Originally posted by Justin_Case
This merger will bring you in to contact with more posters, who are going to challenge what you say.

Well there have been no more then a handful of posters that have challenged me on a regular basis thou out my time on ATS . But I will wait and see what happens before I pass finally judgement.

That, by itself, will provide you with new challenges.

All my experience on the boards points to the same discussions being repeated. This is what seems to make the majority of discussions in the areas that I post in.

Lots of people stick to "their patch" of ATS.

I cant speak for anyone else but I post in the forums that interest me.

I can appreciate everyone's concern. Change can be scary, especially when it impacts you directly.

When I first joined ATS AP or PTS as it was known was created in order to move partisan political debates off ATS this seems to have been forgotten . At the time I was pleased with the change because I didn't have access to the Mud Pit which is where such topics ended up.

AP benefited from a differnt atmosphere or the wildness as I called it . I think it would be a shame to lose this. The us-verus-them mentality as SkepticOverlord put it is still very prevalent on the boards and will remain so . Surely anybody who has read the boards will have noticed the US is evil vs Iran debates and so on.

As a long-time member, I never liked the separation of war and politics.

This move might be good.

I was privileged to be elected to the first ATS Council as the Politics council rep. It was a great experience. I hope this re-integration leads to more and better discourse here, at ATS.

As we used to say in the Army, ATS leads the way!

Originally posted by jsobecky
Most people who are political junkies are not afraid of change. We anticipate it, and predict it with high degrees of accuracy. What we're uncomfortable is the feeling that this is not a step forward, but a step backwards.

This move may be a concession to market forces and budgetary considerations, but; half a loaf is better than none. Some times, you just gotta take a step back, before you can gather your strength to move on again.

Anything worth doing is hard. Our best options are still preserved, and that's what should matter. Politically astute minds are a match for any conspiracy theorist.

Let's also remember that we aim for a very special goal when we engage in the machina of politics. We seek to learn, or to change minds.

(not having read this whole thread,..)

I am not surprised and in fact think this is the correct move.

While the 'concept' of PTS, as well as BTS, appears to be proper and beneficial to ATS, it is my humble opinion that it only provided distance to those that wished to participate in such discussions but still wished to be part of the ATS dynamic. This change is not a negetive, but instead a well healing result that should bring more active participation in all the related subject matter that makes ATS what it is. (an ecosystem, not apart from itself, but instead self-sustaining)





[edit on 9-4-2008 by smirkley]

Ah man! it's nice to see EastCoastKid back

But, I am just concerned political threads will just get trashed now and we'll end up being accused of spreading propaganda.

Originally posted by jsobecky
I take that as a thinly veiled threat ... I think you're wrong, and I think the "fair warning" was uncalled for.

I hope it was less than thinly veiled. It was meant to be explicit.

As for your thoughts that it was uncalled for, I'll let your very next post in this thread speak for itself:

Originally posted by jsobecky
... I was there in the past, along with you and others, when Politics was an integral part of ATS. It was not the wonderful rainbow of diversity that some are projecting it will become.

I foresee the normal period of chaos replete with off-topic ad hominem attacks ...

Seems to me you are well aware of the "need" for such a "fair warning".

...and labeling people Bushies and neocons, etc. Then will come a period of heavy-handed moderation to quell the fighting. Then will come - and this is the scary part - the attempt to bring "balance" into the political discussions. We'll have our own version of the Fairness Doctrine.

You want to bet that "Bushies" and "neocon" will NOT be the prevailing insults in the campaign to come?

As for your predictions and your sneaky (thinly veiled) accusations of bias and heavy handedness on the part of the staff, why don't you wait and see what develops before jumping to conclusions and pre-judging the outcome based on your biases?

If you weren't so contradictory and transparent, I could take what you say more seriously. You sir are a prime example of someone who can't separate his identity politics from his opinions.
.

In all truthfullness the AP re-intergration into ATS is a great thing. I thought that the entire board needed more strict moderation in my opionion. It was so bad that I had stoped going to AP altogether.

The fair debate of subjects on AP can happen on the main board with less irritation. And I hope to once again put in my 2C onto the political forums.

The only thing that worries me is the off the cuff and topic attacks that are going to occur, not might occur, but will. Especially with the US elections coming up in November, and the remaining democratic primaries. Feelings are going to run high, and the attacks will reflect that. If you're against it, you're obviously a Bushbot, or whatever the current phrase is; if you're for it, you're obviously a flaming liberal. Or maybe it's the other way around...we'll hear all of 'em.

Obviously, it happened on AP since it's inception, I'm just worried it'll only get worse.

Then again, that's why we have mods isn't it? Good luck, folks, you're gonna need it, I'm afraid.

Honestly, I thought that the PTS forum got much more support than BTS... Apparently, I was wrong. I have seen threads in BTS sit for hours on end and never move; I can't say that for a fact about PTS... I suppose the site administrators would know better than I do though.

Wooo hooo. I haven't been going to PTS in awhile because I always have to login again! How lazy am I? On a very serious note though... I hope we keep the PTS points seperate because I like 3 different colors of points

...although we should change the PTS color from brownish to white. Right now we have red, blue, and...er... brownish? Very un-American!!

[edit on 10-4-2008 by Scramjet76]

i coulnd't agree more with this news. Yes while politics are annoying especiialy for us people outside the us who hrere all you USA'ers saying "blahb ahb blah politcs d00d". We can put up with it ;-P

Here's my random thoughts

Those of us who got into computers many years ago have witness the move towards using the computer as a medium of entertainment. In the beginning this artificial intelligence machine was designed to exchange ideas between schools for higher learning and thought. It is unfortunate how fast this technology has drifted into a pit of darkness and ridicule.

I have to applaud the efforts of HUBDUB dot com. They came up with a very clever method of merging entertainment with current affairs. I have to say this might be more than a trend in fast paced reality.

It has become clear to us that, to the people who visit ATS, conspiracy theory and contemporary politics are intertwined to such an extent that segregated forums may actually hamper productive discussion and issue examination.

amazing it took 4 years to figure that one out...

Any word on these forums? I'm patient just wondering

new forum ---> Regional Politics
- - - integrate - - - U.S. Politics
- - - integrate - - - U.k. Politics
- - - integrate - - - European Politics
- - - integrate - - - Canadian Politics
- - - integrate - - - Other Global Politics

new forum ---> Political Issues
- - - integrate - - - Politics of War
- - - integrate - - - Mid-East Conflict
- - - integrate - - - Medical Issues
- - - integrate - - - Social Issues
- - - integrate - - - Environment Issues
- - - integrate - - - Economic Issues
- - - integrate - - - Military & Security Issues
- - - integrate - - - Energy & Science Issues
- - - integrate - - - Religion In Government

new forum ---> Political Ideology
- - - integrate - - - General Political Ideology
- - - integrate - - - Conservatism
- - - integrate - - - Liberalism
- - - integrate - - - Socialism
- - - integrate - - - Moderate
- - - integrate - - - Other