It's more than meets the eye.

After a thread like Mars... Does this prove we have already been!? gets on the front page of ATS, stays "untouched" until page 10 to be moved to the HOAX section and the OP don't even gets edited to help our slow members understand the reality of the thread's subject and, of course, to portrait the reason for why the thread was moved, then, in my opinion, something may be wrong here.

Since I came to ATS, I was hoping to help people overcome their beliefs presenting them information and knowledge, letting them learn something new or interesting, or simply reading the topics to fight my own ignorance.

I read a lot, not just here, but in my personal life I usually read and hear more than write or speak, let's say that I usually keep maintaining my thoughts rather than expressing them, and so far it's the best way to keep ignorance out of me.

Here in ATS I discovered a place in the internet away from the junk, a place with real brains acting in real time. Inteligent minds, it's such a beautiful thing! But... Well... Besides the good side, there is also the dark side of the force.

ig·no·rance [ig-ner-uhns]

–noun
the state or fact of being ignorant; lack of knowledge, learning, information, etc.

Origin:
1175–1225; ME < L ignōrantia. See ignore, -ance

—Related forms
self-ig·no·rance, noun

Yes, what this site fight is what is obfuscating it's light. Ignorance as presented in the thread I've exemplify have shocked me. There were people lacking the interesting of learning, people lacking the will of searching for flaws in a bold information, people lacking the simply knowledge of history, astronomy, computer generated images and etc.

I am ashamed. I came here to fight my own ignorance and help others fight theirs. I didn't came here to see the same people I wished to help maintaining their ignorance as if they are sure that they are right.

So, I am begining to think the site isn't using it's full potential to make justice to the motto "Deny Ignorance". More than people lacking knowledge, learning, information, ATS seems to lacks the necessary strenght to "fight the good fight"...

Therefore, here, as a member, I'm willing to help this growing comunity expands its capabilities, because in my opinion, ATS is more than just a conspiracy site, it's more than meets the eye, and what would it be? Well, that I'll let you decide.

reply to post by One Step Beyond...

After a thread like Mars... Does this prove we have already been!? gets on the front page of ATS, stays "untouched" until page 10 to be moved to the HOAX section and the OP don't even gets edited to help our slow members understand the reality of the thread's subject and, of course, to portrait the reason for why the thread was moved, then, in my opinion, something may be wrong here.

I'm also sickened by the life of that thread and TFH's mocking video. But I've learned a couple of valuable lessons from this thread:

1) I'll always check the breadcrumb to see if a thread I'm interested in has been moved to a different forum. In this case I kept jumping in from the home page and didn't notice it was moved to HOAX. I think a change to the page formatting to highlight things like this may help.

2) I think ATS is a victim of its own success. We are asking a largely volunteer corps of mods to deal with an overwhelming volume of posts. It may have taken until pg10, but they did get the job done. I'm sure there's a mechanism (U2U?) for more experienced members to tap mods on the shoulder and assist them with jumping on these things earlier. I for one (not an experienced poster but certainly a long time reader) did nothing to alert a mod, so I was of no help when I could have been.

Originally posted by LookingIn

2) I think ATS is a victim of its own success. We are asking a largely volunteer corps of mods to deal with an overwhelming volume of posts. It may have taken until pg10, but they did get the job done. I'm sure there's a mechanism (U2U?) for more experienced members to tap mods on the shoulder and assist them with jumping on these things earlier. I for one (not an experienced poster but certainly a long time reader) did nothing to alert a mod, so I was of no help when I could have been.

What I've found usually works well is to hit the "Alert" button on the OP and include a description of why I think the thread should be moved in the form that pops up. That opens a thread in the mods-only forum so that any mod online can see it. At that point I believe they have a discussion about whether to move the thread, but it usually gets results pretty fast.

As an example, in the "visit to Mars" thread, someone could have hit the "Alert" button on the thread and included in their message links to the posts on page 3 that identified the original source of the video and that provided the original images used in the work.

I do think it would have been helpful if someone had edited the [HOAX] tag into the thread title as well as moving the thread into the HOAX forum, especially since that particular thread was so highly flagged that I think most people probably found it via the front page or sidebars. But I'm not sure if regular mods have the power to edit titles or not, that may take a supermod or at least a mod specific to the forum the thread is in.

To the OP:

I've found that for my own peace of mind I can't worry too much about how ATS might be viewed by people who don't spend enough time here to really give it a chance. People posting on page 15 of a thread without reading past the OP (at least reading the first and last pages even if they can't be bothered with the middle) drive me nuts, and that thread was a prime example of that behavior.

But sometimes it's best to focus on what I'm getting out of ATS rather than worry about whether other people are really here to "deny ignorance" or not.

reply to post by americandingbat


Agreed - I discovered the Alert feature and will use it as you advise. The tools are there, there's no excuse for my laziness in just absorbing ATS content and complaining, when I should be learning how to be a Roman while in Rome.

i am one that will ask "what if", ok so i might be the type to fall for a hoax, but there are lessons to be learned, first nerve take anything for face value, second TPTB are sneaky little devils misinformation is there game, sec what better way of hiding the truth but in a lie or hoax, does the phrase "i think he does protest to much " ring a bell? i have seen too much to take "it is a lie" or "it is hoax" for just that, if i think it is "what" it is, i will keep that to my self, and let the matter die off, but if i feel it is a must you have got to know this then i will be the first to stand up and say wait you are being lied to, it is a cover up, so far i have not done that, are we lied to , every day is it for our own good or is it the lack of understanding, could not say, are we being watched, monitored, and tracked, let alone recorded, do i even have to ask? take in the account 9/11 and the Patriot Act, and a few other behind the seen laws, ones covered by the national security act , "good luck finding them" am i a plant? no, am i paranoid? no, just questionable. into to days world is anything really what it seems, what if this is just like the move Matrix? how would we know, and if we did know would others believe us, or would they say "just a hoax". and finely, nothing is just coincidence, things happen because there are meant to happen.

[edit on 2-7-2010 by bekod]