The reason I stopped posting on ATS

a reply to: daaskapital

Last year, you made a thread about Putin disappearing in Russia.

I loved that thread! I didn't participate much, but was 'refreshing' wildly. People were madly speculating about it, and it was fun.

originally posted by: DOCHOLIDAZE1
a reply to: anxietydisorder

ats is a cia operation, i just come here for news now, i did like ats as well, now its just sad

I heard they were CIA, too, and it was a bit disturbing at first.

But then I thought: If they're on here sodding about with us then it keeps them out of mischief elsewhere.

I come here to help keep them occupied - simply as a public service, you know?

a reply to: berenike

Wow, is that old chestnut still floating around? That is sad.

You guys need to turn in your Internet Investigator cards.

a reply to: berenike

I heard they were CIA, too, and it was a bit disturbing at first. But then I thought: If they're on here sodding about with us then it keeps them out of mischief elsewhere. I come here to help keep them occupied - simply as a public service, you know?

So that's the reason you never sleep

Boo pikachu

originally posted by: ladyinwaiting
a reply to: daaskapital

Last year, you made a thread about Putin disappearing in Russia.

I loved that thread! I didn't participate much, but was 'refreshing' wildly. People were madly speculating about it, and it was fun.

That thread is the epitome of what's wrong with ATS.

The thread was a mess. People were carelessly speculating about the topic, the staff was more than willing to capitalise on it by stirring the pot and posting countless clickbait content about it on social media. Members who were careful not to take rumours at face value were attacked and told to shut up by members and staff alike. It was terrible.

It wasn't reflective of how ATS used to be when breaking news stories were happening. Members used to come together and do research. Actually look into things. Granted, that still happens to a certain extent, but a significant proportion of that thread, and many subsequent ones, involves wild speculation and hostile interactions.

That is what i mean when i say ATS has decreased in quality.

The threads are poorer.

The decorum is poorer.

The moderation is poorer.

I don't say this to slight the website, as i do wish the best for it. I'm just telling it like it is.

originally posted by: Kampf
a reply to: berenike


So that's the reason you never sleep

Boo pikachu

That's 'Bot Pikachu' when you're addressing me... Dang it, cover blown

originally posted by: daaskapital
I'm just telling it like it is.

You're telling it as you see it.

originally posted by: yeahright

originally posted by: daaskapital
I'm just telling it like it is.

You're telling it as you see it.

Is that not what we all do though?

I swear at one point I was aghast that everyone on ATS did not agree with my views and was convinced that it was a set up.

I spent some time googling it and it turns out to be rather disappointing.

A bloke and some other blokes set up a web forum and it got popular, some people got banned and made some wild claims, it periodically changed and some people were against the changes and moaned or left. New people joined and stayed others left.

It really is something of a disappointment that it is just a web forum and people talk about stuff.

To anyone complaining it's not your ATS or mine. It's just a place to talk about stuff and agree or disagree with strangers.

And to talk about bacon, the only thing that we all agree on. Other than veggies that is, those guys are just plain wrong.

originally posted by: yeahright

originally posted by: daaskapital
I'm just telling it like it is.

You're telling it as you see it.

It's the truth.

We don't see many threads of quality anymore. We see a poorer standard of decorum (how many times does the staff have to raise attention to the lack of standards members currently have?). We see inconsistent moderation and enforceability of the terms and conditions (understanding that you guys have a tough job and rely a lot on members to help alert posts).

Granted, these things have the capacity to change, and they often do. It's just that ATS used to excel in the quality of threads, maintaining a great level of decorum and wielding a very good moderation team. Currently, that's lacking. Go back through that Putin thread, and you will find a good example of the above. Go back through a lot of the threads in the last couple of years and you will see a good example of the above.

It must be exhausting expecting everything in life to be as you think it should be.
This is someone's else site, they set the t and c.... use or lose it...

*shrugs* I don't even know what the hell anyone is on about in this thread anymore and what they think they are even demanding.

Its a website MADE UP MEMBER CONTENT, not mod content, not 3 amigo content, but ATS IS A MIRROR REFLECTION OF YOURSELVES.

I think the place sucks at times, and I enjoy at others, I certainly am not ridiculous to think the reason for that is anything other than ALL OF YOU POSTING in this very thread, its your content that makes me enjoy or hate it.

I'll say it again, The T and C have not changed....the membership and their content is what changed...

originally posted by: daaskapital

originally posted by: yeahright

originally posted by: daaskapital
I'm just telling it like it is.

You're telling it as you see it.

It's the truth.

We don't see many threads of quality anymore. We see a poorer standard of decorum (how many times does the staff have to raise attention to the lack of standards members currently have?). We see inconsistent moderation and enforceability of the terms and conditions (understanding that you guys have a tough job and rely a lot on members to help alert posts).

Granted, these things have the capacity to change, and they often do. It's just that ATS used to excel in the quality of threads, maintaining a great level of decorum and wielding a very good moderation team. Currently, that's lacking. Go back through that Putin thread, and you will find a good example of the above. Go back through a lot of the threads in the last couple of years and you will see a good example of the above.

I think I said this somewhere earlier but what are we supposed to write quality threads about these days?

What conspiracies can we still discuss in your opinion.

Everything is already done and any attempt to discuss most topics is degraded by the so called experts of Ats as they have seen it all before.

Without wanting to look like teachers pet SO's post about forum fatigue pretty much nailed it.

There are no more conspiracies and that is why ATS has adapted.

originally posted by: zazzafrazz
It must be exhausting expecting everything in life to be as you think it should be.
This is someone's else site, they set the t and c.... use or lose it...

*shrugs* I don't even know what the hell anyone is on about in this thread anymore and what they think they are even demanding.

Its a website MADE UP MEMBER CONTENT, not mod content, not 3 amigo content, but ATS IS A MIRROR REFLECTION OF YOURSELVES.

I think the place sucks at times, and I enjoy at others, I certainly am not ridiculous to think the reason for that is anything other than ALL OF YOU POSTING in this very thread, its your content that makes me enjoy or hate it.

I'll say it again, The T and C have not changed....the membership and their content is what changed...

Ha! 8 years as a member and over 10,000 posts and you think you can comment on this?

What would you know about it eh?

a reply to: anxietydisorder

If Sandy Hook is not permitted on this site for questioning something is very wrong with this site... You can speculate what (real) reasons that can be... not good.. ATS can not take itself serious when the more serious and sensitive questions are not allowed to be asked.

not good...

10 pages and still going...

Doesn't look like anyone has "stop posting".

a reply to: zatara seems I've read the reason for this in more than one post by ATS owner or Moderator.
People started posting personal information about and accusing individual citizens of things.

originally posted by: NihilistSanta
a reply to: zazzafrazz

Well than that means the problem is a group of mods then. That doesn't really do much to change the perceptions of the people in this thread. Like I said before the other day there was a window of 4 or more hours where no threads were posted. May have been longer. I was also viewing another site that had a plethora of new relevant content. The really sad part is I wouldn't mind cross posting except who wants to put forth the effort here when the "group" of mods you mention will remove it due to personal bias.

I will give an example. On other forums there is a lot of information going around pertaining to alleged homosexuality of Marco Rubio. Don't see much of that getting posted here. I wonder why? Because there is a soft censorship over such topics. They might not come out and state it but a certain clique is waiting in the wings to shut down anything critical of their lifestyle.

I used to think the whole "decorum" thing here at ATS was great and I do still in some ways but that is just a vague excuse for censorship. The other site I was on has an abundance of trolls but because of their rating system their threads get ignored. If people post immature crap , profanity, etc its quite amazing. The site doesn't grind to a halt and descend into anarchy. Instead the adults don't feed the trolls so to speak. As a matter of fact the the pretentiousness of the posters here gets a bit nauseating at times and as I stated before the system in place here for stars and flags is definitely feeding that problem. A bunch of the "usual suspects" that people are complaining about are only there for the stars and flags. They think they are getting some sort of validation while they take a subject way off topic into their personal pissing contest.

This is the first Iv'e heard this Rubios story and I would consider that an interesting thread!... I wish I could read it here, instead of some place else,because this is an environment where you can read through the comments and see different points of view, posted by intelligent, informed people. I don't even see how just saying someone is homosexual is "gay bashing". Is he being called insulting gay names? No, I didn't realize homosexual was a bad word. That is what's wrong with this site (still a great site, and a free one- thank you!) but, the PC police here have biased opinions on what's offensive, based on their political point of view. I had a thread deleted the other day with the term "low brow liberals" in it. Was told it was moved to the trash bin thread for being offensive. I questioned that, and was then told it was just in the wrong forum, belonged in Political mud slinging, so I reposted there and removed the liberal comment, just to be safe. I have seen way worse than that around here, and it's usually fine, even one of the mods themselves posting a thread saying everyone who believed different then them about Syrian refugees is stupid! I'm sure some of us remember that. When did we all turn into a bunch of overly PC cry babies? I get it if a derogatory race or sexual orientation phrase, or profanity is used, it should be removed.

Edit: it should be added that manning this site seems like a big, sometimes stressful job. Having to pour over every new post quickly enough to catch it when people say really awful things about pro genocide, cussing people out, etc, and if you do t act quickly enough about removing something, people will be complaining. It's probably like serving a huge meal to thousands of people everyday, so we can say "mines too hot! Mines too cold!" lol

originally posted by: zatara
a reply to: anxietydisorder

If Sandy Hook is not permitted on this site for questioning something is very wrong with this site... You can speculate what (real) reasons that can be... not good.. ATS can not take itself serious when the more serious and sensitive questions are not allowed to be asked.

not good...

There are loads of threads and announcements as to why SH was stopped here.

There are many places that you can talk about it until your arms fall off.

Read the whole thread or have a search about it, personally I think it should have been allowed but some people could not stick to the guide lines and it was easier to stop the whole thing.

a reply to: nonspecific

Okay.... If some ats members behave like little children I can understand why. But then again, it is such a serious crime that an other option could have been banning those members who are not capable to behave like normal people would. Can you imagine closing threads about JFK, Roswell or some other significant event in history because of some children calling eachother names?

Not good

I've been here for several weeks and boy have things changed during that time.

On a serious note, I can see why someone would be pissed and take action if names, addresses, photos, google map info were posted. Who the hell does that ? That's bad, any time, any place. Too many sick, angry individuals on the net, very bad form.

Also, Sandy Hook has created a lot of terrible feelings and unseemly convo. Nobody should be harassing and accusing parents who've lost babies. That's the lowest of the low. Any site worth its salt would stop that in its tracks. Nobody cares if anyone thinks it didn't happen; that claim doesn't trump grieving parents' rights to be left alone.

One thing I do find annoying is a seemingly coordinated effort to troll and bait and PM each other to strategize, and complain to mods to get favorable action against those with unliked opinions. That's a bit annoying. But probably fairly typical across the internet.

a reply to: zatara

It's not children calling each other names. It's about intrusion into the personal lives of grieving people and the posting of information not readily available to the general public.

Imagine you're going through the most horrible thing imaginable. Some group of Internet forum 'investigators' decides you need to be scrutinized and starts publishing personal contact info and personal opinions about your private life. How would you feel? We're talking about private people dragged into public awareness by a horrific event.

We're not going to provide a platform for that, condone it, or permit it here. People can and will hold whatever opinions they want about that policy, but it's not happening here. That's been the primary reason for demise of the Sandy Hook threads. There are still threads here and open about that tragedy. But they'll be closed down as well, if they head down that road.