Shouldn’t The ATS Point System Be Discontinued?

I feel that the point system on ATS is not serving the purpose it was intended for. It’s doing little else than attracting comments like he’s a ‘points whore’, or trolls just plumbing in for adding to their points tally rather than concentrating on cogent and sensible replies to posts or people sensationalizing headlines to attract traffic, thereby adding to their score.

And then there are no prizes anyway for getting the max number of points. No ATS-paid vacations to Hawaii or a seven day all paid stay at the Waldorf Astoria or even a free stay in a deluxe room-with-a-view on board the ISS!!

So why have a points system at all?

Cheers!

Oh no! First someone posts something about avatar sizes, and now I currently don't have an avatar,

Originally posted by watch_the_rocks


I reckon the points system is 'helpful.' it gives all members something to work for, a nice little goal.

I think that is the wrong kind of goal.

However, I believe that we should have a points system.

Maybe more stuff available at the store?

I like points, even though I rarely use them for anything.

Token ecnomies have been shown to have a positive influence in a huge number of settings and among all age groups.

Points might not yield tangible results, but they do serve purposes that have a positive effect on board performance.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
I like points, even though I rarely use them for anything.

Token ecnomies have been shown to have a positive influence in a huge number of settings and among all age groups.

Points might not yield tangible results, but they do serve purposes that have a positive effect on board performance.

That is interesting in and of itself. I manage a call center. There are about 300 employees here, and we have very, very aggressive performance metrics. To drive this we do many things, one of them being a "token economy" where agents can earn a "token" and trade them in for actual merchandise, such as polo's with the company logo and such. It works great, and when we open the store for business, it is like a mad rush from agents to get in and make their purchases. it becomes like a status symbol to have the "cool" items, and creates a point of pride.

What good do the points do here other than act as milestones to open other parts of this forum?

Well... they do allow you to customize your appearance on the forum...

Honestly, I've seen worse trolling in forums that DON'T have point systems. Not like there's necessarily a connection. If you think the trolling's bad here, try an unmoderated forum...

Originally posted by Djarums
Well... they do allow you to customize your appearance on the forum...

Yeah..they let you have access to the dashboard that allows for customization. Or, rather, they open up further parts of the same dashboard based on point metered milestones.

I am not saying it is a crappy system...i am here to put thoughts to paper, so to speak, so that i can create greater clarity within my own mind. I think differently when i type, and can sometimes not remember a single bit of what i posted until i reread it. Sometimes i am reading through posts and don't realize i am reading my own post until i actually pay attention or something rings a bell...then i have to scroll upwards to see if i read through any of my other posts.

This isn't always so...but sometimes.

Regardless, i could care less about the points system other than to know who has been around and who hasn't. If you have been here awhile then you are likely not a jerk, or you would have been run off/banned by now (this holds true at a lot of forums).

I like the point system. Its also sort of a status symbol, because unless you get some gifts from the mods then you really aren't gonna have a huge number of points. A thousand posts is only a thousand points. I only have a little over 700 posts. And the mods don't just hand out points like candy at a parade, you have to earn em!


10,000 here I come!! Forget you AAC!

Regardless of our thoughts/opinions on the point system, it has been empircally proven countless times that the Token Economy is always one of the best ways to operate any system.

Member joins discussion board. Member understands that he can post once and get a point. Member begins to post very rapidly. Member receives an Applause for a great post. Member sees that good posts can get him up to 1500 points. So this Member aspires to create great posts time and time again.

The Token Economy, it may put you down.. but it'll never let you down.

Personally, I find the points system useful for gauging a poster. Not that a person's points total sways whether I believe them more or not but it does give me a sense of how involved they have been in the past. It also allows us to ferret-out obvious trolls. Kepp em.

Originally posted by chissler
Member sees that good posts can get him up to 1500 points. So this Member aspires to create great posts time and time again.

1500 points, so he gets a thrilling high, dancing away the night in a disco and gets free smooches from the pretty girls in the binge!! (Just jokin'!)

Ok. So how about minus points for trolls or posters you think are rude and not adhering to ethical posting, or indulging in innuendos and often failing to maintain the minimum standards of ATS?

Cheers!

I just want to say that I like the point system. I like being able to "buy" anything I need in one area of my life. Maybe it's because I'm not rich in real life, but I love the freedom of being able to buy more space or change my avatar background without a second thought. I like the idea of working hard to provide quality posts and actually getting "paid" for my efforts.

I feel I've lost any chance of earning a WATS, which I used to have hope of one day achieving, because I go for quality over quantity. So, please don't take away the only measure I have left of providing good content to ATS...

My 2 kibbles worth...

Originally posted by watch_the_rocks
Oh no! First someone posts something about avatar sizes, and now I currently don't have an avatar,

Originally posted by mikesingh
And then there are no prizes anyway for getting the max number of points. No ATS-paid vacations to Hawaii or a seven day all paid stay at the Waldorf Astoria or even a free stay in a deluxe room-with-a-view on board the ISS!! Cheers!

You obviously have not become a Platinum Member....


Oops, did I say that.

Actually I like the points the way they are and the things that you can use them for in the ATS Store. Keep'em around please.

Keep the points system. Remove the window that displays them to other users. This keeps their usefulness in a token economy, yet removes their influence as a status point. Once the status point is gone, I don't see any negatives to having them.

St. Udio,
The WATS is now based on total threads, total flags, and some bizarre perversion of Newtonian physics. It works good, but, the announcements only appear in threads created prior to Dec. 2005.

Originally posted by St Udio
i've just noticed........
there is not a [WATS vote] under the [IGNORE button]
and it seems to have disappeared really recently...

is this some of the 'This can't turn out well . . .' you mentioned

check this out..
www.abovetopsecret.com...

new WATS system...

Ive been saying this for ages.

The only reason there is a million posts of the same topic on this site (or any site with points) is because people want to start topics to gather points from people posting in their thread.

There is MANY authors of threads here that are what I would call "trolls" that look for any news/story just to post the thread first and gather the points from being the "main thread".

Then you have the people who you can tell are just here in between their breaks at school, and want to fancy up their avatar to look cool, therefore posting "troll" posts in other peoples topics.

Simply put, the points bring "trolls" and encourage multiple postings on the same topic.

Remove the points, and many "trolls" will leave this site. You will be left with the people who care about the content, and not the points for new background colors and images.

Originally posted by JbT
remove the points, and many "trolls" will leave this site. You will be left with the people who care about the content, and not the points for new background colors and images.

I disagree.. I've been on the net since 91-92 and there have always been and will always be trolls.

I don't think removing the points will get rid of trolls here. Well mayeb 1 or 2.

Originally posted by JbT
Remove the points, and many "trolls" will leave this site.

This is proven by the lack of trolls at sites that don't have points, right?

Please realize that there are actually people out there (like me) who like to be acknowledged for good quality posts. By applauses (that carry 500-1500 points), not by responses to "popular" or "controversial" threads that carry 5 points each. Not everyone who appreciates points is a point whore.