Thread Exposure to the ATS Masses

I have becoming more and more aware of the fact that the discussion on a thread has less to do with the subject matter, or even ATS members desire to comment or read the thread as it does with exposure of the thread.

Granted there is a mechanism in place for herd mentality reading: The threads with the most action get the most exposure. Okay this is good, I agree with this. But what about the threads that were started on off hours, or were lost to the ATS mill and just never got the critical action but would be a stimulating discussion?

Sitting in BAN will get exposure, and getting enough action to be on the home page will get exposure.

What if you are an experienced poster whose thread never caught traction but you would really like more opinions?

Options I know of would be:

1: U2U people you know would be interested.
2: Place the thread in your signature
3: Find similar threads and use information from the forgotten thread and link to it where it makes sense to the discussion.

I would like to propose a system that allows Thread creators the ability to exchange ATS points, or be allowed a certain amount (say 1 a month) where they can select a thread to sit on the front page for anywhere from 2 to 6 hours depending on demand for the spot. This would allow the thread the opportunity to get traction, or simply die. If it dies then it is because nobody really did care not because of poor placement.

Again this would need to be heavily limited so people could only do it for the rare thread they feel is very important and would have taken of with better placement.

Anyway I'm curious what everyone thinks or if there is a better solution here I missed...

reply to post by Jinglelord


Kind of a neat idea.

Imagine if 250 points bought you a "bump" the same as a reply would do. You could buy your way up the recent posts page a few times. Or, maybe several thousand points bought your way to the front page for 24 hours?

I am not a programmer, and I am not an admin on this site, but it sounds like a neat idea to me!

reply to post by Jinglelord


I like that idea. Right now, there's really nothing you can do with all those ATS points anyway so why not find some good use for them?


It would be like buying ad space on the site except using it to promote a thread you think is particularly important or one that you spent a lot of time on.

The cost for getting on the home page should be extremely high so people don't waste everybody's time buying space for every silly thread they post. Something around 5,000 ATS points should do to discourage frivolous usage. That way, members would use it to promote only their best work.



If we can't spend our ATS points on anything, what's the point in having them anyway?

Remember, it’s a user generated website. Ultimately, the members pick what’s “hot”. I might read something and wonder why it’s not getting more exposure, whereas you may read it and think it’s not important.

I assure you that not many threads go unnoticed. Unless you factor in time zones or something. I mean, you have the recent posts page (which is actually a couple pages), subject specific forums, threads by friends, hot new topics, etc…

I put threads in my signature sometimes, and I have a few friends who U2U me when they contribute something new, but in those cases they are usually the members who end up on the front page anyway.

If you want to put a thread (whether it is yours or someone else’s) on the front page, in the spotlight or whatever… Flag them, star them, and facilitate healthy discussion. Contribute. (Not saying you don’t, just in general).

Or you can monitor seismographs and news feeds to be the first with a breaking story. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but a lot of the hot, front page topics are from astute members who catch something quick.

Or try your hand at crafting an original thread, one with your own ideas, multiple sources, etc…it’s a hard, long process but rewarding in its own right. Even if you don’t get on the front page, it's a lot of fun and rewarding, as I’m sure others can attest to. I spent days on a post in the seldom visited research forum. That was one of the coolest things I’ve done in my time on ATS. Did I get 10000 flags and front page status? No, but I honestly contributed.

Personally, I’d much rather 7 or 8 replies of good natured, thorough discussion rather than 675 pages of bickering, “LOL’s”, “I agree”, trolling and name calling.

Originally posted by Juston
Personally, I’d much rather 7 or 8 replies of good natured, thorough discussion rather than 675 pages of bickering, “LOL’s”, “I agree”, trolling and name calling.

edit on 4/12/2011 by Juston because: clarity

And that is the single best reason to just let it be I can possibly imagine.

I thought about this idea earlier today when two threads on the same topic were posted in BAN at different times. The first was quickly moved to fragile earth and there wasn't much discussion, the second sat in BAN for much longer and got quite a bit of very good discussion before it was moved and closed.

I can only imagine if with this one very clear example this happened it is probably happening a lot.

Many of us have very limited time on ATS and can't spent the time scouring for good threads and just kind of wind up with whichever decent threads have the most visibility.

I would like it if the more experienced users could take their under appreciated threads and make them easier to find.

This isn't about stars and flags, this is about discussion and idea sharing. It isn't hard to get stars and flags if you want to flag troll. All you need to do is create a strongly worded post on a hot button topic that will generate little actual discussion but a lot of arguments, lots of stars and flags, and front page exposure for garbage which will cause even more argument and more exposure until a Mod finally closes the thread.

What I propose is front page exposure for the well thought out, well researched, rational threads that don't get the same quick traction but ultimately improve the quality of this site.

I'm not even saying I have any of those threads because I don't my threads so far tend to consist of philosophical ramblings that have a very niche audience who will find them if they want to play, but there are others that do and I want to see them get the exposure they deserve.

I think there must be some solution to that. Right now the only thing I know ATS Points buys you are off-color comments, or at least that is the price one pays for making them. I am also amazed about how much deficit spending goes on as I see many profiles with negative points.

I have seen many of my own threads leave BAN to die a peaceful death on other forums. I had the opportunity to see one of my own threads get put out to pasture to rust in peace for not being "alternative" enough then see the same subject come up in prime time some 30 hours later and get good traction in BAN - that the topic got some extra traction was a good thing. I admit I have a few dead threads. I begin scouring foreign - usually European - news sources in middle of the night for their morning reports looking for interesting topics. I turn to foreign sources to find news that woud probably never see the light of day in US press.

Admittedly I am point conscious and like to keep a good standing in the ATS community and also know I could earn a lot of flags and stars by sensationalizing a headline and stating an unpopular stance. I don't do that though I have been tempted to try my underhand at it just out of curiosity. Sometimes the news story already carries a sensationalized headline though. Most material I find does go onto BAN and it is the forum I pay the most attention to usually, although I do like to contribute to threads in other forums I find by watching the real-time displays and searching through forum lists.

I also believe there is a great difference in ATS points earned by which forum the thread is placed in. For that reason I would rather put something worthwhile in a higher-point forum when possible. Perhaps part of the problem is that there is such a disparity in the points earned in different forums. I wish we could accentuate the other forums a bit more. Frankly I have no idea how to solve this problem, but I am acutely aware of it.

I think perhaps there is too much emphasis put on BAN, too much disparity in points earned there as opposed to elsewhere. I know more about what I find interesting than how to effectively write interesting articles. When I do write something interesting it is because I have a good tailwind or just get lucky.

Finding and posting news stories really doesn't take that much talent, at least not the talent and effort that goes into writing a good piece. Changing the policy about the points earned on BAN would severely cut into my ATS brownie points but I think perhaps it is something that might be considered. That might put other forums on equal footing.

I don't always find the "Hot Topics" to be as much interest to me as the middle flag earners. As has been mentioned, many of those popular threads contain a lot of bickering and trivial pursuits. Some of the "middle" topics have a more interesting and intellectual content. I generalize making that statement but it very often holds true. And those threads fall off the board perhaps too rapidly.

I think it would help if more people knew about this
Especially newer members. I didn't know about it, or what it was till someone mentioned it in a thread.
If it were renamed to something more descriptive, it might catch more eyes, and thus new threads might
still get noticed once they leave the new topics page.

Having said that, I do like your idea. And I think it would be interesting to try variations of it to see what works.

Maybe SO or Springer could chime in on this one.