Is being anonymous on ATS the right thing? I dont think so.

So what your saying MR RED, Is that everyone should be "chipped" in a sense, whether they are old skool users, or newbies. Hmm, alright & what about people who just come here to read, and sit in the shadows and MIND THEIR OWN BUSINESS? Are they subject to this "identity fee" just because they like to have a read of interesting topics you cannot find on any "normal" news portal?
You want to send ATS to corporate networks, charge a monthly Pay Per View Fee like Cinemax and HBO? You want to get through to some ppl, and filter out the gunk is that it? well there is this thing we call NATURAL SELECTION! you can IGNORE users you cannot stand because all they do is post something you disagree with; you can also ~get this~ PRIVATE MESSAGE with ppl you have come to know and trust, even with your family! These tools are readily available free of charge because ATS stands for ABOVE.TOP.SECRET not BELOW IT!

reply to post by MrRed


I didn't read through all of the posts. Your first post was edited for getting around the censors and so on to other posts. Do YOU feel that you post this way because no one knows who you are?

Mahree

I think you should go and create your own site. Then everybody can tell everybody else their names. You can all become great friends. You could follow each other.Set up pages for campaigns and all sign up to these causes with your real names. Tell everyone what your interests are. People with lots of followers would be really cool. You could then sell all the information you have on the consumer cattle on your site to third party marketing companies for obscene amounts of money.

Or you could just go back to Facebook.

Originally posted by hillbilly4rent

Originally posted by css1981
hmmm... I don't know if ATS would be better if we use our real names, real photo's...

Some of us do, it helps keep reply's to minimum

You get minimal replies because of your pic? Heh, I think you look like a great fella to have a drink with!!!

Originally posted by capgrup
I admit that I am not too excited about your idea.
It is not so much about a fear of having done
"something wrong" and having that discovered.

I have been on ATS three seperate times since
2003; when people in general were much more
polite and alot less vindictive.

I left the first time after someone became upset
after a disagreement and used spyware. While
I have no problem with a web site seeing my IP
adress and so forth, an average web user has
no need and no right.

If I can limit "Joe Smuck" from any info they do
not need to see then I will.

Also these days you always hear about some
pinhead in accounting who took their work home
for the weekend and left their info on the train.
That and the proverbial hacker getting account
info is to important to me for just some casual
entertanment like ATS.

I no longer have any highly classified job to
worry about and most of my friends know my
thoughts on politics so I believe I offended them
long ago. I have no worries there.

I do wish there was a way to increase the
caliber of discourse on ATS to where it once
was. I do know that I have found myself
succumbing to that which I hate; the bickering,
vitriolic argueing that goes nowhere and proves
nothing.

I am just as guilty.

I really liked your post.
I agree with it to a large etent. ATS did use to be a place where people were civil.
I used to read all the Posts daily on ATS back in 2005.
Now I need to sift through the garbage that people spew.

Masses of stories that even JK Rowling would be proud of. Such displeasure and invented hokum.

Originally posted by franspeakfree
reply to post by MrRed

 

Something about this thread does not seem right to me. After reading the entire OP it seems that I am correct with my first assumption. As soon as I read the title, my gut feeling is going overtime. With all the new changes to ATS and then this thread just simply pops up by a new user and goes straight to the front page after a handful of replies, coincedence right. Testing the water maybe?

Well then Mrfranspeakfree, testing the waters? Such imagination. Your gut "feeling". That word again on ATS.

that's right "feeling" = PROOF on here.

No seriously, please could you explain a little more what you actually are trying to say.

Many thanks,

MR Red

reply to post by MrRed


Says the man who's aka is 'MrRed'

Why do you so desperately want members to reveal themselves?

I don't think its a good idea at all....

Do you think members would want to give out their ID's? Credit Card Details?

If they wanted that they would join a site where ID was required or set up their own one....

The reason members join a site like this is so they can post anonymously.... not everyone is a charlatan, you just have to decipher the bull from the truth & reality.... if you can't decipher that, then you are no good as a debater.

Originally posted by MrRed

I agree with it to a large etent. ATS did use to be a place where people were civil.
I used to read all the Posts daily on ATS back in 2005.
Now I need to sift through the garbage that people spew.

This is what happens when a site starts to become mainstream, I think the site owners want the place to become as commercial as possible with all this Twitter/facebook bollocks being connected up with the place, that's not a slur against the owners as business is business but people here should expect things to get worse in regards to spammy little no brainers hitting the site, unless something drastic is done.

Originally posted by Mr9v9
So what your saying MR RED, Is that everyone should be "chipped" in a sense, whether they are old skool users, or newbies. Hmm, alright & what about people who just come here to read, and sit in the shadows and MIND THEIR OWN BUSINESS? Are they subject to this "identity fee" just because they like to have a read of interesting topics you cannot find on any "normal" news portal?
You want to send ATS to corporate networks, charge a monthly Pay Per View Fee like Cinemax and HBO? You want to get through to some ppl, and filter out the gunk is that it? well there is this thing we call NATURAL SELECTION! you can IGNORE users you cannot stand because all they do is post something you disagree with; you can also ~get this~ PRIVATE MESSAGE with ppl you have come to know and trust, even with your family! These tools are readily available free of charge because ATS stands for ABOVE.TOP.SECRET not BELOW IT!

edit on 19-10-2010 by Mr9v9 because: Emphasis

NO. As usual people cant read or are to ignorant to read.

I NEVER said anything like Chipped or anything close.

I suggested a credit card payment first, then stated just a face pic and first name.

Nothing like what you said. Another person on ATS spouting absolute BS.

People like you who can not be bothered to read the entire thread should be silenced when making remarks that have NEVER been said.

NO chipping ever. Unless you cant read.

And School is NOT spelt Skool.

Originally posted by MrRed
You matter not one bit to me.

you obviously felt i mattered enough to get offended and retort with an uneducated insult that was more amusing than anything else.

Enjoy your internet over their in OZ. they sent all criminals from England to Australia years ago and now you are being treated like one by your own gov. Well done there.

......thanks? sorry but that really didn't make sense at all.

-B.M

So, while a lot of efforts are put into ATS in so many ways, i would not mind paying a fee if that's the case. Also giving ones real identity for the admin. to know, well i would not mind that either.

But in "public" ? What about the celeb members of ATS ? What about the people who come here building up huge threads about the "alternative" topics, for others to read ? Things they can't discuss with the guy next door at home ? The things you don't talk about at a dinner party ?

You can learn a lot about people here, without them having to share their real identity. If they should, they would more likely not "tell it like it is". Already, there are lot of issues regarding peoples privacy "out there" on the www, so in case ATS is a place where people feel "safe", How sad it would be to take it away...

"They" always say, it shall be about the post and not the poster. There will sometimes be your opinion, my opinion and the right one, So, in case you don't find my opinion acceptable enough, be welcome to "weed me out". Or even better just ignore.
That was the opinion given by the real me

Originally posted by MrRed

Originally posted by Mr9v9
So what your saying MR RED, Is that everyone should be "chipped" in a sense, whether they are old skool users, or newbies. Hmm, alright & what about people who just come here to read, and sit in the shadows and MIND THEIR OWN BUSINESS? Are they subject to this "identity fee" just because they like to have a read of interesting topics you cannot find on any "normal" news portal?
You want to send ATS to corporate networks, charge a monthly Pay Per View Fee like Cinemax and HBO? You want to get through to some ppl, and filter out the gunk is that it? well there is this thing we call NATURAL SELECTION! you can IGNORE users you cannot stand because all they do is post something you disagree with; you can also ~get this~ PRIVATE MESSAGE with ppl you have come to know and trust, even with your family! These tools are readily available free of charge because ATS stands for ABOVE.TOP.SECRET not BELOW IT!

edit on 19-10-2010 by Mr9v9 because: Emphasis

NO. As usual people cant read or are to ignorant to read.

I NEVER said anything like Chipped or anything close.

I suggested a credit card payment first, then stated just a face pic and first name.

Nothing like what you said. Another person on ATS spouting absolute BS.

People like you who can not be bothered to read the entire thread should be silenced when making remarks that have NEVER been said.

NO chipping ever. Unless you cant read.

And School is NOT spelt Skool.

edit on 19/10/10 by MrRed because: data

Wow, you speak of others ignorace, but yet you revel in it yourself. Obviously (well it is to me) Mr 9v9 was using a mataphor when talking about the chipping. (he even put these fellers in " " to indicate this) Should YOU be "silenced" for such "crimes" against ATS? No, you shouldn't. But you certainly should be argued with

Start making people pay to use ATS,and you will loose pretty much every sane person on here. There are loads of free sites to post on, so why should people pay to use a forum? (especially one which is already funded by advertisments, and one who asks you to dissable your adblockers) And anonimaty is important on a website, especially one like this, where many air views which are anti goverment.

This thread is 100% BS. IMO.

Originally posted by MrRed
I think everyone should be required to use their own name and pay a $1 dollar a year fee ...

I don't mind the fee ... but using real names? That's insane.
Cyberstalking is serious business.
It's not hard to find where someone lives based on a real name and what they post.
There are too many kooks, loons, psychopaths, and whackjobs out there to even consider it.

"Da da dadadad/ (using tune from "invisible man" by Queen)

Most trolls are green, some trolls are blue
Other trolls are pink, with a purple hue
But every troll trolls, oh it's what they do
From the yellow troll hole, it's slime on you


Hey, but this troll's red, Mr red to you
he's in ya head, with the gray gray goo.
So give ya name, or you numbers up
Sink the drink, from the Red Troll cup
Yeah feed the troll, it can't get enough,
c'mon and feed the troll, can't get enough....

Ya gonna give your name!, your gonna pay the fee!
and we'll boot you out, if you don't agree.
Wanna check you face, before you have your say
Make sure your you,, and not some gray
Welcome to the new democracy
Of the red troll cup in the red troll tree.
(chorus)

And you are really who???? Mr Anonymous?

Were you joking whne you asked should we hide and then not tell us al about yourself?

ATS gets weirder and weirder.

reply to post by MrRed


You want to know what I think about it? ....

Mr.Red being ex Army and now close-protection, i would of thought you of all people would know the value of anonymity.

Will the M.O.D. release your name, rank and number to the general public?? no they won't..Why??...to protect you.

Many members on this site are ex or indeed serving members of various armed forces, some are ex-police and serving police, some are government employees.

Anonymity is a service ATS provides to its members so that they may post whatever they choose without fear of such being used to slander or deform their character.

Anonymity is the guardian of free speech, it protects you from extremists who disagree vehemently with what you say and who will go to great lengths to stop you from saying it.

Anonymity allows people to express their true opinions.

Finally the Fee-paying part of your rant.

ATS is not about making money from its members, it is not so arrogant to assume that information found on this site cannot be found elsewhere.

If ATS started charging for access it would lose half of its membership overnight.

What little money ATS does make comes from advertising, and the money it makes on that comes from the size of its membership base and its visitor hit rate.

That is the way ATS chooses to do its business and quite rightly so in my opinion.

My last words to you Mr.Red,

ATS is a people friendly living room of discourse.

It is not an interrogation cell.

When a member makes a claim that requires validation, the ATS staff are more than capable of completing those checks on our behalf.

Originally posted by Mike Stivic
reply to post by whaaa

 

You First...

Name...
dob....
address...
political affiliations....
Children names/ages...
Spouse ....

That should do it

I second that motion...

with much emotion ...

and an emoticon...

~meathead

I agree,
How about it ?

reply to post by MrRed


How about,
YOU start your own site, and have that as one of your requirements and let's see how many people you get?
It's nice that you can share your idea on here, it really is,
but I have no desire for you to 'know' me, and I have no desire to 'know' you,
as a matter of fact, just by you asking for this to take place tells me that you are someone to stay away from,
your name calling inflaming opening remarks coupled with your quest to 'know' who's behind each word, to me are dangerous indicators.
Thanks for sharing,
IGNORE

As with most things, there is the element of choice. One can have their username be their real name, or not, it's up to the individual. I think the OP may be forgetting something that would be lost with the anonymity of usernames....the freedom to speak your TRUE mind, without the trappings of social propriety other than the terms and conditions of the site. This creates a more academic forum for discussion of true stances on issues.

Some of us (like myself) have certainly posted enough out here to show our "real" faces, etc. And while that may be fine with me, others may be more private. That is their prerogative, in my opinion.

As for old timers shooting down newbies....I often agree with an old quote by Eleanor Roosevelt (and I may not have it exact here, but it's something like this)..."Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent." I think it's a very true statement.