Listen Up PTS!

Originally posted by Odium
An' it's no problem, I try to do my bit. I think I should be President of ATS.

We'll take that under advisement.

Election Coverage could also be another good idea. We have members from all over the world and a lot in the U.K. and America; we could cover current elections try and gain interviews, etc, to place up on the site. I actually did some in my local area during the last election (in Great Britain) and I think it could be fun for us all to do a similar thing as well as bring the whole forum up a level.

There should be an option to view both ATS and PTS threads together. Heck, even add BTS if you want. That way, people who just want ATS can see only ATS, and people who want more can view them together, just by clicking a seperate button/tab.

Have the option of viewing on huge ATS/PTS/BTS/ID forum! Everyone gets more exposure, and if you just want ATS or BTS or whatever, you still have that option.

Originally posted by curme
There should be an option to view both ATS and PTS threads together.

I completely agree. That would definitely go hand-in-hand with our point discrepancy discussion.

I was just at AwingAndASigh's thread Is the Government Hiding the Real State of the Economy.. and I was thinking.. why isn't this under the politics (PTS) umbrella? It should be.

Originally posted by EastCoastKid
I was just at AwingAndASigh's thread Is the Government Hiding the Real State of the Economy.. and I was thinking.. why isn't this under the politics (PTS) umbrella? It should be.

I agree; if I'm honest I never really bothered with any of the other forums before last month because I didn't see much of importance on them. We need to move more of the worthwhile subjects there so we can get people to see them. I'll get you those articles explaining what the "Conservative" and "Liberal" politics are defined as; and get you the articles on socialism, capitalism, etc, ASAP so people have some form of starting point.

I still think it would be good to attempt to get people to interview politicians, etc, anyone who is a student can do so for their College or University easily enough and most members should have a right to ask their MP or Seneter about issues through e-mail. During elections I think this could be a good thing; develop our own independent political news instead of just having to use main-stream news on issues.

Originally posted by Odium
I still think it would be good to attempt to get people to interview politicians, etc, anyone who is a student can do so for their College or University easily enough and most members should have a right to ask their MP or Seneter about issues through e-mail. During elections I think this could be a good thing; develop our own independent political news instead of just having to use main-stream news on issues.

As PTS Council representative, I will ALWAYS encourage and support innovations such as this. It would bring learning to the table, as well as discussion.

If you get a seperate place put up for interviews of politicians, I can get a hold of 5 transcripts (it'll take a while to type them out) of interviews during the last local election in the U.K.

I think that could help the place a lot, we have enough memebers to do something such as this and pull it off well.

Originally posted by Odium
If you get a seperate place put up for interviews of politicians, I can get a hold of 5 transcripts (it'll take a while to type them out) of interviews during the last local election in the U.K.

We'll need some input from the MODS. Excellent suggestions...

Keep in mind, ECK, that PTS growth will inherently be slower than ATS, and even BTS, just based in the demographics of the board. Granted their are youngin's who take in interest in politics, not nearly enough to balance the equation.........that said.....

Equalizing points is an interesting idea, though only because it seems the membership gives alot of credence to them........but I have these remarks........

BTS should still be point-free. It is a great place to relax and have a little bit of fun, considering how serious the other forums can get. As such, posts that could be considered spamming or sub par are allowed much more lee-way. Alot of gossip in BTS(not a bad thing) but gossip should not be considered on par with constructive debate/discussion on politics or serious considerations of a conspiratorial nature.

PTS is less visible than ATS. Before considering a points increase for PTS posts, I would look at how traffic is routed to PTS. Off the top of my head, I would guess that PTS is comprised of mostly veterans who have fully explored ATS and affiliations and are ready to nestle down and direct how their personality evolves..........Maybe some kind of emphasis should be made that political subjects that lack conspiratorial overtones need to be posted in PTS. A bit of Advertisement beyond, "noone posting in PTS," could be benefitial. I just posted my first thread in PTS a couple of days ago, because I'm finally at a point with ATS where I can say I fully understand the ebb and flow and I want to tentacle my way all over the site.......so to summize.......Advertise!!!!!

Also, I like Odiem's thought on election coverage.........maybe a concerted effort to streamline and broaden election news with interviews, or member analysis' of political coverage as well as an effort to invite member comment.....key word:invite.

I really think that if PTS was a bit more visible, it could be a more trafficked area........at any rate.....just some thoughts........

Originally posted by MemoryShock
Keep in mind, ECK, that PTS growth will inherently be slower than ATS, and even BTS, just based in the demographics of the board. Granted their are youngin's who take in interest in politics, not nearly enough to balance the equation.........that said.....

Equalizing points is an interesting idea, though only because it seems the membership gives alot of credence to them........but I have these remarks........

Thanks for sharing your views with us.

It's all about VISIBILITY and EQUALITY.

I do agree that BTS is another thing altogether when discussing points. I don't about the piont system there, either way, as most probly don't, considering the lightness of topics found there.

To add to my last comments, I think we should take another look at how certain subjects are placed. Like Political conspiracies.. if its political by nature, shouldn't it fall under POLITIX?

I would think NOT. ATS is the conspiracy arm of this vast forum. A political conspiracy, coverups and deceptions (Political Conspiracaies) vs. a discussion of politics (PTS) = two different animals.
PTS is just for politics and politicians.
I know it can be hard to see the difference, most member think they are interchangeable.

Also, US Politics seems to get a lot of threads that belong elsewhere in PYS.
Members dn't seem to be familiar with all that PTS has to offer.
It would be good if you could come up with a way to get members better acquainted and more aware of all that PTS has to offer.

My 2-cents.

And, ECK, CONGRATS!!!

We need to attract new members into PTS so that other members are assured that posts in PTS will have significant viewership.
Points are one way to do this- new members do count points for some reason.
Another way would be to institute an award like WATS for PTS. I would recommend however that we bring in an ATSNN style membership system where there are two or three levels or political experience (displayed in your mini profile) and your level dictates the weight of your WPTS votes. This would create an influx of activity for people who suddenly see that there is something to "gain" in PTS, and this activity would in turn attract the attention of those who would like to say something if only people would listen.

I also think we need to make PTS visible in ATS. Under the most recently replied threads list, we should have a seperate list for just PTS threads which appears on the ATS page.

We need to eliminate competition as well. I think that all four "current events forums" should be folded into PTS.Just look at those forums- in my experience they are more than 50% political.


Finally, we need some organized member-leadership. We should round up a number of experiienced high quality posters who will make a point to start and promote provokative (but civil) threads in PTS on a reglular basis.


Last but not least, let's go to the members and be sure we're not off base. We need a poll asking members why they don't visit PTS. Go right to the source and ask the horse.

Actuall not only was the above not least- it isn't last either, because one more thing came to mind just now. Why do we have a slug-fest but not a compromise forum? A forum where members of various political persuasions can propose compromises with rival ideologies and discuss those things to see if there is common ground would be very positive for PTS in my view.

I think that the:
War On Terrorism and;
Political Conspiracies
would fit better in Politics at ATS instead of ATS, although I can see the reason for it being in ATS.

I think their should be a seperate board for science based sucjects such as Peak Oil, Space Exploration, Fragile Earth, etc. because as far as I can see those are pretty much "fact based" sucjects and not really ones involving "conspiracy".

Personnaly I think a Way Above style award could help a lot it might get people more interested as rewards do encourage people to get invovled.

I still think a debate and research style section for PTS would do wonders, I'll get the articles that display what Socialism, etc are soon to the right people and post them so we can help new members understand the theories.

We need to get admins to "move" posts to the right section or area so that they are not in the wrong place. A lot of the posts on the Weapons Forums are political in Nature. I also think we need to open up the Political Sections more; instead of Europe, America, U.K. and the rest of them. It almost feels xenophobic to me. I think you could probably have on on Africa, Middle East, etc, and move the threads talking about Syria, Iran, etc, to there like they should.

Edit:

We should also have a forum for "InterNational Politics" for groups such as the U.N. or WHO, etc, to place stories and discuss their role. If this is done I can then give my articles on what the U.N. etc define themselves as, history, etc.

[edit on 11-6-2005 by Odium]

The Vagabond and Odium have brought up some other very interesting points.

A WATS award for PTS would be cool.

And I have also been thinking about a way to consolidate the various political mini-forums (US, UK, etc..) Look at the numbers. Wouldn't it be better to somehow consolidate those, as Odium brought up?

I'd love to hear from the MODS on these various ideas and from alot more of the members.

On a side note: Do you want links to the write-ups before I post them so you can read them or just want me to post them?

Originally posted by Odium
On a side note: Do you want links to the write-ups before I post them so you can read them or just want me to post them?

Is that directed towards the MODS?

I really think splitting the Politics Areas into:

Europe
Sub-section U.K.
North America
Sub-section U.S.A
South America
Middle East
Africa
Asia
and the term for Russia and surrounding areas. (Can't remember what that's called but the old U.S.S.R. states that are not a part of the other)
as well as one on:
International Politics so we can talk about teh U.N. Geneva Convention, etc

Edit:

More so to you then them, but both.

[edit on 11-6-2005 by Odium]

Originally posted by Odium
I really think splitting the Politics Areas into:

Europe
Sub-section U.K.
North America
Sub-section U.S.A
South America
Middle East
Africa
Asia
and the term for Russia and surrounding areas. (Can't remember what that's called but the old U.S.S.R. states that are not a part of the other)
as well as one on:
International Politics so we can talk about teh U.N. Geneva Convention, etc

Edit:

More so to you then them, but both.

[edit on 11-6-2005 by Odium]

Thanks. Will definitely give it consideration & discuss this with my assistant councilors and hopefully the mods. Send me, Vagabond and Kidfinger a link or links, if you can. That would be great.

You're referring to the eastern bloc states, I believe.