It's Wrong To Believe In Conspiracy on ATS

Originally posted by Wonderer2012
- Start a 'conspiracy' thread.

- Face ridicule from a group of 'balancers'.

Agreed 100%...

There is more focus on slander, character assassination, hatred, and ridicule than there is on the real facts and issues.

I see this as the single biggest issue on ATS and constantly find myself wondering WHY do the mods and owners even tolerate this type of behavior.

It makes ZERO sense to me.

reply to post by Wonderer2012

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. - Aristotle

I fully agree with you and understand where you are coming from. To me conspiracy is all about entertaining ideas and possibilities, without necessarily believing it as fact. The more people that can come together and provide different view points and opinions, the closer we can get to possible truth.

I tend to be an optimist, so i don't believe the "balancers", as you called them, do what they do out of spite, but rather out of fear.

There is so much going on in the world that should scare the hell out of any rational person. For some its easier to attack anything that has the potential to burst the bubble of their perceived reality, than to face it.

S+F Wonderer2012

DC

This site used to be more welcoming to conspiracy discussions, but it has changed greatly. Now you post something about UFO's and about a dozen people descend upon it to try and ridicule you. UFOs is one of my most favorite topics to discuss, but I don't even bother around here. There are other message forums where you can have an open discussion about conspiracies without harassment. I have even had someone PM me and call me cuss words over a sandy hook post. I don't post here on ATS as much as I used to, I usually go to other forums to discuss my interests.

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. - Aristotle

I agree with this, however most of the time people are not even allowed to get too far into a discussion without hostility erupting. I think it's the mark of an educated mind, to feel secure in your own conclusions about something without harassing another person and trolling them just because you disagree with their thoughts.

I admit that I see some things that people write that are a little out there, but I don't feel a need to harass them about it either.

Your "balancers" nickname is way, WAY too kind...

reply to post by Wonderer2012
I must say that in general I think you have a point, and it's not limited to the subject of conspiracies. I am fine with intelligent debate discussing the pros and cons of any subject matter, but there has been an increasing trend of making personal attacks on people that are extremely rude and unnecessary. Debating the facts is good, but attacking someone on a personal level and intentionally taking their ideas out of context isn't right. What bothers me even more is those that argue and get nasty just for the sake of argument, who will basically take your own statements and reword them, and even though their statements agree with yours continue to belittle and be nasty simply to be contrary.

reply to post by Wonderer2012


Maybe it is just a conspiracy to shut you up. So yes there are conspiracies here on ATS. You have just proven it. Case closed.

reply to post by Wonderer2012

Originally posted by Wonderer2012
Over the past 6 months, I've also noticed that when these groups go to work, it puts other posters off from posting. A little support would be nice every now and then, especially when you think this is a 'Conspiracy' site! But no, one stands alone whilst facing up to 3 posters whose mission is to undermine and discredit the OP.

Originally posted by Wonderer2012
It would be alright if fellow ATS members would offer support and help tackle them in threads, but most just choose to ignore them and let the OP fight it out alone.

You know what this tells me?

It tells me that the tide is turning. It tells me that people are starting to lose faith in conspiracy theory. Doubts are setting in and maybe we only have ourselves to blame.

Originally posted by Wonderer2012
In fact, the only time you ever get a break on this site is when you post some current event news!! That's what ATS has become, a news site.

ATS has been merely a news regurgitation site for a while now. How often do you see original content? It's rare. Very rare.

Originally posted by daaskapital
reply to post by FlyersFan

 

I agree, but there were also some theories regarding the stated events which did hold up, but were marginalised, if not, silenced in order to fit the overall agenda of ATS. Sandy Hook is a perfect example. Nearly every thread which actually had something extensive to analyse, and held up under initial investigation was 404'd.

It didn't help when most of the anti-conspiracy members didn't even want to particularly analyse the cases, opting instead to insult and attack the OP.

I do believe that there needs to be stricter moderation of members' actions, but not so much as to limit the overall freedom of speech. It is a hard balance to get right, but i think it needs a bit more tweaking.

edit on 22-6-2013 by daaskapital because: (no reason given)

Completely agreed

I learned a while back that this site isn't really for any extensive conspiracy research - now it's just a hot news bulletin site. It's not coincidence - the admins steer this site.

I firmly believe the recent corporatism of ATS is also no coincidence. I understand it to be a data mining tool to gauge public opinion.

I travel else where for my conspiracy talk - that should say it all.

While I agree with the OP in that there is almost always a feeding frenzy of sorts when a conspiracy post is made, I have to disagree that the OP's are always left to fend for themselves.

There are legions of threads in which others defend the points of the original post against the naysayers.

As for those threads where the OP is left to defend on their own, is it not possible that they may actually be the only person that believes the ideas that they have postulated? I won't defend a poster if the post itself is ludicrous to me, unless the attacks themselves are not based on the point made in the post itself (I.E. personal attacks etc.), and I would imagine that there are plenty of other members that would be loathe to defend a post that they didn't personally agree with.

Forums such as ATS are bastions of disagreement; it is their nature.

According to Reddit data the propagandists are located in US military bases

the thing is, most of the bickering could be put to bed if people would simply meet the burden of proof.

If someone says "rocks are made of cheese", I want to know for sure before I take a bite.

And thats where most of the threads and topics spoken of here deteriorated. Some would like others to just bite on their theories without asking for evidence. To most logical people, it just doesnt work that way.

reply to post by Wonderer2012


I will say,
that's actually something I like about ATS.

It's good to have a select group of rational-minded people, who can filter out the bogus theories from the plausible ones. There are some people out there who cannot think for themselves in that regard, and any attractive idea/theory will seem legit enough for them to believe.

It's a positive thing to be observant, - and you never know.
But if you take a 'not so level-headed' person, teach them a 'theory' that can't be validated, - chances are that they might go around endorsing that idea. 100% believing in their own mind that it is true... that's what leads to the 'craziness' aspect of how theorists are viewed by the general public.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, - I'm proud of ATS and how it can act as a filter.
I know that if there is a sustainable theory, it will be investigated and dissected, - and what is left is either something that is possible, or something that has been debunked.

Again,
it is good to look for that type of thing...
But reality is reality; some people do not understand that.

It's like the child trying to convince it's parents that something is true.

Just say yes while you mean no.

We're #ed anyways

reply to post by Wonderer2012


Well said, so many time I have posted relevant, valid information that is the truth only for the usual 2 or 3 culprits throwing deliberate out of context quotes relentlessly, making posting a chore and giving threads an ethos of ''we beat you down to shut you up so we won'' / ''we derailed it and made valid points fade in the ether of diversion posts so we won''.

Like the spoiled kid that doesn't like others not agreeing to their view, however invalid, saying ''lalalalalalalalalalalala'' so others points can't be heard and they are proved wrong.

I have a lot of experience of people lying about me for their own gain, I recognise it easily.

Starting any conspiracy thread on ATS usually means that the OP has to don an asbestos suit and be ready to be flamed, trolled, and have their case attacked.

If you don't have a solid case, you're only asking for a headache. By all means, bring on the conspiracies, but make sure that you have evidence.

Yes, there are certain types that exist solely to argue and debunk, so they can feel superior. You gotta expect those types. If I start a conspiracy thread, I'm gonna bring plenty of ammo, because those debunking fools are swarming all over this site.

The issues surrounding 404ing threads that were legitimate, such as many of the Sandy Hook threads, are another issue entirely. Rest assured that those who work for Uncle Sugar and have sold their soul to do so are all over this place.

Come in ready to throw down and fight for what you believe in, or don't bother to come in at all.

all important topics get attacked. the trick is to read enough here so that it becomes uber obvious who the shills are. then all one need do to glean truth is to take the stance opposite to what the debunkers are promoting. look into the 9/11 forum, UFOs, Sandy Hook, Boston "Bombing" and the like. each forum has its designated crew who show up to immediately begin causing trouble. every time. a few members will jump forums, but most of the really hard cases have their specialty. there's really nothing they can do to keep people from catching on to their game.

your dammed if you do and dammed if you dont