How to Raise the Quality of This Forum's Threads

Could we start by changing the VERY BIASED photo of Sen. Mccain that appears on the banner? Or would that mean that admin would have to admit their bias? (and don't say that Sen. Obamas is just as bad. It's not.)

Originally posted by Hal9000
Well if your wondering if I am being paid, as I told you before, I wish I was. I just like the name.

As i said before, Barack Obama is the only candidate that has stooped to the all-time low of paying people to disrupt forum threads.

I have not ran across many of your posts, as there are too many threads to read. And believe it or not, I do have other interests on this board. Something tells me this animosity is overflowing from the birth certificate thread, which I only read briefly. Why are you and jamie, bringing that to this thread?I don't believe I've shown any animosity towards you or BH. If I remember correctly it was you who started making the sarcastic comments. Why don't you practice what you preach..

If you are not being paid, then you must be obsessed. I will ask a similar question that I asked jamie in this post which has not been answered,... Why are you so obsessed with this? Why are you and jamie hounding another member only because they don't agree with you?

Nobody is hounding BH. Responding to a thread and providing input does not equal harrassment except in your book possibly.

Maybe you should try to show a little yourself. Thanks.

You're the only rude and flippant person I see on this thread, I've remained calm and civilized when addressing you or BH. Once again, Practice what you preach..

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
I was thrilled to see this forum take form. I supported it strongly from the beginning. Sadly, it has become, for the most part, nothing but stupid, wild and crazy conspiracy theories and rumors aimed at the nominees.

I think the membership of ATS is better than that. I hope it is. I think we can do better.

I have been seduced into the defense of "my candidate" one too many times on these ridiculous threads. And I'm making a personal pledge to NOT participate in these meaningless, mudslinging threads any more. I invite you to join me.

I want to talk about the issues, not the rumors of the religion of the candidate and not his birth certificate and not what his estranged brother supposedly said or what he called his wife. We have an important election coming up and we need to vote on what's important, not nonsensical rumors and trivialities.

I'm a dog trainer and the VERY best way to train a dog not to do something is to IGNORE the bad and PRAISE the good. Now, I'm not saying that ATS members are dogs, but some dog psychology actually works on humans, too, if you know what I mean.

Ignore a behavior and it will fizzle out.

I want to do my part to raise the quality of the threads in this forum. Please join me.

Go to On the Issues or another similar site and tell us what you think of the issues of your favorite (or least favorite) candidates. You can post in the thread in my signature or start a thread of your own about a particular issue you wish to talk about and explore. Let's make this forum something that people will use as a reference when they want to see where their candidates stand and the "good" and "bad" about them.

As nefermore said, Be the Change You Wish to See Let's change this forum from a trash dump of wild speculation to intelligent discussion about the upcoming election. Something respectable that we can be proud of instead of embarrassed of.

Thanks for your consideration.

Benevolent Heretic

well said BH!

Hats off to the OP for attempting to raise the decency level around here. It is very obvious to me when a thread or post are all about attacking and smearing and not about the issues. Furthermore, it is suspicious to me concerning the amount of Obama bashers on this forum as opposed to the general public, and I think there is something fishy about this. In fact, I find myself visiting ATS less and less as the smear escalates.

Thanks for trying to raise the standard of decency and I agree with you that we should simply ignore the unsubstantiated garbage.

[edit on 19-6-2008 by whatsup]

[edit on 19-6-2008 by whatsup]

Excellent post. F'd and the S.

I was just inspired through the latest thread on Obama's "bring a gun" comment thread to make the follow signature:

reply to post by tyranny22


Oh! I love it! It says everything the OP said in 5 words! LOL

I wish I'd thought of that!

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
Thanks for all the positive feedback!

And remember one of the important points in the first post here:

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
Ignore a behavior and it will fizzle out.

Let's practice that in this very thread, whaddya say?

And another reminder: There are other areas on the board to discuss rumors and have great fun bashing one's favorite (or least favorite) candidates.

Don't forget Slug Fest and Politicians and People.

[edit on 16-6-2008 by Benevolent Heretic]

I have to note that you did post a comment in this very thread specifically refering to an attack on Obama (and not using a similar example with McCain), that doesn't exactly shout unbiased...


and isn't quoting yourself a bit much?

reply to post by jimmyx

you seem to be a very thoughtful and reasonable person. however people against obama far far out number any posts put out about mccain. and they are NOT, NOT, intent on discussing anything useful, only deragatory attacks on his charecter. i have been adding up these posts and it's more then 10 to 1 attacking obama. in fact, it's hard to find any (charecter-bashing) posts that attack mccain. this has been for the most part all one-sided.

Excellent observation! (star!). I know I don't speak for every one left of center, but I will say that most of us are sick and tired of the GOP play book mentality of smear campaigning. Let's get to talking about the issues and things that effect your average American...People are not buying the politics as usual game, we are sick and tired of it, and we want change.

Issues, anyone?

Originally posted by gormly
I have to note that you did post a comment in this very thread specifically refering to an attack on Obama (and not using a similar example with McCain)

But I DID use a similar example of McCains. Here's a quote from my post:

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
I want to talk about the issues, not ... what he called his wife.

There is a nasty story out there about the horrible name that McCain called his wife. You can Google and read about it.

that doesn't exactly shout unbiased...

I do NOT claim to be unbiased. I am NOT unbiased. I'm BIASED. It's no secret that I want Obama to be elected our next president. I even talked about "my candidate" in the first post.

So, YOU missed the reference to McCain and YOU missed the fact that my Avatar says "Obamanator" and that most of my political posts support and defend Obama and that I'm not trying to be unbiased or calling for people to be unbiased.

and isn't quoting yourself a bit much?

No. Not when people somehow miss something in my posts the first time they read it. I feel it makes it easier than going back to check. (Besides, I like to see my name as many times as possible )

I hope that clarifies things for you.

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


Excellent point and plea.
Starred flagged and in total agreement.

I hope this forum can become a place to take a serious look at both sides rather than serve to further blur the lines of truth with lies and rumor. I still haven't made up my mind on whether or not I should vote at all but I suspect in the end I will.



- Lee

This reminds me of the previous election in Australia.
We had John Howard's Government running a dirty, name bashing campaign because they were running scared. His supporters were whinging and whining, spending their time name bashing his opponent. Seldom mentioning the REAL issues!

John Howard was then voted out of his own seat. First time that had ever happened in his electorate.

Kevin Rudd ran a fair campaign.

He won!!!!

Now, all I can say is. I can see the same thing happening in the US with your election.

Name bashing and scare tactics never work. They only backfire.

Stick with the real issues. The poverty, Taxes, Health Care etc etc