Can I have my 'Flag Contribution Bar' removed please?

I want mine to be PINK!!!!! Not Blue

reply to post by m0r1arty


If the flag bar dissapears how will you know what topics are important and what topics aren't? You see it has purpose.

Originally posted by SuperSlovak
If the flag bar dissapears how will you know what topics are important and what topics aren't? You see it has purpose.

Yes, I often see well flagged threads and pop in for a read only to find out that I couldn't have lived without having read them (example).

I'm not saying drop them altogether - just stop us having to drag them around under our avatars everywhere we go through giving us a choice. If people want to keep em' then fine. I'd rather donate all my flag and stars to the "We're fine for stripes, but lacking for stars and flags, American patriotism donation fund".

I realise there was humour involved there SuperSlovak, I'm just pig sick of a silly ranking system which has nothing to do with denying ignorance, in fact I'd say it promotes it.

Well titled threads, well presented opening post and decorum are the merits we should live by. After that it's allowed to go off-topic, that's the nature of the beast.

-m0r

FOUND YA!

haha great poem made my night while surfing before crashing out!!!

I agree I was hoping this was a petition page to make it optional. I must also add that I would prefer a centaur contribution level.

Its a consensus of people on ATS that centaurs are far cooler then flags, and might I add if given the choice between the two, any ATS'er would choose having a centuar over being given a flag

Click here for more information.

Originally posted by Spectre0o0
do you think posters on here are stupid or what.

Yes I do, especially the ones who don't know how to use the rules of written language.

And mods! We have a winner for all those flags I don't want!!

Could you use your wily ways to pass onto this guy the flag I've accumulated (all of them from ever) that I detest?

cheersverymuch.

-m0r

I agree with the OP and all of the other criticisms of the "flag contribution bar". My participation at ATS took a sharp decline after it appeared. I'm not blaming that entirely, there are other reasons too, but it definitely affected the way I felt about my own contributions here, to see that they still register as 'null'.

I think it would be better if it worked on a per-thread level. As in, number of stars/number of threads posted. That way, the thing would reflect post quality as opposed to quantity.

For instance, I've been a member since 8/07; I've only started 43 threads and have a total of 575 posts but I've gotten 25 flags, 160 stars and 12 rounds of applause. I'm happy with what those statistics say, but my 'flag contribution level' doesn't indicate that I'm anything but an 'apprentice'.

I realize it's not going to get that kind of an overhaul, but adding an option to show it or not would be a pretty simple bit of code to add. I'd be happy to be able to turn it off.

[edit on 3/2/2010 by Teratoma]

Do you think you guys are maybe going down the wrong path?

Flags are given for a contribution to others. For example this thread has garnished 66 flags and counting (oh the irony). Perhaps if you feel strongly about the flag situation don't give them out.

About a year ago there was a similar thread here on ATS posted by a very respected member those members words brought action and alot of the experienced members heeded the advice and from that day on less and less flags were given, at the end of the day if you don't like flags don't think about them just read the threads and posts and be done with it.


OP I enjoy your posts and if I want to give you a flag for contributing god damn it man I will.

I swear something happened to this site when they pulled out the "contributor level" thing, and then changed it to just the FCL Bar. Its like the general IQ dropped by 20 points or something. I know it was probably meant to reward those members that really do contribute something and keep this site alive, but I think it just fed the hyenas that need the colors to feel better about themselves.

Personally, I don't like the FCL Bar, and I didn't really like the "contributor level" thing either. I'm not much of a thread starter though, so maybe that's why. I would like to see the FCL Bar gone, and that space left blank, but I don't expect it to happen anytime soon (unless it comes with the revamp of the site).

Nice poem, OP.

Originally posted by spy66
The flag bar is like a rank in a video game. It doesn't tell anyone about your gaming IQ, It just tell someone how much you play.

The flag bar encourages people to stock ATS with more content which generates more ad revenue.

It is child psychology, sort of like the use of a smiley-face-sticker chart in elementary school to encourage/reinforce a desired behavior.

I'll just re-iterate: if the 'bar' reflected a rating of stars-per-thread, as opposed to merely counting stars, the incentive to post would still exist - it would simply be augmented my an incentive to post well. That's a win/win situation for everyone.

...For instance: imagine two posters: one has been here for 8 years, the other 2. The former has posted 200 threads, and has collected 400 flags. An obvious average of 2 flags per thread.

The latter has started 800 threads, and has collected 400 flags. 1 flag for every two threads.

With the current system, their bars would show them as equals.

Why, oh why, should they receive the same 'reward'?

I would love to be able to contribute all the time, but I can't. So I try to make every post count. I only post when I have something to say. There are a lot of folks like me here, and I feel that the current system could be improved, as far as recognizing our input goes.

I also feel that it's detrimental to the whole of the site to have established a 'quantity over quality' system of rewards.

Let's start an exchange program with other boards that involve similar ranking systems. Much like currency exchange, the relative value of the various stars, flags, and what have you between different boards would float. Obviously the "rewards" on boards with more traffic would have more value. Speculators could derive complex algorithms that determine microsecond-moves in the relative value of, say, a star on ATS and a star on another board.

Our Skeptic Overloard could create "fiat stars and flags" out of thin air and "loan" them to posters who feel they don't have enough, based on promises to post quality posts later. These "promises to post" (or "bonds"9 could then be evaluated based on nebulous factors by some sort of "inter-board rating agency" and sliced into "tranches" that could then be traded on yet another form of exchange. People collecting and speculating in this area could amass massive amounts of "virtual" stars and flags. Then, when somebody demands an actual star or flag, and the whole system seems threatened, a kind of "Congress" made up of the top boards could vote to bail out the system by flooding it with "liquidity," or providing actual stars and flags to the biggest boards.

Hmm....sounds familiar....where I have I heard this tale before...let me think a momement...

Yes i agree, we should be able to opt out. I don't like flag whoring either ie someone making a controversial thread just to get people riled up etc or the constant "flag my thread". Maybe im just jealous... But really we should have an option to spend points on where we can get rid of the bar imo.

Originally posted by Solomons
But really we should have an option to spend points on where we can get rid of the bar imo.

See, I would be more than willing to use points to get rid of mine. Or say, you have to use points for it to actually show, kind of like the extra lines of text under the user name.