What is W and K

Sorry, I'm sure this info is somewhere. I understand the P, F, S numbers, but what are those other two? I have a .8 for W. I don't know what that means. Please enlighten me.

reply to post by shapeshiftress


I have always wondered this too.

reply to post by shapeshiftress


I have seen this question arise a few times and I still don't understand how they are calculated either...

W stands for WATS or Way Above Top Secret. If you go to your profile, you will notice a W on the left side of the option bar. Clicking it will reveal ATS top contributors. (The highest Ws)

K stands for Karma points. I think (think) it's a ratio of Posts vs Stars.

Not sure how the figures are calculated though, as I said.

You will also notice that you have ATS points under your profile. Which is nice to look at but that's about the only use I see for them thus far.

Hopefully, someone will be along to explain how those are calculated in a way we can all understand. Yeah, I can be thick at times.

Flagging.

reply to post by shapeshiftress

Yes, the question asked many times.
W= "Way above top secret" = What people think of you as a starter of threads. An accumulative measure based mainly on flags and stars.
K="Karma"= What people think of you as a writer of replies to threads. More emphasis on stars. The formula also includes an element of "divide by the number of posts", so it can go down as well as up. Everybody starts with 20, which goes down rapidly as they keep posting.

Thanks, I will save this answer so I can look at it until it sinks in. I am definately losing ground on the K and haven't posted enough to do much on the W side. I think just ignoring it and keeping up with the threads is the best way to get it to change.

reply to post by shapeshiftress


W and K are letters of the alphabet - simples , PS there are 24 others [ A to Z ]

reply to post by shapeshiftress


Don't sweat it much. These things are meant only for people to self-evaluate loosely. Some of us were here before such things even existed and as you might imagine, it took considerable thought to convert their past to the current metric. But high or low means little in the end. What's more important than those numbers is our members' input - without which we would be nowhere.

The real difficulty with some of this is that not everyone uses the flag and star as meaning the same thing. So the ratios are a generalization, if anything.

I'm sure not everyone will agree. But at least for my part, I would rather post and forget about the numbers.... but that's just me... I'm an opinionated cuss.

Originally posted by Maxmars I would rather post and forget about the numbers

So would I, Maxmars, but (if you are of a sensitive disposition) a crisis of confidence can occur if ones post-to-star ratio is low. The more out of kilter the statistics become, the more you question exactly how you are perceived by others on this board.

You begin to suspect that your opinions are worthless, your input is valueless, your level of intelligence is substandard and so on and so on.

It's easy enough to forget about the numbers if they are working in your favour. Not so easy if they're flagging you up as being a dumbass.

reply to post by Silver Star


This is not something I can argue against. Where egos become involved... especially 'virtual' or D-egos it gets somewhat tenuous.

There was a time when people didn't have the tools of the internet to express themselves, and at that time, to be a person interested in the extraordinary, conspiracies, history, ideologies, legends urban and otherwise, and that sort of thing meant... you spent most of those thoughts and studies very private. It made for a sobering wake-up call to find a font of discussions where we welcome and enjoy discussing such things.

The stars and flags were never meant to evaluate a person, their thoughts, opinions, grammar, or 'charisma'. They were meant as an aid to identify the noteworthy, the surprising and challenging.

The culture of the tweeting generation and the e-friend has overshadowed what purists may have enjoyed as the convenience of flags and stars, and now there are, as you say, people who want them to mean something else.

I cannot control that. Nor would I presume to. To me, seeing a low number indicates a potentially new idea, a fresh perspective, and perhaps somewhat naively, a recent addition to the crowd of which I am proud to be part.

I can't make others see things my way. But I can promise you that there are MANY of us, who care only for your input... not your 'popularity.' Being well met and well regarded is nice to some degree, but that and 25 cents still wont even get you a cup of good coffee. There should be no celebrities .... and I will regret the day that such things as flags and stars might become an indicator of "worth.'

It reminds me of an interesting story once told by Kurt Vonnegut... he once shadow wrote an essay about Slaughterhouse-Five for a friend's child ... he got a "C." Had he authored it for a magazine... they would have paid him thousands..... worth is often a matter of bias and supposition... stars and flags are often just that...

I stopped caring about them when I overheard a conversation where people had been giving someone stars for their 'cool' avatar... and flagging a thread because someone with whom they disagreed got flamed.

Such things frequently detract from the point, I think; so I never encourage relying on one's "scores" to determine how satisfied we should be with our own work.

I know how the karma score is worked out, but I'm not sure whether I'm at liberty to divulge, other than to say that - upon this post - my karma score is exactly: 22.249365482233502538071065989848.

Being a bit of an individualist and a loner by nature, I can preserver with low scores. And, if I understand correctly, it may even point a certain resolve to not follow the crowd or be given to grandstanding or crowd following/pleasing. I find those noble values when not pursued for their own sake. Thanks for the answers and the philosophy too.

Originally posted by ignorant_ape
reply to post by shapeshiftress

 

W and K are letters of the alphabet - simples , PS there are 24 others [ A to Z ]

Even a year later I gotta tell you how utterly Un- intelligent and rude of you concerning this OP and their question. Do you think the Op and ATS participants appreciate you junking up their thread?

Did you ever think you might make people feel awful for asking the question? Thinking they may have just asked the dumbest question because of your dumb answer.

I'm really babbled at people like you. That wasn't productive or necessary for you to be rude! If you thought you were being funny then you should have at least attempted to answer the question or said you didn't know and just wanted to " joke " around...for what benefit...is yet to be determined.

If you can't listen or respect people...then you have no respect for yourself!

reply to post by Maxmars



I gotta say even after almost a year....what you said here is so well put. I didn't think of it the way you did and your way just makes sense. I've noticed people w/ a lot of stars ect seem really ..... High and mighty. There is no way that you should ever dis-agree w/ them...how dare you and they try to make you look stupid if you don't agree w/ them.

I like the post and star system but as you said...some are getting high ratings for reasons they shouldn't be.

Great post...I think everyone needs to skip right to your post.