Do not treat this as a game

reply to post by IMOVERHERE


Hey, it's a big site man. I'm still learning things after 6.5 years. U2u me any time if you have any questions.

reply to post by intrepid


It is a big site... who are you and why are you here?

reply to post by intrepid

Yes ATS is a truly massive site. One very enjoyable way of using it is to treat it like one of those large multi-subject books we all have beside our beds, you just open it at random and dip read wherever.

The other main way I use ATS is to trawl for information on specific subjects like BPs oily gulf and then post information gleaned with references on UK forums. Especially this subject due to the apparent global suppression of relevant unbias truthful news

reply to post by IMOVERHERE


Don't forget about BTS - Belowtopsecret. Lots og interesting things there too.

reply to post by elevatedone

Thanks for reminder. Very busy with BP's oily gulf at moment.

Promise I will go exploring.

A little add to my first reply.

If it was not for RATS, I would not even noticed the point system for months.
Just like stars, flags and when I finally discovered I had a friends list.

It does keep it interesting, I'll still run into all kinds of stuff.

The 5000 points needed for RATS were a prime goal for me. When I was almost there, and gathered about 4500 minus an avatar... ( Pff... tough choice.) I noticed it was lowered to 500.

Well after that the points just kept flowing in like water.

I must admit... I always get that up well of enthusiasm when I'm near to a member title up grade.

I can't help it.

But that makes it more fun. For me at least.

reply to post by IMOVERHERE


Just a quick head up to you as a new member.

The Reason Conspiracy Theorists Can Never "Win" Against the Elite

The above thread was inpired by your introduction thread here.

And I gave it credit at the very end of my thread.

Come on by and check it out.

Originally posted by intrepid

Originally posted by new_here
So where do I find my 'grand total' of points, anyway?

[edit on 24-6-2010 by new_here]

Look at the bottom of every post. You will see a button that says "Profile". That's your personal profile. If you need help setting it up let me know.

Well I finally worked on my profile, nearly threw the laptop off the deck trying to get the avatar to "take" and after all that, I need to shrink the darn thing because it's way to wide. It's a waterfall, but you sure can't tell by looking at it! "I'll worry about that tomorrow" -Scarletquote

Thank you again for offering to help. If you feel led to shrink it for me, you will be my new best friend!!!

Originally posted by serbsta
The points system should be abolished as a whole if this site wants to harness the true title of a 'truth-seeking' entity. Otherwise, part of it is just a game... whether you treat it as such or not.

Yeah I agree, I dont like the points either. Okay it it says if you're an old member or a new member, you could separate it into metals like bronze silver gold, idk.. but why the point scale? Whenever you see something like that, you can't help but to wanna increase it, but then the quality of the posts and topics goes down. I wont let it bother me, though.

Originally posted by new_here

Originally posted by intrepid

Originally posted by new_here
So where do I find my 'grand total' of points, anyway?

[edit on 24-6-2010 by new_here]

Look at the bottom of every post. You will see a button that says "Profile". That's your personal profile. If you need help setting it up let me know.

Well I finally worked on my profile, nearly threw the laptop off the deck trying to get the avatar to "take" and after all that, I need to shrink the darn thing because it's way to wide. It's a waterfall, but you sure can't tell by looking at it! "I'll worry about that tomorrow" -Scarletquote

Thank you again for offering to help. If you feel led to shrink it for me, you will be my new best friend!!!

Theres a free program called gimp, you can scale the images down and edit images in that, its sorta like photo-shop.

I really have no idea what points are on here,and I can tell it's something I'm not likely to care about at all. I just post and read. Simple, really.

Originally posted by intrepid

Originally posted by new_here
So where do I find my 'grand total' of points, anyway?

[edit on 24-6-2010 by new_here]

Look at the bottom of every post. You will see a button that says "Profile". That's your personal profile. If you need help setting it up let me know.

Ok so how do I set up my profile, signature, etc.?


EDIT: Never mind. I just found the "Member Tools" section. That's not intuitive at all...



[edit on 7-7-2010 by Thamelas]

Well, not to be a token contrarian, but even though I know it's cool to not care about points or any of that crap because we are all so mature and wouldn't dare participate in high school popularity contests, I totally dig on the points system.

I like to be able to change my colors and stuff. I like getting stars. It makes me feel good when people agree with me. I check my points at least once a day! I like being selected as a friend. Why would anyone, some misanthropes aside, not like that?

But, hey, I post relatively reasoned and (I'd like to think) intellectually engaging posts (please don't stalk me by verifying this with my post history because you will, no doubt, happen to select one of my litanies of juvenile and/or overly aggressive posts, resulting in my face being covered in egg).

You can be a rational, intelligent person and have emotions at the same time. And though it's popular to equate receiving emotional responses from ATS as not having a life or being weird or something ... well, whatever. There's some bright, bright people on ATS and I get way more intellectual stimulation from many of them than I do anywhere else. I spend a lot of time here because I want to and I value it. The point system is a harmless little game for those who wish to play with it.

I do not see points as necessarily a bad thing. I think if it fosters communication among the boards then it should be well worth it.

reply to post by Memphis


I often wonder if points are awarded automatically by software or is there any personal human input subjectively awarding extra points for a good bit of research or a particularly pertinent comment. If there is a human input surely every single post would have to be viewed and marked to ensure fairness.

On the whole I think the points system provides another level of interest for those interested in such things.

I like the idea of points deduction for those who are personally rude and abusive to other members or break the ATS rules.

Another point - should points be awarded for talking about points by a bit of counting software.

Its nice that the blue pointy things awarded by other members attract points and give them some true value and meaning, not just a post count