Stars and Flags

Ok I been here a month now and thought I had my head around the etiquette for star and flag giving but it seems I was wrong.

I assumed a star went to a post you found Original, informative or amusing and same with flags and threads.

Ive seen Threads with no posts and no content get flags (I dont mean cr@p content I mean a blank page) I forget the title but 1 had 3 flags in 10 min with nothing!!!!

Ive seen people get multiple stars for saying "I agree" and then 2nd line underneath. Whats 2nd line mean?
Ive seen a post where a valid comment had 5 stars and then the next post said "I agree with the post above" that one had 7 LOL.

And worse is when a duplicate thread comes up like 5 min after the original and the 1st post is "already posted" and has a link to the original and that thread gets more flags than the 1st!!!!!

So a couple questions what is the official etiqutte for S&F and what do they actually mean or do?
Does it have something to do with accessing the WATS page?
anyone know what goes on in there?
how do I get access?
what does 2nd line mean?
And finally whats your personal criteria for S&F giving?

I want to know what 2nd line is also

2nd line is put there because 1 line posts are frowned upon by ats, people add that to make a second line..
i also agree with your other points raised, also i have noticed when something clearly gets debunked, they are still getting starred and flagged, which completely baffles me..

Star and Flag,

Your assumption of the purpose of the stars and flags are correct, and you are right in seeing a biased distribution of them at times.

My guesses for why are as follows:

1. some people are strict with them, some will commend a stupid quip or someone who agrees with their position.
2. Some more popular members (no names, I agm not looking to slander anyone ) seem to have "fans" who follow their profile, starring and flagging like it's goin out of style.
3. People think a high ratio of stars:posts and flags:threads makes them wiser, or increases their reputation with other members.

Eventually you just stop caring about stars, and only want flags to gain exposure for your threads.

Originally posted by IkNOwSTuff

Ok I been here a month now and thought I had my head around the etiquette for star and flag giving but it seems I was wrong.

I assumed a star went to a post you found Original, informative or amusing and same with flags and threads.

Ive seen Threads with no posts and no content get flags (I dont mean cr@p content I mean a blank page) I forget the title but 1 had 3 flags in 10 min with nothing!!!!

Ive seen people get multiple stars for saying "I agree" and then 2nd line underneath. Whats 2nd line mean?

It simply means the person posting has nothing to add but are avoiding the no 1 line posts rule.

What they fail to understand is, that you CAN have a 1 line post if what you say is relevant and contributes content to the thread that is on topic.

I've seen someone answer a question posed by an OP, and then follow it with '2nd' which is just idiocy. The answer to the question was valid, relevant, and on topic - IT was not going to cop a '1 liner' warning.

Unless a very senior Mod who mentioned this once a while back was wrong, that is.

Sometimes people hit reply before starting to type in a thread, which causes them to post a blank thread, which they either get confused by, or edit to add their content.

A lot of people will flag it for kicks. Star the post and make some observation about the topic and apply it to the missing post - "It's a fake, I can't see it." etc, etc.

Stars in general are exactly as you stated. It's not you who hasn't got their head wrapped around it, it's other people.

For a time, there were people who openly admitted to starring every post in a thread regardless of content. Or people will star someone for starring them. It's a bit silly.

Indeed I do believe the Star a post system SHOULD have a Negative star counter also, because sometimes you want to say I disagree, but don't want to necessarily contribute and start an argument - whereas the I agree star gets away with stating an agreement without contribution.

All in all, it's window dressing for opinions only.

Now star my post or I will feel unloved and probably sook

Originally posted by Misterlondon
2nd line is put there because 1 line posts are frowned upon by ats, people add that to make a second line..

Problem is, it doesn't work. If a mod sees a post with no contributing content, regardless of it's 2nd qualifier, it will be treated as a non-contribution/1 liner and get the same treatment.

It'd work if it was automated, but it's not. You can leave 1 liners and they can go unnoticed, so it needs a mod to see and act.

It's silly people still do it....

Have to agree on all counts. I stipulate that since the rules state no 1 line posts, and adding 2nd line doesn't count, it should be an automatic temporary post ban. That's just me though.

the stars and flags have become a joke, flags were intended to help members Flag content they felt others should see, now it's used as a popularity contest to keep all your lame threads on the front page feed.

I give stars to posts I find useful and contributing, not always, but that's my criteria if I'm going to give them out. I'll flag a topic I think is good and ripe for discussion.

This trend of sensationalist thread titles then lacking content, unrelated content, or no content at all, getting flags and stars instantly baffles me, it hurts the site and the community as a whole as the new feeds become a disjointed mess of random dribble while good threads are hard to find.

I basically have to rely on friends or my own posting history to keep discussions going as threads get pumped down into oblivion so we have can 50 duplicate Obama or Osama threads with 50+ stars and flags.

I call it the digg effect, and it shows why democracy doesn't actually work on the honor method. digg has a similar system for awarding points and voting threads up and down, and it immediately became co opted and essentially an advertising platform for the poster.

Since we give points, I think we should be taking points away as well. You slapped some flags on an empty thread? Well, sucks to be you because the rest of the community didn't and guess what? You just lost points.

Actually scratch that, make stars and flags points. You get a set amount of stars and flags to give out based on your points level. If you abuse the star and flags you lose them

reply to post by badw0lf


LOL thanks for the info, the star was mainly coz your a fellow Aussie tho

reply to post by IkNOwSTuff


Haha We're a growing number here for sure, pretty soon we'll be able to take over the.. Uhh..

Never mind!!!!

reply to post by phishyblankwaters


I also automatically star anyone who posts anything helpful, informative or funny in threads I start.
Is this wrong or seen as favourtism coz its on my thread?

reply to post by IkNOwSTuff


Well it's none of my business how you hand out stars but for me :

anything helpful, informative or funny in threads

As long as those criteria are met it's worthy of a star.

Originally posted by phishyblankwaters
reply to post by IkNOwSTuff

 

Well it's none of my business how you hand out stars but for me :

anything helpful, informative or funny in threads

As long as those criteria are met it's worthy of a star.

Well then based on that criteria my friend you just earned yourself another star

I can not add anything to the explanations of S&F's above since they are stellar, but here is a post I placed in another thread about how we could handle the giving of S&F's like they are going out of style.

My suggestion. Take away all stars. Rest the stars and start everybody off with X amount of them. Whenever you give a star you lose one and vice versa. This would not only cut a large amount of ignorant posts where people are only trying to get stars, it would also force these people to post meaningful things or more likely just stop posting all together.

Furthermore It would also make people think about what they flag and star period. Thereby helping to curb the amount of "OMG we're going to die tomorrow (My prediction)", "I found an Alien in my backyard sunbathing", "Every musician in the world today is an Illuminati" threads.

Lets face it a lot of people here are S&F whores and even more people are just to happy to oblige them. If you place more meaning and value in something, people tend to become more responsible with it.

Trowa

drives me nuts when someone posts only to tell someone they gave them a star and/or flag.....

I would like to see an Anti flag / Anti star (or thumbs down) rating button as well. Like when something is proved crap, we can click thumbs down, and that would show as well....

even out the playing field a bit