Vote subz (previous ATSNN staff) For ATSNN Councilor!

Originally posted by subz
I think a clear and concise outline of what exactly ATSNN is aiming to achieve, a mission statement if you will, would help alleviate the misunderstandings that abound about the staff's intent. I myself was not fully attuned to the true purpose of ATSNN, which is to seek out the truth. Period.

subz,

Just wanted to share some history with you! The original ATSNN vision statement.

The sory of Abraham, Ismael, and Issac confuses me.

The sory of Abraham, Ismael, and Issac confuses me.

The sory of Abraham, Ismael, and Issac confuses me.

Thanks Val,

Ive never seen that mission statement so I think a prominent link to it on the ATSNN forums couldnt hurt

dj, what the? That doesnt make sense and you posted it 3 times?

Still no explanation dj?? You werent drunk were you?

Originally posted by subz
Still no explanation dj??

You werent drunk were you?

AHA!! Political dirt!!

Its about 1 week till the election!

Is there any members with any more questions to ask? Come on, lets differentiate between candidates a little more. Questions, questions questions!

Originally posted by subz
Is there any members with any more questions to ask? Come on...

Sorry if any of these have been answered already, I'm too tired to review the thread again:

1. To what extent do you personally think the Western MSM is actually influenced by corporations and government, and what, if anything, should or could ATSNN contributors do about it in regards to researching, submitting and commenting on news?

2. Considering Qn 1 above, do you have, or have you read from other members, any ideas that you would like to see instituted in ATSNN in regards to an expanded incentive system to hopefully increase submission quality, and more importantly, encourage members to seek out information for themselves and create exclusive news such that ATSNN can attain the lofty goals which the site admin and many contributors hold for it.

3. Do you feel that members commenting on submission quality within the discussion thread of a submission should be regulated against? A lot of posters have brought up the idea of a "U2U the submitter" function, but there has been no apparent intention to institute this, and still the suggestion keeps cropping up. What are your thoughts on this and what, if anything, do you plan to do about it?

4. Being as honest as a politician can, what do you think are the drawbacks, if any, of the ATSNN submission voting system?

5. Do you think that ATSNN needs another 'N', or is the current number about right? Do you think another 'N' would make ATSNNN one better than all the other 'NN's?

6. WARNING - THIS ONE STUMPED BUSH JNR: What do you think was the greatest mistake or oversight you made in your term as an ATS Council Assistant? How do you intend to rectify that failing if you are elected to the council?

7. Have you read the book 13 Bloodlines of the ATS Council, and if so, what is your answer to the charges made in that publication? Do you believe that non-ATSNN contributors are merely "useless eaters"?

8. What do you say to the sometimes-heard whisper that the council is simply seen as a stepping stone by "I wannabe a mod" members?

9. How many babies have you kissed and did any of them vomit on you? And does lemon juice really get the stain out or is that simply an old housewife's myth?

10. Do you think ATSNN needs redecorating, and do you think that the pink heading is becoming of ATSNN Op/Eds?

11. Do you think that the no:bias voting option should be disabled when the article is an Op/Ed?

12. Do you think that some form of collaborative projects, research or reporting could be set up and possibly benefit ATSNN in any way?




[edit on 2005-10-25 by wecomeinpeace]

Originally posted by wecomeinpeace
1. To what extent do you personally think the Western MSM is actually influenced by corporations and government, and what, if anything, should or could ATSNN contributors do about it in regards to researching, submitting and commenting on news?

Western media are corporations. Corporations and Western politicians enjoy a symbiotic relationship. Neither gets in each others way, as doing so hurts their own interests. As such any story that will damage the status quo for either parties is unlikely to surface unless the story is incapable of being suppressed. If a story is unable to be suppressed the subject of the story is cut loose and they are on their own. There is no honour amongst thieves.

The only means we, as ATSNN contributors and users, have to combat this censorship is to have an open mind. There might not be a big glowing neon sign saying "This is what REALLY happened" but there are definitely clues to find. If you can piece together a story that better fits the disparate and under-reported facts, whilst also fitting a "who benefits?" question like a glove I think you should post it in ATSNN. No one has a monopoly on the truth, regardless on how hard MSM have tried to say they do. We can get to the bottom of these suppressed or under-reported stories if we use a little effort and don't take what we're told as gospel.

Originally posted by wecomeinpeace
2. Considering Qn 1 above, do you have, or have you read from other members, any ideas that you would like to see instituted in ATSNN in regards to an expanded incentive system to hopefully increase submission quality, and more importantly, encourage members to seek out information for themselves and create exclusive news such that ATSNN can attain the lofty goals which the site admin and many contributors hold for it.

To be honest, there really isn't much I would like to see change with regards to the incentives for contributing to ATSNN. The reward, for me at least, was in having people read and discuss my opinions. If we deviate from the purely collaborative and volunteer nature of ATSNN we run the risk of getting people contributing for the wrong reasons.

But we could encourage more submissions by restricting how many stories us experts can post in one day. Not to detract from any of the hard work done by the ATSNN experts, but our instant submission ability seriously reduces the amount of stories a non-expert can contribute. This issue should be looked at if we're to encourage more contributors.

I also think the voting process needs a bit of tweaking, as I've mentioned earlier in this thread. There are some major disincentives coming the contributors way thanks to people voting for unnecessarily critical reasons. I don't claim to have the answers to this question and I've been told SO and Nerdling are on it.

Originally posted by wecomeinpeace
3. Do you feel that members commenting on submission quality within the discussion thread of a submission should be regulated against? A lot of posters have brought up the idea of a "U2U the submitter" function, but there has been no apparent intention to institute this, and still the suggestion keeps cropping up. What are your thoughts on this and what, if anything, do you plan to do about it?

Well in the absence of a "U2U the submitter" option I don't think people have much choice. If you're waiting for a contributor to change a few spelling mistakes before you vote 'yes', and you decide to tell him in the thread what's wrong I don't see a problem with it so long as the poster isn't being abusive. There is only a short time frame for contributors to be able to edit their stories and if they cant see a problem and its a simple matter of having it explained to them, to get their story voted up, where's the harm?

I would like to see a "U2U the submitter" option in the voting palette but I would also have reservations on allowing all users to have access to it. Maybe use the old criteria of allowing a "user with 25 or more submissions" to send U2U's to the submitter would suffice?

Originally posted by wecomeinpeace
4. Being as honest as a politician can, what do you think are the drawbacks, if any, of the ATSNN submission voting system?

As mentioned earlier on in this post, I think there are some pretty heavy disincentives facing contributors since not many people fully understand the voting criteria. Maybe an education campaign to actively show people how to vote? Maybe implement a voting test for new members? Have some example submissions, some perfect, some with errors and ask the user to vote how they think they should be voted on. Then inform them of how they did, tell them they voted no incorrectly due to such and such. Im only throwing ideas into the arena here and it would only be my capacity as an ATS member that im doing so. I, as councillor, would have no more say in the matter than any other ATS user. The only benefit I would have is that I get to present these ideas to staff and advocate the ones I believe in.

Originally posted by wecomeinpeace
5. Do you think that ATSNN needs another 'N', or is the current number about right? Do you think another 'N' would make ATSNNN one better than all the other 'NN's?

Im going to think completely out of the box here, how about we actually DROP an 'N' from ATSNN? Think about it, ATSN? That rolls off the tongue far easier than ATSNN does. Its all about the flow of the tongue, say it with me "ATSN", "ATSNN". Yep I'd definitely advocate the dropping of the superfluous 'N'.

Originally posted by wecomeinpeace
6. WARNING - THIS ONE STUMPED BUSH JNR: What do you think was the greatest mistake or oversight you made in your term as an ATS Council Assistant? How do you intend to rectify that failing if you are elected to the council?

There were many mistakes that I made in my stint as ATSNN Council Assistant. It was to be expected, it was the inaugural ATS Council. Perhaps the greatest mistake I made whilst ATSNN Council Assistant was that I some times jumped the gun and didn't wait to ask the staff's permission before doing something.

Case in point, I posted a thread in ATSNN asking for suggestions for the voting system. Unbeknownst to me, Nerdling and SO had already been working on the voting system and had changes pending. I didn't see the harm in asking the members opinions and suggestions but it would of been unreasonable if changes were already pending to create the thread. I should of asked for permission beforehand and its a lesson that I've learnt. Everyone is entitled to make a mistake once, the second time its not a mistake any more.

Originally posted by wecomeinpeace
7. Have you read the book 13 Bloodlines of the ATS Council, and if so, what is your answer to the charges made in that publication? Do you believe that non-ATSNN contributors are merely "useless eaters"?

No I haven't read that intriguingly sounding book but I seriously reject the notion of non-ATSNN contributors being "useless eaters". Being a non-ATSNN contributor implies all ATSNN members that don't submit stories. These people could well be avid posters who discuss other peoples submissions, it takes two to tango and these people are far from useless. They are the second part of the equation that eventually leads us closer to the truth.

Originally posted by wecomeinpeace
8. What do you say to the sometimes-heard whisper that the council is simply seen as a stepping stone by "I wannabe a mod" members?

Well what can I say, something like 5 or 6 of the last council was made into Moderators. I have no designs on being a moderator and I definitely know that's not my motivation for wanting to be on the council.

Originally posted by wecomeinpeace
9. How many babies have you kissed and did any of them vomit on you? And does lemon juice really get the stain out or is that simply an old housewife's myth?

Haven't kissed a baby in a while and the last one to vomit on me must of been a few days before Christmas. Covered from head to toe, never a pleasant experience Lemon juice could get the stain out but then again so does Daz

Originally posted by wecomeinpeace
10. Do you think ATSNN needs redecorating, and do you think that the pink heading is becoming of ATSNN Op/Eds?

I believe ATSNN is capable of evolving as much as any other of the ATS boards are. Its just a matter of whether SO and the other staff have the time. There are higher priority things, but I agree pink is a little effeminate. Then again, most people's user names are fairly asexual, does it matter if people think im a woman because my Op/Ed heading is in pink?

Originally posted by wecomeinpeace
11. Do you think that the no:bias voting option should be disabled when the article is an Op/Ed?

YES Most definitely so.

Originally posted by wecomeinpeace
12. Do you think that some form of collaborative projects, research or reporting could be set up and possibly benefit ATSNN in any way?

For sure. But since there is already a collaborative research mechanism in place for ATS I think all that would need to be done is for the research teams to post an Op/Ed of their findings and conclusion if they so wish. There is currently nothing stopping them from doing so.

Thanks for the questions WCIP, I appreciate the mental challenge of answering them. Now will any one read them?

[edit on 26/10/05 by subz]

Duly read and Filed............

Remember to vote!

Two weeks and counting till the end of voting! Remember to vote and good luck my fellow candidates!

[edit on 4/11/05 by subz]

What do you mean, "till the end of voting"? Is there a voting form up already?

No, I worded that wrong. The polls open for a couple of days and then they close. They close in 2 weeks

The polls much be coming to a close soon. Does anyone have any word on when they will infact close?