What is going on with "A Curiosity Of Spirit"?

Why is the Astroengineer thread locked?

I would encourage ATS to take an extremely careful approach to this persons story. There have been MANY accusations that ATS supports disinfo, and works to stifle real information. While i do not currently believe this, it certainly won't help to see this person squelched by the management of this site.

Unless there is HARD proof that he is hoaxing, there is no reason for him to have recieved the harrassment he has receieved. I am shocked that it wasn't stopped by the mods back when his thread was about 10 pages. There was nothing of value added other than what Astroengineer added. It was all conjecture and opinion on the part of the membership. Topical drift gone awry.

I, for one, want to see what this person has to say. I don't want to risk missing out on it. His blog link was removed, so i had to rely on other members to help me secure a link to it (thank you, ATS...but we could be a little less paranoid couldn't we?). Now his thread is locked.

If i were him, i would not come back. The trolls were bad enough, but site management seems to not want him here, either.

What gives?

[edit on 31-3-2010 by bigfatfurrytexan]

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


Well I am going to guess it's because after all those pages he hasnt said much AND there was a PDF linked on the thread that looked like he was just copying and pasting it.

I was enjoying that thread too...what gives?
(could you u2u me his blog?)

This isn't the first time, ever see a thread just dissapear?

John Hutchison showed up here three weeks ago to stand up for himself as he was getting bashed in the thread www.abovetopsecret.com... He made a profile, made and introduction thread and me and like 3 others got to great him before it went 'POOF' bye bye
He aint been back since, I don't blame him.


astroengineer.wordpress.com... found it neverming

[edit on 31-3-2010 by Xcouncil=wisdom]

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


it isn't locked. you must be looking at his intro thread. his thread with posts on the subject is still here:
www.abovetopsecret.com...
oh wait. you're right.

well he said he wasn't going to be back until he had the rest of the info written. so maybe ats and he reached an agreement to lock the thread till he gets back?

[edit on 31-3-2010 by undo]

reply to post by undo
If I remember correctly, he said he would be back with more in 24 hours.

That deadline has passed.

Credibility lost with me!

Smells of hoax, what other reason to lock it?



[edit on 31-3-2010 by butcherguy]

reply to post by butcherguy


You are incorrect. He stated that because people were annoyed that he wasn't posting the full story, that he would write the rest and post it all at once.

reply to post by butcherguy


doesn't matter either way, since it's just common sense that images from unknown locales would be screened first for sensitivity.

reply to post by janon


this is what i read as well.
waiting for it to be written in full, is no problem here. not sure why it would be for anyone else either?

reply to post by janon
Thanks, I must have missed that. '
I know people were getting annoyed with the incomplete story.
I didn't get back to the thread recently enough.

Okay, I will wait patiently to see what pans out.
I guess I jumped the gun calling hoax.
I think what got people PO'ed was the cliffhanger cut-off of the OP and the fact that he called it such.

So, I guess he had a mod lock the thread until he is finished?

[edit on 31-3-2010 by butcherguy]

reply to post by butcherguy


The mod that locked it should have posted a reason for it being locked before doing so but that didn't happen. I will refrain from speculating why. I hope a mod will be along shortly to explain.

The problem is that too many people have the attention span of gnats. The thread ballooned into something impossible to track, and full of speculation.

I understand that he is asking people to take his story on faith. I understand that there are things that seem fishy. But at the end of it all, he says he doesn't get much time online, and then doesn't show up for awhile. It seems that, unless i am just in the habit of calling people liars (and not capable of assuming positive intent long enough to hedge my bets), I would just let it ride.

We have lots of hoaxers come around here. We flesh them out. There is no reason to jump in on the first page of a thread to say, "HOAX". It is like there is a compulsion to be the first to piss on it or something.

I just hope that this guy isn't so disheartened that he decides to not share any more.

And I wish people would put half this level of scrutiny into the people they vote for on Election Day. The world just might be a better place.

Originally posted by janon
reply to post by butcherguy

 

The mod that locked it should have posted a reason for it being locked before doing so but that didn't happen. I will refrain from speculating why. I hope a mod will be along shortly to explain.

That is what i want from this thread. Along with a way to scold the membership of ATS for not Denying Ignorance. Ignoring a possible whistleblower is the epitome of Ignorance.

I've been hoping for more to the story for days now. I had no clue the thread was locked tho. Hopefully it's only locked until he has time to complete the entire story and post it all at once.....personally I didn't mind the cliff hanger, but I did mind the countless number of pages bashing him. I don't know if he or anyone else on this site tells the truth, but it's a interesting read and I want more.

I don't know about ATS spreading disinfo...but I definately think ATS, or at least a few mods, have an agenda and use removing posts or thread closings to push that.

I'm just speaking about when all the healthcare debate was going on. I never saw anti-HCR threads get closed. But I saw threads that showed facts about HCR closed for reasons of a thread already existing...even though it was months old and not the same info...but same idea. And saw a couple closed because they posted info from another website...put a link to the source...but forgot to put the text from the website in quotes...so they closed if because of "plagarism". They could of just added the quotes...but instead the closed the entire thread.

I've never been on a site where mods control the discussion like they do here. The T&C seems to be selectively enforced to control the discussion. This is just my opinion from what I have observed...and I don't think it is all mods...I think it is just a few depending on the topic.

reply to post by OutKast Searcher


don't think it's just one side or the other. every mod has their own stance on a subject, and if the pressure is put on them to make a decision by posters sending them u2us or what have you, they will most likely choose on the side that either best reflects their personal decision or best reflects what they view as applying to denying ignorance. since the concept of ignorance is rather floppy in the first place, and is locally translated, it really becomes a matter of subjectivity not objectivity.

i think some mods really do try, and some try most of the time but occassionally err on the side of caution.

i've had a few interesting things happen to some of my threads to, and i just shrug and move on. the mod that day made a decision, and although i might think it looks a bit one sided, i'm not the only one dealing with such things, so it's really not an attack on me, nor an across the board phenomenon.

like i posted a thread on the meaning of ABEL, claiming it was a conspiracy that the word was founded on the concept of "the water god," and if the water god was the serpent (later personified in dagon, poseidon, and so forth), how could it be that abel was a good guy in the first place? clearly, someone dropped the ball in interpreting the text. guess what happened to my thread? they moved it to below top secret. now we both know there are many many posts about just such things that never get moved to bts, but mine did. most likely because the mod that day, didn't agree with it and decided to use the "if it's religious, move it to bts" standard.


[edit on 31-3-2010 by undo]

I've been reading his blog- this one scares me. He hasn't written anything today so we'll see but as far as his thread being locked- well, it was getting a lot of attention and there's a whole bandwidth issue but then I'm not an expert so that's just my opinion.
Haven't posted in awhile bu just wanted to say this stuff scares me.

Good question.

I guess it was going nowhere in a hurry.

If that is the case, I can understand the rationale for locking it.

Originally posted by undo
reply to post by butcherguy

 

doesn't matter either way, since it's just common sense that images from unknown locales would be screened first for sensitivity.

It does matter undo!

Whilst common sense is vital to supporting an argument, it's still can't sign, seal, and deliver up the goods. Which in this case is evidence of transmissions being circumvented/re-routed via a FTL conduit.

The OP needs to pony up - sorry, I just love that expression ;-)

I also hope the thread opens up again. But I think we should remember that we on ATS are suspicious by nature. If somebody comes along and makes large claims, then of course some people are going to question those claims, and they have every right to do so. The whole point of having a forum like this is for discussion. AstroEngineer is not discussing anything he says, he's just saying it and then disappearing, which means he's not participating in his own discussion here on ATS. Part of the reason the replies were getting so out of hand is because he wasn't addressing any of the issues raised. Regardless of whether anybody asked him an honest question or a rude one, he didn't answer any of them at all.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to encourage rudeness. Many of the replies were becoming absurdly argumentative, which is uncalled for. But at the same time, if you're going to start a hot-topic thread like this you have to expect some replies like that.

I think that posting the whole story at once is a good idea. Then maybe he can spend whatever "internet time" he has discussing it with us instead of writing the next chapter. I think the whole thing is just a little bit of drama from too much energy right now, and everybody needs to relax.