What's ATS turning into?!

im with you there, but you cant tell people what to S&F

this is just the way life is. cant force some one to operate the

way you see fit. i do think some members need to be educated about the

difference between this and facebook.

i have come across a few great minds but failed to add them to my friend on here because thats not what ATS is

about.

Originally posted by paradox
I'd have to disagree though, because the people I'm referring to do not like to listen to any solid facts that counter their claims, and humbly change their stance. They are already too stuck in some sort of fantastical belief system.

this seems to be happening offline too though.

is it maybe just a reflection of how mad the planet has gone?

Originally posted by paradox

 

I'll have you know for 8 of those years I was in the Marine Corps so I could not contribute and just returned as a member, but I surely have kept up with this website.

reply to post by SonicInfinity


I agree with you. In all honesty, I think this site could make a huge improvement just by simply getting rid of stars and flags. Or at least stars.

I feel that it's sort of a juvenile reward system. An intelligent discussion can be had, and I think all stars do is psychologically encourage ignorance.

If someone gets a buttload of stars on a thread from other people who also don't know what they're talking about, that person will still feel they were right because "look at all the stars" they have. Know what I mean?

Originally posted by omegacorps
im with you there, but you cant tell people what to S&F

I'm not. I'm telling people to use their brains and think before they give the appearance that a mediocre topic is something of great importance.

WOO-SAHHHHHHH

The one thing you have to remember is that people will use whatever explanation they feel best describes their situation because the explanations offered are not what they are looking for.

I don't know if I'm conveying my thoughts correctly but I guess it all comes down to this: People will believe/not believe what they want to believe/no believe, period. No matter what proof you present, no matter what facts, no matter how much sense you think it makes, or not, whatever the case. No matter how much you dispute their proof with more proof or facts. It's like hitting your head against a brick wall trying to argue. So why stress?

When I feel like I am begining to get too drawn into a heated situation thread or post wise, I just come to the off topic issues and engage in some light hearted, fun threads or rants when I'm really heated. Which is why I am here now. Just posting this to you made me feel better.

Now if only I could return the favor...

Originally posted by LightSpeedDriver

Originally posted by paradox

 

I'll have you know for 8 of those years I was in the Marine Corps so I could not contribute and just returned as a member, but I surely have kept up with this website.

I asked you to show me where I said it's anyone's fault here that I could not contribute?

You will fail to show this, because it was never said. But instead of accepting that you are wrong, you will comment again regardless.

You are exactly the type of person this topic is dedicated to.
Thank you.

Originally posted by lacrimaererum
reply to post by paradox

 

Conspiracy has become mainstream. Its big business now.

The site is now also on Facebook and Twitter.

If you try and present facts that disagree with the OP you are labelled negative and half the folk on the thread will turn on you in an attempt to get stars.

I have been on this site for the last decade. i go away every so often and forget passwords. thats why i am currently a new member. Its too late to save ATS. someone needs to start new site.

Yeah, I would not mind if you would cut your losses and start a new site, it's too late to save ATS. Birds of a feather flock together, if your aim is to meet likeminded people who don't challenge you but agree and praise your brilliant mind, then this place really isn't for you.

reply to post by paradox

Sorry, please disregard all previous posts of mine in this thread. I'm having a very bad day. If you can't disregard, flame away but I will leave you in peace.

reply to post by LightSpeedDriver


It's okay. I'm a forgiving person. We all have our bad days.

I just felt like ranting my frustration. I probably shouldn't even reply to anyone else who replies to my rant because the only purpose was to say what I felt like saying.

I definitely agree with you. I have been attempting to bring this matter to light for the past few months. I even just made a rant with a similar topic as this one without knowing you had already done it. I've tried putting together well-researched threads, I've put together threads that try to get people to question why they believe certain theories, I've even put together a thread that points out many members on here are simply sheeple to alternative news and fringe authors. Unfortunately none of it has worked.

reply to post by paradox

Just to clarify, it was wrong of me to piss on your fire. My heartfelt apologies and Rant On! Frustrations? Welcome to my world. Be well friend.

reply to post by Xcalibur254


I see exactly where you're coming from.

That's why I find it funny when I just got comments like "well why don't you contribute something?"
Anything I can possibly contribute has been contributed thousands of times already. It's beating a dead horse to try to change people's minds who are already convinced no matter how much logic you give to them. I think they find a certain thrill in life by seeing some sort of malevolent alternative to certain conspiracies, or by creating fantasies such as alien invasions and such. It's definitely much more fun to think of that than accept the real mundane reality we live in.

reply to post by paradox


The way I see it a lot of members now treat ATS merely as an interactive form of escapism. It's like an MMORPG to them or something. However, they also don't seem to realize they are doing this. For example go into any doomsday thread and read the posts of the people that buy into these predictions. While they may fervently defend these predictions if you actually look at what they write it looks like they aren't so much worried about the fact that doomsday is coming. Instead, they seem to be more concerned about proving their right. In other words they treat it like a game where you get points for proving you're right.

reply to post by Xcalibur254


I haven't looked at it that way but now that I do, I absolutely agree.

reply to post by LightSpeedDriver


I wouldn't say it was wrong. It's an open forum so I could only expect both sides of the argument.

Take care

Interesting thread, I hope you don't mind me chiming in here..

See, I think frustration is something we're all going to get at some point or another while posting on ATS. I know I've been frustrated with thing's before and I'm sure there's going to be times in the future where I'll get frustrated again, whether it be because of a ridiculous thread, or a person trying to troll me for whatever reason. I remember in one of the last instances I spent a few weeks writing up a thread, I got to posting and then before I was even done editing it I had someone claiming I copied the entire thing - Frustrating to say the least.

Frustration, it just happens. Nothing wrong with it in the slightest and there's nothing wrong with expressing it as well, in my opinion anyway. But I think it's just really important that we all remember something and I'm saying this at risk of sounding like a broken record, but.. We, as a whole, really do make this site what it is. If we're not totally satisfied with the way thing's are, then in my opinion we should all take out the time to put that little bit more effort into what we're posting, typical post like this or a new thread.

That extra bit of thought, or those extra few minutes of re-reading whatever it is we're getting ready to post really does make a difference I've found and in turn it helps create better content - What we all want to see, I'm sure. As they say, be the change you want to see. Now, ATS, for me, has always been a site where we can learn a hell of a lot about various different, fascinating topics. I know I hope that at least continues.. and it can if we all want it to as well.

That being so I don't blame some people for complaining about the state of thing's still. I mean, we all do care about this site quite a bit after all, otherwise we wouldn't spend so long here - Thus why there's so many different thread's asking for others to contribute that little bit more, or to take thing's that little bit more seriously and so on. We all just want a better site. Ignoring those troll posters is something we all have to do to make it happen, and that's something I, personally, need to learn how to do that bit more as well. They're really not worth the time or the attention I've come to learn - That's time and attention better spent trying to contribute.

That's the way I see thing's anyway. If we want this site to be better.. then let's go and make it better. We can all do it after all. Just a bit more time and effort is needed as well as a bit more discipline to ignore those dragging the site down.

Anyway, just throwing out my opinion here. I think we all care enough about this site to "get it back on track" so to speak. Sure, there's always going to be annoying thread's with wild claims or little content though, this is the internet, we need to learn how to deal with that kind of thing. It's always going to happen no matter what. But I think we also need to focus on the good a little bit more as well instead of getting so bogged down over the bad.

On a final note, I remember SO once made a post on a thread fairly similar to this one and It's always stuck with me. I think it's probably worth posting here as well, I think it really does well to explain a little bit about why we sometimes feel content is declining when it actually may not be and it's certainly worth a read: www.abovetopsecret.com...

..That's what I mean when I say we should concentrate on the good a bit more. I don't care what some people say, it is there. We just sometimes miss it because we choose to focus on the negative. Something we all do from time to time, some more than others.

reply to post by Rising Against


Thank you for your opinion. I agree with it. At the time I wrote this thread I was just frustrated, and the OP wasn't as well thought out as it should have been. It's just a silly little rant. I didn't think anyone would pay much attention to it. Not sure why I even posted it. I just felt like getting it out there.

Thanks for linking to SO's post. I find truth in what he's saying. I guess I was only looking at it from the perspective of someone who's looked at this site for years, and not the perspective of newer members who haven't read all the content that I've read.

I'm sure a lot of the crazier threads will end once big things like the election are over, and 2012 comes to a close. Those seem to be the main themes of the site as of late.

Thanks again.

reply to post by paradox

At the time I wrote this thread I was just frustrated, and the OP wasn't as well thought out as it should have been. It's just a silly little rant.

I wouldn't feel too bad about it - I mean, like I said before, we all get frustrated from time to time. There's honestly nothing wrong with that. We All get frustrated, particularly here on ATS. Anyone who says they don't, or never will, is, IMO, just lying.

With a site which basically promotes "debate", or Arguing if you will, there's always going to be frustration or annoyance. It comes with the territory or where we are and what we're doing here. We all have strong beliefs and we want others to believe what we believe. When they don't, and when they seemingly ignore basic facts.. well, cue the angry posts, lol.

Or when we see people who are dragging down the site we admire and enjoy participating in.. well again, cue the anger and annoyance. It happens to all of us here, it's how we handle it and then move on that matters.

Your OP wasn't that bad either btw. You brought up a fair point in my opinion. That's what I was mainly replying to in my last post here as well.

reply to post by paradox


Damn, I can only give one star and flag.