ATS is NOT a T.V, You Have To Do SOME Reading....

reply to post by Klassified


Aww Klassified

I didnt know what else to do either, but at least those that got it participated, and added wonderful points of views and comments, thanks for being a part of that thread!!

BTW, I didnt know what I should have commented on first, the off topic discussion, or that I wasnt a guy

Peace, NRE.

One beautiful afternoon a few decades ago, a friend of mine(a millionaire) called me up and asked me to meet for lunch. It was a casual lunch, more like a get together, as he lived out of town. As we were catching up I noticed he had taken a bit of time going over the menu, a menu we both had practically memorized and that he kept looking around the square we were at. It almost seemed he had lost focus of our little lunch although he was always on the topic at hand.

After we had eaten he looked at me and said, "As you know I have a lot of wealth in my life, not just the money part of it, or the possession part of it but also the knowledge, wisdom, and friends part of it. I noticed you have always done things that you may not be aware of and I think it is time for me to spell them out to you so you are conscious of what you are already doing." I just looked at him a little confused because it was not a normal conversation for us and he continued, "There are 3 things one must do to become a wealthy person, one, desire, two, read, and three dress to impress."

"Desire is the most important part of life, without it one will not strive for the future and goals will never be complete. Reading is the most important thing to do in life, Read, Read everything, and when you have read everything begin again and read it once more. Dress is the most important part of ones image. Dress for your goals. If it is to be successful in business, wear a dark suit, any color of shirt is fine as long as it is white, and a tie with some red in it. Dress your image and you will be noticed."

That conversation has always stuck with me, especially the part about reading. As I walk down the path of life it is plain to see those that read and those that don't and it solidifies his statement for me every day.

reply to post by NoRegretsEver

Yeah, I think you got called everything but a lady.

Keepem coming. I try not to miss any of your threads. I don't always comment, but I usually see them.

Sorry, I didn't read the thread or anything, but,
Titty sprinkles.


I feel ya bud.
I hate it when you have different people saying the same thing over and over again.
Like I may have just done.
I prefer to read an entire thread before I post. Not just the op.
Although I just read the op this time, so somebody probably already wrote what I just did.
Minus the titty sprinkles.

ATS is NOT a T.V, You Have To Do SOME Reading....,

reply to post by NoRegretsEver


What we see on TV is from trained writers that spent years honing their craft. Even if the content is crap, these writers at least have credentials that the viewers will trust for a time, until the writers show that they are no good at their craft.

When writing on a website such as ATS, what are your credentials (Not meaning YOU, NRE, but all the long-winded writers)? Why should readers invest their time in reading the full blown articles you post? When I see complaints such as this, what I hear is "Everything that comes out of my mind is gold and everyone should appreciate every word I write."

Sorry, that's just not going to happen. One member in this thread filled up no less than NINE full replies in a thread he/she created. That's insane! If we wanted to read full-blown articles we'd buy a magazine or go to websites where writers are experts in their field.

I would add more here, but it's getting kind of long. I care about my readers and wouldn't want to bore them.

reply to post by NoRegretsEver


are you saying T.V is for people who cant read?

What really makes me mad is people who don't read the posts before they make a comment..

reply to post by NoRegretsEver


I understand where you are coming from but it doesn't really bother me anymore!

If someone doesn't take the time to read the OP (let alone other comments) then it is obvious enough to ignore their posts!

Understanding that we have developed a society that doesn't have time for anything anymore, throw in some teenagers, add a website, and poof...dumb things are going to happen!

There are patterns to threads and speed reading helps to decide if they warrant a thorough read. In many cases it comes down to SSDD. People reach certain levels of awareness at different times, of course, but it is not always a revelation or interesting to others. I cherry pick what I followup on and try not to waste time on something that doesn't appeal to me. I really enjoy finding something genuinely new. Sometimes it even turns out to be true.

products of modern education with the attention span of a gnat... they quickly browse and pick what suits them then try to cause trouble with their partial information .... ignore them theyre not worth the time nor effort of replying to....

Some people are just lazy and don't read, and that results in them making themselves look foolish when they spit out a replay that has already been flamed, corrected, repeated and resolved.

Or like CE said, taps out a knee-jerk response in regard to only the title without reviewing the full video or understanding the author's point. Look at the first reply to this thread, brilliant!
I like FissionSurplus' "contrarians" comments as well.


I remember a thread here titled something to the tune of:
"Is it even worth commenting on a thread on the front page?"

There's a lot of truth in that because a reader who has not already been following the thread, most likely, will not read over 9 pages of replies before he responds with more useless or repetitive information. All he achieves is kicking a dead horse, everybody has left the thread, quenched, and bored with the topic.

[ETA] As they probably are with this one by now!

Well, in defense of the unfortunates at the receiving end of your rant, this problem often occurs because there is so little time for somebody to get their point in before someone else does.

Therefore speed reading becomes a necessity if one wants to get their point-of-view across without seeming foolish repeating the same thing a person did who got in 30 seconds before you.

Nine times out of ten, if you take your time and read a long OP in a considered fashion and then go to post your response, you'll find that someone has already beaten you to the mark - thus leaving you redundant to the conversation. So it's not surprising that aspects of the OP get lost in the desperate clamour to get involved in the discussion.

Didn't read yet... tired of all those words
Sorry, had to post a stupid joke...

As a hint for people who don't want to read. On mac computers, there is a speech option, where it speaks up the selected text!
At the other hand, who reads this anyway... Like people said before me, I'm on page 3, nobody probably will notice my hint... And people who do, do not need this hint...

Absolutely correct. Starred and flagged.
I don't understand why the mods don't enforce some kind of restriction on a user replying without actually saying specifically about the main point of the OP. Isn't that the whole point of this website? For someone to post something and then have others reply about it?

As this site gains popularity and users, the value of the content (especially in the political realm) is going downhill extremely fast. There are too many people who aren't interested in having any sort of discussion but instead only want to use their replies as a place to grandstand and shout their beliefs at the rest of us in a very hostile and intolerant way.

I recently posted a thread about a youtube video but because it had to do with politics people assumed they already knew what the video was going to say and so instead they ignored the video and spouted off about their usual biased political garbage.

So basically it went like this;

Me - Hey here's a great video with some great info analyzing the psychology of voters in the presidential election in way that digs much deeper than the superficial left right paradigm stuff. In fact it helps explain why we've arrived at a left right paradigm in the first place.

1st reply - 'No need for a video, Obama won! Deal with it you crybaby! Left wing = Good,
Right wing = Bad!' (proceeds to receive many stars for this mindless garbage)

2nd reply - "I hate conservatives, Obama is the great one, you are a retard, and throw in some mindless meaningless political propaganda slogans!!" (proceeds to receive many stars for this mindless garbage)

Originally posted by Silver Star
Well, in defense of the unfortunates at the receiving end of your rant, this problem often occurs because there is so little time for somebody to get their point in before someone else does.

Therefore speed reading becomes a necessity if one wants to get their point-of-view across without seeming foolish repeating the same thing a person did who got in 30 seconds before you.

Nine times out of ten, if you take your time and read a long OP in a considered fashion and then go to post your response, you'll find that someone has already beaten you to the mark - thus leaving you redundant to the conversation. So it's not surprising that aspects of the OP get lost in the desperate clamour to get involved in the discussion.

Who cares if someone gets your point in first? I thought the point of ATS was to inform and debate, not to insure your post count?

I think it depends on the purpose of the thread. Some threads are nice little rides to a new physical awareness with pretty pictures, and bring out a "Wow i didn't know that.". Some are about theories and concepts that may benefit form a group contribution. Some are opinionated proclamations of certitude Others I have found are feel good secessions over some warm fuzzy enlightenment. ( these you don't mess with.). Some are long winded and lose their logic half way through. and subsequent posts to the thread fare little better. These require a great deal of patience to wade through and like someone already wrote this ain't exactly Pulitzer material.

Read all of it? Some are interesting and informative. Some are intended to inflame passions, and those you can only keep you mouth shut for a page or two. Threads that are basically opportunities to agree to agree can get kind of locked in and there is no other thing to do but agree. When threads become 15, 25 pages in length you have some people who really care and a lot of people who don't.

I say at least get the original poster's point or drift. Then you can laugh, applaud, reply, or click on another thread. It's what makes this interesting.

I'm actually the opposite myself, I usually read and not watch the videos unless I have to. As long as it's not paragraph after paragraph of quotes that don't even have much useful information at all in them. It takes some actual writing skill to keep a lot of people interested if your going to put a lot of writing in your thread, not just copied quote after copied quote.

Originally posted by randomtangentsrmeWho cares if someone gets your point in first? I thought the point of ATS was to inform and debate, not to insure your post count?

What I'm trying to say is ATS is a discussion forum and there's little point entering into a discussion if you are just parroting another members point-of-view... at least that's how it is for me. What purpose does it serve repeating something somebody has already said?

I was just offering that up as a possible explanation as to why some people, in some instances, don't take the time to read the original post in a thread properly.

Yeah it's not only not reading the thread, it's acting like they know the subject but obviously haven't read the actual original works on the subject, only other peoples opinion of it.

Ive been crabby and annoyed with some of the shenanigans on ats recently. All of the fighting and nonsense. Youre right, folks DONT read it and just want to fight. Its like theyve never had a platform before and want to vent their spleen on every thread. 2 people in particular.. Ive really considered making voodoo dolls and pinning the hell out of it rather than replying.

Best ever ( and more common than ever) is the snotty post about a misleading thread title.. when its a title taken straight from the article per the rules! If theyd have clicked on the article to participate in the discussion, theyd have seen it right there.. and understood the content of the OP! GAH!!

One thing has come from this that is annoying the hell out of me. People being attacked so mnay times for their views.. that they add " this is just my opinion" to the comment they make. Its pathetic that we have to remind some here we are posting an opinion sometimes due to the inevitable attack. Bah!