A Call To Action: Ending The Political Game on ATS

Normally I will steer clear of the baiting and flame wars that have been a part of ATS here as of late. The pot has been boiling over for some time now with the recent elections. Or should I say selections.
This is around the time when our "masters" make sure we are deeply divided much more than any other time of the year. Even the hive mind is at ends with itself right now. And ATS is feeling those affects. You see we are all part of that hive mind, and when I see post after post of maddness I cant help but want to stay away from those threads.

Its nice to see the lines being drawn. The hive mind is at war with itself.
Its just what our masters want to see.. So play into the masters hands.
Or you can take a few steps back and see that they are trying to make us fight like this. And ATS is doing their best to calm us down. But even this is going to piss people off.

You guys should know by now. You cant please us all.. And you will go crazy trying to please us. We are to many and yet to few. Our numbers grow everyday and the hive mind is expanding.

What this is, would be directly related to how they control us.. They as our masters, Not ATS staff or owners.. You guys are just feeling the brunt of this collective mind tearing at itself.
YOU ATS are caught in the middle of the crossfire!

I hope all works out, and I will do what I have always done. Hide in the shadows of the light, and once in a while throw you some wisdom from the shadows.

Good good. Now adults that want to act like children in a discussion will have to participate acting like good mannered adults.

See now, I don't believe that all the problems are the Rebulicans fault all the time, or all the problems are the Democrats fault all the time.

I believe in good family values, fiscal responsibility, business with concern to the environment, and making friends for benefit and not enemies for profit.

So if we decide to make a target in any post, lets make it about the facts, and not the gossip.

I think i will post some threads tonight. See where it goes.

Just curious - why is this thread
www.abovetopsecret.com...
with this title -
Obama The Sexist: You Can Put Lipstick On A Pig

Still on the board/ front page in regards to these new policies ?

- And for the record I don’t have a political preference either way, it’s just the most recent inflammatory thread to catch my attention and the title is in no way civil. The lipstick quote is fine, it’s the addition of the claim “sexist” that seems out of line ?

reply to post by jsobecky


That's part of my issue with this.

This was never a problem when Bush was being bashed and insulted constantly. It was never a problem until this election got going.

It was never a problem before Obama was running.

I disagree about blogs but i can see the reasoning for not allowing them as news.Thats fine.Ill keep that info for myself and likeminded individuals.Many blogs ive read are from Iraq,Gani,and other hotspots around the world.Often they are more accurate than mainstream news and as we have seen even mainstream media can be wrong.Then again so can blogs.Anyways thats my 2 cents.

I will never quit. I persevere and thrive on adversity. My Nation expects me to be physically harder and mentally stronger than my enemies. If knocked down, I will get back up, every time. I will draw on every remaining ounce of strength to protect my teammates and to accomplish our mission. I am never out of the fight.

Originally posted by jsobecky
Why choose ATS?

Our traffic is high.

Our Quantcast and Alexa rankings have been steadily increasing.

And what's posted on ATS shows up in Google searches within 9 hours of posting.

Not many other venues provide that killer combination of exposure for defamation and disruption attempts.

reply to post by nyk537


Again, that was 2004. Sure, Bush probably got it pretty hard. Did Kerry not?

Was there no talking of flip flopping (but conveniently leaving out that he voted no to the pork barreled version), or the swift boat story, or him throwing away his medals?

This is 2008, not 2004. My guess is that ATS is just trying to promote more intelligent discussion of politics. You can discuss the mudslinging aspect anywhere else. They want this to be a safe haven from the lies and dirt of politics - whether liberal or conservative.

That sounds good to me.


[edit on 11-9-2008 by Sublime620]

reply to post by jsobecky


Because believe or not, this site is a very high volume traffic site and will attract any short term propaganda machine that their only reason to target sites is to save money and to cause damage.

This whole change seems odd to me. Is the goal of ATS not to "deny ignorance"?

Must ignorance not be discussed in order to be denied, must it not be exposed? What we are doing here is simply "ignoring ignorance." and "deleting ignorance". We are not denying it in the true sense of the word anymore.

It just seems odd.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


Right you have created a highly creative and powerful tool SO! And with such things Im glad you are being responsible with such tools.
They can be used in many ways. And lately they have been used to slander, hurt, and warp our understanding of this issues, and the issues at hand.

With all great power comes.... Well you know the saying!

As google as an extension of the power of ATS.. I merely type the word Zysin5 and bam!!! I get 4 pages of my work!

Powerful indeed!

[edit on 11-9-2008 by zysin5]

For those that are claiming "bias", you're just not seeing the whole picture. Try.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

It was closed.

[edit on 11-9-2008 by intrepid]

reply to post by Sublime620


Ok someone gives me a heads up - or thumbs down on my avatar then...

I wouldn't think it falls under the *scratch off* of the new rules, but, would like to know before I get pounced on...




*Runs to watch my U2U's*

Are you sure you have enough moderators to do all this post deleting on a continuous basis? Are republican mods allowed to delete Demos posts, and vice versa?

Originally posted by nyk537
This was never a problem when Bush was being bashed and insulted constantly. It was never a problem until this election got going.

Actually, if you look back in our history, we had a very similar issue with the 2004 elections, and a great deal of attempts to control it were put in place (mud pit forum, AbovePolitics.com, etc.). However, back then with perhaps 20% of our current traffic, it was an irritation... today, with our current activity level, it's a serious problem.

It was never a problem before Obama was running.

Obama has been a catalyst for a great deal of tonality issues on the board. But the threads about Palin have certainly exploded on the scene with disturbing intensity as well.

As indicated, our guidelines are not intended to focus on any one side, issue, or candidate... but to focus on all candidates and issues with equal force to provide an environment where issues are the focus without disruptive distractions.

reply to post by intrepid


The only reason people feel that Obama is being protected is because there are far more threads attacking Obama than McCain.

I am not sure why, but there are. So, yes, you will see more Obama mudslinging threads closed than McCain, but that only correlates to the number of threads for each candidate.

reply to post by Sublime620

Do you enjoy spending time on threads that don't discuss policy? Threads of which the only purpose is character assassination?

US elections have never been primarily about policy. Our elections encompass everything from policy to character. What the moderators are doing here, is attempting to cut out a vital part of our election process.

Note, I'm not talking about tabloid-esque threads or out right lies.

[edit on 11-9-2008 by Dronetek]

Very cool. The hot topics page has been ridiculous lately. Politics is one of the last things I come here for so I couldn't be more pleased.

reply to post by Dronetek


Don't you find that sad? And why do you suppose that is?

Most people on this board (the ones who are happy about this change) all know that if you want to learn about the dirt on any candidate, all you have to do is turn on the TV.

No one talks policy anymore. It's pathetic. What's wrong with asking to discuss policy, instead of judging people on superficial details, that in all reality, don't matter.

[edit on 11-9-2008 by Sublime620]

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord
However, back then with perhaps 20% of our current traffic, it was an irritation... today, with our current activity level, it's a serious problem.

That's an aspect of this that I hadn't thought of before, and I can see the view from there as well. I think my main worry is that perhaps relevant discussions may be deleted because of the ignorance of one individual. I think there are some topics that skirt on the edge here that do have grounds for serious discussion.

Blogs as a whole have not actualy been considered concrete in the information deceminated. What they often have are links to pearls of true wisdom that they're opinions in the blogs came from. Sometimes its what they do not believe sometimes it fortifies the argument. 99% of the posts here are opinion based on information someone, somewhere has acccess to and to ignore the information is to ignore and deny learning. From what I have already seen here today with posts shutdown and they're content, it certainly does look one sided.

Zindo