Is anything real on here?

Originally posted by dgtempe
Bleys, I was in on it. WilliamOneSac told me.

Why then on earth would you fan the flames in Mainer's thread? Those people were genuinely shocked.

It is one thing to be a part of the show, it is another to to pretend to pissed and stir the pot even more.

I think one of the reasons people got so angry with the original War of the Worlds broadcast was because it was during WW II, and people had come to depend on the radio for news on what was going on in the world. That's why so many people were suckered in.

I didn't see the threads that made the obvious War of the Worlds connection at first - what caught my eye were the threads on troop movements, like this one:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I wasn't even thinking of aliens - I was thinking something terrorist-related was going down, or Bush was going to declare martial law to suspend the elections.

The subject of UFOs/ETs has always had a huge amount of hoaxes in it. Every time a new hoax is created, it stops a portion of people's interest in the subject and undermines the good evidence that exists due to the apathy generated from such hoaxes. I am completely against what was done on ATS and am saddened, not shocked, to see it occur once again.

Originally posted by heelstone
The subject of UFOs/ETs has always had a huge amount of hoaxes in it. Every time a new hoax is created, it stops a portion of people's interest in the subject and undermines the good evidence that exists due to the apathy generated from such hoaxes. I am completely against what was done on ATS and am saddened, not shocked, to see it occur once again.

Heelstone, this particular hoax is good in one way. I'm sure there's a lot of people out there who want the truth and believe almost everything they hear. Considering there has been hoaxes and lies in the past, and hoaxes and lies in the future I believe it is enlightening to the few who take everything as truth to say to themselves, "Oh, this wasn't real. What else isn't real I've heard/ read/ seen?" The good thing about this one is, it is proclaimed to be a hoax. Even I was tricked and now I'm having a good, hard look at my believe system shaped and nurtured by the media, people's beliefs and opinions and even things I read here.

- Nazgarn

Hola! I just wanted to add my two pennies to this. I came into this little tribute very shortly after it began. I was very much into investigating it even to the point of sending the story to 4 outside sources to see if they had any info. I spent an hour trying to get through to Art Bell and even sent an e-mail to Drudge. Not just because I believed it but because it was fun to finally sink my teeth into something that wasnt instantly debunked. There were people hanging out in chat and sending U2Us. Really communicating about the possibilities. It was awesome. And I was there when someone figured it out and shared the info with a few of us. I was also present when a Mod explained to us that it was a tribute to Orson Welles and gave us the option to continue with the tribute or to let the cat out of the bag. No one there was offended or if they were they kept it to themselves. Now I would say that those present represented a pretty good sampling of the general membership of ATS. So I was quite surprised by the reaction when just a few hours later some of you reacted so negatively. It was a great tribute and I believe the fact that the mods didn't come out and tell us from the begining it was a sort of online reenactment is a compliment to our intelligence. They had enough faith in us to realize that we would figure it out. This was evidenced by a statement made by a mod when a member saw a post that pretty much said "Its about War of the Worlds". The member wanted the mod to delete the post and the mod said no. He basically pointed out that the idea was for people to figure it out. I put alot of time and effort into solving this mystery as did many others. In this case the answer to the mystery was the mods did it! Another case solved by ATS members! Yes there is a rule that has been pointed to often about not posting anything you know to be untrue or misleading. In this case I am glad the mods didn't post a disclaimer from the begining saying it was a "net drama". That would have taken all the fun out of it. Besides all of that, there were some interesting things uncovered in the researching of the events in the WOTW reenactment that may or may not have come to light had we not been participating in this. So I just wanted to say thanks to the mods for all their hard work in putting this together. Maybe we can do it again sometime although not too soon judging by the reaction.

Another lesson learned....colaboration is a good thing.

And....
Mark....you were too in on it and I can prove it!!! hehehe
dgtempe....uh-huh....I have a U2U that could be used in court.

Originally posted by Flash__04
Gazz and other mods question for you. ... My question though and I think many members share the same question is this something we will have to be on the look out for from this point on?

This is not the first time that Staff at ATS have been involved in a joke, a prank, a hoax, an evil masterminded orchestrated litany of lies designed to cause hurt and anguish within ALL who read it and perpetrated by the soul-less twisted spawns of Satan that are the ATS Staff or however anyone else wishes to define it.

Chances are around April Fools or some other similar 'holiday/celebration' something in a similar vein may well take place. Unless of course we accept that even pranks pulled in good spirit can, and apparently have, resulted in discomfort and/or disgust. In which case, for the benefit of sensitivities we may well refrain from anything remotely similar in the future.

By using this message board, you agree to the following:

1.) You will not post any material that is knowingly false, misleading, or inaccurate.

No one seems to have a clear answer how this was not violated and it seems to be more talking in circles to save a few that have broken the rules then to actually uphold what a community is about.

What answer are you looking for?? A straight no-nonsence black and white one?? If so...its pretty obvious that a joke or prank or otherwise, no matter how well-intended, would technically be covered by that rule.

There. A Mod said it.

And I'll even say it again:
Any joke, prank or otherwise DOES technically breach that rule
*gasp*

So...now will start the obvious responses: "Then WHY are other people banned for their actions of deliberate misinformation etc" "This is all a case of do as we say, not as we do" "This STINKS of hypocracy" ...yes...I can hear the knives being sharpened now.

Well...in a pre-emptive response: Heres some more direct honesty. Hypocracy exists JUST as much in cyberspace as it does in real life. YES, on occasion Staff Members can indeed be seen as guilty of hypocracy. And guess what...as I'm sure a number will have no doubt bemoaned long and hard - not a lot will be done about it either.

So my final question is what if me and 19 newbs started the same thing what would be the consequence.

Honesty again: Really depends...and thats a decision that would be made by the Staff of ATS. They may be banned...or we may also identify it as a reference to WotW and see the humour in it. Ultimately, I'll say again, the Staff of ATS would decide on a case-by-case basis...just as we do with all issues that may arise on the board.

For this reason I feel that is why this question has yet and will never be answered but and mod willing please do.

...sorry I took my time answering you...you may have not liked the answers, but there they are anyway.

I'll chip in another 0.08c to make it up to a dime:
IF people are so disgusted with the actions of ATS Staff, if they are so offended by the prank/tribute/heinous example of hypocracy pulled by the Staff, if ATS is now a big steaming pile of doggie doo...then perhaps they can take the only real course of action any of us truly has - Log Off.


Peace,
ALIEN

People,

do any of you EVER check with news media outlets like CNN,
or Fox news? Do you really think if there were ANY truth to the
War of Worlds tribute that it would not be all over TV and radio???
The WWW, the internet, is NOT the only information resource.
There are also ***books*** that if anyone would read them they
might have known about the original broadcast and been able to
add 2 plus 2 to arrive at the conclusion that the story on ATS
was the same kind of story. Anyone thinking this was real has
no defense of any kind to justify that belief except ignorance
and stupidity! Accept that, start improving your critical thinking
faculties.. (Christ and a lot of you are voting!) This country is
doomed!

[edit on 1-11-2004 by mockan]

Hundreds of new UFO reports are made each month, as are new photos and videos, and almost none of it gets any media attention. There is no reason to think any media outlet would cover any paranormal story no matter how big due to how little actually does get reported on.

Thank you Alien!!!

All I was looking for was a standard or rule which our society is truly governed by. Did I find what happened funny well yes it was very funny but what I wanted was for someone to say what the standard or rule is. I feel this will circumvent later debate when some dumba** comes along and does something with a tint of similarity and is banned. I personally didn�t feel like hearing all the BS about how mods did it, so it�s ok that someone else did it, so I am glad it has been addressed now. It has been clearly stated members will not be allowed to do such an act without proper approval or supervision by the mods. Which is in fact completely justified and I see no problem with such a decree. Might it also be helpful to add something to the original post stating that this type of action will not be tolerated without supervision form mods. Or anything you guys/girls might see as an appropriate warning.

As always keep up the great job and thank you for the answers. Once again it was one heck of a reenactment bravo. I am really upset I only caught the beginning prior to the truth being revealed. But it was still a good read after knowing the truth.

I asked this question once.
Never got a real answer.
Use your brain and come up with your own opinons.
Thata all u can do.