Customization Feature and Surfing Our Sister Board (BTS) - and even how to AVOID CERTAIN FORUMS!

EDIT: Note that the PTS board no longer exists but the customization feature still works.



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:




[Size=5]Voilà!





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

You only have to do this once! Just remember that you can always add or delete any forums from the list by clicking the "favorite" or "un-favorite" button at the top of each forum list.

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!


.

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

Edit: It should be noted as well that this process can be used to exclude forums that aren't desired on the Recent Posts page. You may have to add the majority of forums but it is a one time inconvenience.

[edit on 2/14/2008 by Gools]

[edit on 2/16/2008 by Gools]

EDIT: AP has been disbanded.

[edit on 13-6-2008 by DontTreadOnMe]


[edit on 12 Jan 09 by Gools]

[edit on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:20:16 -0600 by MemoryShock]

It warms my heart to know I'm not the only one who can't make fancy arrows and lettering.

I'm currently reading a manual called Guide to Microsoft Paint for Complete Morons.

Peace

Thanks for the very informative post


I am taking myATS for a test drive...

Whoa!
I just checked my profile and found that this thread is in the "Threads I Flagged" section when in fact I never flagged this thread!

How did it end up there?


PS -- Thanks Gools for taking the time to explain ATS' features! (but will flag this thread after I find out WHO Flagged it already for me! )





[edit on 14-2-2008 by Palasheea]

reply to post by Palasheea


I have no idea what happened there.



BTW I replaced the images so they should all show up (all at once) now. Some of them are a little truncated but if you click on them you can see the full size version.
.

reply to post by Palasheea


It was me, i have a flag fetish.







Well done gools, i use myats religiously but youve explained it way better than i ever could have.

Good post.

If only members would set up the board properly, the bias against the "sister" boards would decrease dramatically, as they began to see the board as one with dedicated sections.

OMG!!
A FLAG FETISH!? How REVOLTING!


Ugh.
Well, this is so .... weird.

I've been finding threads in my Flag and Tag sections in my profile that I never flagged or tagged. Many of them are threads I've never even logged onto!

In fact, last night I found all new threads in those sections that were not there before and when I saw that, I went and flagged and tagged a whole new set of threads that I personally found interesting for each section to replace the ones someone put there.

Excellent advice!!!!!

This thread should be bumped to the top for awhile so that new members can profit from this wonderful tutorial...

Thanks Gools from all of us computer amateurs...

Semper

oh man....i never knew you could do that. now that i've customized the recent post button......im going to enjoy my experience much more.

thanks gools.

[edit on 14-2-2008 by JSR]

Please don't ignore Above Politics dot-com. Who knows? You might run in to Martin or myself while cruising those threads. Martin talks to himself when nobody is around. I can use all the company that I can get.

Wow, thanks alot for pointing this out. I really had no idea, I could organazize(Taxi driver joke) :p , my favorite forums this way, and have them right there at a fingers touch.

I also didn't realize that BTS had such a plethora of interesting forums and topics, and threads/posts. Added quite a few to my favorites.

So thanks very much for pointing this out to those of us who were living in ATS stonage.

[edit on 15-2-2008 by Nola213]

I am astonished that anyone could have problems getting around this board. I am not a rocket scientist nor a computer geek but I found it very easy to travel all over the board.

This kinda reminds me of the man who caught a lot of fish and asked if the poor family wanted them. The man of the house asked if the fish were already cleaned. They weren't so he did not want them. The fisherman also had a bushel of fresh picked peas. The poor man didn't want them either because they were not shelled.

If I can find my way around this site anybody should be able to. It just takes thought and a small effort.

People use that noggin for something besides a hat rack.

I apologize ahead of time if I have offended any ones intelligence or lack of.

I set my recent post page to AP and ATS and it doesn't work. Only ATS posts show, no AP.

reply to post by enjoies05


Looking into it...
.

Originally posted by Gools

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.

Its enough to keep me from there...I have so many things demanding me to log in day and night, cant keep up. (and I dont like to keep cookies set, etc it slows my already slow machine way down.) So Im sure there are many others like that.

Ideally it would be to log into ATS and get all the benefits.
Pop in and out of BTS, etc.

Cool to see that your trying to help people make the best of it...though this one thing would drastically change traffic there Im sure.

Peace

dAlen

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
Good post.

If only members would set up the board properly, the bias against the "sister" boards would decrease dramatically, as they began to see the board as one with dedicated sections.

Thats the problem though isnt it? So many boards, so many places all demanding customization. The board that gets the user brain without them doing anything wins.
Sure sounds lazy as a hound dog. But thats how it is with so much trying to get our attention in this day and age of media and technology.

None the less, it is good to have the options.

Peace

dAlen

Is there a way you guys can just edit the coding so that you only have to be logged in once to view all 3? I am lazy, as are many, which is why i never bother to go to bts or ap. Then of course some wisenheimers occasionally move threads to those places and i just say "oh well" because frankly I have ATS set up in a bookmark so i never have to re-login. (unless it expires or whatever and I rely on the fact that it's all stored auto and i just click login.)


[edit on 18-2-2008 by WhiteWash]

reply to post by Gools


Alright, thanks.

reply to post by enjoies05


I've been informed that SkepticOverlord is working on a solution.
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