ATS - Time to take it back!

reply to post by The Sword


Politics does spill over into all sorts of other arenas of discussion. Sadly, most political speech is riddled with mainstream talking points. This does not create an atmosphere to discuss alternative views of politics. It's also hard to talk about black government programs when there are people stating "It's Bush's fault, its Obama's fault".

If that is the kind of response we are going to receive, then whats the point?

reply to post by sheepslayer247


Great post. Couldn't agree with you more. I find more and more threads are just written by people to get attention to themselves. Then when asked to qualify their statements they get angry.

I wonder lately if I should even stay on this site. Usually the BS just aggrevates me more than humors me.

reply to post by amc621

I thought the same thing as you. Should I leave ATS to the trolls and hacks? After some of the responses I read on this thread, I think not. The trolls will come and go, but those of us who want good content and conversation will always stick around.

Thanks for understanding and responding!

Hmm I'm definitely "new school" on here but these are my observations (and random ramblings about this subject) so far:

Many veteran users hold ATS very dear - they talk about "golden periods", that things have now changed, and so on ... well, don't you think that ATS along with any and all other forums on the internet have always been this way (changing), and perhaps your memories are somewhat selective to certain great topics and members and therefore not entirely accurate?
The great thing (but perhaps also the sad thing) about the human mind and brain is that it automatically recollects very happy and successfull times way more often than the dull times.

Personally I've always been living by the expression of "leading by example" - meaning that if one is unhappy with how some things are, by all means show what you feel would be the RIGHT thing to do.

Also, I don't quite understand why there are so many different threads about this same topic.
I respect if some members have a passion for ATS (even though I think the content of a forum will always be more important than the actual platform they're presented on... no disrespect to the site owners), but we still all need to remembers that we (whether we have 22 or 2222 posts) are all just that; members!
We don't own the site, we don't make any rules, we're merely contributing.

And the whole thing of going from step 1 - which is voicing his/her opinion about this very subject - to step 2 - which is creating his/her VERY OWN thread about this particular subject instead of just writing in one of the other threads... I don't know, it just seems like overkill.
Are you afraid of not being heard/read if you don't make your own brand new thread?

I would be sad if there suddenly pops up VIP forums, invite only forums and the like... wouldn't that in a way be censorship?

In conclusion, I like ATS' forums just the way they are now but yeah, I don't know the alternatives and what I might have missed.

reply to post by sheepslayer247
Thanks for the welcome! I’m going to C&P the following comments to a suggestion thread. Once I find it. :heh:

Being a new member here, does not mean that I am new to large forums. I have been a member of several boards that made the jump from being a small social group to growing exponentially seemingly overnight. There will be growing pains. That is why it is important for members to offer solutions when they have an issue that they want addressed. “Be part of the solution, or you just become part of the problem”

reply to post by SunshineLaws

I get a little peeved at people not reading the entire thread before posting redundant comments/questions as well. But what can you do? I spend a lot of time going through entire threads just to realize that my sentiments had already been posted by another member. I would not post in that situation, but many still do.

I don't think that the mods or owners could ever keep up on monitoring all of the redundant posts. We as members must do that ourselves. I try to make sure that if I post, it contains new information or ideas. It's pointless to say something that has already been stated.

reply to post by sheepslayer247


My solution was in the last paragraph of my post:

"What happened to this thread could be avoided by a simple update to the “READ BEFORE Posting” threads ‘stickied’ on every forum. The latest update is listed as: **02/18/2007 UPDATE***. My suggestion/solution is to add a new standard for the quality of posts. This standard would state that you must read the last fifteen pages, or last fifteen days of posts in a thread, before you reply. Repeat offenders should be dealt with however the owners of this board see fit. It’s just a matter of respect for other members time, and the costs the owners are absorbing in broadband and storage."

To add to that statement, it could be 5 days/5 pages or anything the owners feel could cut down on the bloat. Please read the example I posted to see what I mean. It is really an exemplar of a situation I see over and over again in popular threads, throughout the board as a whole.

Also, when I read through threads that post congruent sentiments, I give the poster a star. I then will read the thread and hit the "reply to" and add a small point that the poster may have missed, or not stated in their post, to flesh out my full take on the topic at hand. Works for me, I am just offering this as a suggestion to solve what many long-term members have stated is a problem.

The board is growing, it has to be time to set new standards. N'est–ce pas?.

My greatest concern is this -

I see a tremendous lack of engagement with the community from the staff any more. There appears to be an "US and THEM" mentality appearing from anyone with a staff badge, Why is this relevant?

This issue has been brought up, dealt with, rehashed, overcooked and dealt with time and again. The staff are NOT listening to the community. The star and flag farming has reached epidemic proportions. ATS is turning into FACEBOOK with 'popularity ratings'. How puerile would we view ATS if this were recognised publicly to be the case?

The quality of content no longer matters - it's the FOR or AGAINST of the subject that matters to people, which is COMPLETELY WRONG. If someone wants to push an agenda, they star and flag. If they want the thread to be buried, they use the various methods that ALL CLUED UP MEMBERS KNOW ABOUT to sink the thread. Admit it, you know that this sort of thing goes on.

This complaint has been raised time and again, yet we are still facing the issue. Free-Market content economics DOES NOT WORK. Just like it doesn't work in actual economics. Those who know how to manipulate the system will always come out on top. As part of this 'market distortion' in terms of content economics, we will see swathes of utterly vacuous threads, that are purely flag and star farming efforts - because by their very nature, the system demands them.

Listen to us staff members, respond to this thread, and change the system. Impose a THREE FLAG / TEN STAR PER DAY limit on each account - create a TANGIBLE value to stars and flags, rather than something that is throw away and measureably worthless.

/RANT

Rev.

reply to post by The Revenant


I think that the mods and the higher up's do the best they can. Let us not forget that this is a free website and they do a good job considering that we do not have to pay to use the site.

On the other hand, I agree with your statement. There needs to be more interaction between us "prolls" and the people who manage the site.

As a side note: Have you noticed the decorum of this site of the last few days, including today? I think people overall are getting antsy, or something else is going on. Even people at work and elsewhere have been completely rude. Even those who are usually quite nice and level-headed. I don't know whats going on but something is up. I have been a bit on edge as well.