An open message to you all "Since when did this website become.....

reply to post by savageheart


I completly agree with you everything is changing more is being hidden, It use to be you could log in to various news sites and have intellectual chats. Recently I don't know what's happened one minute they hate the prez the next over the slightest thing they sing his praises it's good to be able to still come to a site where your honest opinion can still be voiced and your not fighting lobbiest from either campaign party right on for that!

Sadly, you only have to look at the majority of popular forum boards, social networking sites and video sites to see this kind of hatred is going on all over the internet.

It was only a matter of time before it started to seep through the gates of ATS.

The internet has given these types of people an easy platform and anonymity to spread their hate. Which they would never dare act upon in the real world, because they would probably get thier heads kicked in or even worse.

Best course of action: Ignore it and don't let them get to you.

Or in the words of current Netspeak.....

DON'T FEED THE TROLLS!!

Interesting: I created an account on ATS about a year or so ago, and after 3 weeks I quit, since what you see mostly is people trying to defend their opinion as if it was a football team especially if they know it's wrong. I come back after a 1 year period or so to find out it has escalated or hasn't changed at all: religious and anti-religious fanatics keep on saying god exists/doesn't exist, racists and people without a formed opinion and clearly inductive keep on bashing on black people, muslims, americans (I'm faulty too, at some level) and whatnot, and the real interest behind this nice site is completely debunked, since hatred and disrespect are oh so easier to spew forth. So, in order to avoid such enlightened and useful (not to say bright) topics like "Can America invade canada?" or "The ultimate proof god exists/doesn't exist", I try to keep my mouth shut whenever possible in order to maintain some mental sanity. If the site owners THEMSELVES can't handle such users, what's the point in trying to maintain intelligent and mature discussions? Nah, I'll pass and I'll stay right where I am, which is where ignorance and biases don't breed.

Originally posted by NorEaster
I don't mind hate, but I can't stand ignorant hate. Especially willfully ignorant hate.

I can handle being insulted by a poster, but not if the poster is an idiot. It's like getting pissed on by a drunk.

Well there is a thing called righteous indignation.

reply to post by OzWeatherman


I'm surprised in the increased hatred too. First on God related threads and especially the strong hatred of Israel. I also made a quit the hate thread and got bashed in all directions, that was quite an experience.

To OP:

Funny.

[edit on 14-8-2010 by cloudbreak]

Originally posted by cloudbreak
To OP:

Funny.

[edit on 14-8-2010 by cloudbreak]

Ooook

Im not exactly sure what you mean with that remark, maybe you would like to clarify?

Is there such a thing as being sychophantic to 'the man'?

Actually Oz..I mean no offence.
I;m guessing you are a UWA grad, like your piss, and somehow have gravitated to this site.

No disrespect, but I find this thread to be a molehill growing into a mountain.

The problem with ATS now is there is too much crap about religion and politics on the board. Those two topics will always provoke negative responses and nobody ever changes their opinions or even really takes on board the opposite view when it comes to those two subjects - it always just descends to mud-slinging. Far too much politics and religion discussion on what is meant to be a conspiracy forum IMO.

The other problem ATS faces is that this site has become popular with a lot of "Tea Party supporters"/"Palin-Americans" etc. That bunch aren't the most tolerant to start with and given the chance to express their views anonymously just gives them more opportunities to spout their crap. It makes sense that those people would be attracted to this forum as there has always been (as far as I can remember) an anti-government feeling on here. However this feeling has gone way OTT over the past 2 years or so on ATS - you can't go a day on here without reading a thread about over-throwing the government, Obama being a Kenyan/Muslim, illegal-immigrants etc. Basically, any right-wing Tea Party talking point you can think of will be posted on this forum pretty much every day. ATS has a clear right-wing bias and with that comes a lot of intolerance and ignorance. These people also tend to be religious and therefore bring all that baggage with them here too.

ATS needs to go back to what it was a few years ago i.e. conspiracy theories. Illuminati, NWO, UFO's, Aliens, Paranormal, mysteries, strange occurrences, interesting, thought-provoking threads on a wide selection of topics.

Instead ATS has gone down the road of turning this site into basically a news-story site with the odd conspiracy thread thrown in now and then. Someone posts some news-story from the mainstream media (i.e. this mosque being built in New York), hundreds of rabid tea-baggers respond calling for Obama to be impeached, revolution, overthrow the government etc etc. Rinse and repeat every day. IMO main-stream media stories should have no place on ATS, unless you add a conspiracy twist to them. For example, if somebody posted a thread stating that "This person/company/government has ulterior motives for allowing this mosque to be built, which are x, y and z and here is some evidence to back up my theory:" That would be fine, that belongs on ATS. (Note, I mentioned the word "evidence". Reactionary ranting does not equal informed discussion). Simply posting a MSM news story and expressing your outrage should not belong here IMO.

Originally posted by cloudbreak
Actually Oz..I mean no offence.
I;m guessing you are a UWA grad, like your piss, and somehow have gravitated to this site.

No disrespect, but I find this thread to be a molehill growing into a mountain.

I hope that is a typo. Is it?

reply to post by wonderworld


I think I spelt molehill and mountain correctly? No?

reply to post by Lurch


I think the increase is partly due to recent the crisis in the world. The global economy tanking, manmade and natural disasters, more and more wars. My opinion is this combined is causing people to speak up more, looking for alternative answers to pending doom.

We are all adamant about our feelings but must be responsible to choose our words carefully, as not to offend. It’s impossible to please everyone and we all vent at times.

I also think those who show repeated hatred should take a look at loving themselves first. This last sentence isnt adressed to you or anyone particularly.

reply to post by Lurch


blah, blah and blah..... cry me a river and to think you've had no one to challenge you on this yet and you're the last post so far sad. Don't become like everyone else and censor free speech, did you ever consider how many different ways conspiracy can apply. When posters post people respond if it's a topic of intrest, the only time people seem to want to tone it down is mostly when they try to push specific viewpoints goodluck with that I don't think all of America is ready for the dumb it down theory to please more like you. Could this be the reason ATS is getting some new blood I certainly hope so.

Originally posted by Echtelion
reply to post by OzWeatherman

 

OzWeatherman, I have to agree with most of your post, that there is a MAJOR problem on ATS with rampant racism and racial hatred, antisemitism, Nazi-sympatizing, christian bigotry and crude homophobia.

And it's to a point that ATS will soon be widely considered -if not already!- a haven for neo-Nazis and other White supremacists... and I'm still wondering what the heck the ATS "moderators" (with all due respect) are doing these days, if they are not mostly closet fascists themselves.

100% agree with this. I may not have many posts but I have been a member here for 5 1/2 years - I don't browse the site as much as I used to but I still check back in from time to time. The increase in racism, homophobia and Islamophobia on this board has been very noticeable to me and there also seems to be a lot more discussion about religion on here now (the majority of responses are pro-Christian, anti-science).

I said a while ago that ATS needs to be a bit careful about the path they are going down. This site is attracting a lot of people with right-wing views, more than ever before and IMO it has increased A LOT since Obama was elected. Many of these people are Tea Party supporters, many are ignorant, many are Christians, many are bigots and racists. The rise of these groups of people on ATS is undeniable unless you are in denial yourself.

ATS opened itself up for this when they moved away from it's traditional "alternative/conspiracy theory" base and moved to a more mainstream news/politics all-inclusive angle. This attracts the aforementioned groups and buries the alternative/conspiracy theory news under the masses of right-wing rants and MSM news stories about immigrants/muslims/Obama etc etc. IMO ATS needs to get back to basics and create a separate site for politics and MSM new stories. Unfortunately, money talks and I guess "TPTB" on here aren't exactly complaining about the increase in views to the site, even if a lot of those views are from people more interested in right-wing political new stories than conspiracy theories.

Originally posted by jayde
reply to post by Lurch

 

blah, blah and blah..... cry me a river and to think you've had no one to challenge you on this yet and you're the last post so far sad. Don't become like everyone else and censor free speech, did you ever consider how many different ways conspiracy can apply. When posters post people respond if it's a topic of intrest, the only time people seem to want to tone it down is mostly when they try to push specific viewpoints goodluck with that I don't think all of America is ready for the dumb it down theory to please more like you. Could this be the reason ATS is getting some new blood I certainly hope so.

This messageboard is privately owned and the owners of it can take their site down whatever path they wish and allow whatever speech they wish. That's fine by me, I'm just expressing my opinion based on the trends I've observed on this site for the past 5 years or so. If the owners of this site wish for ATS to become a right-wing news story site at the expense of a conspiracy theory site then that's their decision, I don't like it and I view ATS a lot less than I used to because of it but it's their site, I'm just a "customer" and I can choose to take my "custom" elsewhere. I'm certainly not pushing for ATS to "dumb down", I think it's been "dumbed-down" enough and needs to return to what it was originally all about - conspiracy theories and alternative news. The owners obviously want this site to be more inclusive and broader than that (after all more viewers = more money), however I think going down that path has led to the situation on ATS today where we have a clear right-wing bias and a lot of members that post nothing but hate and right-wing MSM news stories, which is slowly destroying the site.

[edit on 14-8-2010 by Lurch]

Originally posted by neformore
Balls in your court.

...balls?...

...as in more than one?...

...how do you know that?...

...can you, ahem, see how many balls they got?...

...maybe they got no balls at all and what you think are balls are just wadded up socks...


...do you know how to tell the difference?...


...wadded up socks make a rather dull thud when you bang em and they dont go very far...

I have not been on here that long but some of the postings i have made have had both positive and negative responses...

But i am a big boy and i know there are people on here from many different cultures ,backgraounds and Religious and Political beliefs.

SOOOOO....of course there will be conflict...but i also know that you...as an adult you can control how to enage in a negative fashion or you can guide a conversation with understanding and kindness.

I can easily ignore the ones that are only trying to get peoples backs up...so therefore i can decide wehter or not to engage in a battle of wills.

but for the most part there is many threads with valuble information in them and with a co-operative sharing of information that is truely great.

so with the OP just stating the negative without the positive it just sends out a negetive image right there.

SO i would like to thank all of those who are trying to understand others viewpoints and also those who are trying to work together to make the world in which we live a better place.

There is alot of mind controling world MSM that makes us do as we do...and some people are waking up to the facts...but no where was it ever written was this going to be an easy task to get people to wake up to what TPTB are doing to breakdown society.

So together the people of this planet will learn to stand strong...We will learn to help each other...And we will learn a way of peace and understanding and TPTB will fail in their selfrighteous,Selfcentered controlling ways.

so for the ones who just want to argue,fight,call people names....go ahead as i know people on here can rise above all the BS and can get along.

We as the people of Earth will not succumb to the overseers of the Elite...we will look past those that try to derail society and we will overcome all obstacles placed before us.



[edit on 033131p://f56Saturday by plube]

Originally posted by Echtelion
and I'm still wondering what the heck the ATS "moderators" (with all due respect) are doing these days, if they are not mostly closet fascists themselves.

We're putting up with thinly veiled insults from people who have no idea how the site is run and how we do things (with all due respect, of course), whilst trying to stay on top of the board issues.

Originally posted by neformore

Originally posted by Echtelion
and I'm still wondering what the heck the ATS "moderators" (with all due respect) are doing these days, if they are not mostly closet fascists themselves.

We're putting up with thinly veiled insults from people who have no idea how the site is run and how we do things (with all due respect, of course), whilst trying to stay on top of the board issues.

You are on your toes today! I thought the sock thing was very funny but not addressed to you, that is. Ive read some very Intellectually stimulating responses today.