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Is PTS the "bastard" child of ATS/BTS?

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posted on Dec, 6 2005 @ 01:28 PM
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I really don't understand why Political Top Secret -- PTS -- does not garner more attention. There are numerous threads on ATS and on BTS that could easily fit into PTS because of their queries or content. However, as it stands at present, having a thread in PTS is practically "the kiss of death" for a thread that would otherwise attract interest or comment. What can be done to help PTS "stand on it's own two feet" and be an "equal" to ATS and BTS?

Perhaps PTS is looked upon in the same way as ATSNN by many of the members? Perhaps people are assuming that PTS has the same rigorous standard of research and scholarship of ATSNN? I don't know what the problem is but, when compared to the posts in ATS and BTS, Political Top Secret simply does not seem to viewed as often or, for that matter, compel response.

I would suggest that a period of promotion be inititated to "help" PTS. Maybe a limited time period where PTS posts and threads receive additional points?
What about some sort of sponsored contest specifically for PTS? Or, perhaps a series of well-publicized debates might be sufficient to allow PTS to thrive in the same manner as it's sister sites?



posted on Dec, 6 2005 @ 01:34 PM
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PTS is separate so that members can discuss politics. ATS is for conspiratorial twists.

PTS is to bleed the political rhetoric away from ATS.

Enjoy!



posted on Dec, 6 2005 @ 01:51 PM
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Originally posted by Thomas Crowne
PTS is separate so that members can discuss politics. ATS is for conspiratorial twists.

PTS is to bleed the political rhetoric away from ATS.

Enjoy!


But, you must admit, PTS has, for the most part, been ignored. There are still plenty of political discussions (rhetoric) on ATS and BTS. PTS is more often than not, the last place where a member would go to start a thread. To be honest, member's opinions and threads do not receive the same attention that they would on ATS or BTS. I am asking how this can be changed. How can attention be brought to the threads of PTS? How can members be assisted in posting their threads that are of a political nature on PTS as opposed to ATS or BTS.

Frankly, I can understand why people don't presently go to PTS with their threads.....their opinions and questions don't seem to garner the same interest when they are posted on PTS. This is why I even raised the posibility of an active period of promotion for Political Top Secret.



posted on Dec, 6 2005 @ 01:57 PM
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I think it's because you had to log in/out seperately but now you don't have to. Are you logged in to ATS? Well you'relogged in to PTS too now. It's easy, just hit the button at the top of the screen that says today@PTS. Bang, you're right there and ready to post.

What is stopping you folks?

ed to fix BB code

[edit on 6-12-2005 by DontTreadOnMe]



posted on Dec, 6 2005 @ 02:05 PM
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benevolent tyrant, I am glad you noticed this as well and it is true.

PTS is the lame child of ATS, which is a real shame.

I have a thread here where I make suggestions on what PTS needs. Tell me what you think please. [Both pages.]



posted on Dec, 6 2005 @ 02:09 PM
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Originally posted by intrepid
I think it's because you had to log in/out seperately but now you don't have to. Are you logged in to ATS? Well you'relogged in to PTS too now. It's easy, just hit the button at the top of the screen that says today@PTS. Bang, you're right there and ready to post.

What's stopping you folks?


Fixxing the log in was a step in the right direction. However, being able to log into ATS and, then, being automatically logged into BTS and PTS has been around for a little while now. Still, when compared to ATS and BTS, Political Top Secret, you must admit, does not receive the same attention!

And, of course, PTS is meant for political discussion. However, all one has to do is scroll through the boards of ATS and BTS and one will see plenty of threads that could -- should -- easily be placed in PTS. What can the board do to help change this and make PTS a destination instead of someplace to surf to when you have already scrolled through ATS and BTS and are simply trying to fill in the time? I hate to sound so pedantic but I really want to see PTS -- as well as ATS and BTS -- to continue to grow as a site and as a place where more information and opinion are shared.

This is why I have suggested a period of active promotion for the members who start threads or respond to them on PTS. Is there anything else that we could do to help this site?



posted on Dec, 6 2005 @ 02:12 PM
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benevolent tyrant, I have a list of ideas which I posted on that thread above.

I think we need to make PTS a much broder forum, so that members from all over the World can post.
We need an award like the WATS for PTS members and so on and so fourth.

We need to make PTS the equal of ATS before it can be helped to 'grow' and we really need to begin to promote the worthwhile posts in PTS.



posted on Dec, 6 2005 @ 02:19 PM
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Odium,

I agree with many of the suggestions and the efforts that you have undertaken to make PTS stand on it's own two feet when compared to ATS and BTS
politics.abovetopsecret.com.... You have made some excellent suggestions and taken some good steps towards making PTS an "equal" under the ATS umbrella.

However, incentives are what I believe to be a viable avenue to take -- at least initially -- to help people navigate over to PTS. People are creatures of habit and right now, it seems that people are not in the habit of "clicking" on PTS after making their rounds of the ATS and PTS boards.


One suggestion that you did make that I LOVE (I have actually made this suggestion myself before) is making seperate forums for International Politics; i.e., formums for not only US or British political news but political news from, for example, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, The Baltic, Russia, etc. Not only will this garner the attention that PTS deserves but it would be a valuable source of news and information for members who simply might not have taken the opportunity to learn what is going on in the rest of the world's political scene.



posted on Dec, 6 2005 @ 02:20 PM
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How about keeping track of the number of threads started and posting it with the members name like is done with articles (contributions).

As in:

centurion1211
Contributor: 3
Threads: 225



posted on Dec, 6 2005 @ 02:28 PM
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Dude, PTS totally looks like the mailman.

It was designed to bleed off the hardcore rhetoric from the site, so the board wouldn't be split along liberal/conservative lines...well, any more than it already is.

Part of the reason I don't touch PTS is I have the impression that it's like one big mudpit. Also, the fact that a lot of 'current events' and 'war on terrorism' threads have hardcore spin on them, yet only end up in PTS once they become knock-down battles between pro and anti-US posters.

There's an election on in my country, really. I get enough politics.

DE



posted on Dec, 6 2005 @ 02:31 PM
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There's no mystery here. Plainly put, PTS is dead because ordinary politics is boring to those who realize that the whole game is one great big pantomime; a show; a charade. This being a conspiracy website, that includes a very large percentage of the membership. Only when a particularly interesting issue arises will the majority of ATSers bother to post there. Sure, there are those who love politics and the partisan debating back and forth, but they are in the minority, and traffic at PTS is naturally less as a result.

If you want to see all the threads from all three forums in one, use and bookmark this link:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Encourage others to use that link and you will see a slight traffic increase there, I'm sure. I know I've participated in PTS a tad more since using it. But offer as many incentives as you like, the greatest incentive is interest, pure and simple. If the interest isn't there, then there's no motivation to read or to post.



posted on Dec, 6 2005 @ 02:31 PM
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Originally posted by centurion1211
How about keeping track of the number of threads started and posting it with the members name like is done with articles (contributions).

As in:

centurion1211
Contributor: 3
Threads: 225


I think that's a great idea, personally. ATS already keeps track of the number of posts. Keeping track of the number of threads started would be one more interesting stat that many would be interested in knowing. Heck, I'd even be curious to see how many threads I've started.

However, even adding this bit of information to the boards would not do much to garner increased interest in PTS --- which is the point of this thread.
I believe that incentives, active promotion and a bit of extra work for the mods (to move threads more appropriately suited for PTS) is what will help "do the trick".



posted on Dec, 6 2005 @ 02:36 PM
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Originally posted by centurion1211
How about keeping track of the number of threads started and posting it with the members name like is done with articles (contributions).

As in:

centurion1211
Contributor: 3
Threads: 225


We allready have ATS, BTS and PTS points. Hmmm, maybe more information would help us all know who we were talking to. What if the tracker looked like...

centurion1211
Contributor: 3
Threads: 225
One Liners:55
Trolling:98
Total Warns:75






posted on Dec, 6 2005 @ 02:44 PM
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Originally posted by dbates

Originally posted by centurion1211
How about keeping track of the number of threads started and posting it with the members name like is done with articles (contributions).

As in:

centurion1211
Contributor: 3
Threads: 225


We allready have ATS, BTS and PTS points. Hmmm, maybe more information would help us all know who we were talking to. What if the tracker looked like...

centurion1211
Contributor: 3
Threads: 225
One Liners:55
Trolling:98
Total Warns:75






lol.....but , hey, I think it's a great idea. Your'e right, the more info we have about each other, the better I'd like it. At a glance, we could see what sort of member we are responding to......it would be easier to tell when we were going to enter into a real, "gloves off" debate.



posted on Dec, 6 2005 @ 02:46 PM
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I think it would make a better profile feature than a mini-profile feature.

So we could go, see the number of threads in ATS, PTS and BTS they've posted, etc. :-)

Wecomeinpeace, the problem there is the fact many people do live in Nation's with a higher level of control and the only way to ever bring about any form of change is for people to educate themselves on what is going on. By putting our head in the sand, we only make the political problems [in society] worse instead of better.



posted on Dec, 6 2005 @ 02:58 PM
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Originally posted by Odium
Wecomeinpeace, the problem there is the fact many people do live in Nation's with a higher level of control and the only way to ever bring about any form of change is for people to educate themselves on what is going on. By putting our head in the sand, we only make the political problems [in society] worse instead of better.


I agree, but when it comes to the control aspect, you'll find that it is conspiracy-related and will end up in ATS anyway. It's not a matter of putting one's head in the sand, rather it's a matter of wanting to discuss the puppeteers rather than the puppets.

Example: The government is proposing new pharmaceutical legislation that will make drugs more expensive for the working man. That's terrible from an economic and social point of view, but scores a big fat 0 on the conspiracy interest scale. Ho hum, government ripping off the poor and helping the rich, same old same old. Yawn...

But then the government proposes new legislation where citizens will be vaccinated by force, and locked up if they resist. Badabing! Badaboom! That's an 11 on the conspiracy scale, folks. Population reduction and manufactured diseases ahoy! THAT thread will be in ATS and will garner interest.

Anyway, that's just my personal $0.02. I certainly don't pretend to speak for everyone.



posted on Dec, 6 2005 @ 03:11 PM
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You make a valid point, WeComeInPeace, but, at the same time, there is a use for PTS. Recently, I made some posts about a Russian fighter plane going down in Lithuania. There was no conspiracy here but it was an interesting news item for those following the development of the Baltic States and the "new, improved Russia". PTS was the perfect place to post the story.

I think that there are a lot of news items like this that could certainly find a place in PTS. You know, news stories that are important as such. They might not be conspiracy related so they don't belong in ATS. It might not be of such a general nature that BTS would be appropriate. Instead, since the story was of a political nature -- especially since it dealt with the politics of Russia and a country, Lithuania, which doesn't often appear on the radar of Western News sources, it was perfect for PTS.

Not every story worth sharing or following is necessarily a conspiracy but, nonetheless, yours is a very valid comment.



posted on Dec, 6 2005 @ 03:20 PM
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Originally posted by benevolent tyrant
But, you must admit, PTS has, for the most part, been ignored.


PTS is probably ignored because without moderation, an overdose of politics makes people sick.

[edit on 6-12-2005 by Attero Auctorita]



posted on Dec, 6 2005 @ 03:32 PM
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I know what you're saying, BT, and your point is very valid, but we're kind of talking about different aspects, I think. Yes, that story would be quite interesting to a certain number of people, but just not to the greater majority of ATSers. I'm not saying that ordinary non-conspiracy-related stories have no value. I'm simply saying that they will never grab the same amount of interest as conspiracy topics will - the smaller number of people visiting and participating in PTS is not a product of incentives, or location, or even exposure; it is a product of interest. If Valhall's FEMA Detainment Camp thread was in the back corridors of PTS, it still would have gained the same amount of interest and participation, because the majority of ATSers want to read about conspiracy and they will gravitate to where it's at.

Please don't think I'm poo-pooing on PTS, not at all. I'm just explaining matter-of-factly the reason why I personally think PTS will always be less popular. But that certainly doesn't mean we can't think of ways to generate more interest and try to breathe some life into the old girl. The more variety of dishes in the ATS meal, the more enjoyable it is, no? Man does not live on conspiracy bread alone.

[edit on 2005-12-6 by wecomeinpeace]



posted on Dec, 6 2005 @ 03:40 PM
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I've dipped my toes into PTS waters only to find it very cold.
The people that post in PTS seem very polarized in their views, and that can make for some very heated debates and name calling.

I've tried to lighten the atmosphere with a thread about "Political Kissing, Or Kissing Up", politics.abovetopsecret.com...
but for the 4 hours it took to find all the pictures, write the commentary and upload the thread, I think I had two respondants for, what I thought, was some decent work. (perhaps I should have posted it in BTS Jokes, I would have garnered more replies)

I just don't go there anymore, and let those that want to scrap over GWB's latest gaff, just have at it. I find it's not my cup of tea............

But to each his own.



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