You, ATS and Decision 2008.

Originally posted by jamie83
So no, I won't accept that Mods shouldn't hold themselves to a higher standard. They should err on the side of compliance with the T&C because average members will assume what the mods posts is in compliance with the T&C.

Actually we DO hold ourselves to a higher standard BUT we are also human. You can only swallow so much # before it gets to you. It doesn't happen on a weekly basis. It doesn't happen on a daily basis, it happens damn near on an hourly basis. We do this for the board and the members and we get crapped on. Why? Some have a problem with authority? An inability to be civil? Then we're the bad guy?

I've been doing this for 4 years and I've never seen the staff castigated like we have been lately. Again, WHY? We are here for the membership. Personally, I'm upset that we have to defend ourselves. This thread was about taking ATS to another, better, level and look what happened. I guess they were right, no good deed goes unpunished.

Just to point out other issues that have come up:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by intrepid


you make some good points..read what I wrote on page 2 and 4 and give me some feedback.

I like it the way it is and think you guys do a pretty good job.

Originally posted by intrepid

Actually we DO hold ourselves to a higher standard BUT we are also human. You can only swallow so much # before it gets to you. It doesn't happen on a weekly basis. It doesn't happen on a daily basis, it happens damn near on an hourly basis. We do this for the board and the members and we get crapped on. Why? Some have a problem with authority? An inability to be civil? Then we're the bad guy?

I'm not trying to make you out to be bad guys at all. I'm just offering a suggestion that members will follow the examples the mods set.

I know you can't possibly enforce every T&C violation and every post that's in poor taste. I appreciate the job you guys do, and I am going to do my best to make ATS better per your suggestion.

In all sincerity, I think ATS is at a pretty high standard already, which is a testament to the job you do. Even though it might seem like it's sunken to a new low, compared to the garbage on other sites, ATS is head and shoulders above most other forums.

Anyway, I am sorry if I said anything hurtful. It wasn't my intention.

I think the mods are a large part of what makes ATS so good.

Discourse IS. It simply IS. One posts, another responds, another comments, someone responds to the comment.

But here we go again, with another whiny bit of nothing crabbing about seeing things posted that he/she does not agree with.

Wow, how original.

You know, the IGNORE feature works. If you see people posting drivel all the time, use the IGNORE feature.

Did I mention the IGNORE feature?

Or does Sean Hannity have to force it down your throat with his "Great American" before you realize that you can use the IGNORE feature?

This thread is pointless.

reply to post by intrepid


Thank you for this post, finally ATS is taking notice and trying to curb some of the political partisian and hatred being spewed constantly for the mere fact that "they can". It post like this that will bring me back to ATS, btw thumbs up to the individual that posted about the skeletal remains in mexico, its topics like that, that is the reason I come to ATS. Not to see McCain or Obamas personal matters smeared and hatred being thrown back and forth, nor to have ppl log on and try to hoax this community, once again I believe its because thier lives are insignificant and they need to create some type of chaos to make thier lives more interesting, sad thing is we have to wade thru it. Hopefully, ATS wil not only post comments like this but will actively hunt down those who choose to abuse thier priviledge (not right) to post here. We are all passionate about something, pls just remember that, what you may believe to be fact might be fiction to another person and you filling ATS with hate filled post will not change that.

Originally posted by Symbiote
Or does Sean Hannity have to force it down your throat with his "Great American" before you realize that you can use the IGNORE feature?

You, sir, are a great American! So is your family and your dog and your dog's family.
But seriously, there is a lot of junk and mud slinging in these forums. I don't think it should be unexpected. This election is big in more ways than one. It's either going to mean the first black President in our history, or the first female Vice President. Sadly, this causes some racist and sexist remarks. The people that make ignorant remarks aren't going to stop just because someone tells them to, I'm afraid. I think the only thing we can be sure of is that things will settle down after the election is over.

reply to post by TruthParadox

Originally posted by TruthParadox
This election is big in more ways than one. It's either going to mean the first black President in our history, or the first female Vice President. Sadly, this causes some racist and sexist remarks. The people that make ignorant remarks aren't going to stop just because someone tells them to, I'm afraid. I think the only thing we can be sure of is that things will settle down after the election is over.

My friend, history has shown that we cannot take that for a given. We have had to put up with 8 years of Bush-bashing here. The only reason that stopped was because there are now new targets; Obama and Palin. The only difference between now and then is that Bush-bashing was largely tolerated, and almost encouraged; I don't ever recall the same amount of threads from mods and others asking for it to stop.

Allthough those trolls are indeed annoying they're not the board's biggest problem imho.They'll be gone soon enough.

The biggest problem in ATS is "denying ignorance"...in every single subject.There are OH! so many times that i "jump" from thread to thread only to be left frustrated by the lack of logic and common sense.

Not only it makes me not posting anymore but i'm not even in the mood to lurk like i did before i joined.


So,those trolls seem to me like a drop in the ocean really...

reply to post by jsobecky


bush bashing tolerated and almost encouraged?---------------you got me thinking-------------how many real terrorist attacks have been perpetrated against the usa since pres. bush put his foot down from the 9-11 attack in 2001 which was 7 years ago?
there might have been some minor personal vendettas done by "religious" individuals but i know of nothing major.
how soon we forget our many blessings it seems
thanks G-D and thanks president bush !

I, for one, do not think ATS needs the "Decision 2008" forum at all. There are 1000's of dedicated sites those inclined to discuss the current election and candidates can go to that are not conspiracy/alternative thinking in their orient and are a more appropriate for the inane, nattering and nasty back and forth that takes place there.

And if you won't do away with it all together, why not STOP PUTTING THE THREADS ON THE HP? No matter how much traffic they get. Just decide that forum is one that needs be clicked on. The spiders will still pick-up the key words, people can still rant pointlessly at each other and the rest of us can arrive at the site w/o being completely demoralized and embarassed to be a participant here.

Honestly, when I ask outside academics and researchers to comment on anything I am working on, I don't feel that I can point them to the thread and remotely expect them to answer my queries -- and the D2008 posts are largely the reason for that.

Originally posted by hoverboarder
The predictors that have predicted every election for as long as they have say Obama will Win

Hu???
do you have a link for this?

Originally posted by jsobecky
We have had to put up with 8 years of Bush-bashing here.

Actually, it still hasn't stopped...Mainly because Bush continues to take actions that deserve being bashed!

So, with the current indications that the candidates are likely to continue performing actions that got Bush-bashing going on for so long, I suspect that whoever gets the Office will wind up getting "bashed" here in ATS for another 4 years anyway.

Originally posted by TruthParadox
I think the only thing we can be sure of is that things will settle down after the election is over.

I believe that you are correct.

The winter will be interesting.

[edit on 8-9-2008 by Symbiote]

I visit ATS to debate and learn about whats going on in the world which the general media wouldn't touch with a barge pole. Topics such as 9/11, UFOs, whats on the moon, NASA,Freemasons, the New World Order and so on. Instead, lately, all I've seen is threads about Palins secret lover or the church that she belongs to, or that she's against abortion. . . "So What?"
I personally couldn't give a flying f*** who wins the American election because it doesn't matter-nothing will change.
What ATS really needs is for some of it's members to start interesting threads and to leave Palin, and her secret lover, alone.

reply to post by CreeWolf



WOW cree great post, and somethings I have been thinking myself,

Here we have a forum, dedicated to exposing the truth, yet I find it very stifling at times, and suppressive, to the point that I am afraid to say much,

Moderation is a good thing, but when owners and some mods come forth to suppress commmon dialogue because it doesn't fit their idea of truth, by openly outing and humiliating poster into submission,

All hope is lost.

I am honestly afraid I am going to get banned because of my political stand.

Originally posted by jsobecky
reply to post by TruthParadox

 

Originally posted by TruthParadox
This election is big in more ways than one. It's either going to mean the first black President in our history, or the first female Vice President. Sadly, this causes some racist and sexist remarks. The people that make ignorant remarks aren't going to stop just because someone tells them to, I'm afraid. I think the only thing we can be sure of is that things will settle down after the election is over.

My friend, history has shown that we cannot take that for a given. We have had to put up with 8 years of Bush-bashing here. The only reason that stopped was because there are now new targets; Obama and Palin. The only difference between now and then is that Bush-bashing was largely tolerated, and almost encouraged; I don't ever recall the same amount of threads from mods and others asking for it to stop.

It seems to me this forum that doesn't trust the MSM certainly fell for the years the MSM propagandized against, Bush!

Originally posted by yahn goodey
...how many real terrorist attacks have been perpetrated against the usa since pres. bush put his foot down from the 9-11 attack in 2001 which was 7 years ago?
there might have been some minor personal vendettas done by "religious" individuals but i know of nothing major.
how soon we forget our many blessings it seems
thanks G-D and thanks president bush !

How many times have we been "terrorist attacked" before Bush slid into Office? Say for example, during the cold War Era? Ooops! Sorry, the CIA & other "alphabet agencies" were actually equipping & training groups in "terrorist tactics" during the Cold War Era (ostensibly to keep the Soviet Union out of other nations), so of course we didn't have many terrorists over here.

BTW, why hasn't Bin Laden not been caught yet? Could it be that the US "intelligence" still hasn't been able to find any conclusive evidence against him yet? Where are Hussein's WMD's? Still haven't found those yet either? Why is Iran, as a UN-registered supporter of the peaceful uses for nuclear power-generation being accused of "secretly" developing nuke weapons when US "intelligence" can't find any conclusive evidence of that either? Why is the US supporting Israel who is not a UN-registered supporter for peaceful nuclear like Iran is...And still posses nuke weapons?

Not to mention how many other nations the US has been eff'ing around with in both their politics & societies over in the Middle East...Geee, we never learned that much about real history in the Middle East region during & after the Cold War from normal MSM channels, did we? I grew up during the Cold War Era...My Dad was in WW2, but I didn't learn any of the real history over there until I started doing my own research sometime during the past 10 or 15 years (My Dad wasn't much of a talker). The key thing to remember when learning is that we have to basically throw out the MSM "party line" & concentrate on research from various sources.

Since 9/11, Bush has "ramped up" all of that eff'ing around over there & not really catching many terrorists (Over 5 years ago, "Mission Accomplished!" :@@. Why? Because he's using conventional military to invade nation-states in order to fight against non-state military groups that don't use conventional warfare strategies...They were trained & equipped by the US in "terrorist tactics," remember?

When figuring out what politicians are really like, don't listen to what they say, watch what they have done & what they do now...Actions speak louder than words.

In all that mess, too many civilians wind up dead because of the US military "misidentifying" the terrorist groups (or maybe even being ordered to target civilians intentionally...Who knows?) & Bush still can't catch them nearly as fast as our "policies" over there racks up more civilian anger directed towards us & they recruit as new terrorists!

All it takes is looking at the actual history of the past few decades to see how we got to where we are now...Even more looking in history & we can see how these same historical mistakes have been perpetuated down throughout human history might indicate where we're actually heading...Remember the truism that those who don't learn the mistakes of history are doomed to repeat them.

Gee, all of this & I haven't even had to mention the pervasive political mud-slinging that seems to pass for standard practice in electorial campaigns for the past few decades. Probably two of the most insightful threads I've seen recently that addresses the MSM mess & the political trolling that Intrepid seems to be trying to avoid are here & there...And even those threads couldn't completely avoid the trolls.

[edit on 9-9-2008 by MidnightDStroyer]

Lee Atwater was Karl Rove's mentor. He was famous for the Push Poll, smear campaigns, shifting the focus of debate from genuine issues to sensational issues that could be crafted and managed, the politics of division. Basically anything goes politics.

He got cancer and began a campaign of apologizing for the things he'd done. Karl Rove dismissed his remorse as the ramblings of a dying man, but I think there is a lesson here for all of us.

www.boogiemanfilm.com...

Atwater
"Long before I was struck with cancer, I felt something stirring in American society," he said. "It was a sense among the people of the country -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- that something was missing from their lives, something crucial. I was trying to position the Republican Party to take advantage of it. But I wasn't exactly sure what 'it' was. My illness helped me to see that what was missing in society is what was missing in me: a little heart, a lot of brotherhood."