Enough is enough.

I've read ATS for several years now, and been registered for a couple. I don't post a whole lot, but I do read nearly every night, but it's wearing on me. There are certain trends that are becoming commonplace that I find are really eroding the quality of content here. I find myself only reading for 5-10 minutes instead of endless hours like I used to. In the beginning, I used to read until my eyes bled, then sleep, then log on as soon as I woke up. But there are some things that I think the moderators and administrators need to do to enhance the quality of the site.

1.) The use of the word "BREAKING!" - It's used way too much. At least delete it after the first 24 hours. Because usually it takes a few flags for it to reach the front page, by the time it's there, and displayed for everyone on the landing page, the story is 2-3 days old, and no longer breaking. I also think people use it to garner hits/stars/flags, and there are DEFINITELY threads that aren't worthy of such a eye catching word. A few days ago, there were 5 threads on the front page, all of which were "BREAKING!"/"BREAKING NEWS!", all of which were over 4 days old.

2.) Every prediction should be posted in the Predictions forum, and not land on the front page, regardless of flags. Maybe this will quell the amount of frivoulous prediction threads by high school kids who aren't really predicting anything, they're just making a thread that will no doubt draw traffic and replies, most of which are the same....exact....reply....in every prediction thread. They'll reply and say that predictions are common, and that the poster needs to post some proof, blah blah blah. It's the same thing every time. Quell it by moving them to their own, specialized forum

3.) The out of context thread titles are awful. Right now there's a thread that's titled, "COICA law - say goodbye to internet freedom". Riiiiiight. Threads that have misleading titles should immediately be edited and repeat offenders should have their threads deleted. It's really annoying to go into a thread where the title says one thing, and the content suggests another. I know this board is driven by speculation and conjecture, but if the titles were at least honest and could be taken at face value, the readers experience would definitely be enhanced.

Look, I'm not just complaining and crying about the things I don't like. I'm starting to read less and less, and this is why. I know, being a former marketing professional, that you always like to know what people like about your product, and what they don't like. Well, here's my $0.02. See ya in my normal 2-3 days between visits, ATS. Hope everyone survives the market crash, the volcanos that should erupt any second (yet show no activity on USGS or the Live Feed) the alien invasion, and rapture, and the reptilians.

Peace.

reply to post by Gando702


I agree with points 1 and 3. Stuff like UFO right NOW! Then I click on it and find out it was from a month ago. I am not opposed to BREAKING NEWS! so long as the title specifies the date. The predictions part I do not agree. I do agree with misleading titles that are not honest about what they are talking about in the content of their post. To me as long as the title says what the content is about in an honest way then when I click it I am not surprised.

The word BREAKING! is added to the thread title when someone
creates a breaking news thread I believe.

so that can account for a portion of those.

reply to post by Gando702

Gando702,

I know what you mean but instead of trying to convince ATS staff to implement regulations maybe it would be better to realize that ATS is growing...

You just have to look a little harder but the "old" ATS is still in there, BS appear to be covering it but if you dig a little you can still find gold. I know the new option, under your profile, where you can see only the threads made by your respected friends is a blessing. I use it as an alternative "recent posts" when another hype is hitting us....

Peace

Not only that, there are a plethora of Threads of late that are titled, 'OMG!!!!! Blah blah blah.....'

Obviously pining for reader attention and craving for those much vaunted flags and stars! This is ridiculous as nothing in the post seems worthy of such an exclamation. Unless the world is gonna end or that aliens have actually landed on the White House lawns.

OMG! This sucks!

It's about time for someone to bring this subject up again.

You do have options to help solve the problem.

You have been a member since 9/10/07 and you have only posted 71 times. And you made only a few threads,
Maybe you are part of the problem.

May I suggest you get busy and show us examples of the kinds of threads you feel are desirable.
Get creative.

We can't all agree with the topics spoken of on this site as we are all different. Just don't bother with what does not interest you. I'm sure you will continue to find many pages of great writing.

I'll be watching for your new thread.

A few notes from a brand new member that might see things in a fresh perspective:

This place is HUGE - I have a hard time trying to catch up on stuff that actually interests me, let alone trying to formulate a coherent answer to that particular topic.
I don't have all the time in the World to read through 60+ pages only to find out that the topic doesn't interest me afterall.

I too am taken a bit back when I think I'll feast my eyes on a favorite topic for hours with a cup of tea only to find out that the OP turns the topic in a whole different direction.

But then I wonder... Could it be ME? Did I have wrong expectations going into the thread, and did I completely misunderstand the thread title?

I too hate it when the actual title says one thing and the topic suddenly has a completely different agenda, but I think to an extend that the annoyances COULD be

* based on a mix of old habits and writing styles created by veteran members that OTHER veteran members are used to read and comfortable with, and now a batch of newer members have their own style of writing

* that I expected too much, too soon - If a thread is brand new it'll probably take time before we'll actually get into the meat of things.

I guess the key to a great thread is that it is interesting from the start, it has a red line between title and content and that we all respect each other by knowing that not everyone has the same style or way of writing.

reply to post by Gando702


my biggest peeve is threads that claim to have " PROOF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! " , some dont even offer evidence , just assertion

I agree with all your points.

I used to lurk for a long time, but it seems that around the time when I finally made my account, some of the 'problems' you've brought up became more common-place. I try to create threads now and again to keep things interesting around here, but there's a lot of stuff to sift through, as you've pointed out.

Yes, I agree. Those points you made are all true. I guess once you've been around awhile you learn to approach those threads with giant, multiple exclamation marks or any other sort of hyperbole with a very large grain of salt.

I've learned to associate those with dissapointment. My expectations are almost automatically lowered when I see those titles. I guess the rub is they do garner the most attention. It seems they are always in your face these days.

On the flip side tho, I wonder if the stuff we found interesting when we first discovered this place was really all that good? Maybe it was just the novelty that had our attention, and now, well, you know, its worn off.

Yep over the last few years ats has become a tabloid, with less serious threads to read.

I think us who have been here a while will remember threads that where interesting, and thought provoking.

I just totally ignore prediction and alien / et threads now. I came here first with regard to et threads, but they are so boring today.

My biggest concern is some of the drama caused by members who seem to really be here just to promote religious and mainstream political causes. Many have no ability or desire to see or investigate anything beyond a superficial level aimed towards their own religious or political agenda.

They often resort to tedious repetitive posting of the same old thing post after post thread after thread, deriding people that want to discuss things in greater depth, or who don’t see things their way and often stepping over the decorum line in the process.

Because many of them are newer the Moderators tend to go easier on them, which just tend to reinforce their behavior and often seem to lead them becoming increasingly more brazen.

It’s increasingly harder to have a quality discussion along conspiracy lines, and often several like minded posters on a religious or political issue will band together to really just keep a thread focused on their limited views and understanding of the issues and the world.

Now amazingly enough I am not talking about religious or political threads! But truly non-related threads where they can some how remotely interject religion or politics into it.

I wish more of an effort was made administratively to educate new joining members about the conspiratorial nature of the site, perhaps with a brief interdiction video that has to play in it’s entirety before allowing them to accept the terms of conditions to join the site might help.

reply to post by Gando702


You do realise how it is impossible for ATS to impliment EVERY "improvement" every member who's so inclined to want and call for? If you cannot adapt to your enviroment, well, you know the rest.

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


Yea those that only come here to actively promote their particular -ism get annoying. Or down other's -isms. :p Atheist crusaders tend to drive me bonkers. :p

Originally posted by Watcher-In-The-Shadows
reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler

 

Yea those that only come here to actively promote their particular -ism get annoying. Or down other's -isms. :p Atheist crusaders tend to drive me bonkers. :p

edit on 26-10-2010 by Watcher-In-The-Shadows because: (no reason given)

What to me is truly bizarre it seems that those people who do that, that truly aren't interested in conspiracies but simply promoting some various politcal or religious agenda, gravitate here from other sites because it is a better run, more pleasant posting environment, but then use many of the tactics in their own posts that typify the discourse and rancor from the posting environment they are abandoning for this one.

I do fret ATS is loosing it's conspiracy oriented back bone through it all.

ATS has changed, and it did so over a course of 24 hours some months back before the most recent visual changes. It was as if the loop we were in of all the information gathered, sorted, and process was severed. It left mostly just the high school posters drivel and, at the time, the anti Israel/anti Palestinian junk. After that happened it was only a matter of weeks before the visuals changed, my page reloads itself to where I cannot press the back button to get where I was anymore, the pop ups to sites that I have to press escape multiple times to exit, and the inevitable DNS lockup making me reboot my computer to regain internet access. Before you say "oh you have a virus," I don't. It's just this site and because of it I stay away now. Coming back now and then, just reading through the recent topics is like a thousand voices spurting nonsensical gibberish inside my head.

I miss getting GOOD info three days before the MSM runs the stories.

Originally posted by dizziedame
It's about time for someone to bring this subject up again.

You do have options to help solve the problem.

You have been a member since 9/10/07 and you have only posted 71 times. And you made only a few threads,
Maybe you are part of the problem.

May I suggest you get busy and show us examples of the kinds of threads you feel are desirable.
Get creative.

We can't all agree with the topics spoken of on this site as we are all different. Just don't bother with what does not interest you. I'm sure you will continue to find many pages of great writing.

I'll be watching for your new thread.

1.) Like I said, I visit every couple of days. Usually rarely on the weekends. I clearly pointed out that I'm more of a lurker than a poster, I apologize if your reading comprehension level wasn't able to pick that up, because it explains my lack of posts. I'm not going to make a bunch of threads titled "OMG OBAMA MAKES UNSCHEDULED VISIT TO ARIZONA, DULCE MAYBE?!?!" just to boost my post count. I guess even after 30 solid years of internet forums, some people still think they're a reflection of their post count. Sad, really.

2.) The last thread I made was a real ghost story that happened to me when I was a kid. Got 4-5 replies. Maybe because it didn't have a catchy title, and I didn't quote everyone's response and reply with "I know man. Second" just to boost (again) my post count, and try to elicit stars and flags.

3.) You say I'm part of the problem, when I (and clearly several others who posted in this thread) actually do my part by NOT contributing to the watered down content by posting senseless topics with really no conspiracy value whatsoever. Sure, I could create 50 threads tonight if I wanted to. But I'd get sick to my stomach halfway through when I realized that all I was doing was a.) further diluting what used to be a compelling, intriguing message board and b.) vying for the attention and approval of a bunch of strangers on a messageboard.

4.) "It's about time for someone to bring this topic up again" - Were you anticipating a thread like this? Hell, I barely found the correct forum to put this in. I rarely visit any forum other than the Global Meltdown forum. You probably have more posts than me, and topics, whatever dude. Since you made it clear that this comes up every-so-often, I'd like to inform you that I also knew that the chances of someone with a holier-than-thou mentality would come in and try to make me feel somehow responsible for some of the things I pointed out in my post. I'm sure you'll be back in here to counter after another "BREAKING" thread, no?

And I don't expect the moderators to implement any changes over night. The site has grown tremendously, and with growth comes growing pains. But it would be nice to maybe quell the ridiculous "prediction:", "right now!!" and "breaking" threads so that the cream will again rise to the top, ...or the front page. It's an awfully cool feature to have on a site with so much content, but it seems as if the herd has found a way to manipulate it for their own devices.

Peace

Oh yeah, keep your eyes peeled for my new "BREAKING RIGHT NOW: My Prediction" thread...

Second =

The OP has made a lot of good points all of which I agree with.

I wish there would be implemented a date and time a thread was started.

I always just go to recent posts to browse and it would be nice to see when a thread was started.

I don't come here much anymore and everything a new memento post their two cents on a really old thread just to get 20 posts.I have no way of determining how old the thread was.

Originally posted by Oneolddude
I always just go to recent posts to browse and it would be nice to see when a thread was started.

Funnily enough when the site was being upgraded that was available for a short time in the 'New Posts' section. I rather enjoyed it and had a look at threads I normally would have stayed away from due to their longevity. So the function is there and I also hope they reimplement it.

-m0r