The conspiracy against starring posts......

It just dawned on me, and I am sure that it has to members in the past, that the star rating system is a perfect way for outside agencies to collect information on us. eg. How many of us support violent vs passive resistance, who supports the occupy movement, supports iran or a NWO.......

I know there are many ways this information is already being collected, and even swayed, but this site is a great opportunity to see the truth of those of us hiding behind the pseudo anonymity of a forum. Information like who has rations, guns, who is prepared....

anyways just a thought I wanted to get some input. I mean, I dont have things to hide, but I dont want to make myself so known that information can be programmed to target my approval, via an understanding of my system of beliefs.

To much of the conspiracy milk today?

reply to post by el1jah


They don't need stars for that. I'm sure they just observe our movement from thread to thread. They probably already read this one and laughed. Trust me on this, they have their own filter method.

reply to post by el1jah


problem is people lie all the time.
2nd line

reply to post by el1jah


The comments that gain the most stars, are most often comments that are:

Short and to the point.

Humorous.

...with a Smart Aleck attitude.

Smart Aleck

an obnoxiously conceited and self-assertive person with pretensions to smartness or cleverness

Comedy Central would gain much more from that data, than any government agency could.

edit on 12/1/11 by BrokenCircles because: (no reason given)

reply to post by el1jah


Star and flag for you sir......vomit.

The government analysts are good. If they get you under the microscope your dossier will be complete and very accurate.

Point being, it won't matter.

About the star system, they can only tell what the popular foment/sentiment is based on what you type. As far as I know it can't be logged back to each person that clicked. Flagging on the other hand, they can because you can unflag, but stars aren't linked the same way (outwardly as I see it anyway).

reply to post by BrokenCircles


That is true, most of my well thought out posts dont get much attention, my 'clever' posts get more than the op (if Im quick enough ) This gives creedence to the idea there is a better method of filtering internet activity.

Beyond he government spying on us, what about marketing strategies, with a core understanding of what threads attract what viewers, advertisments, colour schemes, page lay outs, all can be tactically prepared to 'trick' someone into liking a product.

reply to post by calnorak


I've never thought about that. Flagging is central to this site, very democratic in a sense, I fully agree with the flagging system.
/thread

Should I save you from TPTB and not star and flag your post, or should I feed you to them? Decisions, decisions.



/TOA

I hear you , I have thought of that, but wow, the amount of people that view this site every day, I doubt they have a file just for ATS users, that shows everything they star. Now someone could look at the stars themselves to see what popular opinion is . My opinion?

Sneeches with Stars are always better than Sneeches with none on Thars

reply to post by The Old American

dont you dare!

If you censor yourself, you'll make someone from TPTB's day!

S&F

reply to post by amatrine


I think technology is capable of doing this with little human involvement. I guess what comes into question is how useful this information is, that will motivate how much work is put towards this. If I support gay marriage, no one is going to care, but In the case of the occupy movement, I am on the fence but leaning towards disinformation here on ATS. This forum is a powerful tool, for both sides, and I dont doubt for a second agencies have invested in tracking and manipulating this site.

reply to post by satron


Im just going to star and flag everything i DISagree with from now on!

if I were tasked to overwatch this site or more specifically, targeted users with specific agendas,
I would first have my teams infiltrate the site with unassuming names and have two seperate teams operate loosely against each other to draw out the extremist opinions of both sides. from there you create threads in which your targeted user speaks out most and have your teams create distractions from the issues, drawing out the strongest of opinions.

can i get a star from people so the attention gets off the op? they seem paranoid in an intelligent way and my star ratings low, which is probably a good thing because then no one will ask me to join a secret organization.... unless im already in one muahahaha

reply to post by el1jah


I base my stars off a self-made version of schroeddingers paradox.
Goodluck finding a pattern in that spooks! XD

Stars = Occult Symbols = Illuminati = NWO = We have all been conditioned into accepting Stars!


*End Sarcasm*

If the star and flag system makes you nervous, how does it make you feel when you look up your thread title on Google, and your thread is first? I've found most but not all threads float to the top of the results.

reply to post by satron


looked up el1jah on google, feels wierd seeing so much me available. I guess thats what it means to be on a forum. Maybe threads starters should apply for archive, and if not have their threads deleted after say one year. Does it work at all like that now?