ALL MEMBERS READ:Increased Scrutiny for Aliens & UFO Forum

ALL MEMBERS READ: Increased Scrutiny for Aliens & UFO Forum

This thread is being written as a reminder to all members, believers and skeptics alike that civility and decorum must be maintained at all times in this forum. The Terms & Conditions are quite clear regarding this.

Moving forward the staff will be watching all Alien & UFO threads more closely and any rude, snide or condescending remarks will be removed immediately.

An update to the thread entitled ENOUGH! Manners in the Aliens/UFO Forum and those who habitually debunk was posted by Skeptic Overlord in an effort to curb the truly un-civilized and distracting member remarks within that forum.

The Aliens & UFO forum is a staple of ATS. It’s one of the main forums that this site was built upon and certainly one of the more popular. The problem we are running into is the quality of threads has decreased dramatically.

This is not due to members being lazy or not knowing how to make quality threads, it’s mostly because no member wants to put up with the rude naysayers. And once they’ve joined the fray, having to deal with the rude believers who counter the points made by the other side.

This is not to point the finger at skeptics only. A fair share of these posts can be attributed to believers who cannot take any other opinion than " I agree." This trend must also stop. If you are going to post a UFO video or topic, you can expect to be challenged by others with new ideas or differing opinions.

As long as this is done in a civil and proper way, there is NO reason for you to react with any of the listed behaviours above.

Skeptic Overlord authored a thread that sums it up nicely:The Rise Of The ATS Invertebrate: or, it takes a spine to be a conspiracy theorist

Let us make this clear. The staff will not tolerate any form of reply that isn’t following the T&C to the letter. This includes insults, condescending remarks, ridicule, the infamous “ This has been posted a million times, use the search feature” complaints.

Regardless of why members post videos and theories in this forum, it is their right to discuss them in an intelligent manner without the fear of ridicule and thread derailing by those who seem to take joy in it.

If as a member, you are unable to post with respect and act like a grown up, then don’t post at all. It will no longer be tolerated and we encourage members to alert posts that do not adhere to the above.

As always you are responsible for your own posts. You will be held accountable for those posts moving forward.

This policy is not up for debate; staff will not encourage or entertain dissent on this policy or obfuscation of the above information. Any members choosing to ignore this request from staff & membership will result in posting bans and a review of your account by staff.

Thank You.

Edit To Add: In Thread Response to some of the more common issues expressed by members in this thread.

~ATS Staff

I'm glad to see ATS stepping up. It's unfortunate to see new members join just to get bashed on their views or thoughts and never post again. S&F!

Please be sure to add into your litte write up there to not post a video and say enjoy anymore also!!!

Aliens/UFO's are by far the most intriguing topic in my mind and I am glad someone is finally going to step up and let people discuss this topic in a civilized fashion... Two thumbs up for the mods of ATS!!

Seems like a good plan

Id also like to point out that just because someone doesn't believe the claims made by the latest 'sighting' posted at youtube they are not automatically a non-believer. Many members here put forth good explanations to some of these sightings and instantly get slated as being a skeptic.

reply to post by xvagrantx


That is exactly the kind of thing we want to avoid. A lot of newer members come here seeking answers and like minded folk to discuss their experiences or interesting videos they've found.

And this kind of behaviour attributes greatly to them signing up, posting a single thread and then never logging in again.

Not cool, and will not be put up with any longer.

~Keeper

reply to post by Chrisfishenstein


That has everything to do with General ATS Forum Rules, please alert any threads that are lacking in content; video only threads are not allowed and staff will deal with them appropriately.

Thanks.

I also stopped authoring threads because of the constant- "oh, this has already been de-bunked, blah blah" comments.

Many new members actually want to discuss a topic that might have already been authored, but you don't really get that far on a thread that was authored 2 years ago. Hell, sometimes even a couple of months ago.

It's always the same bull, people dropping you links of the many existing threads on the topic, even if they are as old as Moses.

If I may also add, peoples views change on a daily basis and what we considered impossible 5 years ago, could be considdered believable now.

reply to post by tothetenthpower


Mr X-ULTRA/MIB/DURHAM-RULE... and will uphold my... implied duty of cO!Operation ...
And "I" & my Digi-Strawman will agree to not be a... tortfeasors of this very...
important subject matter... that by the way is very 'Close Encounter' to me...
Further more... "We The ATSers"...

(eXcluding NSAers )

Shall say "i" to ... Honoring a fiduciary relationmothership... to fellow ATSers...
Sorry i couldn't resist ... in all matters of "Gray area 51 & Reptilian"...
seriouslockheedness... Again sorry ... Please forgive me...
I'm only a (?) ... & child like in nature
... getting to the D.U.M.B 1979 Dulce incident bottom of it all...
& 1947 Roswell where it all began...

_with_that_said_ _ _ let's_ get_real_ about_ _ _ 'The_Disclosure_Project_ _ _

Originally posted by CosmicWaterGate
_with_that_said_ _ _ let's_ get_real_ about_ _ _ 'The_Disclosure_Project_ _ _

Disclosure already happened. The White House said the other day that they didn't have any evidence that UFOs were alien craft, or evidence of any aliens at all, and so they obviously didn't have any contact with them.

There's the official White House statement, aka disclosure. That should settle the matter once and for all.

Originally posted by xvagrantx
I'm glad to see ATS stepping up. It's unfortunate to see new members join just to get bashed on their views or thoughts and never post again. S&F!

Agreed. Some of the older members need to remember that we were new once and if they come here with questions , theories or thoughts then they should be encouraged and not attacked / insulted.

I try my best to welcome new members and make them feel comfortable here.

reply to post by Blue Shift
... No silly tin-man(just being playful)... I mean the one when 'They' land on the White House lawn

Glad to see ATS staffers noticing this and taking action. I've personally been apprehensive towards posting any new threads for the fear of ridicule and rude remarks from skeptics; this is not why I visit and participate (albeit limited) in ATS. Not to say skeptics are the only problem here...but looking forward to being able to put in my two cents on my terms now

Very good. I agree with the sentiments expressed in the OP.

Now, if we could just stop moderators moving threads to the HOAX bin without good reason all will be right with the world...

reply to post by tothetenthpower

This includes insults, condescending remarks, ridicule, the infamous “ This has been posted a million times, use the search feature” complaints.

While insults, condescending remarks, and ridicule seem to occur with equal frequency from both "sides" of the fence (The infamous snappy comment in regard to skeptics, "Don't worry, it's only Venus reflecting off swamp gas..."), I hope this doesn't mean that it is unacceptable to point out that a given topic has been repeatedly discussed. I hope this doesn't mean that such a topic must be rehashed in a new thread. I hope this doesn't mean it becomes necessary to repeat the research already done (on both "sides'). I hope this doesn't mean it becomes necessary to repeat the same arguments (for and against) simply because new members don't want to review the ground already covered.

reply to post by Phage


Not at all Phage,

What I want to stress is that it be done nicely and with the education of the particular member in mind.

Far too often it seems members post those sorts of responses to "one up" each other or the OP.

So yes, you can certainly still link another thread that's got hte same information and alert staff of duplicates so they may be closed, those rules do not change.

I just want the snarkyness when informing members of pre-posted material to stop. Thanks for asking, that should have been clarified in the OP.

~Keeper

Being a skeptic isn't automatically a bad thing. I'm proud to be called, and in some cases labeled, a skeptic.

I'm sure you all understand this, but for others who may not, this whole increased scrutiny is for behaviour in the process of being a skeptic, or a believer. Not for being one or the other.

Trust us when we say, believers are going to be held to the same standard as the skeptics.

We also rely upon you all to help us here. If you feel like your response isn't something you'd say talking to your friends about whatever topic, then it probably isn't something that'll go over well here. It's a good idea to review your posting before posting it.

Be nice. Let us, the staff, be the bad guys, if it becomes necessary. We carry the label anyway, and truth to tell, we're damned good at it, when circumstances warrant .

I want it to be clear that civility and politeness is a requirement of everyone who chooses to discuss this topic here on ATS.

The baiting and/or calling out of "debunkers" in posts will not stand either.

Critical thought is a valuable asset when it's applied in a civil manner, getting snarky or down right rude with someone who doesn't understand what they're looking at is not the way to go, going ballistic on someone because they disagree with your assertion that a bird in flight is an alien craft is not the way to go, neither will be tolerated any longer.


Springer...

Disclosure already happened. The White House said the other day that they didn't have any evidence that UFOs were alien craft, or evidence of any aliens at all, and so they obviously didn't have any contact with them.

There's the official White House statement, aka disclosure. That should settle the matter once and for all.

pffftttt....you call that disclosure???? c'mon...are you seriously taking that joke as disclosure???