question for the ATS admin and staff......

Originally posted by DontTreadOnMe
Like being 21 to vote and drink (in many states).

Gee. I believe the voting age has been 18 for quite awhile now.

caselaw.lp.findlaw.com...

[edit on 2006/7/28 by GradyPhilpott]

I was in chat before the 200 post rule and then locked out afterwards. it took me almost a year to get back in but so what. If you plan on being here and being a good standing contributing member, it really shouldnt matter. Bide your time, make good posts and eventually you will get in. If you are gonna be as childish as poopoo on you, im taking my ball and going home...then so be it! dont let the proverbial door hit you in the proverbial bupkiss on the way out. Most members bust out 200 posts in no time. So calm down, post well and you will be welcomed into chat when u meet the criteria, jeez maneez.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott

Gee. I believe the voting age has been 18 for quite awhile now.

It's still 200 posts to get into chat though. If you're 21 you can bring a beer

wupy

[edit on 28-7-2006 by mrwupy]

Originally posted by Helig
Thats what shows up when you click the Chat link and don't have the requisite 200 or more posts, so thats how VM knows that its blocked to him.

Thanks for answering my question. I was quite confused.

And I didn't get hissy until he said he was leaving in a huff. I'm just not in the habit of catering to whiners. Sorry.

Everyone was very nice until he claimed the last straw and said he was outta here.

He's welcome to give it another try.

and the most pointless thread award goes to

or should i save this reply for the "sarcasm" thread

Originally posted by watch_the_rocks
Nah, this dude is trouble. It's better to get rid of them fast than wait until they start screwing around with the boards.

Well, I don't know, I personally haven't seen him break the T&C so I’ll say he deserves another chance.

Originally posted by watch_the_rocks
btw WP23, could you please remove that avatar because it keeps on making me have unfaithful thoughts!!! edit: umm, would you have a hi-res version of that . . .?

Sorry, wont be happening, BTW you should be getting a U2U right about.... now, that should satisfy your needs.

Originally posted by mrwupy
We were not the ones that were quick on the trigger. The poster asked a question and I answered it the best I could.

In the very next post the poster threw a hissy-fit and declared they were leaving.

Of course Mr. Wupy, I understand, you didn’t do anything wrong, you simply answered the question truthfully. I’m just saying that VM probably just had a little tantrum that's all, I’m sure he’ll be back in no time, it happens. No need to make more out of it unless he continues that sort of behavior, in which case I’ll owe you all an apology.

Originally posted by DontTreadOnMe
But, it's not punishment. It's a restriction.

Again, I understand and there’s a very valid reason for it, but looking at it from his perspective it could be seen as punishment for new members, just give it some time... Thanks all.

[edit on 28-7-2006 by WestPoint23]

Originally posted by WestPoint23

Well, I don't know, I personally haven't seen him break the T&C so I’ll say he deserves another chance.

He can stay as long as he wants. No one has asked him to leave or pushed him in that direction. He is the one that said he was out of here.

It's Friday night so hopefully he had a few beers and just took things a little personal and will wake up tomorrow and decide to stay. I hope so. It's his choice though.

wupy

Anyone who sees 200 posts to get into chat as a punishment instead of a restriction has their eyes closed to the big picture.

As previously stated, if ATS had no restriction on chat we would have more trash being drug through chat that it would be unbearable. This post restriction is one of the greatest parts of ATS.

This is a privledge, not a right. RATS is a privledge, not a right. Chat is a privledge, not a right. Members who register should not expect to have everything handed to them on a silver platter, somethings have to be earned. Staff is not asking for quality posts, they just state 200 posts. You can trip over 200 posts on BTS if chat is that big of a deal to you.

Not to paint all members with the same brush, but alot of members who get really upset over the restriction are new members who simply want to abuse the privledge and can not handle posting 200 times in order to follow through with this abuse.

I was here for about 9 months before I fell into chat one day and I was alittle upset with myself for not checking it out before that. It can be a good pass time when the threads are alittle quiet, this post restriction is what makes chat special.

Jumping on the bandwagon, call it whatever you want. I simply agree with what the Admin decided on when it comes to chat.

Originally posted by VoodooMaster
posts not points. Pay attention next time.

VM

It might be for snap responses like that?

200 posts is easy. You can make it in a few hours, just spam BTS like the rest of the nubs.

Having been a member prior to this rule, and seeing it go into affect I think I should attest to the facts here.

Chat is a priviledge, not a right. There were constant problems in chat and the post requirement solved them for the most part. It used to be a weekly (if not more) problem of incidents by hoaxers and spammers who joined, had taken no time to learn about the board and it's rules and would jump right into chat and start breaking them. It was a non-stop babysitting job for the Mods which is a ridiculous fucntion for them on a board this size. I remember one incident where SO came in to see what the hey was going on and the poor newbie had no clue who he was flat out insulting - the SO himself.

First, by the time you have 200 posts you are familiar for the most part with the people you will meet in there, as well as what acceptable behavior is. Prior to the change there were constant incidents of spammers and hoaxers that popped in and disrupted the chat to the point where those of us in there could not chat. There were also too many incidents of new members compromising chat for the younger members (taking no time to get to know the other chatters and exposing younger members they had no clue of their age to harrassment for no reason other than to be annoying or inappropriate sexual conversation - which is never permitted).

The change did cause some good members to have to leave for a bit and gain access a bit later, but for those who were really there for a quaility visit made their posts and got back in quite quickly.

Bottom line is the new policy worked and I wholeheartedly back it. ATS is not primarily a "chat" avenue, and there are plenty of places people can chat outside ATS, so it just didn't make sense to leave the door open to people of questionable motives or immature behavior to have access. I think it might have saved quite a few members from getting themselves banned right off the bat.

Yes it's unfortuante that a few people caused the problems and all must now suffer the consequences (how horrible - stick around long enough to show you are a quality participating member) to get into chat, but I can speak for my experiences in this and believe me, there was a high incident rate of problems prior to this rule, so I can't even say that "a few" ruined it for everyone. the percentage of day old members who abused was really high.

Taking the rule as a slight is going too far. Asking why, being told and getting annoyed over legitimate reasons....? Gotta wonder about that.

Sometimes, when I see someone in chat who I'd like to get to know a bit better (but don't want to bother him/her with an u2u) it annoys me that I can't get in. But then again, if I'd _really_ want to get in, it would be very easy to write those posts I don't have. If I would've started to think and play the latest ATS game instead of going to sleep and then to work, I would've racked up posts like there was no tomorrow. Or I could just drop into BTS and take it from there.
Then again, I've been on IRC for 15 years. I know what chatting is about, and I suspect that ATS chat would be any different (except for the distinguished company, of course!)

Chat is a "value added feature" to the ATS experience. It's intended use is for Members who have proven themselves to be "ATSers" to have the opportunity to get to know each other better and share information/ideas "real time".

ATS Chat is NOT a place for un vetted, random people to get the attention of our esteemed Members for their own purposes. This is what 99% of the people who cry about the 200 post restriction are really crying about. The fact they can't get direct access to our Members to hoax, sell or "use" them in some way.

As pointed out in this thread, Chat was a problem before we implemented this restriction and just like "bars, voting, and going to war" our chat is restricted to those who have achieved the "ATS age" of 21 years old.

There is ZERO desire on our part (the Three Amigos) to open our chat feature up to people who aren't interested enough in the topics to make 200 posts PERIOD.

EARN your way into chat or don't, it's up to the individual.

Grady, the Amazon "bit" refers to the unfortunate fact that Alexa was "bombed" by envious, misguided trolls who spent much effort attempting to slam ATS via the "make a comment" option on Alexa.com that gets posted on Amazon.com.

Kind of sad to think about people who have so little happening in their lives they have the time to go to all that trouble to bitch about a website that is FREE, OPEN, requires CIVILITY (that's their biggest problem we don't let them act the fool) and has the brightest minds on-line active daily.


Springer...

The ridiculous thing is..You could make 200 posts in about 3 hours if you joined in games like last to post wins or 3 word story or a-z band names if you.re that desperate to get in quickly.