Ignorant people ruining this site

When I joined this site back in 2002 it was a much different place.

Intelligent people gathered for civil discussion on a wide variety of topics. The occasional sensationalist would post a thread that would be shot down in seconds for being ignorant and close minded.

Lately however, the number of people posting ridiculous, ignorant and often offensive threads has increased to a level that has seriously ruined my enjoyment of this site.

People like our pirate friend coming on here and making very offensive comments about Freemasons and some of the truly ridiculous posts regarding people "being in contact with Alien overlords in the center of the earth" are reducing this site to little more than a regular trashy internet forum with all of the immature postings and ridiculous stories that go with it.

I apologise to all of the level headed intelligent people that are left here, I do enjoy the more thought out and well written posts that I see between all of the nonsense.

I sincerely hope that the moderators do some more to lift the level of discussion in some of the threads I have seen in the last few months. I am referring mostly to the offensive comments made by a few members who seem intent on starting arguments in the Secret Society board through ignorant comments regarding Freemasons.

Anyway. Im done with my rant - im off to go blow up someones toilet.

[edit on 9-5-2006 by Ezekiel]

I (100%) agree with your 'rant'. I was brought to this site (back in the day) by an intelligent conspiracy theorist. He's long gone, but I remain (not sure why).

I believe this website address has been printed up (business card size) and passed around to every junior and senior high school student, in this (United States) nation.

Actually, this site is an awesome marketing tool!

Simon, market this at your next investor's meeting (reminds me of Marlboro).

You're in there!!!

I'd have to pitch the chips in with you on this one. I have not been a member here for very long(a few weeks actually) and it was a search for information that originally led me to it. I found some very interesting posts on a particular subject that sparked my interest in joining. The problems I've seen while posting on here are similar to the ones you refer to. In fact, it is in the Secret Societies forum that I'm finding so much opposition by the closed minded and people lacking in anything solid to support their arguments. "George Bush is a Freemason involved with an alien takeover of earth", "Where is your evidence for this claim?" which is always followed by some form of, "You're stupid, shut up because you just don't know what you are talking about" It's very childish, and frankly quite irritating. If this is something to be voted on, my proverbial hand is in the air.

Thanks SourGrapes and Eden - good to know Im not just being a cranky old bastard =)

[edit on 9-5-2006 by Ezekiel]

I agree too. I like to read about stories that could have some sort of reality to them, but reading about " a three headed women", or "do we meet aliens when we die" is not fun. I get interested when something sounds credible and deserves a little more attention. I find myself browsing the science and aircraft section more because of this.

[edit on 9-5-2006 by imbalanced]

Originally posted by Ezekiel
People like our pirate friend coming on here and making very offensive comments about Freemasons

[...]

I am referring mostly to the offensive comments made by a few members who seem intent on [...] ignorant comments regarding Freemasons.

What threads are you referring to? I don't think this is the right forum to "rant" as you say. There's a forum for that, in fact, called "Rants".

So your main beef is that Freemasonry is attacked? This is a conspiracy site. People are going to attack freemasonry and any "secret society" with similar power and sway over the western word. Power which is held secretly tends to attract critics, or hadn't you noticed?

For my money, the secret societies forum is the wrong place to determine that there are "ignorant people running this site". Too many Masons get their feelins hurt in that forum. They should stick to the Political Conspiracies forum so they don't suffer so much abuse. .

Originally posted by EdenKaia
The problems I've seen while posting on here are similar to the ones you refer to. In fact, it is in the Secret Societies forum that I'm finding so much opposition by the closed minded and people lacking in anything solid to support their arguments. "George Bush is a Freemason involved with an alien takeover of earth", "Where is your evidence for this claim?" which is always followed by some form of, "You're stupid, shut up because you just don't know what you are talking about" It's very childish, and frankly quite irritating. If this is something to be voted on, my proverbial hand is in the air.

Yeah this is the kind of thing I was referring to. As a regular of the Secret Society board it irks me to no end to see threads like ...

"Two people molested children, they were masons so therefore all masons are child molesting satanists"

... continue on unmoderated and unchecked! No civil and mature discussion should allow for these kind of gross generalisations and no self respecting moderator should allow them to go on unchecked.

Originally posted by Ezekiel
Yeah this is the kind of thing I was referring to. As a regular of the Secret Society board it irks me to no end to see threads like ...

"Two people molested children, they were masons so therefore all masons are child molesting satanists"

... continue on unmoderated and unchecked! No civil and mature discussion should allow for these kind of gross generalisations and no self respecting moderator should allow them to go on unchecked.

Ah, so now we get to the meat of the matter. I figured this was what hurt your feelings. Actually, I think you should comment in that thread, not here. Nobody's saying all Masons are molestors, and that is clear to any rational person. It's sad when somebody attacks your group, I know. But hang in there. Masonry will be exonerated by the fruits of its labor.

I agree with the rant as well. There are an awful lot of, well, simply stupid postings. In my mind, I would think that many should not even be in ATS. Nevertheless, I also see the 'other side of the coin' so to speak.

ATS is a wonderful site that stimulates critical thinking and study. With the recent influx of new members (and more to come), it becomes incumbent upon ATS members themselves to continue to post good, well thought out comments. We all need to confront people when they are being ignorant, that is, lacking a sense of common decency and civility. Furthermore, we should all try to be parental in replying to younger, less focused members in an effort to help them hone their writing and critical thinking abilities and, finally, we should all do our best to ignore the ignorant and to continue to share our thoughts, opinions, research and comments in an environment like ATS. There are many members who are serious, interested and dedicated to making ATS a site that denies ignorance.

Of course, there is Below Top Secret. I have always viewed this aspect of ATS as a place to have fun while honing one's writing style to best express their views when they visit Above Top Secret.

Keep in mind that the cream always rises to the top. In this case, I mean to say that you don't really have to look far to find "worthy" threads and posts that might satisfy your own inquisitive interests or to pique your curiosity. Sure there is "chaff" amongst the wheat but that does not mean that the entire crop is a failure.

ATS is constantly changing. It is in incumbent upon all ATS members to help keep this site on track.

Originally posted by smallpeeps
So your main beef is that Freemasonry is attacked? This is a conspiracy site. People are going to attack freemasonry and any "secret society" with similar power and sway over the western word. Power which is held secretly tends to attract critics, or hadn't you noticed?

I have no problems with people attacking Freemasonry or any other secret society, as long as they do it with civility and with a mature attitude. Taking a situation like a child being molested and twisting it to use in a misguided attack at one of those societies is just distasteful and disrespectful.

Originally posted by smallpeeps
For my money, the secret societies forum is the wrong place to determine that there are "ignorant people running this site". Too many Masons get their feelins hurt in that forum. They should stick to the Political Conspiracies forum so they don't suffer so much abuse.

.

From my experience Masons only get their 'feelings hurt' by people who post comments that display a glaring lack of understanding along with offensive generalisations about Masons.

If someone was to come on here and say "I was molested by a catholic priest - all catholics are child molesters" I would expect a lot of catholics to get their 'feelings hurt'.

[edit on 9-5-2006 by Ezekiel]

I read lots of things that are "out there", even for "in here" on the boards.
I even find some of it entertaining. Some of it I just pass right on by, knowing that I have an ignore button. Clickable at any time.
I've never ignored anyone here. But I know that I could, if I wanted to.
I just don't want to!
You could, if you wanted to, too.

Honestly, I think every post offers insight. If not insightful, it offers insight into the person making the post.

man, was that confusing?

[edit on 9-5-2006 by spacedoubt]

E, I agree with you. there's a lot of asshattery that goes unchecked. The Weapons forum is nightmarish, particularly. Between the twelve-year olds who are like 'i wanna dezert eagle so i could blow some1s head off' and the odd pacifist or anti-gun lobbyist who takes a run at any given thread, there is a severe and often rapid detrioration in thread quality.

In a similiar vein to your complaint about freemasons, LEOs are maligned as much as possible in this forum. You just sort of have to grin and bear it - as much as people are still bitter about losing that gram of weed when they were thirteen, as much as they complain they're being hassled by 'the man', they still call 911 like everyone else. You just sort of have to grin and bear certian things. Other things, not so much. A lot of people are very very ignorant and opinionated in the world- remember, more than half of those blood-for-oil hippies can't even point Iraq out on a map.

That's all the advice I can really give- grin, bear it, and make liberal (ha! ironies!) use of the ignore feature. There's a ton of people on the site who you simply are better off not arguing with.

BTW, akroma ftw.

DE

Originally posted by smallpeeps
Ah, so now we get to the meat of the matter. I figured this was what hurt your feelings. Actually, I think you should comment in that thread, not here. Nobody's saying all Masons are molestors, and that is clear to any rational person. It's sad when somebody attacks your group, I know. But hang in there. Masonry will be exonerated by the fruits of its labor.

Thanks for the positive outlook Smallpeeps =)

That was the straw that broke the camels back for me and certainly not the only reason for this post. I only mentioned that particular post because it was the most recent.

I used to love greek salads, but I hated those green pitted olives, but the salad is good enough to simply pick out the olives and eat the salad anyway.
If you think a post is ridiculous, don't click on it or waste your time reading or responding to it, it's actually a pretty easily solution. As to freemasonry, there are a great deal of us out here that think freemasonry and zionism are the usurping, hoodwinking personification of pure evil, but rather than 'rant' about the opinions of others, why not start your own "freemasonry is wonderful" thread and have at it?

Originally posted by smallpeeps
Ah, so now we get to the meat of the matter. I figured this was what hurt your feelings. Actually, I think you should comment in that thread, not here. Nobody's saying all Masons are molestors, and that is clear to any rational person. It's sad when somebody attacks your group, I know. But hang in there. Masonry will be exonerated by the fruits of its labor.

Indeed. Although I'm all the way behind Ezekiel and his post - I had a recent, similar "rant" about the now-it-all's. But I must say that if the irritation is about a certain group being picked on, then it may not be that valid complaint. All groups get picked on. Ask any Christian, democrat, reptilian-believer, et al.

I recently read all the comments on the ATS Ratings site, and most of the complaints was because of the huge amount of young members... I don't know how you want to stop the younger generation from taking part to let only the old people speak. they have an opinion as well... (Ah, here we go. Opinion does NOT equal fact!) I mean what do they know about Moon landings and JFK?

On the other hand I'm part of the younger generation (although high school hasn't seen me for a good 8 years), yet I do my utmost best to post informed posts - however opinionated they might be.

So the coin does have two sides, I guess. Problem is how do you enforce FAIR quality control? I don't know the answer and thank goodness I'm not a mod to do quality control. Again I think it comes down to each and every member doing his or her part. Quality for quality. Fact for fact. Opinion for opinion.

And stop being a know-it-all...

Good one, Ezikiel

Thanks for the response DeusEx, I remember you from long long ago!

Originally posted by DeusEx
BTW, akroma ftw.

hehe yeah I saw my housemate playing the new sets of Magic the Gathering and LOVED the artwork on that one =)

On a more thread related note - I am encouraged by the responses from all of you!

Perhaps I need to venture out of the Secret Society Forum now and then.

[edit on 9-5-2006 by Ezekiel]

Freemasons are evil. And they are ruled naughty-bot reptilians from dimension beta carotine IX.

Reality's an illusion, so quit spreading your disinformation about "getting real" about "really real things" and stuff.

Who do you think would win this mud-wrestling fight: Xena, Buffy, Princess Leia, or Gilbert Gottfried? Will Scott Bakula ever grow a spine? Do you think sasquatches clean their backsides with leaves or just crab-crawl, dragging their butts along the ground?

Seriously!

-S

Originally posted by Ezekiel
Thanks SourGrapes - good to know Im not just being a cranky old bastard =)

'Cranky old bastard'? PUHLEEZE, I just forwarded this post to the (very) people who made this site what it WUZ back in the day. Most likely, the very same people whom Simon would call upon, if he needed references for a television show.

I was thrilled to hear that he (Simon) had landed a spot w/a (semi) major network.

It's unfortunate that he's, most likely, lost the very audience that would have pushed him 'over-the-top'!!

Here's my 'bear vs bull' analysis:

(thumbs down for an inventor who doesn't know his audience)

(thumbs up for those who realize you need to be 18(!!!!!) to vote:

My pick for this week is: godlikeproductions.com



[edit on 9-5-2006 by SourGrapes]

I have to agree with you, I had just witnissed someone dismiss the existance of extraterrestrial U.F.O's from a British Defence Minister way to easily. I may be new here, but I want you all to know that I am doing my best to have all eyes and ears open to everyone's opinions, as I want to deny ignorance and persue towards better understanding.

Just out of curiosity, why hasn't this thread move to rants?