Dealing With Hoaxers on the UFO and Aliens Forum

Many members will be aware of this hoax thread, that has just been run. Have a look if you aren't sure what I'm talking about. Could I ask that in future when a new member posts some unsupported information that one of you requests some evidence, like the video in that hoax, then wait.

By posting pointless garbage it makes the thread a waste of our time and assists the hoaxer. Asking for evidence then withdrawing stops you from fanning the flames and ruins their little game.

If any other members have good ideas about how to treat these cases then great. For a start the post was done before the member had made 20 posts. Why was it not removed or blocked? Banning them is obviously all good, but can we do more to halt these games?

Good luck! i am growing tired of wasting my time explaing to people why pointless garbage has no place here.

calling that thread and poster a hoaxer is far to high a compliment. at least a good hoax (temple ufo) garners some worthy disscussion and debate.

How was the person able to create the thread in the first place?

reply to post by planetzog

I just asked a super moderator to comment. Hopefully we are about to get our answer

Originally posted by wingsfan
calling that thread and poster a hoaxer is far to high a compliment. at least a good hoax (temple ufo) garners some worthy disscussion and debate.

yeah that person isnt a hoaxer, just a troll, and nuisance, wasting time for the sake of wasting time.

reply to post by Pimander


Maybe we could replace the stars with shovels. That way after so many shovels we could bury the thread. It then could be sent to mods for review. At which time it can be either put on hold upon waiting for evidence or what have you. Or it can be given a proper funeral. This could go for replies as well as threads. Just a thought. I am new here what do I know.

Same old story, fameseekers and disinfo agents seek to make the most credible and genuine footage of UFO's seem to have to no credibility.

As for the linked forum you posted making it to the frontpage, i do as my avatar does *facepalm*.

I read the OP's opening statement, look for sources and read a couple of posts from others - if I think its hoax material I just don't post. Even that much is time consuming and I wish there was a better method.

When I rule the world, hoaxers and other liars in general will be lined up against a wall and shot. There's enough real information out there to read and digest, without having to wade through their rivers of crap.

Rev

Im pretty new here and I have seen a fair few since I joined.

I was pretty annoyed with that thread earlier.

It makes me wonder what they are trying to gain from this and all the effort wasted posting useless crap when they could be doing something useful, like educating themselves.

I agree, but one of my pet peeves is the "Ardent Believer" who aggrssively defends something that has been sufficiently debunked. Of course I hold people like this in no esteem, but they can certainly muck up a thread in a hirry. I suppose the most famous is Michael Horn, but for every Michael Horn there are a hundred "I believe and you are a joke" posters who make coming to consensus more difficult.

reply to post by Pimander

I also think it would be helpful to have a 'threaded mode'...
...so that thread development can be seen as a whole...
...and individual points can be chased down...
....without each new post being added to the end.

I post to another forum that uses vBulletin software and most run the threads in hybrid mode...
...so individual arguements can be followed...
...the linear mode ATS runs in does not allow for close analysis...
...because major points get lost.

I would love to be able to look at an explorer like tree and see an overview of the points...
...and know easily when someone has answered my question/comments.

I think this approach would reveal hoaxes more quickly.

I have started to notice for every thread exposing a hoaxer.. Two more hoaxers or trolls show up.. Starting to think it is a pointless battle. I just cant figure out why peoples life's suck so bad they have nothing better to do with there time then harass people. Blows my mind.

reply to post by Pimander


It is being handled correctly. The Mods shut it down and they will give time to the Poster to send them a link to the video to be absolutely sure before moving it to the hoax category. That is how it should be. Let the Poster hang themselves, then give them a second chance to make sure.

Trust the Mod's, the ones at ATS are excellent and fair. Only the Mod's should be "dealing with hoaxers". The rest of us should move on to other things.

This one was just a little funny however Used to piss me off, now I look at them as entertainment.

Originally posted by roguesoul
Im pretty new here and I have seen a fair few since I joined.

I was pretty annoyed with that thread earlier.

If we ignore them until they produce evidence though, there is little to read and the irritation is minor. When we respond, then we make the thread annoying by lengthening it.

Originally posted by crazydaisy
I read the OP's opening statement, look for sources and read a couple of posts from others - if I think its hoax material I just don't post. Even that much is time consuming and I wish there was a better method.

Glad you ignored it. I did too. If we all did then the trolling/hoaxing has little impact.

Originally posted by troubleshooter
reply to post by Pimander

 

I also think it would be helpful to have a 'threaded mode'...
...so that thread development can be seen as a whole...
...and individual points can be chased down...
....without each new post being added to the end.

I post to another forum that uses vBulletin software and most run the threads in hybrid mode...
...so individual arguements can be followed...
...the linear mode ATS runs in does not allow for close analysis...
...because major points get lost.

I would love to be able to look at an explorer like tree and see an overview of the points...
...and know easily when someone has answered my question/comments.

I think this approach would reveal hoaxes more quickly.

I think it would be a massive help on the more complex threads. But who controls the threading? The OP (who has to sleep) or the mods, who have a hard enough job already.

reply to post by Pimander


not everyone on ats conforms to the same ideas or the same way of thinking, to wish or hope for such a thing would ruin the site, secondly to call people hoaxers because they have a genuine belief that something is fact is below the belt.

just because a few ats'rs think they have debunked something doesnt make it fact.

and the only thing i can suggest for you is when u see the links u are not interested in..u ignore them...a bit out there i know but it works for me.

"By posting pointless garbage it makes the thread a waste of our time and assists the hoaxer. Asking for evidence then withdrawing stops you from fanning the flames and ruins their little game."


I have to dissagree a little. I posted on the said thread. I believe that the more times you can get a hoaxer to reply, the easier it is to bust the losers. Their flames are already fanned from the get go, or they would not take the time to try to fool everybody.

I am always looking for the evidence but I like for people to get the whole story out. This site has turned into nothing more than entertainment for me. I would like to take it seriously but every time somebody has the smoking gun evidence on any thread, people ignore it. Not only does most people ignore the facts, like after a story was explained by a poster, detailed and definitely the answer. People still deny the facts, or ignore them. This is not the way to go about looking for the truth.

Why should I go through all of the trouble to look up facts for people when the facts are shunned or totally discarded? You want to talk about a waste of time. This is more a waste of time to me then to let someone claim that they are the witness to some extraordinary event and get them to talk more about it to feed more clues to their agenda or whatever. Besides I think it is kind of funny. I am over the frustration that you feel as I have felt it before. I am tired of spending copious amounts of time trying to help somebody understand something when nobody gives a crap. People want to believe their little mumbo jumbo fairy tales and deny factual evidence.

It is everybody's fault, facts or not.

Originally posted by Pimander
Many members will be aware of this hoax thread, that has just been run. Have a look if you aren't sure what I'm talking about. Could I ask that in future when a new member posts some unsupported information that one of you requests some evidence, like the video in that hoax, then wait.

By posting pointless garbage it makes the thread a waste of our time and assists the hoaxer. Asking for evidence then withdrawing stops you from fanning the flames and ruins their little game.

If any other members have good ideas about how to treat these cases then great. For a start the post was done before the member had made 20 posts. Why was it not removed or blocked? Banning them is obviously all good, but can we do more to halt these games?

edit on 9/2/11 by Pimander because: capitals in heading

edit on 9/2/11 by Pimander because: Change thread title

edit on 9/2/11 by Pimander because: typo

By posting pointless garbage it makes the thread a waste of our time and assists the hoaxer. Asking for evidence then withdrawing stops you from fanning the flames and ruins their little game.

Its called debating, being though we all are not experts,this is why we talk and debate on issues.
I dont care what a person says on the ats on any other forum,its not garbage,they just dont know,and then after debatting and chatting,we as a human race will uplift that persons thoughtS to a credible one.
what i think,i think this thread is garbage....PERIOD !
'GARBAGE'...TUH!