Any plans to fix the contribution?

I tell you what, it's really frustrating watching the contribution things go. I honestly view it as an insult, and think the current system is a joke - and that is putting it nicely.

I don't post for the contribution stuff, and it in itself doesn't bother me. But what does bother me is the fact that other people are getting contribution points quickly, and for things which are just plain out hoaxes and trolling.

Evidence A:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

This person is a new member and has a single thread. Yet from this single thread, he has 53 flags and the F is already filled up.

What is the thread? It's someone claiming to be an alien, and claiming that the world is about to end.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Evidence B:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

This thread has been up much longer, and yet it only has 36 flags. In this thread, the person has done a good bit of research, complied it up in a nice and presentable manner.

The effects of this actually promotes ignorance rather than denying it. Because now it's all about playing towards peoples biases, saying what people want to hear rather than posting quality topics and posts. It doesn't matter if the person has taken the time to do a bit of research on a topic.

What the system is basically saying is that the ET thread is of higher quality/contribution than the thread which obviously took a good bit of work and research on the posters part. Again, the end effect is the promotion of ignorance, rather than denying ignorance.

I view this as a serious flaw in things. I realize this is based on user response, but that is exactly why it's all about playing towards peoples biases, rather than quality.

I'm probably even part of the problem, I rarely think of flagging threads and stuff like that. I guess I should start flagging quality threads more often to try and help things, but I usually don't think about it. And admittedly - if I do flag a thread, it's probably because someone is saying things I like, AKA playing to my biases.

So:

Does ATS recognize this as a problem?

If yes: Are there plans in the works for fixing it?

I think I'd feel a bit better about the site, and the "future" of the site if I knew ATS recognized the problem and plans on addressing it. When I see it now, it just really annoys me.

[edit on 6/29/2009 by badmedia]

Howdy,

A thread already exists for topics such as this and can be fount here:

The ATS Issues Thread

Please post your thoughts and comments in the existing thread.

Cheers
FredT