You People are IDIOTS!

Please allow me to explain the title. I have just had a revelation of sorts. In countless discussions on this site I have heard the statement, "Do your own research! I am not going to do your homework for you!". When I started to think about all the seemingly pointless threads that start with some amazingly catchy title. I think there is a deeper meaning to those.

A student who had a paper due on Hindu religion for example, might start a thread claiming that Hindu's worship broken eggs and will not eat steaks any other way than rare! Then they sit back and watch the posts roll in with link after link of usable material for a paper. It would almost write itself.

The same could be done for almost any subject here that some lazy person wanted to learn more about. Just start a defamatory thread, us the subject as your main point, and watch the information flow.

The newbies may only be new in name.

a conspiracy of conspirators being played by conspirators. Irony for the ironic.

Your explaining ATS, Is that not how everyone veiws this site?

Collective info.

reply to post by network dude


Its ironic, i am one of those newbies, been around a lot longer than my login name has.

reply to post by network dude


SHHHHHHHHH! I have a paper due tomorrow, you better not ruin this!

While I agree with you in spirit, I don't really see the problem with it. Some people love to do research and love a good mystery, while others (like me) just want the information in short form, cliff notes version.

I see ATS as a big resource. I can learn how to brain-tan a deer hide, spot an altered photograph, engineer a massive hoax, and meditate all within 30 minutes here!

Are you implying something productive comes from all this pseuedo-science and fear-mongering? BesidesDVD sales and web traffic for the high priests?
Whew : I feel better already. I thought I was purely "wasting" my time

reply to post by network dude


Well I see your point but instead of giving them crap why not help the newer members on how to post a thread?

I know when I started I had no clue how to "properly" make a thread.

I do see what you are saying but not everyone on here can make threads in the way most of us would like, this i have come to realize with the new crop of members.


For me..if there is a thread where the OP isnt even contributing to their own thread I don't even bother til they start contributing themselves.

Originally posted by network dude
Please allow me to explain the title. I have just had a revelation of sorts. In countless discussions on this site I have heard the statement, "Do your own research! I am not going to do your homework for you!". When I started to think about all the seemingly pointless threads that start with some amazingly catchy title. I think there is a deeper meaning to those.

A student who had a paper due on Hindu religion for example, might start a thread claiming that Hindu's worship broken eggs and will not eat steaks any other way than rare! Then they sit back and watch the posts roll in with link after link of usable material for a paper. It would almost write itself.

The same could be done for almost any subject here that some lazy person wanted to learn more about. Just start a defamatory thread, us the subject as your main point, and watch the information flow.

The newbies may only be new in name.

a conspiracy of conspirators being played by conspirators. Irony for the ironic.

Finally, someone else notices. I don't know what it is about ATSers but I guess they are a helpful bunch and even if they are insulted, they will do the research for the OP or get into an argument with an obvious troll.

reply to post by network dude


Anyone using random members of ATS as their librarians/researchers is doomed. Academia shuns wikipedia because anyone can edit it, what you're talking about sounds like what wikipedia would be if only crazy people were allowed to contribute. (Not necessarily crazy in a bad way. . . only in the sense of having a predisposition towards unconventional ideas.)

reply to post by OnceReturned


you can get much better sources than Wiki if you poke long enough.

I don't see this as bad at all, it gives me ideas!

And I don't think it's newbies doing it most of the time. I think it's new accounts. big difference.

I've gotta agree about the catchy or offensively titled threads garnering much undue attention.
Conversely, very good threads are often ignored while the latest grainy bigfoot video goes to the top of the list.
For the ATS lurkers this is not such a great thing as they will skim the top threads only to find these kinds of disappointments. How dead raccoons washed up on Long Island can get more interest than real news stories that will have an actual impact on the readers' lives is beyond me, but to each their own.

I also find the "do your own research" retort annoying and, quite often, a cop-out to avoid having to provide information to back their statements.

It is up to us members to keep flagging the valid and interesting threads and to provide catchy titles to them.
We are dealing with the short attention span generation so act accordingly.
I'm sure this is not unique to ATS but is an issue to be dealt with by all media.

Isn't the motto love and peace and all this crap on this site?...then why be mad about something like that...you're helping somebody...Although it ( assuming your assumption is true about the way these ppl go about mustering information ) is deceitful. Peace and prosperity be with you all my fellow pretentious vulcans *spock sign*

Originally posted by AsktheanimalsI also find the "do your own research" retort annoying and, quite often, a cop-out to avoid having to provide information to back their statements.

That's very similar to the old reply, "Use the SEARCH!!!". I frequent the AVSForum website and one thing I noticed over there is that they don't really say stuff like this. If a noob asked the same question or a question no one felt like answering, well, the post will just go unanswered, LOL. Not sure which is worse - having a "use the search" response or being totally ignored.

Originally posted by BishopLord

Originally posted by AsktheanimalsI also find the "do your own research" retort annoying and, quite often, a cop-out to avoid having to provide information to back their statements.

That's very similar to the old reply, "Use the SEARCH!!!". I frequent the AVSForum website and one thing I noticed over there is that they don't really say stuff like this. If a noob asked the same question or a question no one felt like answering, well, the post will just go unanswered, LOL. Not sure which is worse - having a "use the search" response or being totally ignored.

On alot of threads I have noticed that if you make a really good point disagreeing with the op the post will get ignored. People want to believe in all of the wacked out therories, but when a shred of evidence says otherwise it gets no reply.

If it doesn't make any sense or the post bashes someone's opinion without any evidence then these are the posts that most of everybody pays attention to. That is the nature of the beast on ATS. ....Senseless=S&F's out the wazoo. If it is a legit post then lets ignore the info.

There is infact only very few people on here who can really ever back up what there saying in an intelligible way. The vast majority just do not understand how too lay out an arguement, debate properly and use sources.

Mods should realy have a seperate board for serious, organised debates.

Mods should realy have a seperate board for serious, organised debates.

Like this multiculturalism crap we have been subjected to, ATS prefers to mix everyone together - the eloquent with the garbage. That way the intelligent ones get drowned out and buried by a bunch of Neanderthals. On second thought, I take the last statement back, since I do not want to offend to the real primitive Neanderthals, who obviously had a lot more intelligence than many people on this site.

reply to post by network dude


HEY!

Hey!

What do you mean by "YOU" People???? You racist??

People have been starting threads here and on other sites for over almost two decades now in a creative attempt to try to get people to do their homework for them. But you're right...you start to be able to recognize the pattern.

By the way, no matter how you attempted to rationalize it, this thread title sucks. No one appreciates being called and idiot, not even when they're scanning a list of titles. Probably would have had more hits with a more descriptive one.

Originally posted by ~Lucidity
By the way, no matter how you attempted to rationalize it, this thread title sucks. No one appreciates being called and idiot, not even when they're scanning a list of titles.

sorry to upset you. The title was thought out after I reasoned with myself over what type of thread title I was most likely to look at, if it didn't appeal directly to one of my main interests. And since you are here, I guess it worked. But the whole idea was just that I think the members here could easily be manipulated into providing links to subjects simply based on a negative OP, providing it was written properly. It was just an observation that I wanted to share. No offence was intended with the title.

Originally posted by totalmetal
reply to post by network dude

 

HEY!

Hey!

What do you mean by "YOU" People???? You racist??

Oh, you are one of "those" people. I didn't mean you, I was talking about the other ones.

Originally posted by Johnze

Mods should realy have a seperate board for serious, organised debates.

while that would be the easy way to do it, I think it will take all of us providing guidance to those who need it. If we can help someone make a better debate, then in the future, that person may actually have some insight to share that is valuable. It would be a shame to miss out just because a kid was uneducated. We should educate them.