What's happened people? Come on!

(Sorry if it's in the wrong place Mods)

Before you read on be aware, this is an ‘ATS is not what it used to be’ thread, however I do hope I am about to highlight something you agree with. If I don’t then sorry, to you I am a boring boring man.

It’s going to be pretty hard for me to convey my thoughts across without sounding like a grey stick in the mud but I’ll take that minor risk in the hope of making a better place.

ATS wasn’t a social networking site, it wasn’t a place where people came to share jokes and show how comedic they could be, it was a place where knowledge was shared and people learned. Intriguing and worthy questions were answered with insightful knowledge. Threads were constructive conversations proudly lacking in childish verbatim that 99% of forums on the internet are home to. Almost every post to a thread was worthy of a star.

There has however been a huge rise in ‘nothing posts’. I’m specifically talking about the attempts at sarcastic humour.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s always room for humour. Life would be boring without but it’s starting to mask the meat of our threads. When people read a childish joke that employs as much intelligent humour as a children’s television programme it makes people turn off or terror ensues, they reply with ‘their take on humour’.

There has been a massive increase in sarcastic posts. Off topic replies from people crying out to be the funny man, maybe even crying out for stars. I think ‘intelligent’ people are attracted to sarcasm, I guess the dry side of this wit is appealing to the alternative personality. It’s true, when done properly in the right place it’s great. But guys, this is ATS, not 4chan, B3TA or even BTS.

Can we all try and grow up a little?

If there's one thing this thread has highlighted for me it's this...

There's way too much childish sarcasm on here blocking up the threads. I guess 'intelligent' people think sarcasm is a clever form of witt? I guess it is, when it's done effectively.

You know who you are, seriously give it a rest. If you want to act like a pre-pubescent American school kid why not do it elsewhere. The threads on site site are becoming much more full of late with these short sarcastic-trying-to-be-the-comedian replies.

Grow up.

well if u r referring to me and my attempt
at humor I sincerely apologize for
contaminating intelligent discussion.
please forgive

reply to post by boondock-saint


Don't apologise to this person Boondock Saint. I enjoy your posts, as im sure many others do to.

IMO sarcasm in an essential part of this forum, given the ridiculous nature and content of many threads, and it just seems foolish to claim this forum is a worse place because of it. I think we need less to be sarcastic in response to rather than less sarcasm per se.

And i think you have massively exaggerated this issue too OP. When i read sarcastic posts, I laugh when they're perceptive and humorous, and otherwise i don't really care. I certainly wouldn't feel moved to action by a trend of particularly distasteful sarcastic posts. I would just think, as i often do in such circumstances, that one post wont spoil the entire thread, so its no trouble for me to just forget that i read it and move on to the next post.

Me too...... guilty!

It goes with the name I guess.

Attempts at humor, yes.... but not to bring People down, more to lighten the seriousness of a given situation.

My apologies

I'm not perfect...... just perfect intentions

reply to post by DizzyDayDream

It's a shame. The image of the community is damaged. When I first began mentioning ATS to friends and colleagues they met my enthusiasm with the same vigour. Unfortunately now most people view our community as over-run with pre-pubescent teens. There's some wonderful knowledge on here, however there's more hay than needles.

reply to post by and14263


I can relate to what you are saying, but the thing you need to take into account is the massive increase in visitors and membership over the last several years. With these increases there come more bad apples, trolls, jokesters, awakened people, gifted debaters and intellectual commentators.

The bar has been lowered to an extent and there are a few threads that make you go "where am I again?" But ATS is not perfect and these kinds of things are to be expected. It's about trying to find a balance. It would be unfair if only people with superb writing skills and impeccable grammar were allowed to actively participate. I agree the standard should be above average if ATS wants to preserve its reputation for Intelligent Discussion, but maintaining this is not a simple matter.

[edit on 13/7/2010 by Dark Ghost]

Originally posted by and14263
...people view our community as over-run with pre-pubescent teens...

I have to admit I find myself fighting this thought whilst reading threads.

Not all threads, of course, but a majority for sure.

Does that make my judgmental thoughts correct? Nah. Of course, that means that your judgmental thoughts are also not correct.

Correlation does NOT equal causation, no matter how much we want it to.

reply to post by and14263


you know what, you've actually convinced me with that.

Down with sarcasm! No longer shall we stand for this intolerably immaturity, which only serves to tarnish our virtuous, unoffending, inculpable reputation among the righteous.

those who wish to continue to heckle within this bastion of open-mindedness and free speech in a world of oppression and fear-tactics may continue to do so at the peril of the acoustic dynamics of this chamber of discourse....AREN'T YOU ALL AWARE WHO'S LISTENING!?.....PEOPLE WITH EARS YOU KNOW..

.."but they dont have to listen if they dont want to"

"Ah but they do listen"

"listen to the sarcasm?"

"exactly! and that makes us look bad!! 0_o !!"

"OFF WITH THEIR EARS!"

"dont mock me! THIS is SERIOUS!"

"I know, a serious problem - for you. But for you, everyone not actually involved in the ATS community yet still view the forum, are purely focused and concerned, or put off by our frequency of sacastic posters. Strangely ignoring the many thousands of members who joined because of how impressively balanced and insightful most decent threads are on ATS's vast universe of discourse."

"well uh, its still damaging to our reputation none the less"

"Welcome to planet Earth. This was a beautifully perfect planet.. until humans arrived... Down with humans!!"

Nothings perfect, get real.

reply to post by DizzyDayDream

You're right, it's human nature, as with many degenerative personality traits... and for this reason you are also right... certain humans do not have the ability to change their ways. Like I say, it's a shame. But like you say it's life and sadly people are people.

The place is already too serious as it is, and taking it too seriously can be bad for ones health.

The odd joke and friendly banter is fine by me, I think you'll find that most of us know when to be serious and when to crack a joke.

IMHO it's the newb kid trolls you gotta watch for.

reply to post by and14263


Degenerative personality traits having nothing to do with sarcasm in my opinion, i think you have confused the two.

Sarcasm can really lift a thread when done well. I guess you're saying we must all recognise our collective responsibility of quality posting, rather than sarcastic cheap shots, which is a fair comment, sure. I'm just saying that many posts deserve the sarcastic replies they receive due to the ridiculous content or incoherent/illogical style. Both of which in my opinion are more harmful to the quality of this site than the sarcasm of a skeptic.

reply to post by DizzyDayDream

reply to post by Chadwickus

I probably got out of the wrong side of bed or something, I've got some negative aggression in me that I need to get rid of maybe. I also suppose it's no coincidence that it's the school holidays and I see a rise in this sort of thing.

I guess it's harsh comparing bad sarcasm to a personality disorder, fairly extreme, I just look at some comments and imagine a half-wit class clown who can't hold his/her mouth shut for two seconds.
I don't want the place to be a dull encyclopedia style place and I believe that if all off topic replies were removed then yeah, it would be a pretty odd place.

I guess I have to take the advice, scroll past the comments that rile me, ignore the chimps who have nothing stimulating to say and carry on denying ignorance.

I think comic relief is important in a place like this.

However, it is much more clever when done as part of an actual substantial post, and integrated seamlessly with it.

It is intimidating for a new member to read a thread like this - inevitably put forward by a self-styled paragon of how to do ATS the 'right' way.

You feel like youre walking on eggshells all the time, wondering if you have said the wrong thing or worried that you have made a joke at an inappropriate moment.

Everyone was new here at one point and im sure everyone made childish or foolish mistakes. If not then i bow and scrape before your superior intellects.

You say there has been a "massive increase in sarcastic posts. Off topic replies from people crying out to be the funny man, maybe even crying out for stars."

Yep, ive seen these posts too - coming just as much from established (and respected) members as from new ones, if not more so.

I dont doubt the site has changed but please at least try to excercise a little tolerance and understanding. The real trolls and other 'chimps' as you call them, will, im sure, be weeded out.

OP, settle down. Usually, the sarcastic posts are very well thought out and contribute directly to the discussion. I happen to like those kinds of posts most of the time.

Chill out.

-Sol

I do agree that there are quite a few threads that are just too goofy to be true but you have to take them for what they are and laugh a little.

For the most part this should be a forum for intelligent conversation but without a few good laughs every once in a while this place would become boring and mundane.

There is no intelligence with sarcasm.
The bane of the post modern world and
the absolutely worst thing the public ever
took up as important and edgy, it's sickening.

I don't hear you when you are lying to yourself.

If sarcasm is truly all-that, then prove it is more
than just a crutch or a wheel chair for the impaired.
Can you write a sentence that reads forwards and not
one that is written the opposite of what you mean, but lulz.

I don't think anyone in America (who can't think for
themselves) is capable of writing a non bitting,
non sarcastic thought. At least not with
out it looking "boring" to them. The
echo chamber of the American
mind is filthy with sarcasm.
This is not a case of new
members or the young
being a little different.
This is a rampant
epidemic with
no cure.


David Grouchy

I used to remember a time where I saw one or two one-liner posts per month. Now, they're such a common occurrence that moderators don't seem to care anymore. Also, the amount of sensationalized thread titles has risen drastically. I don't know why it's happening, but I can tell you one thing for certain: It will not get better. It only takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch. Every single veteran user on ATS could put a lot of time and effort into fixing the community of the site, but nothing will rid us of the endless tools who have a pointless, yet nonstop vendetta against the site and trolls who have nothing better to do than post a doomsday prediction thread, get 100+ stars and flags, and watch for weeks as ATS members scramble around like fools.

The most important thing a lot of ATS members don't understand is how easy it is to troll. I could come up with a very lengthy post on why July 15th, 2010, will be the day that President Obama is assassinated by a Cuban native, which will lead into a very short war with Cuba and will be the catalyst for the war in Iran. I could provide many "sources," tell a story that my "cousin" told me that has a lot of paragraphs but doesn't really say anything, and act completely serious for every reply that I make. Then, when the prediction doesn't comes to pass, instead of leaving, I could make an "I admit, I was wrong." post, have countless members on my side, and become the next "celebrity" of the site with Gold/Cosmic status on my account. And you know what the worst part about it is? If played out correctly and intricately, there is absolutely nothing anybody can do to stop me, because nobody could ever prove anything.

All of this happened in the past, but there were so few people doing it that nobody noticed. Now that we're seeing prediction threads almost every week, it's becoming much clearer. People might think there is a sinister purpose behind this desensitization, and there might be on some private group level, but for the most part, there really is no purpose other than self-amusement. People on this site used to say they came here to learn, but most people I see nowadays say they come here to be entertained.

That says a lot.

Originally posted by and14263
this is an ‘ATS is not what it used to be’ thread

I hear this quite a bit everywhere in life these days.

What is "what it used to be" anymore? I propose greed is the only constant throughout history.

There aren't too many instances of culture still alive. Globalization, Corporate goals, Marketing and Six Sigma have standardized the world.

We all want to "fit in" and this knowledge of humanity has been abused for greed's sake.

Have you noticed that there aren't generations anymore? The grandma looks like the grandchild. The mom looks like the sister of the daughter.

Humanity is the number one obstacle to profit. As defects are eliminated from the production environment, profits are maximized because less models are required.

And the best part is...we are allowing it to happen and pointing the finger at some other guy, or some other nation, etc;

Peace

reply to post by SolarE-Souljah

You're right, I need to chillout, I understand this now.

reply to post by Silver Star

Don't feel intimidated in a place where you are completely anonymous, it's the virtual world, please, don't be intimidated, there's really no need.