I am a realatively new member and as such am not too privy to the whole purpose of ATS.
I was under the assumption that this was a safe haven for people to share stories especially those with little or no proof to back up their statements.
So my Question is as follows:

IF!!!,
I were to be visited by a race of beings not publicly known of with technology far exeeding anything that we are publicy capable of,
and taken to the far reaches of our galaxy to be witness to life supporting planets that are obviously not public knowledge, and IF these beings
gave me(along with MANY others) an urgent message for the whole of humanity, BUT, left me with no physical "PROOF" of said contact,what am I
expected to do with this information????

From what I have witnessed on several forums,
the ATS community(the majority) are the most vicious, non-trusting,
bloodthirsty,carnivorus group I have ever come across.
From what I have witnessed, unless you have "PROOF" and enough of it to soothe the doubts of everyone,(and it had better be of the quality that cannot possibly be debunked by even the most astute professional in every field possible) then you are subject to the most scornful,hateful,
malicious,ridicule I have ever had the displeasure of witnessing,which begs the question,WHY WHY OH WHY do people find it necessary to continue to reply after they have made it perfectly clear that they do not and will not believe unless an impossible amout of(user defined) quality evidence is put fort in a (user defined) amount of time?????????
Someone please take a crack at this.

[edit on 29-3-2008 by cbass]

I think the OP has a very good point here. It's kind of depressing the way some people treats those they disagree with. It is of course OK to have different opinions, but it would be nice if people could be sivil to each other.

Originally posted by cbass
especially those with little or no proof to back up their statements.

That may be where you're getting confused. ( Yowza!!! Is that what ATS is becoming known for? ) There is a forum ( Skunkworks ) that is specifically for speculative topics that may have no firm foundation of evidence, proof, or facts. Feel free to use it.

As stated in the ATS tagline....this is intended to be a place for "intelligent discussion" about a variety of subjects.

Your confusion may stem from the increase of threads and posts throughout ATS that are so speculative that they border on fantasy. I would hope it is "certainly" not for those with little or no proof.

Many of the members will ask for proof......most will look for some kind of evidence.....nearly anything that lends some kind of credible support to claims or theories.

What it basically boils down to is.....what's the point of a forum dedicated to intelligent discussion if a person can post any damn thing they please....and have license to make up whatever they want to satisfy any questions? If that were the case....it leaves the realm of intelligent and you may as well be discussing the reality of Pokemon.

[edit on 29-3-2008 by MrPenny]

[edit on 29-3-2008 by MrPenny]

I can understand and directly relate those sentiments. When I first started here I downloaded a google earth sat image of a gray ufo directly over my house and was called everything from a point whore to a delusionist who could not diffentiate a roof dormer. It's par for the course. But over time you accept the good with bad. It toughens your mental skin. And if you are easily offended this probably is not the place for you. Sure, there will be some that want to make you run home to mamma crying. But there are countless more others who are more trusting, empathetic, and caring individuals. It's a matter of learning not to take anything personally.
It's a big world out there, with many different personalities.

Why can't people have "intelligent discussions" about things that
may be grounded in fact but may not have reliable proof?
Besides, what I have been witness to is a bunch of pseudo know it alls
who WILL NOT believe no matter what evidence is set forth. If you put forth a not so clear somewhat pixelated photo or video of a U.F.O.
you are ridiculed, laughed at,picked apart and made fun of BUT.......
It seems that a clear daytime up close photo is subject to even more
scrutiny and backlash of hateful angry malicious comments.
What we have are people who do not want to and are not ready to beleive.
These people will be the first to tell anyone who will listen how open minded they are, but they will not believe anything that is not directly handed down from GOD him/herself, providing that GOD can provide "PROOF" that he/she is in fact GOD,in the first place.
You all claim to be truth seekers but from where I stand the majority
of ATSers are deathly afraid of what the truth may actually be,
AMEN!

Being this is an open forum, anybody can just sign up, create a fictional story and pass it along as if it were real. There have been numerous accounts of people trying to pull the wool over people's eyes here.

Personally, I am here because I want to find truths - whatever they may be. But to find that truth, I have to sift through rubbish - and this place often becomes a virtual landfill.

If you have something to reveal, then give as much information as possible. Details are always helpful. If you travelled to the far edges of the galaxy, what did you experience during the travel? Do you remember any symbols or controls or specifics of the craft? Did you look out the windows at any points? Were there even windows? What details do you remember that can help add to the story? What specifics do you remember - because a trip such as the one mentioned in the OP should be a remarkable and very memorable one. Unless it was all foggy and fuzzy - in which I've had plenty of those in drunken stupors back in the day.

I'll personally jump on a story in which somebody teases some great amazing information, but provides little, if anything to support their claim.

My suggestion to anyone with amazing information to reveal. tell the story as clear as concise as possible. Be as specific to the details as possible. And be willing to answer every possible question posed as honestly as possible. Sure, there are things you won't know. But the things you do know... answer as best as you can. After you silence those crying 'hoax', you'll find those who believe your story. THOSE are the people who you will be able to talk to and exchange ideas with.

It would be nice to believe every post here. But honestly, there are just too many hoaxers and jokesters who have crossed ATS paths to believe everybody.

M.M.

Originally posted by cbass
Why can't people have "intelligent discussions" about things that
may be grounded in fact but may not have reliable proof?

Then the question is....whose facts are grounded? There are many things that are factual to me....yet not you. You can't expect what is factual to you to always be accepted as fact by others; it simply doesn't work that way.



[edit on 29-3-2008 by MrPenny]

For one thing you need to quit worrying or even responding to those who don't believe you. Let me explain.

I saw a Bigfoot one night. I was alone and I can't prove it. All I can do is share the story with my fellow members of this board and let the chips fall where they may. I'm not here to prove anything to anyone. I don't give one big rats pattootie if anyone believes me or not. I was there, I know what happened, I share the story.

The discussions on this board are of subjects that are difficult to provide absolute proof too. The first person that actually provides absolute proof of UFO's, aliens, Bigfoot, the Lochness monster or any other of our favorite discussions, will probably win the Nobel prize.

Share your story, those who believe will believe, those who don't, won't.

You've done all that you can.

I liken it to the public Arkansas diamond fields. You'll get muddy, cold, and spend hours or days searching for a diamond in the rough. And low and behold a couple times a year someone comes away with a 2 carat yellow diamond. In this day and age of photoshop wizadry, it's very easy for anyone to say foul ball.
However, I think any learned individual with even half an open mind can surmise we are being closely monitored by the shear quantity of sightings.
Some even covered by local media.

I've been where you are. I tend to read much more than I post. I find the intellectual discourse really interesting. Those things I feel strongly about, I respond to. If I thread isn't that interesting, I won't slog through 20 pages. But I have also noticed that there are a minority of members who will yell HOAX no matter what. And there are those members who will believe anything you put in front of them. You know the old saying. For the believer, no amount of proof is necessary and for the skeptic, no amount will do.

I lurked at this site for over a year before I ever bothered to sign up. And then I was extremely tentative about responding because of what the OP is saying. But if you stick with it and get your ATS legs, it all works out. I've learned much and enjoy myself much more now that I "get it".

Interesting, I never looked at the skeptics on the board as being negatively taken, I like a balanced response from both skeptics and believers to see where the flaws and strengths of the post lie. I would suggest lighten up a bit and you might just learn some fun and interesting stuff.

ATS basically exitsts for people to blow off some steam. Something wierd happns. or they have an idea and they come on here and post about it. Other people talk about it with them, and they get on with their lives. Some people here are rude simply because they get a lot of crud and end up venting here, other times someone says something that's a trigger for their temper. Other cases there are people that jus tlove being trolls. Luckily those folks ar ein the minority, they just speak loudly. Sorry about my typing, usi9ng a cruddy browser with a worse entry method ofor posts.

i think most people on here know what you mean to some extent but i've read a lot on here over the years and believe it or not, i've found most of the replies to a story like the one you've described are either ignored, treated sympathetically by most of the replies or at worst a mixture of i don't believe you and alternative explanations to the event.

if you say at the outset "i have no proof, all i have is a story" and your honest and forthcoming, most people on here will accept that, you might be asked for details, we're all here because we're curious, tou might be offered alternatives, often misidentified sightings are simular, but if you genuinely believe it happened and your not making it up, by and large, people take it as what it is, first hand witness testimony.

its not proof, it's not conclusive and some will not believe it, but others will, and will be grateful you shared. unfortunately thats the best that can be hoped for at the moment.


[edit on 29-3-2008 by pieman]

The term 'Deny Ignorance' has been reminding me of 'God wills it!' lately...

As long as you use that mantra, you're allowed to state your opinion AND decide what is 'reasonable' to discuss, and what is outlandish.

Also, nobody is forcing you to reply if you think the story presented is a load of BS.

As Quintar (above) pointed out, the motto of this site is Deny Ignorance.

I think the reason some of us have become so hard skinned is because there're too many kids out there "crying wolf". It happens all the time. They come on and spin a tale and people get thirsty for more. Then it turns out to be a hoax and everyone feels stupid and gullible.

So you have to understand.. We're still searching for truth, but we're not about to put out faith staight out there anymore for fear of more lies. Hence people ask for proof.

It's unfortunate, as one day when there really is a "wolf", some of us will probably be too jaded to believe it anyway.

If I had an experience with an alien or saw bigfoot etc... I would never bring it up here. I get jumped on enough by six kids that just love to hurt me. So I don't need it here. I'm just here to learn, listen and hopefully make friends. I hate it when I see posters getting ridiculed and called liers and laughed at. It's disrespectful and not very nice. I hope you stick around cbass and don't get to discouraged. Life isn't fair and neither is the internet.