For anyone who can stop freaking out and hitting reply or post for one second

Recently about 5 or 6 months ago i became a member of ATS. Prior to that i had been a lurker for over a year. In that time i have watched this site go from respectfull to utter crap. In no way shape or means is it the owners fault, although i do believe the mods should impliment some more requirments to post. It s the community.

You see we have people (some who are crazy) creating threads and etc that lack proper proof or evidence of their claims or do not even attempt to provide resoloutions to the issues stated. ATS has become a place for people to whine and have others enable their meantal illness's. (i could cite specific posts but if you want to see what i mean just hit your most recent posts button)

What really set me off on this was seeing forum members who have credibilty posting in non crediable posts! Why post in the persons thread if it is not crediable. Alls it does is raises there post count and keeps them on the board knocking important posts down the list!

Yesterday i made a thread and only one forum member responded. His words really got me thinking. Basically it was me complaing about the econemy and my fear of loosing my job. The person who replied to my post basically told me i'm sorry about your situation, but why complain when you know you will not do anything about it"

This person was right! Why even post if your not going to do anything about an issue or even give crediable information to back it up.

Well after thinkig i made this site. I would like to thank the forum member who got the gears turning in my head! muddlingthrough.webs.com...

Everyone on this site should think before they hit reply to stupid threads. Here i actually did something to help people and can't get the word out because 15 loonies have created threads about their dream last night about 2012.

Please ATS community do not let the loonies and attention whores take over this site!!!

Mod's please make people be more constructive in their posts with providing facts, resoloutions and etc







muddlingthrough.webs.com...

[edit on 2-2-2009 by lightinthedark33]

[edit on 2-2-2009 by lightinthedark33]

Originally posted by lightinthedark33
Everyone on this site should think before they hit reply to stupid threads. Here i actually did something to help people and can't get the word out because 15 loonies have created threads about their dream last night about 2012.

They do think, they just think different due to various reasons,
and I am pretty sure '___' is one of them, LOL.

Freedom of Speech is here to a point, and they want to keep it
that way for now.

Sometime in the future when things are controlled to a more rigid
standard that certain ppl with certain ways of thinking then the
ignorant masses can be silenced and only proper writing and
speech will be allowed anywhere by those with right thinking.

While we are on it all those books that have improper writing
and speech can be cleared out so we don't have to sift thru all of it
at the local bookstore or library to get thru to the proper way of thinking.

Or...

We can just keep following the 1st ammendment for the most part...

And suffer with the spam of the insane, the confused, the fearful,
and pick out the diamonds in the rough like we have for a little
more than 200 years.

reply to post by Ex_MislTech


I did not mean to make it sound like i do not appreciate the 2nd amendment. It just bothers me that the '___''ers post crap and then people actually respond to it. Anyway thank you for reading my thread and replying. Atleast now i know one person is sane on here tonight...Wait a second whata re the chances we are crazy and everyone else is normal! (joke)

Thank you Again

I need proof. Whats your source for this? Do you have any pictures?

Originally posted by 1hope
I need proof. Whats your source for this? Do you have any pictures?

When it happened my camera was in the car but my girlfriend saw it! I would provide a link to the site but i forget where i saw it!

It's true though i tell you! It is true!

To get back on topic a bit - I believe that a big part of the reason you see so much crap on here is the point system.
Every time you post you get a point - it doesn't matter how stupid the post is.
There has to be a better way.

Originally posted by JustTheFacts
To get back on topic a bit - I believe that a big part of the reason you see so much crap on here is the point system.
Every time you post you get a point - it doesn't matter how stupid the post is.
There has to be a better way.

Your right i never even thought of that. Since i have joined i have never even looked into spending my points. I have never even looked at how many i have. I mean you would think they are giving cash away if this is the reason why people post so much.

I think the sadest part of watching this is that as a coomunity we watch these people do this but do not say anything to them.

If the person who replied to my thread did not say what he said to me about "not doing anything about it" i would just be another mindless poster. From now on after i read threads i'm going to tell the op great job, but what is your ideas around fixing this, what are you going to do to change this or etc.

I remember the heads of ATS sent a email to everyone last month because they realized things were getting out of hand. Hopefully they will realize this again and make some changes. Changes that do not limit a persons freedom of speech but forces them to think before they post. Honestly i think the point system should be for threads that get applaused or Starred and Flagged. It would make more sense to get posts on content opposed to the ability to take a crap and hit submit post or reply.

reply to post by lightinthedark33

I've been a member of ATS for a little more than a year now, and in that
time, I have seen a bunch of lurkers turning this site into utter crap...
The mods should do something abou. . . . . . . Just Kidding!

But what really sets me, off is credible lurkers who lurk on incrdible.....
I'm only kidding with you, friend...

Did you think I was a looney for a second, there? I really hope not. Because you know what that would make YOU!

Welcome to ATS! Home of the brave, land of the crazed, etc... (in a good way)!

I clicked on the link you provided, it looks very interesting! Nice job!
My slow phone modem puts me to sleep, waiting for uTube vids to load, so I'll try those another time.

Ya know, I try to click on a member's profile, before posting, maybe find out something about them- - Likes/dislikes, age (vintage), friends in common, comments from others, general stuff...but so many people don't fill that stuff in. No biggie. I take it as it appears. And I never post without reading the ENTIRE thread. (Helps diminish my ignorance a bit).

Look forward to seeing you out on the boards, giving 'em H - E - Double toothpicks!!

Cheers! FRIGHTENER.

Hey a little humor never hurt anyone...I appreciate it! Thank You for checking out the site. it's no good unles it serves it's purpose though.

The youtube videos are of Ron Paul since your on this board a lot im sure you have already seen them.

I was actually going to try to fill out my profile tonight but got stuck on uploading an avatar hence the big x under my name. I became frustrated and gave up. i figured there was more important work to be done.

Thank You guys for your help! I definitly could use some feedback about the site and the board though. Any ideas you have are welcomed.


Mod Note: Excessive Quoting – Please Review This Link

[edit on Tue Feb 3 2009 by Jbird]

Originally posted by lightinthedark33
Mod's please make people be more constructive in their posts with providing facts, resoloutions and etc


[edit on 2-2-2009 by lightinthedark33]

Easier said than done. On the one hand we have a mob chanting that the staff is against freedom of speech and that we're pro-censorship. On the other hand we have folks asking that we clamp down on "crazies", "loonies" and other variations thereof.

The easy answer is however that the staff simply make sure that everyone sticks to the Terms & Conditions Of Use. For instance if a person is making false statements, and it can be proven, then we'll take action. If someone says "a Mayan tribesman told me how earth will be destroyed in 2012" it gets more difficult to call out a liar...

...But we have some very cunning members working to find the truth, and expose the lies.

This is above top secret.
In talking about secrets there is no credible source.

In fact there are secrets above top secret.
Not even the top secret people know about, but we at
ATS think we know such things.

Many people are writing about above top secrets, there
are hundreds of books about things unknown to all of us.

I see that some wish their posts would be recognized as
earth shaking and see their disappointment is great as they
think the next post should be about them instead of another's
idea what is the ATS.

Originally posted by lightinthedark33
In that time i have watched this site go from respectfull to utter crap. In no way shape or means is it the owners fault, although i do believe the mods should impliment some more requirments to post. It s the community.

You're right - It's not the owners fault. Its ours. The members. WE pick the topics and we comment on the threads. No one is holding our hands. If their is crap on the boards - its because that's what we've decided to discuss. If you want better topics - perhaps you need to start some?

Remember the Mods are voluntary. Most of them have lives outside of ATS that occasionally they need to tend to. They do a pretty damn good job for the time they're online. They're just like you and me, members who want to partake in discussions and keep the threads on track.

What kind of requirements do you want to see? Do you have a plan that will work better then the current one?

You see we have people (some who are crazy) creating threads and etc that lack proper proof or evidence of their claims or do not even attempt to provide resoloutions to the issues stated.

I'm a firm believe in Proof. I am open to many different theories and different opinions, however with that being said, sometimes there ISN'T any proof and its all just speculation, with the "Possibility" of being true or untrue. I'd prefer if everyone who posted outrageous stories had proof, but hey, some don't.

If you're looking for more structure and Proof - Check out the Debate Forum. Simply "Opinions" and "I think" doesn't cut it there.

Debate Forum

ATS has become a place for people to whine and have others enable their meantal illness's. (i could cite specific posts but if you want to see what i mean just hit your most recent posts button)

I believe it is unfair to say that ATS has become a place where we enable people's mental illnesses. If anything, I think ATS is here to enable free thoughts, opinions, stances and brain storming. Yes we have crazy people here, but we also have some really great knowledgeable and educated people here as well. It's impossible to have a free membership and NOT get an assortment of members.

Everyone on this site should think before they hit reply to stupid threads. Here i actually did something to help people and can't get the word out because 15 loonies have created threads about their dream last night about 2012.

Just because 15 people have had dreams about 2012 - doesn't make it true and it doesn't make it untrue. Stay away from the Dreams and Predictions Forum then, if you don't like the stuff thats popping up in there.

Don't post in threads you don't like. Post your own good quality well researched thread, and I promise you'll get some attention. Oz Weatherman, Skyfloating, and Nefermore are just a couple of posters who make INCREDDIBLE threads, with excellent information and lots of research. THOSE are the kinds of threads you want to see? Then START those threads. Stay away from the ones you think devalue the quality of ATS. You can not limit other members from posting certain things - you can only change the way YOU post.

Please ATS community do not let the loonies and attention whores take over this site!!!

Impossible. ATS remains a free site - other then charging everyone and screening all possible members - how would you suggest we overcome the "loonies?" Do you have an action plan? Or are you just spouting off? Because if you're just yammering off at the mouth - the Rant Forum is the place to do that. If you have a plan - we need to hear it so we can support you. It's fine and dandy to complain (and we all do it), but the next step is finding a solution.... so, WHAT is your solution?

Mod's please make people be more constructive in their posts with providing facts, resoloutions and etc

There are FSME's who do that as well as the Mods - but as I said earlier, Mods are strictly volunteer. They were members first, and mod's second. And because they are not "live-in" moderators with nothing better to do (like tend to their real lives) its difficult for them to be in EVERY thread ALL the time.

Do you have a solution for how the Mods can make people be more constructive? I do: Do it yourself by leading by examples and being a part of the Good Contributors. THAT is really the only way to do it. It starts with us the members.


- Carrot

I understand your frustration and you have proven once again that no matter how ridiculous a thought you have may be there is someone somewhere thinking the same thing.

I do not mean that in a critical way. I say this because I have been thinking the same thing for a short while now. In fact I even discussed this observation with another ATSer recently.

I am not very good at posting and my post receive very few responses or none at all. It is surprising to me at times how post that I think have weight and substance peter out while post that I perceive as a bit of fluff or down right ridiculous will go on for days. I will admit that I have fallen victim to this phenomenon on occasion and tried my hand at lighter posting but I have to accept the fact that posting is not my strong suit so unless I just have something that I “have” to get off my chest I will remain the postee instead of the poster.

Don’t get too excited about this declaration because unfortunately I am extremely opinionated, loquacious and often have thoughts that I “have” to get off my chest. So just do what everyone else does. Ignore my belch and it will soon fade away.

Mod's please make people be more constructive in their posts with providing facts, resoloutions and etc

The sad fact is , that the mods were the best posters before they became Mods..now it's just us crazies.
so they tried the mod post in thread disclaimer "this is not a mod action...posting as a member jazz..seen it?....I have not seen it in a while..nor have I seen a mod post a regular comment in a thread in a great while...and when was the last time we heard from Simon?

The best posters became mods...now they do not post anymore...hence the degradation of the forum.

Peace

PS: thanks for your comment Gemwolf!

Originally posted by JustTheFacts
To get back on topic a bit - I believe that a big part of the reason you see so much crap on here is the point system.
Every time you post you get a point - it doesn't matter how stupid the post is.
There has to be a better way.

There is - applause.

I take little notice of points - if I want to check out a members contribution I look at their profile and see how many "applause" they have.

This is a reliable indicator of the quality of a members posts - the post to applause ratio.

I also sometimes check out a members threads and read some incredibly insightful and interesting stuff that way - most times it's a member who I have not come across before.

Applause is not given lightly and IMO is a more reliable indicator of quality over quantity.

I think my ats points says it all

I love reading the crazy stuff sometimes


But yes i agree alot of 2012 drives me abit... -points!!

Originally posted by Zeptepi
The best posters became mods...now they do not post anymore...hence the degradation of the forum.

That is true to some degree.

There are hundreds of brilliant members that are not mods. There are hundreds of lurkers that have just as much potential as many of our top members - but for some reason they post anonymously - or not at all. Every single person has the potential to post a “wow” post. Some just don’t bother.

The one side of the coin is - staff members have a lot more to do, i.e. they need to read as many posts as possible, meaning less time to post long and well-thought out posts. Also most staffers have been here for a long time, and have spoken their minds on topics that keep coming up every now and again, thus they probably won't feel the need to reply to a 2012 thread every 4 days one comes up.

That said, I can assure you that mods still enjoy posting as much as they did before they were appointed mods. Mods are members first and moderators second.

The reason for the "posting as a member not a mod" post is because many members cannot look past the staff badge when they read a moderator's post. For some strange reason this handful of members (trust me it's very few people) believe that staffers are not allowed an opinion. You'll recognise them by the fact that they refer to your position as a staff member in his reply to you, even though it's completely irrelevant...

Well, I'll be honest. As a university student working 2 jobs, I deal with "normal" ignorant people who are always obsessed with "whats up". The conversations with them usually only have one drive, and I to date, don't even know what that is. It is empty conversation. It feels like they and I talk out of obligation.

Here on ATS, it's like eating a peice of fresh fruit for the very first time. Oh the fun I have when I see threads that I can relate to, where my opinion isn't just shrugged off and changed to something stupid like car parts or which chick is hottest at work. I genuinely feel uplifted and excited when i spam click the "recent threads" button.

Don't get me wrong though, there are some threads that are just plain rediculous and should be on a game or movie forum, but it's not really hard to avoid those. I learned within 4 days of becoming a member that posting any kind of response to those threads is like trying to paint a car with whiteout.

The threads about dreams are not so bad to me, It's interesting to see how people interpret what they see when they dream, and it's fun to read what they experience and comparing it to my own. I mean dreams are still a mystery, noone knows why we have them right? I think discussion on them gives better insight to what we can learn about ourselves from eachother. Like a looking at yourself through a keyhole.

And as for 2012 posts.. well they are fun as well. I mean I don't believe everything i read on it but there are some really interesting theories and pick me ups! Sometimes when I read positive threads about 2012, I get goosebumps and become really excited. Other times i just scroll through it cause it doesn't seem interesting or has been posted before.

Whew, I guess what I'm really saying is that I personally love ATS. Even if there are new members who might not be up to par (hell im one of them), I'll always see this place as a new experience everytime i click the refresh button!

I completely agree with you Gemwolf. And I understand and respect the task the Mods are charged with. I also grasp the tiresome nature of dealing with recurring nonsensical posts.( I too grow weary of seeing them...and am grateful I need not have to deal with them)

I thought it was a good idea for the member-not-a-mod disclaimer. And I truly appreciate the opportunity to be a member here, I just sometimes miss the member-mods thoughtful posts on any subject. I was one of the first to notice the anonymous posters addition back in May, and was vehemently against it, at first. Now After venting my opinion about it to SO in a thread I started, That feature has become much better.SO made rapid modifications to the annon poster criteria in direct response to member input. Well to his credit.

I know that the motto is member first, mod second. But some of the great poster-members-mods should really get back into the fray and help belay the degrading trend the forum has started to acquire.I am not completely convinced that its due entirely to heavy mod workload. This is not to place blame on anyone or the admin. here It may be due to, as SO pointed out, a kind of silly season, or simply the site growing into the world at-large.

I have made friends with, and have had super discussions with some mods here, as I hope all members should experience. Some before they became Mods. but I never hear or see their posts anymore.
Shout out to Semper...he gave me my avatar.

And yes, I have seen all of this here before as well. Byrd may be the only person here that can read these threads faster than me! ha. And as she may well tell you. In the year i have been here, I have spent several thousand hours reading most of the pertinent threads on this forum. Most of which I do not respond in.

So to sum up, I do miss the sedulous posts of the best members...the mods!

Peace

reply to post by LeTan


LeTan

That was an outstanding post!
If I were a mod, I would give you Applause!
we need more new members like you!

Peace