Thread Punishment Response Be Added To Stars & Flags Options

In our threads we have the option to reward what we think are threads or comments.

Flags - good thread
Stars - good comment.

Now I have seen where people place in their threads a comment of practically begging for thread.

example - if you like thread please s&f

I have even seen challenges for s&f

example - see if you can watch this without going aawwww. If you did please s&f.

I will not provide links to those threads but we have all seen them.


Now I propose we add a new symbol option to ATS. a punishment symbol of whatever shape or form.

Yes I know we have a thumbs down option but that only goes in our one comment & not everybody reads every comment/thread to discover this negative response.

With a negative symbol that gets a permanent record again the thread or even the thread creator then we can then judge better.

example - in the list of threads available it will to you how many flags a thread got. That tells you how many liked/agreed with the thread.

How about listing a negative symbol to show how many disliked/diagreed with the thread.

With the negative listing beside the negative list in pages say fiehouse area listing thread title how many flags etc you can then make a more informed judgement as to whether as to even waste your time on a thread.

example - if thread has many negative symbols but few flags, you know not to waste your time on it.

I have notice lots of times a well researched & informative thread gets maybe 2 flags, but a video of something not even slightly ATS related & people flag like stupid.

Please give us a down voting option.

reply to post by acrux


It has been exhaustively researched and proven you are much better off with positive reinforcement than penalties in every case requiring independence and mutual cooperation. You only breed and foster hostility and negative emotion with public reprimands and penalties. If as a deterrent you would like to hang someone (one person at a time) in the town square for a brief period (sort of a dunces corner) I am all for it but as a general rule positive reinforcement works best.

reply to post by acrux


I've proposed something similar. SO I agree with your post. Sadly, it will go the exact same way the stars and flags are going, except, like digg, you'd have groups taking concerted efforts to vote down specific topics and posters.

But stars and flags are still here right? So yes, they should implement a negative star and flag system.

I am all for it but as a general rule positive reinforcement works best.

Yes, while the reinforcement still appears to be positive, the problem with the star and flags is in most cases they don't represent the content, merely the subject, or even the poster specifically. At least a negative tag would help counter act this.

Joe blow's obviously hoaxed ufo video has 150 stars and 75 flags, the community has spoke, this is a good topic. But it's not.

But what if:
Joe blow's obviously hoaxed ufo video has 150 stars and 75 flags BUT also has 120 negative stars, and 70 negative flags.

Leaving us with a:

30 star, 5 flag, ratio based on positive and negative feedback.

I agree though, positive reinforcement actually works, but I don't see how the current method of doling out stars and flags, unfettered, can be considered positive reinforcement when half of them are awarded before the content is even POSTED.


than again a quick solution would be putting a post count requirement BEFORE you can even award stars and flags. That actually might help some of this.

reply to post by newcovenant


Positive reinforcement? Is that why we give kids a trophy for not winning nowadays? Positive reinforcement needs to be taught young, and that there are rewards and repercussions for literally everything we do. Maybe a few down dings would make people actually think twice or do research prior to posting.

But I see your point as well. People would automatically down ding someone just because the poster is of a particular mind-set. It would probably hinder the debates we have here.

reply to post by acrux


Actually the senior members or the "inside circle" have this already and have for awhile now.
It allows them to keep track a little better.
I'm joking!!!
Or am I?

We've discussed this concept dozens of times on ATS. The general consensus has always been that positive reenforcement works best. The way to "vote a thread or comment down" is to NOT give it a star or flag. Over time a member who generally provides positive content will be rewarded with stars & flags which will be reflected in their totals, including K(arma) and W(ay above top secret) indices. None of this will buy you a beer and it isn't something to put on your resume, but other posters can get a rough idea of your ability to provide content by glancing at these indicators. Most of the time people who are incapable of making decent posts will self-select out and simply go away.

We've used lots of different systems over the years, and the one we use now is probably not the last system. I have noticed that the system is getting simpler over time. It used to be that you could spend your points at the ATS store to buy colors or more complex avatars or what have you. Now that's all gone away and why not? Think of the complications with a system like that! They're immense.

For me, I just use what we have at the time as a very rough indicator or potential quality. If I see someone who has been here since 2005, has a few stars and flags, and K/W scores in single digits, I know I really don't need to spend any effort reading what he has to say. On the other hand, if I see someone who has been around awhile, has thousands of posts, zillions of stars & flags, and W/K indices that are high, I know that it would probably be okay to spend some quality time hearing what he has to say. On the other hand, someone can have low scores, but a recent join date, so I figure give him some time; he may be just fine.

I know there are people who claim that they do not pay attention to such things and are above them. OK, good for them. I'm really happy for them loudly proclaiming how mature and enlightened they are. By all means continue. Meanwhile I'll just use the scores the way I prefer, and we'll both have a good old time of it here on ATS.

Originally posted by TDawgRex
reply to post by newcovenant

 

Positive reinforcement? Is that why we give kids a trophy for not winning nowadays? Positive reinforcement needs to be taught young, and that there are rewards and repercussions for literally everything we do. Maybe a few down dings would make people actually think twice or do research prior to posting.

But I see your point as well. People would automatically down ding someone just because the poster is of a particular mind-set. It would probably hinder the debates we have here.

On the other hand a thumbs down might reveal posters who are problematic with no redeeming value.

Personally I think the whole star and flag thing is ridiculous.

Someone having a lot of stars and flags doesn't mean they post quality content, because quality content depends on the person.

People will make threads full of crazy ideas with absolutely no evidence behind them, and get 100 flags and stars. I can guarantee you right now, if I go to the geo-engineering forum and make a thread titled "CHEMTRAILS ARE REAL, DISINFO AGENTS ARE IDIOTS!!!!!1111!!!!" with nothing but my opinion that chemtrails are real (that's not my opinion BTW) I'll get a bunch of stars and flags.

Or if I go to the dreams and predictions forum, and say I had a dream that the world was going to end on.... oh I don't know what's a random date... July 14th I'll get tons of stars and flags.

Or if I go to the UFO forums and say I'm an alien from some random planet that has come here to study Humans, I'll get a bunch of stars and flags.

Or if I go to the 2012 forum and say my spirit guide (I don't have a spirit guide btw) told me that 2012 was real I would get a lot of stars and flags.

Or if I go to the political madness forum and make a thread where I say that I have "INSIDE INFORMATION" and that "so-and-so" is going to happen on "such-and-such" date, I'll get tons of stars and flags.

Would you like me to continue? Do you get my point? What do these threads contribute to ATS? Fantasy and unfounded speculation? Yet with the star and flag system it makes the starters of these threads appear to be quality posters, which in MY opinion they are not. Some will think differently, but that just proves how worthless the whole system is.

And you know what? I bet if they got rid of the stars completely, and ONLY used flags for news-related posts, there would be a LOT less silly threads about a dream someone had that proves that something is going to happen. Flags for news makes sense, important topics will rise to the top and others will fall. But I seriously find it embarrassing to ATS when the front page features some threads about SOMEONE'S DREAM or something else that provides absolutely no proof, evidence, or value to other people.

That's my little rant. But I think we should just get rid of stars and flags all together. Problem solved.

lol, whats this now?

You want a form of censorship so when you don't agree with something you can vote it down?

This isn't youtube bro.

Originally posted by James1982
Personally I think the whole star and flag thing is ridiculous.



That's my little rant. But I think we should just get rid of stars and flags all together. Problem solved.

agreed.