ABOUT ATS: (comments on the new info threads)

Several new announcement threads will be appearing in the announcements forum: www.abovetopsecret.com... We're working on making sure all our new and existing members have a place to go to get all the details you need about the different aspects of the giant online community that is ATS. Since board staff are the only people authorized to post in the announcements forum, if you have comments on any of the topics, just post them here.

You forget to add that you can get extra points through applause by making very good posts in the piece about The points system.

well done skepticoverlord and the rest of the team. Btw, is it possible you can make your cat look abit more happy? pretty please

Not to be big on my work or anything...but what bout adding my ATS Search Plugins to the search thread? For people using FireFox and Slimbrowser? To make it easier to use the Google Search...

I understand the way this censor work but I thought that the score system was for parents to monitor what childrens and teens can view in the net, I have not problem with this censors but, is ats open for younger crow and how young? should I be concern? I am a littler bit confuse here. I love this site and some of the post can bring some heated debates, I love that, as an adult I always watch my language and I dont mind others been a little bit strong on it, I always have the feeling that we are all resposible adults here.

Marg.
In that we all like to think of ourselves as 'responsible adults', ATS does have a significant number of young adults and with such, the need to cuss or use profanity to make a point, in flaming, or just to use it exists and happens daily. The censors are a way to filter this and still provide an appealing and acceptable atmosphere without mods running around brandishing sticks and hitting people over the head.

Even with the censors, the use of profanity is still not acceptable or is frowned on.



seekerof

[Edited on 18-5-2004 by Seekerof]

I have to say I find that very funny That will be something interesting to see, the brandishing sticks and hitting people I mean

I have to say also thanks for the clarificacion and I think of you as a very down to earth person.

Problem is, excessive quoting is a very subjective measurement. And it can be used by a mod who has other issues.

My most recent penalty was for quoting 5 sentences out of a reply of 18 sentences. Some of the sentences were less than a half dozen words long. And I might add that every sentence that I quoted was necessary for me to make my points.

No excessive disk sectors wasted, no discontinuity in readability. My only alternative would be to not make my points on the topics.

This penalty was a personal response by a mod who doesn't much like me. No big deal; I realize that the mods have a busy job.

Did you complain when this happened?

Maybe there could be a reference to how many points you get in each different forum? An example could be:

Collaborative Fiction - x points for getting a post on your thread.

Just a thought.

Excessive quoting warning/penalty can be virtually nullified by:

1) remembering to not quote an entire post. If you feel the need to use the quote button at the top right of each members post, then be sure to remove what you are not necessarily commenting to. And no, rarely, if ever, does anyone address an entire comment that someone makes, hence/thus, just quote what is necessary.

2) here's a trick to make quoting just what you want or wish to address: the copy and paste method: highlight exactly those few sentences that you want to address/comment on, right-click, copy, then paste it into the reply field, then put '['quote']' at the beginning of the first sentence and '['/quote']' at the end of the last sentence (when actually doing this, do it without the use of the ' ).

Just an idea for those who simply use the quote button, which quotes an entire post, and do not remove what they are not addressing. The copy and paste method is one that is very ideal for those of us that like to quote. Just utilize the quote and /quote within brackets when doing so.



seekerof

[Edited on 20-5-2004 by Seekerof]

I like to see this points adding up, even when I don't what I am going to do with them

I am was wondering, I have a thread on the weaponary thread, and have over 7 pages of replies and have not gotten any points for them. What should I do? -Muzz

LOL, this had me laughing for awhile. first post:

second post:



And netchicken locks the thread.

Hi marg6043
Good question! What about ATS 'Fly-buy's?
Sanc'.

thank you this was very imformative.

Regarding the points system... and don't take this the wrong way, please. I Just want clarification.

I do appreciate the time taken to create that chart that illustrates how much certain posts are worth, as well as the replies, and so forth... and I am well aware of the compensation that mods can give for material they feel suits their judgement. However, something I am not aware of is how someone can earn vast amounts of points within a very short period of time. And by vast I mean 10's of thousands of points in weeks.

In situations like these I refuse to name names, and I am not going to do so. But I have definitely observed this kind of happenstance occuring between many different people:

Several members, who appear to have recently registered within the last 6 months or so have somehow accumulated 20 thousand points or more despite their total post count that is usually under 1,000. I'm not talking about scholars who have their reports recognized by mainstream media or things like that; I'm talking about regular members who post back and forth into regular threads.

Another trend I have noticed amongst these rapidly-accumulated points that have seemed to stop well into the 30-50 thousand range (again, this is about users that have been here for 6 months or less), is that they tend to be awarded to current or ex-military personnel. I could be wrong on labeling such a trend, but if I am not... please do explain, when possible. Thank you.

edit: im not whining or anything like that, nor am I talking about people who have retired their old names in favor of newer ones and have had the points transferred. I am really just trying to place an answer on this question that I have had

[edit on 7/1/2004 by AlnilamOmega]

umm, might be a really stupid question, but how do you vote for mumbers?? you might have to u2u me the answer, cause I'll probably never again find this thread!

I got my avatar deleted because I was smoking a bong in the photo (which is what I do a lot of, at my desk here). The reason for the removal and request to choose a new avatar was because it breached the Terms and Conditions of Avatars/Signatures, which I read carefully before choosing the avatar.

Me smoking a bong must have breached:

8) Other content, which at the discretion of forum staff, is designed to be vulgar, obscene, or offensive to the majority of ATS and BTS visitors and members.

I did not design it for any of those. (It's an avatar I use on other forums too). I will comply with Kano's decision (I don't think I have a choice) but I would suggest stating in the guidelines that avatars showing bong use are not allowed.. this would make it clear.

Anyway, this thread was given at the bottom of the Avatar/Signature Terms/Conditions to post comments on, and I felt like doing so. Thanks, and I did not mean to offend anybody who witnessed me smoking a bong. I apologise to those people.

lmao
Take your stoner goggles off and read closely....it says "use common sense"
A tip from a fellow toker