Pictorial proof expectation

So I wrote a fairly long comment in an introductory thread, regarding one of his points about useless comments. He complained about it not being Meaningful Enough, a la "it wasn't what I waaaanted!" but I thought it was fair enough to put into its own thread anyway. So here it is.

So, the desire for pictorial evidence. It's frustrating to encounter, because it's so unrealistic. There was a thread where the poster claimed that her kid came face-to-face with a Reptilian who told her that humanity would soon be harvested. "Wy didn't she take a picture of it?" was one response, along those lines. "Most cell phones have cameras, and even little kids have phones these days-- there's no excuse." Something like that.

And here I am saying, "Yeah...... no."

I sometimes think about drawing a sarcastic comic of such a scene, where the victim suddenly stops and says, "Hold on, Sir," pulls out a cell phone (or camera, because obviously everyone carries one of those around on a daily basis), activates the camera function, and then takes a picture of the alien, who poses appropriately.
Then the two go back to their deadly encounter like nothing happened.

Hmm... oh well.

reply to post by EllaMarina

I have to admit that one of the remarks that annoy me the most is the *pics or it didn't happen* one.
Not everyone runs around with a mobile phone capable of taking any kind of quality imagery. Mine is a crappy little cheapo phone that does what I need it to do, mainly send and recieve text messages and phonecalls.

It does have the ability to take pictures but boy howdy are they ever bad. It would almost be difficult to prove I was myself to my mother in one of these images.

reply to post by EllaMarina

I ran into that with my first post about a strange dancing green light that my roommate saw in the middle of the night. He actually got a photo of it and posted it on Facebook. I created the thread and included photo proof. Then, it was ripped apart because the photo had been stripped of it's EXIF info when it was uploaded to FB.
Even when you provide photo evidence, the critics will still not accept it.
ETA:
If I ever have the opportunity to share a unique or unexplained event again, I'll remember the grilling that I received and just keep it to myself...

reply to post by Bronagh


I have actually encountered U.F.O.'s since getting my mobile phone and have tried to capture video of them and pictures of them, but the resolution is so terrible that it doesn't work -

My dad and I were headed to the movies one night, and there was a squadron of three sets of red lights that were doing a lot of hovering and strange maneuvers, we had a good 15-20 minutes to watch them and take video, but no, my phone couldn't get any of it.

I figure if I met up with a Reptilian, I might be able to get a good shot, but judging on the success rate I have with trying to get a clear picture of my cats, I'm not so sure.

I'll tell you why, because people come on here in droves and write bull#, plain and simple.

In fact I lurked for YEARS here and when i did finally get on it was to debunk an image that we had put alot of effort into explaining in a group in the early 90's, and i had people with absolutely no idea what they were talking about trying to be the authority throwing up tons of photoshopped images to prove their point without any idea of how to use the software.

Most people now realize pics will allow the professionals here to debunk their little pseudo-reality without massive effort, without them tho people can spin their stories all day long. Even with images we have a hard time breaking these fabricated realities sometimes.

Since those days the ignorance and bull# has skyrocketed so imagine how some of these pros feel beating a dead horse over and over and over. At least back in the day the people making # up had a few degrees.

Case in point: shapeshifting reptilian videos which i hope by now you all realize is usually artifacts created by video compression poor lighting etc but people still buy it despite it being explained in detail many many times here and elsewhere.

I'd make a thread to try and destroy some of these theories i would but in a decade, people would still use these images and videos to support their claims. How many times do you think phage has explained those black knight images are just space junk and people still jump on it.

We used to be more open about it, but now each summer we get thread after thread of imagination overdrive.

reply to post by kobalt7


I will say it has gotten better with people digging deeper, some theories i held when i was younger were proven false by splendid research done by people here.

Case in point the nazi bell

reply to post by EllaMarina




Well, this thread happened.

Very appropriate picture too, I might add.

So the next time someone tells me about her kid seeing a reptilian that advises her that humanity will soon be harvested, I will not be thinking "Man, why didn't she take a picture!" I will be thinking "Kids say the darndest things..."

and we will all be able to remember this picture... as a reminder of our inner screaming at such nonsense..

sageturkey
reply to post by EllaMarina

 

I ran into that with my first post about a strange dancing green light that my roommate saw in the middle of the night. He actually got a photo of it and posted it on Facebook. I created the thread and included photo proof. Then, it was ripped apart because the photo had been stripped of it's EXIF info when it was uploaded to FB.
Even when you provide photo evidence, the critics will still not accept it.
ETA:
If I ever have the opportunity to share a unique or unexplained event again, I'll remember the grilling that I received and just keep it to myself...

edit on 26-10-2013 by sageturkey because: Add

Well, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

What do you expect?

"Hey guys a leprechaun just gave me a pot of gold, hahaha I'm a friggen billionare !!!"

"Got any evidence?"

"Shut up.. I'm never telling you people anything ever again."

EXIF data only goes so far to help show the origins of a photo. I too find it extremely annoying when people come along and go "Oh the exif data is gone." because they really have no idea what they're saying. Even with the exif data, they'd look at it and go "Hmm.. Ahhh.. Oh.. Hmmm." and have no idea.

But if someone with exif data says "I took this with my phone at 2am!" and the image is obscure, but the exif data says "Adobe Photoshop" then you can safely assume they're pulling a swifty.

You can still edit the exif data and have it say what you like. So it only goes so far.

"I got this image off face book." is the same as saying "I found this video on youtube.".

Only people who think facebook or youtube are valid sources for extraordinary claims, and not havens for memes and shucksters, will complain when it is not accepted as valid.

reply to post by winofiend


I agree with the flavor of your post, I just don't think that it applies to what I said...
I don't really think that a strange green light is such an extraordinary claim, but I did think that it was worth sharing and discussing. My mistake was incorrectly labeling it as an Orb, when 'Strange Green Light' would have been more appropriate. I didn't realize that the term 'Orb' had a certain criteria and connotation associated with it. By the reaction and grilling that I got, you would think that I had claimed that I had seen an alien! Your comments and ridicule above are exactly what I'm talking about. We've now turned a strange green light into Leprechauns and pots of Gold... Talk about using a Steam shovel to pick a Dandelion...
In my case, it went like this:
I was working out of town. My roommate called me to tell me about the incident. He indicated that he had taken a photo of it and posted it on his FB wall. I tried to get the original from his phone, but he had deleted it. So, it's not like I pulled it out of the etheric. I knew the source and it happened in my apartment.
That's all I have to add, I'm not going to go through that again trying to defend what he claimed that he saw and backed up with a photo. And you're right - EXIF data wouldn't have meant squat. Even of it would have been intact, it still would have been met with the same disbelief and criticism that some members are sooo well-known for. Their world is Black and White - and if you say 'Black' when they think it's 'White', then you're wrong. Some members just enjoy being antagonists - you could take the exact same situation and say 'White', they'd say 'Black' just so they could practice their bullying and rhetoric.

Cheers.

reply to post by EllaMarina


I just think that a concerted effort by organised sceptics has been in play at ATS for some years now. I base that on my old friend's experiences over 13 years here and what I have seen with my own eyes during my short membership.

The agenda seems to be one of smashing any chance people have of simply Discussing things these aggressive sceptics deem as crazy, un-scientific, etc. That is a massive problem on a massive forum, where people are Afraid to share their experiences because the accepted boxed-perceptions go out of their way to make the people feel stupid and worthless when they do.

Pretty poor behaviour from any person I would have thought.

you should ask for permission to take a photograph.
even if it's a reptilian.

Oldie
reply to post by EllaMarina

 

I just think that a concerted effort by organised sceptics has been in play at ATS for some years now. I base that on my old friend's experiences over 13 years here and what I have seen with my own eyes during my short membership.

The agenda seems to be one of smashing any chance people have of simply Discussing things these aggressive sceptics deem as crazy, un-scientific, etc. That is a massive problem on a massive forum, where people are Afraid to share their experiences because the accepted boxed-perceptions go out of their way to make the people feel stupid and worthless when they do.

Pretty poor behaviour from any person I would have thought.

Well said and polite too. Aggressive skeptic is a euphemism for arrogant phallicranium right?
Then, the almighty 'defy ignorance' card gets played which is nothing more than an eloquent way of saying "You're stupid", to which my reply would be - Your momma wears combat boots...
( I never would have made it on the debate team)

sageturkey
Aggressive skeptic is a euphemism for arrogant phallicranium right?

Yes. It would seem many of those are stuck in their posterior region. Not that they don't have valuable information to share with us plebs, but the delivery sure needs a lot of tweaking.