The SUSPENSION of illicit drugs/mind altering substance topics on ATS (The experiment failed)

Originally posted by TrustMeIKnow

I think we should see what happens and then discuss the viability of the process as it turns out prior to submitting to the fact that we are incapable of this responsibility.

Very good!

Once again the voices all speak chaotically and the opportunity passes.

One problem I have is that too much of this thread is being carried by a handful of people.

There is a strong member base here and I would expect that some of the less vocal yet very competent members are getting lost in the smoke and mirrors.


[edit on 26-2-2009 by interestedalways]

reply to post by Odessy


If you go to the OP and follow the Update links it should get you oriented.

The nominations are for a member participants in a committee charged with figuring out a way to bring legitimate drug topics back to ATS without the pitfalls that led to today's announcement. As requested by SO.

reply to post by DocGonzo


I agree, listen, i can go either way. I am not afraid to step on a few toes here, i can wait till tommorow, and see who wins, it doesn't matter too me.

Or we can have skeptic, choose, again, i would not mind staff pick.

But we have to agree on something here, i cannot go to bed know i spent 15 hours on this thread, only to go back about 50 pages lol

and those all thos smileys i put in my last post, together they mean i am going crazy ROFL

reply to post by DocGonzo


I agree with DocGonzo on this one - we've already made our move, just let it play out and see how it goes before we start changing things again.

Regardless of the complaints, there's still no reasons to suggest the original plan will fail.

[edit on 26/2/09 by Navieko]

reply to post by DocGonzo


I think they would consider the general reputations of members, not just this thread. Heck, they can ignore this thread.

They're going to pick. Like, it might be soon or it might be in a long time but there will be no agreement and it's clear that the members can't decide themselves or work it out themselves.

To recap:

We can't have all the members vote because not all of the members will log on to vote within a given time.
We can't use the list of nominees that we have because people still want to nominate more people.
We can't have the nominees pick because the nominees aren't fair.
We can't have the members eliminate members because it would be like public personal attacks.

That's how I see it. If the staff picks:
It would allow for a more permanent committee
It wouldn't really be able to be questioned
More than one staff member would need to be involved. All of them, maybe. They don't all have the same friends and foes. And most of them don't tolerate suck ups.
The staff is a permanent fixture and members come and go. The staff typically knows members better than we do (which get more warnings, or which take part in which forums, etc... they just know it better)
They could pick from all the members and perhaps be required not to even reference this thread while choosing

If the staff picks... it would be best because the staff would probably end up changing whoever we decide on either because they don't approve or because too many members complain about how they got elected.

Originally posted by darcon
reply to post by DocGonzo

 

But we have to agree on something here, i cannot go to bed know i spent 15 hours on this thread, only to go back about 50 pages lol

Yeah,this is exactly what I mean.You guys have all been working most of the day to get a voting system going and everything.

To me it'd be counter-productive to just drop the whole thing and tell SO to pick.

Originally posted by darcon


I agree, listen, i can go either way. I am not afraid to step on a few toes here, i can wait till tommorow, and see who wins, it doesn't matter too me.

No disrespect meant to you, darcon. I respect and admire the effort you have displayed, yet the above points an arrow to the heart of the problem.

No one is winning a contest! That mentality in this process is very detrimental and not what we need to represent the membership in this important endeavor.

When I say endeavor I mean coming up with a good idea for staff consideration to amend the harsher rules on an existing policy.

and those all thos smileys i put in my last post, together they mean i am going crazy ROFL

See what I mean?

[edit on 26-2-2009 by interestedalways]

reply to post by Resinveins


But if the At Large included most (or all) of those that were on that list what would your feelings be then? I will tell you that very few openly stated why they should be considered and what their qualification were. But yet quite a majority of those listed are indeed qualified to represent in a fair manner. I personally had difficulty voting for just 6 and would have found it hard to name 10 or even 15 to just narrow the field.

Don't believe that it was hard? U2U me which 6 you would have voted for if you had to pick from those 30. Include commentary as to why they had your vote if you wish. Keep in mind that most of them voted by conscience and not by familiarity and popularity. Or to really feel the pressure of it, U2U me why your were better than all 30.

Now think of doing all that publicly. While people were both complaining and crying fowl on every level while directly placing the blame squarely on your shoulders. All of which is a T&C violation. None of them to my knowledge has asked for that to be enforced. And some have have been hit hard. Some have withdrawn over it.

As for myself, very few have even said "boo" to me. I have actually got off light compared to some. If you can answer that, let me know.

Ok peeps, just for some clarification.

I U2Ued SO a little earlier to ask for some guidance as to how we should proceed. With his permission, I will post our conversation.

In part:

Hi SO,
Could you please let us know if the staff is going to pick which seems to be the first option or if we should continue with the internal vote...

He very kindly responded:

if a vote is already started, we should let that finish

reply to post by ravenshadow13


No it's not clear that we can't do this without the staff picking.

The vote ends at 3 P.M. tomorrow.If we can't come to a decision tomorrow,THEN we have failed to get something done.

Also if they consider the General Reputations of the people involved,then you can pretty much count me out.

Especially after the whole "Chat is Closed Due To Stoner Idiots" thread.

Point is,I challenged SO on that whole issue,and while I would hope he wouldn't,there is a chance that he'd hold it against me that I'm willing to speak out about that kind of thing.

Reputation isn't what we're supposed to be considering is it? the nominees list was made up of people who were knowledgeable,or felt that they were knowledgeable on the subject at hand.

[edit on 2/26/2009 by DocGonzo]

Thank you all for the updates. I will check them out and then return, hopefully with some helpful info/ideas.

-Odessy

reply to post by ravenshadow13


what do you say we wait until the vote tomorrow.

If the members of ATS really hate the committee thats formed, then we can let the staff decide. I think that is fair enough.

reply to post by Ahabstar


I'll say in public that you are very wise and I have not had any problem with anything you have said, which is why I didn't really respond. I apologize because we are saying a lot of the same things and I haven't really thanked you, even though I meant to a number of pages ago.

reply to post by schrodingers dog


So, our vote, as initiated with BH, continues.

End of story.

reply to post by schrodingers dog


YES!!!!

AN ANSWER HOLY SMOKES!

We let the vote pass, thats it, Wow

reply to post by schrodingers dog


nice job SDog

I think that solves that. BH can post results at 3 tomorrow, or earlier if she's got all the votes tallied and wants to. And then we can all roll around in the muck again

Originally posted by interestedalways
There is a strong member base here and I would expect that some of the less vocal yet very competent members are getting lost in the smoke.

No drug references!

Anyway, PLEASE PLEASE just freaking pick somebody. One of you are going to end up in the ER from stress and sleep deprivation.

double post*

[edit on 26-2-2009 by Odessy]

reply to post by americandingbat


I think BH might Soil herself at how much the Thread has grown again. She will have to read through tons of posts, just to get to the conclusion that we are going through with it, somebody should U2U the poor Girl

[edit on 26-2-2009 by darcon]

And okay. Wait until tomorrow? I can do that. The only thing I suggest everyone do if they weren't here when it happened is to take a look back to
www.abovetopsecret.com...

There and the next 7 pages or so. These are the concerns other members have. And this is why I don't think the voting results will be acceptable by everyone. And I really kind of do think they have a point.

I know how much effort was put into the voting. I was there. But it doesn't make it right, you know? We didn't know these people were so upset and concerned and I think that it's very important.