"What's with the anger on ATS?"

Originally posted by OutKast Searcher
And just let me be clear about the T&C

2) Behavior: You will not behave in an abusive, hateful, intolerant, bigoted and/or racist manner, and will not harass, threaten, nor attack anyone.

Are you saying that you are selectively enforceing the T&C? Because it appears that racism is explicitly covered.

So why is it so infrequently enforced? And why does your previous post suggest that you are knowingly not enforcing it because you would rather let them express their freedom of speech???

[edit on 16-8-2010 by OutKast Searcher]

Because there are a million posts and only a few dozen mods?

And what kind of $$$ do the mods get paid for breaking their back just to clean up things ?

Point is, it's like trying to empty the ocean with a bucket. It is impossible to accomplish.

I bet being a mod or admin sucks! I sure wouldn't wish that on even my worst enemies. So I feel bad for them usually...

Originally posted by virraszto

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler


Long and short of it, ATS is ceasing to be a conspiracy board and becoming a divide and conquer political and religious and lifestyle discussion board, where people pursuing conspiracy angles and higher truths are now being ridiculed and attempts are being made to ‘shout’ them down.


The posting environment is becoming an unfriendly one to say the least.


[edit on 16/8/10 by ProtoplasmicTraveler]

I couldn't agree more with this. So many posts I see in the conspiracy forums are not conspiracy related at all and are just being used to propagate an agenda.

I started blogging two years ago on Ask Yedda which was a service AOL was pushing.

I enjoyed it at first, the Presidential Election was going on, but it quickly degraded after that to just a lot of cliques and bickering, and thumb wars, and a very negative posting environment where different groups of members carried out personal attacks on other groups of members.

When I found ATS it was a breath of fresh air, civil, well monitored, and geared towards the conspiracy angles and hidden truths, and alternative views I have always been pasionate about.

Now ATS is beginning to remind me of Ask Yedda, because so many posters have all at the same time, started pushing just mainsteam political agendas, and relying more and more on personal attacks and coordinated activity to do so.

I am truly concerned about the developing trend.

I have seen more blogs used as News Sources in the last few days than I can shake a stick at. All of them highly inflamatory, biased, and lacking one shred of factual study to back up their claims and opinions.

Members here though are posting blurps from them, like they are from Wikipedia, as a means to try to prove and validate their positions.

The straw man is rapidly becoming the only man of any repute all of a sudden.

I embrace diversity and people having different opinions, but it's a conspiracy site, and I feel like I am now debating with an increasing number of members who are stuck on the superficial mainstream level, entirely motivated by mainstream politics and religion, and not willing to even give lip service to the Terms of Service that make it a civil site to discuss things.

I don't mind people having a different opinion, it's none of my business if people want to live in imaginary fear, but I do expect people to follow the Terms of Service and fewer and fewer members are.





[edit on 16/8/10 by ProtoplasmicTraveler]

Originally posted by kevinunknown
i would happily slap each and every one of you in the face with a wet fish.

Can you make mine a nice Salmon?

Don't forget who owns the MSM .. the same crooks who are destroying our economy and environment. We're being engineered to be upset with each other. It ties into the conditioning to consume more to be happy !! and also furthers the divide and conquer strategy.

Being ticked off is great, but let's please do our best to realize that the problem is not the people seeking out truth and answers, rather the ignorant majority and the system-builders who have engineered this collapse from the get go.

I'm a hypocrite, as I, too, have become inflamed over the last few months. Will do my best to keep my cool and realize this community was meant to be a beacon of truth in a world currently filled with darkness.

We must remain ever vigilant and keep to the mark of restoring the inalienable rights of human beings as the dominant species of Earth. That won't happen while bickering about petty disparities amongst the plethora of beliefs we may choose to hold dear.

Let's stick to the facts, and keep our cool !!

Originally posted by OutKast Searcher
And just let me be clear about the T&C

2) Behavior: You will not behave in an abusive, hateful, intolerant, bigoted and/or racist manner, and will not harass, threaten, nor attack anyone.

Are you saying that you are selectively enforceing the T&C? Because it appears that racism is explicitly covered.

So why is it so infrequently enforced? And why does your previous post suggest that you are knowingly not enforcing it because you would rather let them express their freedom of speech???

[edit on 16-8-2010 by OutKast Searcher]

Don't you see a difference between talking about racism and posting abusive comments fueled by racism? I do. One is taboo, the other is hateful.

Edited to add:

I hated SkepticOverlord for censoring one of my posts last week, which was inappropriate and abusive to my husband. But I'm inclined to repent and like him today.

[edit on 8/16/2010 by eMachine]

Originally posted by kevinunknown
PS, just thought this thread could use a post like this, this is a joke however i would happily slap each and every one of you in the face with a wet fish.

Ohhh, Monty Python fan. My face awaits your Mackerel.

That's another thing needed. A little humo(u)r. Heath Ledger was right. "Why so serious?" Let's relax a little.

Posts talking about this issue unfortunately get precisely nothing done; the only people with the power to change this trend are the staff and it looks like even by admission of SO they are hesitant to do what everyone knows deep down is necessary. I understand the importance of maintaining activity, avg daily post stats, and all the other things that go into running and site and generating revenue to keep the site going but I think now is a time to toss aside those concerns in favor of a more long-term goal of preserving the community. No number of threads talking about how this needs to be stopped are going to make a difference; the staff need to be swift, decisive and final in dealing with this before long term damage is done. Don't give out warnings for racist activities; drop the ban hammer the first time and be done with it. Sure this might decrease the activity on the site as more prolific and inciting posters get axed but which is more important at this point: posts and profits or the long term health of the site and community at large?

reply to post by rogerstigers



No I pick the fish! You just get banned and humiliated.

Originally posted by Hadrian
I think it's ebb and flow. One person posts "Stop Hating on Muslims," somebody feels obligated to post "Muslims Suck." We know school's starting again and it'll get better (not that this is uniquely attributable to our younger membership).

People post more than they should. They get an idea in their head and then post it. They need to self-filter a lot more and recognize that not every thought one has necessarily needs to be shared. And while I love the range of topics on ATS, every grievance of every individual member does not require a thread. But, by all means, they have the ability and right to do so as they wish.

So on the money. Self filtering is a necessary skill in the digital age. Recently I've found myself "texting" off the top of my head. More aggressively I might add than I would face to face. I'm wondering if there is a name for this new social no no ?

Me,myself and I are going to be working on this one.

It hasn't been such a long time since we've been down this path. Remember? It was politics. We were ready to engage in assault and perhaps virtual homicide at times.

S.O., you guys took everybody, with their assault weapons -- the keyboard, and put us in our own little forum. Yes, I went too.

It was enter at your own risk, but stay within the T&C. Was this helpful?
It seems to me, it was.

Now, it's the same tune, but different lyrics. It's Islamization of the west; Islamophobia; Muslims, Burka's, Jihadists and Mosques.

If you believe the Political Madness forum was helpful during our last meltdown, do you think another "Madness" forum might be helpful during this one?

At least if you click on one of the threads you know what you're getting yourself into.

Just a thought.

The same thing happend when we started critiquing Obama, it was Ok for the Bush years but not for the Obama years,

and what about these topics,

was anyone angry then?
www.abovetopsecret.com...
www.abovetopsecret.com...

BTW I am not angry, but people are angry with me for bringing up issues they don't want posted on the forum, for what ever reason.

What is good for the goose is not always good for the gander I suppose.

There are many threads I find offensive, but I don't complain.

People don't like it when the shoe is on the other foot.



[edit on 053131p://bMonday2010 by Stormdancer777]

Originally posted by Helig
the only people with the power to change this trend are the staff and it looks like even by admission of SO they are hesitant to do what everyone knows deep down is necessary.

I don't think a purge is necessary. Of course, individuals who cross too many lines should be hammered I have no issues with that. But by no means do we need a vast purge. Thats over the top and unnecessary.

The staff are powerless in the face of this actually, because banning hundreds of people will send a bad message to everyone else.

They are between a rock and a hard place, so to speak.

It us up to US the MEMBERS to educate others about debating things respectfully and learning self-control.

Only when we change ourselves will anything change.

Stop expecting the mod's to make a utopia for us, it will never happen it's logically impossible to achieve.

We can turn the tide though, through our individual efforts at educating others to intelligent discourse.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord

Expressing racist beliefs, and acting on those beliefs when posting on ATS are two different things.

The T&C makes it exceptionally clear that one's behavior is actionable, not their opinions.

I'm not sure I understand what "acting on those beliefs" mean on a message board? Using racial derrogatory terms?

So you are saying that someone can say they hate a group of people based on some random characteristic...skin color, religion, food preference...as long as they do it respectfully???

How does that help the group being hated on?

The way you have this set up, the people being hated on are the ones more likely to get banned. You protect racist hate speech (as long as it is respectful), but will ban a member who gets ANGRY over being looked down upon as a human being because of their skin color.

So you are saying...ATS members...you are free to express your hate and tell other groups of people that they are sub-human or below you because of your skin color (as long as you are respectful about it). And ATS members of that group...YOU BETTER NOT GET ANGRY AT IT OR YOU WILL BE PUNISHED.

Seems like a backward policy. Punish the victim...protect the perp. Punish the reaction...not the instigator. It's sad if that is what ATS is going to become.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


SkepticOverlord,

Thanks for the conformation!! I had noticed the increase as well and created a thread in BTS where people can at least express their anger at me without disrupting the thread.... (added it to my signature but so far it only attracts good people. )

I hope it's just the holiday season again....

Peace

Ultimately, everyone needs to take responsibility for their own actions. That is practically the definition of "mature." If another member posts something inflammatory, step away from the keyboard. Ask yourself: "is it worth lowering myself to their level?" Take some time to think about the proper way to respond, if at all. Anger feeds anger, hatred feeds hatred. Don't perpetuate the cycle.

There is now software available to prevent "drunk texting." You know, when someone has been drowning their sorrows and decides to give their "ex" a piece of their mind.... (Whether angry, passionate or maudlin.) The software presents you with a series of simple math problems to solve before sending the text. If you're not sober enough to solve them, it won't send the message. It would probably be impractical for the Mods to implement a system like this along the lines of the new "pop up" that reminds members of the copyright rules, but it would be great if we all pretended such a system were in place. If we're too angry to recite the multiplication tables, we're probably too angry to post!

Considering things I have seen on other sites I think ATS is doing pretty good on managing this.

The scary thing about this is I feel this is a very good reflection of society at the moment. We are reaching a critical point on the planet.

Most people are running out of money and don't know what to do. I live in a small country that was doing well before the downturn. For the last couple of weeks people are screaming on the radio about the government and the economy. I have never seen anger like it. Watching the news around the world it looks no different anywhere else. America looks scary for so many reasons too.
People here outta work are mad. People here in work are mad because of extra taxes. Nobody has any money. Everything is slowly grinding to a halt. Just today we were told that 30homes a day are having their power cut. This is unheard of before. When you start seeing stories like this I know we are in trouble. That might seem like a small number but its a small country and this is only the start of it. Good people who worked hard all their lives are in some cases now having to commit small acts of crime to keep their families fed.
The only people who don't realise how bad this is getting are the few people who have some money left. No-one else can see any kinda future. The money is gone so now people start turning on each other. The system is failing. The media is lying non-stop that its ok or improving. Everybody knows they are lying. Everybody can see what is happening around them.

The only thing that can be down is that the current economic system will have to be abandoned. I really think we are seeing the end of money , intentionally or not, I do not know. I just hope folks come together soon to try and sort the mess otherwise we are gonna see hell on earth.

I am been really honest. I hate any fearmongering. I am just observing everthing that is going on around me at the moment. If you dont think its that bad its because you have some money stashed. Sorry to break the bad news but that aint gonna help. It will proabably make you a target for while. That will only be temporary because it will all be useless soon enough.

Anyway to get back to the point , this is why you are seeing the anger.
Money makes the world go round. Money is running out, everywhere. The world is grinding to a halt.

We can give up on the system but lets not give up on each other!

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


It seems to this psychologist/sociologist . . .

that:

1. The Powers That Be really are ramping things up toward massive destructiveness and death on many fronts by many means.

2. Such facts, as I see them, are beginning to filter out to a wider range of the general population. They are NOT amused.

3. People usually feel pretty passionate about the potential to probability of

(A) losing jobs with no recourse and no lastingly convincing help on the horizon;

(B) going hungry and/or their family going hungry with little hope of relief to the point of death;

(C) losing their lives and their families' lives;

(D) having their country if not their culture and the entire global framework put at risk if not wholesale trashed--particularly willfully by the globalist power-mongers/power-jockeys.

4. Folks failing to be at least seriously concerned by the above must be brain dead or on some serious tranqs.

5. Frankly, while the standards hereon are wonderfully admirable . . . just how proper IS it to speak of such things in calmly measured tones with teacup to lips and little finger lofted?


[edit on 16/8/2010 by BO XIAN]

Only like-minded individuls can co-exist in peace. Why some conflicts happen in some threads is because people want to find a final solution to the topic at hand but when you have two or more sides with different methods of coming to the conclusion then it's impossible. If one side relies on factual evidence and logic to support your theories and the other side relies on wishful thinking then you can't come to a mutual agreement. You can't make me believe in intelligent alien life 100% by stating a few statistical numbers, I will only believe that when I actually see those aliens or find solid evidence of them. THe funnies response you can get in situations like this is: "Why are you even discussing this topic if you don't (blindly) believe it?

People should just stop trying to find final solutions to topics they discuss. We humans can't discuss, things that we are passionate about, peacefully.

[edit on 16/8/2010 by DGFenrir]

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


I believe and have seen many positive comments on the leniancy of our mods.
It is greatly appreciated that they give warnings they way they do.
Please continue to keep ATS at a human level. Let ATS not adopt or resort to, the rigid mechanical policies of our society and government.

[edit on 16-8-2010 by randyvs]

WOW, what a can of worms you just opened up here...

I am angry. Yes angry because of all the attacks that I have seen by member here. I don't even post anymore, and I am guessing many more feel the same way.
What I am seeing is the same handful of members beat threads to death with either off topic posts, one liners, silly pictures and no text, or name calling. This is not what ATS used to be.
Just this morning I sent 2 alerts because of off topic posts, that was in being on ATS for less than 5 minutes.
We need to clean up the act folks!