How much do you pay attention to member post count, star/flag count, WATS rank, karma, etc

reply to post by loves a conspiricy


I would star you,but I thought that would get you out from the 666 number.

reply to post by kdog1982


I was kind of wondering what all those colorful numbers and letters meant. I'm new, but that kind of statistical score-keeping kind of seems unnecessary. But, of course, I have crap stats, so possibly this is jealousy. LOL

I wonder if its not harmful or egotistical, these systems.

I have been watching this board for a while one thing I noticed is members sometimes change when they get that "gold border" around their posts...the bigger they come the harder they fall...egos bloat near the top of the WATS food chain, posters get cult followings of fanbois and get high on their own egos...then they do something stoopit and ooops...banned and not even allowed to mention their names...

strange stuff.

reply to post by Partygirl

I try not to judge books by their cover. I am more interested in content. If something somebody says catches my interest, and I learn from that or it makes me laugh, then I star it and look a little closer at who said it. But the internet is not a personal or personna place, we just be passing strangers, typing in the night. When I want to make contact, really make contact with some one, I log off, go outside and walk my doggy.

Originally posted by JustSlowlyBackAway
reply to post by kdog1982

 

I was kind of wondering what all those colorful numbers and letters meant. I'm new, but that kind of statistical score-keeping kind of seems unnecessary. But, of course, I have crap stats, so possibly this is jealousy. LOL

It is unnecessary,but besides that,if you find your niche,your topic you are interested in,do your research.
If you post a resource or link,before you do,look deep into it.
The more you dig,the more credible your are.Well,sometimes.
Alot will post a link or resource without really looking at what they are linking.
Read it all the way through,if there are comments at the bottom of an article,read them,if there are related items listed with it,look at them.
Cover your bases.
Cause your "source" may not be the original source.

I rarely look at the number of stars or flags a member has, or how many flags a thread has garnered.

I just read things that interest me and I wouldn't disturb my concentration by reading members' stats as well as posts.

I like avatars, that way it's easy to recognise people, names take a little longer to remember and I only look at them if the post needs to be replied to or if it's particularly interesting (or disturbing).

Besides a post being really ignorant the only thing that will put me off reading it is a lack of paragraphs. Not being a 'paragraph nazi' - it's just too hard to read.

If I'm finding a thread interesting, I'll read all the posts because I like to know everyone's point of view and see who can bring a new or unusual perspective to a subject. Not everyone appreciates the quirky posts enough to star them although, I noticed recently, someone being rude to an OP whose thread is a little 'out there' can gain a massive amount of stars.

reply to post by kdog1982


thank you very much!

reply to post by Partygirl


Explanation: S&F!

Uhmmm

Anyway, what do you guys think about the "bells and whistles"?

That depends on whether I am logged in or not and OL presents exhibits L1 and L2 ...

1st exhibit L1 [logged out]



And now exhibit L2 [logged in]



Already we can see a difference it what is presented to us and within that some of what extra options we might be able to utilize.

Which ones if any do you pay attention to, and why?

So I can follow that members full train of thought in the thread they are partaking in !

How does it affect they way you read posts?

I find it improves my replies by showing me a bigger picture!

Good and bad points to this stuff?

Yes! Pro and Con with EVERYTHING and if you u2u me I will show you those sacred ATS bells and whistles foils and foibles in private ok as its not polite to air such things in public.

Just curious how much use other people make of these things.

Personal Disclosure: I live in ATS Chatroom!

Like you I pay close attention to member stats. I too look at the date of register, and the ratio between post and stars.

I also will “click” onto their profile page to review their post to threads to determine if they have a single focus.

I also review the frequency of their post along with the duration.

In the “Chemtrail” threads you will have about three posters that will post every few minutes hours on end. I found two posters in a recent “Chemtrail” thread who have posted a reply every few minutes for 14 hours straight.

I find this behavior outside normal behavior, which does make it abnormal.

I think its completely normal and common sense to look at someones join date, post and star count.. and alot of the time if the thread is really long, i just read the posts that have alot of stars next to the comment.. i didnt always do this but found the ones with higher stars generally do make more sense..

Seems to me that most people with a lot of stars are people with ring wing ideas.
Right wingers seem to agree easily with each other and stick together, while left ideas often vary and are more open to debate and personal preferences.

Greed, selfishness and individuality are things really easy to understand and live by...if it's your values.

I do it like this:

First I check the avatar. No avatar usually means a low post count. No avatar and a high post count gets me to check flags and stars, a quick glance at their stats. I just check, filing away the information.

People with avatars always get a glance from me to their stats. I do the comparison check.

Then, I read what they are trying to say.

I read about ten times the material that I actually comment on. I am lame sometimes by giving out stars, unless a post really gets me thinking or makes me spew my coffee on my keyboard because it's humorous.

I always give out flags to interesting threads. (Such as this one, ones that try to invoke responses from membership. SnF!)

I do get confused when people change their avatar, so then I default to simply looking at usernames.

If someone posts something really interesting, I'll stalk their profile and see how many threads, posts, etc, that they have made.

Summary: Username first, then avatar, then post count, then stars, then flags. I pay little attention to the w and k.

Rock on, Partygirl.

reply to post by Druid42

First I check the avatar. No avatar usually means a low post count. No avatar and a high post count gets me to check flags and stars, a quick glance at their stats. I just check, filing away the information.

Damn.....i have no avatar because id spent hours trying to get it to work, and finally gave up lol

I think my stats are pretty good, im almost 1000 stars up on my posts YAY. My WATS is pretty good too
I may try to do the avatar thing again when i have a spare week to work it out haha

I would please like a bell and a whistle.

reply to post by Partygirl


I do not look at stars or flags when reading posts otherwise I would just be reading the popular posts that I could just as well read on yahoo. I go by topic, title and continue to read posts if they are of interest to me, well thought out and engaging. Obscure posts are some of the best reads and if I enjoyed the post or the discussion I will give a flag and star. Many posts deserve more attention from readers and some posters deserve less but popular opinion is a fickle thing and some people just enjoy the entertainment. I guess the reason I enjoy ATS is that there is something for everyone but based on bells and whistles....sometimes less is more.