##Members Please Read##: Ending the Political Trolling

I'll kep mi Euphemisisms inn cheque

Originally posted by intrepid
I could have responded as such, "Are you out of your mind? What leads you to such inane conclusions?" Nothing wrong with any of those words, they sure as hell are trolling though.

If this thread shows anything it's that the moderators on ATS seem to misunderstand what trolling is. There's nothing "sure as hell" about your hypothetical statement being trolling.

Asking someone if they're out of their mind might border on rude, but that doesn't make it trolling. There's a difference between being an ass and trolling.

Good. Most of us have quit long ago simply because watching these folks is so offensive that those of us who are here to discuss do not wish to look the way the trolls do.

Good luck in this endeavor, I think you have your work cut out for you. Personally, I think most of us have just tried our best to ignore the trolls, and not to get down in the mud with them.

Many of you have, with a certain amount of justification, that it'll be impossible to stop all the trolling...

That's true enough, but it doesn't mean we're not going to try. That's why we need you guys to help us do so. I may be in the minority here, I don't think so, but maybe I am. I view ATS as a sort of family I choose, friends if you will. Given how much time I spend here, it seems obvious. Many of you spend just as much time here, if not more. So it would seem you view ATS in much the same light as I do. It's not just a website to me, or to many others herein.

I sometimes miss the ATS that was here when I joined back in the day, but then I look around at the sheer diversity of opinion, lifestyle, and global viewpoints that ATS has come to represent, and I wouldn't go back ever again.

Well, ATS has seemingly hit a bump of sorts, and we, the staff, are attempting to smooth the bump as much as we can. But, as I've said a couple of other times, we can not hope to do it alone, ATS is simply too large.

We Need Your Help.

reply to post by Jason88


Because it is not productive for positive, poliitcal debate....there are better ways to make your point:

Reaffirming Our Desire For Productive Political Debate (REVISED)

If people can't engage in right vs. left debate I'm not sure how much political discussion will be had on ATS... which will certainly lower the server bills....

reply to post by captainnotsoobvious


We're not looking to end political debate. Never that. It is, after all, the meat and potatos of ATS, after UFO's. What we're looking for, and demanding, is a certain level of civility in the process of debating the paradigm of Left vs Right. Or however you wish to define political ideology. That's all.

reply to post by seagull


To quote the OP

"right-versus-left political bickering"

That's pretty much 99% of political discussion... in the US.

reply to post by seagull


No offense but just flat out talking politics breaks more than half of you restrictions. lol. Looks like big brother is working in overdrive. Not only that everything anybody posts breaks atleast one rule in your t&c you just posted.

Why not just ladies and gentlemen ATS is no longer accepting anymore posts treads comments or messages at this time of the election process.

Stay SPOOKY seagull, stay SPOOKY.

(INSIDE JOKE) I do believe he gets it. lol Would be nice to get a yeah I get it from seagull.

BTW I just love yours and donttreadonmes locations. hmmmm. I wonder what google earth will say about that.

Just joking. I think its funny what you guys are doing. . Your herders herding sheep. Love it keep up the good work.

reply to post by seagull


Can you guys put a little thing next to every thread kinda like the star, where if a person is being rude or inconsiderate, members can mark them? if they reach a certain amount of tallies you guys are notified and can pull the post. What do you think?

reply to post by seagull


Excellent, I wish you good luck; frankly I have always enjoyed ATS for nonpolitical issues, but so be it, thanks for being strong Mods

reply to post by ownbestenemy

But hey -- you didn't find it snarky and considering the amount of defense you put into the thread one can infer and guess the angle attempted. Right. Nuff said. The way you said it and what I quoted were completely different. You agree with the massive crack-down, I do not and especially with subjective overseers being the gatekeepers to the "free" exchange of ideas. ETA: I guess as much you find my middle paragraph to be "personal" when it was just an observation I have made. You have been chearleading this thread and the respectable intent of what the owners/mods are attempting to accomplish. I merely pointed out and questioned why. Eh, I am sure I will be the "troll" here.

Not sure what got your feathers ruffled there friend, you demanded an answer as to why your continual "alerts" were going unheeded, a mod responded suggesting that the Alert system is for alerting the mods to infractions, not a tool to silence those you don't want to listen to. I reaffirmed that, and stated how I didn't find the Mods response snarky at all (a CLEAR example of how subjective this will be) I guess that was lost on you as you seem to have some personal issue with me.

Let me be clear, friend, i'm not a mod, and the mods need no "defending" from me. I've seen this problem growing and when it comes to an election cycle, it gets worse. It quite literally is impossible to have a conversation, about anything, on ATS as it's a troll fest, political or otherwise. It ruins the discussion, ends with people leaving their threads to die, and makes it hard to follow for those coming in seeing a massive amount "posts removed" warnings.

Beyond all of that, no rules are being changed. They are merely giving everyone advanced warning that the free for all is soon over, and the T&C will be fully enforced.

If you don't like the T&C you can find your way to another site that allows trolling in all it's glory.

Most of us, however, would like to keep the site running, flowing, and fun to use.

reply to post by captainnotsoobvious

If people can't engage in right vs. left debate I'm not sure how much political discussion will be had on ATS... which will certainly lower the server bills....

You can debate left versus right without resorting to trolling, plenty of people already do.

Originally posted by princeguy
reply to post by seagull

 

Can you guys put a little thing next to every thread kinda like the star, where if a person is being rude or inconsiderate, members can mark them? if they reach a certain amount of tallies you guys are notified and can pull the post. What do you think?

It'll just become the, "I disagree with that post" button... the way that stars and flags are the, "I agree with this" buttons on many threads...

reply to post by captainnotsoobvious


I guess it could.... but we'll never know unless they try.

reply to post by captainnotsoobvious


There is bickering, along with all the associated name calling, and assorted hard feelings. Then there is debate, which when all is done, has possibly created understanding, if not agreement.

Which would you prefer? When you discuss politics with friends over beers and burgers, which would you prefer?

reply to post by ringlejames

No offense but just flat out talking politics breaks more than half of you restrictions. lol. Looks like big brother is working in overdrive. Not only that everything anybody posts breaks atleast one rule in your t&c you just posted.

Big brother? How is asking you all to practice a little civility in your postings being big brother. I'd really like to hear, and understand, your reasoning.

Rudeness begats rudeness. ...and hard feelings follow right on behind. ...and it has a habit of crossing over into other forums, and discussions.

I am, as some of you have undoubtably figured out, by nature politically conservative. I've had encounters with members who are, to put it mildly, not. Yet in all the conversation, I've had one post removed, along with the associated warning...oddly enough it wasn't even political in nature.

I have a horrible temper, and if I can post over fourteen thousand times, and get only one warning so too can all of you.

We're not asking a lot. We aren't changing the rules you all agreed to when you joined. We're just going to do what we can to fix a problem. That's all.

Part of that repair is asking that you all practice civility no matter how heated the issue. You can have heat, and still be polite.

reply to post by seagull


Hmmm...

Here's a brand new thread title in the 2012 US Elections forum:

Michele Bachmann - incompetent, or dishonest?

How would you characterize this?

I'm sincerely curious...not trying to bait you.

Thanks.

reply to post by seagull


At the end of the day, political discussion between people you know is going to be civil. No amount of rules can make you treat strangers like friends and no amount of interactivity or personalisation will make the internet into "reality".

I appreciate the attempt to differentiate between debate and bickering, but... that's often gonna be eye-of-the-beholder stuff.

BTW: the definition of "bickering" is:

"Argue about petty and trivial matters": /7nkcsas

Debate is:

"An argument about a particular subject": /76oebcm

So the OP states, political argument is OK, as long as it's not about trivial stuff.

What's "trivial"?

We're gonna need some pretty clear guidelines if the benchmark is that a "debate" post must be about something "non-trivial".