Way to vote down threads?

Originally posted by scientist
jesus, I am sick of analogies. I'm going to try and ween myself off of them from here on out.

Ummm. This should be kept in the "Religion" forums, don't ya think? Sounds like what you'd say when ya walk up to the podium at Analogies Anonimous.





Cuhail

Originally posted by scientist
jesus, I am sick of analogies. I'm going to try and ween myself off of them from here on out.

Good luck with that - many western education systems are based around analogies. Using previous understandings to form new ones.

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord
Thread Quality One: If you see a thread that has promise because of it's title or opening post, but then you feel the quality has degraded through replies and no longer deserves the flags it received... why not create "quality contributions" to prop it back up?

In hypothetical land this works. In real world internet land it does not. Once a thread has degraded to trash it tends to stay there with the guilty parties duking it out in a "im the bigger man contest". They tend to ignore other contributions to the thread and your "quality" reply is lost in their many pages of, for lack of a better term - crap.

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord
Thread Quality Two: If you see a thread you feel is substandard, and getting inappropriate attention... why not create a newer better thread to divert attention to what you feel is better material?

Several reasons :

1. It's redundant.
2. People interested in topic XYZ are most likely going to be drawn to the thread on it that is the oldest and has the most post, not some new thread with one post. I've tried this before and it failed miserably. People are more content to wallow in the already well stirred up mud bath.
3. People may consider it rude or think you're trying to steal their thunder by not participating in what they see as the already on going debate on the exact same subject. It divides the resources of the board (minds). If I'm already posting in one thread about XYZ why go post in another thread that seems to cover the same ground ?

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord
The number of times we see people complaining about the subjective quality of threads, and spending their time complaining rather than creating quality alternatives, always puzzles me.

Why bother when they just get ignored so we can all chat about how some blokes dog was kidnapped - or maybe not kidnapped by UFOs. The lying girl youtube video thread I mentioned previous is now 16 pages long and has 313 replies and almost 15,000 page views.

[edit on 29-11-2007 by discomfit]

originally it seemed ATS used a normal 1-10 star rating system, which I would prefer to the current one, but either way point taken. site is great regardless.

reply to post by discomfit

Discomfit;

A long time ago I came to the realization that the only place on the internet where you can find a "crap-free" discussion zone is on a dedicated mailing list. And even there it often must be vigorously moderated.

Personally I'd like to see the ability to "ignore" a thread simply to reduce the number of items that I have to scroll through on the "recent posts" list. Plus, I don't always remember whether or not I've taken a look at a particular thread, so I'll click on it only to smack myself on the forehead when I realize that it's a piece of "crap" or "fluff" that I'd already seen.

Is this about a popularity contest, or posting your thoughts and opinions in a public forum?

So what if you post a thread and no one responds to it... At least you had the freedom and the forum in which to state your opinion for others to read. That is the precious commodity that ATS affords us, not some popularity contest where we can all degrade other peoples ideas, thoughts and opinions...

I would submit that every single person here that has posted any time at all, has started a thread that just died... I had I think 3 in a row. It is disheartening, but not the fault of ATS, or some star system, it's due to many factors.

Perhaps it was not as interesting to others as it was to you. (Happens)

Perhaps it was posted at a time when the board was slow and no one was on that was active in that forum. (Happens too)

Perhaps you were so complete in your analysis that others found it unnecessary to contribute to such a fine soliloquy. (I guess that happens, but not to me)

Regardless...

You were interested in a subject
You posted that subject
Others read it (Bet ya they did even if they didn't post)

You WIN!!!

I almost never go into the 9/11 forums. Why? Because it does not interest me all that much. I had several police officer friends that were there and I feel no need for an alternative scenario. Does that mean I should go in there and just "Negative" star every post? NO!!!
People have a right to their opinion. I do not have to agree. (Neither do you)
ATS affords them, and us, a place to express that opinion. (I agree with that)

Just remember this...

"Negative actions never have a positive outcome"

Who said that?

Why me of course...

Semper

Semper,

This was never about my threads. Even I'm aware that my threads aren't of that high of a quality. It's just a shame to see good threads go idle while threads of less substance flourish beyond my wildest imagination.

It's easy to assume that this thread is my way of throwing a bitch fest because I don't get enough attention however I assure you this isn't the case. I'm not sure if ATS has this feature but if it does you'll see I don't really start that many threads - I mainly reply in other peoples threads.

In fact for the most part I try to avoid making threads because often it becomes "everyone else vs the thread starter" (IMHO) and that's not a position I enjoy being in.

reply to post by semperfortis


I understand where you're coming from but I hope you can understand where I come from when I say that a lot of us are trying very, very hard to find out the truth and get very, very frustrated when others post garbage with nothing to back it up whatsoever. I'm not talking about 9/11 theories here, I'm talking about stuff with NOTHING to back it up. Freedom of expression does not mean one can defecate in public.

[edit on 30-11-2007 by Jim_Kraken]

reply to post by Jim_Kraken




[edit on 30-11-2007 by Jim_Kraken]

I understand what you both are saying....

However, consider this...

"One man's garbage, is another man's treasure"

I'm not going to blow smoke up you and tell you I don't get a good laugh out of some of the threads.. Of course I do, I think it's impossible not too..

But you know what?

I believe that a lot of the people that post things that seem ridiculous to me, truly believe in what they post.... That's all it takes for me to defend them, belief...

If there was some negative assessment function, think how discouraged they would get and a lot of people would simply stop posting... A lot of silly stuff, but a lot of good stuff would fall away as well....

If we could put the stars in the hands of only mature responsible members, with strict instructions on how to use them, maybe something like that would work...Alas, that is not possible.. (Except the MOD/FMSE applause of course)

Any system that is implemented, with intentions of fairness, must be fair to all.. Even the ones that YOU think are posting garbage...

Just sayin'

Semper

reply to post by semperfortis


I wish I could share your belief in the good faith of problem posters, but I don't.
I understand what you feel about throwing out the baby with the bathwater, but I think if we set the "thread delete" threshold for downvotes high enough, only the worst would get canned. I believe in democracy, despite its flaws.

So far here are the best methods I've seen mentioned :

(1) 5 star rating (not continuous stars) 1 star = suck, 5 = rock. No threads are ever hidden or deleted but a quick glance at the star rating tells you what others think

(2) the `hide` button like reddit. this ONLY hides the thread for YOU and does NOT impact how other members see the board/threads

Those two systems seem safe from abuse. Even if a thread gets a ton of 1 star ratings it's still there for people to see. Also if I hide a thread it matters not to everyone else.

I'm sure the staff at ATS will one day put a system in play that achieves something like this.

I don't believing in punishing people cause they're new to game or whatever - these systems are more for the people who abuse the fact that they can post whatever they want and as long as its inside the rules it wont be deleted.

reply to post by discomfit

In a way you are right, there are sometimes rediculous posts appearing on the front page. But I fear the ability to "flag down" a thread would be abused and not only would the ridiculous claims of shapeshifting lizards and such be flagged down, but so would threads that go against any member's political or idealogical views. This in my opninion is a bad thing, and for the sake of open dialogue we should not adopt a "flagging down" system.

(I'm sure that someone else in this thread has expressed the exact same sentiments and I have not read the whole thing, so please forgive me if I'm beating a dead horse.)

My goodness!
I had no idea this thread was started up on the topic of that teenager who's talking about her UFO sighting and the movie she found on her cam afterwards.

If a few of you have issues with threads that are showing anomalous images where the person who found or recorded the movie believes that it possibly could be a being from out of this world, then I suggest you do some research on Aliens and you will find an enormous amount of information and photo's of alleged Aliens or other types of beings that we simply do not have names for yet.

And need I remind those members here who have a problem with members, such as myself, who are showing not only their own photo's of such beings but also others who believe that they've captured something anomalous in this category -- that that forum here in ATS is entitled Aliens and UFOs... notice the first word of that title?? If you can't see it then allow me spell it out for you A-L-I-E-N-S. And if members here are not permitted to share their photo's, experiences and insights on the topic of Aliens, then that word should be deleted from the title of the name of that forum.... but that hasn't been done yet so is it any wonder why myself and others post threads that are specifically on that topic in that forum???

But for those few members who have issues with this type of photographic material, need I also remind you that one of the top Ufologists out there, Jacques Vallee, believes that such entities are transdimensional, hence why we are seeing such beings showing up in our photograph's when they were not even seen at the time when the movie (or photo) was recorded.

I should also inform members here that there's a name for this phenomenon and it's called Instrumental Transcommunication which is a phenomenon that occurs when anomalous images show up when expressly using camera's, videocams, webcam's and so on.... And in the case of ITC experimenter's, it's called that regardless if those images show up outside of our ITC sessions where no special ITC technique was employed at the time when those images were captured on cam... and the reason why is because those images only manifested when using an 'instrument' which in this case would be a camera or a videocam where the results are the same as what we see in those results we get in our regular ITC experimental sessions where any one of the vast assortment of ITC techniques were employed during those sessions.

Needless to say, it's much more compelling when images show up when just turning on the cam when one is just recording a family members birthday party, for example... but for many ITC experimenters, such experiences are not out of the ordinary at all. And it's also not unheard of to find photographic material or audio recordings on our cams or on our computers in a file somewhere that somehow mysteriously show up there even though we know that we didn't record those images or those audio's ourselves. So some of you will say that such accounts are fraudulent but is it any more inexplicable than taking a photo of the sky where once that photo is developed, one see's a UFO in it that was NOT there at the time when the photo was taken? Many of these types of UFO photographs have been found to be completely authentic by some of the top ufologists in the field.

In short, granted that there are, IMHO, UFOs, like Triangle UFOs that are most likely man-made regardless that they can perform outstanding aerobatics that are 'outside of this world', those members here who adhere only to the 'nuts and bolts' perspective on the UFO phenomenon which includes 'aliens', are like Don Quixote's chasing after windmills for real answers on these phenomena if you only allow yourself to view things from that perspective ONLY because by doing so, you are canceling out an enormous amount of information in this field that clearly supports those views purported by ufologists like Jacques Vallee, for example.

The paranormal aspects of UFOs and those beings we believe are connected to those objects are OVERWHELMING. You can't just stick your head in the sand and say that such phenomena that are connected to UFOs does not exist or never happened or for that matter say that its not significant. By doing so, you are not honestly evaluating this phenomenon and are creating enormous errors in your tentative conclusions whereby leaving out whole chunks of information that's worthy of further analysis.

So as long as the word Aliens is still included in the name of that forum, I will continue to post my information and start up discussions on the topic of aliens and those who believe that they have photographed them in one way or another... and this includes those images one finds on ones cam or computer that they know that they did NOT put there themselves!

And as for those members here who pop into those threads who are belligerently harassing me in the form of saying things like I'm a retard, or who use filthy potty language and things like that as a form of bullying and intimidation.. and for those who send me U2U's that are so horrible, I wouldn't even dare repeat what was said in them here because there are members here who are under the age of 18 -- and because I'm a parent, I will refrain from even saying what some of those U2U's are saying.... And for those who support those members in my threads who are posting messages where such filthy and disgusting language is being used where they are ALSO clearly ganging up on me like wolves circling around their prey, I will continue to put those members on IGNORE -- immediately if not sooner.

So in conclusion, if a few of you have issues with the topic of aliens... I suggest that you instead suggest that a separate forum be created specifically for that topic only -- apart from the topic of UFOs. And this new sub-forum would also include discussions on those experiences of people like Clifford Stone, for example, or those who claim to have been abducted. But to censor out those experiences and hard core photographic evidence presented by those members here who are 'nobody's' like myself... then this betrays the spirit of what ATS is all about in the first place! This is a public forum that was created for those who have interest in those topics discussed in this forum, to come here anonymously to share our experiences, insights and whatever photographic evidence we have that were captured by ourselves or by somebody else.

For those members who are playing "thought police' on this forum.. well let me tell you that you are permitted to voice your opinion but you are not permitted to bully, harass and intimidate (and there are numerous guerrilla tactics they are using when doing this) those members like myself who do not share your own opinion on whatever topic is being discussed at any given time.


[edit on 2-12-2007 by Palasheea]

reply to post by Palasheea


Wow! You said more here in this thread than you did from the thread that it is question!

I contributed to that thread, not to cry hoax, but rather to get the OP to give us something more than her opinion. The problem with that thread is that a very enticing, high-profile subject is created and stuck in a forum that receives a great number of views. My belief is that if you stick something in those forums, especially if you claim to have evidence or proof, then I would like to see more from you than just your opinion. And I find it very odd that someone can post said matter in those forums and NOT expect to have the evidence scrutinized and rational thought applied to it first. In my world, I try to eliminate the obvious before moving on to the supernatural or extraterrestrial. I'd venture that most of us are the same.

I tried very hard to get more analysis out of that thread, especially when the OP claims she is an expert and cites this as her rationale as to belief in the girl and her video. I believe most of the posts towards the end were out of sheer frustration in trying to figure out just exactly what the intent of the OP was. Was this tread based on said evidence in the video or was the thread created simply because the OP believed the girl, so therefore she put the thread up so that we all could believe it too?

As far as negative star ratings, I'm not really sold. I can understand why you would want it, but I believe that this could cause the thread to receive more negative attention than it deserves. Whereas people might not post on a thread that doesn't interest them, those same people might be more inclined to contribute in a negative fashion if they see a thread that contains many negative stars.

Ideally, the thread should be ignored. However, I find myself posting in some of these threads, simply because I am trying to "deny ignorance" and I try to make points in those threads that help to do this.

[edit on 2-12-2007 by Freenrgy2]

Freenrgy2, below is a typical example of how you started off your posts in that thread using a quote from Potty Mouth (PrplHrt) to begin it:

Originally posted by PrplHrt
Based on Pala's statement, which I quoted in my last post, perhaps we are all part of some sick experiment. Think about it.

Usually the mods are all over baddies like stink on poo, but there is no sign of them in this thread. A bogus vid, vehement defense of an obviously phony vid, comments that would normally earn a boot up the bum, and nothing.

If we've been the dupes in a sociological experiment approved by the 3A's, ATS has sunk to a new low.

Then YOU said:

I normally refrain from getting ugly, but this thread is a joke....

Then I responded to your that post which included a quote from Potty Mouth (PrplHrt) whereby I then shortly after that put both of you on IGNORE .. and for Good Reason:

Freenrgy -- you said "I normally refrain from getting ugly,":


You are not telling the truth here Freenrgy and YOU know that because right from the GET GO concerning my other thread and this one, you've operated on the wavelength of anger and intimidation in everyone of your posts so far and your quoting of PrlpHrt's disgusting dirty bathroom infused post only proves my point on this. You even CATTILY informed everyone that I was over 35 years of age as if this too would somehow diminish my credibility in someway. You mentioned that totally out of the blue where it was totally out of context to what we were discussing in that thread at that time.This gave clue to me that you are female because it's not something a male would bother mentioning out of blue like that. Perhaps you are jealous of other females here in this forum dear?

But in any case, this is just one example of your distorted and quirky sense of logic that you've been using continuously in all of your posts here. You also were sticking words in my mouth that I never said in attempts to trap me in contradictions but you were never successful at doing that so you are frustrated with me also for this reason.

For some odd reason, you fashion yourself as 'the thought police' in these threads but I should inform you that that's only a delusion on your part.

But whatever the case may be, I refuse to be drawn into your rage Freenrgy and like I've said to others here in these threads, you have a choice to either stick your head in the sand and pretend that things like the ITC phenomenon does not exist, or you can be more open minded and explore those possibilities that it does exist by doing your own ITC experiments and research on this phenomenon.

But I seriously doubt you will ever engage in such activities because that's just not your bag -- you're the type who likes to bully people so this is why you come to forums like ATS. Your big thing is to be as petulant, temperamental, rude and abusive as possible -- you get your kicks by pouncing on dead dogs I bet. So far from what I've seen from your posts in this forum whenever someone is trying to present their case where others are having a hard time believing that it's true... there you are in a blink of an eye joining in on the fun of bashing that person because like I said... this is how you get your kicks

.




[edit on 2-12-2007 by Palasheea]

Back on Topic please....

This thread is about voting down threads, not what happened in a specific thread.

I have a site I frequent www.slickdeals.net this site is by no means even related to ATS but they have the same dynamics. Anyway, slickdeals has a thumbs up/thumbs down setup, if memebers think the deals posted are good they can thumbs up it if deals are bad they thumbs down it. The thumbs up/down are on the main page so those "bad deals" get buried real fast. The deals that are really good usually have 5 thumbs up, the deals that are really bad usually get 5 thumbs down and the ones that vary fall in between 1 and 5 thumbs. The thumbs can change, if 1 person gives a thumbs down but 2 people give the same thread thumbs up it would cancel out the 1 thumbs down and add a thumbs up.
I think this concept could work very well for ATS and could save us all a lot of time.

[edit on 2-12-2007 by SEEWHATUDO]

edit: saw elevated one's post too late. Deleted for sanity's sake.

[edit on 2-12-2007 by Freenrgy2]

A reminder...

Originally posted by elevatedone
Back on Topic please....

This thread is about voting down threads, not what happened in a specific thread.

Thank you.



 

Then I will state my suggestion again.
We need a separate forum on Aliens only and the reason why is because even though there are those who do believe that UFOs exist, paradoxically, many of those same members scoff at any information including hard core photographic evidence that support that there are in fact Aliens! So for those UFOs out there that are clearly indicating that they are transdimensional -- who or what do you think are flying those UFOs?? Most of those members who scoff at all information having to do with Aliens and abductions have yet to even attempt to answer that question.


This Alien sub-forum would also be a place to discuss those Alien sightings seen at Roswell and by those highly esteemed witnesses like Clifford Stone, for example.

A separate sub-forum for the topic of Aliens would ALSO allow for those extreme nuts and bolts UFO believers to not have to even see those posts on topics having to do with those transdimensional beings, events and objects... that Jacques Vallee, for example believes they are -- and I'm in agreement with him on that because of those results I have gotten in my ITC sessions... including those anomalous images I've captured of such beings outside of my sessions.

In short, there needs to be a sub-forum on Aliens only. A place where those who have had any kind of experiences with them can go to and freely talk about their experiences without being ganged up on by those members who do not believe that such entities exist and by those members here who get their kicks by persistently bashing such account's of such sightings, photographic material evidence, and abduction experiences. As it is right now, those members who are engaging in abusive and harassing ways in such threads are scaring away people who would love to share their experiences but don't want to be subjected to such abuse here.