ATS's flawed flagging stystem and ATS's "spamming" of own users

In another thread I remembering posting this:

Originally posted by TrappedSoul

Originally posted by XmikaX
the flag system is biased

Indeed it is!

There is no button to bury a post, just a button to flag it. Now a couple of idiots click flag on something and the rest of us with common sense can't do anything about it... What a silly system they have designed!

I don't really need to explain my point any further on that.

The other thing that annoys me is that the admins are filling my inbox labeled "private messages" with lots of what I experience as spam which I'm not interested in and which I always delete without reading. If someone actually sent me a private message it would be hard to find it when my inbox is full of all that...

If these things were fixed this site would regain a lot of my respect!

reply to post by TrappedSoul


well now you can at least unflag a thread if you flagged it and changed your mind
and your inbox full of 'spam'?
ive been on this site since february 2011 and ive received about 4/5 messages from ATS
and they were all surveys

Well if they're spamming you, just start sending back U2Us with .ly links in them to make some money. lol, You could even corrupt the link to make them part of your NetBot..Just a thought..

reply to post by TrappedSoul


I am pretty annoyed by the MUST SEE u2u's as well,especially when its really nothing important to me but is important to ats (supposedly)
Surveys....seriously???
Why the hell would i take any survey no matter who its from??
Whats important to them might not be important to me.
If it was important to me then why am I so annoyed by the spam??

I do agree though that the flagging system is flawed.
Dumb little moron posts a sensationalistic thing with no merit and the idiots pile on and it hits the front page and makes me wish i never told people to come here.

PS I had a very bad day and am venting...this is the rant forum after all right??

I here ya bro...I hear ya.

Originally posted by TrappedSoul
Now a couple of idiots click flag on something and the rest of us with common sense can't do anything about it... What a silly system they have designed!

That's how I feel every election.

I've never received any spam u2u's .... ever! Only legitimate ones, like the survey / polls. I'd rather know about them, and have the choice to participate or not, than not know about them at all. But hey, that's just me. And really, how hard is it to left click on the delete message link??

Maybe we should have an "op out" option, where members can be put on a list where they aren't mass u2u'd?? I don't know how complicated that would be for ATS? Mods / Skeptic, - what do you guys think?

reply to post by TrappedSoul



So you would like to see a system that would let one group of people bury undesired threads posted here.

Jeah, that´s a good development, and not fascistic at all.

reply to post by TortoiseKweek


Or maybe if you just reply "STOP" they'll get the hint and stop sending stuff..

Originally posted by schrodingers dog

Originally posted by TrappedSoul
Now a couple of idiots click flag on something and the rest of us with common sense can't do anything about it... What a silly system they have designed!

That's how I feel every election.

Haha, well, thanks for making me laugh!

Originally posted by DrumsRfun
I do agree though that the flagging system is flawed.
Dumb little moron posts a sensationalistic thing with no merit and the idiots pile on and it hits the front page and makes me wish i never told people to come here.

Yeah, I've seen too much of that lately and it is not good.
I'm glad there are people who agree with me!

Originally posted by TortoiseKweek
Maybe we should have an "op out" option, where members can be put on a list where they aren't mass u2u'd?? I don't know how complicated that would be for ATS? Mods / Skeptic, - what do you guys think?

I agree, a way to opt out for those not interested! Shouldn't be complicated at all compared to all the other features they've made. I don't come here often and that's why I find it annoying when I see that all my U2U's are from ATS and also often sent as duplicates by mistake...

Originally posted by CaptainInstaban
So you would like to see a system that would let one group of people bury undesired threads posted here.

Jeah, that´s a good development, and not fascistic at all.

Is it not how it is now? One group of people who like something and all the others ignored?
Basicly instead of calling it "flags" they should call it "rating" where everyone can rate either +1 or -1, that's as fair as it can get!

I agree there should be a counter-agent to star & flagging.

Is it not how it is now? One group of people who like something and all the others ignored? Basicly instead of calling it "flags" they should call it "rating" where everyone can rate either +1 or -1, that's as fair as it can get!

reply to post by TrappedSoul


There is a remedy for that. It´s called, IF YOU DONT LIKE IT NO ONE IS FORCING YOU TO READ IT.

If anything, there is an epidemic of people that simply cannot not bear the mere existence of threads they don´t agree with.

If you can debunk it fine, if you can´t debunk it it´s fine too. Why does stuff have to be buried, why not give everybody a chance to decide and see for themselves.

You are promoting the very stuff we should be fighting against, on a site like this.

Originally posted by CaptainInstaban
There is a remedy for that. It´s called, IF YOU DONT LIKE IT NO ONE IS FORCING YOU TO READ IT.

The flag system is designed to bring important threads to the attention of the users. However, as it's being used today all we get are "OMG THE WORLDS GONNA ENDZ!!!!1!!!!!1" type threads clogging up the front page and thus the flagging system has lost all meaning in telling us whether a thread is a good contribution to the site or not.

A negative flag system would really help in fixing this problem. When you click on a thread with 300 flags, it shouldn't consist of two sentences written by someone who appears not to have a very good grasp on the English language.

reply to post by Nosred


Really smart move.

It would only take a few hundred fake accounts to negativwe flag important stuff into oblivion, for instance.

You guys are bass ackwards.

It´s pure fascism, wanting to control the flow of free expression on this site, and pure contempt for the flagging members of this site.

You guys are a disgrace.

Originally posted by CaptainInstaban
You guys are a disgrace.

Thanks for contributing to this thread!
Now I wish a similar system for stars so people could "dislike" your post!

reply to post by TrappedSoul


Yes, I know you do.

It is called censorship.

Dictators do it, corrupt governments do it, megalomaniacs do it.

Why shouldn´t you.

Originally posted by CaptainInstaban
reply to post by Nosred

 

Really smart move.

It would only take a few hundred fake accounts to negativwe flag important stuff into oblivion, for instance.

And that would take a few hundred fake email addresses. What's stopping people from making fake accounts to flag something regularly?

You guys are bass ackwards.

Yeah, because it's not like that's what every other website on the internet with any kind of rating system does or anything.

It´s pure fascism, wanting to control the flow of free expression on this site, and pure contempt for the flagging members of this site.

You guys are a disgrace.

No, we want to put the decision of which threads are important and which threads aren't into the member's hands, that's what the flag system was originally for in the first place.

Edit: Either give an option to vote something down or remove flags altogether. The way it stands it's not a fair and balanced system. That's why you see so many sensationalist threads these days, even on the front page.


Edit: Stars I don't mind because that's just a way to reward people for contributing good posts. Flags on the other hand are supposed to alert you of a threads importance/quality/accuracy before you read it. Without any sort of anti-flags the system is entirely broken and lowers the value of a flag.

And that would take a few hundred fake email addresses. What's stopping people from making fake accounts to flag something regularly?

reply to post by Nosred


Unbelievable. It doesn´t matter if a thread would get flagged a 1000 times, cuase there is nothing lost if anything is brought under attention, you do however stand to lose a lot if outside forces are able to bury potentially important threads.

Where do you get the notion that there needs to be some protection against what is on the main page?

And why would outside forces start making false accounts to flag threads? There is no logical reason for it.

Yeah, because it's not like that's what every other website on the internet with any kind of rating system does or anything.

And you want ATS to be like that? This site is about denying ignorance and finding truth, not mob rule.

No, we want to put the decision of which threads are important and which threads aren't into the member's hands, that's what the flag system was originally for in the first place.

What are you talking about? Is that not the situation we have right now? The flag system is in the hands of the members.

The only problem seems to be that threads are flagged that you don´t like.

Edit: Either give an option to vote something down or remove flags altogether. The way it stands it's not a fair and balanced system.

It is only unbalanced and unfair if you have the twisted notion, that content you disagree with, should be limited in the exposure it gets towards others. It´s negative, opressing energy.

Giving more exposure to something you deem important, is positive energy, and natural.

Do some self reflection. I think you are bit of a tyrant.

It´s not up to you decide if something is unworthy for anyone else to review.

Just stick to debunking threads with good arguments, then the people who are attracted by your perceived undeserved flags, can see what to best thing to believe is.

That is your only job as skeptic.

Your job is not the approving of content.

Originally posted by CaptainInstaban
Unbelievable. It doesn´t matter if a thread would get flagged a 1000 times, cuase there is nothing lost if anything is brought under attention, you do however stand to lose a lot if outside forces are able to bury potentially important threads.

But important threads are "buried" every day when they don't hit the front page because all the other crap that is on the front page!

Originally posted by CaptainInstaban
And why would outside forces start making false accounts to flag threads? There is no logical reason for it.

But your idea of making fake accounts to "bury" a thread is much more logical...

Originally posted by CaptainInstaban
You guys are bass ackwards.
...
You guys are a disgrace.
...
Do some self reflection. I think you are bit of a tyrant.

And you're a troll which I think we should stop feeding.

Originally posted by CaptainInstabanUnbelievable. It doesn´t matter if a thread would get flagged a 1000 times, cuase there is nothing lost if anything is brought under attention,

Which is why the flag system as it stands is utterly pointless. Flags are not a sign of a thread's quality anymore like they should be.

Where do you get the notion that there needs to be some protection against what is on the main page?

Where do you get the notion there needs to be some protection against what isn't on the main page? Anti-flagging something wouldn't make it invisible, it would just stop these "OMG UFO WE ALL GONNA' DIE" threads from popping up all over the place. Hell, half the reason people even make sensationalist threads like those is to get flags.

And why would outside forces start making false accounts to flag threads? There is no logical reason for it.

And why would they make accounts to anti-flag threads? Anti-flagging something wouldn't make it invisible or stop people from seeing it.

And you want ATS to be like that? This site is about denying ignorance and finding truth, not mob rule.

Then why do you want the flagging system in the first place? That's all it is, mob rule over which threads are important. Either ditch flags altogether, or give an anti-flag option to balance it out.

What are you talking about? Is that not the situation we have right now? The flag system is in the hands of the members.

The only problem seems to be that threads are flagged that you don´t like.

Yeah, when someone posts a thread with a whole bunch of false information and poor grammar clearly thrown together in a matter of minutes about how "OMG WE ALL GONNA' DIE!!!!1!!1" and it's getting dozens of flags from newbs or other doomsayers, I'd like the option to anti-flag it if it's complete B.S.

You don't find it tyrannical that ATS only considers the opinions of those that agree with something? If you disagree with something you have no right to say so?

It is only unbalanced if you have the twisted notion, that content you disagree with, should be limited in the exposure it gets towards others. It´s negative, opressing energy.

That's how the flag system already works today. People flag threads they agree with, the rest get forgotten. Either dispose of flags or balance it out with anti-flags. A lot of quality threads get buried because some doomsday flag is getting hundreds of flags and put on the front page while the quality thread gets buried and forgotten.

Do some self reflection. I think you are bit of a tyrant.

I'm a tyrant because I want to give people more options in voicing their opinions of which threads they think are important or quality?

It´s not up to you decide if something is unworthy for anyone else to review.

Then why have a flagging system at all? That's what it's for anyways, to voice what you think is important and what you think people should read. Good threads go unnoticed because people are focused on sensationalist threads that contribute nothing but get tons of flags, is that what you want?

But important threads are "buried" every day when they don't hit the front page because all the other crap that is on the front page!

reply to post by TrappedSoul


That´s probably out of lack of interest for those threads, it´s not the fault of better flagged threads or the flag system.

What were you going to do, unflag threads to make room for others? It still doesn´t give extra flags to those impopular threads.

But your idea of making fake accounts to "bury" a thread is much more logical...

Yes, to anyone with half a brain. If there was a thread with sensitive information about the government, they could use fake accounts to unflag it and make it dissapear from the main page to limit its exposure.

I don´t see what an outside force would gain with flagging threads, since people can see if it is BS or not.

And you're a troll which I think we should stop feeding.

That´s always a weak resort.