posted on Nov, 12 2011 @ 11:39 AM
I have been a long term member on a couple of forums similar to ATS [10years +] and have an immaculate track record. Also I have some very strange,
interesting and definitively new topics I'd like to share, mainly in the Grey Area and the Paranormal. But because I am new here on ATS I have to make
20 replies in order to start a new thread. I read the reasons behind this and can to a certain extend understand them. Yes I could find a thread that
has something vaguely to do with what I have to post but in my opinion, changing the direction of a thread suddenly, saying 'this is what happened to
me and it is quite different to your story' is hijacking it and unfair to the OP. Also having been reading on here for a few weeks now I can say that
the remedy of having to post beforehand has not made one iota of difference to the problem. I still see several threads on the same topic, see
flaming, trolling etc.
However what the 20 answer rule does do is make me think now if I should actually post at all. At the start I was very exited having found ATS, it was
as if everything I always wanted in a forum was here and having been browsing, I am itching to post.However having been found guilty before I have
actually done anything wrong has definitively put me off a little.
The reason I do not post answers too often at this moment in time is for this one reason only:
- I usually read through a whole thread to see if anyone has already said what I would have said. So I don't post the same again. The reason that this
happens often is that I am still reading some backlog and they are very long, which makes the chances of finding an answer that I would have given
higher.
This is why I have so far only managed about 3 replies [whilst on the other forums I write at least daily]. At this rate I can either wait for another
few months before being able to post my own stories [and hope that I have not lost interest in ATS by then] or post quickly some random waffling to
get my 20 replies faster. Which I would think is exactly NOT what the mods want, but which is obviously done by others, reading through the threads.
I truly think that ATS has probably lost a lot of good honest people who would have something really interesting to report but who can't be bothered
with this 20 responses rule. I have read 'one hit wonder' threads that were very interesting by people who don't normally post but would just like to
share and then go back to reading the forum only. ATS is losing all those posts which are often the best.
So a big hello from me and I do believe that I have only 16 responses to go to be 'allowed' to start a thread.
Edited to say that I am very probably in the wrong thread...sorry duh.
edit on 12-11-2011 by Hecate666 because: (no reason given)