Did the "chance encounter time traveler" thread time travel or what?

My apologies if I have posted this in the wrong forum. This sounded like the most logical place for a disappearing-thread question.

Last night a thread existed here called "Chance Encounter With A Time Traveler?". I've been following this thread for several days, but when I got up today and refreshed the page to see if there was anything new, I simply got an error. I've attempted to access this thread several times today/tonight, but it seems to have disappeared completely. In addition, every post asking what happened to it loads a completely blank page. What on earth is going on?

Looking forward to having my curiosity satisfied,
riiver

reply to post by riiver


Maybe someones hypothesis was right and they don't want us to know!

Ugggh, I should have opened the thread earlier,

was gonna wait and open it this evening

its downfall was inevitable - the only question remaining - what happened on page 28 / 29 while i was having a nap ?

It was a mistake, an innomoly in the matrix. There's nothing to see. Just move along. There was no such a thread okay. And stop asking questions that will get you in trouble.

Looks like the mods decided it was a hoax and 404'd the entire thread.
Can't say that I blame them either as it was a highly suspect claim from the get go !

If anyone can pm me the op's handle or any info on where I can find more info about the topic that would be much appreciated. Weird how information can forever disappear from the web, seems like someone would have a copy somewhere, I don't know.

It appears the author Tapped In was banned as well. At the end of the thread before it was 404'd the author uploaded the first interview with the TT on youtube. 9 minutes into the 30 minute interview they said they were going to be selling the rest of the TT's memoirs on his website if people want to know the full story. I'm assuming that is why the thread was 404'd.

Also... there really was no time travel.. at least in the 30 minute interview there was never any talk of time travel or looked like there was going to be any big time travel revelation in future interviews.

reply to post by Baldryck


do you have a link for the vid ? - i missed the last 2 pages due to sleep

Originally posted by r2d246

It was a mistake, an innomoly in the matrix. There's nothing to see. Just move along. There was no such a thread okay. And stop asking questions that will get you in trouble.

Man..that was funny !!!

I would believe that the OP was spamming. 404 & the Hammer were the final results.

Won't shed a tear over that one !

Originally posted by Baldryck
It appears the author Tapped In was banned as well. At the end of the thread before it was 404'd the author uploaded the first interview with the TT on youtube. 9 minutes into the 30 minute interview they said they were going to be selling the rest of the TT's memoirs on his website if people want to know the full story. I'm assuming that is why the thread was 404'd.

Also... there really was no time travel.. at least in the 30 minute interview there was never any talk of time travel or looked like there was going to be any big time travel revelation in future interviews.

It frustrates me so much when people create completely made up posts. There are plenty of intelligent ATS members who create well put togeter threads with valuable information to share. Using this site to gain attention and money is pointless anyways, eventually the truth comes out and you have officially discredited yourself and hopefully banned, like this member.

He was banned. He was peddling this story to push a book that hes writing about the old man he met on the bus. It was all a stunt to see how people would react to the story after all.

So for my own future reference, how do you find out when something like this happens? I mean, I was having other computer issues this morning so I first thought it was a problem on my end. Then I thought maybe something was glitchy with ATS. And it wasn't till I did a search and every reference to the thread was gone too that I realized it was something else. So if something is totally deleted, how do you know that? And I thought hoaxes got moved to the HOAX forum, not deleted? Please draw me a picture, long-time ATSers. And thank you.

reply to post by riiver


You can't. Not if the thread has been deleted or removed.

If it get's moved, to like the HOAX forum, you should still be able to go to it, especially if you're subscribed to it.

If you think a thread is missing or get the 404 error, best thing to do is U2U a moderator on here. They can find out if the thread was deleted on purpose or not and let you know (but they normally will not tell you the 'why" if it was removed, except to tell you there was a T&C violation).

The really stupid thing on that OP's part, is there is a forum on here, where he could have been truthful and posted that this was a story they were working on. It's called the Short Stories forum. But even there you can't "sell' things. But he could have simply been straight up with people and asked them to give their reactions as if the story were real.

In all honesty, we don't ask the Mods about their actions. Once a member gets banned, we don't discuss them, nor ask about them. It's the rule on ATS.

However, you could u2u a mod, I'll toss out "neformore" for a name, because he was a mod that posted in that thread, and then ask for information about the deleted thread. (For future reference, the 404'd error means a thread was deleted.) They may or may not respond. Never share u2u information, either, it is also against the rules.

In this particular instance, many members saw the direction the thread was headed, and called it. I was one that stated the thread would be 404'd and the member banned. It didn't go in the Hoax bin because it wasn't a hoax, and the member did violate the T&Cs as soon as they solicited for money. That will get a thread deleted, in a heartbeat, and never underestimate the staff. They had been following the thread since it's inception, and were waiting to act.

I don't honestly know the ruling. I'm not a Mod, but I watch, and read, and know how the rules work.

The above is only my best guess. I read the whole thread, and followed it, but, alas, the tangent it took was well away from the OP. As such, it's gone. Kudos to the Mods.

reply to post by eriktheawful


The problem with that is the part ownership issues that arise from posting in the SS forum, especially where publishing rights and intellectual ownership is concerned, so my thinking is this thread was created as an idea knowing it would be 404'd, with the idea that ownership is retained by the author. Most publishers won't touch something that even has the potential for ownership issues by being posted somewhere else previously.

Just a question for the site owners or even a Mod though, what happens in that case? Does ATS still part own the rights to the material, or is it disowned, having been canned?

Thank you everyone for the information. I've been coming here and reading almost since the inception of the site (even though I only officially became a member in the last couple years), but I really don't have a clue about the actual workings of the site. For instance I didn't realize a 404 error meant a thread had been removed. So thank you all for the clarification of things, it is much appreciated.

As always the thread was removed because of T&C violations. Information came to light that the OP had ulterior motives and in order to protect members and ATS from their ill intentions the thread was deleted. Normally we don't delete threads with that many replies - we understand that members invest time and interest in such long threads - but the staff were left with little choice in this case.

As usual we won't discuss banned members any further.

Asked and answered.

Thread closed.