An open message to you all "Since when did this website become.....

Sometimes hate is a catalyst for change. What you seem to be supporting, blissful ignorance, whereby words and thoughts are wrapped up in cotton wool is simply denying the reality that faces us all. Truths should never be filtered or hidden because they may offend or don't meet up with certain peoples agendas or moral codes. I’d hate to see this site turn into that.
I sometimes wish running away from a painful reality was a solution OZ but unfortunately it isn’t.

I have only been here since May so I have no idea if ATS has changed. I like this site and a lot of the topics interest me. I finally found a place where I can read what each side has to say without the worry of an outright violent conflict that you might find if these subjects were discussed face to face. I would not say I have seen much of what I would call hate but a lot of assertiveness and people standing up for what they believe. Who else do we have to talk to about these issues, our employers, our govt., our kids, our spouses - probably not. Lets all try to be civil and realize that not everyone is going to agree with what you have to say. I wouldn't expect to start a thread just to have everyone agree with what I say, what's the point in that? Peace

Originally posted by autowrench
don't like what a person says? Hit the "Ignore" button. somebody really get to you? Name them a "Foe."

very good point
I do this all the time
when I want to tune out
part of the hate or derailment.
However, a big problem I see
that I have mentioned before
is the ignore list only allows
10. There are thousands
of posters on ATS and I need
more room on the ignore list.
Mine is full and I still have to listen
to it. Can I make a request to
admins and mods to increase the
ignore list capacity to at least 50
It would surely help with the hate
and derailing aspect of on-topic
thread participation.

reply to post by OzWeatherman


ATS is merely an insight into public opinion at any given time, I don't think that people/posters are becoming more vitriolic in their views, they are just reflecting what is happening on our planet today.

I don't know, but maybe people are posting more extreme views because we are living in more extreme times.

Remember that it is our politicians and our media that influence our thoughts and opinions.......and it is they that we discuss on a daily basis, without them we have no idea what is happening on this planet, we live insular lives, we believe what we are told.....and we act accordingly!

Basically in a subliminal way we are told who we should love and who we should hate.............sad really



[edit on 13/8/2010 by Argyll]

reply to post by OzWeatherman


I have to agree and I think the Political Madness forum is useless. Threads get recycled, double posts litter the board and general madness reigns.

ATS has become THE PLACE for people who hate Obama, hate socialism (which most don't really understand!), love Glenn Beck, love Orly Taitz and love spreading doom.

It's a comedy site and it's fun to read some of the crap that gets posted.

reply to post by boondock-saint


No offence .....but why do you post in a "poem" style?.......3 or 4 word per line?

again no offence just wondering, as it makes the continuity of your posts hard to read

Boo freakin hoo. Ats is a site to express opinions in conversation and debate. Not some site where everyone comes to agree with you. Dont like it or its content? LEAVE.

reply to post by Nofoolishness


You didn't get it did you?........the OP question was why has ATS changed it's tone, not that you shouldn't express an opinion.

Kids will be returning to school soon, thank you, things will get back to semi normal.

reply to post by OzWeatherman


You are not the only one to notice this trend. There used to ba a day when I couldn't wait to log on and see what was up on the recent posts page, or write a thread of my own. I looked forward to intelligent and heated debate of a wide range of subjects, and more importantly, I appoached everything with an open mind. There used to be alot more open minds here in the past.

But lately, I dread reading the recent posts page, and considering the usual type of replies (trolls), I don't see the point in writing threads as there is a total lack of intelligent and civil debate here anymore. Thus I have exiled myself to BTS and mostly to the chatroom.

Now some of this is due to the 'summer' phenomenon (bored school kids), but not all of it. I haven't given up on quality content returning here, but I'm starting to doubt in it's existence, it's been so long since I've seen any to speak of.

Anyway, that's my 0.02 worth on the subject... Back to the safe confines of the chatroom...

JaxonRoberts to Chatroom.... One to beam up.... Energize!

In my case, I use ATS as a tool for gathering interesting news and information... not as some sort of drug to keep me coated in comfort. It's a place where everyone can post information and express their opinions. The stuff that is largely deemed "interesting" is flagged and makes itself more noticeable to people like me, who like to quickly and efficiently sort the truth from the bullsh#t.

Ultimately, it's the people that feel the need to come here just to occupy themselves and "feel good" that contribute the least, in terms of useful/interesting information -- the ones that feel the need to "lighten up the mood" by posting cute youtube videos or telling a funny story about their personal lives. In my opinion the increase in this sort of behavior is much more damaging to the purpose of ATS than anything else.

More and more often I find useless threads like this flagged to the top, which goes to prove my point. ATS is being flooded with a breed of over-sensitive people who have taken up permanent residence here in hopes to hide away from the harsh reality of the real world.

Well the problem is, the purpose of ATS is to be a god damned magnifying glass on the harsh realities of the world and to focus in on the good, the bad and ESPECIALLY the ugly... so as to learn the truth and deny ignorance.

This ain't some playground. If you find the real world is too dark a place for you to have to run away from, ATS should be the last place you want to be.

(Not directed at anyone in particular).

[edit on 13/8/10 by Navieko]

Maybe what is in order is a forum dedicated strictly to "political baiting" (or maybe "political trolling" is better?) Any topic that starts out as "Obama is..." or "Palin is..." then links to a biased blog as it's source should just go straight to that forum. Look how well the HOAX forum has worked.

reply to post by OzWeatherman


What a crybaby.

I can't disagree more with this. People are increasingly sensitive toward opinions contrary to their own. Because they are unable to articulate themselves and engage in civil dialogue, they yell "hate", "bigotry," or "racism." For example, take a peek at the birther threads. We don't get 5 posts into them without someone saying"A black man is President, deal with it." No rational dialogue, no civil discourse, just accusations of racism.

This is hardly an outlet for hate. It's an outlet for disagreeing. If you can't handle that someone somewhere thinks your opinions is wrong, then you're too sensitive for life. Best of luck to you.

I'm a long time lurker, short time poster.

Why do I think thread quality is seemingly in decline?

There is a glut of people claiming to be something they're not. Now, ask yourself:

How many times does someone claim to be a theoretical physicist, economics professor, FBI agent, and/or an Extraterrestrial?

How many times does someone claim to have an IQ of something WELL OVER a 100? (150+ people, I'm looking at you and even that's giving a good number of liars the benefit of the doubt).

How many times does someone claim to have been abducted by Reptilians from Alpha Draconis?

Let me be perfectly clear, I will NOT believe you if you claim something like this.

Why not? Well, why the Hell should I? If you type like a 6th grader, then I have no choice but believe that - NO - you don't have a Ph.D. in Microbiology.

My point is not everyone has to be a Jim Garrison, Mike Ruppert, or Fox Mulder to get respect on this forum. Yet, people post their fake well-endowed resumes for us too look at. Usually it's in the form of, "As a professor of history..."

Personally, I don't want to hear from only Mulders. I want to hear from the guy at the grocery store checkout line or maybe the retired Sunday school teacher or the bank teller.

My advice? Publicly and loudly denounce these people for the liars they are.

Well, I'm going to go back to lurking now. It's just my opinion from an outside perspective.

reply to post by Navieko

More and more often I find useless threads like this flagged to the top, which goes to prove my point. ATS is being flooded with a breed of over-sensitive people who have taken up permanent residence here in hopes to hide away from the harsh reality of the real world.

Well the problem is, the purpose of ATS is to be a god damn magnifying glass on the harsh realities of the world and to focus in on the good, the bad and especially the ugly... so as to learn the truth and deny ignorance.

I think you speak for many

well said


Ps: If the OP a mod ? Because usually, the only times bland, oft-repeated opinions are disproportionately flagged and starred ---- is when they're posted by mods. It's worse than being in Grade-school

Originally posted by skoalman88
I can't disagree more with this. People are increasingly sensitive toward opinions contrary to their own. Because they are unable to articulate themselves and engage in civil dialogue, they yell "hate", "bigotry," or "racism." For example, take a peek at the birther threads. We don't get 5 posts into them without someone saying"A black man is President, deal with it." No rational dialogue, no civil discourse, just accusations of racism.

This is hardly an outlet for hate. It's an outlet for disagreeing. If you can't handle that someone somewhere thinks your opinions is wrong, then you're too sensitive for life. Best of luck to you.

Your post is a breath of fresh-air


Thank you


Thank you


Personally, I don't know what the OP is going on about


But one thing's for sure --- I'm going to be watching carefully all those who've pontificated in here about 'hate' and 'racism' in ATS (I've seen little, apart from those who can't articulate their claimed argument, at which point they begin accusing others of 'hate' and 'racism' ... those tired, tired old red-herrings). They'd better not slip-up, tomorrow, next week, next month --- or their posts here will return to stare them down, lol




.

[edit on 13-8-2010 by Dock9]

Originally posted by Dock9
So we lost them, as we lost you

And now they and you are some other forum's gain


I don't blame you for leaving

just wish you and many like you had been encouraged to remain with ATS, instead of discouraged

Thank you for your sentiments. I was encouraged to stay, and I do occasionally pop by. I have made many wonderful friends here who I do keep in touch with. But I have been here since 2006. Perhaps I got tired of it. I didn't switch to an alternative forum, either. I simply stopped visiting websites where controversial views are regularly discussed. For the same reasons I no longer post comments on news articles or anything like that. People are far too rude and angry.

reply to post by OzWeatherman

"Since when did this website become an outlet for hate?"

When I first arrived on the ATS scene, I was also a target of some of that hatred. I was not expecting to defend my country's belief system, military soldiers, and philosophies. During the past few days, I noticed a few threads with titles that targeted the United States. So, I went inside to have a peak, and found a massive bashing feast. Every time I stood up for my country, someone immediately stepped in and bashed my posts. Why? Maybe they saw something threatening in 'my' posts? Maybe I was too patriotic? I don't know. After seeing another thread pop up using propaganda pieces as an excuse to bash the United States, I was on the borderline of straight out quitting. I felt seriously heart broken by the content in those threads.

During the course of today, I saw a thread about Russia pop up. Even though they have issues at home, I would never-ever tell a Russian citizen they are wrong. I posted a Newsweek link and a few things I learned from the media, but I didn't go into that thread and bash anyone who is Russian. Why? I know what they are going through. I don't think anyone of 'us' is in a position to tell another person's country what to do with itself. It is called meddling. People don't like to be meddled with.

Who am I to tell another person that their country has issues, and then to proceed in calling them blind or morons? It is illogical. It is foolishness.

We have a lot of scary things happening around the world. All of those issues are caused by mankind's inability to look back upon itself. Why? 'We' don't stop to consider the consequences of our own actions or words. When things end up going to hell, we have no problem pointing at someone else.

Well, 'we' are all wrong. 'We' are all stupid human beings bumping into walls. 'We' don't listen. 'We' don't think before we speak, and 'we' meddle in another person's affairs. 'We' tell one group of individuals what not to do, and we tell another group on how to proceed.

"Above top Secret" is a place where people should have fun talking about a diverse spectrum of 'underground' subjects. 'We' are not here to fight verbal wars. 'We' are here to 'inspire' deeper thinking, and to consider other possibilities for solving older mysteries.

Even though I have been in the line of fire, I will not participate in a battle of hatred. We are all human. We are all adults.

Let us keep the peace.

[edit on 13-8-2010 by Section31]

reply to post by Dock9


I agree, this thread should be in a rant forum...

It actually proves what the OP is trying to say, if you agree with them...

What a waste of 4 pages by a sook....