Rebuttal In Defiance Of The GFL

A Rebuttal In Defiance Of The GFL Troll Thread (and others like them)

It doesn't take a lot of common sense to notice that the GFL thread is severely depreciating the quality of ATS and the enjoyment to majority of ATS Members... Good, Productive Members!

As a clever Vulcan once said:
"The Needs Of The Many Outweigh The Needs Of The One".

I don't like to walk away from here feeling it's more acceptable to act like a kook or troll than it is to call someone out for overtly being one. Sadly it seems that the later is the bigger T&C crime at the moment. Yet it's the first that is doing the greater, overall damage...

Are we living in some alternate universe here because it all feels a bit back-to-front?

Sure, the sensationalism (and overt neo-religious zealotry) gets the website hits and that's all great but what about the long term? All good companies build their futures on reputation and this isn't the kind of reputation ATS needs.

Is this really that good for the members, The Aliens/UFO's Board and the future of ATS? I don't know, what do you think?

Sure, were told by management to just walk away and ignore the thread but when you truly care for the forum you contribute to, when you try to make it a better place, it's hard to turn a blind eye. After all, it's the turning of blind eye's that has made civilization the sad & sorry sight that it is today.

Sure I'm all for freedom of speech and right to express yourself but when there are dubious, divisive agendas driving those words and actions, a stop needs to be put to them.

Is it wise for ATS to be essentially giving unfettered air time to a UFO Cult that can never provide proof or substantiation of anything they say? Do threads that cannot provide evidence ever add anything positive to UFOlogy, a field that has already sustained many near fatal blows in the past?

I welcome comments from all those that support an end to much of this nonsense!

Star & Flag If You Feel This Is Important To You & Us!

IRM

[edit on 6/8/08 by InfaRedMan]

Mods - please fix my typo in the thread title thanks!

IRM

I definitely hear what you are saying, and agree.
I have noticed the increase in absolutely pointless threads about nothing but someones wild imagination running a bit wild. Agree, this is not the place to post these fantasies.


Starred and flagged

I kind of feel the same as you.Hadnt accessed ATS for a long while and came back a few weeks ago but the quality of threads,especially on the Aliens and UFO section have decreased dramactically over that period.
The GFL thread is a case in point....people have posted that you should just ignore these threads but in my opinion they are dragging down the good work of those trying to post serious evidence about UFOs on ATS.
It just makes people more cynical about what gets posted and forum members have little patience when people post and take time to produce evidence...for whatever reason.
It is coming to the point that,myself included,would think twice before posting any picture or evidence of a UFO here for fear of what would get posted in reply....

reply to post by InfaRedMan

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Interesting views from you IRM..I tend to agree with you on this matter!
These last two weeks on ATS has been hell...There has been a couble of threads that has been a total waste of time,where i felt like trowing the monitor against the wall!

The problem that I have is that I use the recent post button on ATS!this is the problem...One person starts a great thread,evidance pics videos etc...10 guys come and open " I saw a ufo last night"... that moves this thread out of the recent post thread....I have found hectic cases of well documente cases....just from looking at someones profile wich he flagged

I still believe that everybody has their right to their opinion...but what i am really trying to say is that

1.) One liner threads with a youtube video is a waste of my time..- Do yourself a favour and do a little research before making a you know what of yourself here on ATS..then you deserve this.

2.) Do a search
There is a little button called search..there was many threads i wanted to start but when i searched it...someone already opend a thread on this and I then just added my info on that.

And then it is just the normal people that knows it is fake,trying to gain points or stars whatever..these members should be banned!

Before I view a thread I look into who created the thread!

That is IT

I hear you all!

Thankyou for those who have taken interest, contributed and supported the thread thus far! There are many that feel as we do - we are not alone.

Best,

IRM

I agree with the OP...But on the other hand we dont want this site to become what we all seem to hate and fight e.g. Loss of Freedom/REPRESSION ect.

I think the mods need too be a little more heavy handed...but with the option for the members to vote against a mods decision if it does not already exist.

It is getting harder to sort through the crap these days

I agree.

We have another unprovable (until further developments, at least) statement, but unlike this thread, that was suspended until the expected photos were obtained, this kind of completely unproved things is accepted.

I think that this type of thread should be moved to the "Gray Area", were proof is not necessary, that would leave the "Aliens & UFOs" forum a little more free for real UFO related threads.

Flagged.

I think it gets a bit silly this time of year on most forums (fora) It's the school holidays,every year is the same. The quicker threads are just destroyed,and the posters get the abuse they deserve,the quicker we can all have tea.

Better still,if everone just ignored pointlessly crappy threads like GFL stuff,then they'd just drop iff into the ether,and there'd be no 12 page slag-a-thons of people saying how much it brings the place down. Just ignore them. Do not feed the troll.

Taken from the GFL Thread: (Page 10 no less)

Not a pretty sight is it....
Sadly this is a classic example of the real effect such threads are having on decent members. Hopefully LastOutfiniteVoiceEternal wont loose faith is the forum - but finding decent content is becoming as hard as finding a nanotube in a haystack.

IRM

[edit on 6/8/08 by InfaRedMan]

reply to post by InfaRedMan

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But with all due respect to LOFVE,they didn't have to read it,and let it offend them so much.
to quote the simpsons


[edit on 6/8/2008 by Acidtastic]

reply to post by Acidtastic

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Hi There Acidtastic,

Though I completely understand what your saying, and compliment you on your Simpsons quote, I'm not so sure that they feel offended as much as they are feeling outraged at the frequency of such threads and how they fundamentally undermine the serious research into UFOlogy. I think it's more because they care about ATS, the community at large and the UFO/Aliens forum.

Thanks for piping in with your response mate!

IRM

I get where you're coming from too,and I agree,the threads are pointless. (unless one day it comes true,then we'll all bow down greacefully in defeat I'm sure) But until that day,it's tosh. But,what can be done about it? I mean,this is a forum where the wild and wonderful stories can come together under one roof so to speak. What kind of censorship would be needed? And let us not forget,one mans crappy GFL thread is another mans gold ect. I'd rather a place of true free speach,accepting the stupidly insane,and inane alike. Over a place where if posters thought it was BS,threads get deleted on say so.
It's a toughy.

After a quick whois, one can find out that the thread in question, is based on some claimings of this girl.
So, an appropriate title would have been "Girl claims that blah blah blah:
while its title is: GFL spaceship to appear Oct.14th, 2008 and the OP illustrates all basically in first person, with no external tags etc.

I'm NOT interested in GFL, and i don't care if someone takes seriously stuff like that: what disappoints me, is that we have some interesting stuff, actually related to this subject matter, that gets unnoticed because many focus on such a nonsense rather than on some REAL cases that are happening: there seems to be a worldwide wave of unexplained flying objects, two alleged ufo crashes, one of them extremely mysterious, indiana skies are being populated by strange lights, but the first three pages of aliens & ufos forum are a load of non sense started by trolls registered in the last 24/48 h (apart some good exceptions).
In my opinion something has to change, but in the meantime the best and most simple way to don't feed the trolls is to ignore them (in my humble opinion).


[edit on 6/8/2008 by internos]

Wouldn't it make sense for mods to just move the threads in question to more appropriate forums like "Skunk Works" or "The Gray Area" when they show up? Then everyone can have their free speech (which is important) and the more evidence based forums like "Aliens & UFO's" can run a little leaner and more productive.

I don't think we need any kind of limits on what kinds of ideas can be expressed on ATS, we just need those ideas to be in the appropriate forums.

Well, I give you a flag and star, because I absolutely agree with you and this was well said.

As a skeptic who is trying REALLY hard to find the truth of this topic....I [repeat myself] am really frustrated and disconcerted with the whole topic of UFOs/Aliens. I barely even visit this forum anymore, whereas, I used to visit it every day, thruout the day. I have to wade thru so much obvious crap lately, that I really dont feel like doing that anymore. So a skeptic I remain.

I also agree with Internos that everyone should just ignore this crap and stop giving these frauds such attention. The more attention they get, the more threads that are started.

I also think the MODS should immiedately remove these types of threads to The Gray Area or Skunk Works. That way people who dont want to wade thru it all can avoid it all together.

That's a great idea.....but of the 360 members currently logged in, how many of them are going to practice that philosophy.....a dozen maybe? Of the 2000 that were on in the last 6 hours, how many?

The reasonable people here don't have enough fingers to plug the leaks in the metaphorical forum dike.

(Metaphorical forum.....nifty huh?)

reply to post by internos

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I wholeheartedly Agree Internos!

The sad thing is that these reports of high interest, such as the Indiana reports you mentioned quickly get bumped off the main page due to the influx of troll threads and thus get lost within the massive archives at ATS.

If your not in a position to check the forum every hour, you may miss a real gem.

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I completely agree with Defiant Human that these types of threads should be quickly moved into a suitable area of the website such as "Skunk Works" or "The Gray Area". Freedom of speech is important but so is context for the sake of advancing this esoteric field of research.

Many Thanks For Your Wise Responses!

IRM

It is a level of ignorance that is beginning to pervade the grand halls of this great forum.

It isn't just the threads on GFL, or the "I am being chased by a horned demon" threads. Luckily, we haven't seen many "Indigo" threads in awhile (thank God). But the other childish crap is tiresome, and has decreased my average input on this site quite a bit (as well as others I enjoy reading).

Moreover, the posting style is getting bad. I think it is due to political sockpuppets...but i have seen several pages of posts in the "Tyson Foods/Labor Day" thread arguing about how it isn't right to take away Labor day for Islam. This, after i posted an email FROM TYSON stating that it wasn't true and that the employee were being given individual choices.

Until after the election is over, we are going to see all internet forums go in the toilet for awhile. Same thing happened 4 years ago, and is why i generally abhor politics.

Great thread OP.

I totally agree and follow this, I don't participate in threads I don't think are legit in hopes it will drop off the "recent posts" list.

So start a don't feed the trolls campaign or stay away from threads that get those tiny hairs up.