Removal of posts within threads by admin/mods

[Brian Baldwin]

Recently there has been some question as to why I may have removed a few posts made by members here to the North American Union thread in the South of the Border forum. I will address that here hopefully to everyone's satisfaction and answer questions as I'm able to if any should crop up.

First off, you should understand that when we first set out to post a new thread we as members, whether administration or everyday poster, put quite a bit of effort into its formation and material it involves. As people we get a bit of satisfaction to see that thread's popularity as a discussion grow with every contributing member's added material to this discussion. When things get off topic though it can destroy the direction a thread is going. This is extremely unfair to those who were enjoying it in the first place. As an admin my job is to try and keep the flow of these discussions going in the direction they had originally been intended to. When a thead goes off topic it is my job to place it back on path so it can grow or die in it's natural state. So when I encounter a drastic change in topic, whether flame war, trolling, personal information of the members, or even something that would be better suited as it's own thread, then it is necessary to delete those posts. Usually a short quick reason is given as to why.

The moderators and administrators of these forums have all had years of excellent experience in doing this. Every staff member was hand picked and TAA was very lucky to get the ones we have. We've all seen sites where they weren't so lucky. At TAA every staff member is also a contributing member and none of us are above the TOS anymore than the members. This allows for a much friendlier and more approachable atmosphere of unity in our bid to release relevant information to the public at large. Not to mention we have a helluva lot more fun than most sites do. Also... Since the staff here is all voluntary we have no stake other than a belief in what it is we're trying to do here. Which is basically to set up a database of current events and our individual views of those events so that later in society people can refer back to this to see what our hopes, fears, and belief systems were. It's kind of like writing a history book from the perspective of those that are currently living in those times.

So as you can see, (hopefully), keeping a thread on topic is paramount.

[American Patriot]

If any of you are familiar with other sites which provide a similar service, for example "Free Republic" you can see that there are a LOT of duplicate posts made by others as they grab news from sources around the Internet.

Moderators there lock threads constantly, and generally post a link to the initial post of the same article, with same source, etc.

Here is where this site differs from that site. We try to keep that particular thread ON-TOPIC and even *I* make mistakes on occasion when posting. However, I will, as should you ALL question material you see in threads that doesn't make sense.

I'm not saying rant and rave, I'm saying "QUESTION" the material, and not the person posting it. What I mean exactly is that if you see something that doesn't make sense, the source is inaccurate, or the material appears to be an out-and-out lie for instance, then question where the originator obtained that information.

On almost every occasion I post an article you will find either the exact link, within the article or you will locate the originator's name, address, email address, or the actual site from which I obtained the material.

You can CHECK these sources yourself and read the articles yourself. You don't have to question me MOST of the time. If you do, I will endevor to locate the information as well, if I missed something.

We all agree and disagree at various times on many subjects, and opinions are just that, generally, opinions. I disagree with MANY peoples' opinions here and elsewhere. Sometimes I will question their opinion as well... why?

Because people forum opinions based on SOMETHING. They have personal knowledge, or have been educated a certain way. People do the same to me, and I expect it. I will, as most people will, defend their opinion on subjects.

But, contrary to what some folks think, my opinions aren't based on 'non-facts'. I have plenty of data in my head and at my fingertips with which to back up my opinions. You may discount that if you wish, but you're probably not going to change MY opinion of something, any more than I will change yours.

I will state this, quite clearly, if I am questioning something you're saying, it is NOT in any way a personal attack. I have no intention of attacking anyone here or anywhere else. I'm asking for CLARIFICATION, and I certainly expect you to defend whatever it is you're saying, but I expect you to do your homework too, and actually show me why you say things.

I expect nothing less of you folks and I would give nothing less of myself.

This is the way I personally ran and expected people to behave at Anomalies.Net, and it is definately how people here need to behave.

I've personally had a couple of altercations with people on this site because they felt somehow I was picking on them or singling them out or abusing them when questioning their material, or things they have posted. In both cases, I wound up with a fight on my hands for NO REASON. Well, really because both persons thought I was "attacking" them.

I'm sorry, but, I don't attack people. I also do not apologize for any of the actions I've taken over the past few months that resulted in people acting childishly and saying "I'm leaving".

No apologies are necessary by anyone here for questioning material they feel is questionable.

I will say, if I question someone's work, and they show me some legitimate material to back it up, even if I DISAGREE with it, that's the end of the story. I would expect exactly the same from any reasonable, sane individual on this site.

So... with what Brian stated about locked threads and removed posts, I'm asking folks to keep in mind that we're here for one reason and one reason ONLY; to inform ourselves and others about the TAA threat.

I wish you all a good day, and good luck in your treasure hunts for intelligence.

Rick D

[Brian Baldwin]

Rick,

Thanks for bringing up the duplicate thread thing too. Wow... When I think of how many times I've been chewed by a poster for locking their thread due to it being a duplicate... LOL

And you are completely correct in the purpose of these forums. Our info here isn't supposed to be taken as gospel. Otherwise there'd be the initial thread and then a choir of agreements. We should always question the material and research it so when all is said and done we ourselves are sure of why we believe what we believe.

[American Patriot]

I'd like to point something else out.

From time to time we get "new users". Our latest was "jimmy" who used the Alias of archive909. And our friend "jimmy" is either a person who took the time to create the account yesterday, and post two messages in different areas today stating "we are a legit company in the UK".

First of all he was a spammer, regardless of whether he was a real person or not. Secondly, he created the account today and then copy/pasted the same message into two different areas of the site advertising ipods, cell phones and other crap.

I traced the IP address to a Nigerian based Internet company which leads me to believe this is a spammer, a terrorist or something worse. My BET is, that the clown is somehow connected with terrorists and wants to get them cellular phones.

The lesser of the two evils, which I have already tested, is that they are scamming email addresses, so they post a yahoo and hotmail address for you to write to to get more information about their stuff for sale.

Well, I sent him an email from an account I'm not too concerned about and will delete the account if they inundate it.

Here's my point:

IF you're a NEW USER here, then you're here to participate in FORUMS.

You manually enter your address, information and so forth and if you post ONE message about "selling" or being a "vendor" or anything related to the commercial realm, you're terminated then and there on the spot.

We will perma-ban you.

This is NOT a site for commerical advertising, none of us are paid to do our jobs and we have ZERO use for commericialization of this site and won't tolerate it.

So, if you plan to use the site and you use a bot, please be aware, we certainly will come AFTER you.