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ShadeWolf
reply to post by InquisitiveMind2012
Oh, wonderful. Blame it on those young whippersnappers and their opinions. It has nothing at all to do with the very obvious group of grumpy old party-blinded members who scream bloody murder at anyone voicing a dissenting opinion or facts that disprove their view point. What you want is what ATS is turning into, a partisan echo chamber where no intelligent conversation takes place.
I do alert posts i think are disrespectful or are contrary to the T&C's.
Indeed it is. A healthy dose of skepticism is excellent, but when it is done by members who are intentionally patrolling forums ready to jump on the unsuspecting poster, it gets tiring, and frankly unacceptable.
Some members act in groups, who will use each other, and build off of each other's posts in order to belittle and completely silence the OP. isn't this type of behavior in breach of the T&C's?
In any case, i can attempt to recover examples of such behavior and PM you.
I have witnessed many threads which stood up to scrutiny, only to be ridiculed by disruptive members, which would have an affect on the progression of said thread. I am fairly sure these threads are avoided due to members not wanting to get involved in the incidents.
Fair enough, but i meant the word 'patrol' in a fair way, not as an aggressive attack.
Generally when there is one T&C-breaking comment within a thread, there are bound to be more.
I have read over that thread before, and i do not believe myself to be thin-skinned nor spineless. I am just sick of the actions of specific members. I and many other members can deal with the average attack and rebuttal, but on the scale of what i have described today, it definitely needs more input from the moderators!
He appears to be an active participant of the group creating these divisive theories. Some are active on 9/11 boards under various names, some are not.
My biggest fear for ATS is that it becomes an echo chamber, filled with people simply patting each other on the back. That's not a debate or a discussion it's a support group.
tothetenthpower
reply to post by daaskapital
I do alert posts i think are disrespectful or are contrary to the T&C's.
Is it all possible however that what some construe as disrespect is simply misplaced hurt? I often find myself needing to re-read a post, even perhaps PM the member to ask if their intent was to insult or if I'm simply not understand what they were trying to get across.
The written medium can be tedious for these sorts of things.
Indeed it is. A healthy dose of skepticism is excellent, but when it is done by members who are intentionally patrolling forums ready to jump on the unsuspecting poster, it gets tiring, and frankly unacceptable.
I would assume anybody who posts on ATS would not be surprised to find a wide variety of opinions, hopefully half of which don't jive with their own.
My biggest fear for ATS is that it becomes an echo chamber, filled with people simply patting each other on the back. That's not a debate or a discussion it's a support group.
Some members act in groups, who will use each other, and build off of each other's posts in order to belittle and completely silence the OP. isn't this type of behavior in breach of the T&C's?
The forum gang issue has been investigated at length by staff. Trust me when I say that whenever a large political issue occurs or anything else really, the staff do attempt their best to monitor the boards for any such groups.
Now there's a difference between an organized 'forum gang' bent on disruption and a group of like minded individuals who support each other's view points in threads. That's the difference we look for. If there looks to be an organized effort by a certain group to effectively 'Gate Keep' the conversation.
That is entirely unacceptable and anytime it comes across our radar it is dealt with accordingly.
In any case, i can attempt to recover examples of such behavior and PM you.
Yes I'm glad you didn't do that, as in post in publicly, but if you want to send me a PM with some things you find alarming, I will certainly look into it for you.
I have witnessed many threads which stood up to scrutiny, only to be ridiculed by disruptive members, which would have an affect on the progression of said thread. I am fairly sure these threads are avoided due to members not wanting to get involved in the incidents.
There are many threads that end up going off the original topic. That is not always because of a disruptive member, but sometimes because the natural conversation ends up flowing there. Especially in longer threads that deal with complicated issues.
As for the member stalking. Yes it does happen, I don't mean to brush off your concerns or treat you like what you are saying is not true. However the level at which you claim this is occurring does not correlate with what we see behind the scenes.
Fair enough, but i meant the word 'patrol' in a fair way, not as an aggressive attack.
I wrote that earlier this morning, forgive my brashness, I never intended on coming across as defensive or anything like that.
tothetenthpower
reply to post by daaskapital
Generally when there is one T&C-breaking comment within a thread, there are bound to be more.
This is only true, because members reply to the T&C infractions, as opposed to alerting them, and allowing the staff to do what needs to be done.
Don't feed the trolls comes to mind if you know what I mean.
I have read over that thread before, and i do not believe myself to be thin-skinned nor spineless. I am just sick of the actions of specific members. I and many other members can deal with the average attack and rebuttal, but on the scale of what i have described today, it definitely needs more input from the moderators!
And I don't mean to imply you are one either, that was just for reference as it explains a lot of points I'm making much better than I can word them.
Look like I said. These things you mention they do happen and that is truly unfortunate. There's never going to be a time where it doesn't or a time where staff can cover everything at once. You know that already though.
My point is, I still don't see the problem as being at the level you describe and I spent a good chunk of my day on ATS as both a staffer and a member. I'm usually the very first to complain when I see this community going in a direction that I do not like.
So, with all that being said, if you have some examples and somethings that have really bothered you and that require investigation by staff, then PM me the details.
As I said earlier, I can't promise the staff will agree, but I do promise we will look into it, and get back to you.
~Tenth
ETA: I want to stress that these are my thoughts and opinions and I do not represent the staff as a whole or the owners/admins at large. Just trying to find some common ground is all .edit on 1/4/2014 by tothetenthpower because: (no reason given)
Overall, i feel that the aforementioned actions are severely affecting ATS. While the moderators are probably addressing the situation, i think the situation needs to be rectified as soon as possible, for the benefit of the average member.