventions, thought it was ok.
But thats alright, I've been corrected lots in my life (thats what makes us grow, right?).

Originally posted by UK Wizard
There is...

If I remember right the admin can see if there are more than more account per IP address.

Yea, I know about the IP thing, but that's not a completely effective method. I didn't mean you should have more than one ATS sign-on name, one is all you need (or should have) . (unless your doing something sneaky maybe)

Thanks Kano for not letting the thread go on too long before setting it straight.


[edit on 12/27/2004 by Notme]

Originally posted by Notme
Yea, I know about the IP thing, but that's not a completely effective method. I didn't mean you should have more than one ATS sign-on name, one is all you need (or should have) . (unless your doing something sneaky maybe)

I must admit that I am guilty of this and just to show that I am not trying to be sneaky, my username on ATS is Dr Love and my username on BTS is Hit N Run. For some reason when I signed up for BTS it wouldn't let me use Dr Love as my username and kept kicking it back to me. Please forgive me for my unintentional deception.

Peace

Originally posted by Hit N Run

I must admit that I am guilty of this and just to show that I am not trying to be sneaky, my username on ATS is Dr Love and my username on BTS is Hit N Run. Please forgive me for my unintentional deception.

Peace

I think it is more for Trolls and people who have been banned. Yours is more a technical hick-up

[edit on 12/27/2004 by Notme]

Originally posted by Hit N Run
I must admit that I am guilty of this and just to show that I am not trying to be sneaky, my username on ATS is Dr Love and my username on BTS is Hit N Run. For some reason when I signed up for BTS it wouldn't let me use Dr Love as my username and kept kicking it back to me. Please forgive me for my unintentional deception.

Peace

The reason behind that is when you sign up at ATS your already signed up on BTS, so you use the same username on both. Aswell as P@ATS. Theres no need to register for both. Once you registered as Dr.Love on ATS and you tried registering that name on BTS, it was already taken from when you registered on ATS.

Something on a not extremely similar type was tried before. It was not allowed because of a section in the Terms and Conditions that prohibits recruitment of ATS members

12.) You agree not to cultivate the membership of the AboveTopSecret.com discussion board for the sending of private messages (board U2U or e-mail) for the purposes of marketing, mass mailing, or recruitment for other groups (offline or online) such as activist groups or other online discussion board websites

Fairly broadly defined, but your proposed effort would probably fall into the category of recruitment.

Of course if you wanted to organize a regional get together for the purposes of hanging out with other ATS members, that has been done before.

Actually, the proposal doesn't hit on any of the points in #12.
"for the purpose of marketing, mass mailing, or recruitment for other groups"
This is strictly for ATS, not a club or activist group thing.

But I suppose all of the rules can be interrupted many ways.

Something similar was tried? what exactly was it?

[edit on 12/27/2004 by Notme]

It was the Emergency Network. It was designed so that an ATS member could help ATS members in times of crisis that might be stranded in their area.

phreak_of_nature put a great deal of time into that effort, so he knows of what he speaks.

I started it. And it was shut down after it was considered that it could be used in a less than benelovent way against ATS members.

As Kano said...it's not going to happen. That probably ought to be enough said.

[edit on 12-27-2004 by Valhall]

Yep, Val pretty much covered it.

Its not that the idea itself is an inherently bad one, its just that the idea of a 'master list' of ATSers real names and information is not something that we are going to sanction. If it exists it can be lost or stolen. If it doesn't exist then theres no danger of that.

Originally posted by Notme

I've seen posts about Large ATS conventions, thought it was ok.

Are there ATS conventions? I'm fairly new and would be interested in hearing/attending re: an ATS convention..

Originally posted by Kano

Its not that the idea itself is an inherently bad one, its just that the idea of a 'master list' of ATSers real names and information is not something that we are going to sanction. If it exists it can be lost or stolen. If it doesn't exist then theres no danger of that.

I agree with you 110%

Thats why I said no personal info would be collected and or stored.

There was no mention of a 'master list' of names to be gathered or stored.
Perhaps I didn't explain the idea clearly enough, and thats why some think there would be some list of real names some where.
That wasn't the intent. There would be NO list.
It would basically boil down to a profile flag that can only be "toggled" by a MOD/Notary denoting a Trust element.


[edit on 12/27/2004 by Notme]

Originally posted by Notme
I agree with you 110%

Thats why I said no personal info would be collected and or stored.

There was no mention of a 'master list' of names to be gathered or stored.
Perhaps I didn't explain the idea clearly enough, and thats why some think there would be some list of real names some where.
That wasn't the intent. There would be NO list.
It would basically boil down to a profile flag that can only be "toggled" by a MOD/Notary denoting a Trust element.

Just give it up...they said no.

The information would have to be stored and collected somewhere...since what good would it be if you couldnt access it later when something happens?

Originally posted by MemoryShock
Are there ATS conventions? I'm fairly new and would be interested in hearing/attending re: an ATS convention..

There is a thread about one proposed here: (not sure if it is still on)
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by dreamlandmafia

Just give it up...they said no.

The information would have to be stored and collected somewhere...since what good would it be if you couldnt access it later when something happens?

Relax bud, don't get your panties all twisted....

I gave it up a long ago, just discussing it (and the original idea from Valhall) now.

what good would it be if you couldnt access it later

That would be true in the case of Valhall's Emergency Network idea(couldn't work without personal info), but wouldn't matter in this case, as that would not be the purpose.