Hoaxers should be banned.

Here's the bottom line, I like to read a lot of things on this site and as I take many things with a grain of salt, I, as I'm sure many others do as well, do not appreciate wasting our time with garbage hoaxers. When people make new threads predicting something happening in the future at a specific date(i.e. crop circles predicting solar flares on a specific date), and then it does not happen, they should be banned from this site (if possible their ip-address). There's just too much to read (overwhelmingly so for new comers) and things that may be truly important could easily get over looked due to the spamming of hoaxers. These people who hoax are just looking for the fame of getting many people to comment on their threads and are wasting many peoples' time. I really hope something can be done about this from ats veterans who can call some of these people out. It's one thing if people are just passing something along that they've read somewhere else, but its the people who are really trying to convince others that something was going to happen and didn't that are the ones to blame. Hope you all agree, and if you do, please show your support, maybe something will be done about them.

reply to post by Afishl1

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well if you post 3 things that turn out to be hoaxes you get banned...

and i like the idea of banning people making claims people fall for (somehow) but i think all those people will eventually start making claims about things decades in the future, so they technically cant be proven wrong.

Okay, I agree to a certain point. I do believe that people creating threads with the knowledge of what they are doing is wrong, and are aware that they are posting a self made hoax, should be in some way dealt with.

However, I don't think they should be banned completely. For first time offenses, I think either a warning or temporary posting ban should be imposed. For repeat offenses, then they should look into a full site banning.

Another issue is if someone is posting a Hoax, but they are unaware that is is a hoax. Therefore, you can not hold them responsible as they are only reporting on what they have found.

I agree that it is annoying, and frustrating. But sadly, its just one of those things.

[edit on 3-7-2009 by Scooby Doo]

I would of preferred this thread to of been made elsewhere than the introduction forum.

It is not a hoax if it is in the predictions forum. Thats why there is a prediction forum. Nostradamus got more than 3 wrong should we ban Nostradamus talk?
How about people that make simple mistakes? Maybe them too?

Their is a HUGE difference between HOAXERS and people that get things wrong. And if your into the predictions forum then you can expect alot of people to get it wrong... I'm sure the TimeWaveZero project even has a few wrongs but that is to be expected.. Predictions change as does the future. And sometimes things are just wrong but that does not automatically earn them a HOAX tag..

A HOAX tag is serious business and normally does get the HOAXER perma banned.

wait a sec...you must evaluate the members contribution also because if its clear he has been hoaxed too come on..it happened to me once..i received an email saying it had actual photos of flight Af 447...i posted them here when they actually were photos from the series LOSt (which i didnt see..i banned TV long time ago from my life).....do you beleive i should be banned?

I'm glad other people feel me on this, ... it gets a little much sometimes, ...... here's a thread about this I created like two years ago ...... and updated earlier today.


www.abovetopsecret.com...

well you do have a point if they dont know you cant really blame them, but then again that might be a sign that they hadnt researched well enough. but this is probably one of those "each instance is reviewed on a case by case basis" type deals.

I don't like the idea of banning people. You have to take into account that they themselves might believe what they post.

Adding something into their profile is a possibility, however, some people might object because before you know it you have a sort of WW2-Ghetto thing going on.

There is a SUBSTITUTE!!!

You can ban a member!!!

It's the greatest thing about ATS!!!

Look to your left, there is a Ignore Button, it's better then banning! It's a personal ban!

In the situation that someone has mistakenly posted a hoax, the only thing we can do is give them the benefit of the doubt.

Here's a thought:


If you ban someone, they can just turn around and make a new account. Then, they can proceed to post more fraudulent material.

However, if you don't ban the hoaxers, then soon those accounts will gain reputations of being hoaxers, and people will recognize their names and ignore their threads.

Also, as another poster mentioned, this is a conspiracy site, and much of the information related to these subjects is dubious. It is very likely that posters could be unwillingly duped into posting hoaxes (remember the recent Jeff Goldblum hoax? It made into NZ's MSM). Therefore, I believe discretion is the best course of action when dealing with hoaxers, rather than outright banning.

Guys, deliberate hoaxing is against the T&C.

So far as I can tell, ATS staff has a very good handle on it.

And trust me, you wont believe the amount of grief they get over it.

reply to post by drwizardphd

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He said it best, simply hit, Ignore User, and you'll never see them again. Even if they create a thread.

It's great. I've ignored one person today, their an alien or something, but have by gods grace joined ats.

I'm here for people who have severe intellectual knowledge and can back something up.

Wow guys, my bad, I am a newbie LOL. I def need to read the handbook. I agree with a lot of what has been said, there are so many different situations and circumstances. I didn't know about the personal ban, that's pretty cool. I would have posted elsewhere but I don't think I'm allowed to yet. Honest mistakes don't deserve banning. People's overall record(accuracy of things coming to fruition) def should be taken into account. It seems like most things are predictions even if they aren't in the predictions section. All in all, i just felt this subject needed to be addressed even if it already has been since there are many threads that are frustrating and irritating.

Is there a section that shows things that have come true or been proven through evidence? People should automatically get on "HOT/TOP" topics who have great records and put up interesting/important topics(especially ones that truly & significantly effect people). I know, I def need to read the handbook, I'm sure all this stuff is in there. I just wish there was some way to know people's credibility/attributes, although that doesn't mean a newbie couldn't post something very important. Maybe there could be a way for people to vote on how important something is so that people could come together and fight issues that really matter.

reply to post by Afishl1

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The hand book you say!

One part handbook here

Terms and conditions and basicly what is expected of us

The history part is interesting too.

reply to post by Afishl1

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The only people whose credibility of accurate predictions, are those who provide why how and when something will occur, and why it will occur then.

If someone claims to be an angel demon alien, just hit ignore, you'll find nothing more then that digusting facade.

If it seems odd, don't twist your beliefs look at it, and decide for yourself, does it make sense, is it logical? If it doesn't seem so, screw em, and hit ignore, because there liars.

There is no disinfo agents, just people that like to poke fun.

As someone said before,unless you catch them red handed how can we possibly know who's telling the truth,this is a Conspiracy Site! If anyone should be banned its the troll's, they are in an abundance on this site,they should not be ignored, but Banned.Plenty of people here personally attack others under the name of In MY OPINION.It's fine for everyone to have an opinion but its not OK to attack someone ,or ridicule them for having it,there's a difference.State your opinion and move on.Dont make sarcastic remarks or put downs and think your Oh so clever.Your not.Having a big deep breath now.It's what really turns me off this site sometimes, and I like it here.In and Out.....Im fine now.Thanks for reading my Rant.

Have added quite a few friends on this thread alone!

Surprised because of it!

Just some clarification. There's no threshold of "three hoaxes and you're banned" or anything like that. Anyone posting information they know is false is banned, period.

Sometimes people bring info to the table they believe to be true, but turns out to be wrong. There's no official "penalty" for being wrong. Bringing info to the forums for discussing and vetting is what we're all about. Some of it will turn out to be wrong, and frequently some of it will turn out to be inconclusive.

But we have no patience for someone deliberately perpetrating a hoax. The official policy is to ban hoaxers. No Warning process, no extended time-outs. Banned.

If you haven't seen the Terms and Conditions Lite, give it a look. I can make it even simpler, "Don't be a jerk".

Sounds like a great plan, but how do you know someone is hoaxing? We all fall for hoaxes on occasion, and some of us may wind up publishing them here before finding out they were hoaxes. Are we going to punish those who are well-intentioned, but perhaps a little bit gullible? And how do you know who's deliberately hoaxing, and who just fell for someone else's hoax?

The idea requires us to be able to read someone's mind, to know whether they were hoaxing or just mistaken. I know I can't read anyone's mind. I barely know my own mind. I don't think it's a good idea to ban hoaxers, simply because we have no objective, reliable way of identifying who they are.

But maybe we could keep a reliability score on members, voted by the other members. The more reliable a post, the more up votes they get. If their posts tend to be nonsense or poorly researched or documented, they get down votes. Those who post poor articles would have a low (or perhaps negative) score, which could alert others that this member may not be offering high-quality information. If it' too low, people could just skip that person's posts.