Also, when I first joined in 2004 there were threads about us going to war with Iran, total economic collapse, extreme weather conditions and the president being a dictator.

Not everything has changed

I was going to comment on this thread but i figured it would be 404'd.

I changed my mind.

First rule of ats is you dont talk about ats.

Don't bite the website that feeds you.

ATS has been ensconced, my friend. disband as you can. i found it too a great source of personal insight (as still) but has been overplayed by trolls. makes anything seem foolish, which is quite unheralded. much of the user content is noteworthy but so much of it has become propagandized. move on, start a new forum.. i am =)

In the last year I feel like there has been an influx of holy rollers. I never remember it coming up as much as it does now. Every thread has multiple posters bringing up god as a justification for their points. This site used to be filled with sceptics but now it's definitely the minority by a vast amount.

I agree with with the OP. More attention is needed towards current events rather than stories out the the Weekly World News.

I used to really enjoy this site, when I was a member before, i left it when it started to become a bit reptitive and childish, a few weks ago I decided to rejoin, and to my horror its more like the weekly world news, outraguos claims and silly videos, I loved the old ATS it was great, also I was reading some of the crazy commet elein claims and predictions that some members swore were going to happen, where are these people now to say they were wrong, i think people who predict stuff and the pridiction dosnt happen should be banned from posting on the site for at least 2 months

OK here is an experiment for anyone who thinks things were all sober n' sane n' stuff back in the day.

1. Go to the skunkworks forum.
2. Start browsing the topics from roughly pg. 180-197 and work your way back in time. These include the earliest skunkworks topics, from around the year 2004 and 2005.
5. Get back to us with your tales about how much more sane things were before. We'll be waiting.

First, thank you OP.

I've been reading here for many years. ATS is no longer a place for much intelligent discussion, in the way that it used to be. It's all debate, all the time.

For every person who tries to have a rational, intelligent discussion about UFO's or sightings, there is a person who comes racing into that thread to bust it up, start trouble, start fighting, and proclaim every single sighting as lanterns, swamp gas, sky divers, or remote control toys.

Although I used to love ATS for what it was, I don't come here as much as I used to, because I'm weary of all the posters who are here just to create trouble. ATS used to be a great place.

I'm just sorry that the owners/operators, are allowing this to go on. I don't think they see how this forum has gone downhill in comparison to it's early years.

Hopefully they can do something to bring it back around. We need to keep debates solely for debate threads.

I'm so tired of coming to ATS and seeing an interesting topic, only to click on it and see it's been closed down.

The thing is, this is only going to go on for so long, before the good posters branch off from this forum and start creating their own discussions. I'd hate to see that because we have some great posters here.

Great ! ATS=STA( stupid troll agency)

Originally posted by sir_slide

ETA: I am removing my flag

Oh my, the op will be gutted I'm sure. He may even need councelling, how could you do such a thing?

This isn't the only rant to comment on this issue. Naturally the same disruptive types came in and bashed the OP for the number of posts he's made. Has nothing to do with the issue.

Both sides of most topics have gotten out of control. There is a lot of rhetoric and posts that talk sense are ignored of dismissed.

It's the site's choice, I'm a moderator of a totally different type of forum, but whenever there is a hint of things getting out of control, we put a stop to it right away.

Let's face it the internet is full of smart alecs, it's a site own choice do the try to maintain decorum or not.

If anyone knows of 'rational' alternative sites feel free to send me a PM.

I'm so glad you slammed Schuyler, I feel the exact same way.

Just because I don't have a bajillion posts dosent mean I can't recognize the mass influx of ignorance.

Can I rant too? I laugh when I see a rant from a two or most often one year member saying: " I've been here for awhile now" or "ATS has changed".

I have only been on ATS for a short while but can clearly feel a certain frustraion.
Some posts are damn interesting but then it sometimes is like I am not looking for the same kind of exchange as some other people commenting here.
We all are different, with different systems of beliefs and convictions, but sometimes I feel like insanity becomes contagious.
I sometimes wish there was some kind of way to put forward the interesting comments in some posts.
Like for example if stars were related to relevance and instead of being disseminated through a 20 page post were systematically placed in first position after the OP (# I'm a bit off today can you guys get what I'm saying :s).
It's like there is a looooot of parasit comments that I am not really interested in, and I have to go through the whole shiz to read something I find sensed, relevant or coherent...
Or maybe just create a "mature cigar room" for old fashioned guys that don't like to hear tons of bull#... a filter.
But then hey... how far is this from fascism?

Peace and light,

Logiciel

I think the quality filter was removed somewhere along the line to appeal to a wider audience.. ATS has become a buisness after all.. Which is great for the owners, not so good for the rest of us.