We've lost our way.

a reply to: ManBehindTheMask

Alert them and put them on the staff radar.

One problem we have now, that didn't exist (as much) in previous years, is the partisan malarkey. It's often hard to tell the difference between a trolling political stance and a genuine political stance. In fact, it's arguably becoming impossible. In some ways what used to be a false stereotype has now become a reality. Not just a reality, but something to be proud of and that others can approve of too.

Imagine how hard it is to be a political troll in this day and age? All the extreme positions have been taken already lol. Not just here. I see posts on MMA sites, news sites and entertainment articles that would have been obvious trolls a few years back. They're more likely to be genuine sentiments today.

I think that there are some great posters on aall sides on ATS.

I don't ascribe to the idea that the mods need to crack down more. Sure I guess a little couldn't hurt, but ultimately I think it is up to us as individuals to find the quality posts and posters.

I don't care if a post has hundreds of stars because its a clever meme (or not so clever).

I enjoy coming here and finding people that have similar thoughts as me.

But my favorite people are the ones that disagree with me. And Both those members and I are guilty of trolling at times. But overall I think the discussion is fun, and informative.

Even the "trolling" posts are informative. Lets not act like this type of thinking doesn't occur in the real world. It helps to have a venue where you can learn how to deal with these types of attitudes.

I also think that when these posts come up, their is a sort of nostalgia effect that people forget that even back in the good old days, there were trolls and crappy topics.

I guess the last piece of advice I have is that if people are looking for quality posts that are always well thought out and correct, they could just follow all of my posts!

While these things are what brought many of us here, it makes me upset that it's not the main objective here on ATS anymore. We no longer care to dissect information - We no longer care to deny the trends of the common sheep, avoiding division, and encouraging discourse and theory.

I haven't read the rest of this thread and I'm making this reply with the foreknowledge I may be off-topic.

What brought me here years ago was a Google search of Billy Meiers. One of the top links was to a current discussion on this site that, and I remember without looking, was titled "Billy Meiers what a joke". Those pics still look like pots and pans to me. But what was crazy about it? The #ing spokesman for the Billy Meiers estate took the time to refute the statements here.

This place was legit 13 years ago.

My favorite memories back in that time were the real-time updates we gave each other of the Boxing Day Tsunami and a year later Katrina. I wasn't at all active here during Fukushima but it was the first place I came to for information. Any worldwide event that happens this is my main source.

History isn't on the side of the bigots. We'll beat that # back.

a reply to: PistolPete

YES! I was just telling my Girl not to long ago , because she found this up on my browser, about the merits of this place (or what it use to have)

ATS use to have the news , or what was real, days or WEEKS before it happened.......

I remember when the Tsunami happened in Japan and I was refreshing my "recents" and watched REAL time what was going on before it even hit the news here!

I remember so many times ATS having on the ground information before the MSM even had wind of it..........

Thats who we use to be......and now its turned into a bickering off topic mudpit of sorts......mired in anger and indifference.......

I hate that it has, and I disagree with people that say "its always had its differences" ......yeah it did, but we were respectful , as much as we could be, and if we werent? we were removed......

Our discourse was held to the HIGHEST level.....and yeah we were a conspiracy site, with quite often way way off the wall posts and "out there " theories, but we policed our own, and we didnt tolerate trolls, jerks, and bigots.....

As much as other members and management wants to deny our slide into apathy........we have........

I say to all of them, look deep, remember, and be honest with yourselves.......

We ALL share that common memory, so its not fantasy.......we NEED to get back to where we were.....we are slowly turning into GLP.......ban me if you want for saying that....... but ive been a long time member whose always tried to look out for our community..........

originally posted by: Grambler
I think that there are some great posters on aall sides on ATS.

But my favorite people are the ones that disagree with me. And Both those members and I are guilty of trolling at times. But overall I think the discussion is fun, and informative.

Yes. This 100%.

The point should be to make people question their beliefs, not insult them for it. Your thread about the Podesta emails concerning Hillary taking money from the Saudi's and their support for ISIS made me go from slightly favoring her to not voting at all. It was logical.

a reply to: ManBehindTheMask

I have a lot of friends that have been lurking on this site for years and they've been bitching about the decline in quality (yahoo comments section).

One of my roommates went through an existential crises from questioning his religious beliefs after reading a few threads here. It was crazy to witness.

Christ, SkepticOverlord was a 9/11 Truther when there was only dozens of them (and before the crazies took over).

I'll still take the commentariat here to rip a story apart like no other.

originally posted by: JinMI

As a community we can establish proper sourcing

What qualifies as proper sourcing these days - given that anyone who doesn't like or agree with the thread just cries fake news?

originally posted by: Kryties

originally posted by: JinMI

As a community we can establish proper sourcing

What qualifies as proper sourcing these days - given that anyone who doesn't like or agree with the thread just cries fake news?

Names. Someone to attribute the source to. If none available than supplementary sources.

These are very politically charged times. It would be unusual for it not to be discussed or argued here when it is being discussed and argued virtually everywhere else. And strange doesn't even begin to describe politics today. But even these strange times are not what is driving the change in content here. People can still create threads of a more ATS-like nature, but more and more frequently they choose not to.

What I have seen in my time here is a sharp increase in the number of people who want to argue more about the validity of a statement than the topic itself. Its as if they don't care that you are talking about something amazing, they are more interested in being the first to find a way to knock it off track rather than contribute to the conversation. The debate police jump all over you if you don't cite your references, dot your i's and cross your t's. You have to research every single thing to death, due diligence is the absolute minimum requirement before suggesting an idea. You can't speak from memory and personal experience is nothing more than anecdotal evidence. However, to shoot it down all you need is to suggest an alternative possibility. I call bullsh*t. Just because you can find an alternate solution does not prove that is what happened. It only proves your desire to discredit the theory.

I can save everyone a lot of time and effort. Whatever your theory is - don't bother. My alternate solution is aliens. It is possible whatever you are talking about, no matter how inane or commonplace, was the result of aliens. There. Everything is the result of aliens. Now there is no need to argue about anything any more. I suggested an alternative to your theory that you can not disprove. Game over. Or, we can grow up and stop trying to find ways to end threads and start trying to find ways to contribute to them instead.