Rebuttal In Defiance Of The GFL

reply to post by InfaRedMan


lol..i love you guys!!!

you guys know UFO's are real right?


did you ever wonder who was flying them?



much love to all of you.....i feel amazing times are in our future


i know you guys love channelings..so...

reply to post by Rhain


A campaign is a great way to go - but for it to have any chance of working, you need a general consensus and lot of people on board.

If ATS is under resourced and needs more Mods. I'd happily raise my hand for that opportunity.

I'm always online due to my job!



Hey Mr Penny,

Always great to see someone of your caliber pipe in on the discussion - and yes - the Forum Dike Metaphor was a corker! It made me chuckle!
Nice Stats too!


Cheers,
IRM

Just ignore threads that you know are going to annoy you is the simple answer

Just because a thread or topic might seem ridiculous, irreverent, or uninteresting to a certain section of the forum does not mean that others might not find the opposite to be true.

What is being suggested (albeit in a very roundabout way) is censorship pure and simple.

Although I don't think it was created to specifically apply to this situation, a saying that I think is attributed to Noam Chomsky fits the bill here ' "If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all." .... Equally as valid for topics as it is for people.

One person's 'crap' is another one's 'tidbit' ... Rather than censor people's threads and limit the topics to those that certain members find reasonable, why not just ignore them

I agree wholeheartedly with the OP on this.

The GFL is a bunch of BS and it annoys me to no end how they get to post thier drivel without a shred of proof in any way while other posters making wild claims usually must provide some proof. it seems they have licence to post whatever they want irregardless of validity.

The other thing that gets me is noob posters who join and post blatant lies on thier first day and for some reason it is tolerated (once again without proof or documentaion to back it up) I have had posts deleted because I offered no proof so why do they get licence to post BS but not me ??

MODS !! it always up to a mod to allow or delete a post and if it tickles their fancy it stays....but if they have an issue with it then off it goes to either the trash bin or "skunk works". and heaven forbid if you are somehow percieved as "off topic" or "uncivil" for then you get "punished" with the removal of points, your reply deleted and a warning that you might get banned...which is total bs ! it's ok to come post utter nonsense but if you take issue with it then beware !

there needs to be ultra-mods watching regular mods IMO. and there needs to be some type of policing of ridiculous posts.






[edit on 6-8-2008 by Alpha Grey]

reply to post by InfaRedMan


InfaRedMan, You hit the nail right on the head. I was just planiing to open a thread titled "Need pic of UFO/ALIEN now" and than ask Springer to open a different forum/subject "Picture/video mandatory" Because we can spend a million words on prophecies, but they all look spoiled.

I have just joined the ATS club and I think all subjects are interresting. Aliens/UFO in particular. So I cry for conclusive evidence, the sooner, the better.

Only one thing troubles me. Myself and maybe other members are quite rational. for me (and the like) the only proof is one you can touch, see, smell, hear. But there are lots who will just take a spoken/written word and take this to their believe (such as a religion). This is enough for them like the feeling of love for your partner is something you believe in without ever seeingany concrete proof of it (touchablem, hearable, visual), we just believe. These people have the right to do this and even the right to persue us to have the same faith. Hell, they wouldn't even believe it if scientific proof showred otherwise. Would you if it was scientific prove that love does not exist?

Anyway, starred and Flagged.



Typo's!

[edit on 6/8/2008 by saturnus1962]

Honestly, the thing that bugs me just as much as the BS OPs is the posts following it.
I figure you can post whatever you feel is relevant, but, telling the OP that you think it's BS -just to voice your skepticism- is just as stupid as the stupid opening post.
Add to the post if you are going to respond. Rebut with documentation. Argue with facts that pertain to the OP. Or agree with it using supporting data. ADD TO THE CONVERSATION!

Posts like: "This is bullocks! Move along people!", "What a load of crap!", or, one of my least favorite- "What drugs are you on?" do NOTHING for the validity or investigations being done by the Original Poster nor the posters who have evidence either for or against the topic.

It's childish, wasteful, narcissistic and annoying and doesn't make you look any more serious or relevant that what you are replying to.

This, in my opinion, is why passing the chance and just not posting is more important than voicing your disbelief.
Hell, 7/10 of the replies in any BS thread are posts lambasting the OP without substance. It's just to "Look cool" or be "One of the gang" or, god help us, for points.
What a waste of time.

So, I understand that there are absolute trash threads. But, if you recognize it as BS, why on earth would you put your foot in it? I have been here since 2005 and have less than 2000 total posts. I don't post unless I feel I can advance the thread. Either for or against. If I can't agree, but, have nothing to argue my point, I just move along.

Am I wrong?
Cuhail

reply to post by saturnus1962


Thanks for the kind words saturnus1962,

I understand your point of view completely. Tangible evidence is the only way to actually prove a theory, or that something exists. Once something is proven, we can all benefit from it. Sure an idea may start as a belief but it's the effort that's put into proving a hunch that gives us science.

When we ask the question, what has advanced civilization?

A) Science
B) Superstition (all things that are unsubstantiated belief systems)

The answer is quite clearly (A).

Superstition is just a comfort station for those who cannot handle reality without a crutch. It's the path of least resistance. Proof requires the time, effort and patience that many do not have the intestinal fortitude to pursue.

IRM

Given the OP a star !! I will be fair and give the GFL an open mind, after all one day we might just see something like that happen. God knows we need it to happen sooner rather than later. however i think the GFL thread should have been put in the predicitons thread as it speculation that ET is gonna land on X Day.

Then again if i feel an increase in my vibration range, start seeing lots of colours and an increase in my aura i'll let you know...

reply to post by Cuhail


I understand where your coming from Cuhail, and thanks for piping in with your words of wisdom - but how do you discredit, rebut or disprove a negative?


IRM

reply to post by Cuhail


Your attitude is perfectly right an admirable. The only thing i can say (in the hope to add to the subject ) is that people probably react on their dissapointment. They (I) sit on the edge of their seats to jump on any (real) evidence that might occur. We are all waiting on "the big one".

To go into a thread with a promising title is realy dissapointing and it wears you out (just like a false start). This has to stop, I think this is the main reason why threads like these gets started. Actually InfaRedMan supposed to have said this, Sorry IRM!

Originally posted by InfaRedMan
reply to post by Cuhail

 

I understand where your coming from Cuhail, and thanks for piping in with your words of wisdom - but how do you discredit, rebut or disprove a negative?


IRM

Why would you try or agree to attempt to prove a negative. I think of that process as distractionary and, again, a waste of time.

reply to post by saturnus1962

To go into a thread with a promising title is realy dissapointing and it wears you out (just like a false start).

Yup. Why expend yet more energy replying on a false start. Go back to the line, do it again. We're still just practicing, aren't we? Trying to get better?

Again, I know. Disappointing and frustrating. It's part of the landscape here. Helping the road get smoother starts with personal accountability in posting. Post to make it count. Post with class and lead by a patient, classy example. It, in my case, helps to counter the urge to lambast every clown whose free-time is way, way too free.



Cuhail

INTERNOS you have my word, that i will ignore or refrain from posting a reply to such ignorance.. to ackowledge is to prevent a truth that i could have attained somewhere else, so i will move on.

thanks OP for the thread and for creating a new feeling of accountability and responsibility for those who read this.

of course by replying to some rediculous thread i can acutally cause the thread to resurface near the top of the list bumping something that is more important to the bottom. this cannot be

i feel that the king of the mods needs to allow the mods to move and stash away threads that make the forum look NEGLECTED.. i have a birds eye view of the ET forum and it looks like my little brothers bedroom. eeeew.

ALL in all, i have been visiting ats nonstop since march 6th and i think it houses the greatest minds and discussions in the entire interworld.peace

reply to post by InfaRedMan


I do agree with you to an extent, however where do we draw the line? There are many people in the UFO field who could classify as "bonkers". If the moderators start to delete and censor them, who would be next?
David Icke? Dr Steven Greer?
I do not agree with many of the fringe posts, but I do read them. Maybe they should be put in the Gray Area.

I have starred and flagged this post.

the very point of the existence of these forums and this website is that we CAN post things like that. this is a hive of INFORMATION, and it is the reader who will decide what is true and what is false.

reply to post by indigothefish


No, the point of these forums is to have free speech and express information, not post blatant hoaxes. It is stuff like this that has the possibility of making our free speech be limited in the future here on ATS if it continues like this.

reply to post by indigothefish


Well stated. I do think there are a lot of weird threads out there, but I enjoy reading them. If it is a troll, I will not post any reply as it will encourage them.

reply to post by InfaRedMan


I must agree wholeheartedly with you on this topic. I don't know the answer either as we might miss some important facts/topics if we start blocking, ignoring etc.
Free speech is free speech period and that is what attracts most of here, we flle free to post what ever or whenever we feel the need.
What is happening on ATS lately is a bunch of pointless threads in the most part posted be member only registering to do a post.

Perhaps a good idea is having a new member only space. New member can post whatever they feel the need for. They would also have to gain points etc to be able to post in the main forums. Perhaps this would cut down on some of this "drivel'

I will star and flag this.

I totally agree with what you say InfraRedMan and here is the reason.

This infection seems to have spread across ATS like wildfire, I log in everyday like I guess most of us do, but over this year certainly I find one thing happening more and more.

You see a new "hot topic" and go take a look, oh ok several pages already must be something good....................WRONG WRONG WRONG.

A good OP then the next three pages are infested with "where is the photo, where is the video, yeah mate if you ain't got no proof then (enter derogatory remark here) don't bother posting".

It has got to the point where I'm jumping from page 1 of a post to page 4 or 5, just to be sure I have missed most of the crap and the thread has got back online.

Listen people, if you have nothing constructive to say in a thread then keep your bile off ATS

Wolfie

reply to post by Wolfie_UK


I have noticed that too. I will read about a person's encounter with a UFO or other subject and many will reply asking to see a photo. I do not always have a camera with me and assume most people don't. A photo or video is nice, and if the OP had one they would post it. If there is no photo, then move on to the next post.

I agree totally.

In my opinion it is completely pointless for people to just ignore threads that they think are stupid and I'll tell you why...

If I see a dumb thread and ignore it that's all very well for ME and to anyone else who does the same in an individual sense but we all know that the issue with these threads is that they harm the credibility of serious threads by the effect of association.

It is also true that a tiny percentage of people will act like they believe the silly posts, either that or the op themselves will keep replying and breathing life into the topic hence keeping it up near the top of the forum where it is most visible.

Surely the aim of this site and in particular relevance to this discussion the ufo forum is to get people to take the subject seriously and to try and spread awareness to the casual observer?

That is NEVER going to happen properly if the casual observer logs on and sees nonsense about the GFL etc.

You could have an amazing post reporting a sighting on here with stunning photos and a believable personal account but it will mean nothing to the average joe if it is flanked by a couple of daft, nonsensical and just plain stupid topics that can be easily dismissed by anyone with a few functioning brain cells.

The chances are if the first post someone reads is one of those stupid ones it will totally kill the credibility of anything else they read thereafter.

Can you imagine if nasa posted up a ufo story or something on their site and followed it up with a youtube video of someone channelling the GFL? it would kill the ufo story dead regardless of how genuine it was and that's the NASA website! I hate to be blunt but if the average joe is going to believe a ufo story from anywhere it's going to be from someone like nasa. So if a stupid story about the GFL could totally ruin the credibility of nasa surely it is doing even worse damage here?

Nasa is just an example, I mean the average person might well believe a UFO story in a respected newspaper more than he would elsewhere but if that same newspaper printed something dumb like we get on here the next day then everybody would instantly disregard the first story no matter how convincing it was.

Again I'm not trying to be derogatory but to the average person this site wont be very high up on their list of trusted news sources as it is so we have a hard job already but when you allow all these dumb people to make posts on here it's a miracle we manage to get any new serious members at all let alone convince one or two average people that just maybe there is such a thing as intelligent life on other planets.

Why should this site take itself any less seriously than one such as nasas?

It seems to be a fatal flaw that a community that desperately depends on being taken seriously has an open door policy for trolls and other people who only serve to kill the credibility of all the serious ones.