The ATS Thread Flagging System

Wouldn`t it have been better to leave the voting of flags to moderators or forum council staff, or even extended to people who have earned the right to vote somehow?

Or maybe along the lines of, when an applause is given to a person for their initial post in a thread started or even in just a post in a thread a flag is given to it?

Because as I also see it like others here,anyone can just get flag happy and click on any type of rubbish,making it useless.

Originally posted by gps777
Wouldn`t it have been better to leave the voting of flags to moderators or forum council staff, or even extended to people who have earned the right to vote somehow?

Or maybe along the lines of, when an applause is given to a person for their initial post in a thread started or even in just a post in a thread a flag is given to it?

Because as I also see it like others here,anyone can just get flag happy and click on any type of rubbish,making it useless.

Well, I think that the forum staff are probably busy enough as it is, so that probably won't happen. As for abuse of the system, you can't get points for it, which was the reason thread tagging was abused early on, but now they aren't giving points for it.
By the way, is there a link on the homepage for tag searches? The only times I come across it are when someone posts a link.

Originally posted by apex
Well, I think that the forum staff are probably busy enough as it is, so that probably won't happen.

Which is why I wrote this,I`ll emphasis it this time.

Originally posted by gps777
Wouldn`t it have been better to leave the voting of flags to moderators or forum council staff, or even extended to people who have earned the right to vote somehow?

I`m well aware of the amount of work they would have to do,but it should be voted on quality not quantity to be of value.

By the way, is there a link on the homepage for tag searches? The only times I come across it are when someone posts a link.

Click on the tags given,I guess?


Edit to add

I just had a look down the main page and some introductions have more flags than threads of somewhat importance,or at least effort.

Showing that the responsibility given to us as members to flag threads of importance is being abused,making the work done to provide this attraction a waste and irrelevant,as far as I can see.


[edit on 19-2-2007 by gps777]

If this was a voting system only by the mods would you want them voting on what THEY thought was interesting for YOU to view. I have to agree with what dalen said earlier the replies and views a thread has is indication enough of how popular a thread is.

Sorry, I didn't see the bit you just emphasised, oh well, that seems a reasonable idea.

and clicking on the tags seems a rather strange method of getting to it.

I think this is a great idea BTW. I also think it's going to take a bit more time before we start seeing benefits from it. How long has it been? 12 hours?

Originally posted by conspiracy_101
If this was a voting system only by the mods would you want them voting on what THEY thought was interesting for YOU to view.

Who said anything about just Mods?

But even if it were just the mods,the mods here are intelligent and from a wide range of different people i.e. countries, ages, sex, beliefs etc,I would take their vote of a flag as an informed judgement for sure.I might not always agree,but thats something else.But I would take notice for sure.

So what I was saying, was to extend the voting power to those who have earned it and not limited to just the mods,but not to all.

Mods,Council members,and what ever the adim come up with to decide who can vote on the flags.
Edit for...
Maybe something like members who have upward of 10-20 applauds or something?



[edit on 19-2-2007 by gps777]

Maybe if they limited the amount of flags you could use per week, people would use their flags more wisely.

Originally posted by conspiracy_101
Maybe if they limited the amount of flags you could use per week, people would use their flags more wisely.

Yes,but that would also limit good votes on threads that maybe were more deserving.

But anyway,I`m sure SO and the gang will nut this out over time,to get the required results.

Flags on ATS?! Damn, that's dash-cunning of them!

Great job as always, Amigos. Since Digg blocked ATS for being "news middlemen" we'll just have our OWN digg-type system, except better, cause it's on ATS and stuff.

Originally posted by Justin Oldham
Thread flagging sounds like a good way to see what the ATS membership thinks is important. It may give you more insight in to the tastes of those who post here.

You make it sound like data mining, or something. lol.

We will just see how it works in practice.

I want to have faith in this new system of identifying new and important threads containg recently pertinent content etc...especially because I feel so lost and get so bogged down with threads of nothingness sometimes.

However, I worry that it will suffer the same fate of the flashingblue light. Gawd that annoys me. It should be for moderator use only or something.

I'd see that stinking light light and think-or once did- *oh a thread of importance* and it would be pure garbage! I mean really really stupid stuff that warrented no blue light attention -unless it was on clearance at K-Mart.

But I guess if it is not the author's flag, but many others validating that thread, it would be a good indicator.

As with everything, I'm always game to try anything and see where it goes. Trial and error-how does anything get perfected without that system? And I applaud SO and ATS for constantly striving for perfection.

(By the way SO, your pretty damn close. You never cease to amaze me...but your avatar kind of scares me-are you really so mean and to be feared? Can't you ever be smiling?!)

[edit on 19-2-2007 by 2l82sk8]

Originally posted by 2l82sk8Can't you ever be smiling?!)

I tried smiling once... it scared the dog.

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord
I tried smiling once... it scared the dog.

LOL! Somehow I believe you!

awesome!!!

ATS does get better every day...

This is a great idea I'm amazed at the amount of good work that's constantly being put into ATS. This is the best designed forum that I've seen on the net. Keep it up

This is what your Flags mean...

Here's the prototype home page (still being refined):
www.abovetopsecret.com...

You can see that the top-tier 5 topics are directly influced by the flagging system. Many of the remaining displayed topics are also heavily influenced by your flags, with a nod toward views or replies depending on the category.

This method will be applied to the forum groups and forums as well.

Thanks ATS mods for updating our user tools to make our surfing experience more user friendly. I like your ideas and I am glad to be a member of this wonderful website, ATS rules!

Thankyou, SkepticOverlord, for your constant effort and ingenuity in improving ATS.

Always appreciated

Will this flagging system be replicated for BTS and PTS? I know that ATS is the main board but I was just wondering.