Invasion of the Twitter Mentality, is killing ATS

This is my first rant.

Is is just me. I find every other thread I click open, has an opening post shorter than most of the titles of the thread. Sometimes, not even a complete sentence, with a link to an article or most times, a youtube video.

No descriptions of what has been presented by the OP, nor personal opinion of what, and why they posted it.

I've been wondering what has caused such an influx of such threads. The only thing I can think of, it's because of social media patterns established by places like twitter and farcebook.

People have been conditioned to present an idea in a minimal amount of words...twitter has killed more brain cells than alcohol, in my opinion.

I find myself not being motivated enough to participate in such threads. It's like getting news bites instructing me to tune in later for more of the story.

If you have something you find important, or interesting enough to you, to want to share it with us. Share more than a tweet and a link. Tell us what your link is about...a little bit to whet the mental appetite. Same with a video. Not everyone can view a video for various reasons. Not everyone has the time to view an hour plus video...But, if you give a good compilation of what is in your video, we have the option to view it later and add to your thread.

You may be missing out on some valid contributions to your thread, by knowledgeable people, who just don't feel inspired to build your OP for you, from the meager scraps presented.

What I'm seeing more and more are crumbs tossed out in the forums, that only get a couple of replies. Usually those replies are people requesting more information. A lot of the time the OP doesn't even respond to those questions. So, the thread dies.

There, I feel slightly better.....

Des

You are right. ATS is not limited to 140 character.

Originally posted by inj3ct0r
You are right. ATS is not limited to 140 character.

You are right, it's not. But, trying to get more information from some OPs is like pulling teeth. More often than not, we'll get the reply of *watch the video*., or *go to the link*.

This is a bountiful forum, full of rich and plentiful ideas, by some pretty incredible people. Now I'm seeing more and more threads that are like getting a text message, or a tweet, from a complete stranger. It's turned into a guessing game, of what the subject is.

Des

reply to post by inj3ct0r


Maybe that's the answer. If ATS could make it so each thread has to have so many characters to post instead of the two line minimum. Do the reverse of Twitter and Facebook. Make it a 100 words or more for example.

If you don't have enough characters in your OP then you can't click on 'post' or 'reply' until you do. Also make it to were emoticons or spacing doesn't count as a character.

reply to post by TheLieWeLive


There is rules for making threads.

Mods don't enforce them anymore.

This site is all about the visitor numbers and advertising. Money , money, money.

The rules have been thrown in the bin along with the quality.

reply to post by TheLieWeLive


I don't know if implementing a policy like that would do any justice to ATS. I fear it might keep some first time posters from adding to the forums. Maybe somehow better educating people on starting a thread. I know it's all covered in the T&C, but most people don't read them. I honestly don't know what would help the problem. I wanted to get my rant out, in hopes it may cause someone to think a bit more, before they hit post.

Des

reply to post by lacrimaererum


That's why I think they should encode it in. If you couldn't submit your post or reply until you had enough words or characters then it would take some of the weight off of the Mods.

There are a lot of us on here at any given time of the day.
We can't expect the Mods to catch everything.

It's up to the poster to read and follow the rules so you can't blame the Mods for that.

reply to post by TheLieWeLive


It's already encoded in the Breaking News Forum...at least IIRC, it's that forum. The opening post is the headline and link to the story, the second post is the OPs input on the story. It won't post until you've added enough for the filter to let it through.

Des

Originally posted by TheLieWeLive
reply to post by lacrimaererum

 

That's why I think they should encode it in. If you couldn't submit your post or reply until you had enough words or characters then it would take some of the weight off of the Mods.

There are a lot of us on here at any given time of the day.
We can't expect the Mods to catch everything.

It's up to the poster to read and follow the rules so you can't blame the Mods for that.

i commented on a two line thread with a link some days ago. criticizing the content of the thread. no details , no opinion, no informaton, my comment was removed and the 2line thread with a link was left running with no action taken.

like i said the mods are not interested in keeping any quality intact on this site. point this out and your comment will be removed.

they have sold out.

Originally posted by Destinyone
reply to post by TheLieWeLive

 

I don't know if implementing a policy like that would do any justice to ATS. I fear it might keep some first time posters from adding to the forums. Maybe somehow better educating people on starting a thread. I know it's all covered in the T&C, but most people don't read them. I honestly don't know what would help the problem. I wanted to get my rant out, in hopes it may cause someone to think a bit more, before they hit post.

Des

I think a lot of the shorter posts are from members trying to get the message out before someone else does. It's kind of a race for some members and the less they write the quicker they can hit post.

I've seen this occur on breaking news. Someone will post a few words and then a link just so they can be the first to put it on here.

I don't know the answer but I too share in your frustration. I tend to avoid the short threads myself. If you don't put more of your heart into what you write it I can't find myself putting any in.

reply to post by Destinyone
It isn't just you. I too am tired of these "one line plus a link or video" OPs. I've come to the conclusion that if the author cannot spare the time to put a little more thought and effort into an OP then I do not have the time to participate in the thread. It is sad when the replies contain more information than the OP.

When I first joined this site such threads would quickly make their way to the trash bin as well as multiple duplicate threads about the same topic- this is no longer the case for the most part, although I'm sure the Mods are doing the best they can for being a minority in such a vast membership. I also see many, many T&C violations that "slide" that formerly would not have. I think the answer could be more Mods, but being as it is a stressful, thankless position I doubt many qualified applicants are "knocking down the door" asking for the job.

I am hoping this trend is a temporary fad and not something that will stick permanently, but I'm afraid it just might.

reply to post by TheLieWeLive


I know how you feel. Yesterday seemed like a solid wall of those kinds of threads. I tried to participate in a few of them with comments on please tell us more. After a couple of not pleasant experiences, I decided to no longer waste my time on them. If the front page fills with a bunch of threads with a few people *tweeting* replies to each other in them, that's not my cup of tea.

Des

reply to post by TheLieWeLive

Originally posted by TheLieWeLive

Maybe that's the answer. If ATS could make it so each thread has to have so many characters to post instead of the two line minimum. Do the reverse of Twitter and Facebook. Make it a 100 words or more for example.

If you don't have enough characters in your OP then you can't click on 'post' or 'reply' until you do. Also make it to were emoticons or spacing doesn't count as a character.

Personally, I don't think that is a plausible solution. Most of the time, that would just make for more OP's being filled up with more random nonsense, instead of useful info.

It all depends on what the topic actually is. It is possible to say something important and meaningful, with just a few words.

reply to post by lacrimaererum

Originally posted by lacrimaererum

There is rules for making threads.

Mods don't enforce them anymore.

This site is all about the visitor numbers and advertising. Money , money, money.

The rules have been thrown in the bin along with the quality.

The 'Alert' button can be found in a couple of locations. It is there for a reason. Mod's cannot immediately read everything as soon as it is posted. If you feel that they have missed something, then help them out.

reply to post by Destinyone


"Brevity is the soul of wit".
-William Shakespeare

Well said, ma'am. I too have fallen prey to the minimum word issue on occasion. Although, in my defense, I just try to get to the point using the fewest words possible. I write how I speak and I ain't a "wordy" guy.

Although the minimum word posts (with obligatory youtube link) have become predominant and somewhat annoying.

S&F for your first rant!

reply to post by BrokenCircles


the mods have been letting the 2line threads with a link go for months now.

its now the norm for most new threads.

alerts about them are ignored.

reply to post by beezzer


Thanks Beez. Though there is good to be said for brevity sometimes. *Look what I found on youtube, whatcha think*, doesn't cut it for me. I've never found any thread you've started to be lacking in that quality, that makes one want more...you just know it's going to be a good one.

You probably want some cookies about now, don't you....

Des

Originally posted by Destinyone


You probably want some cookies about now, don't you....

Des

Well, since YOU brought it up. . . . .

(2nd line)

reply to post by Destinyone

I agree its the age of the ego where a person feels their opinion is ample and no room for debate.you'd think people would reject the approach of being so arrogant and learn to listen and engage with confidence. But no, its a pseudo discussion.

Originally posted by lacrimaererum
reply to post by BrokenCircles

 

the mods have been letting the 2line threads with a link go for months now.

its now the norm for most new threads.

alerts about them are ignored.

I can't blame it all on the Mods. Look how many of us there are, so few of them. It's not a paid position either.

But, I do miss the threads that at least had a snippet from the link embedded in the OP. Now, it seems just links are posted, with no explanation of what I'm supposed to click on. Not saying all new threads are this way, just a lot of them.

Now, I'm even seeing one line OPs with no links at all....if asked what they are talking about. They get all bent out of shape. I've decided to not tread on such shallow ground anymore.

Des