The SUSPENSION of illicit drugs/mind altering substance topics on ATS (The experiment failed)

Originally posted by Cutwolf
Color me shocked and more than a little disappointed.

Me too.

In my five years of contributing to the management of ATS, action like this was never needed.

As I've said repeatedly, I'd personally prefer to be able to embrace and promote these issues in a sane and adult way. But the overwhelming majority of our staff feel that the relaxation of our policies on these topics have had an overall negative impact. I wish it were not so.

We're looking at ways to reintroduce the topics within six months or so... but for now, it's time to regroup.

Originally posted by 12m8keall2c

Originally posted by Uniceft17
Maybe if mods did their jobs we wouldn't be having this problem ya know?

outnumbered umpteen thousand to 40 or so, staff members in virtually every timezone on the planet, with thousands of posts made every day.

If ALL members would consider the following...
YOU are responsible for your own posts

... then perhaps this wouldn't have proven necessary.

?

?

With all the super cool technology ATS has been installing in rapid-fire, you're meaning to tell me they can't create a separate "Illicit Drug Controversy" forum and either:

A) Have a few mods whose sole job is to monitor that forum

or

B) Implement a user-vote system where a certain number of negative votes on a user's post hides that post, and 3 or more hidden posts results in some sort of punishment?

Hell, option B might be useful for the entire forum.

See: www.joystiq.com... comment section for an idea of what I'm talking about.

Originally posted by smokapot
Man this sucks dude, censorship on ATS.

They sold (what was) this excellent site to some corporation cause they weren't making enough money. Now its become so filled with adds and stupid pop-ups its really hard to enjoy coming here anymore.

Oh well its a big internet so I guess I'll move on, I'll probably be banned for my name anyway.

Deny what again?

judging by your user-name its no wonder you do not like this policy. I understand completely why they have implemented this policy and im with them. Personal preferences aside these topics do deterierate very quickly and always go into i did this whilst using that and so on.

this isnt the place for those types of discussion. While its true that the motto here is deny-ignorance, its the ignorance of people who want to spin quasi-fictional stories about their exploits that have brought this on so to you nay-sayers talking about censorship on ats change the name whatever else has been said. . . The people running this show are keeping true to their motto Deny Ignorance

Originally posted by SaviorComplex

Originally posted by Monger
The difference is marijuana has never harmed anybody...

Really now?

When someone buys marijuana (or any other illegal drug) where does that money go? It isn't to charity or orphanages.

Stop and think about it for a little bit, then get back to me on that whole "pot never hurt anyone" bit.

When you buy gasoline, where does the money go?

I'm not going to bother arguing with you, brother. Believe what you want to believe. I'm not about to admit to buying anything illegal, thanks. You're obviously trying to bait me, but I'm not going to bite.

Wait so we can't talk about drugs now?

That leaves out a whole realm of conspiracy discussion.

Way to censor speech, ATS. Either you clarify what you mean, or, you've basically destroyed discussion of a whole realm of conspiracies.

So we can't talk about the CIA drugging citizens down illegally?

So we can't talk about drugs coming here from Mexico through illegal immigrants?

So we can't talk about Afghanistan and how they're the number one producers of opium?

So we can't talk about how we're losing the war on drugs?



[edit on 25-2-2009 by Frankidealist35]

Originally posted by ANOK
Now I understand the ATS attitude. You don't take Medical Cannabis seriously do you? You don't grasp the importance of this issue.

You have no idea. My father and my wife's father would benefit greatly from this... to the point of a completely altered quality of life.

We've been fighting this ignorance for years, and you have just stepped backwards.

As mentioned in the opening post, there are many online venues much more appropriate for those who are concerned about advocacy on these subjects. We (ATS) can do nothing in that regard... but there are sites and organizations with lobbying clout that are striving to make a difference... would time be better spent there?

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


"It's not us, we would love to acommodate the debate, it's you, you guys don't know how to have it".

Where have I heard this before? Oh snap.

Originally posted by Uniceft17
But ATS seems to think that facts can't be discussed because the mods can't do their jobs and simply ban or delete the post a certain user makes about using drugs in an illegal manner, period.

Personally, I think you're out of line.

The Mods (who do this in the "free time" - outside of Real Life, Jobs, Comitments etc) do a pretty damn good job, considering...

Quick question from the makers of Microsoft - Don't the Mods deserve a chance to act as members once in a while and post their opinions instead of babysitting us? Or are we just that immature, that we need someone holding our hand?

The new policy has been made - hop on board, or logout.


- Carrot

Originally posted by seagull
The difference being, in most other threads, people aren't going on about how much fun it was to get "so totally blasted, man" on whatever their drug of choice is.

These people are, or rather were, in the minority. That much is true. But it doesn't take many to ruin it for everyone else.

If this is true, then why not just ban those users? Common sense should be obvious to everyone, but it is not unfortunately.

I personally do not like threads where people are talking about getting wasted. Recently there was a thread about PCP which I found absurd and felt it should be deleted in its entirety since nothing constructive was coming out of the thread. It was merely a place for users of the drug to share how wasted they got. Threads like these should have a zero tolerance policy and be removed.

However, some greater force in the universe provided man with therapeutic and medicinal plants. The government, nor anyone else has any right to tell us we cannot use the fruit of the Earth. It is the very idea of being illicit that causes there to be so much commotion and the majority of abuse potential. If these plants were discussed with and people educated when in their youth, and if they were not illegal, there would be no stigma associated with these plants. The fact remains that the governments of the world want to profit from the alkaloids contained in these plants and that is why they are illegal.

As a member of this community, I will of course abide by the rules, even though I think ATS should not penalize everyone for the lack of common sense of a few. I also would like to know why over the past few months we have been bombarded with more and more U2Us regarding rule enforcement, and receive less and less points for our productive posts. Perhaps this type of moderation has had the opposite effect: attracting new, immature users to ATS threads and repelling the older, more productive posting members. Just something you guys might want to keep in mind.

[edit on 2/25/2009 by pjslug]

reply to post by SaviorComplex


Well it's not illegal to talk about drugs in an intolerant manner.
It's not illegal to ACT in such a manner either.

It is illegal to purchase sex, but not talk about it.

It is illegal to purchase drugs, but not talk about it.

Revolution is an illegal activity so you all better knock off that talk too.

Automatic weapons are illegal so put that up on the list as well.

This can go on for days...

Yeah, we get it. It's you house and your rules. There will be no problem following them, if there is, well thank you in advance for keeping that talk off the boards because God knows we can't handle it ourselves anymore...dad.

reply to post by 12m8keall2c


But it is necessary, if it wasn't then we wouldn't have mods at all ya know. But a complete blanket ban on all drug talk just because a few people talked about using illegal drugs is completely uncomprehensible, I've seen rules broken far more than this specific one. But for some reason the owner decided to single it out, which makes me and several other question the motives behind the decision, because I do not and will not believe the reason given when the simple way to prevent this is to mod the topics where drugs are being discussed, this rule is broken far less than anyother rule, but the owner is acting like it is an epidemic and can't be controlled.

Originally posted by SaviorComplex
You could make that argument about a lot of crimes. "He's only rotting in prison because he molested a kid! Otherwise he's a law abiding citizen!" "He's only rotting in jail because he had the materials to make a bomb. Otherwise, he's a law abiding citizen." A bit of hyperbole on my part, but I think you see the point.

Hurray! You win the prize for both the most ignorant post of all time, as well as the weakest argument!

If you don't see the difference between a guy caught with a joint and a child molester, getting your feathers ruffled by faceless posts on the internet is the least of your problems.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


Skepticoverlord you seem to be forgetting the fact that there is a huge area of conspiracies that have to do with illegal drugs.

Why are you censoring discussion of that knowing this very fact? We're not discussing the drugs because of them being illegal. We're discussing them because they're involved in conspiracies.

reply to post by Springer


Will existing threads like this one be locked or deleted? I just lobbied successfully to get it re-instated after it was summarily moved to the trash bin during the recent purge.

reply to post by Uniceft17


A long time ago, I posted a thread about the prison population, and how many people were actually locked up for crimes of that nature.

It quickly degenerated into a legalisation campaign, which was quite orchestrated and which was used as a personal useage story board - obviously this destroyed the whole point of the thread.

Every single thread about the same topic has ended the same way.

My own personal desire is to discuss the issue in a mature way, reasoning out the various theories about prohibition and how it doesn't work.

That's before we get to the various plots, CIA involvement, afghanistan and the OBL connection.

Yet because a few individuals consistently want to discuss how "wasted" they got last night, many members with a sincere interest in this particular CT have pretty much given up discussing it - because we know where it will lead and how the thread will end up.

This really grinds my gears.

Mature and intelligent discussion of a valid CT has had to take a back seat because some members lack the mental capacity (for whatever reason) to discuss without resroting to anecdotal evidence.

Originally posted by SaviorComplex
When someone buys marijuana (or any other illegal drug) where does that money go? It isn't to charity or orphanages.

Where do you think it goes?

It's going into the hands of ordinary citizens who sell, legally or not.

Where do your taxes go? To invade foreign countries to create new markets and line the pockets of the few.

Do you pay taxes? The government is the biggest drug dealer and 'gang' there is.

Originally posted by Monger
I suppose mannors and decorum doesn't apply when you're towing the company line huh?

Nothing violates manners or decorum by asking a simple question.

And I am not towing anyone's line. I just have a low tolerance for (well, a lot of things, I'm getting cranky in my old age) obtuseness.

When I joined ATS, not once did I do it thinking I'd discuss illegal drugs. So I'm all for it being banned. I don't want people I tell about ATS to join and later tell me that this place is soliciting drugs. But just like any privately owned business, that business/website and it's administration has a right to control their business in a way they see fit and the Government or any other entity should not have a say in it. So I'm just as happy as I was with or without the discussion of illegal drugs. ATS is still on top as a discussion board. And there are other websites that discuss the same topics but I prefer ATS over them because the child's play and ignorant remarks are not tolerated here. GO ATS!!

Evryone just needs to remember to stay in your lane, talk about important, real, substantive topics like our future reptilian overlords and subjects of that ilk, an you will be fine.

Way to deny ignorance, way to be subsersive, way to, uh... fall in line rather.