I wish I could give stars on a BB&Q thread, cause I'd have given out some for a few of the opinions posted above.

Like the one directly above this post, well said undo.

And I fully agree with semperfortis and FredT, if you don't like the show, change the channel!

I would never use the ignore button though, might miss part of the dialogue, no matter how much someone's opinion might bug me, there's still the possibility I might learn something from their ignorance.

But if the whole thread devolves into ignorance, I just move on.

Besides, the dumb thread might just keep the knuckleheads involved long enough to have an intelligent conversation in another thread without their interference.

Exactly, my friend! Plus it's good way to identify the numbnuts, you know... birds of a feather

as admin for one of australias largest RC forums i can say from experience (and imo) that the standard 1-5 star rating seen on Vbulletin is amongst the best.

the ATS system seems to be more about "back patting"
Vbulletin uses a system based on the average rating.

so i rate a thread 1 star (downright lousy) and someone else rates it 5star, it then balances out to a 3 star rating.

the more that rate, gives a more clear and true indication of the average persons opinion on that thread.

add that with the user reputation system which you can give someone a negative or positive, and you have a simple + great system of rating posts and users fairly.

for those who arent familiar with the options within VB you can set it so you have to share around reputation ratings before giving the same person rep' again. (eg below)

if i give 'joe bloggs" reputation (either pos or neg) i might have to rate 50 or even 100 other users before i can rate joe bloggs again. this prevents people using it as a personal grudge match against one another.

newby's start with zero rep, and have to earn some.
i have seen many young and immature members on our forum who go into NEGATIVE user ratings because of their absolute bias garbage postings.
then theres others who quickly earn a higher reputation score because of intelligent and helpfull posts.

im not suggesting the above network change to Vbulletin, after all im not a VB salesman but i do think those options are the best currently available and the above network should strongly consider them.

only rating with positives (like existing ATS) really is not a true indication of the general populations opinion and is very one sided. as i said, its just a back patting / i agree rating.

there has been a LOT of garbage posts floating to the top of ATS recent posts page lately, and it does detract from the intelligent debates + discussions that the forum wishes to be known for.

[edit on 29/11/07 by Obliv_au]

Stars......


heh.

It's kinda like Kindergarten again. Ohh I love stars.

everyone loves a gold star sticker for doing a good job, or maybe a smiley stamp on your hand from the teacher..

oh and what ever happened to scratch n sniff stickers?

the point I'm trying to make, is that like in kindergarten, if someone gets a star, all the other children try to imitate the same behavior, to also get a star.

This is counterintuitive, and there should be something in place that does the same, but on the other end of the spectrum - show the other children what happens when you post a rant on ATS (as opposed to BTS) or for making a very ignorant statement.

I love the idea of being able to ignore a thread! Some really great posts in this thread.

Its much better to ignore than give negative feedback, it only encourages negativity and I like the current system of either flag/star a thread or dont.

In the Infinity of things ALL is allowed. Its up to the individual to CHOOSE from that ALL. And by the choices he/she makes, will he experience life.

we had stars before on ATS, this was back in the day on the old skool layout.

if i don't like a thread, or think the theory is dull/boring/not interesting, i just don't bother reading it or posting in it. Majority of the threads on ATS, i don't bother reading (no offence) because it's basically the same stuff being repeated.

i will only vote a thread if its very interesting to me.

Actually, I'd be happy if we had nearly unlimited "ignores".

Unfortunately, the database doesn't seem to be able to keep track of more than 8, though I bet one could use Greasemonkey to do it within FF.

Now, I'm not saying I'd use them all, or any of them.

But when school is out and we're deluged with a bunch of teenage dropouts who use 'ebonic-speak', lose their caps lock keys and don't know the difference between "loose" and "lose" and "your" and "you're", it would be nice to be able to put these posters in the 'garage', so to speak.

I think a good idea on this thread has been lost.

IMO, negative stars=dumb...some people don't care about bad publicity.

I think we need to have system where we can have downvoting, wherein, say, ten downvotes quarantines the thread to a "downvoted" forum, which of course can be blocked by anyone who doesn't want to see it.

Hey, i just came up with the solution:

Dont frequent the thread.

Now, did anyone else think of that? I havent read any of the posts here but i;m sure my answer is unique

We have the power to make stories "go away"- We have the power simply by not posting, which i admit has been done to me, of all people.

So let me get this straight. The posters are not posting, in your opinion, like you want them to so because this bothers you to see it continuing, you want to have the thread buried or removed.

So if you read a book that bothered you because the author was not writing according to what you feel he should but others enjoyed the book. Would you then have the book removed or burned?

Just want to get a clear prospective here, or do you see my point?

If the threads is not interesting or never ending, why not just overlook it. I am sure no one it forcing you to click on it.

[edit on 29/11/07 by Rhain]

There are three points of view here that need consideration...


Thread Quality One: If you see a thread that has promise because of it's title or opening post, but then you feel the quality has degraded through replies and no longer deserves the flags it received... why not create "quality contributions" to prop it back up?

Thread Quality Two: If you see a thread you feel is substandard, and getting inappropriate attention... why not create a newer better thread to divert attention to what you feel is better material?

The number of times we see people complaining about the subjective quality of threads, and spending their time complaining rather than creating quality alternatives, always puzzles me.

Flagging System: The thread flagging system was not created to provide a relative worth of a thread here within the forum as we view recent posts or lists of threads... it was created to give all members the means to impose editorial control over the content of our home page and overview pages. With that in mind, do you ever see anything wrong with the threads displayed on these types of pages?
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...
If you do see any issues with what's represented on these top-tier pages visited mostly by non-members, why are you seeking to "flag-up" alternates? However, I tend to watch these pages quite often, and I very rarely see any topics that shouldn't be there.

that seems a bit redundant, and in conflict with having a search feature. For example, if someone makes a post called "Last night's GOP debate" that's subpar, and then someone else makes a thread called "Youtube GOP Debates from Last Night" that starts off better... how do you tell which is which, especially if the subpar thread was started first, and someone made a sarcastic comment, which prompted 5 pages or replies, compared to the GOOD thread with only a couple pages of replies due to the lack of flaming or an argument that went off topic.

Not if you create your thread based on a single important topic from the debate you feel was important and deserves more attention. Well-focused opening posts that cover one important topic always results in better threads.

From my experience it's not always the case. Threads that are info-packed with well thought out arguments in the opening post sometimes are so good, there's really nothing else to add to or nothing to debate about. Then it just sinks to the bottom and slowly gathers dust in the ATS archives.

Flame-bait threads on the other hand...

This is all kinda stupid if ya ask me. Nothing says "WRONG!" more than 3,528 views and 4 replies.

If ya like it, reply and advance the thread.
If ya think it stinks, pass it by.

Doesn't take a brain surgeon.

Lemme paint a picture to help those who need them.
You're driving down the road. You see a park with a baseball game going on. You stop and watch the game. Heck, you like baseball, why not involve yourself?
The game ends and you're back on the road. You approach a garbage dump. Yuck, you say! Smelly. Holds no interest for you.
Are ya going to stop and argue with the guy who does like it? Of course not. You shake your head and say to yourself "Let him have it, the nutter!" and move on down the road.
You're not OBLIGATED to post.
You are required, however, to ADVANCE the topic when posting.

Simple.

What a non-issue.
Cuhail

I wish there had of been some kind of warning about this thread.

I probably would have avoided it.

To late now....

jesus, I am sick of analogies. I'm going to try and ween myself off of them from here on out.