arbitrary censorship

where lies the fine line betwixt decorum and agenda?
at what point does this site, heaven sent to deny ignorance, fold into it's opposite, and become just another homogenized viewpoint?
quality is such a fleeting thing.

please don't be offended, oh gods of threadxistance, i merely wish to spark debate on a taboo subject. something a conspiracy site should welcome.

i agree. kinda. if i follow your question correctly.
its similar to all the different "cliques" youll find in a highschool. you got your populars, your jocks, your hippies, your druggies, and a following for every genre of music. well all these kids get carried away "being" whatever it is they are, in the name of the "individual" not realizing they've pigeonholed themselves into being just another statistic.

When everyone is trying to be DIFFERENT
they are in reality being the SAME.

ATS's situation is similar, in that we as participaters might tend to get into a mentality that tells us
"since we think and discuss conspiracies, that we're somehow immune to them." not so.

i guess the point is dont bet on somethings reputation only;>

-dont turn to ATS to answer all your conspiracy questions because ATS is "supposed" to have the answers
-somebody could be using ATS to promote lies.

i dont know.. just the way i translate the whole bit.

-lost

Originally posted by billybob where lies the fine line betwixt decorum and agenda?

Would it be possible to make your point a bit more clear? I'm not following the line of thinking (sorry).

Originally posted by billybob
please don't be offended, oh gods of threadxistance...

Please, say what you have to say, unless it's offensive, you can say/ comment all you want...

Many words and subject are taboo because there isn't much to talk about.
We've trashed numerous of threads about drugs, simply because they had nothing to do with ATS (AboveTopSecret stuff).

Offensive words have been censored because of good taste, they really don't add anything to a statement, and only prevent many people from joining our fine community...

Originally posted by Zion Mainframe
Please, say what you have to say, ...

Looks adumbrative, yet clear enough to me.

There are signs.
Absense reveals true presence?

Originally posted by RogueOneAbsense reveals true presence?

More obscurity... thanks... that helps a whole bunch. Is this just a joke? Children at play?

Originally posted by billybob
at what point does this site, heaven sent to deny ignorance, fold into it's opposite, and become just another homogenized viewpoint?
quality is such a fleeting thing.

Was there something that prompted this thread?
Please enlighten those who are confused?

I believe what billybob is asking is, where is the line between a wholesome forum for discussion, with rich topics and loads of information, and just another internet chatroom?

I may be wrong, but, this is what I gather from the post.

Why he asked, I am unsure.

There are three lines that shall not be crossed... ___Insulting_other_members_or_general_abuse___________ ___Discussing_computer_hacking_or_similar_concepts_______ ___Discussing_illegal_acts_such_as_drug_use_____________ If that's all this is about, the answer is pretty simple.

please don't be offended, oh gods of threadxistance

I guess with power comes Drac qualities
Not sure if they penalized me 50 points or 50 points each for a total of 100.

I will never get to buy anything with points


Some more examples of,,,,, if ya dont do it my wayism, i gonna get you.

Valhall
sent: 7-3-2004 at 09:30 AM
Hi!

I'm assuming you accidentally posted that long post about "snakes at the water cooler" in the wrong thread. It has nothing to do with my thread. Could you please go in and erase the whole text? Otherwise I'll have to get a mod to do it and you might get some kind of penalty.

www.abovetopsecret.com...


TheBandit795
sent: 29-2-2004 at 01:20 AM
Please post threads in the appropiate forums.

www.belowtopsecret.com...

Thomas Crowne
sent: 28-2-2004 at 08:17 AM
Place the right thread in the right forum. I am not sure what your list was supposed to prove, but unless you worship the government or junk news agencies, that thread did not belong in religion. I'll probably put it in the mud pit unless you have a better idea.

TC
"Mud Pit??.....please my lord, not the mud pit.

WE MUST HAVE ORDER !!!!!!!!!!!!



billybob, you might be on to something. Lets see how this post is met. not more punishment..... Lords...pleeeeeeaz

it WAS here, but I was sabotaged (I think) with a post-blanketing operation. it's pretty common, and is designed to mask the most recent post from curious eyes. like most espionage tactics, this one can be defeated as well

[Edited on 3/16/2004 by AlnilamOmega]

the 50 points deducted.....or was it 50x2=100?

Who knows,,,,the lords may be offended this time and banish me to the phantom zone

12-3-2004 at 01:33 PM
A member of the forum staff, SkepticOverlord, has noticed your one-line or less post in the thread,
TOP STORY: 911 Days Between 9/11/2001 and 3/11/2004.

We want to encourage meaningful responses to threads, and discourage simplistic posts. A token penalty of 50 points has been deducted from your account for this action. Please, in the future, make an attempt to provide more to the flow of conversation than a simple one-line or less comment.





sent: 12-3-2004 at 01:32 PM
A member of the forum staff, Kano, has noticed your one-line or less post in the thread,
TOP STORY: 911 Days Between 9/11/2001 and 3/11/2004.

We want to encourage meaningful responses to threads, and discourage simplistic posts. A token penalty of 50 points has been deducted from your account for this action. Please, in the future, make an attempt to provide more to the flow of conversation than a simple one-line or less comment.

Originally posted by project_pisces
the 50 points deducted.....or was it 50x2=100?

Who knows,,,,the lords may be offended this time and banish me to the phantom zone

12-3-2004 at 01:33 PM
A member of the forum staff, SkepticOverlord, has noticed your one-line or less post in the thread,
TOP STORY: 911 Days Between 9/11/2001 and 3/11/2004.

We want to encourage meaningful responses to threads, and discourage simplistic posts. A token penalty of 50 points has been deducted from your account for this action. Please, in the future, make an attempt to provide more to the flow of conversation than a simple one-line or less comment.





sent: 12-3-2004 at 01:32 PM
A member of the forum staff, Kano, has noticed your one-line or less post in the thread,
TOP STORY: 911 Days Between 9/11/2001 and 3/11/2004.

We want to encourage meaningful responses to threads, and discourage simplistic posts. A token penalty of 50 points has been deducted from your account for this action. Please, in the future, make an attempt to provide more to the flow of conversation than a simple one-line or less comment.

Originally posted by alnilamomega


what the helli s this? you could have placed this text as an edit. now you are forcing me to repost my previous thread because I am familiar with this post-blanketing tactic of yours. fool

Originally posted by billybob
at what point does this site, heaven sent to deny ignorance, fold into it's opposite, and become just another homogenized viewpoint?
quality is such a fleeting thing.

I can answer that. I consider myself an expert on the issue you are trying to bring up, and can therefore make a valuable contribution.

someone said something about the alliances here being similar to the cliques from school. They are partially right, except there was no clique that represented the horde of spies that we have on this board, and virutally every popular internet message board.

Personally, I haven't had much success discussing taboo and by saying that there isn't much to talk about, SO, is IMHO a limiting perspective, both internally and externally (to oneself and to others). Based on my observations with doing nothing but bringing up controversy and unfinished businesses, I can see that those cliques stick together quite well. Something to be admired and defeated, I believe.

The agenda you speak of becomes apparent and homogenous (good word choice, BTW) with replies to my threads. Im not the only one that has this happen, I know, but if you look into some of the more controversial threads with a higher number of replies, you will find that a lot of people are saying one of three things, over and over again.

"I agree with so-and-so (someone disputing the author in the thread) because..."
and
"You're wrong because / wow I must be seeing or imagining things. I dont understand what youre saying."
and finally,
"This has been said before / has been previously debunked"

when, like the recent RATS thread about Eschelon, in truth, it is far from being proven inaccurate.

this is when things get repetitive, almost like a discouraging psyop. You find the same people backing up the same people who posted a response previously, either out of comradery or outright espionage.


I discussed this kind of behavior in my thread "Know thy Enemy: The NSA" a while ago. Maybe the information on website manipulation would be of assistance.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

" Message Board Espionage
For instance, in a site based on...say... Britney Spears fandom, you have people who are trained to specifically promote (not usually NSA, more likely to be the record company) or to destroy her popularity dependent on how well she is behaving towards her masters. You can see this in any forum that discusses lighter topics like Kobe Bryant or Michael Jackson, where those that are well trained in slander operations are busy making cryptically verbal assaults at the given subject and posting long and put-together pieces of circumstantial events that are oriented at confusing the typical browser or pursuading the person to dislike the target.

On the other side, you have forums that are politically or operationally oriented (cough cough). Agents delegated towards these areas are more sophisticated, and employ a variety of means to accomplish one task: decimation or destruction of the board. Unless the board is set up by the NSA or one of its satellite agencies for public monitoring services, this is what those people always do.

The Tools of the Trade
One tactic is to just attack a random article of interest and make savvy attempts to draw the poster of that article into feeling less important, thus making the author less likely to talk about a similar subject. A more complex tactic is the "hi there, bye there" which features a person who observes and says a few things here and there, maybe gets a few nods from some people, and states a departure. This is designed to demotivate anyone who wasn't already heavily interested in discussing the forum's topics. IMHO, this is the silliest tactic of all because it has very little effect on me and I haven't seen it affect much anyone else. The classic agent is almost robotic, not because he is a machine, but because he is following a sheet like a telemarketer. As a result their tactics become highly identifiable, and readily predictable, such as the "they got me" tactic which is designed to scare people into thinking they can be next.

Now, Im not saying that these agents with these supercomputers are all wasting their computing power and time with such stupid antics. I am saying however that there are such people, and I am sure of this because they always say the same things at the same time. Now lets get to another side of the NSA. "

[Edited on 3/16/2004 by AlnilamOmega]

[Edited on 3/16/2004 by AlnilamOmega]

Uh, if you have a query about those warnings you could use the complain function. There has been plenty of warning about the 1-liner function. Your post was obviously not good enough, so you copped it. Tough luck.

EDIT: Remember, a good rule of thumb to avoid the 1-liner penalty. If you don't have anything to add to a thread, don't post to it. Is it all that hard?

[Edited on 16-3-2004 by Kano]

Some quotes from the new member, project_pisces... I guess with power comes Drac qualities Uh... can someone help me with that this means? Please post threads in the appropiate forums What's wrong with this general rule? I'm assuming you accidentally posted that long post about "snakes at the water cooler" in the wrong thread... Again, what's wrong with this? Place the right thread in the right forum Again... what's wrong with desiring structure to the board? Seems like silly drama attempts to me.

Originally posted by AlnilamOmega it WAS here, but I was sabotaged (I think) with a post-blanketing operation. it's pretty common, and is designed to mask the most recent post from curious eyes. like most espionage tactics, this one can be defeated as well

WHAT? Espionage tactics? Sabotage? What is going on here? ("chilren at play" is seeming more and more likely)

SOUND GENERAL QUARTERS. BANNING TORPEDOES ARMED. INITIATE POST-BLANKETING SYSTEMS.

RED TEAM GO, RED TEAM GO!

Oh woops, was meant to post that in Mod forum.

Originally posted by Kano
SOUND GENERAL QUARTERS. BANNING TORPEDOES ARMED. INITIATE POST-BLANKETING SYSTEMS.

RED TEAM GO, RED TEAM GO!

Oh woops, was meant to post that in Mod forum.

this is what i'm talking about. is it meant as a joke? a warning? where is the crime in this thread? the crime is in asking the question, "what constitutes a crime here.
the very clear and concise three major no-no's, postedf above by skeptic overlord, are great.
now, why is crypticism or vagueness a crime? since when does "tiger burning bright", have less meaning or insight than "there is a vividly colored tiger standing at the edge of the woods and it's coloration is constrasted agianst the background of the wood's coloration in such a way that it invokes a mental resonance of fire'.
why is it a crime to wish a more open feeling ground for dialogue? i know that it is difficult, and that you guys are doing a great job. however, change is the only constant, and in the 9 months that i have been here, it has become considerably more draconian(that's what he/she means about 'Drac'). i'm sure there is a ripple effect caused by such past posters as freemason, and david beinek(sp?), and other shortlivers who came in guns ablazin'.
but back to the original question. where is the line?
the reason i'm asking is the locking of the (fabulously insightful)thread, 'guess the resident spooks and moles'. is it offensive to be called a spy? do spies hate themselves? is it wrong to think there could be agents here? is it taboo to discuss? i know a lot of people here have absolute faith and respect for our secret services. if the establishment doesn't like what's in the mirror, perhaps a little self observation would be beneficial?
truly, we all became spies the moment the planes hit the towers.

thank you, kano.

Originally posted by billybob this is what i'm talking about. is it meant as a joke?

A joke, obviously

now, why is crypticism or vagueness a crime?

It's not... but being clear and easy-to-read is considered generally good manners in a communications environment that is 100% text-based. No offense dude, but your writing style is often hard to follow.

why is it a crime to wish a more open feeling ground for dialogue?

See above... if it makes the dialogue hard to follow, it's not helpful to the flow of discussion.

in the 9 months that i have been here, it has become considerably more draconian(that's what he/she means about 'Drac'). i'm sure there is a ripple effect caused by such past posters as freemason, and david beinek(sp?), and other shortlivers who came in guns ablazin'.

To some degree yes.

(fabulously insightful)thread, 'guess the resident spooks and moles'. is it offensive to be called a spy?

The origins of the thread are speculative about members of the staff being "spooks" and "moles" which is absolutely not true and offensive to some of us. [Edited on 16-3-2004 by SkepticOverlord]

well, thank you for being patient with me. if my style is hard to follow sometimes, this is done purposefully. there is no reward or humour in having the punchline of a joke explained. the funniness of it, is only funny if it pops into your head spontaneously.
so it is with bigger truth(which i am deluded into thinking i have a vague glimpse of). much the same as the irrational working of a zen koan, glimpses of the bigger picture are beyond specifics. a confluence of ideas and interdisciplinary concepts can not be easily explained or communicated.
the day that philosophy turned into religion and science was the day that man's understanding was halved.
i will continue my course until kano's torpedoes sink me.

p.s. i hope you guys know i love this site(thank you, simon and skeptic overlord) and the opportunity to share ideas with this motley crew. my 'complaints' are meant to be introspective.