ATS, BTS, What would you like to see in the future?

How about a link in the member tools section that says "my flags"? maybe include "my subscribtions" and/or "my threads" as well?

I would like the Alien abduction/contactees thread to be placed in the BTS forum. They offer no proof and could be on here to have a joke on us. It would lessen the junk that the forum members would have to deal with.

[edit on 20-4-2009 by blood_demon]

Suggestion: I think we should have auto login to BTS and other areas when logging in to ATS

I've long been slighly put off by the fact that I have to log in separately to AboveTopSecret and BelowTopSecret. (Presumably the same is true for other areas of the board, but these are the only two major areas I use).

My BTS posts appear in the "My ATS" option on ATS, and visa-versa. Since there is already some degree of automated unity between the two boards, one would think that it would be possible to switch freely between the two without having to log in two separate times. I also think such a measure would increase traffic to BTS...there have been times when I wanted to add something over there but was too lazy to bother logging in so I said, "ah, forget it, its not that important." If we were able to click over there and interact more easily it might help direct traffic that way. Making BTS more easy to access automatically would also have the added benefit of reducing "frivolous" and off-topic posting on ATS (as more people would be inclined to spew their less organized thought on BTS, where it belongs).

I would like to get involved by being able to cast my vote for good threads and bad threads etc. The vote should move the good threads up and the bad threads down.

Likewise, members should be able to vote good replies up, and bad replies down. The way to limit votes would be to only allow three (3) votes per thread, thus limiting the ability to "gang" up.

With this system of voting, this site would truly become a force to be reckoned with.

Another point, while I'm on a roll here... Let's just say I'm not digging the new popup ads that emerge when loading ATS, somehow even overcoming my generally robust popup-blocker.

Could we please have a tin hat BB code/smiley face?

Please..... it would be really cool! I could use it for my own threads all the time!!

PLEASE?!

1) How about an Armagedd-o-meter? A little banner at the top that gives you the percentage chance that day of TSHTF.

2)I would like the edit tag that gets added at the bottom of your posts to be smaller or greyed out more. I almost always end up editing my posts, and the edit line looks big and ugly
This is a great site and I can think of very little else I would change.

This swine flu outbreak is a HUGe argument in favor of my suggestion that members have a limited amount of votes to be able to move very good or important threads/posts to the top in descending order.

Why should we have to swim through all the posts that have little or no information about the outbreak.

Again, I ask the web designers to rethink their stance on how this site works, and at least give it a try. An ATS think tank could be formed to submit ideas, and the best ideas could be voted on.

This would be especially pertinent in times of distress, such as this outbreak.

Imagine people from all over the world coming to ATS to find out the most up to date information from thew world wide community.

This site could be top 10 in my opinion with that change. As it is, check out godlikeproductions.com and compare flu information to ATS!



[edit on 26-4-2009 by TH3ON3]

reply to post by TH3ON3


You might have a very good point TheOne. I love the democratic set up of ATS, but in times of need like this, I think the three (four?) amigos should consider an "editors pick" selection of the most important threads, and have it quietly on the side for people to click on if they wish.
I would support an "inner council" of 50 or so members (maybe rotating every month) flagging the most important breaking news threads, that would hopefully select the best threads, and avoid duplication and poor quality info.
Having the sub-board clearly marked "editor's choice" would hopefully stop the predictable accusations of corruption and "disinfo."

reply to post by HiAliens


Nice Idea Hi

its too bad that here on ATS as in life there are cliques

these cliques would end up rotating each other in monthly so the "selected "

threads would be very biased, kind of a self censorning board

What if the group thought Chemtrails or Ghost threads were a waste of

time? where does that leave those stories?

reply to post by Seany


I think when our lives on the line the ATS management have to step up and quickly, and I'm pleased to see they've done that with the "Swine Flu Fire Hose" a crazy name for crazy times. So now we've got the firehose for random topics and the summary forum for heavily flagged info. Can't get much better than that. Well done management team.

One small point, when I'm skimming the Swine Flu fire hose it'd be cool to see heavily flagged topics highlighted somehow.

Other than that lets hope it all dies down...

It think the Above Network needs to have a magazine or a newspaper. If alot of these terrible things are going to happen, like having to g ointo hiding. That kinda kills the internet. That is an easy way to b found. But a mail box could b shared by my ppl. It could just be a rondom mailbox not even by ur hiding place. It would have to be a free magazine, or pay-by-mail. That would be cool.

I would like to see the alternative news either be made alternative or have it removed completley. As it is right now our "alternative" news should be put in BTS as it is mostly headlines from the MSM

I think it would be great if you could write in the ability to vote important threads and posts up on a daily basis.

Think of how great it would be if registered members were given the ability to have like 3 votes per each thread to vote up or down.

This would be of particular interest in times like this of pandemic flu outbreak to find all of the most important posts/threads as voted by the community.

The fact that only three votes would be allowed would insure proper order and guard against community bias.

The ability to view the forum in either regular or by popular vote would take this site to a whole new level.

I have made this recommendation to your competition as well, and I think whoever gets the jump on this will be way ahead of the curve.

Again, imagine if we didn't have to swim through all of the BS that people post, or at least were given the option to view the forum in either as posted or by popular vote.

It would be nice to see more options in the user pages. And the immage upload thing should be made simpler instead of going to some other site.

I'd just like to thank our members for some of the suggestions they've taken the time to make. ATS is always evolving and improving, so member suggestions is something we should never want a shortage on.

Not every suggestion is implemented or even acknowledged, but with how many are offered.. it's not realistic for our volunteer staff to be able to address every single one of them. But I would like to say that we do read them and we do appreciate the members taking the time to offer suggestions on how they feel we can improve our board.

Keep 'em coming.

I don't know if it has been asked and answered yet. But could we get a bulk upload or an option to upload more than one image at a time on the media site.

reply to post by questioningall


Yeah, even metal-archives has a tinhat emoticon and that's not even about conspiracy's.

reply to post by silent thunder


This is both a reply to SilentThunder and a question for the ATS managers: I've noticed the same problem of having to log in to BTS after I have been logged into and using the ATS section successfully. My question is: Isn't that BTS log-in "requirement" actually caused by that user's local computer browser software and/or antispyware software intervention in order to block "cookies," or some other similar systems-level security function on the user's own computer?

Just wondering.

[edit on 5/9/2009 by Uphill]

I have a suggestion for additional improvements in the ATS Newbie area:

It's possible that much of the negativity seen in user postings is actually caused by larger or smaller amounts of chronic user frustration with the inevitable learning curve in becoming a "skilled" ATS user.

If there is in fact a significant amount of user frustration simmering below the surface caused by the stress of learning how to become a proficient site user, perhaps additonal learning options in the ATS Newbie areas would accelerate the learning process for all. (I say "all" because I myself tend to use ATS/BTS only when I have the downtime to log on and catch up with Forum discussions, consequently I occasionally have to look back at the Newbie threads when I realize I have forgotten certain ATS procedural steps).

As a possible solution for minimizing the learning curve for ATS users, you can look at a website associated with a learning theory (Human Dynamics) that has gotten a lot of academic attention and real-world usage over the last 20 years or so:

www.humandynamics.com...

Briefly, they introduce a group of learning styles, each of which is radically different from the others. The takeaway message here for ATS is that if ATS Newbies are shown choices for how to learn basic ATS tasks, choices that include their own preferred learning style, that could radically reduce the learning curve frustration.

That website is run by a PhD psychologist and academic whose theories have been put to use in education and in for-profit environments around the world. In their book of the same name, they include a chapter showing how the Intel Corporation was able to pare down its staff needs dramatically by using "Human Dynamics" communication techniques. Let's see, Peter Senge of M.I.T. is also a longtime user and endorser of their methods.

When you get a chance, please take a look at either that website or the book (available in a number of libraries globally) and see what you think. An example of how ATS is already making some use of one of their recommended training techniques, for example, is in the Freshman Forum instructions for creating avatars, where the instructions go step-by-step. Step-by-step learning is necessary for the most numerous group of human learners, for example. Lots of folks don't need that by-the-book, hands-on learning approach, but lots more folks (like me, for that matter) heavily depend on that particular learning style.


Thanks for reading all of that. And another unrelated request: Could some of your user polls be conducted over a longer timeframe? For a great many reasons, I just cannot log on to ATS every day. Ain't gonna happen. But many ATS user polls become closed to user input before I find out about them. Help!


Finally, on the forthcoming ATS/BTS Book review section, when you start formulating that (forum?), you might also want to take a look at an interesting website for owners of personal libraries:

www.librarything.com...

It's free up to a point (up to 200 books added, currently). Users post interesting mini book reviews. A lot of professional library people use that site, so it's a chance to analyze their "best practices" and adapt that to ATS usage.

[edit on 5/9/2009 by Uphill]