My idea is something similar i have seen mentioned over here quite a few times.

Giving stars and flags is a good way of promoting good content to be more available to the public, and also in giving some sort of "community input" about the contents.

What this system lacks is the real opinion formed by the community.

Currently a small but fanatic sub-section can promote content just by eagerly starring and flagging content they like.

What is needed in my opinion is a system seen on eg. youtube, where every comment can be rated + or - and the score is usually HIGHLY indicative of the content written.

What do you think?

I think the whole thing is rubbish,
Never have i looked at how many flags a thread had and said whoa im not going to read that thread it only has 2 flags!!!!

or im going to ignore all posts that dont have stars.

Well maybe I dont understand the system, but if there is one and it does something I have no idea what it is or what it is for. Maybe we need more information about what these flags and stars do.

[edit on 18-3-2010 by tigpoppa]

Yeah, I think the whole thing is rubbish also...

Seems to me that the Star and Flag system doesn't really mean a whole lot. I've seen a lot of Stars and Flags on threads and wondered why? Then you look down and see the replies like "I don't know what this is about but Star and Flag for bringing it up" or something stupid like that.

I'd like to see where individuals can express their own opinion of the topic like what YouTube does. That way you can get to know the "Serious" posters from the "Not So Serious" ones....

Anyhow, That's my Two Cents..

I Agree

How can a alternative conspiracy site such as this have a system that buries potentially good threads?

[edit on 18-3-2010 by togetherwestand]

Well, definitely if you're in the right crowd everything you post is going to get flagged to death. I've noticed the quality of the post usually has nothing to do with it.

I like the current system as far as I understand it at this point.

Everyone has a different opinion about what they read.

Some people will think content is garbage while others will think it's brilliant.

Why is there anything wrong with the people who read the posts giving something a flag or star if it's good to them?

It sounds like a less complicated form of what you're suggesting anyway. Why make it complicated? On YouTube when you rate a video it's like a mini movie rating system, comments are not movies.

When you "rate" a comment you only have to judge on the content. With a video there's varying degrees, the sound and image quality may be fantastic, but the featured music may be dull and slowing down the pace of a video. So you might have given the video a "5" if everything was great, but you deduct points for the poor choice of music.

I'm not sure if you are referring to the 5 star rating system or the system.

The 5 star rating system could work. But I see a lot of potential problems with the thing. Just like stars on posts, it's all got to do with opinion. It's not going to change the behavioral patterns of why people star a post.

Instead, it will bring a negative. Stars are positive, like a reward or a sign of agreement. (just like in you tube)

The only thing that could be added is a ...and I don't see how that will help anything. It would just show the author of the post that people either don't agree or don't appreciate the comment, contribution or viewpoint.

[edit on 23/01/2010 by jinx880101]

+ and - is the WORST IDEA ever. There are too many different opinions on ATS. No one would ever get above 3 flags because people would be de flagging. Plus who cares about flags lmao. This is ATS, for discussing conspiracies lmfao. The only thing conspiracies have in common with flags, are false flags

ok I understand the purpose of flags now can someone explain what the stars are for?

do they do anything?

I'm all for change if it creates a positive within the site...
The stars and flags system creates a positive in many ways for members and yes lurkers.
To add a comment section such as youtube has, well would create more negative than positive.
Consider how many have had to disable the comments on their vids due to too many negative comments, or spam or whatever.
I don't see how it could add anything that the stars and flags do not already accomplish.

I agree with you

they need to add that to the new ATS

another thing is for us to know when we are quoted or replied to ... since most of us cant keep up with all the threads

We already have a comments section in place.

It's called posting.

Um no, IMO the system they have now is fine. The system on youtube is ridiculous. Havent you ever noticed how the stupidest most off topic responses to a video ALWAYS get the most "thumbs up" It's the same here. I see people getting a ton of stars for saying a stupid joke where someone who puts forth effort with research in their post and they get none. Those I like to star because that person did their own work and presented it. Anybody can come up with something witty to every thread posted.

Personally it's not about stars and flags it's about content. I swear people treat these stars and flags like little gold stars you got as a child if you did your HW right...lol Do you really need that much validation on what is being said? Cant anyone form their own opinion? Why do the amount of stars and flags have to be what determines a good thread??? Many threads, GOOD threads, get over looked. I like to go into each forum once a week and see what threads have been posted in them. I find some really good ones I missed and it seems many others have missed too.

[edit on 3/18/2010 by mblahnikluver]