I will admit that when I first found ATS several years ago it was a really fun site. It was full of not only breaking alternative news, but also speculative news based on either supposition, or some scant evidence posted online or in less than credible news sources.

ATS is still a very good site, but after posting many threads and thinking I may be making a difference in trying to help those who are seeking either answers to life, or the mysteries/conspiracies that promulgate online and by word of mouth, I'm becoming much less motivated to post things I feel are important, or even debate those with opposing views. Why should I? After a few days it just gets buried and forgotten because their is no way to vote the best replies and threads up and view the same.

I think my lack of motivation is due to several reasons. For one, many really good replies or information gets posted and becomes very hot for a period of time, but then as the thread grows, all of the great replies get buried amidst general banal banter, or even nonsensical psychobabble.

I would love for my post to be able to count for something, not saying I'm anything special, but some replies by members are so good that they deserve special mention and attention. But their replies are usually buried because of all the interest and huge amount of replies, and all of the one or two line replies by those who are also interested in the original thread but don't have much to say other than an agreement or short quip.

This is why I have for the most part stopped posting threads, and I think many of the former very popular thread starters are also cutting way back. After all, shouldn't the great threads and replies be singled out and shouldn't we as members be able to choose to view these great replies without having to read through hundreds of pages. From a standpoint of sense, it makes no sense to allow such interesting threads & replies to be buried after a few days because of either the sheer amount of responses, or some other current thread taking precedence.

So again, I suggest the site admin or the person who wrote the code should allow for a system of tabulation of the great threads and even the great replies. These would be chosen by the members by a system of tabulation voting icons across the top of every post that says vote for - best reply, worst reply, most interesting reply, replies by experts, replies in favor of post, replies against post, replies by my friends, replies by my foes, etc.

I also think posts that are very special should also be tabulated and placed from most popular to least popular. This would in no way diminish the forum, since the v viewer could also choose to view the thread in the original format with replies in order of appearance and not ranked.

Again, this site has become too predictable, and it feels like I'm wasting time viewing the same answers and replies over and over, without any way to separate the very good replies/posts from those that really add nothing.

It would be great to click an icon that allows one to view the most popular posts/replies in order of the popular vote. The members would only be allowed to vote say three times for each category to limit self promotion of posts - threads

Also, I have noticed that many of the anonymous replies never get posted because of the policy that if the posters IP address is recognized as a registered member, the post wont be allowed to be posted. I ask again, why is this the policy on a site dedicated to many conspiracies? It seems this is one of those same conspiracies being perpetrated by those in charge and that policy. Any registered member who has some really juicy news that could could possibly endanger their life would obviously want to post anonymously.

So let the computer scramble the recognized IP and then allow those recognized anon posts to be posted. The programmer could cover themnselves from any liability because the computer would then delete any record of who posted the reply.

The anonymous posts wouldn't have to be posted with the identifying IP address as logged on the server, but the IP could be scrambled and then the anonymous post allowed to be posted.

I grow weary of all the improvements many are suggesting which never seem to be acknowledged as something that possibly could happen.

That is why I left for a good while to post on GLP until it was sold to those who censor posts that rock the boat or ruffle feathers.

Until these changes are made, I will refrain from starting very many threads, because it really isn't going to make a difference after it gets buried after the initial interest with no record of how popular the members thought it was.

Well that's my vent for the night, let me know if you agree or disagree.

Although you do make some good points, I think that your suggestions could make ATS more competitive than it was intended to be. We're already biting each other's heads off enough, we don't need the incisive to make the most "popular" threads... it couldn't possibly help.

What could make things more interesting is if people actually stopped arguing about the same topics a thousand times and posted new information from the news regarding public events, or did some research and posted info that they thought was interesting or cool, or suspicious. That would help.

Originally posted by ravenshadow13
Although you do make some good points, I think that your suggestions could make ATS more competitive than it was intended to be.

No because the voting system would be anonymous.

[edit on 5-1-2009 by TH3ON3]

Post good content and the rest will take care of itself.

Quit complaining

*nod* I agree. They have something similar on Yahoo Answers and I think that it is abused there... I wouldn't want to change the environment of ATS to something with "voting." We have flagging for decent threads that are actually decent and members' profiles show how many flags they have. Isn't that good enough?