Actually, I'll reproduce the post here.

Just remember that this thread is for questions about the news forum, not to gripe about the fact we have three boards or how busy they are.

It's become plainly obvious to me over the last couple of days that many people do not understand the customization features available on ATS.

It's also obvious that some think our sister boards belowtopsecret.com and abovepolitics.com are some kind of Siberian wastelands difficult to access or keep track of.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

There only exists the minor inconvenience of having to log into all three sites (using the same username and password for all The Above Network domains) to fully enjoy them.

Let me demonstrate.

I have prepared this little visual tutorial to help people understand. I apologise in advance if it seems pedantic to some or if I come across as condescending but sometimes you really have to "spell it out" for everyone to grasp it.

The first thing you need to do is take some time to visit all three board homepages and select the forums you want to keep track of (for example Breaking General News on BTS - make sure you are logged in).

Click on the forum name:





Then click on the "favourite" button:





Repeat these steps for all the forums that you want to keep track of from any of the three boards.

Of course, if you do something stupid like select all 120+ forums on ATS/BTS/AP then you will slow everything down to a crawl and have way too much to follow. Select only what you need and can handle and try not to tax the ATS servers too much.



Once you've selected all the forums you like (for example all three breaking news forums) click on the myATS button from anywhere on the three boards.





This takes you to a page where your favourite forums are listed with the most recent activity (as well as a list of your subscribed threads to the right of the page).

It looks something like this:





Now that you have all your favourite forums selected go to the Recent Posts page from within ATS:





Notice that you can visit BTS and AP from this board, but also notice the red “customize” on the top right of the forum list.

Click on it.





This takes you to a page within your member centre where the magic happens.

By selecting the option you prefer you can customize your experience on ATS/BTS/AP to your heart’s content. You get the most customization if you select the myATS option since only forums you specify will be selected.




Now, again from within ATS click on the Recent Posts page:




Voilà!





Forums you care about FROM ALL THREE BOARDS on the same page!!!

Of course in order to enjoy the experience fully (i.e. to post in threads on BTS or AP, see avatars, less advertising etc.) you need to be logged in on all three boards. If you forget and are only logged in on ATS you can still see and read the threads from the other two boards like any visitor can.

It’s a minor inconvenience to have access to over 120 forums of fun, Fun, FUN!


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Edit: Images fixed, click on them for full size.

[edit on 2/14/2008 by Gools]

reply to post by Gools

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Thanks Gools for the update. I have in the past used the exact wording of the article, but occasionally I find it more appropriate to change the heading.

I'll be sure to use exact wording in my future submissions.

Thanks for giving us all a heads up.

reply to post by Gools

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Okay Gools, the gripe isn't in the fact that there are three boards. Actually you said that the forum was too busy. But anyway, I will phrase it in the form of a question. How is it that you can move a thread deemed un-alternative newsworthy after it has been established for a bit on ATS? Other mods could have done it but chose not to. Here is where I need your clarification when deciding where to post. Example: A news story about an artpiece that a religious group wants censored breaks. I want to get the religious folks' of ATS opinions and input as to why they think this way or why they don't. According to your recent actions, this story should go on BTS. But, it could also go under AP because of violation of amendment rights, freedom of speech, etc. But I feel the best discussion will happen on ATS, as is often the case. So, should I "spin" the story to make it seem like a religious conspiracy is taking place just so it gets on ATS? To me, the story screams alternative news. But according to you, it doesn't. So, there is my quandry.
I have no problem using myATS at all. This is not the difficulty for me. The difficulty lies in the perception of what is and isn't alternative news.

reply to post by palehorse23

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I'm not speaking for Gools, but after reading your post, I would like to offer my 2 cents....

first on the issue of "other mods"... when mods participate in a thread, we don't "moderate" it, meaning my participation doesn't necessarily mean that everything in the thread is kosher and has my approval, therefore "mods" can move, close, warn etc without even thinking of me as anything else other than a participant.

secondly...we're all just regular people with regular lives, different time schedules and interests.. it is practically impossible for all mods to see everything and know of every thread/post that occurs on the boards.. so sometimes our inaction is because we simply missed it. One mod might think the other mod got it covered and vice versa and the next thing you know it feels too late to perform an action.. it happens.

Now as for the perception as to what belongs in the Alternative Breaking News forum... well in the "opinion part" of the submission, this is where it is up to you to make the "conspiracy" angle clear... so YES "sell it" if you want to word it that way. But your opinion should express that you feel there is a conspiracy going on. Just covering a story from a mainstream point of view.. will cause a thread to be moved to it's appropriate forum.

and YES, some of the forums do overlap. So it's possible to have topic feel like it could be in either, but this is where we allow our staff to use their judgement, which entails them reading the op and making a decision from there as to where the thread best fits in.

What she said.
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reply to post by worldwatcher

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THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!That is what I have been looking for. That answers my question. I did not intend to cause disruption but just clarification. I appreciate it WW. I understand there is a lot to look at and I am sure it is a difficult task at times. I appreciate your input into the matter and will take your info to heart. One last 2 cents from me, mods also have to realize that we try our best also to submit "news" that we feel is important and should be made aware of as well. We all have and lead regular lives, and for me, this is the best outlet I have to try and help "deny ignorance" and to also learn from others. Thanks again to all for their comments.

ATS still rules in my book
palehorse23

Come on people!!

Just today the Prince Harry story was posted 5 times and the Illinois mall explosion was posted three times among other duplicates!

People just don't seem to be making the effort to look to see if something is already posted.

Are we going to have to start handing out point penalties for repeat topics in the new forums?
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Wouldn't be a bad idea. It's already the way with various other offences. Or revert it back to the old submission format maybe?

I think on other sites like Digg, it actually searches to see if similar headlines already exist, and then asks if you are sure you still want to post. Maybe a good idea.

I think that would be a poor idea. I posted a new news article today only to end up finding it posted twice before. I did my search, in fact i used search twice with different strings and NOTHING. The wording was very different between the article i found and the others. Also when someone pointed his out (which was locked and pointing to another), neither of them had any tags on the article.

Why is it my fault the original posters did not put tags?

Maybe make that compulsory to post a submission.

It is compulsory. The B.A.N. form will not permit you to submit the article until at least one tag is added.

Let me be clear at the start of my post. I'm not a moderator in any of the news forums, and I'm speaking here as someone that is a MEMBER that reads the news sections to see what is going on that MSM is ignoring.

There is actually a very simple way to know if your story is already posted.

READ THE NEWS FORUMS.

If you're really interested in the news, then read the news itself, right here on ATS. If you want to be a news hound, then be prepared to put some effort into it. If you read all of the opening posts within the last 48 hours,(you don't have to read the whole thread, sort of like "skimming" the headlines in a newspaper), then you will know if your story has been brought up.We know that for several reasons, the search function isn't reliable for such things, so use your built in search function, your mind, to make sure you're not posting a duplicate story.

This is what shows the difference between people that post in BAN, and the other news sections, because they really care about news, and those that post for points and attention. (There's a name that I won't mention for those people that post just for points.)

Now, if you have a news item that is less than 48 hours old, as it MUST to be posted as "breaking", and it has NOT been mentioned, you are ready for the next step, deciding which area it belongs in. Gools has explained clearly what belongs where, so bookmark this page.

The problem now is that people don't want to put out any effort to posting, leaving it to staff to clean up for them. One would almost think they are used to "Mommy" coming to clean their room and wash their clothes in RL.

Now again, I'm speaking here as a plain old member, not a moderator. I really like reading news, and the posts by our members on that news. I don't like finding three stories about the same event, with different headlines, all in the same forum, because then I need to jump back and forth to read all the responses. Nor do I want to read about a dog being elected mayor of some hick town as a joke, when I'm looking for serious news in BAN. (That's why print newspapers have sections, so that real estate ads and and the TV guide aren't in with the same section as the war in Iraq and the latest blunders by our leaders.)

Take the news seriously, if you want to be taken seriously.

[edit on 9-4-2008 by NGC2736]

Just a bump. Everybody needs a chance to read this. And read the post by gools a couple of times.

Having to move threads is time consuming and so NOT fun.

Question: What is the difference between these two posts?

www.abovetopsecret.com...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Your instructions for posting breaking political news don't work. Now that AP has merged with ATS, there's only one submit button. When I click on submit and then on breaking political news I get an error message. The only way I can get a breaking political news item posted is if I submit it to breaking alternative news and then the mods move it. I've asked for their advice but they only give me this thread, which as I have said doesn't help. Any advice would be appreciated.

reply to post by Sestias

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I'm sure this is an oversight from when the AP board was merged with ATS. I've brought the glitch to the attention of SkepticOverlord. It may take some time to track down the problem but in the meantime, you can go to the Breaking Political News forum on ATS and start a new thread from there.
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I'm glad to see the rules updated, the breaking news forum has been being abused for a while now.

It should be a place to discuss current events, not a propaganda platform or a way to troll opponents.

Excellent. People have been getting away with posting nearly every story that shoots out from the bowels of certain overtly biased political propaganda blogs and websites. Glad to see its a NEWS forum and not a POLITICAL PROPAGANDA forum.

I've noticed a huge increase in duplicate threads of late. It's kind of frustrating when you take the time to post a story, your commentary, a couple of coraborating news links, and links to other related ATS threads only to have someone post the same story 8 hrs later with minimal commentary no additional sources and no links to other ATS threads. An example that happened to me recently.

I posted this thread almost 9 hours before this almsot exact same thread was posted.

I'm adult enough to swallow my pride and participate in the more active thread, but it really discourages me from taking the time to make a well thought out post only to have it lose out to a lesser sourced, non-coraborated, non-linked to other ATS thread, posted 9 hours later.

Is it really to much to ask if something is more than a couple of hours old on the dateline to type part of the title into search to make sure you aren't stepping on someone else? I understand that sometimes people see some news and start a thread almost simultaneously. As a matter of fact, myself and DimensionalDetective had that experience not to long ago. I understand that. In the past I've seen plenty of thread authors realized they stepped on another thread and promptly place a thread exists in this linked thread before the Mods had a chance to shut it down.

I'm starting to miss the mod approval before allowing a post in breaking. I often find myself, limiting my commentary, and skimping on the links to ensure that it gets on the board first.

[edit on 20-8-2008 by jefwane]

reply to post by jefwane

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If you see a duplicate thread posted you can press the 'ALERT' button at the bottom of the opening post to alert the staff to the issue. To make it easier include a link to your original thread.