Black sheep of ATS

a reply to: Ashirah

I have lurked since ATS started. Joined some years back and never got invested and forgot the account details and then re-registered some time back. I find that people are either distant or excellent here. I have only experienced what I personally view as bias by someone in Moderation authority once. It wasn't really a concern though. I let it go. Overall, I would say that even those here who I am completely opposite of on everything are actually quite nice. You kind of get out of it what you put into it more times than not.

Be open to learning new things. Be willing to take it on the chin sometimes and get owned occasionally. ATS is in my view a place of growing pains and immeasurable information and entertainment. It's niche has evolved over the many years and of course it's no longer the same place it once was. But then nothing really stays the same. It's a good thing.

I have never bothered to reach out or befriend others here. It is not of interest to me. It's really up to people to decide the limits of interaction here when engaging each other. I think it balances out. It does for me anyways.

a reply to: Ashirah

I mean, it's an online forum. I guess people can buddy up and become pals but I feel most people just come to read the latest doom porn predictions and UFO stories, etc.

Basically, they just come to shoot the #. Now some may become more familiar with each other, especially when working on research, working on a collaborative type story or thread or if they just click and have a lot in common.

I wonder though, do u have any issues making friends IRL?

I'll talk to just about anyone about anything. A total if you're cool to me then I'm cool to you type...but I wouldn't say that I'm super close or know anyone from ATS on any sort of personal level, at all.

a reply to: LukeDAP

Brilliant

a reply to: Subaeruginosa

I was hoping to sound equal parts crazy and stupid I am not even remotely interested in the debate.. Neither "side" will have me anyway! See.. It's on topic!

Might I suggest a Henry lever action 0.22? Massively enjoyable, accurate, and reliable, and my phone won't let me type calibers properly..

a reply to: Ashirah

I will be your friend. I am pretty new here and I still learning how to navigate this site. What do the flags and stars mean? Mostly I just click on stuff and read.

a reply to: amberinsc

Stars are given for individual posts, for any reason you could imagine. They are right above each and every post (click on the blank star outline.)

Flags are for threads that you might make, and serve roughly the same purpose. They will be at the top of the page, and you can giveth and taketh away (once a star is given, it stays).

Both are essentially meaningless, and personally, I would enjoy the ability to turn them off.

a reply to: Serdgiam

Thanks. Even though they are essentially meaningless I clicked on your little star anyway.

a reply to: Ashirah

Most in here feel they 'don't fit in' (some take great care not to). This is ATS, after all: a gathering of selfproclaimed intellectuals with a taste for the extreme and the desire to have an opinion on everything (QED). We don't fit well into a world in which one has to be 'social' and 'compliant'. Including these premises. You don't make friends here: you discuss and learn here. In that process, you may find a good discussion partner. Not a friend. Friends are made in real life.

So, I hate to tell you this, but - within our circles anyway - you're quite normal

a reply to: ForteanOrg

I've always thought this was an alternative entertainment site, rather than any sort of intellectual forge.

Am I doing it wrong?

a reply to: Ashirah

I co-authored the book on misfits; it is yet to be published.

Nobody signed up to make friends; they signed up to share knowledge, theories, and experiences. ATS is a popularity contest at times but it is nothing like the hashtag mashing, like button bludgeoning that encourages sheepanity.

I've never fit in and I never will; but at least we have a place where us misfits can fit in.

a reply to: lovebeck

Zero interest in making NEW friends in my daily life. I've got my tried and true circle that I'm cool with.

No worries though. Appreciate everyone that replied.

a reply to: Thecakeisalie

I co-authored the book on dip#s - Now what?

a reply to: Serdgiam

Yes

a reply to: ForteanOrg

I'll be jangled!

Maybe I have just missed those threads/discussions.

originally posted by: Serdgiam
a reply to: ForteanOrg

I'll be jangled!

Maybe I have just missed those threads/discussions.

Nope

a reply to: Ashirah

We`re Black Sheep...lets go live in the ``Black Projects``

I am incredibly popular. Particularly, with the opposite sex. But... It's a curse as much as a blessing.

originally posted by: Boscowashisnamo

Being a relatively new member, I lurked for 5 years before I joined. I loved the diversity of topics, content and scope of so many subjects, but the thing that held me back was the inane fear of being unable to debate a topic without embarrassing myself. Some that post on ATS do so on a complex and deep level, offering opinions heavy in context, with seemingly unending resources to support their views. Couple their abilities with my child-like computer skills(I can make a laptop stutter), and you get where I'm coming from.

There are many personalities bouncing around here, different ideologies and cultures. No matter what differences, the one constant was being welcomed and helped along by others that were once "newbies". I don't feel like a misfit---just waitin' to take off my waterwings.

I'm glad you had a great experience. Was that all five years ago, or does your experience continue to today?

I haven't seen the effort to discuss much of anything I've posted yet...just a race to debase and debunk.

In terms of UFO sightings, I would do much better to describe my sightings in lieu of posting the videos. I'm ex air force, know a plane from a bird from a balloon, and used to fly satellites for a living. Yet...with the most obvious of videos, I've gotten the endless debunking and debasing. Very few have actually asked a question, or have had something intelligent to say. I'm not asking for agreement...just wanting to share, and have others share alike. Even answering with a sighting of their own would be cool, but nada...

So, yeah... I understand why some may not feel so "welcome" here all the time. The thread author has a point...

a reply to: Ashirah

your not alone, when you click into a popular thread or thread of interest it is hard to break into the conversation it seem as though there's a click or a group discussion among a few,and the few keep the thread more or less locked among themselves.I rarely come on anymore because of this and a few other reasons it wasn't always this way.
then again I'm a bit more quiet so it could be the more opinionated posters have more to say...or they have something more interesting to say then myself.

a reply to: Ashirah

No one on ATS fits in thats why we are all here