PLEASE PLAY NICE (STAFF ALERT)

Originally posted by DISRAELI

Originally posted by MagnumOpus
.. then it is time to just take it totally off the ATS theme areas... or close the entire area for all time and get out of that discussion business

This was the part I was answering.

One should take note of the whole, and it tells specifically that if the ATS staff is not going to control the problems then ATS needs to just get out of the business of hosting religion and theology discussions. That means no one gets to post religion and theogy themes, and ATS is out of that business.

Which is consistent with supporting there is a problem, one so serious that is allows the organized religion types to force their theme on everyone via this flooding method of themes.

ATS will either recognize they need to deal with the issue of this happening, or they'll be known for condoning it happening and ATS will gain the reputation as an evagelical paradise where the higher truth is allowed to be suppressed and they didn't live up to the deny ignorance theme because the allow such passive aggressive tactics by the organized religion types.

If ATS moderators can't get together and make a joint decision to stick to their theme topic rules that support discussion areas where themes can be developed without the flooding games that derail themes and drive away readers due to the pages and pages of off-topic nonsense, then ATS is going to become basically evangelical by design and staff support for that happening.

ATS then won't be known for having an environment where the issues of religion that are faked up can be discussed by staying on topic and enforcing the off-topic interference problems that ATS staff recognizes but appears not able to deal with effectively or logically.


Just to be very blunt and to the point, we have all noticed the ATS ads that present religion and theology degrees and it appears ATS is for sale to some extent and the reason for ATS's shift to catering to the envagelicals and allowing this off-topic banter to interfere with topic discussions via off-topic and flooding games appears to be money from advertisers. Now, we all get to see if money is going to be the corrupter of ATS into becoming bought with advertising dollars by the evangelicals.

I think the issue is ATS is beginning to speak out of both sides of their mouth too much, as one can't deny ignorance and at the same time promote ignorace via ads that likely pay them to promote ignorance via support for organized religion.

Everyone needs to pay attention to the ads at the top of the ATS pages on religion and theology, and we might find where the ATS problems lie.

I starred your posts, MagnumOpus, very well said. This is a major problem in ATS. The Organized Religious people are adamant about posting their particular messages, over and over again, sometimes actually verbatim.
I have seen whole pages of Bible quotes, and if one looks, you can find the same quotes several times over. I have also noticed a fair amount of plagiarism from the religious people, copy and pastes from Christian websites is still plagiarism. Some have not thing one that could be considered original thought, and this is sad, really, and not what ATS is about. Are we not about the complete denial of ignorance, in any and all forms? ATS is well known for it's vast exposure of UFO/Alien/ET evidence, photos, and videos. We have new people every day that have seen something, or witnessed something not of this world. People are seeing Ghosts. But posting what you saw and experienced, just to be told again and again that it is all demons, and one quickly turns away. Being told that one is on drugs, or is possessed by demons because they are not Christian is insulting at the least, and crazy at the most.

So, where does it end, and how to police this? I would say a rule about staying on topic, and enforcement of that rule would certainly help. Also a rule about personal insults and name calling. And labeling everything you don't like, or agree with as "Demons." There was even a rant about that a few days ago. I think a lot of bandwidth could be saved is religious types were instructed to post only the book and verse numbers for what they think the Bible says on the subject, instead of the entire quote again and again, over and over. Also respect for other religions should be enforced. Now I myself am all about exposing the lies of the Bible and Christianity, but what I post is research and documentation proving my point, not wild speculation and theory. If it is theory, I begin with a statement of that. Christians should follow suit. Instead I see people posting events that happened 2000 years ago as solid fact, some even talk like they were there in first person. It is impossible to know exactly what happened that far back, in any case. So "facts" are basically out of the question, all is speculation. Nobody know what Jesus said, because there is nobody alive that heard him. I will stop now, this is sounding like a rant, and that was not my intent. But! this does need to be addressed.

reply to post by MagnumOpus


I could not read past your first paragraph.
1.ATS is the best run board on the net.
2.We have the best mods' and staff and they do their very best.
3.Discussion of religion and politics always causes tempers to
flare,dissension among families,countries and debate forums.
Bottomline...you don't like it,leave it alone or do something to
improve it.

reply to post by MagnumOpus

if the ATS staff is not going to control the problems then ATS needs to just get out of the business of hosting religion and theology discussions.

I'm going to say this once and once only... there will be no extended debate between us.

ATS staff is volunteer and unpaid. We do what we do for one simple reason: to help out. Who are you to tell us that we should stop anything?

Did you help create ATS? Work on attracting members, making the finances work, assembling the database, developing the site layout?

Do you spend time you would rather be doing something else checking into complaints?

Do you forgo discussions because there are other things that need attention?

Do you spend hours pouring over code just to add a little functionality?

Do you even let us know, using a complaint procedure that was put in place so members like you could contribute, when something happens that needs our attention?

No

Instead you ignore the functionality that was placed into ATS for your benefit in order to publicly make a spectacle.

Instead you berate us for doing what you either will not or can not do.

Instead you make blanket accusations without the slightest idea of what is actually going on outside your narrow field of vision.

I make a formal apology... normally I would not even bother to reply to something like this. But today I cannot hold my tongue while the most dedicated, diverse, respectful, and intelligent group of individuals I have ever had the honor to be associated with is demeaned such.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have a very ill stepfather lying in a hospital bed I need to visit, household shopping to do, a yard to get cut, computers to repair (yes, I have to make a living too), fencing to fix, a wall to repair, a truck that has been needing fixed for a year, projects to work on, and several small things I need to do for various other organizations... all while bending to your demands? I think not. I hope your demands are capable of waiting until I accomplish those other obligations.

If not, then too bad. You'll have to get in line like everyone else.

TheRedneck

Greetings RedNeck,

From one RedNeck to another, Thanks for all your free contributions to ATS. Commendable.

I stand falsely accused per not hitting the Alert Button to tell there was a building problem with persons acting as parasites to the theme and getting off-topic to literally flood the theme and drown out on-topic postings with parasitic posting noise that anyone following the real theme would not want to read.

I not only politely asked the offenders to get back on topic, I also hit the Alert thing that you speak of a number of times to tell that I needed a little help and NOTHING happened. So, I don't think that I am to be soly blamed here. This problem has been recurrent and is a passive aggressive method to add parasitic comments to drive readers away, as they incorrectly redefine the ATS on-topic theme to mean anything with religion fits on any theme. There are a few trouble makers that sought to redefine the ATS rules.

I hope you and the other ATS moderators take note that I did not seek to become obnoxius and load down the ALERT method with every time this has occured, else you would have hundreds of ALERTS for this problem. I considered that a well run system would come and look, as you did of recent, and lay down the rules and get the theme back on topic. It appears that it took more than hitting the ALERT button to get that attention and solve the problems.

This problem was alerted to the staff a number of times and had someone came with the fire extingusiher to put out a trash can fire, it would not have been needed to pull the general fire alarm because the building became involved in a neglected fire, as an analogy.

Let me say thanks for doing what was needed, and do keep in mind that this has been a tactic used by some of the overboard organized religion types to flood a theme to run people off.

It appears they have no intentions to start threads of their own to speak to the issues they find relevent, as they tend to do these parasitic ride along on other's threads to evangelize and run those of different beliefs than theirs off. It generally runs into all kinds of Bible Citations off the theme's topic and parasitic banter not related to the subject of a thread. I find it quite malicious of intention. imho

ATS is a really good forum area and on other topics, with less zealous sensitivity, things work really well, but as your pinned notices at the top of the religion and theology area explain there are few that cause problems with name calling and not following well placed ATS rules to staying on the topic. They don't seem to value those rules that are intended to restrict the commentary and keep to the topic to keep down the forums bandwidth and resource uses to the most efficient.

So, allow me to say thanks for coming to deal with the issue and straighing these overbearing persons out a good bit, so that my themes and really others won't be trashed by these disrespectful tactics.

I value my time also, and have many other things to do also, so I like my valuable time spent on ATS to not be trashed by these inappropriate methods. I sympathize you are busy, as we all are, but time spent to fix this issue makes ATS all the better.

Where would I find the bits about Scientology around these parts? Any links will help.

reply to post by TheToastmanCometh


Try this link.

UK Wizard
BTS is a nice place, take my word for it...and we all want to keep it a nice place.

However...there is one part of BTS that's been causing some problems, yes that's right its the Faith, Spirituality & Theology section.

Section Description

Discuss all things spiritual and share your own faith-based experiences.

No where in there does it say bash each others religion with reckless abandon, nor does it say spew out hate.
This section of BTS is, in the words of The Vagabond ''one of those personal things people might want to chat about.''
In other words this is a nice section for people to share personal religious events, experiences and such like.

If you want to talk about Religion relating to politics please visit Religion in Government Issues on PTS.

Discuss the issues related to the increased involvement of religion in politics in the U.S. as compared to other countries.

If you want to talk about Religious Conspiracies please visit Conspiracies in Religions on ATS.

Discussion of conspiracies and scandals in organized religions, or conspiracies influenced by religion.

And if you want to discuss Origins and Creationism please visit Origins and Creationism Conspiracy on ATS.

Creationism and other non-scientific origin concepts.

A brilliant thread that is perfectly suited to the Faith, Spirituality & Theology section is JJ's Story, this is the type of content we should be seeing in here.

You will play nice from now on…

edit on 1/3/2011 by kinglizard because: (no reason given)

Then you need to talk to wildtimes. This person is not only rude but very hateful.

The sad thing is, there is SO MUCH HATE in this world, how is it possible for respect to exist? I have agreed with some things that even atheists have said, but it took A LOT for them to respect me or even defend me, because of how hateful many of them are toward those who chose to believe in a god. They will look down on people as 'inferior' to them. As though they have moved up the chain of "evolution." Well, if that is what they consider "evolved," then I want no part of it. But then again, "christians" (with a lower case 'c') are not much better. Like the Pharisees of Jesus' time, they all have their own "doctrines" and anybody who disagrees with their doctrines become outcasts and alone (For 'christians' out there, you can find fine examples of that in the Acts of the Apostles... along with pretty much EVERYWHERE ELSE in the Bible). When you really think about it, it is quite selfish. Words are twisted on all ends to accommodate a persons own perceptions, no matter what "The Law" of Moses was. Even for most Christians, sin is 'circumstantial.' Nobody has to agree with another person, but "Protestants" (notice the root word, 'protest') can not handle or deal with the idea that others have different opinions or ideas. And here's the kicker... you know you are a "Protestant" when you can't handle another's opinion. A TRUE Christian, will say the TRUTH (that means not twisting it by adding your doctrines to accommodate your beliefs; i.e. the Rapture... uh oh... I sense "protesting") without making the words change to accommodate themselves, and if the TRUTH is not received, then WHY BOTHER; but most prefer 'ear tickling' over truth. Will there ever be peace in discussions involving religion? No! Absolutely not! With the combination of atheists, "Protestants," and hate, you've got a nasty cocktail on your hands! IMAGINE THAT?!

reply to post by UK Wizard


Maybe not bash but more correct. Everyone is entitled to there own beliefs whether right or wrong. In my opinion religion is a bunch of ******** used to indoctrinate. Just my 2 cents.

GroidNificent
reply to post by UK Wizard

 

Maybe not bash but more correct. Everyone is entitled to there own beliefs whether right or wrong. In my opinion religion is a bunch of ******** used to indoctrinate. Just my 2 cents.

And that's part of the problem the OP was trying to address.

While you say it is your opinion, it still is baited. And you posted your baited opinion in a thread that just told you not to post your baited opinion but rather recognize the need to play nice, which is the OPs position.

I could make a rebuttal statement, but not on this thread, because this thread wasn't designed for that. And see how you cleverly bashed religion? Nice try. But we are playing nice.

mamabeth
reply to post by MagnumOpus

 

I could not read past your first paragraph.
1.ATS is the best run board on the net.
2.We have the best mods' and staff and they do their very best.
3.Discussion of religion and politics always causes tempers to
flare,dissension among families,countries and debate forums.
Bottomline...you don't like it,leave it alone or do something to
improve it.

So the FRT'ers start their threads with "JOHN 3:16 footnoted with every single bible scripture attributed to the King James Version" the Conspiracy in Religion constituants start theirs with "The Ark of the Covenant has been found finally!", the Origins and Creation subscribers with this: "Bigfoot captured finally alive; at Golgatha/Calvary hiding under a bunch of ancient skulls". These forums cross track to each other and to start editing them to narrow discussion only will lose good arguments is febrile; its the distinctions and finer of narrowing down 'mission points' between them make the disaplines together very interesting. I realize this is an old thread and the problem was dealt with, but still deserved of responding.

Okay, I only have a couple of items regarding this issue that I feel are relevant to the thread:

1. If this is the thread to discuss Religion, Spirituality and Theology and nobody who disagrees with what is being said, how long do you think the threads will be?

2. Shall we apply the same rules to other threads where we may be speaking about… say... space exploration or politics, will the staff remove all of the religious comments that blatantly not belong there?

One of the reasons that I see many here jump into this forum and disagree with things is direct blowback from non-religious threads being inundated with theological posts.

In short, will the MODS regardless of their personal opinions, meter out censorship equally?

a reply to: notmyrealname

The best thing that any member can do is:

1) Alert the post that they think is either Off Topic or causing thread drift.

2) Do NOT reply to the post you alerted.

3) Move on. After you have alerted a thread or post, it's now in the hands of ATS Staff. Staff will determine what action (if any) needs to be taken.

Keep in mind that due to the large volume of posts and threads here on ATS, Moderators can not be everywhere, nor are we able to read every post and every thread that there is. We depend upon ATS members to alert us to things.

Hi.
Having trouble with the link to JJ's Story. Goes straight to ATS homepage?

a reply to: UK Wizard

originally posted by: MagnumOpus

Originally posted by DISRAELI

This was the part I was answering.

One should take note of the whole, and it tells specifically that if the ATS staff is not going to control the problems then ATS needs to just get out of the business of hosting religion and theology discussions. That means no one gets to post religion and theogy themes, and ATS is out of that business.

Which is consistent with supporting there is a problem, one so serious that is allows the organized religion types to force their theme on everyone via this flooding method of themes.

ATS will either recognize they need to deal with the issue of this happening, or they'll be known for condoning it happening and ATS will gain the reputation as an evagelical paradise where the higher truth is allowed to be suppressed and they didn't live up to the deny ignorance theme because the allow such passive aggressive tactics by the organized religion types.

If ATS moderators can't get together and make a joint decision to stick to their theme topic rules that support discussion areas where themes can be developed without the flooding games that derail themes and drive away readers due to the pages and pages of off-topic nonsense, then ATS is going to become basically evangelical by design and staff support for that happening.

ATS then won't be known for having an environment where the issues of religion that are faked up can be discussed by staying on topic and enforcing the off-topic interference problems that ATS staff recognizes but appears not able to deal with effectively or logically.


Just to be very blunt and to the point, we have all noticed the ATS ads that present religion and theology degrees and it appears ATS is for sale to some extent and the reason for ATS's shift to catering to the envagelicals and allowing this off-topic banter to interfere with topic discussions via off-topic and flooding games appears to be money from advertisers. Now, we all get to see if money is going to be the corrupter of ATS into becoming bought with advertising dollars by the evangelicals.

I think the issue is ATS is beginning to speak out of both sides of their mouth too much, as one can't deny ignorance and at the same time promote ignorace via ads that likely pay them to promote ignorance via support for organized religion.

Everyone needs to pay attention to the ads at the top of the ATS pages on religion and theology, and we might find where the ATS problems lie.

well said.
I'd like to add that some moderators around here clearly favour the jezus side over "free thinkers".

this kind of biased moderation will, and already stopped good thinkers and writers/posters to contribute.

Discussing religion is for the religious.

Claiming you're atheist and bashing of beliefs I don't consider discussing religion.

Only God is good.