99% of The Headlines in Here Have Already Been Seen By Most of Us....

The reason this site exists is so that people with an opinion about something can have a place to share it. NOT everyone has the ability to articulate that opinion to the satisfaction of all. Some people just see something on the Internet and want to bring it to the attention of others. They may misrepresent a fact or 2 in the process, but that is no reason to BASH them over the head and pick apart their reporting of said event.

I have been a member for a few years, but I was a "lurker" (your term, not mine) for some time before I joined. I feel confident when I say that there are quite a few very intelligent people that show an acumen for presentations and there are those that show an equally talented way of being "trolls" and like to sabotage threads. They like to read the headlines and respond without actually paying attention to what was written or the skim over what was written and fixate on the way it was written, picking at punctuation and spelling or an accidental misrepresentation that was in fact accidental and not in anyway germane to the OP.

This has happened to me many times and sometimes I get my feathers ruffled and strike back, but more times than not, I have to remind myself that this is also an anonymous site visited by people from many different backgrounds with many different levels of intelligence, age, ethnicity, culture, religious upbringing, etc. It is not possible to know for sure who is what, even an avatar does not give a clue all the time, but one thing is certain...anyone here has the right to voice an opinion and everyone has a right to respond to an opinion and everyone has the right to not be here if they choose and everyone has the right to ignore those that are complete jerks.

Sometimes we just feel they need to lash out, but it is not always because of what is happening here. All of our personal lives have situations going on that impact how we interact with each other in here. Not just here, but on all social media sites, unless you are actually conversing in a video chat (with someone you trust and know) the WWW is so easy to use as a scapegoat to unleash anger and frustration onto unsuspecting targets that we forget who and what we are dealing with if we happen to be said target.

It is necessary to grow a thick skin and be able to "brush it off", do not let jerks bring you down to their level. The best option is to delete or ignore whatever they said and just move on. Even I have been guilty of being baited and swallowing it whole...I have choked on a bit of venom in the process and every time I do...I find myself regretting it rather than feeling good about it after the fact. Best to take a big,fat, deep breath or something to that effect and just BLOW it out!

Some people take this site WAY too seriously. It is just a place to read sometimes interesting things. Nothing more than occasional entertainment. All of the drama and egos are completely pointless. People are so lame.

a reply to: Jefferton

Well, not all people but certainly a few have expressed lame opinions from time to time. I hope you were entertained by my post!

a reply to: soulpowertothendegree

Very well said.

Honestly, I don't think members are trolling most of the time when they correct spelling, punctuation, or they fixate on one word and ignore the substance of the post.


I feel a lot of times they have no other argument but disagree with your opinion. They then attempt to use any tactic they can to minimize your opinion or discredit your post.

a reply to: soulpowertothendegree

99 percent of rants are just rants.

We've all jerked our knees from time to time, some people such as myself wear our hearts on our sleeves and don't respond well to thinly veiled insults and I've learned to ignore them or to counter them with my own observations.

I see some posts that have me shaking one fist and scratching my head with the other. I try as hard as I can to stay away but sometimes I can't, But I try to be civil when I can't help myself. The way I see it heated arguments are helpful even if there is no real consensus.

a reply to: Greathouse

Well I guess that depends on ones interpretation of "troll", but I get what you are saying! My Mother taught me something that I try to live by (most of the time)...if you have nothing nice to say, zip your lip! Here's to you Mom!

a reply to: Thecakeisalie

Are you implying this is a rant? Just curious why you started your post with that...Nowhere in my post did I use the word rant and I did not post this in the rant forum....interesting! Now, if had said something like this....I am so sick and tired of the jerks that try to derail threads by harping on nonsensical anomalies written by the OP!!!!! I wish they would all go fly a kite off the end of the Earth....that would be a rant!

a reply to: soulpowertothendegree

I did not post this in the rant forum initially and I was not ranting...so I am not sure why it was moved....I guess now it can be called a Rant officially, but it does not change what I have written. I think it will influence those that do see it and unfairly so, but hey I am not a MOD, so no control over what they do with it!

a reply to: soulpowertothendegree

Are you implying this is a rant?

a reply to: soulpowertothendegree

Words like "sick and tired", does give rise to interpreting your post as a rant. But I get your drift.

originally posted by: soulpowertothendegree
a reply to: Thecakeisalie

Are you implying this is a rant?

Yes, it's basically a rant. You have a point of view. You're disturbed by how others act here. You wanted to get it off your chest. That's pretty much the definition of a rant. And, like quite a lot of articles posted here, it has nothing to do with conspiracy theories or the general subjects this site was founded to encourage. It's really kind of like the Seinfeld show, a show about nothing. You may think it's "for the good of the order," but it doesn't contribute anything of value. It's not about anything in particular and certainly not about anything "above top secret."

It's a good illustration of ATS site drift. There was once a time when this was THE place to come if you wanted the latest on UFOs, the paranormal, or a damn fine and intricate conspiracy theory. But these days people post on any topic they find elsewhere, so we get a whole lot of threads here we could just as easily get on CNN, Fox, Bing, Facebook, and Yahoo. And who knows? Maybe someone never would have come across that dog video showing how smart he was to get a big stick across a bridge so maybe it made their day.

ATS has become yet another news aggregator site.

Nothing wrong with any of that.

I guess.

originally posted by: Jefferton
Some people take this site WAY too seriously. It is just a place to read sometimes interesting things. Nothing more than occasional entertainment. All of the drama and egos are completely pointless. People are so lame.

Serious or not people can treat others with COMPASSION.

There are people losing children, there are children enduring daily abuse, there are elders who can't hear and ready to sign off of this planet, they may be on here trying to interact when they can't feel safe or comfortable out there...why not treat each and every thread and post as though it were by someone we give a darn about trying to share something they care about.

a reply to: soulpowertothendegree

I guess now it can be called a Rant officially

Hahaha!
...I thought it was a thinly disguised rant when I first read the OP

wrong thread.

a reply to: Ultralight

And you must not have read the original OP post or you would have noticed I did not say those words anywhere! Not very diligent of you now was it?

a reply to: grainofsand

I guess that grain of sand was implied too. Nothing thinly veiled. I was quite precise and concise in what I put forth and it was not intended to be a rant whatsoever, it was only after it got moved did it become disguised as a rant....as I said....I did not put this in the rant forum....but from now on everything I post will go directly in the rant forum and they can move it where they wish!

originally posted by: soulpowertothendegree
a reply to: Thecakeisalie

Are you implying this is a rant? Just curious why you started your post with that...Nowhere in my post did I use the word rant and I did not post this in the rant forum....interesting! Now, if had said something like this....I am so sick and tired of the jerks that try to derail threads by harping on nonsensical anomalies written by the OP!!!!! I wish they would all go fly a kite off the end of the Earth....that would be a rant!

Interesting how you picked on one word in a comment to rail against....

a reply to: Char-Lee

Right you are...compassion is an acquired taste for some...normally I exhibit that for others under most circumstances, but sadly even I fail to be perfect when it comes to that quality. I recently posted 2 threads that come to mind that did not have a whole lot of compassion and you know what...those should have been moved to the rant forum or trash bin and for all intent and purpose put me squarely in my place. Thanks for participating here!

a reply to: Shamrock6

Yeah well what was interesting was this was moved to the rant forum before I realized it and I had already replied....so the person that said this did so without me knowing it had been moved and therefore I was curious why they implied it was a rant and what is your point? Other than to stop by and point this out?