ENOUGH! Manners in the Aliens/UFO Forum and those who habitually deride, insult, and just LOVE being

reply to post by macrochip


It looks like some kind of night insect, or firefly, flying close to lense. May be wrong but it is more plausible to me than ufo. lex parsimoniae --- the law of parsimony, economy or succinctness. It is a principle urging one to select among competing hypotheses that which makes the fewest assumptions and thereby offers the simplest explanation of the effect.

reply to post by Springer

I believe, from a great deal of research, that there is evidence in abundance that it is likely, not necessarily a certainty, that we have interacted with life outside this planet. There are a lot of fantastic claims out there, but we should keep an open mind and let logic and hard evidence, not personal beliefs and assumptions, dictate what is right. The real question in my opinion is how do we discern fact from fiction?

reply to post by RICH-ENGLAND


Hey dude,i know this is an old thread but i had too say something,just 2 days ago i watched a programme on one of the sky documentary channels,and it stated quite clearly in the programme something i knew already,it is no longer a question of wether or not ufo's exist,that has already been proven many times over,so its no longer a debatable subject,what is debatable,is"what they are and where they come from",all we know is,no government takes credit for them,and according too scientists,human technology is literally hundreds of years from getting close too the types of maneuvers and speeds these objects can do,personally,whenever i think of aliens,i think of a quote from the bible which basically says that the devil has control of the air,so maybe they are demons up there fighting angels,and aliens are just the updated name we use for them nowadays,but the truth is,no one actually knows wether they are ours or not,except maybe the top government powers,however on a recent thread,someone took a video of one,and when this person zoomed in using a decent camera,whatever they were,they werent human,maybe they could be some sort of genetic experiment too fool us into thinking they are aliens though,but who knows? peace dude.

Originally posted by new_here
A thousand thank-you's.

I've been here since June, and I have yet to start a thread about ANYTHING, simply because I don't care to put myself in front of the firing squad of rude, insulting, condescending people who attack the person and personal opinions, rather than point out their own conclusions in a reasonable, civil manner.

Currently I am tee-d off about people 'diagnosing' Schizophrenia, Aspergbers Disease and a delusional condition simply because a thread-starter entertained the idea that his dream may be more than a dream!

C'mon people. Get with the program! If you can't bring yourself to post something in a respectful manner, take a breath and move on to a topic where you can. There is never a good reason to be unkind to another poster.

YES YES YES! I agree... Thank you Springer! And to also add that this is not only the case with the Aliens forum, but in many of them. Seems people cant just "agree to disagree", but rather have to resort to visious name calling etc because they dont agree with a thread. Telling people they need a "mental ward" and so forth.

"Putting oneself in front of the firing squad", excellent way to put it.

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reply to post by kiwifoot


i agree with u totally

reply to post by kita0dtita


could be any of those

fair argument

reply to post by Springer


i agree one day when the aliens come out in the open you debunkers are all going to be sorry when they float you in intrtstellar space for eternity

reply to post by Springer


Well said! Thanks for stepping up and speaking out.

That account don't really get the meaning of being obsessed with manner such as UFO and aliens.

I am a Skeptic, I am a Debunker, and I'm also a Believer. Where people get ruffled is in the concept of how can one be all three?

reply to post by JohnnyAnonymous


New member here. I can understand this scenario very well, I do it all the time. When ever viewing a UFO vid or photo the mind runs the game. Fake or Real. The skeptic. Next we start to look at it. If it passes the debunking we move to the believe stage. There is also one more stage for me called process, where work is done for others and all emotions are out. The longer one researches, the less time is spent in Skeptic ( the gate keeper ) and what ever is left you move to the D & B seesaw. It is then a struggle between the Debunk and Believe or D&B.
So your not alone on this....

Deuem

I have a very open mind as I think it's important to be open to the possibility of anything. Whether it is very likely to occur or not. However, I'm also a 'skeptic', there's been a back-and-forth about what makes a skeptic and some believe they 100% refute evidence. That doesn't mean they set out to 'debunk' stories, it simply means they're more demanding in terms of what constitutes evidence and even proof. Our brains have been developed precisely to question everything around us and think in ways that other creatures on the Earth seemingly don't. I've seen one or two comments which basically dismiss science as irrelevant. An absolutely shocking view. Even though it's responsible for the explosion in knowledge and technological advancement we all enjoy and take for granted. If we want 'Ufology' to be taken seriously, then why should it be exempt from scrutiny conforming to the scientific method?

Yes civility is important, but so is the quest for the truth and being absolutely critical in everything we do. Something in importance which I place far above decorum.

Civil Engineering

Originally posted by Retro~Burn
Yes civility is important, but so is the quest for the truth and being absolutely critical in everything we do. Something in importance which I place far above decorum.

Fortunately, the two are not mutually exclusive, and indeed, a lack of civility almost always distracts from the topic at hand, which in turn works against the truth.

So even from a purely utilitarian perspective, courtesy still wins compared to the alternative.

reply to post by Majic


Just like if a memeber posts a blurry photo of a light in the sky and says its telling them to murder their children to protect them from satan.

You have to be polite and suggest that they might be wrong. Or dont even do that... because really... can you say that its not a way to keep your kids safe from satan? So many moms are doing it these days.

At AboveTopEggshells you have to walk very lightly around delusions and idiocy, because its only common sense.

Breaking An Omelet

Originally posted by Wertdagf
At AboveTopEggshells you have to walk very lightly around delusions and idiocy, because its only common sense.

Let's look at it from the other side. If you believe something strongly, and someone who disagrees with you calls you an idiot for it, how does it make any sense to agree with them? Have you ever done that? Has anyone ever convinced you to agree with them that way?

Meanwhile, if someone patiently explains to you why they think your beliefs are not well-founded, you will at least be less defensive, more open to different opinions, and may even come to agree with them. You will also avoid alienating and potentially persuade others who may be reading what you post in the process.

If Denying Ignorance is the goal, then that's the way to go about it.

On the other hand, ambitions to play puerile forum games or score imaginary debate points run in opposition to that goal, and serve no purpose other than some vague attempt at self-gratification that is rarely all that satisfying in the long run.

Yet another way to look at it is to consider threads from a reader's perspective. When readers find a topic of interest and begin reading a thread, the topic is what they are interested in. They generally aren't interested in what Member X thinks of Member Y, drama, d-egos, Internet tough guys, epeens or other sorts of self-indulgent distractions. Very few people, aside from those who practice them, find them appealing.

Ultimately the "meta game" is a waste of time for all involved, from those who play it to those who are expected to suffer through it.

So far, I have yet to find anyone masochistic enough to willingly choose to be on the receiving end of it, especially those who habitually dish it out.

It's no different on ATS, and though we do our best to bring members around on that crucial point, those who are resistant to understanding it inevitably end up somewhere else, and that's usually for the best.

Members who are perpetually antagonized by certain forums and unable to conduct themselves properly are best advised to avoid them. If they can't do so on their own, we can help with that by removing posts, temporarily removing posting privileges or terminating accounts, and it is the purpose of threads like these to make sure there's no ambiguity about it.

reply to post by Majic


The reality that many people refuse to see... is that those individuals would rather DIE than live without those beliefs. I dont fault them any more than i do the ants that i spray with raid to keep out of my house, because talking to them doesnt work. What you want is for them to self destruct far away from you. If you think ATS has gotten a bad rap before you just wait till the real philisophical bombs start dropping.

So feel free to make some friends, but they will all be dead soon. Some well placed contempt works wonders.

Originally posted by Wertdagf
So feel free to make some friends, but they will all be dead soon.

Are we speaking in philosophical terms here, such as the inescapability of mortality, or something more direct?

reply to post by Majic


Im talking about the implications of immortality. The progress of knowledge and technology is unstoppable...

The inevitible death of ignorance(god). Ask your religious friends if they would like to never die..... i doubt youll be supprised.

reply to post by Wertdagf

Ah, okay. Considering the context, I just wanted to make sure we weren't going down the road of something like "Puny mortals, you cannot defeat me! I will crush you under my heels like bugs. Prepare to die!" delivered in anime-dubbed stentorian tones with shaking fist.

I hope you can appreciate how that could be problematic.