Question about gaining points

Well I have said this many many times before, I will give 1500 points to anyone who produces a quality post in the Politics of War
I happen to be the FSME of that forum. and there are many more FSMEs on the Forums who also award 1500 points in the respective Forums for great posts.
It can be a new thread or a very good reply to an on going thread.
PodCasts are the real big point earners 2500 points per Podcast.
So the points are out there you just have to go get them.

[edit on 29/1/2008 by Sauron]

The simplest way to gain points in my opinion is PODcasting, 2,500 ATS points for a podcast, some are only 5 mins long, still 2,500 points, do two and BAM ! your into RATS.

I've not been here that long and have been very lucky with some of my posts.

Other stuff I've written sometimes gets no response at all, though from my point of view they were/are important.

I've noticed that the time of day your posts go up has an influence on who gets to see them. I've posted stuff at quiet times and had no response. This, I feel, is related to a few factors.

1. topic of post
2. information I've put in or my writing style
3. Interest of others not obtained by topic.
4. Post goes online, others busy posting their own or replying to others. As other posts are 'bumped' to the top, your thread goes down the list. Site gets busier, even more posts and yours goes on into oblivion.

The other problem is trying to post a topic that already exists. You might have discovered something you think nobody else has covered, you do a search and find it's a huge thread with all your questions answered by thousands of other ATS members.

Regardless of my points and the length of time I've been here, I have had 4 'applause'. 2 were for threads I started and 2 were for posts I wrote in other threads.

The majority of my points came from a very lucky news find I posted in the breaking news section.
Here is a prime example of that by mungodave; www.abovetopsecret.com...
He had very few points the other week.. but big congrats to him for bringing a hot topic to ATS. And he's just broken the 100k points barrier... bless him.

What I consider to be one of my best posts had nothing to do with what I personally said, but more to do with the content and information given.
this the thread that got me my first set of '+ more' stars. That was a big event for me here on ATS.

Was quite happy about that as it showed to me the interest I had stirred up in others. Which, to me, is more important than points etc.

The best and only thing to do is contribute to the site in the best way you can.
Basically be a bit of a news hound. Look for info nobody has noticed, add to other peoples threads.

If you feel a topic is worth discussing then share your thoughts, but remember to go by what's required regarding ATS T+C.

The 'thanks' and 'gratitude' I get from posters is a bigger bonus than points.
I've recently found some info for a thread that was wanted by the OP.

He was thrilled to bits to find the info I found and had posted up for him.

Gave me a nice warm feeling inside to know I had made a major contribution towards someones work here on ATS. Shame that don't happen in our real life work.. hehehe.

Good luck, get busy and hope to see some great finds/news/posts/opinions/ etc from you in the future.

After all, what will be, will be.