Not everything deserves a new thread

This isn't intended to be mean spirited rant, but rather a rant of observation and recommendation.

I've been lurking here at ATS for years. Many more years than what my account shows. Often do I lurk, rarely do I post. Over that time, I've noticed an increasing trend. The paranoia and hysteria here at ATS is reaching ludicrous speed. Ebola is the hot topic of the month, and I'm going to use that as an example.

I started to count the number of Ebola threads that have been made since it started making news several months ago, but I was defeated due to my lack of patience. There are just...too...many! It's a deadly disease that warrants attention, no doubt. But I think many of us need to take a step back, relax, and read more than what we post.

How many times have you opened an Ebola thread and read "information" about it that turned out to be wrong information? Or, when scrolling through a thread, how many times are people going back and forth about wrong or irrelevant information? This doesn't apply to just ebola, either. Every 3-4 months a new major topic pops up that gets half the people here in a total uproar only for it to fade away over a short period. Very few topics truly require the response and attention that they get.

One of the problems with modern society, is our instant judgement. Information is instant, and so must our response to it be. We must have an opinion and that opinion must be mentioned immediately, despite how much about it we really know. I come onto ATS because there is a broad wealth of knowledge that is shared here that is far better than the MSM alternative. But it's becomming harder and harder to sift through that knowledge when it's watered down in merky waters of chaotic B.S.

My style doesn't work for everyone. I always sit back, read, educate, observe and interprut. I keep my opinions to a minimum until I feel absolutely confident that my opinions cary as much factual support as possible. I like the waters clear and smooth so I can see through it and find truth.

Paranoia is a harsh word to describe the response that some people lean towards, but it is befitting of some. The global pandemic isn't so much ebola (though, please, don't take me wrong...it's a terrible virus), it isn't events like December 21 2012, it isn't even politics/politicians. It's us...it's the people who freak about a spark, blow wind on it and turn it into a raging wildfire where there shouldn't be one. We call out our government leaders when they spread lies, we call out our MSM when they spread the propaganda...but how often do we call out ourselves for spreading their fires for them?

I urge you (not all, but some) to take a deep breath, relax, be informed and use reason and logic before starting a new thread or even replying to one. Be kind to one another. If someone is trolling or being unreasonable...don't feed into their paranoia...don't spread their wildfire for them. I hope this gets across in the proper context...and I hope one day, the murky waters are clear again.

Peace,
Joe

a reply to: Assassin82
Agreed, you would have thought 1000'00s were infected in the UK or US. It will happen one day, but this was not that! Swine Flu, at least it was spread.

Again I have to say AIDS was ignored till 1000's were dead in the US, and no one knew what it was..,

The Ebola threads were just as annoying as the rants about there being too many Ebola threads were.

I do actually understand what you are saying and most share your opinion.

If you see duplicate threads, hit your alert button so a mod can come by and trash it if it is indeed a duplicate thread. None of the mods could possibly read each and every one of them and that's why the alert button works so well. It may take a few minutes for it to be taken care of, but someone will look into it ASAP.

The alert button works the same way when it comes to posting false information or hoaxes (known or unknown).

I tend to ignore the topics that seem to be flooding the new section the most. When there are too many threads on a specific key word that I see I tend to stay away from it. Most of the time I come here to see all of the news but the Ebola thing I can agree... it seems to be cluttering up the new page way too much. I want to see some other news. They should just have a new forum open up for "hot topics." Then add a filter mode so we can actually turn it off from time to time. If something gets way too many new threads started about it then the key word that shows up the most, besides words like "the" "how" "what" and stuff like that, it should be automatically thrown into the hot topic section. And we can easily just hit the check mark on the hot topic section.... and be gone with it. There is an easy way to implement something like this. Have people tag a key word in the keyword section. and every time that key word is entered into that section. BAM! instant classification without messing up everything else in the system.

A lot of the places that I visit regularly have a system that is just like this. They have the person pick up to only 6 key words (sometimes only 4) and they put on there "Tag with words directly related to the subject like frisbee, 49'ers, Obama, and other PROPER NOUNS. Do not include words like 'the' 'and' 'without,' or any type of transitive, and or, verb."

1000'00s were infected in the UK or US.

Omg! Out of context quote makes me panic!!
Heh, one thousand hundredths.

a reply to: Assassin82

I understand what you are saying mate but I think each ebola thread does need its own thread. ATS is a historical holder of news and some day in a year if ebola is spread all over and a complete mess people will be arguing about how it all started. You could then go back through the ats threads going piece by piece to see it all in detail. We aren't just a forum...we are an archive for the future.