The ATS Issues Thread

Originally posted by schrodingers dog
Some of us are very active in BTS and it would be nice to have that feature back.

There are changes under way specific to BTS... including a super-secret new project. Stay tuned.

[edit on 24-2-2009 by SkepticOverlord]

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord
... include a super-secret new project. Stay tuned.

Oooo, I likes the sound of that.

Thanks SO.

Edit: Everyone else, stop complaining and stuff and let the man get back to work.





[edit on 24 Feb 2009 by schrodingers dog]

Originally posted by SiONiX

So why don't let those out of their cage before they vanish from the page of time (worst case scenario, aren't we fringe here?

)

I don't know about them, but I'd worry that we'd be at each others' throats long before we got to the Powers That Be, or the Illuminati, or the Reptilians, or Congress, or whoever it was we were blaming that day

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord

Originally posted by schrodingers dog
Some of us are very active in BTS and it would be nice to have that feature back.

There are changes under way specific to BTS... including a super-secret new project. Stay tuned.

[edit on 24-2-2009 by SkepticOverlord]

Yay!!! That sounds exciting

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord
Please. Enough non-relevant drug-related discussion.

I asked kindly to curtail so as not to force a no-tolerance decision. This exchange is counterproductive as we've made our policies clear, and we've also made it clear there is no opportunity for near-term change.

Well, I beg to differ on this SO. In a twisted sort of way, one could argue that the policies themselves are clear. However, it's extremely obvious that enforcement of such policies are NOT clear whatsoever.

How come you fail to address what at least two members have brought up several times, on page 78 alone. I'm referring to the "recruitment" rule, that seems to be gaining popularity as a method to close marijuana related posts. If this rule were enforced in a nondiscriminatory fashion, the majority of the threads on this board would be closed before making it to page two.

So let's not talk about drugs. Let's talk about the "recruitment/solicitation" section of the T & C. Let's talk about what makes one post urging support for a cause a violation, and another perfectly acceptable. Because at a glance, it appears the distinguishing characteristic is the cause itself.

So, kindly explain to me, and the other members of this community, why a thread urging support for gun rights legislation is allowed to continue, while a thread urging support for legalization of Marijuana in California is a "blatant violation of the T & C". There was no talk of personal use, no stoner BS whatsoever. Just the beginning of an intelligent discussion about proposed legislation with huge economic implications. The only thing "blatant" about this is the censorship that is occurring here.

I've had this discussion with you before Bill, and I'd hate to see it end with the "we're simply not discussing this any further" ending again.

I remember when the thread encouraging people to post for disclosure on the Obama website. We got so many people to post on there from that one thread, who knew that was against the rules, I didn't. I guess I should re-read all the rules.

I can understand both sides of this pot issue. I can understand SO's position as administrator of the site, drug related threads are difficult to control. I can also understand the feelings and thoughts of those who want to see this discussed. The bottom line is this:ATS is not mine, nor does it belong to any of the members but is owned and managed by SO and his people. It is their park so if we want to ride we must follow the rules.

Not to be a jerk here, but I wish so much care was given to the filth that is posted on some of the threads. I hit the alert button on posts that refer to SNIP, that is right, but the next day the post was still there. Can we have as much diligence on monitoring racism as we do on the weed issue. red

[edit on 2-25-2009 by Springer]

anyone else having trouble entering text into the new blogs? I can fill in the subject fields and all but cant enter text for the actual body of the blog...maybe im missing something?

reply to post by SiONiX

We have loads of intelligent, ressourceful people here that are ready to make a change, but they aren't allowed to.

WHY?

Why can't we as ATS'ers stand up, organize and fight for a better tomorrow, instead of only talking about it

Because, the nearly singular purpose of ATS is to make money for the owners. The intelligent and occasionally irreverent discussions engaged in are for purely entertainment purposes only. They attract visitors. Visitors to this site are a reason for advertisers to part with their money and give it to the site owners and investors.
You, as an interested and interesting member are confused about your part in the big picture, or even what the big picture is.
Step back and take a good view, and then come back and continue to participate - but don't ever take your or anyone else's ideas seriously.
Just kidding. I believe my opinions about this site are true, except for the seriousness of discussions part. We can still learn a lot here, but there will be limits. The issue of maintaining revenue for the site will always trump values, ethics or intelligent discussion.
The overlords would probably prefer we stick to quirky and odd, , but we just have to make the best of it.
I agree tho. It is so very irksome at times.

Now, ok, lets here the "so go elsewhere" crowd. I am ready for you.

Originally posted by wayno
reply to post by SiONiX

 

Because, the nearly singular purpose of ATS is to make money for the owners. The intelligent and occasionally irreverent discussions engaged in are for purely entertainment purposes only. They attract visitors. Visitors to this site are a reason for advertisers to part with their money and give it to the site owners and investors.

That's right. I respect the work of the owners and think they should respected for their achievements. It's a common theme at so many community-driven sites, that some users think they have the right to "revolt" ("WE the users" ). The users must understand that the webmasters are literally doing their job, and the internet is a free market.

But this is - as you already pointed out, and I'm in even more agreement with you there - a fundamental conflict in the interest of both "parties". Especially in a "user-generated content-ecosystem", where the content is about conspiracies. About finding the truth, as you wrote.

I would blame this conflict largely on "entertainment only" topics, or to be more specific: sensiationalizm. The more sensational the discussed topic is, the more traffic it gains. The best example would be the "Galactic Federation of Light", which promised to pit stop on earth on 14/08/08. The amount of posts about this theme was HUGE, I don't think there's a bigger thread here. But it wasn't only NOT the truth, it made the truth even harder to find. A text book sample to ridicule the whole Alien/UFO community. And now some try to blame the "pot issue" for our "image" as nutcases?

That's what I meant by saying "fundamental conflict". It is not in the interest of the community, it even damages it as a whole. But for the owners of the board it is great. I rarely saw a thread with so many participants as the "10-14-08" thread, and yet with so little truth. The same applies for ATS, if sensationalism and "entertainment only" won't be kept in check.

So, from the board owners perspective sensationalism and "family oriented entertainment only topics" are invitable. They want traffic, we want truth. Fundamental controversy.

Just a quick question regarding the damaged U2U's link.

Does it only appear when there are damaged U2U's waiting to be read or is it supposed to be there all the time?


I ask because I've noticed mine has disappeared.

reply to post by Chadwickus


When the announcement was first made that we'd have access to the damaged u2u's, they said it would only be until September 2008. We've had it for a lot longer than that. But I guess the time came to get rid of them. The point of giving us access was to save anything we needed to save.

reply to post by enjoies05



Ahh I see, first I've heard of it

Cheers

I'd like to thank the staff for fixing the bug that used to occur, when posting a reply and using the "Preview Post" button. It used to lose changes when previewing and editing multiple times before posting. The changes would show up in the preview, but then be missing from the edit box below.

But let me point out that this problem still occurs when using the 'EDIT'-button feature on a reply that has already been posted.

Always something more, right?




Edit: just to verify


[edit on March 5th 2009 by Ian McLean]

Just wondering what happened to this thread?

"States Propose Resolutions to Secede from U.S.---UPDATE"
www.abovetopsecret.com...



I'm getting a 404 error, and I apologize if this is the wrong place to ask.

Originally posted by TylerKing
Just wondering what happened to this thread?

"States Propose Resolutions to Secede from U.S.---UPDATE"
www.abovetopsecret.com...

It has been moved to the RATS Forum for now with the Thread-starters agreeance.
Some issue re:privacy had arisen, and so it was moved to a less publically visible forum.

Apologies for the disruption/inconvenience that may well be causing Members.
Hopefully the issue/s will be resolved soon and the thread moved back out into the open forums.


Cheers.

Minors on ATS

Young impressionable minds being given advice on "how to deal with demons" etc etc.

Is this wise ?

Unless the person you are interacting with actually states that they are a minor it can be difficult to tell . As adults , the choices we make , the advice we take .... is our own responsibility and thats fine .

But impressionable minors ..... i don`t think its a good idea.

At least there should be a mandatory tag line or note , on their profile and perhaps where the signature line is at the bottom of posts, reminding people who respond to be mindful of the age of the person.



Has this ever been an issue before ?

I was reading this thread (which really demonstrated my boredom tonight) and I saw the below post (page 6). Nobody responded decently to it. Then he responded to the one response with elaboration. Nobody responded at all. The thread went into endless (my-mind-is-numb-now) stuff then about everything from John Lear to why the owners aren't in league with the CIA (oh brother) and I was going through each page, looking to see if there was a response. Unfortunately around page 15 or more I hit a wrong link and discovered there are like SEVENTY NINE PAGES on this thread.

Since I am well intentioned but do not have the next three months to read the thread to see if anyone eventually responded to it, I am posting the original one as a quote.

I think this person has an excellent point. I think if ATS were to institute something that rewarded long term members who do occasionally post, it would be a good thing. Some people think before typing (which probably makes all their two posts better than my last 50) (I hope I'm kidding) and some people don't type well and a single post is really a lot of work for them (whereas I can type 120 and have to post something in 7 segments), so it creates an initially-fair bias in favor of posters (fair because this is a forum and without posting what's the point), but only initially because long-term members who do post at least sometimes have real value in a forum. There are good people and steady members who IMO ought to have some way of accruing points that would allow them see some other things or buy a background or whatever.

I would not normally volunteer my opinion but this is an ATS thread and this seemed like a good one. Gosh I hope it wasn't dealt with somewhere in the 50 other pages... Quote below. ~ PJ

Originally posted by KTK
I want to stand up for the forgotten members.


The point deprived long time members, there are many of us.


Any troll can come along make numerous inane crap postings which eat bandwith, they usually get banned in 3 weeks.


This is where the point system is unfair. There are many point deprived long term one account users who care for quality above quantity. The backbone of the community gets punished while anti social muck rakers get rewarded.


I think those that care about the content over points should be rewarded not punished.


When a troll can spam the board and be banned by the days end yet have more points than I have accumulated in near 2 years, then you know the system is unfair.

reply to post by RedCairo


Well if you are all about the points you can do a couple of things to get extra points. Become an Tin-wiki editor I believe you get up to 10000 points with that. If you follow ATS on Twitter you get five thousand points after you u2u Asala letting her know you joined.

Also different boards get different amounts of points. If you like to write anyone can add some thing to the short story board and that can deliver points rather quickly depending on how much you write. Also you can ask for fighter status if you like to debate. Ask for writers status if you want to get into the colab writing forum. Those add points up quickly.

But to me the points are just a perk. I would still come here without the points. And the more they are complained about they could disappear all together and nobody would have to worry about them.

reply to post by Ant4AU


I'm totally not about points--I couldn't care less. I simply thought that his earnest plea had merit, and kinda got ignored, and was worth considering.

PJ

Hi. I just clicked on the following video advertised at the top of the screen (from the media section).

media.abovetopsecret.com...

It opened this page at the same time:

http:// ad.yieldmanager.com/if...north-_suspend_constitution

(space deliberately added)

...as evidenced both by an open window and my browser history.

Any comments?

So Annoyed With Board Changes!!

Hey,was just wondering is there any other members feeling frustrated with recent changes to ATS interface,

For example why has the top of the website where previously was listed all the star/flagged threads been replaced with links to absolute meaningless videos of people talking complete nonsense..?

Why when im viewing a thread does the usual top topics/active topics not appear on right hand side to click onto.This also seems to be replaced with a link to new video section.

Why are the owners of this website constantly making unecessary changes which do more harm than good.

CAN YOU PLEASE JUST LEAVE THE WEBSITE ALONE !!!

Does any fellow ATS members share my frustration,I feel these people could potential ruin a truly great website full of quality unbiased information which is of vital importance particulary in these turbulent times.