Partial Solution to the Elephant in the Room

I think we all know where the elephant resides:

The Above Politics Forum.

The forum has been plagued as of late with insults, mudslinging, and outright lies. I feel, there is at least a partial solution to the problem, and because of that, this post will be fairly short.

The biggest reason things get heated and people the conversation starts to degrade is because people are mixing in conspiracies with real political talk. Now I am a fan of conspiracies, and while most of them may end up being untrue, if only once it is correct, then it is all worth it.

However, there exists a forum already called "Political Conspiracies". Why is this forum not being harnessed as it could be? So many threads have gotten out of control because people are expressing their theories as fact.

If these threads that are based off of speculation were dumped into the Political Conspiracy forums, it would open up the rest of the categories to have real politics discussed.

Now, clearly, this would cut traffic immensely for the rest of the political forums, however, it would also improve the quality. Also, and most importantly, members would hopefully take speculative posts with a grain of salt knowing that they are in the proper forum.

So, it's just an idea, but I hope it is considered, because that forum is a mess.

[edit on 10-11-2008 by Irish M1ck]

I guess I should give examples:

Snap Out of It - Obama is using Clinical Hypnosis on You!

Clearly is a conspiracy and not real political talk.

Democratic leaders in the U.S. House discuss confiscating 401(k)s, IRAs

A decent thread when put into the correct context, however, it has no backing and should be in a conspiracy related forum. There is no documentation or sound bytes to back up the claim.

It requires a non-sequitur to get to the conclusion.

Georgia congressman warns of Obama dictatorship

Also a non-sequitur.



There's plenty more. The point being that conspiracies require non-sequiturs, otherwise it wouldn't be a conspiracy, it would be fact. However, when people try to put them in real political forums and talk as if it is fact, it degrades the entire message this board is trying to convey.

Just look at the two highest flagged topics on the board right now. Both mudslinging, both conspiratorial in nature, and both completely false.

EXCLUSIVE: Agenda disappears from Obama Web site

If anyone has read the thread, they'd know it is completely untrue, and even if it was true, it would be evidence of nothing.

Georgia congressman warns of Obama dictatorship

I've already been over that one.


So those are the hot topics on ATS and neither one of them should have gotten a glance. However, that's fine. It is a conspiracy website, but shouldn't those threads be in a conspiracy section?

I hear ya Mick I'm sick of this myself the same people who were for the Neo Con agenda of the Bush administration are calling Obama a Fascist!

I don't participate in the speculative Obama will enslave us all threads.
I already have to deal with this anti intellectual,Neo Con crap from my family of origin Yikes !

there are so many Obama hate threads I call it trolling and since it's on line I'm gonna to say some of them are operatives,for highly placed Neo Cons

I understand that for sure.

For some reason, I feel obligated to respond in those threads. It's like I think that if I don't respond, someone who isn't as informed will go in and believe it all without second guessing.

It's just been months of circular logic.

Good points.
I've gotten a bit discouraged from reading many of those threads too.

I totally agree with you, Mick! The conspiracy threads in the regular political sections are misplaced. I like discussing politics, but I'm not into the wild conspiracy theories being posted in the politics forums. And, like you, I feel I need to add some FACTS to the thread.

It's crazy... discouraging, disenchanting... I want facts in my politics.

If we're talking about 9/11, aliens or secret societies, yeah, theorize away. But politics is a different subject. We have plenty of facts. It's a shame any discussion of them gets lost in ideas like Obama being born in Kenya.

I thnk the real answer is not to visit these threads with these obviously twisted titles, that you know are going to be nothing but wild accusations, and especially don't post there. Soon, these threads will dry up and disappear.