I want in.....RATS

I would say...

Atleast 3 months on the board as a registered member.

Atleast 500 posts.

No Warns against you.

5 or 10,000 point hit for your first subscription then just a steady point deduction of the 250 after that.

With the first 2 restrictions, a hike in the point deduction probably would not be required.

I have lurked here for a very long time. I just registered towards the end of last year. While I am curious to see what's going on on RATS, my main reason for joining was seeking out the truth and having an intellectual exchange with others on here, (with the occasional humorous aside).
This board, overall, has a nice mixture of skeptics and believers, and for the most part, the discussions (even if they sometimes lead nowhere) are enlightning.

It's not always the end result, but sometimes the journey that is more important.

That is why I'm still here

To be honest i would not be to conserned with getting into RATS, as there isnt much of intrest in there. You will get there, read the serpo thread, see there aint nothing that isnt in the other threads, and relise you just wasted 5000 points.

So I wouldn't be too conserned.

PickleWash is right, it's not some big secret with lots of cool stuff, it's pretty boring really, apart from this serpo thing, and of course this was the few months I checked it everyday, there was a new thread maybe every 4 days, and what is in there really is'nt that interesting, that's why I only renew my subscription if I want to go check it out (usually every two months.)

I do believe RATS is now back open to subscribe to. Check the memcenter but i'm seeing that i'm back to paying 250 a month for it.

Wupy

Well before tagging was introduced, 5000 points was not easy to come by. You had to work hard for it, now tagging makes that accessible in a hour or two.

Wat be da tagging?

What's tagging?

Thanks in advance

[edit on 13/2/2006 by SportyMB]

Forgive me if I'm wrong, and I apologize greatly if I am, but....doesn't the over-all "atmosphere" of the current posters worried about getting to RATS seem indicitave of a person who has the "gamer" personality???

Definition: They want to rack up the most points and say they "came, saw, and conquered"....

Hell, why not give all current members a free day access to RATS, and maybe we can worry less about points and more about digging for the truth

Scroll to the bottom of the page. See the little box that says, "Add tag." well, you put some descriptive words about the thread in that little box and hit enter. You get lots of points for doing that for awhile, especially on older threads.

The problem I have with jacking up the price of RATS is that tagging won't last forever. Then you will have a huge price to join and few ways to achieve it.

Just my thoughts,

Wupy

Originally posted by iori_komei
PickleWash is right, it's not some big secret with lots of cool stuff, it's pretty boring really

Dont' listen to the naysayers. I'll give you a sneak peek if you don't tell. Of course you have to buy access to actually read the threads, but....

I don't tag and I don't post a lot of b/s posts just to up my numbers. (Not that I was accused of such).
My point is, I do NOT care about the points system, and even though it would be nice to see RATS, if the MODs want to reset my points to zero each day, feel free.
I signed up to ATS for access to ATS because I liked the discussion flow here. Informative from both sides of the fence
I think the whole points thing/RATS thing is overrated.

Just my $0.02....sorry if I offend.

-Regards
Ahnikah

Originally posted by mrwupy
The problem I have with jacking up the price of RATS is that tagging won't last forever. Then you will have a huge price to join and few ways to achieve it.
Just my thoughts,
Wupy

I would like to see RATS go to 20 or 50 thousand points because of tagging anyone can get in.

[edit on 13/2/2006 by Sauron]

Lol, that is one of the funniest things i have seen on this forum.

Let me guess, Photo-shop?

No really there isn't much action there, a new thread pops up every couple of days, and mostly it isn't really top-secret. The main reason why its not readily available is that, some of the information can be personal and you don't want just anyone seeing it. It also stops it showing up on Google.

Originally posted by Sauron

Originally posted by mrwupy
The problem I have with jacking up the price of RATS is that tagging won't last forever. Then you will have a huge price to join and few ways to achieve it.
Just my thoughts,
Wupy

I would like to see RATS go to 20 or 50 thousand points because of tagging anyone can get in.

[edit on 13/2/2006 by Sauron]

I could agree with it going up for the period in which tagging is richly rewarded. The day will come though when tagging is rewarded about as much as a standard post, Atleast I believe that will happen. Then it would be hell to get RATS access. They could lower the price when the tagging frenzy is over.

Wupy

Originally posted by Sauron

I would like to see RATS go to 20 or 50 thousand points because of tagging anyone can get in.

[edit on 13/2/2006 by Sauron]

Why not make it 500,000 points so no-one can get in, or, incorporate RATS into 'Cosmic'?

Another thing I'd like to ask is; What is the big sin with tagging? Didn't Skeptic Overlord set this system up for a reason? So some members actually put some time and effort into tagging...myself included...what is your problem with that?

You make it sound like the top ten taggers are getting a free ride...to RATS...
.
edit for speeling

[edit on 14-2-2006 by masqua]

I did'nt know tagging really got you alot of points to tell the truth.

If I'm looking at a thread, and think of a tag that has'nt been used, I'll add it, not to get points, but to do what it's meant for, make threads easier to find using search, atleast I think thats what it's meant to do.

I think RATS should be 7,000 points, and you have to be here 6 months, and have no warnings (the tag kind).


Anyways, just my 0.002^100 cents.

Originally posted by iori_komei

If I'm looking at a thread, and think of a tag that has'nt been used, I'll add it, not to get points, but to do what it's meant for, make threads easier to find using search, atleast I think thats what it's meant to do.

And that's the right attitude as a tagger. However, we haven't even gotten 1/4 of the total threads tagged yet, especially older threads which haven't been looked at or posted on for years.

To get at those threads, which, by the way, are also very interesting, SO has provided a random means for bringing them to light.

If we are to put the new search system SO is working on into good use...those old threads then also need tagging.
.
edit to add that I'm sorry to go off topic on this thread, but I don't believe that the case presented against taggers is justified. I've noticed similar remarks elsewhere and prefer not to let it go unanswered.

Since RATS is now available, the debate in the thread is, IMO, moot...how about a lock on it?

[edit on 14-2-2006 by masqua]

Hummm, some of those threads in that screen shot look pretty interesting........maybe I'll blow some of my 'ill-gotten' gains to find out!! ( I too responded to a call from the powers to help tag old threads......only to be nicely surprised to see how many points resulted......I was trying to be helpful, not greedy!! And reading thru some of those oldies in order to give an appropriate tag....whew! )

Edit for speeling, also!!


[edit on 14-2-2006 by frayed1]

those point hikes are alittle much.

I think you should need to be registered for so many months, and have a certain amount of posts.

100,000 points is not exactly fathomable. It will just have people tagging more in order to reach the goal.

A person can do nothing of the time he is registered, and can simply make sure he has the amount of posts required when his time is called.


Registered for Atleast 3 Months

Minimum of 250 Posts

I would see these are bare minimums for it.

How about not giving points for each individual tag, per se.
How about instead working in teams to tag the old threads, etc, and rewarding the persons in the group for that?
I know it's not a complete idea, but it can be fleshed out

It's true that tagging has made RATS available to anyone that wants to spend a couple hours tagging, but that won't last forever.
I haven't noticed a huge increase in traffic on the RATS Forum, and lets face it, most of the ATS members are not spending a lot of time adding tags just for point. Once you have 50,000 points, what more do you need. You rapidly run out of stuff you can spend them on.

I say RATS should just stay the way it is, tagging points won't be there forever, and the people that are tagging the most have been around the boards for a while.

It'll all come out in the wash, go tag something, spend the points on RATS if you want.
But above all, enjoy the ATS experience.
It's member input that makes the community.......................