Attention ATS and the UFO community

Hello all and welcome, I need to get a few things off my chest. First of all as being a witness to a UFO when I was 14 years old with my sister as a witness to the event is probalby the only reason I am still searching for answers now at 35 years old.

I need to say that I love this website. I have been watching for a couple of years now, just have only been a member since the beginning of the year. What I do not love and am getting sick and tired of is some people posting their short and sometimes very long stories about complete in my own opinion "nonsense" and "childish" crap just to get a response. These people continue with their "holier than thou" attitudes and continue to reply and reply and reply to their own threads to get people to convince them of their "experiance". There is no convincing in the ufo community, only sharing their experience of what they have seen and listening how others feel and how they can relate.

There are and have had been some very interesting threads on this site. But lately with the 2007 wave, it's is getting rediculous. I am a very true believer, i will listen to others.

I know the mods probably wont do anything about this, I just wish the posting criteria for new threads would change just a little. It's really driving me away from this site.

Welcoming anyones thoughts and replies.
Thank you.


[edit on 6-3-2007 by williamjklopp]

As Robert Fripp has said, "We may not achieve perfection, but we can serve perfection." I think that we need to be very, very hard to convince, and then go about looking for what, if anything is in fact convincing. Convincing evidence needs to be the gold standard.

I agree with you regarding the recent waves of useless tripe that races through here from time to time, but the way I see it, you have to deal with the ridiculous so that the real shines brighter.

Besides, I am ATS biased - I wear the hat for gods sakes so I cant give up on the best site on the net simply because there are a bunch of buffoons running around here. Thats what the ignore button is for....J/K

Stick with it and just try your best to separate the wheat from the chaff. If you have just a smidgen of common sense, it can be done.

BTW, welcome to ATS and for gods sake have some fun while searching for the answers, I do.....

You have been reading for two years and now you are a member of the ATS community. Enough said really. I agree with Lost Mind. You have to surf through ATS forums and use your own judgement and beliefs to determine what you think is real and what is hoax, fake, bullcrap etc...
We can't deny ignorance if there was no ignorance. But I have always believed that everyone's story is true until proven beyond reason to be false. A story is a story and is pretty much their word against yours. A story is much more exciting if they have pictures or video of their account, but all in all it's their story. This is the best site I've ever been a member of and could never leave it for those reasons on your post. Welcome to ATS and good luck.

[edit on 3/6/2007 by Solarskye]

Just wanted to be perfectly clear that I AM guilty of posting my experiences and replying to my own. This is not to annoy the masses or to cause issues but to keep them visible in case someone someday can relate or has a thought helpful or useful to the event. . My stories are true to what my memory and own two eyes are seeing or have seen. I too become fustrated that my true accts are ignored in favor of silly subjects that strangly become popular.

I alaso have a thread on the fact abductees claim they are told we wouldn't understand about where greys come from or what they are. I DO find that an interesting topic and of course it gets a little, very little attention. I just wish my actual accts of sightings were more interesting then trivial goofy topics.

I too am in my mid 30s in case you wondered. I have a career a kid, wife big happy family!!! I don't need ATS for attention but like everyone else, I crave validation for my otherwise ridiculed of sightings of years past.

William,

I understand exactly where you are coming from - and I know exactly whom you are referring to. I just joined a few days ago - and have also been a long time 'observer'.

I used to be very into Ufology and the folklore involved within. I studied it and it was almost a religious experience, finding out all this information about Greys, Whites, Nordics (Paladians) - it was just mind blowing to me when I really first got into it. I didn't know what was garbage and what was real. Now that I am almost your age (I am 34 - in a few months 35 'yay'), I have been drawn back into this field of study because I think I can help to make a change.

I saw UFOs twice in my life - both experiences were with witnesses to the event. I used to work at a movie theater when I was 17 - and after work a friend and I drove back to my parents house (he lived 1/2 a block down from me) and decided to hang out in front of the house and talk a little bit. I was around 12:45am, and since I live near a large airport (O'Hare) we were both used to objects (planes) flying over head. Do to city ordinances regarding noise pollution, the flight path over my parents house didn't get any traffic during the night time/early morning hours. Anyhow, during the conversation as I was talking about some gossip about some girl I liked at work he pointed up at the sky behind me.
"What the ____ is that?" he said, I just thought he was joking - you know like "HAHA I MADE YOU LOOK," kinda deal and was like yeah whatever. He then physically turned me around and pointed up to the sky to an object that defied explanation. I had no idea what I was looking at, it didn't resemble anything I could compare it to - so being human my brain tried to come up with simple explanations that defied what this object was. I was large, maybe 50 to 60 ft up in the air - perhaps 30 ft to 50 ft in diameter and was distorted - and almost had no particular shape - but it was 'round'. It was hovering about a block down near a tree, arced to the left (as we were facing it to the west so it arced to the south) and suddenly raced right over our heads 'floating' east - once it began to move it gained in speed. This whole encounter perhaps lasted about 20-30 seconds. We watched it disappear into a small light (pinhole) in the sky as it headed toward Lake Michigan. All this action happening with no sound. A person who was walking down the street saw what we saw also.

The other UFO I saw was with my wife, and a bunch of friends at a cabin up in Wisconsin (Richland Centre). It was at night - the stars were shining bright and so was something else. This object was lit up, and was green. It was a small speck in the sky - but the maneuvers it was performing defied earth based 'known' technology. It blinked rapidly every time it moved, it zigged and zagged patterns quickly - and seemed to be able to move anywhere it wanted quickly. We all observed this object for about 5 minutes.

Those are the reasons I got into this field - but I started seeing people not wanting the truth - but money. That is what really kills Ufology... crackpots and kooks who want monetary gain from writing weird tails about aliens - perhaps some may be true - but why make a buck of it?

Ufology needs more people like you William - don't let the crazies run you off - we gotta stand our ground from the skeptics, we gotta stand our ground from the kooks - its a two front war

Hello Kroms33, It's amazing that your experience was in Illinois, I grew up in Illinois about 45 minutes south of Chicago. That's where my experience took place about 16 years ago. Again that is why I am here. I grew up a confirmed methodist. I now have no ties to religion anymore. This is now my religion any my faith. Evolution, scientology or whatever you my call it. An experience as real as I have had has made up my mind. I just wish the children would go play in the sandbox. Preferably in the deepend.

Hey William,

Yeah I am like 4-5 miles (if that?) from O'Hare airport. I just wish I got to see what was hovering over there in November of 2006
I was raised Catholic - but I don't practice. I do believe there is a "God" but I am not religious about it what so ever. I this really isn't my religion anymore - I just want to crack open the government because I am tired of all the corruption on both sides of the isle. I can't stand politicians anymore - they all steal from the people and divide the nation. Its time to crack it open so we can get going as a society again instead of being lied to constantly. I know things about the government (yeah wild claims) that most people don't (nothing ET or anything like that). My family comes from a long line of service members - all branches of military.

I do believe in evolution - and the scientific method of how man became what we are today... but believing that does not go against belief in a supreme being.

anyhow - sorry for the long posts LOL

No worries, at least you have something constructive to say. I have seen just about every video, movie, pic, there has to have been seen, at least by the general public. I did research and find a very, very, similar sighting report back in the same time of mine (1985) in the same area of Illinois about a year ago, It really gave me chills. Keep looking up my friend.

Well I am religous yet cannot stand church, religious programming or cult atmospheres. I do believe in a GOD...just don't know what GOD is exactly yet.

I will not jump on the aliens are the supreme bieng angle as of yet.

No disrespect but I think evolution is as much of a guess as to when we'll have undisputed evidence of alien spacecraft in our skies. We all are pretty sure we have seen "something", but that's not proof of course.

The thing is, is that when you see something, then research it when you have the internet to do so, You find a report that someone saw basically the same thing you did 20 years prior in the same part of the country. That is chilling. Anyway, getting off the topic of this thread.

That was something I was hoping for when I joined and posted. Unfortunately, apparently..NOONE can relate to any of three events that have truely caused me to be almost obsessed with the topic. Maybe some day those events will spark something in someones memory.

William how involved are you in the research dept? Just casual at home or are you official?

I think we all just want to know what the hell we see and where the hell we all come from and we want to know now! I pisses me off that I have to wait. until when? who know's

Hello WAZZIT32

Look everywhere in the world for similarities in your veiwings, you may me astonished! I have been.

This is a nice friendly thread
I agree, i commented elsewhere on the wave of just weird and obvious hoax threads. Don't let it bother you, just read it all true or not and archive it all in your mind.
Sometimes things get put into the same filing cabinet, and sometimes you can crossreference 2 unrelated things to make something else make sense.
I like it all here, the good and the bad.

Well williamjklopp,

Why don't we put you in charge and then you can decide what should be posted?

Someone that keeps replying to their own thread. Hmmm, you mean what you're doing right now? Seems you are double posting to me.

So what you're saying is that your experience is worthy and others are not?

Every member has a right to post. It's your job to sift thru the threads and decide what is worth looking at and what is not. After a year of viewing I would think that you could tell the difference. If you're so concerned with what others are posting and that is your focus in starting this thread, then why even mention that you've seen a UFO?

What's worse than looking for attention is someone that comes right out of the gate insulting the site in general for not structuring content more to their liking. Oh, and trying to get attention while doing it.

Maybe you could get a few more posts in before you start pissing and moaning....

Originally posted by kroms33
I saw UFOs twice in my life - both experiences were with witnesses to the event. I used to work at a movie theater when I was 17 - and after work a friend and I drove back to my parents house (he lived 1/2 a block down from me) and decided to hang out in front of the house and talk a little bit. I was around 12:45am, and since I live near a large airport (O'Hare) we were both used to objects (planes) flying over head. Do to city ordinances regarding noise pollution, the flight path over my parents house didn't get any traffic during the night time/early morning hours. Anyhow, during the conversation as I was talking about some gossip about some girl I liked at work he pointed up at the sky behind me.
"What the ____ is that?" he said, I just thought he was joking - you know like "HAHA I MADE YOU LOOK," kinda deal and was like yeah whatever. He then physically turned me around and pointed up to the sky to an object that defied explanation. I had no idea what I was looking at, it didn't resemble anything I could compare it to - so being human my brain tried to come up with simple explanations that defied what this object was. I was large, maybe 50 to 60 ft up in the air - perhaps 30 ft to 50 ft in diameter and was distorted - and almost had no particular shape - but it was 'round'. It was hovering about a block down near a tree, arced to the left (as we were facing it to the west so it arced to the south) and suddenly raced right over our heads 'floating' east - once it began to move it gained in speed. This whole encounter perhaps lasted about 20-30 seconds. We watched it disappear into a small light (pinhole) in the sky as it headed toward Lake Michigan. All this action happening with no sound. A person who was walking down the street saw what we saw also.

The other UFO I saw was with my wife, and a bunch of friends at a cabin up in Wisconsin (Richland Centre). It was at night - the stars were shining bright and so was something else. This object was lit up, and was green. It was a small speck in the sky - but the maneuvers it was performing defied earth based 'known' technology. It blinked rapidly every time it moved, it zigged and zagged patterns quickly - and seemed to be able to move anywhere it wanted quickly. We all observed this object for about 5 minutes.

These are both interesting observations. I'm curious about both, but the second one in particular. How large an area of the sky did it move in, and how close to the horizon was it? Did it pass overhead? Was it ever stationary, and if so, for how long? How did you rule out the hypothesis that you were seeing a firefly?

[edit on 7-3-2007 by disownedsky]

Originally posted by jbondo
Well williamjklopp,

Someone that keeps replying to their own thread. Hmmm, you mean what you're doing right now? Seems you are double posting to me.

Its strange - I find no evidence of Williamjklop double posting at all, I do see him conversing with various people who left posts on this thread. Jbondo - what is with the attitude?

What's worse than looking for attention is someone that comes right out of the gate insulting the site in general for not structuring content more to their liking. Oh, and trying to get attention while doing it.

Where did he insult the site? For all the points you have, you don't seem to be that friendly of a person to deal with. Lots of people have the same concerns Williamjkop does so I don't think that he needs mega huge points to have a valid point (because your point jbondo - doesn't seem very valid to me and you have over ten thousand points). The chronicles of the insane are getting out of control, but in my way of thinking - that comes with the territory...

When some person posts crap - I tend to not respond to it, and just let that persons thread 'die'.

I don't understand why someone would be so insulting about Williams concerns... especially a long time user/poster like YOU jbondo

These are both interesting observations. I'm curious about both, but the second one in particular. How large an area of the sky did it move in, and how close to the horizon was it? Did it pass overhead? Was it ever stationary, and if so, for how long? How did you rule out the hypothesis that you were seeing a firefly?

I am sorry if the 2nd sighting remark was shorter in description, I was running out of characters (4000 max).
I can not judge the distance this object was from us, it was up really high. It did not pass overhead. There was an obstruction that could be used to measure 'probable' distance - a hill perhaps 1/2 mile away that this green 'speck' would dart below the hill's horizon point, zoom upwards and hover stationary (I think the longest time it hovered stationary was about 30 seconds - absolutely no movement at all). When this 'craft' was not moving - it was constantly green. When it did move - it zig zagged in the sky (perhaps near to the horizon but the hill would block the view - that area of Wisconsin is VERY hilly) - sorry when it did move - it would blink on and off at a rapid rate... blinking is the only way I can describe it. Think of war movie muzzle flashes - but being a speck of glowing green in the sky - almost like it was 'skipping' - really weird. When this thing decided to leave - it shot straight up at a rapid rate - and we watched disappear into the upper atmosphere (presumably). I would say, when it left it only took 2-5 seconds to totally be out of sight.
If I remember correctly - we all observed this object facing north west - it hovered, zigzagged and flew I would say in a good 25% area of the NW sky. I have no way of measuring it... I am trying to be as specific as I can. As I have said, sometimes this 'thing' would drop down below the hill that was in front of it.

Another strange aspect that my wife just reminded me of was the fact that it was super dark outside - and beyond the hill there were flashes of bright white light that would illuminate the countryside - like a giant firecracker went off with no sound... nothing. This was in the general area of where this object was hovering. My idea of those lights could be people driving switching from high beams to low beams - but then again, no car lights are that powerful... so I still question that aspect a bit, but I do have an open mind about what the flashes could be - perhaps explainable... but the green object was not explainable in any way.

Firefly theory/hypothesis: very good idea - as I have never thought that it could be a fire fly - great input! (I would laugh my butt off if all of us were so silly to watch a firefly for 5 minutes LOL - seriously, good call).

The only flaw with that theory is that it was late fall - no bugs and it was very cold at night. We had a bonfire going, we were all looking up at the sky because you could see satellites - and even the Milky Way... it was a very clear night.

I do second guess both sightings all the time - I always try a scientific approach... but every time I try to come up with an alternative answer - I can not. The first sighting, I was trying to convince myself that it was a plastic bag or some debris the wind kicked up - since I live in the windy city - but that night I do remember it was calm... so I don't know what took place.
I have to say both were UFOs because I - nor anyone that I was with could identify them... not even on a mental level - so mind boggling.
Anyhow, thanks for your interest

I agree with the OP, there is a lot of damage being done by hoaxers and I dont just mean to ATS. There is a decent size of material now on ATS published by blatant hoaxers that can serve as a source for anyone wanting to make the serious UFO researchers look like crack pots. Unfortunately to those outside the community we all get tard with the same brush.

You can usually tell a BS post straight away by recognising a few simple rules:

1) No proof of any kind - I dont mean this in the sense of the usual argument of not having a perfect photo or video or reliable witnesses etc, but the original post will usually include a quite well thought out story to explain the lack of evidence and it gets stated before anyone asks for proof or evidence.

2) They have not told anyone else, even their family. Seriously, if a little grey man or a impressively sized reptile humanoid jumped out in front of you would ATS really be the first place you would come? For me it would be family, police, press then ATS in that order.

3) Repeated sightings never stimulate enough common sense to start carrying a camera.

4) They approach the forum asking for help because they say they have no idea what it is they have seen. Nearlly every story has other examples on ATS - why are they not able to make any conclusions themselves. Not sure if I have explained this one too well, but hopefully you get my gist - the whole 'I am innocent and ignorant' stance to promote honesty.

The problem of trying to limit this sort of post is a real issue though, how do you let people discuss openly and freely if you are going to start chopping posts? Could the community rate a post for how genuine it is without it simply falling into believers vs. non-believers.

My own personal feeling is that it has got to a point where a growing proportion of members are approaching posts suspicously where as 12 months ago things were a lot more 'chilled' out.

However it has to be said, that ATS is still the leading forum in these areas and to remain that way perhaps the community need to be able to do a little self policing from time to time.