If Your Stars and Flags Were Identified....

If there was a way to find out who stars and flags certain threads, would you be more careful?

There are some threads that get stars and flags that are lets say "offensive, ludicrous, etc,." would you be more reluctant to add them? I think this is a question that we can all have an answer for.

Peace, NRE,

Usually I wouldn't care. This is just another internet-forum I post on, my opinions are expressed in my postings and even if you would find them "not nice", that doesn't matter much to me - nothing personally, it goes out to all readers.

I have been wondering the same thing. But I was thinking of the N s A. Can they tell who is giving stars and flags?

I think I would like if I could see who stared what.
People should be willing to stand by their actions, especially when all you have to represent is an alias. I mean, isn't that the whole point of having these accounts.

Also I think it would make many of the debates more transparent and easier to understand/follow.
Generally I think there are a lot of things that could be improved on the forum.

Instead of having linear threads, they could be more like discussion trees. So instead of a reply being put at the bottom it will be added on the side of the message it replies to. So that the main thread line is always directly related to the OP.
I personally find it annoying when a thread reaches above 4 or 5 pages. It becomes hard to keep track of it all

I like stars I like flags.
I also like many other things.
Life should be free.

Originally posted by NoRegretsEver
If there was a way to find out who stars and flags certain threads, would you be more careful?

There are some threads that get stars and flags that are lets say "offensive, ludicrous, etc,." would you be more reluctant to add them? I think this is a question that we can all have an answer for.

Peace, NRE,

You mean there isn't a secret order of the aboves, sitting in dark rooms lit by a single incandescent bulb hung low from the ceiling, who, with pencil in hand, tick off each members stars and flags for the day, accruing the totals and checking the balances?

All the naughty posters and their abhorrent allegiences on the left side, and the good posters and their cognitively adept kin on the right... the middle column left for those who seem to never know, even themselves, what they're doing?

Ahha.. think about it this way. If it's a statistic on the internet, SOMEONE has it. Somewhere it lives.

If you can count it, you can monetize it. You can count on that!

I don't really give a damn about flags and stars, it's more about sharing knowledge and interests. I think the F and S's are for the younger element on ATS, to try and achieve the biggest amount that they can

Originally posted by Magister
I have been wondering the same thing. But I was thinking of the N s A. Can they tell who is giving stars and flags?

Yes.

Sometimes a person will say "I starred and flagged you for that!" - the NSA would know who they were

Apart from that and unless ats do keep that info stored (if you can unflag a thread, they know who you are when you flag it, I'd say it's the same for stars) then I don't think they have the required access to the servers.

Or it could be captured from the url, if there is a third party involved, that catches the &addstar=1 and the &flagit parameters.. so very pointless tho !

Originally posted by Mads1987
Instead of having linear threads, they could be more like discussion trees. So instead of a reply being put at the bottom it will be added on the side of the message it replies to. So that the main thread line is always directly related to the OP.
I personally find it annoying when a thread reaches above 4 or 5 pages. It becomes hard to keep track of it all

Nested quoting. Much easier to follow a conversation and add to it, but it also leads to convoluted topics, and in a linear form they're hard enough to keep on topic from a moderator view point. I assume, persoinally I wish it was nested.

It reminds me of so long ago in usenet, when .. netscape navigator had a usenet reader built in, and it took me forever to work out how to turn on nested replies with conversations. it was so confusing in one long unending list of post after post, but when put in order, and in proximity to relevant posts, your reply didn't suddenly seem to be out of the blue! it was LOGICAL!

imdb do it. but they don't even care if I post on there in reply to someone who left a "Is he gay?" post in 2001. it's funny to time travel to old posts...

Originally posted by AthlonSavage
I like stars I like flags.
I also like many other things.
Life should be free.

I didn't pay for mine. Maybe that's why I got this crappy one. Bah!

No matter how much I wash it either, the stain wont come out.

Oo

i think it would be good to see who flags certain threads.
in the ufo forum you see video's posted that are obviously fake, yet within 10 minutes they have 3,4,5 flags already. i always think 'who the hell gave this crap a flag?' people seem to flag them just for the sake of it.
so maybe if there was a list of who flagged the thread, people might think twice about giving absolute garbage a nice juicy flag. maybe if members were given a certain amount of flags a day, or week. then they might be more careful and give them to a deserving thread.

Originally posted by NoRegretsEver
If there was a way to find out who stars and flags certain threads, would you be more careful?

There are some threads that get stars and flags that are lets say "offensive, ludicrous, etc,." would you be more reluctant to add them? I think this is a question that we can all have an answer for.

Peace, NRE,

It's obvious that the system records who stars and flags what, in that you can't star someone twice. So there is a way to find out. I'm not ashamed of what and who I've starred. I star and flag stuff all the time I don't agree with for various reasons. If they can build a profile from my s&f habits, more power to them.

So no. It wouldn't change my habits.

The technical answer is: It would be possible to tell who flagged a thread because you have the ability to take the flag off. That means it has to be tied somehow to your account. Stars may not be traceable as they cannot be removed after they are given. Who knows if they can change that or not? As a practical matter, it would take a certain amount of development work to provide the ability for anyone to get a list of even those who flag threads. My guess is it's not very high on the list of important things to do. What would you do with that information of you had it? How would this enhance your ATS experience?

Over the years the entire rewards/awards system at ATS has trended away from complexity toward simplicity. Things used to be much more "involved" than they are today. I would expect that trend to continue. We're about to get a new interface. It will be interesting to see what is different.