The end of the Conspiracy Masters Program on ATS

reply to post by schrodingers dog

Conspiracy Pros are published authors or other professionals who have a "following" (most have at least heard of them before) that we (the admins) believe the members would enjoy interacting with.

Jim Marrs is a classic example of a "Conspiracy Pro", the God Father of the genre if you will, New York Times Best Selling Author, had one of his books turned into "JFK" Oliver Stone, an all around good friend and really nice guy to boot.

In other words, these folks work hard enough to make an honest living from "Alternative Topics". We are talking with a few others who we are considering as additions to that select group.

Springer...

[edit on 10-25-2008 by Springer]

I suggest the present Conspiracy Masters keep their "badge" (although we don't need no stinking badges ) and that they get a t-shirt saying "I was an ATS Conspiracy Master and all I got was this t-shirt".

Although I do not give much importance to titles, I hope the CMs do not feel bad about it, why isn't any of them here in this discussion?

I have thought about this new announcement, and I have to say that I feel very bad for the CMs. I can only hope that the many, many great contributions by hard working members like Internos and MikeSingh (just to mention the two I know the best because of the forums I visit most) won't be forgotten.

The CMs have deserved their "elevated" status. I have absolutely no problem with their current status. I frankly am rather dissapointed if others do. I don't have a badge or a title here at ATS, and probably never will. That does not at all make me feel inferior or less of av human being.
I still try to contribute as much as I can.

reply to post by ArMaP

The ones who set up their Google Ad-Sense accounts got more than a T-Shirt.

Springer...

none of them are going to 'melt' or 'fossilize'...
and that is OK,

i sure did not support the CM forums, but that's no reflection on their product or content....
I only have enough time & interest to mingle among the masses...
always will.


It was good to have another "level/dimension" available with which to correspond


good-bye & RIP all youse CM forums (for the present)

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord
However, this being said, we are working on developing an alternative to the CM program that will ultimately take the shape of a regularly published e-Zine, as well as quite possibly ATS-branded editorial appearing in offline publications. Both concepts involve typical pay-per-article arrangements that would be typical of a newspaper or magazine... and we anticipate former CM's will be at the top of the consideration list when we look for material.

I hope this will end up being a much more higher profile vehicle and incentive for our members to spend extra time creating original work, and receive appropriate reward... a reward that should ultimately be much more significant than Google ads on threads in a CM forum.

Hmmm...I remember suggesting a similar thing myself. Nice to know that good ideas are not ignored (contrary to appearances).

I'd tentatively suggest as an alternative to "conspiracy masters" that we have "conspiracy servants" - members that we pay the minimum wage to scurry around google finding all the detail for the threads more sophisticated members would like to compose, but can't be bothered to research.

In the evenings they could answer our U2Us and polish our avatars.

How about a thread that would direct you to the post that get applause? If the admin thinks it worthy enough for points, shouldn't we be able to see these post. Bringing attention to applaused posts might give the newer members an idea of the type of writing that is ATS best.

reply to post by darkelf


That is a good idea, maybe with a special icon to show that the post was awarded an applause, or one for each applause, like the blue stars.

reply to post by ArMaP


I'm not saying it's a "bad" idea, but then we run into a potential drama bomb with accusations of staff steering the discussion. As it is, flags and stars are given out by all members, and there's no way to distinguish whether a thread received attention from just staff, or the membership at large.

Which, I think, is how it should be. Member driven. The staff is here to do what we can to maintain an environment conducive to discourse without the personal attacks and flaming. I think we'd prefer each member make their own determination about what's good, valuable, and relevant.

But hey, I might be wrong.

reply to post by yeahright


You are right, that is why I leave the management area for those that know more about it than me (almost everybody ).

reply to post by darkelf


Making applause public would most likely open the door to a lot of complaining and accusations of bias. A lot of people assume an applause means, 'I agree,' when it really means, 'Good post.' I can see it eventually turning into a case where members erroneous conclude certain views were actually being endorsed by ATS.

Let's say applause are given on a certain issue at a 50/50 rate- conservative vs. liberal political opinions as an example. It's human nature to focus on and 'file' all the applauded posts we see from the opposing view and not pay any attention to what applause a view we may support receives. If I'm a conservative, I might 'mentally file' all the applauded posts I see with a liberal opinion, and eventually develop the opinion that ATS and its staff are biased in favor of liberal views but I completely ignore the equal amount of applause for posts favoring a conservative view.

Then just coming from my own personal member's opinion, I would not want the applause I receive becoming public information. It can open the door for accusations of favoritism. Or perhaps if someone said something very similar to another member but the other member got the applause (let's say for instance the applause-issuing mod didn't see the first post), the other person would feel jilted and the accusations of favoritism or popularity would start to crop up.

There are several scenarios that come to mind but the above are a few examples. It's similar to the recent issue discussed on the issues thread about making public the name of the mod who replaced a post with a warning or off tag. The person who receives the tag or applause will know who it was from and that should be enough.

As much as my nosy self would like to know who got an applause for what, just being human I know that it would eventually become an issue for some members, open the flood gate for complains and accusations of bias, and many would build resentment over such a silly issue.

There used to be a list of Recent Applause (or something like that) on the home page. If I remember correctly, it just listed the member names and didn't link to the thread or post that had generated it. That would work as a way to acknowledge the recipient publicly without the added drama of the "he/she was applauded for that!?!" type reactions. WATS was cool too, I wouldn't mind seeing it make a comeback.


Conspiracy Masters,

R.I.P.

I hardly knew ye.

Originally posted by darkelf
How about a thread that would direct you to the post that get applause? If the admin thinks it worthy enough for points, shouldn't we be able to see these post. Bringing attention to applaused posts might give the newer members an idea of the type of writing that is ATS best.

Actually this is already done. The hottest threads usually end up in the scroll bar across the top of the site. Click on any one of those and you'll find the daily active thread.

Originally posted by ArMaP
Although I do not give much importance to titles, I hope the CMs do not feel bad about it, why isn't any of them here in this discussion?

OK! Here I am!!

Frankly, I don't think any CM should feel bad at all. At least I ain't! Instead I did feel a trifle embarrassed at times seeing that there are far better contributors here on ATS and much more qualified than I who deserved the title of CM more than I did.

However, a number of emails and U2Us to me had a common crib that henceforth it would be difficult to locate my threads. But one can google it on the ATS home page...to get this..

Discussion Threads Authored By mikesingh

The same goes for other erstwhile CMs as well if you need to find their threads.

Hell's bells! I never knew I was in such great demand!! So I'd like to thank all for their encouragement and rest assured I'll continue to keep my worthy adversaries on their toes!

Cheers!

Mike.

reply to post by mikesingh


You are high class all the way, MikeSingh.

Some CM forums languished, with little input from the CM and often little discourse from the members. You (and Lear) are two definite exceptions to this.

Originally posted by Springer
We have also learned that many of our "general" members are every bit the expert any one else is and we intend to focus our energies on expanding the awareness of our general membership's genius, writing and perspective.

Springer,

If you believe that then why do you still have subject matter experts?