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

reply to post by Allred5923

---

Try this...

Hello,

I'm pretty sure this has been brought up before but I wanted to suggest it once more.

Can we please get an automatic notification when another member has "friended" us?
Every once in a while I check my profile and feel extremely guilty that I haven't thanked or reciprocated. Of course that is an internal issue that I should get over, still, a U2U notice would be nice.

As it is, there is auto notification if one "foes" another.
Shouldn't we have the same for "friendship?"

Thank you.

reply to post by schrodingers dog

---

I agree. It's strange we get foe notifications (negative) but not friend notifications (positive).

reply to post by AshleyD

---

Yikes, see, that's exactly what I'm talking about.

Ash, the situation has been remedied.

In an ideal world, I'd like to see stars and flags rationed a bit.

Maybe each member could have a certain amount of flags/stars per day, week or month depending on which is easier.

It might reduce indiscriminate flagging and focus attention on the really good threads.

I don't like the idea of basing points on the basis of activity, but I understand it might be a necessity.

I also understand that this might not be popular or possible, but I just wondered what people think of it.

I want to see.... ahhh who cares... is anybody listening?

is anybody listening?

YouTube Link

Nobody is listening.

Just an idea for admin.
Self close own threads.
In some cases where someone has kicked of a thread that has already been started we get someone saying post already started. This is the case mostly with breaking news. If this happens to me I post asking members to go to the originating thread with a statement saying “please consider thread closed”

It would be a nice conclusion to actually close it after all it would help the busy moderators.

Just a sugestion

My fantasies re ATS:

1. maximum workable tailoring of visual screen factors to the user's taste.

2. Creative and diverse ways to earn points as well as some fun ways to spend them.

3. PERHAPS an automatic screening module in the software given the priority for civility. IF THERE WERE A SOFTWARE MODULE THAT SCREENED SENTENCES THAT INCLUDED PERSONAL PRONOUNS FOR NEGATIVE WORDS AND DELETED THOSE SENTENCES AUTOMATICALLY--AT LEAST THE ASSAULTIVE TYPES OF NEGATIVE WORDS BEARING SENTENCES,

THEN

I think the civility might be enhanced a lot.

I think it's ONE THING to be vigorous and even hostile about an idea, a perspective etc. and a different thing to be so about a fellow ATS poster.

I recognize that LOTS OF FOLKS are so insecure and immature that even hostility about their WORDS will be taken BY THEM as hostility ABOUT THEM, AT THEM, AS AN ASSAULT.

However, imho, THAT'S THEIR PROBLEM. Doesn't need to be ATS's problem.

4. Perhaps in that light--some dogged persistent effort to get the mods on the same page as much as workable re objectivity and fair-mindedness toward balancing such issues out toward civility without being arbitrary running around loose with an arbitrary tinged meat axe.

5. The u2u's seem to be enormously clunky somehow and far less functional; far more troublesome; far more limiting in using them than any other site I frequent. FREEREPUBLIC.COM's FREEPMAIL function is quick, easy, unlimited.

6. I wonder if it would be useful to have a committee of long time users or those above a certain number of points . . . with a rotating membership . . . to screen and vet suggestions etc . . . perhaps help manage not just a thread such as this but a section devoted to ongoing improvements.

7. I'd like to see the principles rotate at least monthly or quarterly in hosting a Q & A thread.

GREAT JOB OVER ALL. THANKS TONS.

1) A check your recent posts feature- this could list in one search return a list of all your recent posts, except it would show the actual posts, in chronological order, with more options to do from right there like this:

2) A "see replies to this post" feature that would sense when someone used the "reply to this post" feature, so you don't miss replies to your post. This would be really handy in big threads, where it is tedious to try and hunt these things down.

Just a simple one.

The page numbers that we see on the most recent threads page and also all the forum pages are only at the top.

Would it not be a good idea to also place the page numbers at the bottom of the page so when you finish scrolling down page one you don't have to scroll all the way back up to the top to select page 2.

Hope that makes sense!

Cheers

[edit on 31-1-2009 by Chadwickus]

Why not allow the star voting for this thread. That way you can see just how many users/members agree with each suggestion.

Here's a major frustration for me which I'm sure alot of members have dealt with. Ever been in the process of replying to a thread, typed up a very wordy response or comment, hit submit, only to be sent to an announcement page saying the thread has been closed? I'm not talking about threads that have been closed due to T&C violations, but rather threads closed because an existing topic is already present on the boards. Almost always I disgustedly travel away from the topic, not feeling like trying to recompose my original thoughts on the subject.

My request is this, would it be possible to display the reply we had just typed underneath this message, giving us the chance to copy & paste the reply in the still open, earlier topic? Barring that, is there a setting somewhere which I can toggle which would allow me to go back into the reply data field and have it still contain what I had typed (I'm using IE)?

Could we get it set up so that we are automatically subscribed to threads we start? It happens when we reply to a thread so it only makes sense for threads we start to automatically show up on our myATS page as a subscribed thread.

Why split it at all? Seems like some kind of a hierarchy where you get sent to the back of the bus.

I was posting about the kid who got eaten by an alligator, real good thread that was taking off like a shot, and suddenly I found myself out in the cold, had to log in to post.

I don't see why that topic was not as important as any of the others under discussion.

Of course now that it's been sent away, it won't get looked at much and I won't be posting there now.

Why don't you just keep them all together? I don't get the separation at all.

Please make the usernames in U2Us link back to the user's profile?

If an unknown user messages me, I'd like to be able to view their profile to find out a bit more about them. It seems a bit silly to have to copy the username and do a search for it every time when one could just click on the name.

Thanks

You don't have to scroll all the way up. You can just click this button at the bottom of the page, and it takes you right back to the top:

Click here for more information.

reply to post by ziggystar60

---

To be honest, what he's asking for makes a whole lot more sense.

I don't know how you would do it, but it would be nice to have a way to organize a thread by the amount of stars given.
1) yes, I know that it doesn't mean it was a great post but it sure makes the sifting easier.
2) It could be just an option, not suggesting that the thread be rearranged for everybody that way.

The way I would use it; I have 30minutes to kill on the news of the day or issues. I read the threads and find something interesting but it has 30 pages...I only have time to read the OP and then I want to read the posts with the most stars....I can then determine if the stars were for cause or not...but I would/should find a great response alot quicker doing it that way than trying to read 30pages in 5minutes........then boom....move on to the next interesting thread.....

Some people might even take the time to write a better post if they know that stars will improve the odds of someone reading it. The posts that get the most stars are probably just catchy sound bytes that preach to the choirs of like minded people....but those are easy to ignore.

Its not a perfect solution and I don't know what kind of pain in the butt tech it would require to add the feature....Those of us contrained by time would really appreciate someone coming up with a way to help us filter out some of the time consuming waste in many otherwise interesting threads.....and I for one, trust the majority of ATS'ers to blue star filter them for me.

Recent New Thread Feature Request

In looking at a few complaints of ATS becoming lackluster or not as creative as it used to be and that only threads of a hot button topic ever really go anywhere. The following thought occurred to me while looking at the RECENT POSTS feature that it only tracks when a topic is replied to by a post.

What I propose is a feature that would allow a user to see all threads started in say a 24 period regardless of activity as an easier way for members (and mods) to find new threads that may otherwise go unnoticed. Many threads are lost and die only because of the effort to wade through all the other existing threads to find them.

If laid out similar to the RECENT POSTS feature, it would allow for members to avoid topics they do not particularly care for, mods could see if the new topic is their assigned areas for more efficient monitoring and thread authors would have better promotion of their work if posted in off peek hours.

Authors could also do a quick look before starting a new thread so as to reduce the number of multiple threads when a major news event happens. And maybe even reduce the need to send out an alert to all members to stop creating threads on a certain topic like what happened last fall over the Blossom Goodchild Oct 14 GFL threads that popped up like wildfire.

I realize that we do have it on a small scale in the frame to the right, but those really do disappear rather quickly and since we all have different schedules it may actually contribute to the multiple thread problem.

As always, discussion encouraged.