Can there be an option to turn stars off?

Does anyone else dislike stars, or find them a bit distracting when reading posts?

I don't mind seeing flags. A high flag count will sometimes indicate a worthy thread, but I personally find stars distracting.

I like to discuss, and argue, and really am not interested in stars, neither getting, nor giving. I understand that some love their stars and I have no problem with how others feel but for myself I would be more inclined to judge each reply on its own merit.

This is just a suggestion, not sure how difficult it would be to implement, but I for one would avail myself of this feature if it existed.

a reply to: bgerbger


There isn't an option to turn them off, your stuck with them.

a reply to: bgerbger

Limit your interaction to forums like this one, where there are no stars.

a reply to: butcherguy


There should be stars in this forum.

originally posted by: butcherguy
a reply to: bgerbger

Limit your interaction to forums like this one, where there are no stars.

You mean I cant star ya for that ?
Crap

originally posted by: butcherguy
a reply to: bgerbger

Limit your interaction to forums like this one, where there are no stars.

Hah, despite my ambivalence towards stars, I'd definitely star this reply.

Blink 21 times and the +10 more.

or block the element, not hard.

Stared and Flagged.

originally posted by: JinMI
Stared and Flagged.

I cant. The're not allowed in this forum.

but if I could - My god, it's full of stars!!!

a reply to: bgerbger




Not trying to be mean, but its not like they are twinkling or blinking. With time you will get used to them. I do understand what you mean. You want to form your own opinion.

I learned this past year starting back with the election, not to base my feelings or opinion on how many people agree and star a post. When it came to politics ATS became very much Alt Right, of coarse not everyone, but quite a few more than I knew were on here. No matter how many stars a certain post may have gotten, I never once let it sway my views. Nor did I let the bullies sway my views.

I believe the flag and star system could easily be manipulated to steer discussion in certain directions at certain times, they're anonymously given so that makes it that much more of a possibility in my opinion.

We're stuck with it though, a lot of people get gratification off of the amount of stars and flags they receive and is probably a big reason people keep coming back for their "fix". It helps to drive the ad revenue of the site and they won't give that ad revenue away.

Depending on your Web Browser, you can install an Ad blocker like UBlock Origin (Firefox) and select the element on the site you wish to block - it will block the link to the image/text etc and it wont display whatever it is you picked.

Your browser may also have an inbuilt blocker already and you just have to grab the link to the stars and put it in, but an element blocker is easier.

I do it with the Mail Icon and text here as I do not like message.

Other then blocking it with an element blocker, there is no option on ATS to do that.

a reply to: bgerbger

This is just a suggestion, not sure how difficult it would be to implement, but I for one would avail myself of this feature if it existed.

Me too.

I just ignore the stars and flags. The only thing they're good for is telling me how many people are involved in the circle jerk.

I'd like to see them turned off in the Mud Pit.

There's no good reason for there to be stars 'awarded' in the mud pit.

a reply to: butcherguy

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I saved some for you. I also have some daylight savings left over from last year.

originally posted by: Painterz
I'd like to see them turned off in the Mud Pit.

There's no good reason for there to be stars 'awarded' in the mud pit.

That is something I would get behind.

-Alee

a reply to: bgerbger

Heres the thing, bgerbger:

The presence of stars does not make a difference to ones ability to read a post without bias. The only thing that stars do for a post, is show you whether people agreed with it or not, whether they found something of value in it or not, whether they liked something about it. That does not really give you any solid information, so when deciding on what to reply to, and how, its best to put stars completely out of your mind, and refuse to allow that sort of information, to bias you toward, or away from a position detailed within a given post.

Its like movies, right? I have seen lots of movies that got very poor ratings, that were nonetheless, FANTASTIC movies. I have seen movies which got fantastic ratings, and were nonetheless terrible movies, and I still recognise the awesomeness and the terribleness of these things respectively, despite the press telling me how good or bad they were supposed to be. I made up my own mind about movies, and I make up my own mind about posts and threads. The only thing that needs to change, therefore, is whether you find it possible/easy, to become immune to the collective opinions of others, when forming your own. If you do not find that possible or easy at present, I would advise training that sort of thing out of yourself entirely, if you want to feel that your opinion is truly your own, rather than being influenced by that of others.

a reply to: bgerbger

i look at stars as how many people may or do agree with my post.
i look at flags as how many people maybe or are interested in the subject.

a reply to: bgerbger

You could just always post in this forum. Problem solved.

...that will be 50 stars btw. You can pay me in installments.