petition(please don't remove this)

I've been here for over a year I believe and only logged into chat 2 or 3 times I believe. I didn't see much going on and it looked pretty dead compared to open internet chat sites such as mirc. If you really want to chat openly outside ATS, you can U2U people you know or email friends and create your own chat areas in lots of other online not very restricted chat sites. I don't mind that the feature is here but it's not why I keep returning to ATS/BTS and I hardly ever look at it. I believe the most people I ever saw in it at one time was like 12 people and most were quiet observers. Of course I only logged in 2 or 3 times.

It's only the third time I've been there since I became a member, but I might go back and lurk.

Originally posted by dk2852
I believe that the chatroom system at ATS is unfair. 200 posts to chat is simply outrageous.

I have to agree with you there. 200 points is outrageous. To join chat and have a laugh with the people who you only ever discuss things with is a great way of chilling out.

But, it is a privilege to be earned, and not a God given right. As i said, and i quoted you, 200 points is outrageous.It should be increased to a lot more.

That way you gain the satisfaction of having earned something. To have got there, means you have become a valued poster, and on your way to earning your place within ATS.

Try tagging threads, that is an excellent way of building your points up. Start a thread too, that helps.

Don't sit back and expect maximum allowance with minimum participation. It doesn't work here.

It doesn't take that long. It feels like I've posted less than 200 times in the entire time I've been here, but a closer look reveals 1982 of the beggers! If you like the site enough to stay for an extended time, you'll also enjoy it enough to post and discuss on the board (hopefully), and before you know it, you'll have 200 posts.

Just don't think about it, enjoy the boards and one day you'll be wondering what all the "200 post" fuss was about.

The chat is not that fun. People just talk about thier life, intrests, bush and other whoopty doo stuff, no UFO's, aliens, probes, bases or "having" your own AI bot. Yahoo chat with voice is better...and they talk about the same stuff!!!
RATS is alot better, spend your points there.

200 posts ??? I never needed 200 posts when I first came in to access chat! Well it does seem a little steep. What is so great about the chat that one needs to prove ones worth?

Yeah sure decency needs to be maintained and Im all for that but IMO it is utterly pointless because when you have people abusing each other in 199 of the posts 200 posts are not a certificate of decency.

It should be counted in applauses IMO, get 10 and your in. That would be a much better way to do it.

200 posts is fine. You contribute well to the board and in return you get access to other features. Seems fair to me.

I've only been here since August and I have 906 (907 after this) posts. That's about 100 posts a month.

You'll be in chat in no time.

I guess you had to be there, but when I first joined there was no such condition for admission.

You would just not believe how many incidents (they were constant) of abuse that went on, especially with new members jumping right in before they had a clue what this board was about, or what appropriate behavior was.

Chat is a perk and the Mods need to run the Board, not babysit chat (one of the perks).

The post requirement definately made a difference, so I'm sure it will (as it should) stay that way.

Originally posted by IAF101
200 posts ??? I never needed 200 posts when I first came in to access chat! Well it does seem a little steep. What is so great about the chat that one needs to prove ones worth?
It should be counted in applauses IMO, get 10 and your in. That would be a much better way to do it.

For people to earn the points to get into chat, it means that they are willing to contribute to post's and other things.

If they abuse this, then they are either warned, with the loss of points or banned. 200 points seems fair to me as a way of prooving your worth so to speak.

If you counted applauses, then it would take ages to get into chat. These only happen if a post is worthy of it. Not many are if you look around. Chat would be dead if this happened, or at least restricted to a few members.

200 points is fair and valid. Its not a hard target to reach.

I think that the post count should be lowered to 100/150 posts minimun. However, if a member has made a good impression or has a genuine reason ( Needs participation in a meeting) then he/she should be able to get permission from a moderator or staff member to have the privalage of using chat.

I think thats fair.

Originally posted by Bikereddie
200 points is fair and valid. Its not a hard target to reach.

Just for clarification, it's 200 posts, not 200 points. You could spend about 20 minutes tagging threads and get 200 points. The posts will take a little longer.

Think of it this way- virtually anyone can register for the site. Immediate chat access apparently has been problematic. It's more likely that someone extremely disruptive will step on their own foot and get banned before they hit the 200 post level. Obviously, people with thousands of posts get banned, but this seems to me to be a viable way of at least ensuring someone has garnered enough info about the operation and expectations of the site before allowing access to a less moderated section.

And it's still free!

I've never been in chat, but if I were setting up the rules, this one seems appropriate.

[edit for typo]


[edit on 5/12/2006 by yeahright]

I think the 200 post requirement is okay. It means that anyone that can get in is on the way to becoming a member who contributes constructively. It's also just in place so that you don't do something stupid in chat and get yourself banned from the whole site.

Plus there is nothing really in chat to see anyway. It's just like any other chat rooms. Just a bunch of idiots rambling, usually about music or alcohol. All the rumors you have heard about secret meetings and rituals, sharing of the meaning of life and other important things are false. Oh... what? There are no such rumors? Okay... forget I ever said that then . *clears memory*

If anything, I'd rather see WATS become free-access than chat's post requirement be gone.

Plus 90% of the ATS members that want to talk have MSN or AIM or Yahoo or ICQ or Skype anyway.

[edit on 12-5-2006 by Yarcofin]

I don't think i even have 200 posts yet and i've been here a while. i don't understand the points system and absolutely never read instructions so that's my fault. i'm not even sure if you have to rack up 200 posts within a certain time-period or it's overall the time you've been here.

it would be nice to chat and i'll wait and see.

Hmm. I've been here for nearly two years, and I don't have 250 posts. And yet, I feel that I have contributed to the board and community. I've had 7 applauses in that time as well. It isn't always about quantity. In fact, sometimes, the signal versus noise ratio is a bit low around here.

I understand that you don't want people stepping off the 'streets' and coming here with the potential to muss up things with a little proof of intentions. But, really, 200 posts seems a bit much.

edit: grammar

[edit on 12-5-2006 by Jadette]

Well it all depends on how much time you spend on the board. The job I currently work grants me ALOT of time to spend on ATS. I've been here since September '05 and am currently have 4500+ posts. So it proves posts are not hard to come by. Find a topic that interests you and its very easy to gain 5-10 posts in a thread.

And to mention BTS again, it is amazing how quick the posts can come then.

General Chit Chat

Check out that Forum and watch the posts flow.

Originally posted by orionthehunter
If you really want to chat openly outside ATS, you can U2U people you know or email friends and create your own chat areas in lots of other online not very restricted chat sites.

Just please DO NOT use the ATS/BTS/PTS or any other names affilliated with this site if you do that!

Originally posted by dk2852
u have been here for 3 months. Im sure that with 3-5 posts per day u could get there. Still what if u don't want to wait for months.

Look at my reg date. I have over 2k posts. Come down to the lighter side of ATS, BelowTopSecret. You should find at least some topics that interest you there.

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Mechanic 32.

[edit on 5/12/2006 by Mechanic 32]

Originally posted by yeahright

Originally posted by Bikereddie
200 points is fair and valid. Its not a hard target to reach.

Just for clarification, it's 200 posts, not 200 points.

Thanks for pointing that out. My mistake

I'm quite happy that it takes 200 posts to be able to go into chat, i reckon that gives the staff and members here enough time to make sure you're not someone who is going to ruin the place. Free speech is great, but when someone just appears in chatrooms and starts mouthing off in an abusive maner, it kinda spoils it for everyone else.

So i say to the 200 post rule, if you're not the abusive loose cannon kind, then you won't mind proving it first in your posts.

CX.

stop whining!!!

by the time you've reached two hundred posts, you'd have grown as a member.