Originally posted by Confused and Dazed!
What is it you want to know? Whose asking and why?

Generally, this is how it is when dealing with the public. It is like trying to herd cats! The question is not only misinterpreted from the beginning, but, instant fodder for an argument. Once you begin to deal with intelligence levels from the very stupid to the over educated, you'll end up with every kind of answer but the one you had hoped for.

This is why, I generally no longer ask anyone for their opinion, or thoughts on anything. What little sanity I have left, I'd like to hang onto...

I am in no way making fun of you I just wanted to tell you first off the image of herding cats going through my mind needs to be in a movie.
And secondly....I agree with you.

simplest answer is either they dont understand the question and dont want to admit it or they dont have the answer and dont want to admit it. Either way there seems to be a growing number of them here, maybe its the new generation. *shrugs*

What are you asking?

Ask yourself the same question over again.

If it is important, should you be asking somebody else other than ATS?

Begs to question, should ATS have a disclaimer of for "Entertainment Purposes, Only?"

Heck, if your blind, go to an opthamalogist.

my personal philosophy is if they cant answer the question they dont know what they are talking aboiut ... or if they skirt your factual findings and produce their own its fairly easy to tell they cant fight you on it ... i usually categorize that as a win, that is if this was a competition

Since the fall of the Roman Empire, people have been looking for Gladiatorial pastimes, and ATS falls into that category. It's so easy for people to drop by and go Yah, Boo, Sucks on any subject they know nothing whatsoever about.

There are also people of limited abilities in the Literacy Department, with difficulty expressing themselves when debating an ATS topic, and who can't answer questions.

Originally posted by Tallsorts
Since the fall of the Roman Empire, people have been looking for Gladiatorial pastimes, and ATS falls into that category. It's so easy for people to drop by and go Yah, Boo, Sucks on any subject they know nothing whatsoever about.

I agree with that statement. I get the feelling we have lots of energy, something passed down from our past, we need to dissipate it. It seems that having a life, a job, a family or sorts and pursuing his/hers own interests is not enough. People like when something adrenaline-intensive is going on. Something incorporating shouting sounds nice

A little off topic, but, let me opine;

I am an Average Joe! No one special, or even remotely above average. Just run of the mill...including my smarts. I did have an IQ test once, and it showed me to be on the upper higher end of average...Nothing that is going to allow my membership into Mensa! I could care less!

What I operate on, or at least try to do, is use both gut instinct from 60+ years of life, and common sense. ( something that seems to be sorely missing for the common equation )

When I view all the entries of ATS, and BTS, I scan them of general content, and then decided if it is anything that I want to add my 2 cents in on...

Generally, and often enough, the subject is of no interest to me, or I don't know enough about it, to make any statements that would add to the discussion.

I am not looking for arguments on anything. I know my limitations, and am comfortable with that. I am not going to try to baffle anyone with my B.S. if I cannot dazzle them with my brilliance. Why show off your ignorance, by making comments on something when you have no intellectual ground to stand on? Been there and done that, and learned many a lesson.

There are many sharp folks on ATS, who will call you out, if you think you can just lay "word turds" on ATS, and no one will notice!
That is half of the fun of this web site...watching others get "Creamed" because they dared to try it...

The other part, is reading posts from some of you, who spend a lot time and energy researching, and then posting your theories, or findings...for our perusal...

Often, I am totally amazed at what some of you come with. This is what keeps me coming back for more. I love to learn something new, or be made aware of a new way of looking at something. This is how it should be.

However, I am going to fall into a trap of someone trying Bull Bait the conversation...you can tell who they are, because of the Road Blocks, Off Topic, and Violation signs that they receive.

For those who just what to rock the boat with mindless tripe...( I hope I am not one of them ) " Ignore this user" option is as good as pushing the flush handle! Bye Bye word turds!

So, answering questions forth rightly, honestly, and with decorum, while preserving the Espirit De Corps, should be the rule, not the opposite.

Now back to regularly scheduled programming! Let the debate resume.

Originally posted by MKULTRA
Therefore, one reason some people might not answer questions is because they may perceive the questioner as attempting to initiate a debate using a Socratic questioning format. Very rarely do I see questioners state, "I'm not trying to start a debate with you, I'm really trying to clarify what you meant."

I think this is a big part of it. Being questioned automatically puts some people on the defensive even if you're just trying to clarify what they mean. Generally speaking I try to remember to put it in my post if I'm asking a question for the sake of clarity. It's been my experience though that even when making it clear that the questions are for clarity and not argument, the person being questioned still responds as though you hadn't done so and often gets argumentative anyway.

I find that some people have logical minds, and some people have emotional minds. Who knows, there may be other ways of constructing thoughts and ideas in the human brain? I have noticed that one set has a hard time understanding the other set.

Whereas we logical minded people easily build ideas with words and logic and layers of foundation based in reality or what we perceive to be reality derived from our senses, those who are emotionally minded derive their sense of reality from within their feelings and intuition and have a more abstract sense of reality. Thus when they think and relate to people, it is very difficult for them to not include their emotions and feelings and those connections to themselves.

It is like two different people looking at a painting. One sees the skill and technique involved in making the painting, and even the color palette and how it affects one philosophically. While the emotional minded person walks up to the painting and is immediately stunned by the image of a shadowy figure holding his head in his hands as he seems to be screaming under a sky filled with warped and streaming bands of fire. They feel the painting in the pit of their stomachs, they feel the way that person feels. We can do so too, if we let down our guard and try to imagine what Vincent Van Gogh felt or wanted us to feel from the painting. And the emotionally minded can put aside their emotions for a minute and examine the philosophy and coloring and detail in the painting called The Scream. But I find people are rather lazy when it comes to adopting to the weaknesses and strengths of others, in general. And truth be told, logical or emotional, many people I know do not think very much at all, about anything. And that is why I love this site so much, people here think. And we ask questions.

Maybe, some people just can't answer those questions without feeling attacked because their answer seemed well thought out for someone who is rather emotional mostly. But I will say this, if a person joins a conversation where answers and questions are taking place, then they need to adopt to the situation or refrain from entering the conversation. It is like finding a group of people who speak a foreign language, and then stepping into that group and demanding that they speak and talk like you do, or getting angry, not at yourself, but at them when they can't understand what you mean.

I think we need patience for some. And for others who are annoyingly stubborn and childish? A big flyswatter.

Why are people on ATS incapable of answering questions?

Maybe if you'd actually presented a question, someone might actually attempt to answer it.

For crying out loud, do you work for the Obama White House? You complain that no one is capable of answering your question, yet you fail to even ask a direct question. Do you even bother to read your own posts?

i dont know but ur examples were hilarious.

I think that the main problem is that everyone wants to be right all the time. If you respond to a post on a topic and it differs from someone they see that as you saying they are wrong and you are right. Not everyone is llke that of course but it seems to set some people off.

Conspiracy sites in general are full of people who are "right" and the more political the issue the more you get emotional responses instead of actual facts.

I have been married for 16 years and I seem to be wrong all the time according to my wife. I have better conversations with my cat than my wife it seems....at least I get to be right with the cat!

(of course the cat thinks I am to opinionated most likely).

I think 80% of ATS is peoples opinions and 20% is researched fact.

So, I don't see why it should be a problem for a person to be asked to expand on their opinion and why they hold it, or how they came to that conclusion should another person ask. Whats wrong with that?

After all, a posters opinion isn't like facts that you can look up in a book or on a website. It's their own personal take on a subject that is individual to them.
So the only way of knowing is to ask.

If people get their panties in a bunch because you are interested enough to want to know WHY they think something, then the problem is theirs not yours.

But that's only my OPINION.

[edit on 31-10-2009 by Flighty]

Yes, I agree with the skeptics. I am new here, but already, I have had no response to my posts last week where I declared that I no longer believe in this alen junk, ESPECIALLY the Dulce Papers nonsense.

With radical and enormous claims, you must give powerful evidence. Otherwise you slander the innocents who actually work Dulce or other places for military defense of this country by secretly doing research.

I do not believe the government and military are innocent saints. I do believe there are some humans getting hurt and "tested". But thats about it. I need confirmation and physical proof that is publicly accessable to me and the public to test IN FRONT OF EVERYONE. If you have artifacts or items, then use them and demonstrate them. Enought talk.

Why are people on ATS incapable of answering questions?

Well, judging from the amount of responses [answers ] you've gotten so far on this topic alone, if I were you I'd word my questions a bit more carefully because it's obvious that they are. Maybe not all of them, but some people obviously are.

I've read some of your posts and if I were you I would lower my expectations of people a bit more. You'll be less dissapointed if you do.



Peace