The New And Improved "Way Above Top Secret"

The New And Improved "Way Above Top Secret" Calculation

Over the past several months, there has not been any "Way Above Top Secret" awards handed out based on member voting. The system was designed to only consider members with 10 or more votes, and we seem to have outgrown the legacy of the voting system.

It was originally conceived and designed at a point when we rarely exceeded 1,000 new posts and 20 new members a day. Now, with nearly 4,000 members logging in every week, and most of them creating a post, the simplified voting method simply isn't creating a scoring system that works any more. For example, this past April, 14 members received 12 votes, the highest tally... but we had over 500 members receiving votes.

Now... it's certainly a good thing that 14 members inspired leading votes, and an amazing 500 members inspired your vote... but our size and activity level makes such a system irrelevant.

But... never fear... we have a new system, based on thread authors and thread flags.


The New Way Above

The new system looks at all the threads created in the month, and tallies the flags received for all members who started threads. The highest flag total from a non-staff, non-banned member is our new Way Above winner for the month.

In April, our top thread-starters looked like this:

SkepticOverlord ---> 173
JacKatMtn ---> 164
greatlakes ---> 101
Shadoww ---> 99
7Ayreon ---> 89
rai76 ---> 87
CEDRICtheFOETUS ---> 69
UM_Gazz ---> 67
Neon Haze ---> 64
Dulcimer ---> 60
Grailkeeper ---> 57
chissler ---> 49
WellSee ---> 43
SpeakerofTruth ---> 38
The Undefeated ---> 35
shots ---> 34
TheBandit795 ---> 31
Umbrax ---> 31
markjaxson ---> 30
Acharya ---> 30
infinite ---> 29
Norio Hayakawa ---> 28
Lane75 ---> 26
bprintz1 ---> 25
187specialist ---> 25
FlyersFan ---> 24
BlueRidge ---> 23
nashthegreat ---> 23
lombozo ---> 23
Gridkeeper ---> 23
omega1 ---> 22
blue bird ---> 20
NGC2736 ---> 20
Infoholic ---> 20
amerish ---> 20

So JacKatMtn is our April 2007 Way Above Winner.

Is this how the award will be given out every month, and if so, are you going to take away our votes?

so all i would need to do is start a lot of controversial threads to gain attention and then i get the monthly award?

It would appear that the "Way Above" voting option is gone. Seems we "vote" for people by flagging their threads. And only thread starters will be eligible for WATS award. So, instead of peer votes for specific quality posts, the WATS winner will be the person who starts the most threads and gets the most flags for those threads, instead of being based on the quality of particular posts.

I prefer voting for quality over quantity, but oh, well...

Good luck to all in winning the next WATS. It will be good to see the award showing its face again.

Oh! And CONGRATULATIONS to JacKatMtn!!! Well-deserved!

[edit on 1-5-2007 by Benevolent Heretic]

I don't ever have to worry about winning.

I never will be able to start as many as others.

I also had 20 flags in April, yet my name is not up there so where is the cut off?

Yeah, CONGRATULATIONS JacKatMtn...

[edit on 1-5-2007 by Shar]

Originally posted by Shar
I also had 20 flags in April, yet my name is not up there so where is the cut off?

If you are not a top thread starter, your name wouldn't be on the list. The list seems to be of "top thread starters" with lots of flags.

Oh I see.

Thanks BH. for answering my question.

I hope that people wil nut use this as an excuse to throw out random threads. I don't start any thread unless I have through it through for a while.

How would you suppose we now show our appreciation when someone other than a thread starter contributes a fantastic post?

One such as this, for example?

[edit on 1/5/07 by Implosion]

A certain super mod once said....

I find the best category of posters on ATS to be those that respond to threads intelligently, not the actual thread starters (OP's).

Can't anybody just post 200 news articles and get lucky with one interesting one winning the Award?

Doesn't make much sense to me.


Oh well

EDIT: Prepare for a huge wave of thread making by everyone.

[edit on 1/5/2007 by enjoies05]

Let's maintain a little perspective here, if we can.

Good contributions are their own reward, whether they be a started thread or a post on an existing thread. You can still be applauded for contributions, right?

It's a tough line to walk, trying to show some appreciation for members who go way above. And the thread starters are still the engine that drives this site, IMO.

Yes, it's probably not a perfect solution, I know I've flagged plenty of threads based more upon the content added by contributors than whatever the OP offered.

It's just a "fun" recognition thang. It ain't the Pulitzer. Besides, as anonymous paranoid CTers, who wants that kind of exposure, anyway?

(You non-anonymous types scare me)

/rant on

No offense SO man, I hate this.

Think about what your doing..

WATS used to be a special vote that people gave out based on how good you where.. you didn't list how many WATS people got, just flags.

Perhaps you coulda just made the WATS vote winable by majority?

This is what will happen -- Newbie comes on and claims to be a blood sucking alien reptilian to implement mind control and impregnate our woman.

^^ that will go on for 20 pages (they always do) and will get more flags then anyone else. Would you want something of this nature to be a WATS winner? (guess its not WATS anymore because we are not voting)

By the way, don't start a thread in the Secret Societies forum -- just look at it, no one flags there .

I hate these flags, they got rid of the views column, now replacing the WATS.

Now every one will be like "flag me!" and every one will because flagging is GENERIC and does not mean anything..



/rant off

[edit on 5/1/2007 by Rockpuck]

Ah just thought of something else I don't like.

No limit. Flag any thread you want who cares you aint running out of votes..

I say limit them to 5 flags per month, or 3.

Originally posted by Implosion
How would you suppose we now show our appreciation when someone other than a thread starter contributes a fantastic post?

Reply and tell them?

The existing system of voting on individual posts has been failing to provide a clear leader for three months now. I understand some of the concerns raised here... but the previous system some seem to prefer was no longer producing any results.

Originally posted by Rockpuck
Perhaps you coulda just made the WATS vote winable by majority?

For three months, there has not been a majority (more than 6 members with the same "low" highest score).

that will go on for 20 pages (they always do) and will get more flags then anyone else.

You're speculating on something that is rare. Do you disagree with the current winner?

You're speculating on something that is rare. Do you disagree with the current winner?

That had nothing to do with what I meant, I was not meaning that Jack did not deserve it..

But then I looked at this profile, he had no thread that even had 20 flags, just about 30 threads with ok number of flags

Which is fine,

But like someone else said, be prepared for a barrage of thread making at the most sub-standard level.. your always guaranteed at least 2 flags right?

By the way, I don't think its rare at all, I think its common place actually.

[edit on 5/1/2007 by Rockpuck]

Originally posted by Rockpuck
This is what will happen -- Newbie comes on and claims to be a blood sucking alien reptilian to implement mind control and impregnate our woman.

^^ that will go on for 20 pages (they always do) and will get more flags then anyone else. Would you want something of this nature to be a WATS winner? (guess its not WATS anymore because we are not voting)

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord
non-banned member

Surely that would get rid of said problem?

but i see your point, just starting threads and getting flags seems a bit simple really, and like you said, such a thread will get a lot of flags. I think applauses should go into it as well, as they actually depend upon things such as an intelligent argument, or a well thought out point.

Ah, applauses could work apex -- but then what method for the "average" member?

Whoever gets the most applauses with the most flags wins?

Oh these threads arent rare at all

www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by apex
I think applauses should go into it as well, as they actually depend upon things such as an intelligent argument, or a well thought out point.

I don't think applause should be in the mix at all. There are many people who post great contributions to threads, and have little applause, and many who post a lot of rubbish, and have lots. I guess because it is a subjective thing, and we can't [thank God] all think the same.

Point being, applause seems to me, to be recognition that someone with the power to award thinks along the same lines as you. As it is handed out by relatively few, you can make posts that many find to be outstanding, without any recognition whatsoever.

[edit on 1/5/07 by Implosion]