What Happened to the Views Column?

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord
You may notice other very large boards have adopted a similar approach.

I always liked the way ATS carved it's own path in cyberspace, the uniqueness of ATS is what drew me here in the first place, now with the extended profile and other changes to be like other large boards I hope the original intent of ATS is not lost in the mix.

I understand you are running a biz so finances are a factor in your decisions and development, I just hope you understand that as a member I had to put in my .02 .....

Carry on!

Since many authors like to know their work is being read, and seen I believe the page views do a lot to help contributors here, and to inspire them to produce better, and more compelling works... Bottom line they like to know their words are being seen by others, and without the page views its hard to know. This is why I say the flagging option is so important, and all ATS OP authors can measure success by the number and quality of replies, as well as flags applied to any opening thread post and discussion they contribute to, without page views.

Is there anyway to add the site total page views near or in the Who's On section?

Who's On - There are a total of XXX registered members and XXXX visitors on AboveTopSecret.com domains right now.

In the previous XX hours there have been XXXX members on AboveTopSecret.com

There have been XXXXXX total page views today.

Can the above be done and updated every few hours without too much load on the servers?

Originally posted by JacKatMtn
I always liked the way ATS carved it's own path in cyberspace, the uniqueness of ATS is what drew me here in the first place,

Any path is fraught with the pitfalls of physical limitations of hardware.

We're trying to transition into a bigger-badder database server, which may allow view-tallying to return. But with our current db server being heavily stressed... I'm more concerned with your threads being viewed, than knowing how often they were viewed.

I can't speak for everyone, but now that this thread is up I would suppose that people who are replying here are 'more than just curious' as to WHY the column of 'views' has been deleted.

I want to mention that it was important to ME to see 'how many' people viewed my thread.

These people that READ my thread (posted afterwards or not) have VIEWED my thread. They choose to move on or post, that's their decision.

Having my topic 'on board' with other threads and 'seeing' how many people VIEW my thread sets a standard somewhat.

This standard tells me that people are interested (or somewhat interested) in what I have to say to them, or better yet, what is to be discussed WITH them.

To see that my topics are being 'looked at' gives me..Heck gives ALL of us an ASSURANCE that we are not 'just another thread that is being passed by'. That...others have 'taken interest' in our topics and have felt the need to swing by and at least "TAKE A LOOK".

I personally haven't had any problems with my computer slowing down (YET) because of access info from a site. (knocking on wood).

Thank you for allowing me my opinons here.

I've travelled far and wide online; and this site has been the BEST I've discovered where we can exchange and change ideas that affect us on many levels.

What ever decsisions you make I'm sure it will be for the best.

THANK YOU MODS...for all the hard work you've done for the last 10 years!

Sincerely,

THE DUCKSTER

The ol' saying:

"If it's not BROKE.. THEN why fix it."

Sincerely,

The Duckster

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord

Originally posted by JacKatMtn
I always liked the way ATS carved it's own path in cyberspace, the uniqueness of ATS is what drew me here in the first place,

Any path is fraught with the pitfalls of physical limitations of hardware.

We're trying to transition into a bigger-badder database server, which may allow view-tallying to return. But with our current db server being heavily stressed... I'm more concerned with your threads being viewed, than knowing how often they were viewed.

See? even you said that ScepticOverlord?

In YOUR words: I'm more concerned with your threads being viewed, than knowing how often they were viewed.

Am I to understand that the 'viewed' column takes a presedence with the threads?
What are your thoughts on this?

Originally posted by TheDuckster
The ol' saying:

"If it's not BROKE.. THEN why fix it."

Sincerely,

The Duckster

Well, haven followed the last few month implementations of the site into Dark matter and the increased traffic it thereby have recieved, I'm sure SkepticOverlord's slogan is the opposite:

"FIX it before it breaks"

A site down is not a site people feel inclined to return to.

The success of ATS inherents the risk of killing itself. Because of the extra load on the servers.

The success surely has to do we the new features added within the last three month, as it has with the new more appealinjg look of the changed skin. I think we're all deeply grateful to Skeptic for that.

But it has come with the price that the load now is so big that old wellknown features, like the old bars and now the viewcount tally have had to be sacrificed. It's quite obvious why and should be easily understood even by IT illiterates, the way Skeptic has explained it.

New features like the flagging system have added to the load as well, but I think the intention has been to replace the view tally with it. The number of flags to represent the popularity and give an indication of how many who've viewed it too.

Only problem as I see it, people only use the flag system randomly. You can have 1000+ views but only 4 flags. It tells me it get ignored.

I've thought a bit about it and allow me a suggestion altering the flag system. Force the members actively to make a choice to flag or not.

A dialogbox is the solution. Every time a member opens or closes a thread which he/she has not flagged it should pop up.

Do You Want to Flag This Thread?
... ... Yes ... ... ... No ... ...

Only by 'yes-click' the user is spared to see the box again. That would force any member visiting any thread actively to make a choice and much higher ratings of flags achieved. A 1000+ thread should get xxx flags, a 5000+ maybe xxxx.

The advantage would be we again had a tool to judge the popularity of threads.

That was my humble suggestion, thank you for listening.

I can see the point. Every view, a read, also becomes a write, to update the view count.

If the flags were become extremely active then it would be a situation almost like the view updates, wouldn't it?

I do see the point, the ATS database must really get a workout, 24/7.

Its a conspiracy, first they take our Views, next they'll take our freedoms. Run for the Hills

I'm for the view counter.

If it’s a luxury we must lose that is said but I understand. Is there a way to mirror the flag option? As in a bury option, something that might give more feedback to the author and the reader regarding a threads performance. The view column can be a deciding factor of whether I opened a thread or not. I believe there has to be more levels of ranking the thread. Maybe there could be a thumbs up ranking. Five thumbs being way above, none, meaning you need to go back to the books and try again. I guess a goose egg in the reply column might give you the same message though.

Either way I still love this place.

Originally posted by khunmoon
Okay, as long as you not trade the numbers to NSA, CIA and their ilk we should be secure.

Well I'd like to know the numbers.

Perhaps it could be broken down to first time views and return views.

[edit on 9-4-2007 by In nothing we trust]

Originally posted by golddragnet
... first they take our Views...

Next they'll want our opinions.

I guess we all understand the bind your in Skeptic, but I think many of us would be willing to trade something to get the views back if proccesor time is the issue. Hell, I see them as far more usefull than flagging. Maybe its time for an ATS survey or vote?

LEE.

I have been thinking for days that the views column was simply "broken". (Don't know much about data bases). I have been anxiously awaiting its return. I love seeing how many people view the threads. I hate to think it won't ever be back. What a loss!!!!

I too am not thrilled with the Page View column being nixed from the site. Flags are all well and good, but when something hits the front page, don't you think you could make an exception for a short while for those threads? Ei, a temporary column that says (Views since hitting top page: xxxx). Would that cause too much disruption?