ATS is going down hill very quickly.

I've only been a member for a couple months, but I've been a lurker for the past two years. I've noticed a trend that has become, and continues to become increasingly worse as time goes by. Posts are becoming more biased, more hateful, more antagonistic. They are becoming less insightful, less meaningful, and even less logical (more derived from negative emotions).

I've loved alternative news for as long as I can remember. I've really enjoyed ATS since the first day I stumbled upon it. I usually habitually check out the new topics everyday. But I'm beginning to dread it every time I get on here. We complain about the wars going on in the world, and talk about how simple and easy it would be if we kicked ignorance to the curb and became "vessels of peace." We discuss these things in the very place that we've started our own war.

Every time I get on ats to see what's going on in the world I feel as though I'm entering a war zone. The motto here is to "deny ignorance" is it not? That's what I thought it was last time I checked. Last time I checked the motto wasn't "Attack one another for their personal beliefs and points of view. Antagonize each other by writing utterly hateful posts directed toward a persons beliefs and even their gender."

What the hell everybody?!

I'm noticing that literally everyday, it get's worse. Can we please put petty bs to rest and get on with what this site is really about?

I'm also a long time lurker (years!) and I don't think its that people have gotten more antagonistic so much as that there are just so many people. I mean, each thread, even if it pertains to something somewhat trivial, can be pages long.

So I assume it is a situation like: if 5 people out of a 100 are jerks and you are in a city of over a million people then you are gonna be surrounded by a lot of jerks. Unfortunately, it does seem like the angry ones post a bit more than the others. Anger... It gives one a lot of energy.

Yeah just was in a thread in which the OP used winning the lottery as an equivalent to being rich as far as tax purposes...fail from the get go obviously but then went on to claim a billion dollar stock portfolio. WTH? This guy is a regular fixture here lately.
FWIW it is NOT ATS it is the level of low thinking that is taking over in general.
seed

A topic from two years ago was recently reposted. Two years ago it got 20 some odd replies generally mocking the story. (Rightfully so). The recent thread however got 70+flags and pages of replies.

There are more people on the site. Simple.

What do you expect from an open door website? So long as there are opposing views, there will be uneducated and misguided viewpoints, isn't THAT what makes places like ATS great??

reply to post by RightInTwo

This is a great example of how to use the rant forum!

I agree with your rant. If a person disagrees with another, let's have it based on the content of the topic.

reply to post by RightInTwo


Picking on a person for their religious beliefs is one thing, but if you are pointing out the flaws in a religious belief when confronted by the facts of history, or pointing out blatant hypocrisy in an organized religion between what they preach and what the leaders actually do/have done, well that is fair game and one of my main areas of study.

I am new and I hope I have not done the first, but I will be doing the latter two frequently.

If we are trying to put a belief label on lies and say that they are off limits because they are a matter of faith, they are still lies, and that is still censorship. As falls Wichita, so falls Wichita Falls! (What does that mean?)

reply to post by RightInTwo


Yes, ATS is a crap interface and I love play on words... I have no use for this drama but felt compelled to create an account and contribute where I could.

The war on this planet is a war for your attention and awareness.

I no longer need to dig through conspiracies, because I know them all... This journey started with questioning SELF first, then I blasted through dimensional paradigms and am accessing 5th dimensional consciousness. You can feel that energy in your chest, the Christ center, it's where this planet is heading and fast... That's not religious, but I do recommend checking out the latest George Kavassias Project Camelot interview. Sizzling insights!

reply to post by RightInTwo


What really attracted me to ATS was the no swearing, courteous debate, insights from well researched members and a feeling of comradeship amongst the users as we battle to expose the truth! It was also the quality of the posts, even the quality of the comments in the threads. I have noticed that it has become far harder to find these threads, although they do pop up occasionally.

I think it's the massive increase in users and also the average age of users dropping quite a bit, lot's of outspoken teenagers these days.

Where could this anger be coming from ?
Why the personal attacks rather than debate the questions presented ?

Are we getting an influx of angry people from another web site that is going down and is this their normal way of acting towards each other ?

I must agree. I was amazed recently as I started reading some of the posts. I have been a member here for over two years, and I rarely post. There are people here who have been here for less than a week that have over 200 posts. I went and read most of them and they were garbage. Just a single sentence or immediately insulting the OP. People are no longer taught the art of debate, they believe that if you debate with them you are attacking them directly. Debates should be a sharing of ideas in order to help each mind grow.

I really think some of these people are from other sites. That or some of these are people who have been banned at one time or before, changed log in name, and then started creating multiple accounts. You can go into some of these newer peoples posts and watch who replies, it seems strange that the same group of four or five people are constantly replying to every post that the others put up. The odds are if you watch in chat those people are either never on at the same time or they are part of their own circle of friends just here to trash every that has a rational thought.

Those people are also doing short posts to reach the 200 post count to be able to get into the chat. I would love to go in there and just watch, but I am not allowed due to the fact that I have barely posted. I don't have a vocal opinion on most things. I would rather the majority of my posts be well thought out than to just post a bunch of "Good post. S&F." posts. I find those posts to be asinine and a complete waste of space on a blog. I would rather see intelligent replies than to read a large amount of one or two line garbage. Maybe they do need to begin to teach netiquette in schools

I watched for months then joined recently. I have to say that I have been introduced to a vast array of alternative topics by some of my fav. members. So much so, that I look for their avatar in threads to see their input because I know that whatever, the topic it will be well said, well thought out and well researched.

Some of the guys/gals have even gotten me to turn to the darkside(skeptic) on many things that I though were real or at least had some validity.

Back to original post - I have not wanted to post in many threads that have hostile members b/c I just wasn't in the mood, nor did I have the time to debate until the sun comes up over who's right and who's wrong. Like the Lottery Thread mustard seed pointed out above. I wanted to jump in to state my point, but it would have been a moot point due to the real topic at hand - arguing.

I do believe that some of the hostility and name calling can be cause for newer members not including their opinions and theories in posts, which is a shame. I've seen in two months many new member threads starting off with " this is my first thread, don't kill me" or "don't pounce on me I'm still new". That totally p's me off.

I despise arguing threads because it takes us away from why we are really here - to deny ignorance and learn something as a team. The sum is greater than the whole.

The T&C rules of this forum will shut down the worst of the worst eventually.

**Sir_Slides - your first sentence is like you were reading my mind.

Apparently GPL has banned a ton of members.
Notice the join date on many of the worst offenders.
Normally I would recomend notifying a mod when a new
member is refusing to bring quality to the board but I fear
the mods are already very overworked in this transition period.

Don't worry, summer is almost over and the kids will be back in school.

Let's hope that we can keep a few of the new ones that bring quality and thoughtfulness.


David Grouchy

reply to post by harlot7


You're exactly right. Slow your roll kids. Go take it out on yahoo answers or write a book about it. .Personally it's gotten to the point where I hardly ever want to participate in "debates" or even add my input into anything anymore. I've already got the perils and stresses of everyday life to deal with, I don't feel like being verbally thrashed for a little comment I post on a thread (there's always at least one being aimlessly cruel just for the hell of it lately). I'm a lover, not a fighter. I'm sure a few of you can relate at least a bit.

Originally posted by davidgrouchy
Apparently GPL has banned a ton of members.
Notice the join date on many of the worst offenders.
Normally I would recomend notifying a mod when a new
member is refusing to bring quality to the board but I fear
the mods are already very overworked in this transition period.

Don't worry, summer is almost over and the kids will be back in school.

Let's hope that we can keep a few of the new ones that bring quality and thoughtfulness.

David Grouchy

Don't hold your breath my dear, there's still almost 5 weeks holiday to go in the UK.

reply to post by RightInTwo


ATS reminds me of Chuck E. Cheese.

They both are oriented to really young people for entertainment.

At a certain age Chuck E. Cheese is no long cool to go there for birthday celebrations.

The children get older and the parents find other things for the kid to do.

I used to take my children there but haven't been there in about 15 years,but the place is still going strong as I notice from driving by.

New parents,new kids keep it that way.

The same with ATS.

Members sign up but after a period of time find it not worth the effort to participate.

To many children posting on here now with limited world views.

I stumbled on this statistics site a few months ago and check it now and again.

I am not sure how accurate it is so decide for yourself.

Here is the link.

Personally I think it's just the standard level of dumb and is increasing.
10 years ago, dumb people got on the internet through AOL or some other closed service that kind of corralled them into their own little communities.
General access increased, and those group were let loose on the internet at large.

Then dumb people with dumb children realized that they could spend even less time dealing with how dumb their kid was if they stuck a cheap PC in that kids room and gave them a stack of games and the internet.

Similar to dumb people who used to use nintendo as a baby sitting service, and the dumb people before them who used tv as a babysitter.

My friend works in IT support. Best line I've heard,His Question "So do you connect to the internet through a wireless system or with a network cable"? Answer: " I use the computer to get on the internet, but the internet is broken right now, that's why I'm calling you".

This was a 35 year old man, who is an account manager for a national bank who supposedly has an MBA.

That's how dumb this country is.