Make stars and flags relevant - Or: How to improve the quality of ATS and make people happy

Okay this is something that I have said a few different times. However, I thought that if I made a thread about it maybe someone would listen. So here is my pitch and the financial justification as I see it.

1. ATS gets it's revenue from advertising dollars. Hence ATS makes money from the member generated content. I have no problems with that at all. Seems only fair in fact.

2. The stars and flags as of the moment are for bragging rights only. I do not think anyone can argue that.

3. Some of us do not care about those bragging rights so we often chip in our unneeded or unwanted comments.

4. Should ATS begin rewarding members for providing quality content with something simple like a t-shirt, I suspect the quality of content would improve dramatically. Granted it would have to be a "special" shirt that was not readily available through the store.

T-shirts are cheap and a great way to reward members for their quality of content. You could base this simple reward off of their "Oddly Calculated Karma Score". Doing so would push members to provide quality content and to be nicer to others as not a single person here has the first clue how that score is calculated.

What say you Skeptic Overlord? How about a little incentive to be good providers of the content that brings in the ad revenue?

I truly think something that simple would make ATS a better place. If the members here agree with me please take the time to flag this post so that it gets the attention I think it deserves. Oh and just maybe I will get a t-shirt.

reply to post by Mamatus

reply to post by tothetenthpower

You would not believe the things I have seen people do for free swag. While it may matter less to the more experienced members on this site I do think it could change the way the newer folks go about posting quality content.

I could buy 1000 shirts and not miss the money. So trust me, my post is not about just trying to get a shirt ( :

reply to post by Mamatus


I have posted some things on here that are very anti government and I certainly do not wish to add my mailing address to any list for swag which could then be added to some other list.

It would be nice if S&F meant something but not at the expense of my privacy.

Why would anyone want a shirt that fit over a golf tee anyway.

reply to post by Mamatus

3. Some of us do not care about those bragging rights so we often chip in our unneeded or unwanted comments.

Care to clarify on what you mean here?

reply to post by Mamatus


My personal take on this, is that you have made an understandable error, in that you are under the impression that flags and stars have no use or meaning. This, however, could not be further from the truth.

When one is looking for a thread to read, and one has already read the threads which jumped out at one, upon logging in (those which pertain to each persons individual areas of interest), one can use the flag count on a thread to assess whether it would be worth a read, despite having a title or topic heading which does not immediately appeal to ones particular mindset. Equally, when skimming through a thread that one has read, or participated in, looking to see how opinion on the site is trending on a given topic is a doddle by simply looking at how many stars a particular post has.

The system has value, but only in so far as it aids navigation for the discerning reader and contributor. It is true that no material gain is involved, but in my personal opinion, material gain is a tedious bore, and is the reason that I have a day job. I come here to the Batcave of the internet, because I want to jack in, learn, and express myself, keep my mind sharp. As with all noble and pure pursuits, there need be no greater reward than the doing of the thing.

Dunno. Some of us pay absolutely zero attention to stars and flags. I personally could care less. Im not here for rewards of any kind, but to voice an opinion.

Frankly, Im surprised anyone DOES care... at all. At the end of the day, they mean nothing.

ATS pays me in rupees to post. So far, I have seven. (Score!)

So choke on that! Dunno what the exchange rate is, but I'll be rolling in coin when they finally send it to me.

pssst, you guys are no fun.

reply to post by Mamatus


i want a t-shirt signed by all current ats brother+sister-hood



peace

reply to post by Mamatus

2. The stars and flags as of the moment are for bragging rights only. I do not think anyone can argue that.

Some us disagree here....

To some, it's not about 'bragging' rights

It has to do with what may interest some readers as well as seeing where views/opinions are the same or different
If people agree with what is being said, they will usually give it a 'star' or 'flag' the thread if they deem it interesting
Lack of stars means that not many agree with the comment

I remember your comment about S&F in a thread of mine just the other day...a sarcastic one
And now you want a t-shirt or something after you made remarks accusing people of posting any thing for stars and flags????

What a hypocrit

pssst, you guys are no fun.

You weren't being funny about this

You have made many remarks regarding people and their posting just for S&F
It bothers you if a thread isn't up to par for you or shall I say 'within the last 24 hours' of being on the news

reply to post by snarky412

Snarky, bad ASSumption, I was laughing my ass off when I said that.

Seriously? You are honestly having trouble finding quality content on ATS?
I'm new as a member but have been reading this site for a long time. Problem is, and has always been, there's way more information than one human can absorb in a reasonable amount of time!
Honestly, I think I could spend 12 hours a day on this site and do no more than scratch the surface of the information/ideas available.

reply to post by diggindirt


Yes, I have a hard time as of late. Having been a member far longer than my current avatar reflects I am entitled to my opinion.

I see two year old hoaxes get put up as brand new and I call that low quality content. Research is lacking as of late. Just lots of comments with nothing to back them up.

Bout done with it honestly.

I don't worry to much about stars and flags. Today I saw a new thread that said Iceland, I hit the link and it was a blank post.the weird part was is that it had two flags and it was only posted for a few minutes. Who flagged a blank post? My favorite is when someone makes a post and gets a star, then someone quotes that post and says good point. Then they get more stars than the post they were agreeing with. Kind of makes the star and flag counts have less meaning.

reply to post by Mamatus

Snarky, bad ASSumption, I was laughing my ass off when I said that.

Yeah right, what ever you say




Remember this:
reply to post by Mamatus

Done! Thanks Beezer. My new avatar better reflects my current frustration. But hey at least there is a new thread about the lightning striking the Jesus statue......

Yeah, my thread here that you were referring to
And your lovely comment:

"Wow! I never EVER seen anything like this! Freaking incredible I mean who would'a thought this could happen to Jesus WOW. I wish I could give you 50 stars and flags. you rock!

edit on 23-1-2014 by Mamatus because: Added Icons just in case they give a crap about yet another duplicate thread.

Which in case you didn't notice--or didn't care-- that many like me had NOT seen the pictures before and thought they were kinda cool looking




In Beezzer's thread here, all you did was bitch and complain about people and their requests for these S&F

If you don't like a thread, guess what, don't read it!!!
That simple


Or as Beezzer said:

I write some threads knowing that maybe one or two will read it.

Unless you WANT an audience. Do you require one?

If not, then what's stopping you from writing those awesome thought provoking threads?

If you are going to complain and whine, don't keep saying you were only playing and being funny
Because you're not.....all one has to do is read your posts


Until you become a Moderator, you need to take a chill pill and leave those of us alone that don't meet your standards

Have a good day

No problem Richard, We are all welcome to our opinions.

You will also find I slammed the Duck Dynasty and Justin Beiber threads as of late as well.

reply to post by Mamatus


I can understand that, but I have seen well crafted posts fall by the way side because they don't invoke the emotional response as some others may; leading to a quality post not garnering flags and stars, but the more diverse arguments gaining notoriety.

I think the system in place has room for improvement, but giving away free stuff isn't going to increase the quality. That is decided by the community for the most part.

reply to post by tothetenthpower

I myself find that the community is reward enough. If you don't care about stars and flags, then it would be a bit ironic that one would care about recognition of any kind, material included.

Over the years, I have grown to appreciate the community created here.
I, myself, have made many friends that I would not have met otherwise.
My goal in the beginning was to seek and search out knowledge.
To be recognized and seeking the the stars and flags.
That quest has fallen behind me.
Now, I just enjoy communicating with my friends.
I enjoy reading most anything on here, but just don't feel the need to contribute like I use to.
Over all , it is a blessing to be here, to be part of this family of " nut cases" .

Peace,
K