Old topics and Anonymous ATS

why are very old topics being dragged up by Anonymous ATSers?
some posts are just 2 lines and nothing more.

is there a guidline for whom ever has the powers to approve Anonymous ATS posts before clicking show or which they can post in?

im curious since i have since topics from far back as 2003 popping up


[edit on 1-8-2008 by bodrul]

I've seen the same thing, except that I think the topic bumps even before the post is approved by anonymous.

I've found myself in really old threads bumped by anonymous after a long time between posts but there was no newer post.

reply to post by bodrul


I totally agree! If they want to post in thread that's not on the current board, then they need to join ATS. Membership should have at least some privileges.

The current policy jacks the board by bumping down more current threads in favor of topics which, in most cases, have already been vetted.

Originally posted by kosmicjack
I totally agree! If they want to post in thread that's not on the current board, then they need to join ATS. Membership should have at least some privileges.

I,ve seen the same thing, old threads brought back to the top with not much of anything being added to that thread at all by ANON posters.

It's probably because the Anon poster doesn't even realize it's a thread that may be a year or more older.

Doesn't sound like a bad idea you've got there, maybe allow them to post only from the first page of each forum or only posts that are on the "Recent Posts" page..

[edit on 8/1/2008 by Keyhole]

I think one avenue is that if you search on something in Google, or in ATS using the Google engine a script has been added somewhere to suggest alternate or additional titles.

It says something like 'you came here searching for 'xyz' and here are some other links on ATS'.

So it may be a byproduct of that process rather than anything, um, conspiratorial.

IDK, just guessing.

It's just like newbies. It's pretty common on forums. Newbies [and in this case anonymous posters] typically have a certain subject matter in mind while browsing ATS or what caused them to find ATS. Many times while performing searches on whatever topic they are looking for it will bring them to an old thread which causes them to bump it. Pretty standard on forums.

Originally posted by Enrikez
I've found myself in really old threads bumped by anonymous after a long time between posts but there was no newer post.

This is the real problem. The threads should not be bumped until the post is approved. That would seem to be completely logical.

Vas

Yes, this 'Anonymous ATS' business put me off from the very start, but now its really starting to piss me off because half the threads I see with activity on them are due to unmoderated anonymous posts. That means time wasted.

This was in no way a positive thing for this website, whomever came up with the idea is, quite simply, an idiot, and whomever coded the broken system for moderation is also an idiot - threads bumped with no actual post to see, but you can see unmoderated posts when you hit 'reply'? Yeah, ok then.

I am quite literally done with ATS until this gets sorted.

Goodbye.

[edit on 2/8/2008 by RichardPrice]

I enjoy old threads depending the topic, so far I don't see any problem with them.

I also enjoy anonymous I wish their post would take less to show in the threads.

Sorry if I differ from all of the post before me, but I gess is all about personal preferences.

I may be wrong but i think one of these anonymous posters (there are a few) are part of the administration here, and they're constantly moving old threads in, and also notice that they will bump threads but when you go look there is no post by "anonymous"?

I notice this all the time and i realized it must be the staff when i see all the stuff bumped to keep the main board full of stories, and many stories front and center.

Thats my take on it-

If it says the last post is by anonymous and you can't see that post that means that it has not been approved yet.

Because we don't require anonymous users to sign up that opens us up to drive by ridiculousness and in particular problems with spam. When an anonymous post is made that is comprised of nothing but spam it does not get approved.

It is during that interim period that what you descibed can take place.

reply to post by Djarums


Surely ATS staff must be aware of how many members are really annoyed at the issues raised here and if they wish to keep some of the old or faithful membership some of these problems will have to be addressed.
I think most members here find it frustrating to click on a thread without looking at last post and than realising its from 04 or last month with no new info yet.I also think unless the anonymous poster has something very informative or constructive to say it shouldnt be allowed.Most anonymous posts do not progress the thread any further.

Well, thank you for letting us know!!!!

reply to post by Azador


We most definitely are aware, and I promise you we are working on a solution.

Anonymous posting is something that has some pretty good potential but certainly not at the expense of our members. We're working on it

Wait a minute let me make sure I understand this. Is the problem with anon posters that add to old threads? Or is it the problem of old threads coming back? I don't know how many times someone mostly new posters makes a thread then that poster is told there are other threads on the subject.

So if you want to give your view on a subject thats say 2 years old. Are you only suppose to just read the thread and not add anything? If thats the case close the thread.Then if the thread is about Roswell for example the mods can flag it with a message "We talked about this enough no new threads please."

What I'm getting at is for a new person who want to add his or her two cents to a topic thats been talked about already is a lose lose kinda deal. Now if the problem is just with anon posters just get rid of the feature that lets you post anon. Hell nobody knows who you are anyways.

I hear you. You raise some valid questions.

I have no problem with a registered member bumping an old thread with fresh perspective or new information but I strongly feel anons should not be able to reply to old threads unless they join.

I think a couple things need to be placed into perspective.


First, just about 75% of our traffic comes from non-member guests (it used to be around 85%, but more and more members are spending more time on ATS over the past two months). And with that in mind, we get just over 1.2 million monthly visits from search engines, with just about half of all of that traffic landing on deep content, or in other words, old threads. With nearly three million distinct pages of content on ATS, going back to 2003, most of our content would be classified as "old threads." With that in mind, it's no real surprise that we see a few anonymous posts on older threads.


Did you catch that part about an increased percentage of members are on the site at any given time? For the past three years, we've been holding very steady at a traffic rate of 85% (+/-) non-member guests, and 15% (+/-) members in both daily and monthly traffic analysis. Since the introduction of anonymous posting, that ratio has slowly been tipping to 75/25, and just recently the percentage of members posting nudged up from 50% to 51%. It looks as though providing a "taste of ATS" through the anonymous feature is causing more people to join and participate as members. That's a good thing, right?


And finally, given the nature of our intent to find the truth within provocative and difficult topics, shouldn't we be more magnanimous? While it's normal to be somewhat selfish about what we do here, the reality is that we do this so that more people can become aware of what we think on these matters. Whether it's a new thread or ancient topic from 2004, it shouldn't matter what causes a guest to be inspired to contribute... we, the ATS membership, inspired someone to contribute. Isn't that why we do this?

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


Ok, your right, (how I hate saying that!) it should impress us (especially the author of a post) when somebody "revitalizes" an old thread that was just gathering dust!

It just happened that around the time this thread had started, in the "Breaking News Forum" an Anon poster brought up a news item from a while back, I started writing a post about this news item not realizing how old the thread was and that the post I was writing was irrelevant now!

My fault for not paying attention to the date I guess.

That won't happen again!

[Rubs both temples with fingers and says:]
Remember to check thread dates!
Remember to check thread dates!
Remember to check ....

Can't help to think of this thread every time I see an Anonymous ATS post, post on a thread a year or a couple years old.

I don't really mind it at all, but I can see why some people would care because it interrupts the flow of current threads and you might read and/or post something in a thread you haven't realized is from 2004.


I think I'm just as bad as some of the anonymous ATSers because I'm posting on a thread that has been dead for a couple of weeks.

[edit on 18-8-2008 by Monsterenergy791]