Stars and Flags and how to remove a star or flag.

I'll just talk about stars for the moment. I've found myself starring a person and later regretting it. I would suggest that when you star someone that its of a different colour denoting it as a star by that individual. After being enlightened while reading more posts, in said thread, I've wanted to remove a star from a poster I starred. I would think this would be a serious benefit to ATS. I would like to de-star some stars I gave out. Could work with flags to.

reply to post by madmangunradio

I flagged this thread by accident, can someone remove it for me.

It would then have to be removed from the users stats, which they may not have set the code for yet...
Obviously.

Anyways, I agree...
There is a prediction thread today with 100 flags. I'm sure people would like to remove them now, as well.

reply to post by CanadianDream420


OK as a coder myself I can see why that would require some major changes in the database etc.

I'm not privy to the code and I know how to make it work but it would only work with future stars and flags.. eh..

reply to post by CanadianDream420


It's not so much the stars and flags as it is the overall exposure of a thread for me. Case in point, I started this thread a couple of days ago:
Princeton's Antonio Calvo Kills Himself After Contract Dispute (by stabbing himself to death?)

Blatant conspiracy in my mind, yet it trickles along with barely any exposure, whilst the fear mongering threads are next to unstoppable. I have enough Stars & Flags to choke a horse, it's not about that for me, I'd give them away if I could, my goal is merely to get this blatant corruption it's due awareness...so far...just a trickle.

On Topic, and to the OP: As far as removing a Star or Flag for that matter, the post you starred was seemingly deserving of it, just because a poster later goes and makes an unworthy post ..doesn't constitute removing them entirely imo.

Why not just wait to give out a star or a flag after you've completely digested the post? No need to rely on the "man" to solve the problem when it's already in our own ability to control. I've seen a lot of threads that explode with them and I wonder, "who in their right mind would hand out a S&F for this?" Well, now I understand.

By awarding a star or flag, you made a decision. It's out there like a fart or a bad joke. You can't just take it back and pretend it doesn't exist. An individual star or flag is not that important. It's a poster's reputation over time that is good or bad, insofar as you even care. I wouldn't put too much credence in it myself.

The thing is, ATS has tried several ways to reward, award, and acknowledge the contributions of users. This is an ever-evolving thing as they figure out different ways of doing it. This is by no means the only way they've done it, and my guess is it won't be the last. Just go with the flow and don't worry about it.

reply to post by schuyler

It's out there like a fart

Classic...I wish I could Star in this Forum...you would have definitely received one that you would have to have no fear of being taken back.

Many times I have several tabs open at once....today I accidentally S&F the wrong thread....I chalk it up to user error...my bad, the racist SOB got caught a break.

Attention is key, no need for a function that serves S&F regret.

Yes I may have made a decision to star an individual. Later on reading more posts I find out I was wrong and so was the person I agreed with. I'd like to take that star back and give it to the individual that opened my eyes. Its really that simple.

Edit to add.. Has anyone other than I noticed that these large threads have a massive number of people starred on the first few pages and it dwindles down to nothing while everyone argues it out till the end.

Originally posted by CanadianDream420
It would then have to be removed from the users stats, which they may not have set the code for yet...
Obviously.

Anyways, I agree...
There is a prediction thread today with 100 flags. I'm sure people would like to remove them now, as well.

No..that thread and ones like it I would just like to be bale to remove the stars and flags even when I didn't S or F it!

maybe a new type of starring/flagging.

That is, it depends on the forum, contents and importance. The harder the subject matter the bigger value or color of star you get. As it is - there are subjects that are of very little value but the poster gets many stars - even one or two liners gets a lot of stars.


So a suggestion to the mods - can this be done?

so maybe:

a bronze star as the lowest value to Gold star as the highest value.

Of course - the higher stars will only be available on tough forums - but whose to determine what is tough - that's where mods comes in or bring it to a vote to all members.

This will also invite all to do a deeper thinking and analysis of the subject being discussed.


just my 2cents.

ty,
edmc2

I don' t know if there would be so much of a point, although I have accidently at some time starred "Wrong" post aswell and understand the frustration.
I mean, either you agree with a post or you don't, it is pretty much just that simple. And if people could take back starrings then the function would probably just be missused, when, for instance, people that have been friends but later turned enemies, would just involve personal feelings rather than actual differing opinions.

Speaking of starrings, though; A function that is missed is that you can no longer star banned members posts, which is really a shame, as you often times wish that you could, even though the maker of the post is banned.

And, another new and totally weird funtion is, that a banned member also loses the stars in a thread he or she have made.
I recently noticed this when klicking on a thread that earlier hade hundreds of stars, but now, since the member had been banned, had NONE. What is the point of this new function?

My suggestion. Take away all stars. Rest the stars and start everybody off with X amount of them. Whenever you give a star you lose one and vice versa. This would not only cut a large amount of ignorant posts where people are only trying to get stars, it would also force these people to post meaningful things or more likely just stop posting all together.

Furthermore It would also make people think about what they flag and star period. Thereby helping to curb the amount of "OMG we're going to die tomorrow (My prediction)", "I found an Alien in my backyard sunbathing", "Every musician in the world today is an Illuminati" threads.

Lets face it a lot of people here are S&F whores and even more people are just to happy to oblige them. If you place more meaning and value in something, people tend to become more responsible with it.

Trowa