Can someone answer this for me?

Since I've been here, a short time compared to some of you I know, I've seen a disturbing trend.

Here is an example:

OP:

Today, FMR President Bush stated that if he could change just one thing about his two terms, it would be that he left sooner so Obama could have took his place four years earlier. *****************************(

reply to post by Juston


I have noticed and complained about the same thing. Someone will point out a problem with a post, or the way an article was perceived, early in the thread, and it will just go on and on and on with wild speculation and gross misunderstanding for another 30 pages.

My mom used to call this "selective hearing."

Save your breath, it's just the way it is here on ATS.

People will only believe in what they want to and never see the truth it real is. it's all about there perception on how they see an article.

I was wondering about this as well. I don't think these types of posters even bother to read what anyone else has replied before they post their reply. (or after for that matter.)

reply to post by Juston


It's because many people do no read more than the first post or two.
I recall a thread wher the op held a psychic experiment saying guess what I'm visualizing. So the guesses started rolling in. Way off mark the op guided the guesses like in " twenty questions" until a hour later someone finally "psychically" received (guessed) the correct image,

The guessing went on for another 18 hours (or something silly like that.)

reply to post by Juston


Post 7 (phage): This is clearly a joke guys. *************************************************************************************************************************

reply to post by Juston

t's a genuine question...Does anyone know why THIS happens?

Yes it is a genuine question and can be mostly answers with a simple fact.

roughly, and I'm just making this number up from experience, 75% of ATS users, specifically a lot of the recently joined members, read the thread title, and maybe half of the OP or even the entire OP, then click reply and comment on it.

It really is that simple. In fact there was a case of this not that long ago that basically proved most of the people commenting and star and flagging only read the thread title, not even the first post, just the name of the thread, then commented.

Personally I rarely do that, unless it's a topic that my comment will apply to regardless of other users posts. For the most part I read entire threads, but if I'm in a rush or feel like commenting on a specific part, I'll read through the first page. Take this thread for example, there is no need to read the entire thing past the OP before posting my reply, so I posted, then finished reading everyone's comments.

you can usually tell where a thread is going by the posts on the first page.

I don't get how so many Onion articles are posted here as fact like that Obama punching a banker in the face. not only did the user not "stumble upon" it, they didn't even read or visit the link they posted a thread about as it was a really bad photoshop job on the image, AND was at the Onion.

People are using this site incorrectly, anything anyone posts (unless they actually have sources and facts and data, you know, stupid stuff) is considered fact, case closed, no need to vet the information, no need to source it, in fact, no need to even READ the information.

Just post it, throw some exclamation points in there and you are on the road to stars and flags. That star and flag system has failed and should just be done away with in my opinion. Keep it but do not rate articles based on it as it's completely and utterly failed.

I don't get it, slashdot has a similar system but on specific comments, rating them up or down makes them visible or makes them disappear, and it works, valid relevant comments get voted up, stupid random crap gets voted down.

Why can't this work here?

reply to post by Juston

It seems like people just cherry pick the parts that agree with their beliefs.
Often people don't even bother to read the full post before replying either.

The sad part is that this seems to be a new trend. This forum seemed to be very different even a few years ago.

reply to post by phishyblankwaters


Thank you for your long, detailed response (Oh...How I hate when the Onion gets posted here)

I understand that yes, people may just read the thread title, half the o.p. etc...and just blindly throw out their comment...

But why? To get their post count up? Trolling for stars? Laziness?

Man, I hate those posts...you know, the ones on page 67 that say " I haven't read the whole thread but...."

Hell, half the reason my post count is so low is because once I do make it into a thread, anything I had to say has been said ten times over.

Originally posted by chiefsmom
I was wondering about this as well. I don't think these types of posters even bother to read what anyone else has replied before they post their reply. (or after for that matter.)

I must admit i sometimes don't read all the replies either. This is because i don't really have time to read all replies if there are tens of pages of replies, when i just want to reply to the post by the OP.

But at least I read the full post by OP which is not the case with most people.

I think it's possibly due to the Really Above Tops Secret Forum and any other minimum post requirements. I contend that, without the minimum 200 posts to get in the forum, we would see alot less drivel. But we would also have less content and traffic, and that means a decline in site revenue. People post to get their post count up. When really, it should be a post to star ratio - implying quality posts - that grants one entry. However, if that was done, we'd have 25% the members we have present on any given day.

The money, people. You should learn it's typically behind most nonsense.

reply to post by Juston
Disinfo, anyone??? I mean really. OP's right. The thread starter AT LEAST should keep up with comments to his own thread, both pro and con. Otherwise, this place will become a ridiculous waste of space!

I also wonder sometimes while certain topics almost seem 'auto-hoaxed' and yet stuff like "I got abducted and had a tea party on a mothership" --clearly unverifiable garbage --hangs out pretty as you please on the firehose page.
I guess it's such a huge site and hard to decide what to hoax and what to let slide???

reply to post by Juston


The answer is very simple. People replying to the OP, without reading through the pages and pages of the thread. And that is understandable...wish I had the time to go through more of them.