The problem is, that these whacko paranoids are abundant on websites like this. They cite horrible sources that aren't credible by any means.
Sources from the late 90's, right before the "Y2K" fallout. It's really sad to see what some of these people post, and not being able to tell,
"is this person mentally ill?" or "do they have an agenda here," or "are they just trying to get attention?"
More often than not it's the later of the three, just somebody who wants "attention" or wants ATS points, or to raise their Flag Contribution
thing, whatever the hell it is.
The threads that actually mean something, with knowledgeable, well thought-out, and extremely well researched content, such as the ones by you
Skyfloating, or the ones by jkrog08 (even though they might sound completely insane), they at least provide ample amounts of content that's not just
crap that anyone could have made up.
I was a lurker on ATS since 04/05, and just recently started posting in the summer of 2008. I've seen my share of crazies here, but I've also seen
the occasional thread which makes me wonder "Gee..." One thing that adds to the problem are the people, who you're referring to. They'll walk in
and say "OMG IT'S PUBLISHED ON THE INTERNET, ON A SITE CODED IN HTML 1.0...IT MUST BE TRUE!!!" That's where the problem grows, as followers and
followers pile on the bandwagon, and the topic gets more and more attention.
As for real life, there are some idiots out there, but I think that it's more of the spectacle that we as individuals put on. I can make somebody
believe nearly anything within reason. I'm a pretty good communicator, and have acted many times in several productions, in front of 1,000s of
people. So it's easy for me to walk up to a single individual and put on a show.




