just noticing couple of posts, last few days
people seem to post threats against ATS, whats up with that
is this a new Trend or has it always been there

What amazes me is that those people who are making the threats against other members and the site re - pro israeli members , are still allowed to spew their hate and threats and are not banned for good!

And i cannot post what i would like to about these people or in response to their posts because my post would be removed due to manners or decorum, yet they can still threaten legal action etc openly

I haven't seen many threats (perhaps three or four from the same group of members), but I was shocked by the audacity when I saw them. The implications were so off base that I actually got a bit peeved. Threatening to turn ATS in for being a hate site and that the stigma would be difficult to remove are simply desperate efforts of the "thought police" to silence anyone that legitimately criticizes any of the actions of the state of Israel.

Israel/Zionism...not Jews.

I have yet to see anyone say "the Jews are evil", and if I did I would know that the foolish person doing so is in the minority and not among the ranks of the reasoned people expressing their thoughts on the Zionist movement and its actions.

I would ban those threatening the site...however that could only seem to semi-validate their false claims and cause unnecessary grief to this very open and very fair website. The Mods do a good job for the most part of keeping things reasonable and still allowing us the platform to express our opinions freely without them being an outright assault on a group of people. I say this while knowing that some threads have bordered on that and still annoyed me yet they were still handled in a way as to not push hate, or were debated by those that spoke maturely.

Knowing this, the threats are nauseating.



- Lee

Originally posted by cropmuncher
What amazes me is that those people who are making the threats against other members and the site re - pro israeli members , are still allowed to spew their hate and threats and are not banned for good!

i would say that the Anti-israeli posts are just as hurtful and pointlessly vindictive as the pro-israeli.

the whole thing just stinks at the mo.


ATS needs the warning sign(yellow thingy lol) back up...
A propaganda war is being waged on ATS and it is not good

[edit on 13/1/09 by blupblup]

Originally posted by bodrul
also have you forgotton you little hidden threat against this site in the middle east forum, something to do with the ADL or something calling on ATS to be a hate site and something that would be hard to shake off?

backatchya.

I have no 'hidden threats'.

I stated a FACT. And I just restated it in my previous post.

If people spew venom just for the sake of venom then the ADL will list this site as a hate site.

That's not a threat. I didn't say I was going to go running somewhere and report this place. I stated a FACT.

I also said that it is VERY EASY to get listed as a hate site. It doesn't take much. Many groups (anti-catholic, anti-gay, anti-______ fill in the blank) love to get places listed as 'hate sites'

It is COMMON SENSE to be careful how you post.
Listing facts is great.
Spewing venom such as 'israel is full of subhuman pigs' is not.

It's very simple to comprehend.
Those are FACTS - not threats.

If you got nothing to hide, what good is a threat. I think it is just an overheated argument and somebody made a threat they ordinary wouldn't make. I have been called a Zionist many times among other names and I shake it off because I know the person on the other side is merely trying to get his opinion across at all costs. No love loss because in reality there will be other topics or issues in which we will agree on. If somebody makes a threat, the best thing to do is to ignore it and just move on. By focusing in on it, we are merely making the issue bigger than what it really is.

ATS is not a hate site. It doesn't bother me when a very few people say negative things about us.

I just consider the source and realize that they are ignorant.

I do feel that when our site or a member is threatened the ban hammer should be used.

Originally posted by bodrul
question remains what makes someone anti Jewish,

Guess I missed that in your post. Sorry.

What makes someone anti-Jewish? Good question.
I think you should start a thread about it.

'israel is full of subhuman pig?
who said that and has anyone said that

Oh bodrul .. you should see what some of those who have been banned in the past week have said. Seriously .. it would make your head spin. Some of the names they picked as screen names were vile as well. There are a few posting here at ATS now (not you) who have definately crossed over the line. Not many. But a few.

It would be easy for a place like the ADL to zero in on posts like that.

Everyone has to be mature when they post.
Not slicing into freedom of speech, but we all should be more mature.

And as I said - that goes for everything - anti-catholic, anti-gay, anti-whatever. watchdog groups looooooove to add places to their hate lists.

Originally posted by dizziedame
ATS is not a hate site.

I agree. And let's keep it that way. The mods are banning the new trolls. Let's all be careful with the wording in the the anti-_______ posts.
It's not a big deal. It's not that hard to do.

Once a site gets listed as a hate site, the fact is that it is hard to shake off.
Let's not behave in a manner that will get this place listed.

And if someone threatens to go running to an oversight place like the ADL, or some other watchdog group, then hopefully there won't be anything here for them to find.

The examples I've seen tend to be when a pro-Israel poster has run out of argument, they're pretty much beaten so they resort to hate-speech and that garners a reaction, then they protest and claim to be the victim.

It's hard to combat these posts because they refuse to answer real questions, they deflect and avoid any difficult evidence and resort to low tactics to get a response they can scream about.

I know I've come close to losing my cool a couple of times, but I'll not stop confronting them on the evidence until I see them explain why they support these acts.

It is very sad that they have to make false claims and accuse ATS, and members, but they have very few weapons when confronted by the evidence of Israels war crimes.

The most disapointing is that some members look like they have lost their ability to respect other members points of view. Respect is the most important aspect af a healthy discussion.

Well, this is certainly an interesting topic...

I think we must first step back and take a look at what exactly ATS is.

What we are discussing is a forum; a message board; a collection of ideas from users around the world.

That would present an interesting dilemma for such "watchdog" groups, wouldn't it, because here on ATS we have members who come from all walks of life and have all sorts of opinions.

Do some people consider the opinions of others to be offensive? Sure. That's the nature of discussion. People will disagree. In fact, often times we meet a topic that becomes very intense and we have numerous members on either "side" of the equation who might express a lot of anger towards each other. It happens.

Here on ATS we are governed by a very clearly stated set of rules that every member agrees to abide by when they sign up initially. That set of rules, known here as the T&C are the guidelines for how we operate. For our members and our staff they are the rules.

For many years, and through countless hours of work from our staff, we have done a fine job moderating this site and making sure the T&C are followed by all members.

With that being said, I will state here and now in no uncertain terms, ATS does not respond to threats of any sort, and will not alter its policies or rules because of the fear of being reported to any group, no matter who that group might be.

We have our own rules against hate speech. When a member violates those rules, that member is dealt with. We will not entertain input from anyone regarding the actions our staff take to combat hate speech here, whether it is from other members, or from "watchdog" groups.

So let me make this abundantly clear, this is a community site. If you disagree with what a member of the community says, debate him or her. If you feel they have expressed themselves in a hateful manner, report him or her. It will be dealt with in a manner that the ownership and executive staff of ATS deem proper. Not some outside body.

Hate speech is something we take very seriously here and we deal with it according to our rules which have been put in place to protect our members. The spectre of "watchdog" groups not liking what some of our members have to say is of no interest to ATS.

For clarification purposes, please keep in mind that a forum, such as ATS, is a collection of opinions and statements from THOUSANDS of people. Classifying a forum as a "hate site" would clearly be a mistake as the forum and its official representatives do not participate in any hate speech. So... if someone wishes to report a statement to an outside group rather than to the people who can address it (namely our staff) you're acting in a backwards manner that helps no one.

I hope this will be the end of this odd "trend" because frankly it's rather tiresome. We've enforced our T&C for many years and don't require any assistance.