OP/ED: Dark Days. (The black band on ATS)

Bickering with puppets while raging at their masters suits me just fine.

ive been here for nearly two years, this is the only period where debates have got to the point where i will not view P@ATS. I only post under UK politics cause we tend not to argue in there. From the start, i knew P@ATS would become heated and of course it would, but its going too far now. P@ATS has the potential to attract political trolls, we saw that during the US election and think what we'll get during the UK election....

dark days indeed.

Just remember, we all enjoy ATS.....do not destory it

Yes infinite, I have noticed the same thing. I have been posted for around a year now and have been visiting ATS since well before 9/11. To tell you the truth it was Amantine and people like him who originally drew me to start posting on ATS in the first place. But those days seem like a distant memory now

Ignorance Denied seems more like the old ATS then ATS does right now. I believe the reason is due to alot of older ATS posters are now investing thier efforts in that board so I think another problem is we have a case of "Brain Drain"

What can we do about it though. Popularity is a curse.

[edit on 17-3-2005 by sardion2000]

No one can MAKE you believe, feel or do anything. It is you that allow yourself to be manipulated. You are the one in control. The problem is in believing that you are not. The problem is not taking responsibility for one's self and we ALL do it from time to time.

"You upset me!"

"I had to do it!"

"I didn't have a choice!"

It is times like this that you are giving power over to an outside force. It may be by blindly following traditions, norms and rules or by allowing someone to have an affect on your emotions or by simply believing second-hand information without question.

You are a commodity. Corporations want your money, governments want your obediance and religions want your subjigation. In order to achieve this do you truely believe that they would not seek to control you through deception as well as all other means at their disposal?

However, they do not have the power unless YOU allow them to have it by believing that you have to do anything, that anyone makes you feel anything. The only thing that one has to do in life is deal, in one way or another, with the consequences of one's actions. BUT this is not a prerequsite to making those choices and thus not a control factor unless the individual allows it to be by modifying their actions in order to achieve a subsequencial outcome.

It is you that are in control by choosing/allowing who or what influences or does not influence you.

i only stick to certain sections now and only reply to post cause it seems ATS has got "too big". Cause we are growing so fast, we need more moderators and i know SO doesnt want to turn this into a police board but sometimes, more security is needed to keep the peace

Bit melodramatic, isn't it?

Originally posted by DeltaNine
Bit melodramatic, isn't it?

what do you mean?
explain..

I don't think it's melodramatic...

If I was an Administrator, I would have slapped a big freakin' graphic on the header; a pair of partisan weenies being roasted over flames labeled truth.

We live in the information age, and yet so many people remain tragically misinformed.

Ignorance is a disease, and knowledge is the cure.

You know how children are though..they hate taking their medicine.

Originally posted by infinite

Originally posted by DeltaNine
Bit melodramatic, isn't it?

what do you mean?
explain..

Well the only thing missing was SO rising through the stage with dry ice swirllling around him.

Originally posted by infinite
i only stick to certain sections now and only reply to post cause it seems ATS has got "too big".

I am going to have to agree with you here. I was attempting to keep up with everything for a few months until I accepted that I just did not have enough time in the day to monitor ATS, BTS, ID, ATSNN and PTS with all my other internet priorities. Don't get me wrong as I am glad things have been departmentalized more efficently. However, I also do not like that I know I will be missing things by not keeping up with them all.

Let me get this straight, you guys set up a site that encourages debate and discussion, then get bent out of shape when you find that the membership is polarized? LOL

Originally posted by twitchy
Let me get this straight, you guys set up a site that encourages debate and discussion, then get bent out of shape when you find that the membership is polarized? LOL

It's not just polarization. It is it's ugly cousin polarized trolling. That is what we are complaining about. Disagreements will always be apart of ATS, it's just the nature of this community but there is something called etiquette, which seems to have gone on the backburner these days.

[edit on 17-3-2005 by sardion2000]

i have to agree. This is to do with political trolling. I still feel that each board should have different mods, ATS has a set, BTS has a set, etc, this would cut down the work load and there would be more mods around

I have to say, I dont think anything has changed, besides the growing of ATS.

I dont care what group of 5000 people you put together, they are goiging to disagree, then when you add in the fact that some just will not be happy unless they are fighting.

There are going to be fanatics where ever you go, and those people make it hard to get along with eveyone else.

Something I have found with fanatics is that, most the time they are hiding something that is really eating at them inside.

We are all human (well most of us) we all can be subject to the same faults and emotions. Maybe if we try to really understand where a person is coming from instead of fighting, just to fight.

The sad part is, if people are tring to secretly and covertly change people. I say be open, put it on the table, but we are human and fear is a strong emotion.

People just want to be apart of something, they have one of three choises, Left, Right, or in the Middle. It is what it is.

I love ATS!!

We are all like-minded, (in some way), if we come to this site anyway!!!

We want proof of different dimensions, but you can be living in the same time, and in the same town , and your life experience may be totally different!!!

We all want the truth, that's why we are here.
Sometime the truth hurts.

Love and Light to all!!!

Originally posted by SpittinCobra
I have to say, I dont think anything has changed, besides the growing of ATS.

I dont care what group of 5000 people you put together, they are goiging to disagree, then when you add in the fact that some just will not be happy unless they are fighting.

There are going to be fanatics where ever you go, and those people make it hard to get along with eveyone else.

Something I have found with fanatics is that, most the time they are hiding something that is really eating at them inside.

We are all human (well most of us) we all can be subject to the same faults and emotions. Maybe if we try to really understand where a person is coming from instead of fighting, just to fight.

The sad part is, if people are tring to secretly and covertly change people. I say be open, put it on the table, but we are human and fear is a strong emotion.

People just want to be apart of something, they have one of three choises, Left, Right, or in the Middle. It is what it is.

Very well said the Cobra.....very well said...............

It all about perspective, we don't always agree but I repect your opinion and admire your "candor".

Originally posted by National Security Agency
If ATS didn't have politics than a lot of people wouldn't visit thus rendering the owner of ATS not raking in profits from the tons of ads all over ATS.

You're funny... We've put the ads on to keep the website running. If not, we would have had to stay small and the site would be still on our old server. The ads are to cover costs. Simon is not making a fortune on this website.

I don't think the problem is the discussion, debates or arguments that we have over various topics that is the problem. The problem stems from members and you know who you are, who consistently use words like "left winged liberals" and "right wing neocons". Stop with the damn labeling of people and we can argue all day and night and might actually get somewhere in these discussions instead of fighting and bickering that usually happens after the name calling starts.

Labelling people in general is the problem, you have to understand that members here are too intelligent and complex to be categorized as any one thing. Ex. when it comes to immigration, I am as "conservative" as it gets but bring up abortion and some would say I am "liberal". You may want to classify a person's opinion as belonging to a certain category of idealogy, but it isn't, it is that person's own ideology and as with me, my opinions vary upon the subject matter and I consider myself as someone in the middle being forced to pick a side, neither of which I belong to.



[edit on 3-17-2005 by worldwatcher]

Originally posted by worldwatcher
Stop with the damn labeling of people and we can argue all day and night and might actually get somewhere in these discussions instead of fighting and bickering that usually happens after the name calling starts.

Very well said! The minute name calling starts....reason goes out the window! When the name calling starts...the other party is immediately put on the defensive and any progress that could of happened through discussion, any understanding of the other side....is gone!

Well said WW. Another thing that is happening is posturing. It isn't a crime to see another point of view. Lately though it seems that admitting to another point is seen as a defeat. Very sad.