Ending The Political Trolling On AboveTopSecret.com

This U.S. presidential election season marks what many are seeing as a historic (and disturbing) alteration of the political playing field: the full-force integration of and utilization of the viral/social aspect of the Internet. Word of mouth and rumor-mongering has always been a key component of political campaigns (witness the Bush campaigns character assassination of McCain in 2000 via telephone push-polls). But now, the Internet provides a search-optimized method to inject character assassination and counter-productive rhetoric into the cultural landscape, and immediately measure the results.

Thousands upon thousands of blogs and discussion boards fall into the category of aggressive participant, unwilling contributor, and everything in between the full spectrum of online venues. Incendiary political rhetoric from previously unknown blogs are suddenly DUG into the mainstream awareness, sourced by "news organizations," and even used as "sources of news" here on ATS. The goal, as we all know, is to deflect national attention away from issues and waste precious time on the examination of lies and name calling.


On AboveTopSecret.com, This Stops Now.

Our staff will be reviving the less-used "Political Trolling" warning with impunity on all posts that fit the following description...

-1- Posts that contain little more than partisan name-calling

-2- Posts that focus on insulting rhetoric designed to deflect attention from issues

-3- Posts that cast blanket aspersions on one portion of the political spectrum without constructive issues-focused contributions

-4- Posts that contain nothing more than easily-provable false information about political candidates

-5- Related posts that, in the opinion of our staff, are not focused on the facts and issues of the thread, and instead are designed to deflect discussion into partisan bickering and disruption

NOTE: This may seem similar to the Bully Pulpit forum initiative, and in some ways we are applying the ideals of the new forum to all of ATS. However, in this case, the penalties are not as severe or swift as those in the Bully Pulpit.


The Political Trolling Warn Penalties

If you are pegged with a warning under this new initiative, the following will happen...

-1- Your entire post is removed and replaced with...


-2- You receive two warning flags

-3- You receive a 1,000 point penalty

-4- Three or more Political Trolling warns within a short period results in an immediate banning


This Takes Effect Immediately

Beginning with the date and time of the opening post of this thread, this new initiative will be in effect.

Our goal here is not to squash political debate, far from it. Our goal is to elevate the debate to an issues-focused environment where those who are concerned about the important national and international factors can freely engage each other in productive conversation.

Excellent. Good choice ATS!

I was getting sick and tired of wading through the endless posts in the political section where the thread was nothing more than name calling. It started to come across as a 3rd grade recess argument.

Hopefully everyone will take heed and the political discussion on ATS will mature to much more than it has been degenerating into.

looks like i'll be keeping to BTS, and keeping my opinions on politics to myself until elections are over. You claim this isn't to stifle discussion, but you must also be aware that some people have not learned to express their ideas the exact same way as you (and other mods). So, because they may lack refined debate skills, and therefore more prone to logical fallacies - they will be penalized for it? (no need for a detailed response, that was rhetorical)



[edit on 9-9-2008 by scientist]

Has something serious happened here on ats that this has come into immediate effect.

The problem i see with this sort of thing, is that we have a left slanting group of mods. Meaning they get to decide the definition of rhetoric and issues. Which will no doubt fall along political lines. Again and again I see mods taking actions that are CLEARLY partisan. The latest "flag" thread is the perfect example of it. It seems the only time mods have a problem with these threads, is when they are against democrats/Obama.

How do you plan on dealing with this problem? Is it simply to shut up all the right wing point of views?




[edit on 9-9-2008 by Dronetek]

Yes, I as a liberal would also like to know that. The truth of one side is the lie of the other.

YOu say the Mods are left leaning? I have to disagree. I see plenty of right leaning mods, as well as left, and left center, right center, neutral, etc, etc, etc. Half the mods aren't even form the USA.

Besides, I think one of the reason that mods are chosen to be mods is because they have the ability to put personal ideals aside when dealing with "mod" issues here on ATS.

I guess you'll be banning the two Presidential Candidates on ATS based on rule number 4.

Thanks for the heads up although Politics is not for me I do catch myself voicing my opinion on the subject time to time.

reply to post by Dronetek

---

That comment itself counts as political trolling in my opinion, because its not true...whatsoever.

Whats more, they all Moderate neutrally and discuss it with others before making decisions.

Oh_thank_God! I haven't want to complain, but ATS is above that nonsense - that can be found anywhere on the net.

ANY political opinion can be expressed without trolling, baiting, name-calling and rhetoric! If a person can't find a way, then they aren't being creative enough!

THANK YOU, SO! And it's great to see "you" back in your avatar.

Thanks to all who made this decision! I love you, man!

reply to post by Dronetek

---

There is also a 'right-leaning' group of mods with a pile of non-American mods in the middle.

We even ourselves out by discussing our actions on the boards prior to acting. This way bias is precluded.

I have considered being silent about my political opinions but what if I am the straw that breaks the back of the evil camel? I could remain silent until the blood of children splatters on me. Then I guess I would have to speak out.

Thankyou So, I am as everyone else concerned to say the least about the coming elections and the choices we have for candidates. However I have learned next to NOTHING on this my favorite site because I just do not have the energy to wade throught the muck to get to the pearls of wisdom that some of the members may be able to give me in my decission making process.

I will start looking for those pearls now that the ground rules have been laid.

As an Administrator of two message boards myself I understand this attempt at controlling the posts! This is fine as long as the mods don't make it a one sided affair. Like Scientist so aptly replied, some here are not as irridite as some and also not as politicaly aware as others. I believe this move will backfire on ATS. An open discussion will sometimes resort to low class by simple frustration by the users. But the ignore button is there for a purpose and should be used for this. Not the PTB making decisions on what is politicaly correct! It should be each individuals decision to ignore posters or not.
Just my 2 centavos!!!

Zindo

edit to add..only racial slurs should be moderated. Lies tend to be found out by themselves!

[edit on 9/9/2008 by ZindoDoone]

Please pardon the one-line reply, but



Thank you!

about time that our beloved overseer came back, we need this the political trolling is getting out of hand.

Thanks again.

What I see is the so called right wing members get upset when they think the Mods are being to leftist in their warnings; then the so called left wing members get upset when they think the Mods are being to right sided in their warnings. In other words just like a political office they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. A Mods decision will always make someone upset. So you just have to once in a while say that's life and deal with it. Me personally I am a middle of the road type guy so it does not bother me one bit. I think it is a good move....I must say I may have been guilty of this myself before once or twice.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord

---

Will the active Threads that have been created in the past but are obviously created to slander a Political Candidate be closed/Locked as well?

[edit on 9/9/08 by Lebowski achiever]

Sounds like an effort to be the policeman of your political kingdom, which as a serf, I can say only this.

I hope you don't take down legitimate points that disagree with your mods own political views as nothing more than as described in your following point:

5- Related posts that, in the opinion of our staff, are not focused on the facts and issues of the thread, and instead are designed to deflect discussion into partisan bickering and disruption.

The way some rumors become fact is someone posts them in an open discussion forum where people are free to read and do their own research on the matter. Trying to police the political forums will lead to decreased membership, and a nearly impossible task for the mods in my opinion.