reply to post by Republican08
There I just put you in the 'plus' category on the stars...lol. Yes I completely agree with you on that, but really in the long run it doesn't
matter because people ARE reading what you wrote no matter if it gets no stars or +100 stars. Also IMO a lot of things go into reasons why well
deserved posts may not get stars, sometimes within a certain group of members there is not much staring and if it just so happens that you are in a
thread with a lot of those faction of members then you might not get a star(lol sounds like we are in pre-school here), but that doesn't mean no one
listened.
Reply to kiwifoot:
I know what you mean, sometimes really good threads slip through the cracks and hardly get the attention they deserve and fall into the great "ATS
Void". Sometimes they get attention but not as much as you would expect. There are many reasons this can happen, timing of posting threads is
crucial, because you only get so long on the "New Thread" board before you get bumped out and you only have that small window of opportunity to
break way and make it to the next level, the 'active threads' and so on.
Some times, days, and certain times of the year (holidays for one) are thread killers and it is hard to come away with a recognized thread (I
consider a 'mega thread', or highly recognized and attention getting thread one with at least 35 flags and at least in the plus category of stars).
For example; If your post a thread at a time when there is less than 200 members online then odds dictate that unless your thread is something crazy
like "PROOF: BILDERBURGER IS JESUS CHRIST, MY INTERVIEW WITH A GREY**MUST READ**" then you probably won't get too many flags and such, although
sometimes that is not the case but it is best to post when more members are online. Also there is times when I had a thread that for the first 20
hours only had 17 flags, then within the next 6 or 7 it was up to 40, keeping in mind that top threads only stay in the headline part of the "My
ATS" for 24 hours, the front page and side bars keep them 72 hours I believe.
So sometimes threads can take off later as people explore the individual forums. Also the AUTHOR of the thread is a HUGE factor IMHO, members will
see a certain well known author and automatically go to the thread and star and flag it, most of the time it is well deserved though.I feel that the
other main problem is that most on ATS are looking for that 'smoking gun' thread, or something highly provocative and/or entertaining.
So you will as a rule see the threads with "Undeniable NASA Footage" or "I am an alien and so are you" get a lot of attention, they are
attracting. Of course some 9/11 "thermite" threads always do good, as does some political threads. In the UFO forum generally anything that
claims "PROOF" gets
a lot of attention, even though ultimately it is a hoax, something mundane, or no possible way to conclude the thread
contains proof.
However, in saying that it does seem that if you take time to make a "masterpiece thread", lol I like to call them "Master Threads" IT WILL GET
NOTICED, if on the rare occasion not by members with flags and stars it will get a lot of applauses' behind the scenes, the staff does not overlook
anything, trust me on this. One more thing, just because a thread has 500 replies and 20 plus pages does not make it good, I have seen ones with over
700 replies that have less than 3 flags and stars, sometimes none.
To conclude, here is my opinion on the 'perfect threads', as I have heard them called, usually end up with less than 4 pages of replies, and most
of those are public "thank yous" and "great job". Because with a perfect thread you get a neutral, empirical, lucid, and generally "all sides
covered", or 'closed' piece of research. There is nothing to debate in these cases so you don't have many replies, even if you have A LOT of
flags, stars, and applauses'. That is just my take on the whole "how to on threads" on ATS.~Justin
EDITED to rephrase last sentence.
[edit on 6/13/2009 by jkrog08]
[edit on 6/13/2009 by jkrog08]