ATS= Fake posts that generate viewers is better than fact based posts that dont

Hey ATS moderators and designers

Why not do something about all of these HOAX posts. Especially the very disturbing type like the one posted by Rainfall that says "U.S. Troops handcuff, execute 8 Afghan children".

You then take a look at the resource posted:

news.yahoo.com...

"A statement issued Thursday by the Afghan National Security Directorate said the government investigation showed no Afghan forces were involved and "international forces from an unknown address came to the area and without facing any armed resistance, put 10 youth in two rooms and killed them.

"They conducted this operation on their own without informing any security or local authorities of Afghanistan," the statement said."

Then to defend her position Rainfall used "Spoken like a true 'mind controlled' victim... " Where do you prove either the killings or that I am brainwashed?

Moderators, this is directed at you. Why isnt there something like the 'stars' but red to show how many people believe the article is a hoax?


Good job ATS, lets keep up the good old "Baby killers!" b.s., maybe we can have a psychologically abusive post war era like the Vietnam vets had.

ATS is doing a good job of not clearing out which is hoax and which isnt. this one sided star system isnt cutting it. We need one that shows how many people disapprove of the post.

Personally I am disgusted that you can make such claims without the entire post being moved into a hoax folder and continued there, with the label it deserves... which is HOAX.

Until you can show evidence that Americans killed innocent children you cannot say they factually did it. You are just going to get people extremely worked up... especially when people trying to point out its a hoax are just called brainwashed. Thats brainwashing in itself right there. Thats psychological warfare if you want to get technical.

Stop the hoax posting, make up some rules, get a red circle that people can give to a post that shows how many people feel the post is misleading/inappropriate/or a flat out hoax.

Or is ATS about "incorrect news that gets your attention is better than no news at all?" I am starting to feel like ATS is a bad outfit. That post Rainfall put up, and what she said throughout it really got me worked up. I am a combat veteran, and none of us would have allowed an operation like that to have happened, we would have killed whomever sent the order before doing it. Get a life rainfall, put some factual information into it. In the mean time, lets put your post where it belongs, in the HOAX folder.

You cant tell someone to F off, but you can generalize a military outfit as babykillers without any proof. ATS i think your doing a wonderful job, keep up the good work. Big pats on the back.

I agree, a red flag style system would be an idea, but could be misused by people who just dont believe or agree with things that get posted.

One of the trickiest aspects of ATS, and the one that happens to make it so enjoyable, is that everyone's opinion of fact and hoax differs....that's kind of what incites discussion.

While I agree with you that some outlandish threads get great attention right up until someone actually bothers to fully read it, I think that those threads are the minority and are the necessary evil to being able to freely delve into a possible conspiracy theory.

That being said, I don't see what harm allowing individual posts to display a red flag if he/she feels the thread is a hoax or lacks any kind of evidence, but to allow red flags to remove or "black list" a thread probably isn't fair given a large number of members that tend to speak out about other members and would "target" their threads. In short, there are some members whose threads are "automatically" considered nonsense based on the author alone....which may be true some of the time but not all. Each thread should be judged on its own merit.

Edit to add: An example would be crop circle threads. Many people on this site consider them all to be hoaxes automatically and would simply red flag any thread on the subject....without giving the actual content and specifics of the thread any attention.

[edit on 9-1-2010 by lpowell0627]

reply to post by Chastral


The moderators are only human. As such, they have lives of their own and don't spend every moment on ATS. And when they are on ATS, it's not possible for a moderator to keep track of every single thread. This causes some threads to fall through the cracks and not able to get hoaxed and moved to the Hoax forum.

That being the case, an ATS member that disagrees with a post should simply call it out and reasonably show why an idea that is put forth is wrong, or a hoax. If people choose to ignore it, that's their fault. In the end, truth will prevail.

reply to post by Chastral


You are asking that , What YOU BELIEVE to be a Hoax, should be labeled

a hoax.

I think this is ANOTHER "What is wrong with ATS thread"

and I disagree with this ...SO

MODS < LABEL THIS THREAD A HOAX >

I think ATS is not that different from any other news source in terms of story attention.

Sensational news stories get attention. Proof/evidence is secondary, it is all about the claim or "headline" being made.

I have seen some very interesting and informative alternative threads on this board that have provided great sources or insight etc. yet only gain a few replies. At the same time I have seen threads appear making extraordinary claims which have no evidence or sources, yet they garner the most attention.

Or people simply post the same subjects over and over again knowing they will cause huge responses and debate.

Examples of this are


Obama threads (or any dem vs. rep thread)
Religion threads (attacking any religion)
Evolution threads (God vs. no God)

These subjects always seems to get alot of responses, even though new information is a rarity. The debate seems to explode and will continue forever.

Please add further comments or concerns to The ATS Issues Thread.


Thank you.



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