Flags and stars?

Can somebody please explain what they are, how it all works, and how I can give them to people?

I've looked around a little and can't seem to find anything, though I've no doubt being looking in the wrong places.

I promise, it's not because I'm lazy!

Flags appear at the top of each thread. You can flag a topic once. (See I flagged this one.)


Stars appear at the top of every response, to give a star to someone for a good post just click on the next empty star above their post.

It's something to do with the rating here on ATS - probably some kind of tip off goes to the TPTB if you get too much of a following or too high credibility.


^^^That’s not serious BTW^^^^

It does; however factor into some kind of rating system for access to other "special" parts of ATS.

New myself but think I've about got it right.

If you look over by your avatar you can see how many flags and stars you have....

reply to post by Golf66


Thanks for the post!

I can see a flag, however I can't see any stars anywhere? I feel so silly.

And wouldn't it be somewhat ironic and even amusing if once your rating got to the required level the powers that be at ATS revealed themselves to be the Illuminati!

Ah, I think I've got it!

It seems you can't give people stars in any threads that are started by yourself, and obviously you can't flag your own thread as that would just be lame!

Originally posted by Trapt

Ah, I think I've got it!

It seems you can't give people stars in any threads that are started by yourself, and obviously you can't flag your own thread as that would just be lame!

No, stars aren't available on the business & questions forum.

Actually you can't give any stars in the Board Business and Questions forum... that's about the only place i've seen that you can't give them on the site...

Originally posted by Trapt

Ah, I think I've got it!

It seems you can't give people stars in any threads that are started by yourself, and obviously you can't flag your own thread as that would just be lame!

You can star people in your own threads, just not in this particular forum.

I believe the flag system also determines what ends up on the front page.

reply to post by captaintyinknots


I understand.

Between the two of you thanks for clearing it up.

Anyone know what the "W" stands for?

reply to post by Skywatcher2011


It's a score calculated on the number of flags/stars/applauses, etc. Somewhere around the Oct. 26th date, it was updated in this thread, you can back-track the posts to that date and look up the explanation, from SkepticOverlord, if you want a more in-depth explanation.

Originally posted by LadySkadi
reply to post by Skywatcher2011

 

It's a score calculated on the number of flags/stars/applauses, etc. Somewhere around the Oct. 26th date, it was updated in this thread, you can back-track the posts to that date and look up the explanation, from SkepticOverlord, if you want a more in-depth explanation.

edit on 15-1-2011 by LadySkadi because: (no reason given)

If this thread had stars enabled, I'd give you one for your help! Thank you lots =)

reply to post by Skywatcher2011


Lol... don't thank me until you read the explanation, I still don't get it.

reply to post by LadySkadi


Hahaha, it's all good. One day we will find a true definition but yours worked for me...it was short and simple hehe

reply to post by Trapt


Okay, here's the deal....

Flag: In the upper left corner of every thread you have a "flag" button, if you think it is a really important thread or think the poster of that thread should get some recognition for his/her hard work, you should use that button. Please do not use it lightly!!!!

Star: If, within certain threads, you think a poster has made a valuable contribution to the thread you can "star" him/her for that. More often than not off-topic sarcastic or ridiculous posts are given stars. This is really not the idea of this system. If a poster makes a valuable contribution to the thread it should be rewarded with a star.....

Applause: If you make a contribution to a thread that is of such quality, a moderator or staff member can reward you for it in the form of an "applause". These will only show up in your profile page but you will receive a U2U form the person that gave it to you.

It is really all about how much you contribute to this community, which can be deducted by how much you post, how much threads you create and how much recognition you get for this. So they have come up with a formula which takes all these factors into account and come up with your WATS and KARMA value (represented by the "W" and "K" under your avatar).

The "WATS Index" is calculated as: ((FLAGS x 5) x STARS)/1000000.

Karma was a result from the introduction of the WATS-system. There are lots of members who contribute well, but do not start many threads; the KARMA score is for them.

The karma calculation places a high weight on stars, a secondary weight on staff applause, and a tertiary lesser-weight on Flags; then compares all that against the number of posts. So that it is indeed possible for a new member with few threads, but great ideas in lots of replies, to achieve a higher "KARMA" than long-time high-WATS members.

. SO

So that's the whole story basically. As for some secret forum that can only be accessed with enough points.....well, you have the RATS-forum (Really Above Top Secret) which you used to have to buy your way into with points. I believe, nowadays, anybody with more than 200 posts can access it automatically (not to sure on that one, but there really isn't that much happening in that forum anyway).

Hope this answers your question.

Peace

reply to post by operation mindcrime


Yep, all makes perfect sense now.

Cheers!

reply to post by operation mindcrime


Wow, thank you so much! I am so glad you brought this up. Sometimes posts like these disappear deep in the archives and since ATS is such an expanding community, a little reminder here and there about what certain things mean go a long way to new members.

KUDOS to you

reply to post by Skywatcher2011

Skywatcher2011,

Yeah no problem....

Although my personal opinion is that the upgraded reward system is causing people to see it not as an incentive but as a goal and that is not working out well in regards to quality.

Just my humble opinion....

Peace

reply to post by operation mindcrime


True. I guess it works OK if one does not equate quality with popularity. Nice to have incentives though.