Conpsiracies in CiR

This thread is purely self analytical.

If you want stars and flags, or to have your back patted like a good little puppy, all you have to do is come to the CiR forum. You don't even need to post anything even REMOTELY CLOSE to a conspiracy. Just ramble on about "God is an alien" or "God doesn't love you" or "God is your own image" or "God is a dog" or simply make some other atrociously illogical statement.

I am truly tired of seeing these nonsensical threads that only serve the purpose of bashing religion and/or God. I am tired of ATS allowing the BS to continue. It's getting ridiculous, mostly in the CiR forum.

Lately all I have seen has been personal attacks, and in abundance mind you. There has been no conspiracy, other than two groups(religous and secularists) gathering in a mass-brawl in hopes that they might somehow alter the others opinion. It's ridiculous. Stop the madness. Please, I'm begging you.

I think I may go create a one-liner thread entitled "Hatred for God" with the first line being "you know exactly what I mean" and rack up a good 150 stars...roughly 80 flags......

"YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN...."(don't you...?)

A2D

reply to post by Agree2Disagree


There is a reason people show so much hate for religion my friend...sometimes they release that anger and hatred in illogical and ill mannered ways...but I still understand their hatred and why they say the things they do...maybe you'll find this thread I wrote useful...it might give you insight into why some people feel the way they do...it's written only using pure logic and fact without throwing meaningless hateful remarks into the picture...

You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!

reply to post by CHA0S


I understand why people FEEL the way they do. What I don't understand is why they REACT the way they do....

It's sickening.

This seems to be an emotional forum. In all forums, where the posters have an emotional attachment to their opinions, stars and flags are more readily given. Instead of honouring an insightful or well researched post, stars are awarded to those, who share ones preconceived ideas. There seems to exist a subconscious impulse to award “ones own side” more stars. I have caught myself doing the same, especially in threads about war and peace. If you self-reflect a bit, you might probably recognize, that you are doing the same.

reply to post by Drunkenshrew


I seldom give stars or flags...

It really takes an outstanding post for me to S&F it...it really has to make me go

Instead, the majority of threads I run across make me

I rarely star posts and until now I have never flagged a thread. That has changed today.

The moderators (probably out of frustration) have allowed this subforum to lapse into a swamp of off topic vitriol.

What percentage of threads in CiR are actually about conspiracies these days? 50%? I doubt it's that high.

The fault lies with both sides, with a huge amount of 'God doesn't exist' threads being in opposition to 'Here's why you should be religious threads'. Sadly, both are misplaced and should be in Faith and Spirituality in BtS.

It's been extremely annoying to watch CiR become the wild west of ATS. No rules, no laws and everyone shooting from the hip.

I would prefer draconian enforcement over this complete lack of adherence to the threads purpose. For crying out loud, there is even a sticky that explains that threads should be about conspiracies.

Eric

reply to post by EricD


BTS is the CIR trashcan. Threads do get moved their often. But IMO, it is more about the topics the mods don't like than it is to do anything which conspiracies.

In the end, it's really just a form of censorship. ATS gets far more attention than BTS. And if a thread gets popular in CIR, then it has a chance of being front page, and thus alot of attention. But as soon as a topic starts to gain attention and such, then it is moved to BTS, removing it from the front page and so forth.

The 2 "religious" sections are really nothing other than a silent way for them to censor things.

Yeah it is pretty easy to get a lot of attention posting in CiR. All you have to do is pick a topic and choose a side. Then make a retarded statement and back it up in the most illogical way. like
Why does God hate atheists?

If god is so powerful then why does he hate atheists and why did he even create them?

www.abovetopsecret.com...
I proposed that to try and calm the waters.


[edit on 21-12-2009 by zaiger]

reply to post by Agree2Disagree


The political forums are probably even worse. But I don't even bother to go into those. Stars and Flags are all about playing on peoples biases in all sections.

I just don't worry about them. It's kind of funny, but I can write a rather lengthy post with information in it, and not get a single star from other people. But then I get 500 points from a mod who actually read the post and such. The majority of my points have easily came from mods, rather than users(and not because i'm easy on the mods, or buddy buddy with them either).

The problem is - what can ATS really do about it? The 2 sections things bothers me, but in terms of ranking what is important what other alternative is there? If you just allow the mods to do it, then people will cry bias(and have reason too). And if you allow the users to bump up things, then in most cases it's all about people's biases as well.

Even if you just use the most active threads, you will get the same thing really. As the "I'm an alien come to help you" threads will still get lots of action.

In the end, all a person can really do is recognize that stars and flags have little to no value overall. Or users can start to star and flag better posts. I personally rarely star and flag. I don't normally think about it. The only time I do star and flag is when I just really really agree with someone - but isn't that the problem in itself?

I've noticed this aswell but can completely understand peoples reasons for feeling the way they do, allthough I don't think someone saying ''god isn't real'' deserves a star! I don't give those stars away, and i'm guessing plenty of people would not agree with everything I star,