The world is a big place, and frankly, some ATS members need to remember where they came from.

reply to post by neformore


well is it any wonder when people who are starting out on their journey here get trampled all over by those who don't have the courtesy to treat them properly and welcome them into what may be a huge change in their understanding of the world?


A Fair generalization, but a pretty close runner-up to that is the number of new members joining up and talking it up...


Not to compare ATS to junior high norms, but the new kid on the block usually lays low initially...lately I've seen quite a few recent members (I don't know - 30 to 60 days...) do far more than give their opinion.


Your point is spot-on - at least in terms of those new members genuinely trying to get involved, but you get what you give, especially when you've just arrived...

We are Rigel4 ....................You'll make an excellent drone.

im relatively new myself and did avoid asking certain questions for fear of ridicule, the result, it took me a whole night to figure out how to set my avatar. noobs should be helped...

as for sarcasm, ill admit to joking around on some threads and some of my (what is intended as light hearted) humour probably does come across as sarcasm.

reply to post by DaveNorris


Nothing wrong with sarcasm and wit ... spice of life and whatnot, no?
ATS doesn't have to be dull and dry, how uninspiring would that be?

Originally posted by LadySkadi
reply to post by DaveNorris

 

spice of life and whatnot, no?

pip pip talley ho, me ol' mucker.

Originally posted by LadySkadi
reply to post by DaveNorris

 

Nothing wrong with sarcasm and wit ... spice of life and whatnot, no?
ATS doesn't have to be dull and dry, how uninspiring would that be?

Why can't I put a star on this post?

That is so very true... Also, too often, too many here take this all WAY too seriously and place entirely too much importance and value on their own contributions here....

Question is, when does the average person stop seeing this as all pixels on a screen and begin to believe it is their own reality?

Originally posted by Fractured.Facade

Originally posted by LadySkadi
reply to post by DaveNorris

 

Nothing wrong with sarcasm and wit ... spice of life and whatnot, no?
ATS doesn't have to be dull and dry, how uninspiring would that be?

Why can't I put a star on this post?

That is so very true... Also, too often, too many here take this all WAY too seriously and place entirely too much importance and value on their own contributions here....

Question is, when does the average person stop seeing this as all pixels on a screen and begin to believe it is their own reality?

Exactly!!!!!!!! I always remind people "WarminIndy is just my username, WarminIndy made a post but WarminIndy does not really exist".

When people respond to WarminIndy, they are responding to nothing more than an extension of my ego, the ego that formulated an idea that led to choosing a username that says something about my ego, nothing more than that. I am multi-faceted, more than just WarminIndy.

reply to post by neformore


There was a thread that I posted on that had annoyed me a lot.
I get tired of other members complaining about ATS being over
run by ignorant pinheads.
One of the worst things we can do as members here is get the
impression we are too valuable to ATS.We can ALL be replaced
at anytime including staff.
I am guilty of being rude to others but I am usually being defensive.
Some members make you feel like you are too stupid to be posting
here.I have learned a lot since joining and I would like to think that
I am growing as a person.
I will promise to be more considerate,less intolerant and be more
helpful to any newbies.I will still try to bribe staff with cookies and
now I am adding homemade fudge.

AshleyD had as her signature one time...post unto others as you would
have them post unto you.I think we all can learn from this.

reply to post by DaveNorris

FWIW, please feel free at anytime to u2u any staff.
When I don't have the answer, I can usually find someone here who does.

Contacting Staff: Alerts, Suggestions, Complaints

When I joined 3 years ago, I thought I could bring some new thoughts and personal experiences to this forum.

Recently, the attacks - against me as a woman, and as a respectful, educated individual - have caused me to look at new topics and see who has been posting before I make any comment. I am not normally a defensive person. I worked hard all my life to achieve the retirement and happiness I enjoy. But to be "bullied" because a particular individual seems to be threatened by nearly everything I post, regardless of how innocent it's intended, makes me want to NOT post again in any thread wherein that individual has any interest. And if, later in the thread, that person rears his ugly head, I bow out and don't post in that thread anymore, regardless of whether or not I think I have something germane to add.

A little civility goes a long, long way...

on one hand, ats should be proud of the growth and how many members sign up.
on the other hand there is always a point where things get too big for their britches and become difficult to control and an unwanted element arizes.
the bigger this site gets, the more uncontrolable it will become.

Originally posted by rubbertramp
on one hand, ats should be proud of the growth and how many members sign up.
on the other hand there is always a point where things get too big for their britches and become difficult to control and an unwanted element arizes.
the bigger this site gets, the more uncontrolable it will become.

So is that a reason for us to lose our own self control, sheer numbers?
That doesn't make sense to me at all, sorry.

A nicely worded reminder for everyone OP nice heart and the sentiments should be shared when ever the opportunity arises, so thanks for that

It actually takes less effort as the opposite

The stresses in society are becoming unberable for a large number of people. The breakdown in civility is to some degree a reflection of the wider collapse of social decency. Also, critical thinking has been devalued and polemics have been given priority. The System loves advertisments but can't see the value in long, rambling conversations.

Also, it's worth remembering school is out in a large part of the world for the holidays....the less mature flood the internets....seems to happen every year around this time...

I've been Sr. Mod on another site where we have 2700 members, and 2/3 are active. I have 3 mods who work for me, hand-picked because they're from different countries, write and comprehend English well, and know the politics of different parts of the globe better than I do, being just an American who hasn't traveled much. We've had only 4 guests/members in 7 years we've had to ban for indecent remarks and foul language. Occasionally we get a flurry of new people... and then they just drop off, which is fine. The solid community we DO have seems to watch each others' backs, and report inappropriate language and bullying right away, because we allow pre-teens (12+) on our site who are interested in paranormal and UFO topics. We get their parents' permission, and so we have to keep the site child-friendly. Subjects that are too adult for the younger members are discussed in a Member's private forum which only adults can join. The owner of our site lets the mods pretty much run the forum, but he's always reading the alerts to be sure something doesn't slip by us because we're all in different time zones.

I don't need to be in control to feel welcome, but respectful criticism is a must, no matter which site I'm in.

I left for 4 months to win prizes. (I do it for a short bit every year. And when I have my fill, I stop.) Anyways, I could see a very big difference when I came back.

I have noticed a few folks in particular. Very shrewd and rude. Those folks in turn set the stage for others to chime in with similar comments. I think if the moderators put an end to those troublemakers efforts, things may settle somewhat. Those folks will not pay any attention to what you have posted here since they have been getting away with it all along. And will likely think, who me? Nah...

Personally ATS's "Deny Ignorance" is a conundrum... For the 99.99%, most live in ignorance... your asking them to give up everything they know.

After a while you don't care and become extremely annoyed at how often you have to repeat yourself when there's a perfectly good search function on ATS...

These Newb's use it to find subject matter on Google, Yahoo or Bing, but somehow they can't use it on ATS? I agree that the sarcasm and ego must be controlled, but you have to understand how hard annoying it is to have conversations once ripe with intellect degraded down to youtube banter.

Fox

I suppose I'm treading upon the soil trod of some greater or lesser being, I give not one whit.
That being said primarily as T.O.S. requirements frown upon one liners intended to earn someone a Light Saber, or a Darth Vader costume.
Ill mannered people do tend to be rather frustrated at having no "appreciable" life.
At times they lash out, and when they do it does make for a rather hostile environment.
Those unable to contain themselves, being overwrought with desire to fault at least my antiquated syntax, if not my spelling of the patchwork "English" spoken in America.
I'll not belabour the whole "Football" argument, this being well known and oft repeated...until the firms come out of the bleachers and flog players, referees, judges, broadcasters, even the most practiced of talking heads knowing the swelling seems to be going down, and the drain looks evermore gaping, swirling, and looming large.
All this you have read so that I, in my semi annual posting have brought the most inane of filler that I'd not be cut down in my infancy to say merely this; This here ain't ALT.FLAME.ATS, ok Bunkie?
To which I might add if you enjoy hurling the invective I suggest you play with the crispy remains of the "Flame Wars".
Off with you to Alt.fan.carlmaldensnose and meow, or attempt a zombied multiplonk, you'll find someone to play with, you know, in a place far away from where you might reside.
There is a time and place for everthing, and alt.flame sidewires of Usenet await your public belittling.
Don't go screw with LOKI at alt.revenge because LOKI will go real world on your gluteus maximi.
And don't Wayback Machine the Tinsel Fairy, just for your own mental health.
Kthxbai

Originally posted by Luminaught
I suppose I'm treading upon the soil trod of some greater or lesser being, I give not one whit.
That being said primarily as T.O.S. requirements frown upon one liners intended to earn someone a Light Saber, or a Darth Vader costume.
Ill mannered people do tend to be rather frustrated at having no "appreciable" life.
At times they lash out, and when they do it does make for a rather hostile environment.
Those unable to contain themselves, being overwrought with desire to fault at least my antiquated syntax, if not my spelling of the patchwork "English" spoken in America.
I'll not belabour the whole "Football" argument, this being well known and oft repeated...until the firms come out of the bleachers and flog players, referees, judges, broadcasters, even the most practiced of talking heads knowing the swelling seems to be going down, and the drain looks evermore gaping, swirling, and looming large.
All this you have read so that I, in my semi annual posting have brought the most inane of filler that I'd not be cut down in my infancy to say merely this; This here ain't ALT.FLAME.ATS, ok Bunkie?
To which I might add if you enjoy hurling the invective I suggest you play with the crispy remains of the "Flame Wars".
Off with you to Alt.fan.carlmaldensnose and meow, or attempt a zombied multiplonk, you'll find someone to play with, you know, in a place far away from where you might reside.
There is a time and place for everthing, and alt.flame sidewires of Usenet await your public belittling.
Don't go screw with LOKI at alt.revenge because LOKI will go real world on your gluteus maximi.
And don't Wayback Machine the Tinsel Fairy, just for your own mental health.
Kthxbai

Anyone care to translate this into something that is possible to understand?

Some days I wake up and think I have all the answers, and other days I wake up and realize how little I know. I like to think that everyone is at the same level in the big picture, but often I find myself guilty of talking down or up to people.

This post is an awesome reminder to me to stop doing that. It's hard to see through the confusion of everything I am experiencing and not take it out on other people sometimes. We talk about "waking up" people, but nobody can define what "waking up" really is. It's just a general blanket term used by someone about "their" reality IMO. I struggle all the time because my belief system is not being challenged for the first time, but moment to moment now. What I thought just yesterday is drastically different from what it is today. Tomorrow will be much different from what it is today also. It's not fun at all to be honest.

When I first started waking up (only from one dream into another), I have had to try and figure this mess out through every type of walk of life possible. Often folks become mean, threatening, rude, obnoxious, and even stalking at times. When trying to figure out this mess, I can turn on myself in a heartbeat because I am a product of my environment. The way others have treated me (which I didn't like), I resort to treating others the same at times...go figure.

I like to think that I know what I am talking about at times, because that is where my reality is, but truth is, I am as newb as they come. Not only as I am newb as they come, but I am probably as nuts as they come too. What right do I have to treat others in the same regards for which I hated? Most of the time I do it out of frustration because I don't really know where I am anymore. I wouldn't call this "reality" at all! What I use to think is real is completely gone, and now all I am doing is trying to find something to replace its void. It becomes even more difficult when you have no other source to trust but yourself, and often that misleads me. I often even find people that have been around a long time don't want to be helpful at all. This isn't just an ATS problem, but a widespread problem. I can't tell you how many PM's I have sent or questions I have asked openly that just go completely unanswered. If you can't tell by now that I am not the enemy (what that enemy is I have no idea) and just a clueless donkey, then shame on you. There are times I even don't get responses back from mods as to what went wrong or why a thread was closed. What kind of an example is that setting in general? If mods can't take the time out to explain what happened, how are we suppose to trust anyone for reliable information and not repeat our mistakes?

This site has not only attracted people from all over the world, but all walks of life literally. The disagents, the mentally ill, the extremists, the drama queens (which I probably fall into), the scientists, and the people who "just like to watch the world burn," etc... Most of those who have walked in my shoes before me seem to have gone quiet, disappeared, or don't trust anyone themselves for whatever reason, so I am left to figure it all out by myself. The things I trusted for advice at one time are all gone. That leads me to aggravation and hostility at times towards myself, my own thinking, and sadly, you all at times. If I have to listen to "the truth is inside you..." one more time I am going to throw up. What is worse is that I now say this to others, and I don't even know what it means.

As for the search thing...not sure why it would bother anyone at all if someone starts a new thread that has already been talked about. Often these topics are yesterday's news and things change almost moment by moment at times. They could start a new thread to get new ideas, and not have to worry about someone coming in and reading yesterdays news of 12 pages that might now not apply anymore. Often people will only read the first few pages to gauge what it is about and choose to continue or move on. Would hate to lose those folks that might have something interesting to add, but move on because the cover of the book isn't what is in the back. Is it really that much of a bother to you to see an extra thread pop up that you can "choose" to participate in or not? Just move on instead of not being helpful. The way people learn things aren't the same way you do. Sometimes I do a search on a topic and "too much" information comes up. Maybe one doesn't want their opinion as to where they are at to be clouded by what has already been said. Sometimes re-inventing the wheel isn't such a bad thing. It can take on new life, a new direction, and show up on someone's radar with new ideas that they have formulated since the last time it was discussed. Don't really see what the problem is here at all. Move on if it isn't something you can add to at the moment and let the other one have their experience.

Thanks for the post. I know I certainly needed a reminder or even maybe a talking to about this. It should show up more often for all of us IMO.

Peace