Words without meaning...

I've spent a fair while on ATS and it's descended into a land fill regarding my beloved UFO subject. Its so chronically bad that when I see the words 'proof', 'smoking gun' or XYZ happens on X date' that I just ignore those threads as there's no proof of anything, just wildly regurgitated rubbish posted for effect.

There's so many smoking guns that ER must be over full, there's so much 'proof' that it must now be OVER PROOF just like the stuff they are drinking when writing these daft threads. As for these dates missed for special happenings, well Lindsey Lohan must be laughing her backside off, only she has missed this many dates.

The next absurdity is the constant deliberate ignorance of the search feature, you just know a HUGE number of these people have seen other threads but just HAVE to see theirs in the forum, wow talk about low self esteem. I'm sorry but if all you can do with your life is post multiple repeated obvious BS or hoaxes then you really have time to kill.

In all honesty, the quality of reporting, the quality of witnesses has gone down since the 50's and 60's, then you could pretty much rely on the person to be both honest and not in on it for a quick buck, they may have seen nothing at all but you got the story as they saw it without too many embellishments. Now, its down to who can create the biggest fraud, who can use technology to make the best lie. UFO's are now an industry supporting the bank balances of many frauds, fakers and down right leeches, "What did you see"..."Well what do you want me to tell you I saw?"

The subject is a joke.

And what do forums offer?

Very very little in the real world but I have to say there are some fantastic people out there writing well thought out threads, assessing cases with skill and no tarnish either way but sadly for every one of those theres an evil twin or twins that use the subject as a platform to show their rudeness, ignorance and arrogance towards others. Lest we forget those who have so much insider knowledge yet so little if anything ever comes from these folks. So what is their reason for these claims, childishness, just plain liars, wanting to bathe in the star light like Greer?

Does it help the subject...Hell no....

And then we have the religious nut jobs, looking at UFO's requires a scientific thought process, if you wish to cloud that with non scientific beliefs then you are not doing it right and should shut up. Religion often equates to miracles and tricks, there's no usefulness for that to be introduced into the equation. We evolve by research, willing to think out of the box, trying new ideas, without doing this we waste our brain and don't deserve to call ourselves clever.

There's nothing worse than reading a thread and seeing a person simply refuse to acknowledge a fact, something proved to them but sticking to their guns because they think that makes them unique, a 'special' member of the forum, a 'face', the bad boy image...

Call it what you like but it's just pig headed arrogance, it renders threads into rows which I'm sure gives them joy but for the reader it's just annoying. The same can be said of those who read the first two posts of a thread that's 10 pages long and make comments..NO NO NO....Read the bloody thread all the way, you might not look like an idiot if you do, you may see that the subject has been debunked long ago either in the thread or before.

And please, repeating the words 'critical thinker' does not actually make you one, nor does it give you the job to be rude and arrogant. a 'true' critical thinker would read a persons written thought process and then offer advice as to why they think its wrong, they certainly would not lambaste the poor person as if on a mighty horse looking down on the dim wits.

So, do I hope to change TS, ha ha..Not a chance, but if I can touch the thoughts of a few and hoping they improve their interaction with others then I'm happy, the die hard cliques will carry on, the spammers will carry on, but there must be hope surely?

Freedom of speech is special and needed but there's a fine line between that and the freedom of stupidity....

agreed, star and flag

thanks

rich

And why make this thread if you used the search feature and saw that someone already started a "mass histeria on ATS" lets all talk about how ATS quality went downhill. How many times do we need to harp on the same issues? Sorry, I just think your topic has been beat to death. I mean no disrespect toward you at all since I think your thread has valid in depth points, but I also feel it has been literally beat to death already the last few days. Check thread "mass histeria on ats"

reply to post by Mclaneinc

I couldn't agree with you more. The wide spread use of video cameras and You Tube could've been used in a positive light for ufology but instead I think they've done the exact opposite of their collective potential. There's so much everywhere it's disturbing.

I will say this though. It's very difficult on ATS to actually search for some or most videos when thread titles don't always reflect video titles and video titles are altered and then re-released. The day for a way to search for videos other than by title is way overdue.

I agree...the search feature needs some improvement. I'm new in here and I've found it to be somewhat limiting, so I can see how people can inadvertently post material that has already been discussed. I wonder if a keyword search of post content beyond the thread titles would be too overwhelming...

Originally posted by vincenz32
And why make this thread if you used the search feature and saw that someone already started a "mass histeria on ATS" lets all talk about how ATS quality went downhill. How many times do we need to harp on the same issues? Sorry, I just think your topic has been beat to death. I mean no disrespect toward you at all since I think your thread has valid in depth points, but I also feel it has been literally beat to death already the last few days. Check thread "mass hysteria on ats"

Now that is embarrassing.....

Mind you I would have ignored it with a title like that.

Apologies for that, all I can say is that I'd rather see more calls for the forums to be 'better' than some of the tosh that's posted.

I would compare ATS at times to being a toilet (wait humour me), toilets get crap in them, lots of crap abut sometimes they need to be rodded and cleared of all the crap for it to function properly.

well, why do you come here then?

I love it. I love all the 'doomsday' threads, 'hoax' threads, 'I am a grey from a past life'... 'there's a UFO out the front of my house right now' threads...

maybe I am strange but after reading these threads, I smile and go about my daily routine.

Isn't it 'entertainment'?

I log in to ATS for entertainment value because there isn't much on TV....

Choice... ATS or TV?

ATS

Originally posted by Mclaneinc
I would compare ATS at times to being a toilet (wait humour me), toilets get crap in them, lots of crap abut sometimes they need to be rodded and cleared of all the crap for it to function properly.

To paraphrase the great Art Carney (as Ed Norton)

"ATS is like a sewer. What you get out of it depends on what you put into it."

Harte

Well, this is a free website. And while there are rules that should be followed, not everyone does. It's kinda like that IGNORE button. Do you really need it to ignore someone? Besides, Isn't there RATS for those who prefer discussing the scrutinizing minutia of a subject?

Personally, I don't think there will ever be proof of anything on any website, unless it's referencing scholarly material. I actually find it silly when people demand it. There's plenty of evidence to inductively support ideas, and to speculate while pressed against your own personal experiences with the subject matter, but proof?... hahahaha

BTW, has anyone ever heard of the skeptic's fallacy? Couple that with selective evidence and you may find it is just as much a problem as uncritical viewpoints. The key words here are reasonable and rational.

This forum pretty much consists of the following thread types

Baseless Prediction Threads

Undeniable! Smoking Gun! Live! Proof! Aliens Cause Me to Use Up the Worlds Supply of Exclamation Marks!!!!!!eleventyone1111!! threads

Shakycam Threads

People complaining about the state of the forum threads

People complaining about people who complain about the state of the forum threads

People who actually believe they are aliens threads (Rarer than they used to be, I guess the aliens arent getting down and jiggy with hot earth girls anymore)

Disclosure (of an extravagantly imagined reality rather than what we have now in release of say the UK UFO files for example) is imminent/never gonna happen threads

Semi entertaining and thought provoking "hmmm that makes a good story" threads

The occasional elaborate hoax threads

Threads that are for exactly the same topic as at least 5 other threads in on the first page of topics.

Obviously one thread can belong to more than one of those categories.

Take out the space aliens and you would have the same kind of community as many others on the internet, people from different schools of thought who have a single issue that they disagree on and want to argue over it, finding various elements of the issue to act as vehicles through which to expand the discussion, at least it is entertaining

It would be a more interesting forum if the garbage and repetitive elements were toned down somewhat by the users or moderated a little more stringently but its not as though this isn't an issue for other similarly themed sites.