The ATS Issues Thread

HELP I have been trying for literally 30 mins or more to get my font to be orange in the thread I am making. I have tried all different types of codes and none are working. What is the code I use to make the lettering orange?! Its only for the headline on my Halloween thread, not the entire thread.

Im frustrated lol

Nice jack-o-lanterns.

Quote that and just fill in between the brackets.

What are you trying to get the headline to say? Sometimes color codes will break if you have certain characters that 'confuse' the code. Like an apostrophe for an example:

This will break:
I'm frustrated my color code isn't working!

This will work:
I am frustrated my color code is not working!

Also, are you using the headline tags? If so, try placing them on the OUTSIDE of the color tags. For instance:

[ headline ][ color=Orange ]WHATEVER YOU WANT TO SAY [ /color ][ headline ].

The above is just a guess. But let me know what you want it to say so I can see if the above is a problem or not. Sometimes the color codes are temperamental. lol

[edit on 10/14/2009 by AshleyD]

Just a quick question,

At the footer of each ATS page is a link that says "members blogs" yet everytime I click that link, it seems to be dead. Is the member blogs feature no longer active, or is it been shifted over to media@abovetopsecret?

reply to post by Scooby Doo


Could you be a bit more specific? I don't see a link to the Blogs...?

Either way - the "official ATS Blogs" died a painful death some time ago. I've seen a blog function on ATS Media, but I've never seen anyone use it...

reply to post by Gemwolf


Hi Gemwolf, thanks for your help.

The member blogs link is situated at the bottom of the www.abovetopsecret.com... page along with the other links about ats, terms & conditions, content archive etc...

(Edited Typo's)






[edit on 16-10-2009 by Scooby Doo]

reply to post by Scooby Doo


Ah. You mislead me when you said "At the footer of each ATS page".

Yes. Those were the old blogs. No longer with us. May they rest in peace.

Originally posted by Gemwolf
reply to post by Scooby Doo

 

Yes. Those were the old blogs. No longer with us. May they rest in peace.

And we would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for you meddling kids.

Originally posted by intrepid
And we would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for you meddling kids.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/4c66b28276f6.png[/atsimg]

Originally posted by intrepid
And we would have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for you meddling kids.

Ahaha, quite possibly the most ironic joke EVER!

LOL literally

Thanks for that intrepid

I want to float an idea here, and no doubt I can tell you it will be met with stiff resistance, if not flat out rejection. But that's ok, I can handle rejection. Just ask...umm...hehe, oh nvm...You know who you are.

Anyway, having been here a while and contributed a few threads to the boards, I continually find myself in a situation where my threads go quite off topic in some posts. Nothing new, of course, and it happens to all of us. Now mind you overall I feel the mods do a good job here, no real complaints there. But if I submitted a comp/sugg on every post that was off topic in my threads, let alone other threads, I'd spend more time doing that than I would contributing threads.

Yeah, the problem is that bad sometimes. And I really don't want to burden the staff with that many requests. So, in a futile attempt to alleviate this problem, I will propose the following idea.

That Gold and Cosmic content contributors, as an additional perk and incentive, be allowed LIMITED moderation powers in their own threads only. And when I say limited, I mean VERY LIMITED. Like, all I really want is the ability to mark a post off topic. That's it. And that minute power also to be reversible, and always superceded by a mod if it ever comes into contention, with no questions allowed or asked by the member.

And obviously with that will come some responsibility. But not that much. Just a recognition of the OP that they must only judge the content relative to the OP, and mark only those extreme cases where it's just way off topic. The problem is that one off topic post leads to other off topic posts, and the consequent derailing of a thread. And it's getting old. Real old.

I don't want to trouble the staff with all those as I said. And there's another reason for that as well, in that if I submit a comp/sugg on the post and nothing gets done, and I get no response at all, in the meantime my thread sits there still going off topic and I can do nothing. That leads to frustration, and ill feelings towards the staff. And of course, I don't want that either.

And so I propose this idea, which I would like for the staff to consider, seriously. And I'll keep the cleanest, most on topic threads you've ever seen. "Yup, you better stay on topic in TA's threads or you'll get a nastie." I could live with that reputation. And if no one wants to respond in my threads anymore after that, fine, I'll just leave. No biggie, either way. All I was asking for is that you stay on topic. Not too hard.

Originally posted by TrueAmerican

That Gold and Cosmic content contributors, as an additional perk and incentive, be allowed LIMITED moderation powers in their own threads only.

Or perhaps you can just go and start your own forum and moderate all you want?

I think this is a very bad idea. Can you imagine all the drama this would create, can you imagine the amount of whining and ranting from people who have gotten their posts removed by other members who are not even moderators? The whole board would turn into a war zone. Ouch!

Sorry, thumbs down from me, anyway.

reply to post by ziggystar60


Well, first forget that I ever said moderation powers. Because really, it has nothing to do with that, other than being able to mark a post off topic.

Second, consider that Gold and Cosmic CC's have likely been here a while, know the ropes, and are not likely to dole out the wanton warfare you are claiming. :shk: Further, if it appears they are abusing the priviledge, then the mods can simply remove it. Done deal.

Third, proportionately, there are not that many of them. It takes a while.

Fourth, this could and would free up just a touch more time for the mods.

Fifth, the same message would appear, and the offending member would have no idea who it was removed by. If there is not wanton warfare now, there won't be then. I've had two or three posts removed before, and maybe once I wrote a u2u...Never got a response. And that was that. Never contested it further than that.

And finally, did you even read beyond the line you quoted me on?

reply to post by TrueAmerican


I agree with Ziggy, the privilege will be abused, you may not abuse it, but someone will, make no mistake.

I just vision the thread starter with these privileges will control anyone's post who disagrees with them.

A bad precedent to start.

Just my 2c.

reply to post by TrueAmerican


Yes, I did read your whole post. Why do you ask that? Your post wasn't really that long or complicated, and I am a fast reader.

And my point is that I don't think this would free up any time for the real Moderators at all. I think they would drown in complaints from members who have been "moderated" in this way.

As you say, it takes a while to become a Gold or Cosmic contributor, and those members of course deserves respect. I guess some of the longtimers here would tolerate being moderated by them.

But new members sign up here every day. They do not know the ropes, they probably have no idea what it takes to reach this "level". And I am pretty sure they would not understand why a non-Mod had the right to label their posts "Off topic".

I just think this would create a LOT of problems and drama.

reply to post by AboveTopSecret.com


I was banned for voicing my anger over the removal of my posts for apparently no reasons, and when I made this account and created a thread in regards to my previous account, it was immediately removed, it just vanished after 4 replies.

zzz

There is something called accountability. But who can blame ATS, it is merely following today's norm of governance, where the government usually doesn't pay the price, the people do.

[edit on 17-10-2009 by oozyism]

Originally posted by TrueAmerican
reply to post by ziggystar60

 

I've got reservations about this myself.

Well, first forget that I ever said moderation powers. Because really, it has nothing to do with that, other than being able to mark a post off topic.

Second, consider that Gold and Cosmic CC's have likely been here a while, know the ropes, and are not likely to dole out the wanton warfare you are claiming. :shk: Further, if it appears they are abusing the priviledge, then the mods can simply remove it. Done deal.

I think this is flawed. Yes, Gold and Cosmic contributors might have been a while, but that doesn't mean anything in itself. For that matter, neither does having Gold or Cosmic contribution levels; all that means is that they've got a lot of flags and stars. Look at this way, during the last American election, it seemed relatively easy to start a thread on a very divisive and provocative issue that didn't necessarily contribute to the board in any real meaningful way but still rack up flags and stars like a high score on a pinball game.

Also, the vast majority of regular posters are American who tend to focus on American topics so sheer weight of numbers means that it's going to be American posters and American views that ascertain the higher contribution levels. Another issue I've often wondered about are the American contributors starting threads taken from British news sources (which seems far more common than the British posting from American news sources) that don't tend to go on-line until very early in the morning in Britain. By the time the British are getting up in the morning, threads have often been started by Americans on certain news stories. This has happened to me dozens of times in the past and I've given up bothering to start new threads now.

Anyway the tl;dr version: contribution level doesn't really mean anything as there's many reasons why this could be high and not because they're necessarily trusted or 'valued' posters.


[edit on 17-10-2009 by Merriman Weir]

reply to post by TrueAmerican

The only problem I see with that is a technical one, but as I don't know how the forum code handles these things, what I am going to say may not apply.

The problem is that, as far as I understand it, once a post is changed the original is replaced by the new content, making it impossible to revert an edit. In your idea that could be somewhat dangerous, because if the member that created the thread replaced the content of a post nobody would know what was there before, making it easy for fights between members. Even if the thread creator wanted to show that the original post was off-topic that wouldn't be possible.

So, I think this all depends on how the code handles edits, if the previous versions are not kept (and I don't see why they should be kept) then a somewhat big change in the code and database structure would be needed to implement that system.

reply to post by TrueAmerican


Well there are a few problems that I can see right off the bat here with this idea ...

1. It would muddle the clear delineation between members and staff which I imagine is paramount to the smooth operation of the site. Keep in mind that staff, as i understand it, discusses most actions before the enact them. A member, not having access to those discussions, would be acting alone and without the necessary consensus needed should backup be required.

Also, any such action often comes with follow up U2Us and drama from the person who made the OTP. Who is to address their concerns?

Even FSME don't have the authoritah to OTP, presumably for the above stated reasons.

2. Stars and Flags are meant as a simple token of showing interest, agreement, appreciation. Other than that they have no real meaning ... and yet consider the fuss that is already made by so many over these little things. Imagine if members had to consider how close another member would be getting to the OTP power threshold and factored that into their thinking. Yikes! Something that is supposed to be fun and positive would turn into a nightmare with folks not flagging/starring others for personal reasons.

Again, that would defeat the limited purpose of the star/flag system and make it disproportionately significant imho.

3. As I read your post this frustration seems to be borne out of some folks derailing some of your threads and that's where you would want to exercise that "limited" power. Well again, even staff cannot moderate threads they post into as members, never mind if they are the OP.


I am sure there are a dozen other reasons as well that I can't think of, a few have already been mentioned.

Let me say that I also get sometimes frustrated with the same thing, but personally I wouldn't want that option. There are many ways we as members can keep threads on topic, but it takes effort, patience, and some degree of self control. Having the OTP shortcut would create a plethora of unintended negative consequences and considerable additional drama that we surely don't need.

2 drachmas.

Ok, so I log out of all area's in ATS but it says Im still logged in when I check the Board tab and look at the bottom of the page?

I changed my password just as a precaution in case someone knows it but I still appear to be logged in when im clearly not?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.