Forum Gang Activity On the Rise on Ats?

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler
I am curious to know how many other people have encountered this problem where they feel organize forum gangs are in fact singling them or their posts out, or their threads out to primarily discredit and disrupt rather than add anything of substance.

I think the issue here is that people feel their opinions are validated and they feel like they're "one up" with the use of the star system. Almost like giving a star to a post adds to the "rightness" of their opinion. The more stars, the more people agree with me and the more it proves that I'm right.

It's when being right outweighs the facts that we get into trouble. I think humans are VERY attached to being right. Many times to the detriment of the truth.

To answer your question, sure, I've seen the same people come into threads and "gang up" on me. It doesn't really bother me, though, because I welcome the challenge to my views. I think it's important I constantly challenge my opinions.

Fact is, we CANNOT control what goes on in threads (beyond reporting T&C violations) and if people want to gang up and try to make me look wrong, that's what they're going to do. If other people see that and think, "Wow, that BH is really wrong! She got her hat handed to her"! That's what they're going to think and there's not a thing I can do about it.

The way I like to think about it, Traveler, is, if I wasn't making some really good points and challenging THEIR opinions and beliefs, they wouldn't be after me. I think it's safe to say the same holds true for you.

I don't think this activity is on the rise. It goes in waves.

s. dog great stuff! Thanks for posting that!

Do they show up within short time periods of one another - do their posts get a similiar number of stars post after post no matter how unrelated, off topic or unsubtantiated and unfactual?

One of the early fixes was realizing the IP address of several players were coming from the same house. Probably three people side by side, all able to see the cards each one has on their screens. Seeing three full hands makes it easy to read the deck.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but all you technically need is an email address to sign up for an account here right? You can post to any thread immediately, after 20, you can start your own threads.

Seems rather plausible that this could be one person posing as a group, hence the short time periods, starring amounts, etc. In my Yahoo Chat hay days I had over 5000 user ID's which were in fact email addresses.

With all the free email services out there. This would not be hard to create multiple accounts on a forum. The only thing you really have to verify is an email address via the verification link some forums send you. If I recall correctly ATS sent one of these.

All the other information available to fill out on ATS is free reign and can be filled out with anything. Easy then to give the illusion of a gang or portray a number of individuals who follow a certain belief.

Just a notion.

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


I experienced what you're talking about in a thread I started this morning on a 9/11 topic. Those are the threads where I've seen it most, but the one I encountered this morning seemed to be an all-out attack to discredit my source along with the usual crap about "truthers." Of course, as is typical, not one of them took a specific piece of evidence and explained why it had no credibility, they just ranted and raved about how NOT compelling the evidence was.

When it comes to 9/11 in particular, I'm afraid we're going to see this activity more and more as evidence continues to be revealed. There's quite a bit already, and TPTB have to do something to try to distract from it. I believe we are being naive about how many of these govt. agents really exist in ATS. I think there are many, or at least a couple with different aliases who are trying to discredit evidence and keep it from circulating.

Then I'm sure there are also your average everyday sh*t disturbers who have nothing better to do than team up and cause havoc for their own juvenile pleasure.

reply to post by neformore


So now you are saying that there may not be forces from within that have an agenda. Granted I am sure PT is not seeing the same inactive posters from years back suddenly springing to life. But you, yourself, had a very similar posting a while back.

But i would agree with you that there is an element of birds flocking. I guess it would depend on the amount of fanaticism in wording and efficiency in posting literally the same things over and over. Some thing to watch for and be mindful of, I suppose.

As far as uncovered forum gangs, the 9/11 TV Fakery Threads were found to be the work of a forum gang that comprised many members here on ATS that made it a point of honor to become banned...or so it seemed.

That experience, along with the overall feel of proto-religious overtones has kept me out of the 9/11 threads, although I do relapse on occasion. But there is most definitely a pecking order there on the 9/11 forums and questioning or disputing evidence presented by more senior posters does cause a protection style reaction from what is best described as groupies. The star and flag practices in 9/11 threads follow a rather predictable pattern as well.

I have little doubt of PT's suspicions since I have seen similar things myself in other areas, but much like real life I tend to avoid the Middle East.

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


Proto, I have had posters attack me and my topics also, and it is always the same ones,

Do they U2U each other, I would guess yes.

I need a gang BTW.



[edit on 013131p://bMonday2010 by Stormdancer777]

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler
reply to post by jackflap

 

The sad thing is we are seeing some posters early in this thread stating that they won't post for these reasons at all or post in certain threads at all and that is kind of sad.

Not only do they likely have some wonderful contributions to share but obviously they have been once bitten and twice shy by forum gang type behavior.

Well I wanted to avoid those topics all together, because of the ramifications of voicing ones opinion, gets you labeled.


But I do voice an opinion sometimes, because i am a bullheaded idiot to stubborn to keep my mouth shut.

reply to post by Stormdancer777


G'day Stormdancer777

I have U2U'd you.....

You can join my new gang!

Kind regards
Maybe...maybe not

reply to post by jackflap

The synapses started firing and what not, it was awesome! I was like damn, I have been doing that to others. I am going to look back into my posts to see if I could find that whole exchange again but it was awesome. Ever since then, I think about that quote every day and I even taught my two older boys it so they don't get trapped in their little world and try to push it on people.

It's not often that someone posts an admission like that. I respect you for doing that. I have to admit as well that when I first started posting on Internet forums a couple of years ago, I probably came off arrogant many times. What I learned is that if you don't allow yourself some leeway in your opinions, someone may come along who knows more than you do and make you feel stupid. The forum experience can be very educational if you keep an open mind and are tolerant of others' viewpoints.

One of the reasons I have frequented ATS more recently is because there is such a variety of knowledge and experience among its members. Many of these members are extremely knowledgeable on certain topics and I am fascinated by what they have to say. I also have found more mature behavior here and less tolerance for stupid behavior, with the exception of the "gangs" we've mentioned here.

Originally posted by Ahabstar
So now you are saying that there may not be forces from within that have an agenda. Granted I am sure PT is not seeing the same inactive posters from years back suddenly springing to life. But you, yourself, had a very similar posting a while back.

Nope.

Not saying that at all.

What I am saying is that like minded people post in the same way, and that just because people share an opinion it doesn't make them a "forum gang".

The points I alluded to in my post were different altogether, and do involve an organise attack, mostly run from off ATS completely.

is there a sign up sheet for these gangs? It might be fun...do they go out for sunday rides and stuff? is there a clubhouse?


Seriously--doesn't this seem a bit high-schoolish? Seems to me those who gang up on others tend to be those without much of import to share. Easy enough to ignore them. The rational, intelligent posters can usually stick to a topic and actually understand the subject they are attempting to discuss.

There are trolls in every forum. Trolls sometimes travel in packs. Even if they are using 20 point scrabble words, they can still be trolls. I have never used it, but I hear that ignore button can come in handy.

When members U2U friends and call for help on a particular thread is that "conspiracy to form a gang" ??

It's only human nature that this happens.

I think it's more a case of people with similar interests ending up in the same threads than an organized effort. Personally, I'm more interested in the political threads than anything else here and I frequently see the same posters, no organization required. We all just happen to be interested in the same topics so that's where we post. There are several posters that I can think of off the top of my head who tend to post in the same threads I do and tend to be online when I am that I haven't spoken to much, if at all, outside of the threads. Sometimes we are in agreement, sometimes we're not. Some posters have this annoying tendency to disagree with me no matter what I say (partially joking there) and seem to be in every thread I go to, but I wouldn't jump straight to forum gang over it.

The simplest answer is often the right one, and in this case similar interests is the simplest answer. I know this is a conspiracy site and it's more exciting to think there's a concerted effort to follow and attack people, but I just have a hard time believing that's the case. People who share common interests are going to see each other more frequently in areas where those interests are discussed, whether they agree with each other on the specifics or not.

reply to post by silent thunder


I like the second rule...

at least better than the first

I feel the same way, people get so up in arms over political discussions here I just dont bother

Originally posted by silent thunder
First rule of the Silent Thunder ATS experience: You do NOT participate in Middle-east-themed threads.

Second rule of the Silent Thunder ATS experience: You do NOT participate in Middle-East-themed threads.

lol The "frogs" version of this rule also applied to political and religious themed threads as well for the most part. Though, I admit I broke my own rule on occasion because following it meant I was out of most of the topics here.

Anyway, I'm not sure its a "gang" but I have seen what the OP mentions in Mid-East, Political & religious threads.

I had assumed (hoped?) the recent announcement by the site owner about trolling in political threads applied to all subjects. If so, that would curb a lot of it. If it does not - then maybe it should?

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic

I think the issue here is that people feel their opinions are validated and they feel like they're "one up" with the use of the star system. Almost like giving a star to a post adds to the "rightness" of their opinion. The more stars, the more people agree with me and the more it proves that I'm right.

It's when being right outweighs the facts that we get into trouble. I think humans are VERY attached to being right. Many times to the detriment of the truth.

I think that this sums up a lot of what goes on here on certain threads, and the more stars that someone has, the more they feel they are right and so they will fight even harder knowing that so many support them.

But there is a fine line amongst those that just have similar beliefs and all flock to a certain thread, and those that gang up on other members. It can be said that sometimes, that ones beliefs will actually lead to ganging up on another member without the foresight or knowledge that they are doing so. To them they are just expressing their views knowing that a few others "have their backs".

In the end, I don't believe this problem will ever be ended as it is indeed a very gray area.

Kudos Benevolent Heretic as you put it into very simple terms what is a difficult problem.

Forum gangs on the rise on ATS? I've never even seen a 'forum gang' to my knowledge.


Trolls and keyboard bullies do exist,no question, and sometimes certain types are encouraged into rude or annoying behavior just by seeing others participate in same.

That said, I think the label 'forum gang' is overstated and non-applicable in MOST cases. And certainly, we must guard against stifling true debate because we are caught up in the forum board counterpart to The Red Scare.

As long as we have both the ignore feature and report post function, this isn't really much of a problem for other than the ego anyway.

reply to post by neformore

But there is most definitely a pecking order there on the 9/11 forums and questioning or disputing evidence presented by more senior posters does cause a protection style reaction from what is best described as groupies. The star and flag practices in 9/11 threads follow a rather predictable pattern as well.

I have little doubt of PT's suspicions since I have seen similar things myself in other areas, but much like real life I tend to avoid the Middle East.

May wish to examine that part more than the first part. I would say that it does merit monitoring for future developments at the least.

reply to post by NightGypsy

It's not often that someone posts an admission like that. I respect you for doing that. I have to admit as well that when I first started posting on Internet forums a couple of years ago, I probably came off arrogant many times. What I learned is that if you don't allow yourself some leeway in your opinions, someone may come along who knows more than you do and make you feel stupid.

That is what I feel ATS is all about. Being able to look at yourself after someone offers some insight and say, wow that is useful! I have no problem admitting that. The gang mentality being discussed here is what suppresses these revelations from coming to light for anyone and it had to be addressed somehow. I believe this will help everyone.

Originally posted by Jenna
*Snipped for length*

People who share common interests are going to see each other more frequently in areas where those interests are discussed, whether they agree with each other on the specifics or not.

This simple explanation rather sums it up for me, as well.

There are sub-forums that I frequent and post more than others, some that I've post infrequently and some that I've never posted in (9/11 comes to mind) ... It stands to reason that the sub-forums I frequent the majority of the time are also the places I run into the same people and those people reflect both views I agree and views I do not. 'Tis normal.

middle eastern gangs? say anything anti gay and watch the crowds pour in. there are so many gays on this site and they "stick together" real well.