Was the RATS forum worth 3500 points

Originally posted by RANT

Hmmm, maybe I can post that much. 13,000 points in under two months is kind of obsessive compulsive isn't it. I forget I'm still a "newbie".

And already had 20 some avatars! :taking medication now:

Hope it's a stimulant, to see greater levels of the same obsessive compulsive schizophrenic sociopathic psychotic stuff.

Originally posted by MaskedAvatar
Hope it's a stimulant, to see greater levels of the same obsessive compulsive schizophrenic sociopathic psychotic stuff.

But of course. So what do you take to post 100K in under 6 months? I need some of that.

Originally posted by RANT
But of course.

So what do you take to post 100K in under 6 months? I need some of that.

Kiss mods and admins a$$

Just kidding, he probably got them from writing stories, debates, ATSNN or posting intelligent comments.

I just purchased it. I have had the points for a while I just never got around to it. To be honest I did not know what to expect but yeah I am a tad bit disappointed.

Originally posted by surfup

Originally posted by RANT
But of course.

So what do you take to post 100K in under 6 months? I need some of that.

Kiss mods and admins a$$

Just kidding, he probably got them from writing stories, debates, ATSNN or posting intelligent comments.

I posted exactly where the points came from somewhere in BTS when I crossed into six figures as a little educational.

I haven't debated or been scholarly or newsy yet, I am truly just an ATS child in a wide world of untapped conspiracy. Of late I have denied myself a lot of posting because of some of what I have seen around the traps. That's in keeping with the board motto.

The biggest lode was 20,000 ATS points for being nearest estimator to the exact time of the 200,000th post. I had to fight assertively to claim them. smirkley especially will remember that.



We need some more good ATS points incentives, and they are under dicussion by the DISC (Deny Ignorance Steering Committee).

Meanwhile I think John bull 1's Story competition still has 4-5 days to run depending on where you are in the world - 10,000 points up for grabs!

Originally posted by quaneeri
What are your opinions:


Was this forum worth the hard earnt points that we parted with.


Take no offence at these comments, they are not directed at anyone in particular, just the members of RATS in general.

So far i see nothing exeptional about this forum.


A few questions answered yes, but basically the same old threads.

I find it a little boring and tend to spend most of my time on the main board in the conspiracy forums.

Yeah, I just paid the 3500 points for access to RATS but so far I haven't read or seen anything that is any different than the other posts. Seems kinda watered-down. Not much difference than regular ATS. Kinda sucks.

I bought in with my winnings from the story contest. I've been watching RATS for awhile, and so far it seems like it has potential. However, it seems to suffer some of the same problems as the rest of ATS. The content here is more mature, and I like it. However, it's not hard to rack up 3500 points, and that's where some of the problem is. Morons tend to be persistent. Maybe, just maybe RATS should become a little more strict about allowance as well as regulation- this place should be brawl and crap free.

I don't know, maybe it's just me. I can respect the viewpoints of others and all, but there's a lot of crap floating around. Some members don't contribute, and others contribute nothing but bull. All in all, 50-70% of the people on ATS are 24 karat gold. The rest...well, maybe there needs to be a little housecleaning.

It's just my personal opinion of course. I try to contribute as best I can, and it sort of makes me angry to see people just sitting there and posting things like "d00d that's cool" or making personal attacks on other members. It happens in each category, but the religious one in particular seems to be heating up.

DE

I agree with DeusEx. The cost of access to RATS should be increased a lot. That way RATS won't be watered down like ATS. ATS is still awesome, but RATS should be more of an unknown thing where it's a priviledge to be in and a rarity. A steady weeks worth of posting off and on can get you enough points to currently gain access to RATS. I feel a person should have certain ATS experience (i.e. length of membership) and established themselves as an ATSer that is going to be around this site for quite a while and isn't going to let ATS be a faze that will just fade out and they'll stop coming here.

RATS should be uncensored since as DeusEx said, is more mature and serious at times than ATS. Only the usual respectable rules should be kept, like no racism etc. RATS should be the uncut raw version of ATS. I'm sure I'll think of more ideas for RATS. What do you all think?

I agree. I don't know sometimes. It feels like this place is getting "Arcanum Syndrome".

Let me tell you a fable to explain that comment:

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful, verdant MUD where I and many others used to frolic and roleplay. There we friends, romances, fun... all things were. It had ANSI color, too.

Then, it began to lose its special-ness. People flocked in. The admin got more and more short tempered as repeat offenders and newbs came on and ran amok. They tried a number of different solutions to help the poor, belegured inhabitants of the mud- apprenticeship and harsher penalties. Things improved briefly, but dissention on the inside got a hold of the main admin. Corruption ran rampant as the ranking members became more of a friend's club and less of a force for stability.

Soon, the MUD was factionalized and attendance dropped for the players who had been there for years and years, as idiocy ran rampant. One day, a repeat 'offender', who had been maligned and picked on by some of the staff (promoted at the behest of friends) was put on 'trial'. One of the attending imms - a good friend of mine- objected to the charges. A fight ensued, in which the head of the MUD finally snapped, deleting his own right-hand man for objecting to the harrassment of one person.

After that, there were purges. Those who spoke out against the staff either went to ground or were deleted. The First Exodus followed, removing the core of the talented and kind people from the mud as they left in protest of the second's deletion or were deleted for objecting too loudly. Eventually, they began to trickle back, to see if their beloved virtua-home had calmed down. It hadn't. While the head of the MUD had been... deposed, anarchy reined as various imms did as they pleased, with no one to object. Some newbs forced a resistance group (linking up with some of the older members). Once the imms caught wind as they spied on several of us, they wiped most of the group out. Again, many of the older members went to ground with little else to do.

The Second Exodus followed. I ducked back from time to time, beholding the chaotic ruins of what was my favorite place to hang out for six years. Its home page is gone, and I don't care anymore.


Basically, what it comes down to is that I don't want to see that happen here. It seems like a remote chance at teh moment, but this situation came of a lot of small fissures that formed in the dam- a dam that eventually broke because of all the small problems. The wya I see it, the more people we let in, the more crap we let in with them. It's my opinion that we need to tighten control of ATS, and RATS in particular. I know that there's a lot of good people on the site, but there are also a few trolls, a few of this, a few of that and with the board growing larger and larger, I realize that it's becoming harder to police each and every post. Catach them early and whatnot, but don't let them get RATS.

It is my final opinion that there should also be a recommendation or endorsement requirement for RATS to keep it hard and strong. It's still better than most other forums, but even RATS has its days. I realize that SOME level of crap is acceptable, the question is where will be draw the line and can we prevent setting bad precedent?

DE

WE the members, are the ones who make it worth, or not worth, the points....

The points were to make this bot-free area safe, and to provide the forum for deeper discussion... And, there are some great insights here, for those who look (see the directory stickied post)....

"I never promised you a rose garden...." comes to mind....

i have 27 points left but its worth it.

This forum (as with all the others) is what YOU make of it ..... the added bonus is that search engines cannot get in here, unlike the rest of the board, so we can all be paranoid together and wear our tin foil hats!!

If you still find yourself asking weather it was worth the points to get in here, maybe you should think about the quality of the posts that are putting up, before you put them up, and ask yourself is this topic "Really Above Top Secret" if the answer is no, find another more sutable forum to post it in.

[Edited on 3-3-2004 by DJDOHBOY]

I don't understand why people seem to hate to part with their points so much. It doesn't really matter how many points you have, it's the quality of your postings that people respect. Anyways, 3500 points really isn't that much.

Originally posted by Gazrok
WE the members, are the ones who make it worth, or not worth, the points....

Well said.

Originally posted by heelstone
Was it worth 3500 points? I just got in here and nothing has blown me away yet. I'm not even certain if there is any secret info here.

Ditto.

I wish we had a store we could actually purchase ATS gear - with ATS points. That'd be cool.

[Edited on 19-09-2003 by EastCoastKid]