ATS Needs better promoted front page threads!

I'm not entirely sure how ATS staff promote user generated content on the boards or if they do at all but I have noticed the following..

A lot of 'gem threads' well worth discussion and flag promotion slip through the cracks instead of making their way to the front page where they should be.

People who don't have a lot of time on their hands find ATS functions like 'recent posts, recent flags' ect extremely useful, but with the sharp rise in ATS member contributors over the past couple of years it can often be hard to get to the good stuff.

I feel as though there is a desperate need for a small change in the site functionality of ATS. A small change which could ultimately lead to a big positive change in the quality/ratio of warranted front page material.

There are a few ways I feel this can be achieved fairly, cheaply and effectively:
1. A 'recent' column for recently staff promoted material. Threads would appear here if flagged by a member of staff. This could also be tinkered with or adapted into something for silver/gold level contributors to have more leverage in flagging threads.
2. A bigger, separate and more far reaching page for the above.
3. A longer reaching 'recent/new page'
4. A bigger front page?

Having ran and moderated quite a few smaller forums I can appreciate the potential difficulties that can arise from changing the format of any site, especially when it comes to message boards, but I think we are in desperate need of something similar to the above ideas. Standard mod thread bumping and stickying wouldn't wash down well I don't think..

Any thoughts or feelings on this idea ATS?
(Staff as well as members)

1. A 'recent' column for recently staff promoted material. Threads would appear here if flagged by a member of staff.

Oh no you don't.

You can't go there.

The mods here are impartial. They "moderate". They are also very careful to state that when they participate in a thread, they won't moderate at the same time.

Pause.

They are also very busy keeping track of trolls, and all the other "mysterious" stuff the mods do.

Not a good idea.

No problem, i would simply start a thread that would have the following words in title

Porn Exposed in Terrorist Plot within Pandemic Assassination Attempt with President Wife and Olympic Games.


There you go...and hey guys...what took you so long

Originally posted by Druid42

1. A 'recent' column for recently staff promoted material. Threads would appear here if flagged by a member of staff.

Oh no you don't.

You can't go there.

The mods here are impartial. They "moderate". They are also very careful to state that when they participate in a thread, they won't moderate at the same time.

Pause.

They are also very busy keeping track of trolls, and all the other "mysterious" stuff the mods do.

Not a good idea.

All the usual site functionality would go on as normal, there would just be an extra bit for staff promoted material. I honestly think this could make good content more easy to access whilst still being fair.

Its not unusual at all for forum mods to be able to promote other users content. Its not even unusual for them to promote their own written material even if it isn't about the forum or site itself. The latter I think is definitely unfair but the former I think could really work wonders for ATS.

Thats just my opinion anyway, I'm not the mods.

reply to post by TechUnique


My main issue, where the sort of promotion you are advocating is concerned, is that it goes against the whole ethos of the site.

It is true that moderators can give applause to individual posts which bring insightful comment to a thread, which is a good measure of a posts quality as far as I am concerned. However, the measure of a THREADS quality is supposed to be the amount of actual flags it aquires, and the amount of veiws and opinions that flow through it.

It is fundamental to the way that all the threads here on ATS are measured in terms of thier qualitative value, that if more members visit one thread over another, that thread is considered the more worthy of attention. If you begin to queer the pitch with moderator backing, then you open up a massive can of worms.

I would not dare to speak on behalf of the august body which makes up the moderation community here, because they have thier own voiceboxes, and know thier collective mind better than I ever could, however, I would have thought that they are already plauged with accusations of bias as it is, through thread closures,and the handing down of Bans and T&C violation warnings. For the moderators to begin to influence the content which gets displayed on the front page, would be a pretty damned poor showing in terms of the impartiality of the mods, and would raise valid questions about thier motivations.

Frankly, my opinion on this suggestion you have made can be explained by this simple example.

If you live in a town with a Library full of books, but a ten thousand strong populous only half of whom can read, then there is something wrong with the people, not the damned library!

In the same way, if people who frequent this site are not prepared to trawl the boards for the gold they seek, then they deserve to walk away without a nugget.

Rather than have it based on staff, why not have some sort of system where members get rated, and based on your rating you have more weight in rating others, and highly rated material from highly rated members gets the most attention.

Most people would not be interested in what interests me, I would suspect. And who am I to give out personal picks. But there is a super secret way to find out what I have posted to (or any moderator for that matter) and that is to look at our recent replies from our profile. You can do that with members as well

Just don't get all internet stalker creepy with it and no one will notice.