New member, silly questions

Some may laugh at this request and if you do, that's fine. Can someone please explain what the "flags", "stars" and "points" are all about?

Thanks!

reply to post by wrecksrme


Flags and stars are the means by which ATS determines quality content. This is member generated. When you "flag" a thread it means that you like it, or think that it's important. The more flags a thread has, the more likely it is to end up on the front page, as well as being active for longer periods on the Recent Posts page.

Stars are a means to tell another member that you agree with their opinion. Aove each members posts you'll see a little bar with blue stars. If you click the non colored star, it will fill it in for you. This gives that member a star.

You cannot take back stars however, you may unflag a thread if you end up changing your mind.

Points are given for various reasons. Everytime you make a post you gain points, same with flags or stars I believe. They are part of an older system that ATS use to have before stars and flags and have since just been left.

It's a somewhat decent indicator of how much a member contributes to the website.

Hope that helps.

~Tenth

They all mean nothing in the long run. They only mean something if you let it.
Read, digest and form opinions.

reply to post by wrecksrme


Not a silly question at all! Quite a good question actually.

It is , on the other hand, silly why you did not try the "search" function located in the top-right-corner of your screen.

Go ahead, try it!

Peace

reply to post by operation mindcrime



uh yeah...duh! Well like I said, I am new at this so that's my only excuse. Thanks to everyone for the resonses!

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Since stars are a way to say you agree with someone is there a system to indicate that you disagree (other than by writing a nasty reply)? By extension if the `points` reflect an equation that tabulates everything from stars to flags to number of posts, does that then mean `points` indicate how popular a person is on ATS?

No .Points are awarded for decent threads and good membership........... They are given and they are taken away.
You be good and get points.........you turn to the dark side.... they are taken away.

reply to post by rigel4


So there is a system then to indicate that people disapprove of a post? Or is this purely a moderator feature? Also reading through a couple of threads I don't see a way to "flag." I do see the stars, but I'm unclear how flags work?

reply to post by hitandrun


The points are Mod tool to encourage good posting habits... I myself suffer from the removal of points a fair bit, this is because I rise to troll bait.......which is not good practice. One should ignore trolls.

Sometimes though I am ina grumpy mood ..... and points are lost lol

If you post good stuff in a polite and relevant way your points will rise too.

reply to post by hitandrun


There is no way to "flag" down things or provide negative stars on ATS. We like to focus on the positive and if you don't agree then we always suggest don't flag, don't star and write a rebuttal reply to that particular member.

And yes, points can be an indication of "popular" members, but some people take that far too seriously.

~Tenth

In a nutshell. you flag a thread if it is worth reading and you want to alert other members to it.

a low flag count on a thread is an indication of it's quality..... but not always.

The mod above has summed up the star and points situation pretty good.

But never mind all the technical stuff, just enjoy the site, and post good stuff and politely refute
what you don't agree with .

Thats it really .

reply to post by rigel4


I have no problem with the no negative flags or anything like that. However when I go in to a thread it says something like "Flags: 3". Beneath it there's "favorite," "subscribe" and "alert." I've tried clicking all of them and none of them change the "flags" number. There's also a big black space next to the flag indicator. Is that where the button is supposed to be? Perhaps my browser is incompatible with the website or something?

Originally posted by hitandrun
reply to post by rigel4

 

I have no problem with the no negative flags or anything like that. However when I go in to a thread it says something like "Flags: 3". Beneath it there's "favorite," "subscribe" and "alert." I've tried clicking all of them and none of them change the "flags" number. There's also a big black space next to the flag indicator. Is that where the button is supposed to be? Perhaps my browser is incompatible with the website or something?

Greetings:

Here is what my screen looks like:



The "black square" with "FLAG IT" is how to give a flag.

Hope this make it clear.

Peace Love Light
tfw
[align=center][color=magenta]Liberty & Equality or Revolution[/align]

reply to post by thorfourwinds


Thanks for the reply, but where it says "Flag it" for you it's just completely black for me. I've tried clicking on it a few times but it doesn't affect the flags number. I guess I'm too much of a newb.

reply to post by hitandrun

Nope. No problem.

That means you have already flagged the thread and you are only allowed ONE flag per thread.

Anything else?




Peace Love Light
tfw
[align=center][color=magenta]Liberty & Equality or Revolution[/align]

reply to post by thorfourwinds


Finally figured it out, apparently you need 20 posts before you can flag a thread. I knew there had to be something up. Thanks for the help.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by thorfourwinds
reply to post by hitandrun

 

Nope. No problem.

That means you have already flagged the thread and you are only allowed ONE flag per thread.

Anything else?

Greetings:

Belay that last assumption!

Evidently, we looked at one of our own threads and saw the blank black box. You cannot flag or star your own thread.

Our bad.

When you flag a thread, the box reveals a red UNFLAG.

Peace Love Light
tfw
[align=center][color=magenta]Liberty & Equality or Revolution[/align]

OK, I'm a little confused in this post I have 4 stars:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

However on the left hand side it says I have:

P:8, F:0, S:3

The `S` means `stars` right? Is there some sort of delay before the system properly registers the correct number?

Originally posted by hitandrun
OK, I'm a little confused in this post I have 4 stars:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

However on the left hand side it says I have:

P:8, F:0, S:3

The `S` means `stars` right? Is there some sort of delay before the system properly registers the correct number?

Greetings:

You got us there.

We just starred that post when you had 5 to make it 6 and your profile says 5

Springer probably holds one back, kinda like your first check - we do not know.

A clue: Try not get hung up in attempting to gather an inordinate amount of stars.

They seem to have quite a mind of their own, as there seems to be no correlation between hard work to present a great (you think) thread, and a rude post to a "stargate in the sun funneling an alien invading armada" thread will garner hundreds of those little sparklies ... go figure.

This will help explain something, maybe.




Peace Love Light
tfw
[align=center][color=magenta]Liberty & Equality or Revolution[/align]