Apology to the members of ATS (including member John Lear)

There has been a great deal of discussion about this thread, Q&A With John Lear, especially what transpired on page11. I and the senior staff want to express our apologies for a bumbled handling of this event on ATS. We bumbled it. Plain and simple. 1- We should have confirmed our satisfaction with his identity before making this thread "seem" like it was a sanctioned ATS interview. 2- We should have expressed our doubts about his ideas more clearly, more sooner, and in a less confrontational tone. 3- We should have communicated the need to be careful of big-quotes and one-line responses sooner (though we would have offered leniency upon confirmed identity). 4- We should have taken a more leadership role in controlling the participation of a potential guest speaker (not from a debunking or content standpoint, but in helping him to better deal with the volume of questions and efficient responses). You should know we realize it turned bad, and we recognize that it did so, and are sincerely sorry that it occurred the way it did. A few senior staff members have some direct and first-hand experience with the subject matter. Unfortunately, due to busy schedules, we were not able to be active in confirming Mr. Lear's identity, helping manage the thread flow, helping Mr. Lear cope with his participation, and participating in questions in a timely way as the thread first began. With such a potentially important figure to the UFO/ET community, we should have either made the time, or postponed his involvement until we could devote the time. Our goal has been, and always will be the relentless search for the truth, no matter what form it takes. While you may disagree with what we say, or the way we say it, I hope that the mere fact that this situation has not been "brushed under the carpet" shows our sincerity in that search. From this, we have learned, and In the future things will be different... Senior staff will moderate the flow, not the subject matter of guest speakers. This is what should have happened, and this is what will happen. If a senior ATS staff member has prior "issues" with a given guest speaker, they will participate in the guest discussion as a regular member. We've learned from this, and have taken policy steps to ensure that any future events with a guest speaker will be different. There are several ways we can assist a guest speaker's participation, and the appropriate methods should be established before the thread begins. Thank you. The admin and super-mods of ATS. (typo edit) [edit on 20-9-2004 by SkepticOverlord]

i accept your apology

and it better not happin again

Hopefully for the better.

Everyone need to learn from their mistakes.

I commend you SkepticOverlord.

Well done, S.O. Well done .

It takes a bigger man to admit he funked up than it does to ignore the issue.

Great job ATS.

It takes a lot of courage to admit when you messed up and I applaud SO for coming forward with this apology. I hope things will be handled differently in the future. You mess up, you learn, you move on.

This is exactly why I stay here at ATS. The administration and super-moderators of this site made some mistakes and rather than sweeping them under the carpet they asked the members of this board their feelings on what happened and how they felt things were handled. They took in responses and are now taking action to ensure that we don’t repeat these mistakes in the future. What more can you ask.

Well done SkepticOverlord! You’ve shown enormous class in your actions.

I just hope John Lear sees this and comes back to the thread He said in the other forum that it was a "flame job" but S.O It takes a man to step and apologize and I am sure everyone appreciates it

Who's John Lear

Deep

www.abovetopsecret.com...

[edit on 19-9-2004 by Durden]

It is harder to admit to a mistake than to turn your back and hope it will go away.
And i knew you were better than that.
Cheers big guy.

[edit on 19-9-2004 by Janus]

I think your apology also demonstrates the high level of respect that you have not only for ATS members but also for guests. Thank you!



Good idea- and you know, there is always the saying, "learn by experience". ATS is an enormous community, and from time to time we are bound to attract higher-profile 'celebrities' of sorts (i.e. NASA rover team members, John Lear, etc.). I don't think anyone could have really planned that we'd receive such interactive visits, but it is good to learn from such challenges and I'm certainly glad some new protocol came of it.

As always, top-notch moderation. In my humble view this can only strengthen the community.

MK
ps- Did John receive an email, in case he doesn't see this public announcement?

*slap*

Where the hell ya been?

Yes. From me.

That's good to hear. Hopefully he will accept and return to answer some more questions. I was really interested in what he had to say, even if it seems incredible and unbelievable to some people.

lol, Ocelot!

I just figured out who he is, thanks to google

I'am going to ask him a few questions regarding these Aliens


Deep

I really do appreciate this.

I hope this will calm things down and sooth ruffled feathers. And lets hope that people shall stop beating a dead horse, now that everything is pretty much settled anyway.

But its a wonderful step on the part of SO and the mods. Avoiding another board drama like weve seen in the past from either hoaxers, troublemakers, or others, would be good.

Anyways thanks guys, apologies accepted.

I hope certain people who got offensive or rude would be willing to apologize?

VERY LARGE of you, mighty skeptic. VERY LARGE!

I am very impress with the way in which matters like this are handle by the administration, even taking the opinions and feelings of the members in consideration, I did not know who John Lear was until I saw the thread and I took my time to read it.

Now I see the whole picture, and I have to say you behave like a true professional with this public apology, hopefully Mr. Lear will be back.