ATS is finished!, page 2

reply to post by FrostForests

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I don't get it. We should all know MSM is falsehood. We should all know that we have to take even independent media with a grain or two of salt. But no, we flock to these threads because we flock to argumentation. Not independent thinking, not logic, but argument for argument's sake.

I agree, sorta.
At first glance this site seems this way, and it's frustrating seeing the bickering and closed minded one liners.

I have come to see ATS like an arranged marriage. We have a lot in common but no history with each other.
We expect others to understand us from a few words, when words are not enogh we search for links to anything that will help us be understood. We all do this at the same time ignoring what the other is saying searching for ways to be better understood. It becomes a cock fight trying to protect ones dignity, and establish authority,
perhapse compensating for insecurities. In the meantime critical information and insight to a persons real personalities and influence get ignored. The anonymous nature of all this adds to this frustration of not being understood.

Like any marriage if you recognize the importance of compromise to find common ground, then the defensive mechanisms drop and we finally see the others perspective, and real understanding can be made. Otherwise you get a household full of bickering. It comes down to listening, asking questions, and letting go of the fear of being real, the unrealistic fear of being changed by what someone says. Deny arrogance.

As a Bible believing Christian on this site I find it hard to not want to jump all over someone when they hit a weeknes in my faith. I'm secure in what I believe but not arrogant. I'm here trying to understand why people believe what they believe. When I can I drop my arrogance I find my time spent here to be way more educational, and have acctually developed compassion for some who I have never met, don't even known their name.

There is something that brought us here. Fear, fear of the unknown, fear of being decived. We can't say for certine when how why or what will happen, but some event will intrude our lives and change us forever. It is wise to protect ourselves by denying ignorance, but once we recognize we are not alone the fear will subside, and a better larger world perspective can take shape.

reply to post by OpenEars123

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The long story short of it is organics.

If SkepticOverlord decided to do away with stars, flags, contributor levels ( gold and silver borders ) almost instantly somebody would start a thread suggesting that we come up with a way to let members know which threads and posts were good. They'd want something akin to a "like" button.

Requests like that gave rise to stars and flags to begin with.

Personally, I tend to ignore the flags and stars. I'm more a sucker for familiar avatars - of members I know to usually post quality or entertaining posts.

~Heff

reply to post by OpenEars123

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The questioning of the star system, or thumps up system, is longstanding, for any social site. It's not necessarily great for quality but it is for quantity (read traffic $)

reply to post by OpenEars123

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I agree, but I don't think that the stars are the real issue. I think people are simply giving it away very easily. Perhaps if you had the option to star a post considering the amount of posts you posted yourself (Like 1:2 post/stars ratio), it would decrease the amount of stars being given away out of proportion, and would reflect a measure of real appreciation and contribution.

There won't be threads or issues like 150 stars for 2 lines in a post, and will ultimately limit the amount of "star whores" and members who post MSM news, frankly just to get the S & F.

It kinda reminds me of a post I saw on FB a little while ago, which really reflects this imo:



It goes the same here with the stars system, if people will have to think about which posts to star instead of starring freely, I think it will reflect better the quality of the posters, and not (for example) the wiseguys whoring for stars and lurking for highly flaggable new threads to post something on the front page, and getting appreciation for it. Stars will then be 'hard to get', but at least ATS won't have members with 4 or 5 times the amount of stars than their amount of posts, while only posting what people want to hear - in order to receive stars. Stars will have to be earned, by real appreciation to a post and no mindless starring.

If there ever was something that ruined ATS to what it is now, I believe that it must be the current star system.

reply to post by FrostForests

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Originally posted by FrostForests

I've been a long time lurker of this forum, back from close to a decade ago.

This↑ is a very common remark that is often made in threads such as this one. Another shared commonality by most who post threads such as this, is a much lower than average Post-Count.

So because of that, I will tell you the same thing that I've told many others:


Shut the hell up; Stop whining; & Do something about it.

All of the time and thought that went into this particular OP, could have been used in creating a thread about something that actually matters.

Originally posted by Hefficide
reply to post by OpenEars123

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The long story short of it is organics.

If SkepticOverlord decided to do away with stars, flags, contributor levels ( gold and silver borders ) almost instantly somebody would start a thread suggesting that we come up with a way to let members know which threads and posts were good. They'd want something akin to a "like" button.

Requests like that gave rise to stars and flags to begin with.

Personally, I tend to ignore the flags and stars. I'm more a sucker for familiar avatars - of members I know to usually post quality or entertaining posts.

~Heff

I agree with you, but I was only talking of ridding the stars.
I too ignore the flags and stars, but unfortunately it seems that the majority of people thrive on them (especially the stars!). Flags are OK I guess, and I didn't even know there were gold and silver borders.

Respect.
OE123

reply to post by de_Genova

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So that means all the forum moderators should be banned? Are you on crack?

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