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

I agree with the Poll Option - I think it would be great to see the results - that span accross the site. It would be great for both sides, the skeptics and the believers to see eachothers numbers. And the different opinions on a variety of topics. Vote Once. See the Numbers. etc.

I also second the idea for the separate Forum for 2012. As we have about 4 years, and we're getting closer to the "date" it might be wise to have a separate forum. No doubt, closer to the date, more people will be posting threads that are about 2012 and the Mayan Calendar.

Edit to add: I like the idea of a Crime Forum (i think I may have already said this but I notice that goose posted it), because some people have a really big interest in Crimes, and like to look at the information and try to solve it themselves. *Dulcimer's Thread - On the Smiley Face Killings* I dont even know how many pages long that was - but it was great to have a bunch of members collaborating on one case and throwing different possibilites out there.

- Carrot

[edit on 10/5/2008 by CA_Orot]

A brand new forum titled

"WORLD GONE CRAZY"

for articles such as..

Grandad going to jail for not sowing new lawns.

Professional gardener arrested for carrying garden tools

Burglars prosecuting their victims for preventing them stealing their possessions

Marmite banned from school breakfast tables...

And so many more that just makes you want to rip off your clothes and go running into the sea hoping for a rapid physical devolution so you can live with the dolphins.

All I would like to know is how to go about deleting my account?

There must be a button somewhere for that?

This is ridiculous place where you can't have a real conversation, because people whose only aim for being here is to feed their egos, are allowed to run amuck?

Why does everyone think that everything is somekind of a pissing contest to see whose brain is bigger, don't you people understand that if you serve ego you are serving Moloch?

Ro 6:16

Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

End;

In the words of Morpheious, your believing is not required.

reply to post by newday

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Maybe try conversing instead of preaching.
No offence,but it's just not worth trying to stuff religion down people's throats that aren't interested.

Constantly quoting from the bible only works if your name is 'John Paul' or something( or Ringo )

Part of the ego is the ability to make up your own mind and suffer the consequences.

While I think the stars are a great addition to the site so you can show your support for a particular members individual post, but I was wondering if there could also be some kind of applause that actually adds the persons name who gave the applause in a similar manner to the stars, where the "more" option is available too, so a list can form, likened to the ******* +27 more stars type of thing.

I just think that it would bring the community together as a unit as we all have some very valid and beautiful things to say from time to time and I'm sure it will also show us that all in all, eventually we all get along and agree on some front.

You're barking at a guy whose signature says that God is no respecter of persons? lol

Don't be so silly, after-all if he's doing and saying these things to other people imagine what he thinks to himself this place is filled with .. .PEOPLE, just like in the real world although here you click on what people say, you don't walk within earshot, and hey, it takes two to tango to after all you do have to read the material to judge it, there is lot's of great information here, it isn't like your local city though because here you can stumble within earshot of some truly profound people who have gems of wisdom to drop for those whose hands aren't full of hot coals.

[edit on 10/12/2008 by PuRe EnErGy]

I request a feature "jump to page...." for making it easier to navigate trough large threads.

reply to post by ambushrocks

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Just click on the page numbers at the top of each thread...

S...

Lol... yes I know that but if I would want to jump from page 1 to say page 232 in a 400 page thread do you know how many times I would have to click before I get there?

But thank you for the answer anyway

I have been lobbying for a new format here on ATS and quite sure some would agree wqe need a big change to keep the site fresh and keep up with the general movement towards a collective conscience.

In regards to my former posts aboput letting the members vote up threads and replies that are especially good, this would work better if members were allowed say 3 votes in each category. The best replies would rise to the top, and bad replies would go towards the bottom.

The 3 vote rule would not only create a new excitement amongst the membership, but it would help to make sure the best replies are easy to find without searching through all of the pages.

Of course there would still be interest in viewing other less relevant posts because with the categories well thoiught out as mentioned in earlier posts people would want to see what their replies are ranked.

Like another member said earlier, well my very good reply is buried within the 4000 plus replies on the blossom GFL Spaceship thread, so I wanted to post a new thread with the information that got buried.

That is the prolem. Good replies get buried, and people become weary of having to look through all the replies to get to the few really good replies...so again I say give us a true hand in ranking posts and replies so we can make sure that the cream will rise to the top!

reply to post by ambushrocks

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If you know the page number you want, you can change it in the address bar.

This

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread21761/pg1

To this

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread21761/pg35

Not a built in feature, but it works just as well.

reply to post by Duzey

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Thank you very much! This helps me a lot! Now I can find pages again

I have noticed in my time on ATS that a very common recurring complaint is that "good" or "worthwhile" threads often get ignored while sensational threads, hoaxes, controversial topics, and stuff like "What's this light over my house?" go to 5 pages in an hour.

Myself personally, I have noticed that new threads (specifically MY threads ) which don't get replies quickly drop out of sight unless you have subscribed to them. There are a lot of good threads I would reply to if I could FIND them. But you know .. ATS is a BIG site and I can barely keep up with my subscribed threads and breaking news most days, let alone go searching for worthy neglected threads.

So .. how about a little forum .. or even just a thread .. where mods could post links to worthy threads that haven't gotten much response? A member who happens upon something really good could "alert" or u2u a Mod and nominate the thread to be included in "Good Stuff you may have Missed" and one or more Mods could decide if it's worthy. And people like me (who are often annoyed because that really great post I spent hours writing last week only got 3 replies) would have a way to give their thread a 2nd chance at life .. nominate it to the mods and if the mods think it's worthy it gets added to the list. Of course, mods could also add threads to the list without a recommendation if they see a good one themselves.

Then it would be one place where those of us who often regret having missed someone's really interesting thread because we just never SAW it could check for good threads that we might have otherwise missed. Stuff gets buried so quickly here I just think it would be great to have one place to put the stuff that makes you think "wow, what a great thread/post. Too bad no one noticed it."

I know, one more job for the already overworked mods but .. there wouldn't be any deadlines or any need to respond to those suggestions quickly, and I'm sure you see as quickly as I do why just plain old members can't be allowed to add to the list .. everyone would just add their own threads and it would lose its purpose/effectiveness immediately.

(Note that when I use the word "Mods" I mean it to include all staff, admin, SME's, etc.)

When I look at the recent posts page and I get to the bottom of the screen, I have to scroll all the way back up to hit the 2nd page button. How about a link for the next pages at the bottom of the page? Yes, a bit lazy on my part but it would be nice.

I hate to suggest this, but a Digg structure inside the site itself.

Now the complaint I always had was the bury brigades on digg.com, so..

The twist:

The "praise" and "bury" system would only affect people in your friends grouping.

If friend A starred an article it would appear higher on the list (even in recent posts). If you did a demerit/bury on an article it disappears from your view and you dont have to look at it anymore (in recent posts if someone replies to it etc.). Negative marks on posts would reflect to friends.

This way it is less compartmentalized. As is, those who are 'pro-obama' or 'pro-mccain' will flock and compete for who is crazier... This would make it so the rest of us that are repulsed, can stay away and open more doors to good articles on like-minded subjects.

And yes, I know how complicated this type of a change can be.

Another thought...it would be nice for the very hot topics with much interest and replies to be posted at the top of the recent posts page in order of interest. Just the most replied too say in a current week.

Or allow the viewer to choose to view it that way by having a view hot threads icon on the recent posts page.

I have a lot of people on my ignore list - mostly communists and subversives, trolls etc.

I removed one person from my ignore list last night, only to find that he had been replying to my posts for the last several weeks.

I had even informed him of his place on my list and further asked him to stop replying to me as I would no longer be able to see his posts. He did not stop;

In fact, he was actually engaging me in debates and then lambasting me for my cowardice in refusing to issue a rebuttal.

This member would never miss an opportunity, even now he replies to my posts where he finds them. I placed him on ignore again, but took him off to find he was still at it; Targeting my posts for an easy victory and undermining my reputation in the process.

In the future -I would like this debate tactic to be disallowed, possibly incorporated into the Terms and Conditions.

The rule could be: "You are not to reply to posts belonging to those members who have placed you on their ignore lists, and who have notified you as to your placement on their ignore list."

Members should not be allowed to continue attacking those who CANNOT fight back because they chose to use the Ignore function to shield themselves.

It is ironic that the ignore function actually allows for more vicious personal attacks to go unreported - the victim does not even know when they are being attacked.

I'm aware this is an unpopular avenue (and there should theoretically be some way of turning the option to display it off):

Some kind of quality meter for individual users that displays next to the avatar.. I know that it is entirely arbitrary, and I not a big fan of user rating systems. Perhaps some kind of mechanism which takes factors such as sources, length of post, direct replies and or/stars all in one.

Quality might not be the word I'm looking for, ultimately it isn't really measuring that, but I think you know what I'm getting at. The system might serve as an incentive to think before you print (although I'm already impressed by the average ATS poster).

I was thinking maybe a message that says "are you sure?" before you either add a friend or foe.
To many times have I scrolled down the thread and put someone on my foes list that I didnt intent to have on there.
If there was a way to program the foe list and friend list to bring up a little box that said.. "are you sure you want to add them as a foe?"
And then you could click to comfirm that..

Thanks for your time.
Zy5

More thoughts on the reasons we as membewrs should be allowed to have at least three votes in each forum thread to either vote up threads or vote down threads...

If we could vote up all the great replies in every forum wouldn't it be nice to come home after say a long day at work and click on forum replies with highest vote rank and catch up on all the great posts. It would make for more time spent oinline as well.

After that I would want to click on best replies in support of thread to catch up with my like minded users.


Then click on replies by your friends/foes for more interest.

And finally to round out the day, you could click on replies voted most humorous for some good fun with the witty replies we all miss.


I'm gonna start chanting now...Hey hey, ho ho, come on SO please let us vote!