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

I recetnly posted a short story for an ATS contest. This made me think. Does Above Politics have a political fiction forum? I mean actual writing of the kind that goes on at ATS. It's what I do for a living, so I just hadda ask. I have ideas if the concept is deemed worthy.

Board Suggestion - Trusted Certificates

Hey All,

I just had a not so quick suggestion and would like to know how the board feels.
My suggestions is that we provide a "secure" area (other than RATS which is based on ATS points) that uses client based security certificates to verify the identity of its posters. Obviously this would be by voluntary consent only.

The objective of my proposed "secure" board is to mainly

1. Be confident that we are talking to real people, who have verifyable credentials and that their interest in the subject is genuine.

2. Help to filter out crackpots and dis-info agents. This could be accomplished due to the fact that you have to put yourself (your REAL name) under scrutiny of the rest of the people that are participating in the "secure" board.

3. Will help to promote geniune topics and thoughts. Already, those who are serious about CT and the truth are leading the way such as John Lear. Adding certificates adds another dimension of authenticity and reliability.

Again let me stress that this doesn't need to be mandatory (and by all rights it SHOULD NOT BE). I am simply proposing an area of the board where those who choose to, can sign in with verified certificates to authenticate themselves to the board for maximum scrutiny and authentcity amoung their peers.

The Anonymous sections of the board are an awesome add-on. I'm aware of the dynamics the anonymous postings provide, and we should keep it. I'm asking to think of the dynamics of an authenticated forum and how much headway we could make with it.

This, in my mind, would make a 3 tier system to ATS.
The Anonymous Tier,
The Registered User Tier,
The Authenticated User Tier,
all with their own unique characteristics and additions to everything conspiracy related.
If such a system were put in place, I would be the first to provide a client certificate to prove my identity.

Thanks for the time, and look forward to other suggestions, and/or constructive criticism.

Hey. I was asked to stop in one more time to say something about creative writing for Above Politics. I do like the idea of a forum where writers can show their political fiction skills. Could even be some room to discuss technical writing issues common to policy writing and other such things that political writers might like.

i would like to see some kind of screening system for new members. I have browsed this forum for one year before i felt priviledged enough in my research to join and add to the community. I know i have only been a member for around 3 months but i have been browsing this site for over a year. It seems the quality of the new members has drastically declined, i guess conspiracy theorist are the "in" thing in high school! I feel as if the new members on this site are extremely ill informated and ignorant, and it is making the serious members here look bad.

this:

BTS "subject matter experts"...

I would like the option of deleting threads I created and a link to the new profile thing under -member center-

I noticed something today when I was typing, misspelled words were coming up with little red underlines on them. Is this a new Spell Check feature that you are working on? If so....BLESS YOU!

Originally posted by whatukno
I noticed something today when I was typing, misspelled words were coming up with little red underlines on them. Is this a new Spell Check feature that you are working on? If so....BLESS YOU!

this happens to me on other forums too, i think its just MS Word... though I'm not sure

I thought it was Firefox actually, but I'm not sure. It does it in other sites as well, so it must be.

CTS: Conspiracies Top Secret?


How bout video podcasts?

My new iMac has a built in webcam, and I want to break it in!

BTW: I just want to warn you guys. If this feature does go through, my voice that you may have heard in my podcasts doesn't match my appearance.


THR

An ATS Statistics button on the menu bar that is the beginning and end of all ATS statistics, such as most threads in a forum and overall, most replies in a forum and overall, most views in a forum and overall, youngest registered member, oldest registered member, person with the highest SAT (just kidding on this one!!!)...the list can go on and on and I believe it would be extremely interesting. Statistics can dissuade some people from participating on ATS, but I strongly believe that it would have a positive net effect as members will develop goals to reach for.

Would it be possible to number each of the replies in a thread, such as 5 of 81, on the computer screen? I believe this would enhance ATS. What do you think?

How about a member competition with the purpose of enhancing ATS? ATS is already a great website. However, like all things in world history that humans have touched, improvements can be made. An incentive system might include points, titles, awards...

God Bless ATS!!!

Originally posted by TheRanchMan How bout video podcasts?

We are working on YouTube-styled video upload and sharing... with a couple twists "the ATS way". Stay tuned for this one. Also, the 2007 Presidential Election running on AbovePolitics is our most aggressive "member competition" ever.

How about a monthly member competition for each forum that requires members to articulately answer a relevant question posed by ATS Administration or Moderators? An incentive system might involve points, titles, awards...

I wonder, is there any way that those that regularly podcast could have a Podcaster status? Like, Writer, Fighter, Scholar? It would be pretty cool I think to see those that regularly podcast given a title like that.

a police state sub-forum for the NWO section

something i've been wanting to see for a very long time

I reckon that there should also be a conspiracy section regarding globalization

I orig. posted this somewhere else until it got closed and i was redirected here. So here is my idea:
I was just wondering if a sort of notice could be made letting us know that somebody quoted us. Sometime I might put in my 2cents on a post on pg1 and by the time I come back the thread is already 10pgs long. That kinda sucks when someone is asking you a question about what you wrote, or explaing something to you , or whatever. I dont even know if this is possible or if everybody would like, but its just an idea that came to my head.

EDIT: Spelling

[edit on 4/1/2007 by ImpliedChaos]

[edit on 4/1/2007 by ImpliedChaos]

ImpliedChaos,

This is an excellent and useful idea. I agree that this should be implemented with the least intrusion and server resources. How, though, is a tricky question. The board code as it is keeps no track of who quotes who.

If you configure your own myATS, it may help with keeping on top of the threads we chat in regularly. This is not a resolution to exactly what you are looking for, but it may help if you have not already taken advantage of this.