What is the purpose of the skunks-works forum?

I've been checking out Skunk-works lately and it seems like the threads in that board are way too fantastical to be true. You know what that is. I used to think that Skunk works was a serious forum one where people would investigate claims made about certain conspiracies. Now, correct me if I'm wrong but I thought that there was a topicality to that forum? I'm not trolling here... nor am I complaining but I just am somewhat confused as to what the purpose behind what Skunk-works is. Is it a place for conspiracy topics that are non-conventional to go to where they don't usually belong... and like is that it? I'm not so sure I understand.

[edit on 31-8-2009 by Frankidealist35]

reply to post by Frankidealist35


There is a description of usage at the top of most of the forum boards at ATS. The Skunkworks forum reads:

This forum is dedicated to the all-important highly speculative topics that may not be substantiated by many, if any facts and span the spectrum of topics discussed on ATS. Readers and users should be aware that extreme theories without corroboration are embraced in this forum. Discussion topics and follow-up responses in this forum will likely tend to lean in favor of conspiracies, scandals, and cover-ups. Members who would seek to refute such theories should be mindful of AboveTopSecret.com's tradition of focusing on conspiracy theory, cover-ups, and scandals.

reply to post by Scooby Doo


I don't think that helps... I see a lot of fictional type threads there... yeah so it's speculative but when do you draw the line between fiction and speculation?

It is a safe-harbor for speculative theories. In that forum you should positively participate in the discussion. That doesn't mean be a "yes man", but it means discuss in a manner that promotes the consideration of the theory. It's not he place you go in and tear some one apart for having the guts to share their theories.

reply to post by Valhall


Okay, but my question is at what point does it stop being called a theory and an out-right lie and fabrication? It's just that I look at the forum and I see a lot of flat out liars or I see a lot of people making interesting fabrications there. At what point does something that is speculation become a hoax?

Do you even know what Skunk Works is? The area where some of the deepest secrets this nation ever hatched were developed. The place where planes invisible to radar were developed. Only God knows what else has been developed there. The government will shoot you just for trying to look in the place.

Skunk Works is a forum for ideas that everyone else might say is too far out there or just too fantastical to be true.

Until they're proven to be true.

It's probably the most interesting forum on the board for those with an open mind.

Originally posted by mrwupy

Do you even know what Skunk Works is?

"Skunk works" or "skunkworks" is widely used in business, engineering, and technical fields to describe a group within an organization given a high degree of autonomy and unhampered by bureaucracy, tasked with working on advanced or secret projects. *

It is indeed a great forum, if only for the ability to stretch the imagination as to what possible nefariousness may be afoot. Especially because peeps can freely discuss possibilities without having to "prove" and/or cross-reference every detail.

Even if the original premise of a skunkworks threat may be flawed, some good theories and expanded understanding can come out as a result of such thought processes.

[edit on 31 Aug 2009 by schrodingers dog]

reply to post by mrwupy


Okay, but what about the people there that make threads there where none of the stuff is obviously true and that it's filled with a bunch of lies? I've been to the Skunk Works film many of times... and I always see some thread that's obviously just some guy/girl's fantasies where they just say they can get spirits to them, or, they can call all kinds of aliens to them... I look at it and I call it a lie... yet all I'm wondering is when does it become a hoax? I'm sure that there is some truth to what these people are doing... I haven't experimented with the methods they are doing... but like do you see what I'm saying? This has been on my mind lately.

reply to post by schrodingers dog


Okay... I see. It's a place for people to put their ideas... no matter how fantastical they have been. I'm sorry that I sound like a complainer and a whiner... it's just that I've been looking at the forum and I've been really turned off by what I've seen posted on that forum. I've seen threads posted where people say they're aliens and I get worried by people who go to that forum... that's all.

reply to post by Frankidealist35


No worries Frank, you do not sound like a whiner at all, you are simply seeking clarification.

I know it seems like a gray area (no forum pun intended), but some of the "far out" theories are usually seeded with grains of truth. As such they aren't by definition hoaxes, but simply an extreme extrapolation of facts fused with a tinge of high speculation and topped with conspiratorial frosting.

reply to post by Frankidealist35


Well if it is deemed by the mods to be too far fetched, even for Skunk Works, they just move it to the Grey Area. Have faith in the mods, they know what to do. Well, at least I have never had an issue with their judgements.



[edit on 8/31/2009 by jkrog08]

"Till you walk a mile in their shoes"

Dealing with subject matter that spans the human imagination, one must be careful in "branding" or "qualifying" another persons beliefs.

What you may think of as a lie or a hoax, the presenter may truly believe with all their heart.

If I have learned nothing else here at ATS, I have learned to never just dismiss anything.

Semper

Originally posted by Frankidealist35
reply to post by Scooby Doo

 

I don't think that helps... I see a lot of fictional type threads there... yeah so it's speculative but when do you draw the line between fiction and speculation?

It's a FORUM.
You post topics you want to discuss...

Here's something you should learn right now if you haven't already:

People can lie on the internet.

I know it's heartbreaking, but it's a fact of life. (I'm not saying my skunkwork brethren are liars )

You don't have to agree with the internet. Sometimes the internet might hurt your feelings, or insult your mother, or introduce you to the greatest porn you've ever imagined, or introduce you to your one true soul mate.

Don't censor the net. Your avatar pictury thingy says that "Big Brother is Watching YOU!" Well why criticize a public forum? A place of free speech and creative thought?

Open your mind and embrace what the internet -- the collective receptacle of human garbage -- has to offer.

Edited for grammar: I'm sure there are still horrible grammar mistakes.

[edit on 1-9-2009 by SelfDestruct]

This is my observation: If it's speculation it goes in Skunk Works. If it's a far-out-there personal experience with no evidence beyond the anecdotal or limited corroboration, it goes in the Gray Area.

I don't think you can call speculation a "lie". It's more a "what if?" If it's substantiated fact, it doesn't belong in Skunk Works. If it's "I channel beings form the 4th density etc." it's Gray Area.

My advice (not that you asked) would be to avoid the forums that turn you off. There are people here who enjoy participating in those sorts of discussions and I personally think it's great that a place exists where they can have those discussions without the incessant "you loon" commentary.

Much like in the Faith forum, if someone wants to discuss some spiritual epiphany, it can be really annoying to have a bunch of people interrupting it with a "there is no God" litany.

One of the great things I find here is the forum segmentation which affords the opportunity for discussion without nearly as much off-topic ridicule as you'll find elsewhere.

Good question.

Skunkworks...

Its a place where they stuff things they don't want you to see....

Its two levels below Mulder's office...

I posted 6 threads with REAL validated documents and all 6 got dumped down there to be forgotten...

End result? I stopped posting real documents from my collection of several thousand



[edit on 1-9-2009 by zorgon]

reply to post by zorgon


Ummm no...

The documents were fine, it was the wild speculation that you associated with them that landed the threads in the forum for wild speculation.

Springer...

Originally posted by Springer it was the wild speculation that you associated with them that landed the threads in the forum for wild speculation.

Springer...

Speculation? HA! Wait till I do the 'Looking Glass" thread... then we shall see about this "wild speculation"

reply to post by zorgon


Fair enough, but don't cry if it ends up in the speculation forum...

FYI.. SkunkWorks is one of our best viewed forums.

By the way are you ignoring my u2us?

Springer...