posted on Nov, 7 2008 @ 11:25 AM
The nature of ATS ensures that, as well as attracting people who believe in things that the majority of people don't, it will attract people who
think they can improve their own miserable lives by making fun of the "nutjobs" on ATS. Abductees may be easier targets than folks who have
some sort of empirical evidence (such as the 9-11 "truthers"), but rest assured that the trolls are not singling out abductees or abductee
threads over anyone else.
Those of us who post about the cookie-eating monster who appeared in our kitchen, the bigfoot who dumped the garbage and terrified the dog, the black
eyed kid who wanted to use the phone, or the spiny creature who killed all the neighbor's chickens receive just as much ridicule and humiliation as
you abductees do. If you want to share your experience and/or receive feedback from a wider audience, you'll have to live with it like the rest of us
nutjobs do.
I have had a few good experiences with being very specific about what I want when authoring a thread. I provided a very clear description of the type
of response I was looking for and the type of response I did NOT want, and found that mods were generally pretty good about backing me up in terms of
marking posts that didn't comply "off topic" - especially if I politely informed them once that they were off topic and they posted again in a
similar vein.
So I would suggest that you might author an abductee thread and state very clearly - in bold if you like - that you do not want any debunking or
alternate theories and that you only want to discuss similar experiences or reactions to experiences or .. whatever it is that you want to discuss.
Undoubtedly you'll still get a few trolls, but after one polite reminder you can inform a Mod that they are off topic, which, according to your OP,
they will be.
That said, stereotyping doesn't help anyone. I happen to be a redneck who has personally seen a UFO and has a lot of curiousity about the
subject and about abductions. I don't appreciate being categorized negatively just because I live on 10 acres in the boonies and have a dead car in
the driveway.
Many other terms can also be stereotypes, and seem to be particularly prone to that type of misuse on ATS. I was extremely skeptical about the
"forward this angel to 12 friends and you'll get a financial windfall" email I recieved a few minutes ago, but I'm certainly not skeptical about
UFOs since I've seen one and I don't think it was a "blackops" project. So am I a skeptic, or not? You can't - ok, you can, but you shouldn't -
pigeonhole people into boxes, evaluate everything they say through the filtering imposed by the box you've placed them in, and then expect to be able
to have any meaningful communication with them.
I ask some awkward questions at times, I'm sure, but I'm genuinely interested in the abduction phenomenon and remain open-minded about it, willing
to consider all views and experiences. It's not in your best interest to shut me out, because then I'll only hear the "skeptical" viewpoint and be
more likely to lean that way.
If you want to collect eggs you'll have to walk through some chicken poop. If you want to have meaningful dialogue and discussion on ATS, you'll
have to get past a few trolls. That's just the way it is.