Anonymous Posting on ATS

Important Note to All Anonymous Posters who read this:

We can not publish your posts if they contain private phone numbers and email addresses.

3 little letters....g l p and I think we can all agree on the Hell that place is....so nay on proposition anon.

reply to post by Skyfloating


Having given it some thought I don't mind anonymous posting because the posts are screened , members cannot post and there is a limit to the number of posts a non member can make per day . I have encountered times when such a function has been useful elsewhere on the net .

From one of the Martian anomaly threads...

Originally posted by Anonymous ATS
i cant believe you people are still chasing shadows as it's only by virtue of the fact the image's B&W that you're seeing these artefacts.

move on..

Bad enough we get this constantly from the local debunkers... do I really need to see it from Anonymous ATS as well?

Originally posted by zorgon
do I really need to see it from Anonymous ATS as well?

Oooh, oooh, oooh....I got this!!!!

Yes.

What difference does it make? At least you have the satisfaction of knowing the poster doesn't feel strongly enough about their opinion to at least invent a persona and join the forum.

Of course, the other end of the stick is....a moderator read the post, decided it was appropriate for the topic, and passed it on through.....Heh...

Originally posted by MrPenny
What difference does it make? .....Heh...

Hiding under mommy's skirt and poking sticks

Your right though I guess the moderator agreed Add that to "Butt Darts" "I saw a UFO" celebrity posts and Anonymous posts...

I guess we aren't in Kansas anymore Herr Penny

:shk:

Originally posted by interestedalways
Call me a drama Queen, but I liked the idea of anon posts not being screened/approved.

More chance of something "off the wall" or "risky"!!!

LOL, well it's the truth!

I would still expect something "unacceptable" to be removed immediately by quick staff or member alerts, but I do like the element of open anonymous posts.

The whores in D.c. would not welcome you with open arms with a "free" and "open" idea like that. lol

I've never heard, a SERIOUS, discouraging word, on teevee, about a DC whore since I figured things out....FWIW

Concerning the 12 hour limit on posts. This seems to be the same poster in the same thread.

I am not bring this up as a complaint but to point out that it must be hard to enforce the rules that are stated to be in effect. Guess these will end up as guide lines only in the future. Both posts did add something to the discussion.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

posted on 5/22/2008 @ 09:35

Hi all
It’s good to debate things such as this but I want to set the record strait.....

Jeff

posted on 5/22/2008 @ 12:23

Unfortunately it’s not that simple. From what I understand there are other people involved....

Jeff

reply to post by roadgravel


Hmmm...interesting. I´ll go ask staff about that.

Originally posted by Skyfloating
Anybody have anything nice to say about anonymous posting?

I think that some Whistleblower would be more inclined to post information anonymously.

Meh mixed feelings about it. Get the bad with the good I guess.

I'd rather not have it really as I value the fact the the people who post here care enough to create a profile and interact on some level with the others on here. I can see why people could feel undermined by this function.

It seems the Anonymous ATS moderator-approval process is causing some confusion with thread timestamps. For example, in this thread.

(reposting my reply from another thread at Skyfloating's request)

It seems that the problem is that, as soon as an Anonymous ATS reply is made, the thread's 'modification time' is updated, and it moves at the top of the recent threads list. This happens before the moderators decide whether or not to allow the post, and is confusing. If an Anonymous posting is not approved, the thread is still bumped, it appears!

While I understand that the all posts should eventually be placed in the thread in the order posted (Anonymous or not), and that requires some sequencing in whatever database backend ATS uses, the overall thread modification date/time should not be updated, if the last post is Anonymous, until the post is approved by a moderator.

At least that how I would expect it to behave.

reply to post by Ian McLean


Yes, it takes some time before they are approved if they are approved. Sometimes this will lead to a thread showing up in "recent posts". Staff is very aware of this issue but it remains to be seen if it can be technically solved.

reply to post by Skyfloating


In the meantime, I have given up clicking on any posts "updated" my ATS anonymous. I have been bitten too many times and has lead only to frustration.

PS.

Hope to see a fix to the bug soon!

PSS

BTW, IMHO,
THe site owners and mods all do a great job.

Well since I cant get an answer in the ATS issues thread. I will post here.

If all anon posts are read and okayed by mods before posting, how did this post get through.

How does it contribute to the thread?

CT

[edit on 2/6/2008 by Conspiracy Theorist]

reply to post by Conspiracy Theorist


The amount of posts happening here on a day, mistakes and/or differences in what constitutes "important/contributing post" will happen.

Sorry, we´re not perfect.

[edit on 2-6-2008 by Skyfloating]

Sorry, I have to jump on the anti-anon bandwagon. I haven't seen one that has positively contributed to the discussion thus far. Most seem to resurrect long dead threads, for no real benefit. One I just clicked on lead to a blank page. I truly believe it is de-valuing the ATS experience.

This is my opinion on the subject of anon posting.

I feel that this is a large drain on site resources and moderator time. The moderators of this board work diligently and hard each day making this a wonderful and great place to visit. I feel that this additional workload for the moderators is unfair and too time consuming to be of benefit to this board.

I also feel that the ability to reply to an anon post is useless as the anon poster may never see the post again.

I appreciate this boards willingness to expand and allow non members the opportunity to post their thoughts to subject matter, however I think that our volunteer staff has got to be already taxed with their own workload and it's unfair for them to have to shoulder this additional responsibility.

They should take my suggestion. Easily the best one posted.

I completely and utterly hate the anonymous posting system, for many reasons. Here is one big one -

www.abovetopsecret.com...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

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www.abovetopsecret.com...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

All of those threads in the Aircraft Projects forum show 'Anonymous ATS' as the last poster to the thread, and consequently all those threads have been bumped up in the forum view. Yet not one has an anonymous post as the last post, in some cases the last post was years ago.

Utterly and completely pointless - it drags the topic up to the front page once again with *nothing* added.

Another reason I hate the feature is because you have seemingly banned actual forum members from posting anonymously! What, the ability to post anonymously is good enough for any random user on the internet who wants to pretend that he flew the SR-71 or Aurora, but not any good for a current member who wishes to post confidential information separately from his own user account? Pointless.

Theres no reason to allow anonymous posts at all - you do not require verifiable information to open an account, so the anonymity of a disposable hotmail account and a screen name should be all the anonymity required to post *anything* on this forum.

Currently no anonymous posts have credibility, because the community itself is not being allowed to make that choice - we can't tell if theres one anonymous person involved in a discussion or if its many, that information is only available to the board staff - at least with screen names we know that the likelyhood is that there is only one person behind that screen name, and we can apply credibility on our own judgement. We cannot do that with anonymous postings.

Hate it. Totally hate it.