The ATS Issues Thread

A drug related thread was recently shut down and im quite confused.. I know it's against ATS policy but I can't understand why.. It was stated that this is a "family oriented site" ??? Yet we talk about wars and the government rounding up people into camps and killing them, along with verious other graphic topics.. Drugs are illegal, yes, but speaking about them isn't. There are an awful lot of conspiracies revolving around drugs and for someone to not be able to express thier view on drugs reguardless of wether or not they are promoting them is kinda rediculous, especially since many people hold the beleif that they shouldn't even be illegal.

I just realized that since I just got a new laptop that I might lose my avatar with the media ATS thing.

What should I do?

I also am bemused by the closing of the 'drugs thread' which wasn't about where to buy or how to use drugs but was in fact about the fact people refuse to debate drugs and a 'gang' or 'conspiracy' of anti-drugs 'nazis' do their best to derail and destroy any debate/

If any of the spiritual hokus-pokus holds any weight then from this site people could gather the instructions to -hyponize, brainwash, hex, subdue or seduce people -surely as 'dangerous' as drugs? Meditation has been proven scientifically to be able to change mind states, thought patterns and effect health -people can discus this but not the herbal route? I read a guide to remote viewing, a child reading this might learn how to remote view and use his powers to spy on nude people, plan thefts or cheat on exams -yet it's fine to talk about but drugs aren't?

Maybe the conspiracy side of me is saying the reason #they# are taboo and everything else is ok is because TPTB don't want people to find out the real answer.... Of course i'm a sceptic so i don't believe that, i do worry that some people might be drawn to the unspoken path for this very reason. So banning debate is more harmful than good.

Maybe if people could have open and honest debate about drugs they'ld realize its best to be sensible, everything in moderation and not to get carried away.

I though ATS was better than knee jerk censorship of taboo subjects, what's next on the ATS Rules: "Let us never tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories regarding the attacks of September 11"?

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


I see that you have decided to implement this, and I think it is a good idea!

Lucky my wife didnt see the porn that popped up

Keep up the good work!

reply to post by NatureBoy


Having the terms and conditions say that any discussion of illegal activity, including mind-altering drugs is prohibited makes it easy for them to shut down any thread that starts on the subject of drugs. Think about it for a minute. Someone starts a thread wanting to talk about drugs being legalized, then people talk about various conspiracies about drugs, fine so far, but before long people would start talking about their experiences, and pros and cons of specific drugs, then people would start sharing all the wonderful info they have on how to grow or synthesize whatever you or I need. Pretty soon the site would have some legal liability issues.
Things like ESP, aliens and 99% of conspiracy theories are not accepted in courts as real, so no chance of getting sued.
I do wish they would change this rule though, and permit a few well thought out threads on the pros and cons of this issue, but I get the feeling it has been thought of before.

best wishes

Hi sorry if this has been answered already somewhere.

Mods, In my ATS I have subscriptions to about 6 threads. Three of them including two of my own says that the last post was by 'Annonymous ATS'.

Which is fine but when I go to the thread the last post is always that of the person previous to the Annonymous post.

Can anyone tell me why this is please? I was thinking that maybe the Annonymous user deleted the post after but didnt think you could do that?

Thanks to anyone who can help me!

reply to post by carlitomoore


Anonymous posts needs to be cleared by a mod before they are made visible. Some of these posts will never be visible, for various reasons. Sometimes we're fast to make them visible, other times we may be slow. It depends on a lot of things. And some posts don't deserve to see the light of day. Some are spam, etc.

reply to post by Hellmutt


Thanks alot HellMut! Much Appreciated!

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


I am begging now. I can handle my cannabis conspiracy being trashed - although very contradictory, but..........please do not delete this one, it feels like my life work and use it as my own research log.......this crazy bird thinks she is touching upon something significant and i am deadly passionate about it. The '___' i am referring to in this thread is of the natural kind that is found in ourselves naturally. That is one small part of a very bigger picture... the last 2 posts are really important to me

www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 21-2-2009 by MCoG1980]

Mods.....or anyone....

How do I remove someone from my "friends" list?

reply to post by nerbot


Go to your profile. You'll see a section called "My Sharp Friends" down the left hand side. There'll be a red x to the left of every name.

Click on it.

reply to post by yeahright


Cheers...too many trees, thanks for pointing to the wood.

I am having issues with the foolowing thread

www.abovetopsecret.com...'
Pages 35
www.abovetopsecret.com...

and Page 36
www.abovetopsecret.com...

are my issues

They don't load fully un my browser and then my browser hangs.

Other pages in the thread load fine.

Trying to figure out if it is an ATS issue or problem with my browser.

[edit on 2/24/2009 by AlienCarnage]

reply to post by AlienCarnage


Those load fine on my computer. I'm using Firefox 3.0. My guess is that one of the sites hosting images on those pages was temporarily inaccessible, and caused the pages not load completely.

Loads ok for me on Firefox as well.

Why are all threads about upside down flag flying being closed? It seemed like a good idea to me. Were folks getting nasty? Is it a government mandate?

[edit on 2-24-2009 by groingrinder]

reply to post by groingrinder


As WorldWatcher explained in the last post of the closed thread,

1 e.) Recruitment/Solicitation:

i) You will not use your membership at The Above Network, LLC site(s) for any type of recruitment to any causes whatsoever. You will not post, use the chat feature or use the private message system to disseminate advertisements, chain letters, petitions, pyramid schemes, or any kind of solicitation for political action, social action, letter campaigns, or related online and/or offline coordinated actions of any kind.

Hope that helps.

reply to post by Ian McLean


Ok, looks like the problem is on my end then. Thanks

reply to post by yeahright

Thanks. That pretty much covers it.

Why are you censoring all marijuana related threads?

"ATS fears drugs more than the government" -> closed -> got so many flags that it appeared in top 5 -> renamed in "A Bob Marley-esque concern about ATS" -> DELETED.

"California introduces legalisation to legalize marijuana" -> closed -> got into top 5 -> DELETED.

" Support California legislation to tax marijuana" -> got into top 5 -> closed -> probably gets deleted.

WHY DO YOU CONSTANTLY AVOID THOSE CONCERNS?!? You close those threads and tell us to write about it here, and you obviously avoid those concerns!

The last one was closed with regards to the T&C "Recruiting not allowed". So, you tell me, why is it ok to open threads and urge members to write their representatives their anger about the bailout etc., but if sbdy. asks the same in regards to a marijuana legislation, you close that thread?

Can we open a thread to discuss those issues? Is the motive for the ATS drug policy personally motivated (ie family drug problems), so they censor it?

Those are questions that seriously have to be answered, the ostrich hand-in-the-sand tactic won't work any longer because millions of Californians have the need to discuss this legislation. Thread after thread will pop up, why don't you let one constructive thread with discussion about the pro/cons concerning the legislation open for all members to discuss instead of having every 2 days a closed/deleted thread in the top5 new threads?!?

It's not about drug support, in its essence it's discussion about a legislation, pro and contra. We have threads "Fax on Washington", lots of disgusting pro-weapons thread, members posing with their guns as avatar, but this discussion is censored because of the site is supposed to be family oriented?!?

I'm sorry, but I don't buy this and strongly smell a personal agenda of the site owners here!