Question for Admin/Mods "good idea here?"

Mods/Admin

I would love to see this happen. But I don't know if its possible or even asked...

If I come upon a Thread that is say 80 pages long and I'm interested in the article...well I start reading the first page, then move onto the second looking for stars, third/fifth page looking for stars. Maybe you see my point

I guess my point being is.... Is it possible to move the star posts directly underneath the OP's original post. From highest to lowest?

I do understand people make comments about others comments and would get out of order but would it be possible to double post? Or just alter this Idea?

This may be awful or take up to much space but your thoughts?

Thanks, TD

i like this idea, i hate it when there's a long thread and you have to read every page or else you'll miss something important and want understand the rst of the thread or will post something irrelevant.

good idea, i hope the mods like it

I think you hit the nail on the head. Posts woul dbe sooooo out of order esp on the larger threads. While staying on topic, big threads often have a life of thier own and meander to and from a variety of Thesis flowing from the OP.

So the fantastic post you make say 60 pages in may make no senc eif its taken out of context and lumped up with other high star posts etc.

Not only out of order, but just because a post has no stars or little stars doesnt make the content any less valuable.

A star is an opinion of one's post. What if your opinion doesnt match that post? What if you miss soo many good posts because you choose to be biased against lack of stars?

What if your post has no stars and continually gets overlooked because people thought "eh, no stars, not a good post".

I say its fine how it is.

[edit on 2/10/2009 by greeneyedleo]

If you're not interested in reading all posts in a thread why bother starting?

Good concept but doesn't hold well with the concept of "denying ignorance" does it?

Not all good posts are starred and "friends" often star eachothers posts too.

Read....read....read.

I MAKE myself read sometimes because I fall into THAT trap.

Sure, stars are an indication of a good post, but the real treasure doesn't always shine like gold or diamonds.

I'll tell you what I sometimes do with those Epic threads that seem to go on forever. At the bottom of every post in a multi page thread you see some options. One of them is THREAD. If you click on it, it'll bring you all the posts in that thread for that member. Sometimes I do that on the thread author's post and read those just to get a feel for whether or not I want to go back and read the whole thing.

Not a perfect solution, but may save you some time.

I think this is an excellent idea! It was mentioned earlier that the posts with the stars could be moved directly under the OP's post, and the problems concerning that have been noted.

However, I think I have a solution to that problem.

Instead of moving the posts with stars, provide a "filter" button on the thread which would enable the reader to have the thread displayed without the posts containing no stars. This would eliminate the problem of threads being out of order as well as mitigate the problem of posts with no stars being overlooked.

It's an option that provides a convenience rather than a forced view of the thread. This lets people CHOOSE how they read the thread, and has much greater potential for customization.

-Sanity's Last Day

Hmm, my first edit didn't seem to work. Here goes another attempt.

EDIT TO ADD: An even better way to implement this potential "filter" button is to have it provide various different filter options. These options could be things like always displaying the OP's post regardless of stars, and having the ability to add other people such as those on your friend list or people known for quality content.

[edit on 11-2-2009 by Sanitys Last Day]

I think you should just read it all..doesnt take that long to skim through a large thread.Stars doesnt mean it has any less input to the topic like leo said.

reply to post by greeneyedleo


Agree. I get more stars when I say something reactionary, like "this just sucks!!!! how can this go on!" than when I write a well researched and well reasoned post.

Popular doesnt mean valuable. At all.

Everyone will hate me for this, but I don't star or flag anything or anyone.

When the explanation of this came up in reading the rules when I joined,

I ignored it. I don't think I'm speaking for myself, I'm hear to read and exchange information - not to enter a contest. The notion of a point system on a forum is form an earlier time on the Internet.

This isn't a video game, there should be no winning and losing involved. The whole notion strikes me as adolescent.

As I've posted elsewhere, I think ATS is great in concept. There are some really intelligent and insightful people.

But as it operates now, the inmate are coming closer to taking over the asylum.

The good and even decent stuff is being drowned by a deluge of teenagers, those pushing hard and persistently racist agendas, pranksters, the sadly delusional, and a range of other types who just pull the level of discussion down tremendously.

If there is a point system, those who draw away from the discourse should be discouraged. Otherwise the whole thing just threatens to become babble.

The intelligent people will leave after too much frustration, (I'm halfway out the door) and it will just devolve into a bedlam situation that people will remark was once interesting.

Sorry for my negative take on things after less than two months here, but that's how it looks to me.


Mike F