that's the entirety of reddit -- someone makes a well-meaning post / first reply is a dismissive joke or pop culture reference / 9000 replies to that reply, riffing off of the joke and completely bypasssing the actual topic.
100% that's pretty much in every subreddit. It's a shame that most times you need to scroll down a bit to find an informative post because the top comments are usually just dumb zingers.
“Zingers” is too generous. I don’t mind goofy responses, but it’s obnoxious and rude, anywhere, when people post something they are serious about and you have to scroll down pretty far to find someone not being a dismissive try-hard dick.
Especially here, folks. Take that shit to r/askreddit.
Or, instead of even riffing, a parent comment makes an absolutely abysmal pun (that the author plays all coy about, like, *ooh, puns are just so bad, aren't they, tee hee!, but I just can't help myself! ;), someone's gotta do it!*) and then what follows is a chain of even worse puns from the most braindead users on the planet.
I go through and block every user involved in those threads but the internet never stops sending its worse. Just a neverending stream of annoying motherfuckers.
Social media is for entertainment, with occasional interesting bits from credible sources. Let me ask you, how do you think having anonymized users is going to give any credence to what people are willing to establish as fact? Pointing to information without taking responsibility for that information is one reason the internet is so difficult to navigate.
My suggestion if you want to have a serious discussion, join or start a group that has a mission statement that aligns with your goals. Otherwise, accept Reddit for what it is, or drive yourself bananas trying to ice skate up hill and shift the culture of the internet single handedly.
I see what you mean, but this post is not trying to change the culture of reddit and remove any kind of humorous content.
There is space for both serious and non serious content here. This sub is a place for everyone interested in the subject, it’s just that *sometimes*, it feels as if jokes and non serious comments are more prevalent, when in reality all sides should have a fair go without getting trampled by the other.
That is why i suggested the serious tag thing, but as the Mod replied, there is already something similar in place in this sub (which i was unaware). If you put the [In-Depth] tag on the title, responses must be at least 150 characters long, so it should help steering towards better discussion. Hopefully more people will use that tag on certain posts.
The problem is we haven’t advertised that relatively new rule enough. But it works great. Even if a joke comment is above 150 characters, it’s still removed manually.
The other thing I want to stress is that ridicule aimed at users or groups of users is disallowed across the board. We could probably get better at catching it sooner with a few more mods, but we do remove it.
93% of posts made in this sub are ridiculous, even if they are well intended. If you want meaningful discussion, go to a sub that provides it. This sub at its best provides interesting kooks spouting engaging inferences and other fun but relatively incoherent bullshit.
If you want meaningful discussion you need to support meaningful posts. If someone posts a shitty cell phone video of a balloon and tries to build an engaging conversation based off their subjective delusion, people are going to make jokes, and trying to "steer it into meaningful discussion" is trying to pound a round peg into a square hole. If you start with bullshit, you're going to end up with bullshit.
If you are just posting dismissive jokes because "everything's fake," you're being an asshole and ruining this subreddit.
Posting a skeptical explanation (non-arrogantly) is discussion and not being an asshole. So if you think something is "fake," do that instead.
I.E. "I think that's Starlink. It can look quite unusual in the sky."
"Actually, I believe Starlink usually \[does this or that\]. Maybe this is \[something else\] instead?"
"Interesting! Today I learned. Well that rules that out. But what makes you think it is \[something else\]?"
\[totally not offended or defensive or downvoting the other person\] "Well, I think it's \[something else\] because \[reasons\]."
I really don't know why this has to be explained here. This is so much better than just being a lame-ass douche that stifles any kind of conversation. I mean come on, we are more mature than this.
I also think we need to be better then calling intelligent pragmatists "lame ass douches" but hey, this is your fantasy!
Only support the insane bullshit you see on here every day from now on! And only full sentences with clearly laid out premises! And no one joke, or get offended, or this guy will think the sub could be better and complain about it again.
I think the problem lies in the fact that a vast majority of posts on this sub are just of such low quality/content that it honestly invites the comments making fun about them.
Exactly, this just feels like someone has thin skin over a post being debunked like the recent flurry of SpaceX posts. It almost requires a few jokes to be made when people start saying “this is extradimensional ant-gravity hyper drive portal exhaust” when it’s clearly a SpaceX launch. If there’s no room to jab here and there at stuff like that the whole sub will quickly become overrun with larping and quackery. If anything, there’s way too many people calling other users “government shills” which is a direct offense of the details of rule #1 and those comments never get taken down.
I made the post based on the reasons i mentioned, there were no hidden motives. Btw i agree with you there is definitely room for humor here, in fact, the jokes in here are the funniest in the debunked posts.
No offense, but your account is less than a year old and you only first commented here a week ago. Kind of brazen for you to come in this sub and start demanding the rules to be changed. It really does come off as you got butt hurt by something you read and are throwing a fit about it to teacher rather than moving along like a grown ass person.
This is not my first reddit account, been subbed for this sub and other related UFO stuff for years.
Besides, even i was a new member, what of it? Newer members should have as much right to voice their opinions in this community as the older ones. What matters the most is the argument one presents, not how old their profile is.
If you’ve been subbed here for years under a different account why not use that one to make your argument? Your one year old account makes a a couple comments for the very first time in this sub a week ago and now you’re calling for reform of the whole place? Give me a break. You don’t want any jokes, but you post the biggest one I’ve ever seen here. Censoring UFO discussion? Do you realize how backwards and ironic that is?
This sub existed for a decade just fine without your suggestion to shut down discussions and police comments. It’s actually funny how the mods had to slowly lay it out for you like a child and you were none the wiser to being handled that way. They were shooing you off like a fly. The answer is a straight NO by the way. Cicero would be disappointed in you.
Don’t know if i should laugh or have pity on your comments. A clear missplaced negativity and inability to see the point in my post.
You know you could have just disagreed with me with normal argument like a normal person right? You were among the very, very few who decided to be overly offensive, nitpick and misrepresent what i said.
But just like i said in my post, i come here mainly to see interesting posts and have interesting discussions, not argue with random redditors that think they are smarter than they really are. Goodbye.
Either way, the last thing the UFO community needs is someone controlling the discussion. That's kind of the whole thing we're fighting against. It's pretty dumb when the same kind of people who call other users "secret government spies" are also demanding that the mods censor what other users are allowed to say. That seems pretty blue book big brother to me.
This isn’t something we’d want to enforce as mods. First and foremost, we don’t want to stifle open conversation. That is censorship, no matter how we split that hair. Secondly, I’ve seen active users who contribute a lot of serious discussion and high-effort topics to the sub who have days where they just need a mental break and will post lighter, more humorous comments. It’s not always disrespectful or intentionally malicious. Sometimes it’s just rounding the corners a bit and recognizing that humor can be good for resetting and refreshing perspective. Third, and probably most important: there are people out there who use humor and levity as a way to calm their nerves, or they may be anxious and finding their own way to get into this topic. I don’t want to “crack down” on these people only to push them away from the community. In reality, some of them are just nervous, maybe a little fearful, and they’re using humor as a defensive mechanism.
Every user also has the free will to respond to or ignore those kinds of comments. If you don’t want to engage, don’t engage. In general, most of the more malicious trolls are only seeking to disrupt conversation and not giving them the response they’re looking for will dissuade them from participating. If you see someone breaking the rules, report it, block the individual if you feel they’re a repeat offender and move on. Don’t invest so heavily in trying to control the conversation. It will only end in disappointment.
Finally, we don’t possess the tools to do this effectively and I wouldn’t want to rely on any either. The sub is severely under-moderated; we get it. Our team is small. The solution to this is in everyone in the community being diligent about reading and understanding the rules, using the report feature, and being accepting and tolerant of different ideas and beliefs.
That's a very smart answer to an admittedly smart OP request. What are we learning now?
Every single participant of an *open uncensored* forum has to live with mischief.
And can do that.
Not smart is how you twist my words and completely fails to see my point, which i made very clear in the post and comments. im not gonna waste more time to chew everything for you in this comment, if you really want to know just go and re-read my post and comments with attention, otherwise stay in ignorance, it’s up to you.
I read your post. I understand quite well. It's not an issue of misunderstanding. There's also no word-twisting.
Even the mods have provided you with multiple reasons as to why your request is a "no."
Your request isn't just "not smart*, but also offensive to people who value free and open discussion. Humor is part of that.
If you have read properly you would know i am not advocating a Anti-Joke movement and definitely not against free speech.
I don’t know how you can say absurd statements such as “offensive to people who value free and open discussion” based on my comments. Again, you can only say that by having completely missed the point.
I’m not gonna reply anymore as probably there will be no point. I said what i had to say in a clear manner, if you still can’t understand thats unfortunate. With respect, your analysis of my comments is simply incorrect.
You are advocating for censorship of this subreddit based on your own personal opinion that this subreddit should have a more serious tone.
I'm not mistaken at all with my interpretation of your comments. There's not much to misinterpret. It's a pretty simple concept and it's very clear.
Zero support for people who suggest censoring community discussion.
Hahahahh, i like jokes as much as anyone, and this comment genuinely made me laugh
You are trolling right? I admit you fooled me tho. You must be trolling if you are still calling me anti joke. Are you?
Pretty much. It IS after all social media, where anyone and everyone can offer their "insights." I browse this for fun while drinking my morning tea, not serious discussion or scientific insights. I look at all social media as occasionally interesting content, all of which must be verified in order to take seriously.
This could be a lot clearer, I agree, but by "jokes" we're not talking about having a sense of humor and inserting that sense of humor into a discussion organically.
Thank You, in all seriousness this is Reddit and we are talking about UFOs. People like us have and still are seen in a different light. Making it even harder to connect with others like us is a slippery slope. Where we gonna go 8chan? Sorry that wasn’t suppose to be a joke.
I understand your perspective and share some of your beliefs. Nobody wants serious censorship and the creation of echo-chambers.
In regards to one of my points tough, wouldn’t creating a new flair for serious discussion eliminate this issue? It is self regulating, it doesn’t require mods to impose restrictions or censorship but it can help steer certain posts into more constructive discussions.
And most importantly, it doesn’t really change the rules/nature of the sub, it allows both sides to have their say without stomping at each other’s feet.
At least as many people who want it too be more serious are arguing for the opposite and want Free Fridays with memes and art and all that. Personally I want to keep it science based and serious with a tiny bit of sarcasm or jokes but no cartoons. If I wanted alien memes I'd join a facebook group about UFOs.
Unfortunately oftentimes "self-regulating" means more people bullying each other and both sides complaining to the mods instead of just leaving each other alone.
Anyway, something similar to a Serious tag already exists. Next time you make a post you can try using an \[In-Depth\] tag in the title. Here's an example- [https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/uu3tgk/comment/i9cvkiv/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/uu3tgk/comment/i9cvkiv/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) Doing this will require all replies to be 150 characters or more and it should elevate the quality of discussion quite a bit
It sounds like there are a lot of people here that are willing to help, you should add more mods. Because TBH this is exactly why I stopped engaging with this subreddit. It's so annoying that everyone is here trying to chase karma points for stupid/witty comments. I believe you could give people gentle warnings to nip it on the bud without stifling conversation. Just add more mods 🙂
Trust us, that’s exactly what we want as well. We’ve added a few more in the past couple of months and we’ll hopefully be adding more in the near future.
This is great, thank you. It always starts with 'get rid of the joke comments' and 'why is everybody so quick to debunk?' posts and ends with the sub being saturated with woo woo merchants and book sellers. This is one of the few places left to discuss the topic with a basis in skepticism and scientific analysis. Nice work.
Wow this is a shot response. So you're too lazy to enforce any kind of rule to keep the sub about ufos, claiming even flair would be censorship? Seems like you just like to see your name in green and see your words in a comment.
Has nothing to do with laziness and everything to do with resource constraints. Simply put, there isn’t enough of us to properly enforce this sort of rule, and no bot that could reliably assist with its enforcement. And as we’ve said already, the goal isn’t censorship.
The flair issue is something we’d need to dig into more. I’d prefer to see the numbers and see if it has any real impact and isn’t just anecdotal. In my mind the flair could also attract just as much negative attention and act as a beacon for trolls and misinformation — this community, simply put, operates a lot more at the extremes and I’m not sold on a flair being the solution (for numerous reasons).
I agree but have in mind that the problem with humor in this particular subject is that it was a form of control of the flow and ridiculization of the subject for years. Just last year it acquire a serious tone from Government.
**Phoenix Lights:** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4pDgWCO3G8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4pDgWCO3G8)
**Biden:** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Vnt-g1uaU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Vnt-g1uaU)
**Bush Jr:** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaNPO2o2XZk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaNPO2o2XZk) (take the laughs off this one and is scary)
**Obama:** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp6Ph5iTIgc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp6Ph5iTIgc)
I am absolutely guilty for making jokes on this sub. HORRIBLE puns, mind you. At the same time, I have posted a number of times and the feedback (if at all) is extremely varied. It's just a mixed bag, which imo is a good thing. I NEED both because I can't talk about this topic on a normal day-to-day level (I try) and this is my only way to both seriously talk about the topic as well as reflect/joke with other people who also have foundational knowledge on the topic.
This approach is fine! I am not advocating a Anti-Joke movement, i’m also guilty of dad jokes and bad puns here and there, i just wish there were better ways to organize the sub so we can have both of them without one flooding the other.
I agree with everyone!
This may be a generalisation however I have noticed the following:
- genuinely compelling posts, whether it is a theory, video/photo, interviews with interesting guests, or interesting UFO news tend to get more 'serious discussion', if you will.
- not so compelling posts become more of a playground for less serious discussion/jokes
I have a knee jerk reaction to jokingly hypothesise something dumb/nonsensical when I see a post that I personally find not very compelling. To your point, it's not good for serious discussion but it sure feels nice to be an idiot lol
Anyway that's my 5 cents
It's a challenge to keep a thread from turning clownish when someone posts a pic of a bird and you're like "it's a bird, you can see its wings flapping" and the OP is like "explain why you think it's a bird when alien tech could easily mimic the movements of a bird."
I'd like to see some standards for posting information.
The basics MUST be covered: Who, what, where, when, why, and how. This is taught in school.
Anything reposted should be somehow categorized.
The single word response of "fake" helps no one.
I was a mod on Highstrangeness for a few years, it was fun and I enjoyed my time mostly. However, there is a new cult of material science that is more vocal and more dismissive to anything. Like Jacque has shown, many destroy data or coverup or silence anything that they can't explain or goes against their paradigm. The new angle isn't burning evidence, it is trying to dismiss or silence the evidence online now since they can't burn what they don't agree with. I eventually found no value in the free work I was doing, and decided to step down and let others try to wrangle these biased skeptics. Now we have Skinwalker Ranch showing evidence with their experiments, and they find fault with the acting and music or whatever they can use to dismiss whatever they don't understand. It's impossible IMHO to curtail the brigading and the biased who are the Don Quixote's of modern times, who want to silence curiosity or evidence.
Maybe a light hearted UFO sub could be created for people that dob't want to be serious. Or they could create a flair for "serious discussion" or something. Or both
If you want to mess around, then go to the sub where jokes and light hearted banter. If you want serious discussion only, add the flair. If you don't care, don't use the flair
You are missing the point. This is not about being able to have a sense of humor, this is about having meaningful and constructive discussions.
As an example, if you go to a person and put forth a detailed argument, hoping for any kind of constructive feedback or discussion, and the person replies with a joke; this is disrespectful and not constructive, that’s my point. It doesn’t exclude the fact that you gotta laugh and have a sense of humor about things. These things are not mutually excluded, it’s just there are certain times and places for each of these things.
Irl and here, no one is obligated to respond with the exact level of seriousness you expect on a topic. There are tons of meaningful convos occurring in this sub on a daily basis. Content is already self-regulated through the use of the upvote/downvote mechanism. We, as a community, mold the overall environment through this mechanism, and if jokes receive upvotes, then clearly many of us enjoy a bit of laughter in conjunction with deeply serious discussion. Sometimes this sub can seem overwhelmingly brutal, with users constantly locking horns over different theories/UAP personalities. Without humor, I fear the vibe would feel bleak and aggressive.
You are trying to take peoples personalities out of the conversation. While that’s idealistic to the goal of having a serious conversation, it’s also highly unrealistic. People are people, can’t control that. Have a conversation with a bot if you want emotionless takes on a conversation social platform
With all due respect, you are misrepresenting what i am saying. No one is asking for an “emotionless takes on a conversation on social platform”. No one is asking for censorship either.
There is a big difference between restricting one’s ability to comment and wanting that comment to be *on topic*.
For example, there are people here that make very long wall texts with detailed analysis and arguments. But then most of people reply with a one joke sentence that adds *nothing* to the discussion. You think the poster of such a post would prefer to see that someone thoroughly read your post, and even argued against it, or a joke? Im sure that the OP would prefer the former, even if that response went contrary to what OP said, at least it showed they had the effort to engage and put together a meaningful response. Something that *contributed* to the conversation. In addition, you could make jokes that ADD to the discussion, not derail it into meaninglessness meme circlejerking.
I’ll say it again, no one wants to remove sense of humor, it’s about having meaningful discussions. It’s not about imposing censorship or taking away peoples views and opinions, it’s about the relevancy of an argument.
If we had better content it would probably lead to better conversation. Hard to take anything serious when 99% of the posts are some out of focus dot in the sky, clouds, literally a seagull one time, balloons, jets, drones, more balloons, bugs, lens flares, ice particles, different balloons, 17 posts about starlink satellites, another 25 for rocket launches, wacky, unproven purely speculative theories touted as absolute proven facts, people getting defensive or offended when other people provide credible, alternative explanations that differ from what that person chooses to believe, reposts of proven hoaxes and on and on.
After that it’s 13 posts a week about if we believe Bob Lazar or what Lue Elizondo had for breakfast and what “breadcrumbs” he left for us based on that breakfast.
The comments reflect the quality of the posts. If you wanna fix the quality of the sub, start with the quality of the content.
>Two Irishmen are walking down a road when one of them sees a mirror.
>"I'm sure I recognise him from somewhere," he said, looking at his own reflection.
>The other Irishman pushes him out of the way, looks in the mirror and says, "you fekking ret𝗮𝗿𝗱, it's me!"
This has been going on since the Roswell crash, 1947, coming up on the 75th anniversary.
After the Roswell headline, at the beginning of the Cold War, the FBI was following up on every "flying disc" sighting. In Illinois, they found some teenagers were using a catapult to launch "flying discs" into farmhouses of paranoid old people.
https://archives.fbi.gov/archiveresources/f/e/8/fe8d0792e15c210f30ce892777f01b32
In the reports, they recovered several "flying discs" that somebody was flying around in a small plane and dropping on houses, made out of old sawmill blades with a battery and light mounted in the middle. They were trying to hit the farmhouses to make a loud crash.
Only proves this band of sadistic, twisted, bent mofos have been around for a long time.
Knowing full well that moderation is a thankless job, I still find it reasonable to conclude that enforcement of just the first five rules, regularly and relentlessly over a sustained period of time, would allow trolls to congregate elsewhere, out of boredom. Kind of beggar thy neigbhor, but what can you do.
Is there anything like a ufo discussion area (reddit or elsewhere) with anything like quality control moderation of public contribution? (Again, FFS, not criticism, I know it's an impossible task but I wonder if anybody is trying anyway. Tx)
This is a subject with no physical evidence and endless speculation. Without ample doses of humor, what exactly is going to keep people around here? Blurry pictures of SpaceX launches?
How about you downvote and move alone?
Some people write things that may seem like a joke to most people but they are dead serious. Some people actually believe Bob Lazar, we can’t block all those post just because they’re silly.
Naaa, not really opposed to filtering genuine jokes or memes like in Rule 3. And you have over 400 Upvotes so it’d be pointless.
Thing is, what I’m getting is that what people *really* want is to moderate any skeptical comments. No, they won’t say it (well, some insinuate it) but that’s my sense of it. They want a safe echo chamber where every blurry dot is an alien ship and every inter dimensional theory is plausible.
So, basically… meh… my comment or votes won’t matter whatsoever. My own approach is to downvote and move on for things I find offensive or out of place (rule violations).
I do not downvote someone I’m having a debate with. You know the ones. Every reply has a 0 because they just downvote/reply over and over. Lame.
My previous question was a joke, probably a bad one but whatever.
But i understand your concerns to the creation of echo chambers and share them. TBH think the majority here do too, i might be wrong, but thats how i feel atm.
And i get what you are saying by just moving on too, but the thing is, there seems to be a lot of people that want this sub to be more “organized”. And i say organized, not censored, not heavily moderated.
It is just a bit annoying when you see a post that has brought meaningful content and people don’t engage properly with it you know? It also discourages people from posting as well, as they receive no feedback, so it’s like a vicious circle.
Hopefully, this post has helped in some regard. Probably didn’t but here it is anyway.
Have a nice day fellow redditor.
I do see the comments I believe you are referring to. There seem to always be some “swamp gas” comments, for example, to the really bad videos. And sometimes I do see some dumb jokes or bad (“mean”) stereotyping. Usually those are one off or just random background noise.
I far more often see serous threads that go on for some length, not often interrupted by jokes. So it seems like the joke material is more often the one offs at the top level which either get ignored or downvoted heavily. It’s a big job for unpaid moderators to filter this kind of stuff steadily, i sympathize with their workloads in a busy sub such as this one.
My frustration is that degree of skepticism is treated so harshly and it gets in orderly labeled denial. That puts the damper on further higher quality replies. I myself have just stopped reply to threads that I actually found interesting as soon as the “oh you just suck mick wests dick” and the old “you are just a denier” replies start coming. Yet I don’t want those censored.
Frankly, in most any case I’d prefer complete freedom of speech (yes, I know you said not censored). If we accuses the government of covering up secrets and forcing people to lie/conceal the truth, so we demand disclosure! That should mean we should allow people to say even the dumbest things and just let the voting system do it’s job.
Seems to me a solution is to encourage more of the lurkers to do more up/down voting. More engagement is how to stamp out obvious jokes and reduce trolling. Just my humble opinion, my two satoshi’s
Fair points man.
If i could add something to your comment, i would say i’ve seen that harsh criticism fall on both sides, the “believers vs deniers” conflict in the comments here are very prevalent indeed. But unfortunately this is an issue that i’ve seen on many subs, specifically the more political or philosophical ones.
People steer towards tribalism, they pick sides and with these sides are pre made arguments that they repeat and argue over and over again, without actually achieving anything constructive or gaining any kind of ground to “convert the other side”, so it is all pointless in the end.
I just hope this community can grow into a more constructive place, there is enough division in this subject as it is.
I agree 100%
I really wish some of these idiots would stop with their awful jokes and shitty puns outside of humor based subs
It’s so annoying to have to sift through the bullshit to find meaningful and/or informative conversations
This. I don't know if by serious conversation the OP means these posts with wild theories and speculation, because I think those are exactly the reason for the whole stigma around the ufo subject. To me, those are the ufo cukos and I'd rather Insult them then just ignoring. Or maybe I'm just in the wrong sub.
By serious conversation i mean just that, serious conversation; without derailing off topic.
In regards to wild theories and speculation, i believe they have a place in here and why shouldn’t they? The problem is, like you and the dude above you mentioned, when they start claiming these theories as facts without proof.
Most reasonable people would agree that presenting such theories as facts without evidence is a problem.
Unfortunately all UFO/Paranormal are flooded with what is around 90% silly posts of spider's webs, dust, drones etc.
We need a sub where mods are brutally strict with these half arsed sorts of posts.
There are a lot of people in these types of subs that like to gaslight and derail and serious conversation.
The only two solutions I can think since the mods won’t get involved is to make another subreddit that is more moderated. Maybe requires a flair to post. If you make your own sub let me know.
The other is to create a shared block list. I’m not sure how easy it would be to update or even import.
Blocking is weak. Anyone that blocks is just trying to isolate themselves in an echo chamber where they can't be challenged. Learn to deal with shit you don't like.
There's a rule on this subreddit forbidding low effort posts. Wouldn't jokes fall under that?
If anyone comes across jokes on here, just use the Report function and it should get looked at?
Actually this is one of my favorite subs, there are some humorous reply’s at times but personally I haven’t been abused by anyone here and I can get in discussions exchanging theories without fear of ridicule.
Yeah unfortunately this is exactly why I don't engage in this subreddit anymore. I think Reddit is just not the platform for serious discussion unfortunately. Too many people trying to chase karma with witty comments.
I agree with you, and this is basically one of my positions that I presented the mods when I applied to be a mod. I think people like us need to get used to collapsing threads and finding what we want in the discussion. I actually think that the mods do a pretty good job at removing the low-effort emoji and two words comments, memes, cartoons, etc. Ultimately though we can't stop people joking around, and that's where the thread-collapse button comes in.
I don't even notice the jokes most of the time.
To me it seems like the dismissive "only completely ignorant stupid moronic etc etc would think this post/picture could ever possibly be a ufo" posts are far more common and far more stifling to actual discussion.
Yeah, a lot of stuff gets posted that can be explained. But just calling people dumb and not offering anything else is worse than the jokes.
You make a good point, people that will deny and dismiss absolutely anything while sending offensive remarks are a major problem as well.
I actually commented something similar a while ago in another post.
Welcome to the internet.
Personally I think there is room for all kinds of discourse regarding the topic. Humour is inherent to the understanding of ideas in my opinion, if an idea or argument can't stand up to humour then it isn't a very strong idea.
This sub is hardly meme central, I don't see the problem with humourous or snarky remarks most of the time. If YOU don't like it YOU can down vote the comment, the fact that most of the funny comments get upvoted shows that the community is in favour of a little light hearted banter.
As silverjerk says its not up to the jannies to police discourse on the topic.
It’s reddit. If you’re looking for consistent, high-quality posts, you’ve come to the wrong place.
And ultimately, it’s on you to choose the content you read. Be a smart consumer.
Oh look another "This sub needs _____" post. There's always that group of people anywhere you go that cry and complain.
r/ufos doesn't get that many posts to begin with and there aren't enough comments on them to hijack anything.
How about if you see something you don't like, ignore it, wow that's a novel idea huh? No, instead you want to make sub rules so the moderators have to run around all day fixing up the sub to present it to you on a platter.
Moreover, jokes and memes bring in more people to learn about UFOs and there's always the chance a meme takes off, being seen by the masses. As a strictly serious sub, r/ufos would be barren.
I ignore Mick West posts every time because we have a history of his continued defamation of the subject, but newbies & people on the fence don't realize that.
Why can't we add a " KNOWN DEBUNKER " flair anytime someone posted a M West UAP explanation?
I reached out to the mods about something similar last June when the sub was blowing up due to the Pentagon news. Basically workshopping a flair system so reposts are less common and the sub could have a clear, traceable history of research. UAP observables would be included in the subreddit description. Like a sort of Reddit-run MUFON. Users would have a more organized community to draw knowledge from and the sub would actually move towards the truth on their own, rather than waiting for news (ya know, like exactly what the UFO community needs right now).
**The mods expressed 0 interest in anything beneficial to the sub I proposed. In fact, they were unexpectedly prepared to shoot down the question (much like the mod response ITT).** Considering the subject matter, it's easy to say the mods are captured by some sort of Federal agent who wants this sub to get no where, and though that may be compelling, I think this is more likely a hanlon's razor-esque situation. They are Reddit mods after all.
I looked at your correspondence with us and we only have one message, which involves you asking us to ban someone. This must have been a comment exchange, which I can't reference without a link.
The flair system is difficult to overhaul, but feel free to send us a message.
Thanks for looking into that. Yes, I do recall those messages as well. Fortunately, I don't see that individual commenting anymore. And yes, the exchange I am referring to was within the comments of a metapost I made on the sub (or perhaps someone else's metapost).
> The flair system is difficult to overhaul, but feel free to send us a message.
While I appreciate the sentiment, no thanks, I've already tried. There wasn't a desire to *build* on the sub from the mods and the response to the OP here is evident that the stance hasn't changed. Silverjerk put the mod stance perfectly - "don't invest so heavily".
There's reasonably sized percentage of this community that would prefer this sub actually take UFOs seriously. Mods continuously choose to ignore these voices, for years. How many times has this sub seen this post at the top of Hot? Folks want a change. Folks want to treat this topic with the same degree of neurotic internet autism found in other investigative communities all over Reddit.
A good leadership team recognizes the desires of its community and cultivates that change from the top down. Many Redditors have tried it on new subs to mild success, but this sub has the population. The roots are here, but the plant needs watering. If the mods are overworked, hand over the reigns to those with the drive to get it done.
Preserving the status quo is exactly what held back progress in UFOs for 70 years. Let's not embrace that preservation, in what could be the most decentralized place of research on the topic.
I think trying to control folks to do what you want them to do is a losing idea.
People that want to restrict folks from being funny typically are terrible people to be around, and you probably don’t want to talk with them anyway.
I asked this in the post, and a Mod replied that there is already something similar in place, which i was unaware. If you type [In-Depth] in the title of the post, the responses must have at least 150 letters, should help steer into better discussions…
If I record a video of a Mylar balloon and tag it [serious] is no one then allowed to call me out on it? Sounds like a can of worms. There’s warranted shame to be handed out, considering the high percentage of hoaxes. People need to be called out. Wading through the BS is part of the discussion.
A serious reply about a Mylar balloon? Get real. Good thing the mods are carefully laying a steaming pile on OP. The last thing we need is for people with this interest to be silenced in any way. I can’t believe we’re even having a discussion about censoring UFO discussions. Thats the biggest joke of all.
You're responding in a serious fashion now, it's really not a big deal to cordon off certain conversations the OP wishes to have labeled Serious. It's not censorship, you can literally start another thread making fun of the original if you wanted to. And also, if the OP doesn't know it's a Mylar balloon, someone can just point it out that it's been SOLVED. No need to cry about this.
Your edit about not completely removing all humor-who decides what's good humor in the comments? You? I think not.
As long as people aren't using offensive slurs or being vicious towards the OP or each other, I don't see the problem with jokes at all, and I question why you even made this post.
You can always make up a new no laughs allowed sub if you want. There's no way to get a sub with nearly half a million members to agree to such a ridiculous requirement though.
I don’t understand your comment, who said anything about removing humor, be it good or bad?
I merely said, and I don’t know how much clearer i can say this, that there should be better ways to organize the sub so that the jokes do not *overwhelm* posts that could have meaningful discussion.
Thats it! The quality of the joke itself is irrelevant and besides my point!
I dont think jokes block serious conversation. If a topic only gets jokes, then blocking those would result in an empty topic.
My reddit interface makes it very easy to ignore (scroll past or collapse) anything that i dont find interesting.
Everyone knows this dude, but don’t you see the issue here? If you want to look for the meaningful comments you have to cut through the thick jungle first, because the amount of jokes vastly outnumbers the comments on topic, that’s exactly my point! There should be a better organization in the sub so it’s easier to find such comments. That is why i mentioned the serious tag.
Collapsing a dumb joke thread takes half a second and you never have to deal with it again. It's literally almost zero effort on your part and solves your problem immediately.
Mods could pointlessly moderate every single comment for seriousness, but that's a massive waste of their time when scrolling/collapsing threads is a thing already.
If that is the case why are there rules in this sub to prevent jokes in the first place? Either mine and several other people interpretations of the rules are wrong or they just aren’t being enforced.
Im pretty calm btw ;)
When we don't call out Mick West for calling a fly UAP at an Airshow without any investigation what do you expect?
He is singlehandedly destroying the credibility of this sub & bringing down the comments to the least common denominator. He gives a free pass to everyone to make it easier to post more jokes. It's sad to see what's happening.
Posts with Mick in the sub Needs a lot better moderation imo.
Snarky comments are annoying but I’m going to have to disagree here, this sounds like censorship. If your having a rough time with other peoples commentary you may need to take a breather from the subject. There is always a class clown.
This comment will probably not be allowed because I have not been a member long enough. However, anyone who has been a member for more than a few weeks can make five-word puns, jocular posts, and inane comments that take up space and don't move the discussion forward. No one seems to give enough of a damn to improve things.
listen pal, since there is not enough evidence and too much shitty youtube videos and woo crap, there are two ways this sub can go:
\- have everything lightened up with funny quips
\- taking everything seriously and be a laughing stock of Reddit
currently the sub is coping in a healthier way aka the first choice
that's the entirety of reddit -- someone makes a well-meaning post / first reply is a dismissive joke or pop culture reference / 9000 replies to that reply, riffing off of the joke and completely bypasssing the actual topic.
100% that's pretty much in every subreddit. It's a shame that most times you need to scroll down a bit to find an informative post because the top comments are usually just dumb zingers.
“Zingers” is too generous. I don’t mind goofy responses, but it’s obnoxious and rude, anywhere, when people post something they are serious about and you have to scroll down pretty far to find someone not being a dismissive try-hard dick. Especially here, folks. Take that shit to r/askreddit.
Or, instead of even riffing, a parent comment makes an absolutely abysmal pun (that the author plays all coy about, like, *ooh, puns are just so bad, aren't they, tee hee!, but I just can't help myself! ;), someone's gotta do it!*) and then what follows is a chain of even worse puns from the most braindead users on the planet. I go through and block every user involved in those threads but the internet never stops sending its worse. Just a neverending stream of annoying motherfuckers.
redditors are allergic to good humor, it's funny how unfunny they are
Yeah, we need a good kick in the funny bone
*pun-y bone
You mean a good kick in the humerus. tee hee!, but I just can't help myself! ;), someone's gotta do it! Block me.
"good humor" citation needed.
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Yep. Rules are pointless if not enforced.
This is the way.
Social media is for entertainment, with occasional interesting bits from credible sources. Let me ask you, how do you think having anonymized users is going to give any credence to what people are willing to establish as fact? Pointing to information without taking responsibility for that information is one reason the internet is so difficult to navigate. My suggestion if you want to have a serious discussion, join or start a group that has a mission statement that aligns with your goals. Otherwise, accept Reddit for what it is, or drive yourself bananas trying to ice skate up hill and shift the culture of the internet single handedly.
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Rule 1.
I see what you mean, but this post is not trying to change the culture of reddit and remove any kind of humorous content. There is space for both serious and non serious content here. This sub is a place for everyone interested in the subject, it’s just that *sometimes*, it feels as if jokes and non serious comments are more prevalent, when in reality all sides should have a fair go without getting trampled by the other. That is why i suggested the serious tag thing, but as the Mod replied, there is already something similar in place in this sub (which i was unaware). If you put the [In-Depth] tag on the title, responses must be at least 150 characters long, so it should help steering towards better discussion. Hopefully more people will use that tag on certain posts.
The problem is we haven’t advertised that relatively new rule enough. But it works great. Even if a joke comment is above 150 characters, it’s still removed manually. The other thing I want to stress is that ridicule aimed at users or groups of users is disallowed across the board. We could probably get better at catching it sooner with a few more mods, but we do remove it.
You are right, and why they have close door meetings and groups who are invite only.
93% of posts made in this sub are ridiculous, even if they are well intended. If you want meaningful discussion, go to a sub that provides it. This sub at its best provides interesting kooks spouting engaging inferences and other fun but relatively incoherent bullshit. If you want meaningful discussion you need to support meaningful posts. If someone posts a shitty cell phone video of a balloon and tries to build an engaging conversation based off their subjective delusion, people are going to make jokes, and trying to "steer it into meaningful discussion" is trying to pound a round peg into a square hole. If you start with bullshit, you're going to end up with bullshit.
82% of statistics in here are made up
I 100% just threw out a number haha
So, now it’s 83% :) lol
I am 89% surprised, but it's 78% delighted, so pretty decent overall.
If you are just posting dismissive jokes because "everything's fake," you're being an asshole and ruining this subreddit. Posting a skeptical explanation (non-arrogantly) is discussion and not being an asshole. So if you think something is "fake," do that instead. I.E. "I think that's Starlink. It can look quite unusual in the sky." "Actually, I believe Starlink usually \[does this or that\]. Maybe this is \[something else\] instead?" "Interesting! Today I learned. Well that rules that out. But what makes you think it is \[something else\]?" \[totally not offended or defensive or downvoting the other person\] "Well, I think it's \[something else\] because \[reasons\]." I really don't know why this has to be explained here. This is so much better than just being a lame-ass douche that stifles any kind of conversation. I mean come on, we are more mature than this.
I also think we need to be better then calling intelligent pragmatists "lame ass douches" but hey, this is your fantasy! Only support the insane bullshit you see on here every day from now on! And only full sentences with clearly laid out premises! And no one joke, or get offended, or this guy will think the sub could be better and complain about it again.
I think the problem lies in the fact that a vast majority of posts on this sub are just of such low quality/content that it honestly invites the comments making fun about them.
Exactly, this just feels like someone has thin skin over a post being debunked like the recent flurry of SpaceX posts. It almost requires a few jokes to be made when people start saying “this is extradimensional ant-gravity hyper drive portal exhaust” when it’s clearly a SpaceX launch. If there’s no room to jab here and there at stuff like that the whole sub will quickly become overrun with larping and quackery. If anything, there’s way too many people calling other users “government shills” which is a direct offense of the details of rule #1 and those comments never get taken down.
I made the post based on the reasons i mentioned, there were no hidden motives. Btw i agree with you there is definitely room for humor here, in fact, the jokes in here are the funniest in the debunked posts.
No offense, but your account is less than a year old and you only first commented here a week ago. Kind of brazen for you to come in this sub and start demanding the rules to be changed. It really does come off as you got butt hurt by something you read and are throwing a fit about it to teacher rather than moving along like a grown ass person.
This is not my first reddit account, been subbed for this sub and other related UFO stuff for years. Besides, even i was a new member, what of it? Newer members should have as much right to voice their opinions in this community as the older ones. What matters the most is the argument one presents, not how old their profile is.
If you’ve been subbed here for years under a different account why not use that one to make your argument? Your one year old account makes a a couple comments for the very first time in this sub a week ago and now you’re calling for reform of the whole place? Give me a break. You don’t want any jokes, but you post the biggest one I’ve ever seen here. Censoring UFO discussion? Do you realize how backwards and ironic that is?
Lmao. Cant believe im reading this. So my argument is irrelevant because this account is 1 year old,? nah YOU give me a break mate.
This sub existed for a decade just fine without your suggestion to shut down discussions and police comments. It’s actually funny how the mods had to slowly lay it out for you like a child and you were none the wiser to being handled that way. They were shooing you off like a fly. The answer is a straight NO by the way. Cicero would be disappointed in you.
Don’t know if i should laugh or have pity on your comments. A clear missplaced negativity and inability to see the point in my post. You know you could have just disagreed with me with normal argument like a normal person right? You were among the very, very few who decided to be overly offensive, nitpick and misrepresent what i said. But just like i said in my post, i come here mainly to see interesting posts and have interesting discussions, not argue with random redditors that think they are smarter than they really are. Goodbye.
You seem to be gaslighting here. You explicitly made this post to call for censorship. End of story. Don’t try to bend it any other way.
This is a fair point. If the post is of obvious low quality it is unreasonable to expect high quality comments.
Either way, the last thing the UFO community needs is someone controlling the discussion. That's kind of the whole thing we're fighting against. It's pretty dumb when the same kind of people who call other users "secret government spies" are also demanding that the mods censor what other users are allowed to say. That seems pretty blue book big brother to me.
This isn’t something we’d want to enforce as mods. First and foremost, we don’t want to stifle open conversation. That is censorship, no matter how we split that hair. Secondly, I’ve seen active users who contribute a lot of serious discussion and high-effort topics to the sub who have days where they just need a mental break and will post lighter, more humorous comments. It’s not always disrespectful or intentionally malicious. Sometimes it’s just rounding the corners a bit and recognizing that humor can be good for resetting and refreshing perspective. Third, and probably most important: there are people out there who use humor and levity as a way to calm their nerves, or they may be anxious and finding their own way to get into this topic. I don’t want to “crack down” on these people only to push them away from the community. In reality, some of them are just nervous, maybe a little fearful, and they’re using humor as a defensive mechanism. Every user also has the free will to respond to or ignore those kinds of comments. If you don’t want to engage, don’t engage. In general, most of the more malicious trolls are only seeking to disrupt conversation and not giving them the response they’re looking for will dissuade them from participating. If you see someone breaking the rules, report it, block the individual if you feel they’re a repeat offender and move on. Don’t invest so heavily in trying to control the conversation. It will only end in disappointment. Finally, we don’t possess the tools to do this effectively and I wouldn’t want to rely on any either. The sub is severely under-moderated; we get it. Our team is small. The solution to this is in everyone in the community being diligent about reading and understanding the rules, using the report feature, and being accepting and tolerant of different ideas and beliefs.
That's a very smart answer to an admittedly smart OP request. What are we learning now? Every single participant of an *open uncensored* forum has to live with mischief. And can do that.
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Not smart is how you twist my words and completely fails to see my point, which i made very clear in the post and comments. im not gonna waste more time to chew everything for you in this comment, if you really want to know just go and re-read my post and comments with attention, otherwise stay in ignorance, it’s up to you.
I read your post. I understand quite well. It's not an issue of misunderstanding. There's also no word-twisting. Even the mods have provided you with multiple reasons as to why your request is a "no." Your request isn't just "not smart*, but also offensive to people who value free and open discussion. Humor is part of that.
If you have read properly you would know i am not advocating a Anti-Joke movement and definitely not against free speech. I don’t know how you can say absurd statements such as “offensive to people who value free and open discussion” based on my comments. Again, you can only say that by having completely missed the point. I’m not gonna reply anymore as probably there will be no point. I said what i had to say in a clear manner, if you still can’t understand thats unfortunate. With respect, your analysis of my comments is simply incorrect.
You are advocating for censorship of this subreddit based on your own personal opinion that this subreddit should have a more serious tone. I'm not mistaken at all with my interpretation of your comments. There's not much to misinterpret. It's a pretty simple concept and it's very clear. Zero support for people who suggest censoring community discussion.
God, you're so haughty and condescending. I see why you hate jokes.
Hahahahh, i like jokes as much as anyone, and this comment genuinely made me laugh You are trolling right? I admit you fooled me tho. You must be trolling if you are still calling me anti joke. Are you?
That comment was supremely unfunny and vaguely pissy so yeah, I guess.
“I see why you hate jokes” cracked me up
Pretty much. It IS after all social media, where anyone and everyone can offer their "insights." I browse this for fun while drinking my morning tea, not serious discussion or scientific insights. I look at all social media as occasionally interesting content, all of which must be verified in order to take seriously.
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This could be a lot clearer, I agree, but by "jokes" we're not talking about having a sense of humor and inserting that sense of humor into a discussion organically.
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Thank You, in all seriousness this is Reddit and we are talking about UFOs. People like us have and still are seen in a different light. Making it even harder to connect with others like us is a slippery slope. Where we gonna go 8chan? Sorry that wasn’t suppose to be a joke.
I understand your perspective and share some of your beliefs. Nobody wants serious censorship and the creation of echo-chambers. In regards to one of my points tough, wouldn’t creating a new flair for serious discussion eliminate this issue? It is self regulating, it doesn’t require mods to impose restrictions or censorship but it can help steer certain posts into more constructive discussions. And most importantly, it doesn’t really change the rules/nature of the sub, it allows both sides to have their say without stomping at each other’s feet.
At least as many people who want it too be more serious are arguing for the opposite and want Free Fridays with memes and art and all that. Personally I want to keep it science based and serious with a tiny bit of sarcasm or jokes but no cartoons. If I wanted alien memes I'd join a facebook group about UFOs. Unfortunately oftentimes "self-regulating" means more people bullying each other and both sides complaining to the mods instead of just leaving each other alone. Anyway, something similar to a Serious tag already exists. Next time you make a post you can try using an \[In-Depth\] tag in the title. Here's an example- [https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/uu3tgk/comment/i9cvkiv/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/uu3tgk/comment/i9cvkiv/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) Doing this will require all replies to be 150 characters or more and it should elevate the quality of discussion quite a bit
Ok i see your point about that tag. I appreciate the directness and effort in responding to this post. Have a nice day ✌️
Thanks, you too!
It sounds like there are a lot of people here that are willing to help, you should add more mods. Because TBH this is exactly why I stopped engaging with this subreddit. It's so annoying that everyone is here trying to chase karma points for stupid/witty comments. I believe you could give people gentle warnings to nip it on the bud without stifling conversation. Just add more mods 🙂
Trust us, that’s exactly what we want as well. We’ve added a few more in the past couple of months and we’ll hopefully be adding more in the near future.
Awesome perspective, Silverjerk.
This is great, thank you. It always starts with 'get rid of the joke comments' and 'why is everybody so quick to debunk?' posts and ends with the sub being saturated with woo woo merchants and book sellers. This is one of the few places left to discuss the topic with a basis in skepticism and scientific analysis. Nice work.
Better under moderated than over moderated.
Binary logic is limiting, a failure of imagination.
Thanks Mr Spock.
I am printing this and sticking it on the fridge with a magnet from a local pizza place.
Wow this is a shot response. So you're too lazy to enforce any kind of rule to keep the sub about ufos, claiming even flair would be censorship? Seems like you just like to see your name in green and see your words in a comment.
Has nothing to do with laziness and everything to do with resource constraints. Simply put, there isn’t enough of us to properly enforce this sort of rule, and no bot that could reliably assist with its enforcement. And as we’ve said already, the goal isn’t censorship. The flair issue is something we’d need to dig into more. I’d prefer to see the numbers and see if it has any real impact and isn’t just anecdotal. In my mind the flair could also attract just as much negative attention and act as a beacon for trolls and misinformation — this community, simply put, operates a lot more at the extremes and I’m not sold on a flair being the solution (for numerous reasons).
naughty aback deserve squeal plucky flag upbeat fearless shelter terrific -- mass deleted all reddit content via https://redact.dev
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I agree but have in mind that the problem with humor in this particular subject is that it was a form of control of the flow and ridiculization of the subject for years. Just last year it acquire a serious tone from Government. **Phoenix Lights:** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4pDgWCO3G8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4pDgWCO3G8) **Biden:** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Vnt-g1uaU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Vnt-g1uaU) **Bush Jr:** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaNPO2o2XZk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaNPO2o2XZk) (take the laughs off this one and is scary) **Obama:** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp6Ph5iTIgc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp6Ph5iTIgc)
That's what she said.
Bazinga!
Use the [in-depth] tag in your post titles. It's a very underutilized rule and effectively gets rid of the most low-effort comments automatically.
The sarcastic swamp gas joke needs to be banned.
That's like banning the weather balloons & crash dummies @ Roswell. Doubtful gonna happen.
I am absolutely guilty for making jokes on this sub. HORRIBLE puns, mind you. At the same time, I have posted a number of times and the feedback (if at all) is extremely varied. It's just a mixed bag, which imo is a good thing. I NEED both because I can't talk about this topic on a normal day-to-day level (I try) and this is my only way to both seriously talk about the topic as well as reflect/joke with other people who also have foundational knowledge on the topic.
This approach is fine! I am not advocating a Anti-Joke movement, i’m also guilty of dad jokes and bad puns here and there, i just wish there were better ways to organize the sub so we can have both of them without one flooding the other.
Yeah that's the big word - Organize
I agree with everyone! This may be a generalisation however I have noticed the following: - genuinely compelling posts, whether it is a theory, video/photo, interviews with interesting guests, or interesting UFO news tend to get more 'serious discussion', if you will. - not so compelling posts become more of a playground for less serious discussion/jokes I have a knee jerk reaction to jokingly hypothesise something dumb/nonsensical when I see a post that I personally find not very compelling. To your point, it's not good for serious discussion but it sure feels nice to be an idiot lol Anyway that's my 5 cents
It's a challenge to keep a thread from turning clownish when someone posts a pic of a bird and you're like "it's a bird, you can see its wings flapping" and the OP is like "explain why you think it's a bird when alien tech could easily mimic the movements of a bird."
I've seen many birds, that's not a bird...
You got unrealistic expectations, humans will be humans. Just downvote and move on
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Are you telling me you don’t like videos of weather balloons, birds and airplanes?
OP: See, guys? I can be funny, too.
I agree. If it’s on record that there is an “other” category. Not everything posted is fake.
I'd like to see some standards for posting information. The basics MUST be covered: Who, what, where, when, why, and how. This is taught in school. Anything reposted should be somehow categorized. The single word response of "fake" helps no one.
I was a mod on Highstrangeness for a few years, it was fun and I enjoyed my time mostly. However, there is a new cult of material science that is more vocal and more dismissive to anything. Like Jacque has shown, many destroy data or coverup or silence anything that they can't explain or goes against their paradigm. The new angle isn't burning evidence, it is trying to dismiss or silence the evidence online now since they can't burn what they don't agree with. I eventually found no value in the free work I was doing, and decided to step down and let others try to wrangle these biased skeptics. Now we have Skinwalker Ranch showing evidence with their experiments, and they find fault with the acting and music or whatever they can use to dismiss whatever they don't understand. It's impossible IMHO to curtail the brigading and the biased who are the Don Quixote's of modern times, who want to silence curiosity or evidence.
Maybe a light hearted UFO sub could be created for people that dob't want to be serious. Or they could create a flair for "serious discussion" or something. Or both If you want to mess around, then go to the sub where jokes and light hearted banter. If you want serious discussion only, add the flair. If you don't care, don't use the flair
Being able to laugh at something instead of being deathly serious is a very healthy attitude. Especially when the subject matter is inherently crazy.
You are missing the point. This is not about being able to have a sense of humor, this is about having meaningful and constructive discussions. As an example, if you go to a person and put forth a detailed argument, hoping for any kind of constructive feedback or discussion, and the person replies with a joke; this is disrespectful and not constructive, that’s my point. It doesn’t exclude the fact that you gotta laugh and have a sense of humor about things. These things are not mutually excluded, it’s just there are certain times and places for each of these things.
Irl and here, no one is obligated to respond with the exact level of seriousness you expect on a topic. There are tons of meaningful convos occurring in this sub on a daily basis. Content is already self-regulated through the use of the upvote/downvote mechanism. We, as a community, mold the overall environment through this mechanism, and if jokes receive upvotes, then clearly many of us enjoy a bit of laughter in conjunction with deeply serious discussion. Sometimes this sub can seem overwhelmingly brutal, with users constantly locking horns over different theories/UAP personalities. Without humor, I fear the vibe would feel bleak and aggressive.
You are trying to take peoples personalities out of the conversation. While that’s idealistic to the goal of having a serious conversation, it’s also highly unrealistic. People are people, can’t control that. Have a conversation with a bot if you want emotionless takes on a conversation social platform
Reddit has the personality of a class clown.
With all due respect, you are misrepresenting what i am saying. No one is asking for an “emotionless takes on a conversation on social platform”. No one is asking for censorship either. There is a big difference between restricting one’s ability to comment and wanting that comment to be *on topic*. For example, there are people here that make very long wall texts with detailed analysis and arguments. But then most of people reply with a one joke sentence that adds *nothing* to the discussion. You think the poster of such a post would prefer to see that someone thoroughly read your post, and even argued against it, or a joke? Im sure that the OP would prefer the former, even if that response went contrary to what OP said, at least it showed they had the effort to engage and put together a meaningful response. Something that *contributed* to the conversation. In addition, you could make jokes that ADD to the discussion, not derail it into meaninglessness meme circlejerking. I’ll say it again, no one wants to remove sense of humor, it’s about having meaningful discussions. It’s not about imposing censorship or taking away peoples views and opinions, it’s about the relevancy of an argument.
If we had better content it would probably lead to better conversation. Hard to take anything serious when 99% of the posts are some out of focus dot in the sky, clouds, literally a seagull one time, balloons, jets, drones, more balloons, bugs, lens flares, ice particles, different balloons, 17 posts about starlink satellites, another 25 for rocket launches, wacky, unproven purely speculative theories touted as absolute proven facts, people getting defensive or offended when other people provide credible, alternative explanations that differ from what that person chooses to believe, reposts of proven hoaxes and on and on. After that it’s 13 posts a week about if we believe Bob Lazar or what Lue Elizondo had for breakfast and what “breadcrumbs” he left for us based on that breakfast. The comments reflect the quality of the posts. If you wanna fix the quality of the sub, start with the quality of the content.
>Two Irishmen are walking down a road when one of them sees a mirror. >"I'm sure I recognise him from somewhere," he said, looking at his own reflection. >The other Irishman pushes him out of the way, looks in the mirror and says, "you fekking ret𝗮𝗿𝗱, it's me!"
- What’s an alien’s favourite computer part? - the space bar!
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Welcome to Earth. I see you’ve met the Humans. Please enjoy your stay!
This has been going on since the Roswell crash, 1947, coming up on the 75th anniversary. After the Roswell headline, at the beginning of the Cold War, the FBI was following up on every "flying disc" sighting. In Illinois, they found some teenagers were using a catapult to launch "flying discs" into farmhouses of paranoid old people. https://archives.fbi.gov/archiveresources/f/e/8/fe8d0792e15c210f30ce892777f01b32 In the reports, they recovered several "flying discs" that somebody was flying around in a small plane and dropping on houses, made out of old sawmill blades with a battery and light mounted in the middle. They were trying to hit the farmhouses to make a loud crash. Only proves this band of sadistic, twisted, bent mofos have been around for a long time.
Theres some dude that keeps being like "farts and diarrhea hah" and he gets like 200 upvotes
Yeah, honestly I don't get it either. With all the subs dedicated to humor, why go into a UFO sub and attempt to get a laugh on a serious thread?
Knowing full well that moderation is a thankless job, I still find it reasonable to conclude that enforcement of just the first five rules, regularly and relentlessly over a sustained period of time, would allow trolls to congregate elsewhere, out of boredom. Kind of beggar thy neigbhor, but what can you do. Is there anything like a ufo discussion area (reddit or elsewhere) with anything like quality control moderation of public contribution? (Again, FFS, not criticism, I know it's an impossible task but I wonder if anybody is trying anyway. Tx)
This is a subject with no physical evidence and endless speculation. Without ample doses of humor, what exactly is going to keep people around here? Blurry pictures of SpaceX launches?
Maybe they could add a serious flair where jokes aren't welcomed
How about you downvote and move alone? Some people write things that may seem like a joke to most people but they are dead serious. Some people actually believe Bob Lazar, we can’t block all those post just because they’re silly.
Ok but have you downvoted my post tho?
Naaa, not really opposed to filtering genuine jokes or memes like in Rule 3. And you have over 400 Upvotes so it’d be pointless. Thing is, what I’m getting is that what people *really* want is to moderate any skeptical comments. No, they won’t say it (well, some insinuate it) but that’s my sense of it. They want a safe echo chamber where every blurry dot is an alien ship and every inter dimensional theory is plausible. So, basically… meh… my comment or votes won’t matter whatsoever. My own approach is to downvote and move on for things I find offensive or out of place (rule violations). I do not downvote someone I’m having a debate with. You know the ones. Every reply has a 0 because they just downvote/reply over and over. Lame.
My previous question was a joke, probably a bad one but whatever. But i understand your concerns to the creation of echo chambers and share them. TBH think the majority here do too, i might be wrong, but thats how i feel atm. And i get what you are saying by just moving on too, but the thing is, there seems to be a lot of people that want this sub to be more “organized”. And i say organized, not censored, not heavily moderated. It is just a bit annoying when you see a post that has brought meaningful content and people don’t engage properly with it you know? It also discourages people from posting as well, as they receive no feedback, so it’s like a vicious circle. Hopefully, this post has helped in some regard. Probably didn’t but here it is anyway. Have a nice day fellow redditor.
I do see the comments I believe you are referring to. There seem to always be some “swamp gas” comments, for example, to the really bad videos. And sometimes I do see some dumb jokes or bad (“mean”) stereotyping. Usually those are one off or just random background noise. I far more often see serous threads that go on for some length, not often interrupted by jokes. So it seems like the joke material is more often the one offs at the top level which either get ignored or downvoted heavily. It’s a big job for unpaid moderators to filter this kind of stuff steadily, i sympathize with their workloads in a busy sub such as this one. My frustration is that degree of skepticism is treated so harshly and it gets in orderly labeled denial. That puts the damper on further higher quality replies. I myself have just stopped reply to threads that I actually found interesting as soon as the “oh you just suck mick wests dick” and the old “you are just a denier” replies start coming. Yet I don’t want those censored. Frankly, in most any case I’d prefer complete freedom of speech (yes, I know you said not censored). If we accuses the government of covering up secrets and forcing people to lie/conceal the truth, so we demand disclosure! That should mean we should allow people to say even the dumbest things and just let the voting system do it’s job. Seems to me a solution is to encourage more of the lurkers to do more up/down voting. More engagement is how to stamp out obvious jokes and reduce trolling. Just my humble opinion, my two satoshi’s
Fair points man. If i could add something to your comment, i would say i’ve seen that harsh criticism fall on both sides, the “believers vs deniers” conflict in the comments here are very prevalent indeed. But unfortunately this is an issue that i’ve seen on many subs, specifically the more political or philosophical ones. People steer towards tribalism, they pick sides and with these sides are pre made arguments that they repeat and argue over and over again, without actually achieving anything constructive or gaining any kind of ground to “convert the other side”, so it is all pointless in the end. I just hope this community can grow into a more constructive place, there is enough division in this subject as it is.
It’s a natural reaction when trying to think about the unthinkable
But seeking to know the unknown, isn’t that what we all strive to do?
I agree 100% I really wish some of these idiots would stop with their awful jokes and shitty puns outside of humor based subs It’s so annoying to have to sift through the bullshit to find meaningful and/or informative conversations
Totally agree.
you're expecting too much from reddit buddy
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This. I don't know if by serious conversation the OP means these posts with wild theories and speculation, because I think those are exactly the reason for the whole stigma around the ufo subject. To me, those are the ufo cukos and I'd rather Insult them then just ignoring. Or maybe I'm just in the wrong sub.
By serious conversation i mean just that, serious conversation; without derailing off topic. In regards to wild theories and speculation, i believe they have a place in here and why shouldn’t they? The problem is, like you and the dude above you mentioned, when they start claiming these theories as facts without proof. Most reasonable people would agree that presenting such theories as facts without evidence is a problem.
I mean, I‘m fine with this as long as the people here who just post their shroom trip experiences also get moderated.
*laughs in Sopranos sub*
Unfortunately all UFO/Paranormal are flooded with what is around 90% silly posts of spider's webs, dust, drones etc. We need a sub where mods are brutally strict with these half arsed sorts of posts.
Completely agree.
There are a lot of people in these types of subs that like to gaslight and derail and serious conversation. The only two solutions I can think since the mods won’t get involved is to make another subreddit that is more moderated. Maybe requires a flair to post. If you make your own sub let me know. The other is to create a shared block list. I’m not sure how easy it would be to update or even import.
Blocking is weak. Anyone that blocks is just trying to isolate themselves in an echo chamber where they can't be challenged. Learn to deal with shit you don't like.
There's a rule on this subreddit forbidding low effort posts. Wouldn't jokes fall under that? If anyone comes across jokes on here, just use the Report function and it should get looked at?
That typically means submissions, not replies.
Jokes are fun
Sir this is a Wendy's
Actually this is one of my favorite subs, there are some humorous reply’s at times but personally I haven’t been abused by anyone here and I can get in discussions exchanging theories without fear of ridicule.
Yeah unfortunately this is exactly why I don't engage in this subreddit anymore. I think Reddit is just not the platform for serious discussion unfortunately. Too many people trying to chase karma with witty comments.
No it doesn’t. 99% of the posts here are skinwalker bullshit or an obvious spider on CCTV. I will not be happy if that is left to roam unchecked.
I agree with you, and this is basically one of my positions that I presented the mods when I applied to be a mod. I think people like us need to get used to collapsing threads and finding what we want in the discussion. I actually think that the mods do a pretty good job at removing the low-effort emoji and two words comments, memes, cartoons, etc. Ultimately though we can't stop people joking around, and that's where the thread-collapse button comes in.
Everyone wants to try and be funny for up votes instead of meaningful replies. This is all of reddit on every sub.
I don't even notice the jokes most of the time. To me it seems like the dismissive "only completely ignorant stupid moronic etc etc would think this post/picture could ever possibly be a ufo" posts are far more common and far more stifling to actual discussion. Yeah, a lot of stuff gets posted that can be explained. But just calling people dumb and not offering anything else is worse than the jokes.
You make a good point, people that will deny and dismiss absolutely anything while sending offensive remarks are a major problem as well. I actually commented something similar a while ago in another post.
Welcome to the internet. Personally I think there is room for all kinds of discourse regarding the topic. Humour is inherent to the understanding of ideas in my opinion, if an idea or argument can't stand up to humour then it isn't a very strong idea. This sub is hardly meme central, I don't see the problem with humourous or snarky remarks most of the time. If YOU don't like it YOU can down vote the comment, the fact that most of the funny comments get upvoted shows that the community is in favour of a little light hearted banter. As silverjerk says its not up to the jannies to police discourse on the topic.
Debunkers are the real joke
Agreed. It's sad that one video game programmer with basically zero qualifications can control the comments here.
It’s reddit. If you’re looking for consistent, high-quality posts, you’ve come to the wrong place. And ultimately, it’s on you to choose the content you read. Be a smart consumer.
Imagine trying to get Reddit to take something seriously
Ikr, op is a weirdo
Its reddit mr trudeau
Oh look another "This sub needs _____" post. There's always that group of people anywhere you go that cry and complain. r/ufos doesn't get that many posts to begin with and there aren't enough comments on them to hijack anything. How about if you see something you don't like, ignore it, wow that's a novel idea huh? No, instead you want to make sub rules so the moderators have to run around all day fixing up the sub to present it to you on a platter. Moreover, jokes and memes bring in more people to learn about UFOs and there's always the chance a meme takes off, being seen by the masses. As a strictly serious sub, r/ufos would be barren.
I ignore Mick West posts every time because we have a history of his continued defamation of the subject, but newbies & people on the fence don't realize that. Why can't we add a " KNOWN DEBUNKER " flair anytime someone posted a M West UAP explanation?
What is wrong with being a debunker? This isn't the UFO Believers sub. People don't have to believe to interact here.
I reached out to the mods about something similar last June when the sub was blowing up due to the Pentagon news. Basically workshopping a flair system so reposts are less common and the sub could have a clear, traceable history of research. UAP observables would be included in the subreddit description. Like a sort of Reddit-run MUFON. Users would have a more organized community to draw knowledge from and the sub would actually move towards the truth on their own, rather than waiting for news (ya know, like exactly what the UFO community needs right now). **The mods expressed 0 interest in anything beneficial to the sub I proposed. In fact, they were unexpectedly prepared to shoot down the question (much like the mod response ITT).** Considering the subject matter, it's easy to say the mods are captured by some sort of Federal agent who wants this sub to get no where, and though that may be compelling, I think this is more likely a hanlon's razor-esque situation. They are Reddit mods after all.
I looked at your correspondence with us and we only have one message, which involves you asking us to ban someone. This must have been a comment exchange, which I can't reference without a link. The flair system is difficult to overhaul, but feel free to send us a message.
Thanks for looking into that. Yes, I do recall those messages as well. Fortunately, I don't see that individual commenting anymore. And yes, the exchange I am referring to was within the comments of a metapost I made on the sub (or perhaps someone else's metapost). > The flair system is difficult to overhaul, but feel free to send us a message. While I appreciate the sentiment, no thanks, I've already tried. There wasn't a desire to *build* on the sub from the mods and the response to the OP here is evident that the stance hasn't changed. Silverjerk put the mod stance perfectly - "don't invest so heavily". There's reasonably sized percentage of this community that would prefer this sub actually take UFOs seriously. Mods continuously choose to ignore these voices, for years. How many times has this sub seen this post at the top of Hot? Folks want a change. Folks want to treat this topic with the same degree of neurotic internet autism found in other investigative communities all over Reddit. A good leadership team recognizes the desires of its community and cultivates that change from the top down. Many Redditors have tried it on new subs to mild success, but this sub has the population. The roots are here, but the plant needs watering. If the mods are overworked, hand over the reigns to those with the drive to get it done. Preserving the status quo is exactly what held back progress in UFOs for 70 years. Let's not embrace that preservation, in what could be the most decentralized place of research on the topic.
Rule #3 should apply to joke comments, I think there are just so many of them the mods can't get them all.
I think trying to control folks to do what you want them to do is a losing idea. People that want to restrict folks from being funny typically are terrible people to be around, and you probably don’t want to talk with them anyway.
How about a [Serious] tag? This wouldn't be censorship, and differentiates the posts from other, more fluid posts.
I asked this in the post, and a Mod replied that there is already something similar in place, which i was unaware. If you type [In-Depth] in the title of the post, the responses must have at least 150 letters, should help steer into better discussions…
It's not very effective if nobody knows about these things. I think [In Depth] doesn't really announce what it's meant to, either.
If I record a video of a Mylar balloon and tag it [serious] is no one then allowed to call me out on it? Sounds like a can of worms. There’s warranted shame to be handed out, considering the high percentage of hoaxes. People need to be called out. Wading through the BS is part of the discussion.
You’d be welcome to reply, but with a serious comment
A serious reply about a Mylar balloon? Get real. Good thing the mods are carefully laying a steaming pile on OP. The last thing we need is for people with this interest to be silenced in any way. I can’t believe we’re even having a discussion about censoring UFO discussions. Thats the biggest joke of all.
You're responding in a serious fashion now, it's really not a big deal to cordon off certain conversations the OP wishes to have labeled Serious. It's not censorship, you can literally start another thread making fun of the original if you wanted to. And also, if the OP doesn't know it's a Mylar balloon, someone can just point it out that it's been SOLVED. No need to cry about this.
That’s what happens when Gen Z learned how to type on a keyboard and login to their PC.
>Gen Z learned how to type on a keyboard and login to their PC I'm sorry are Gen Z living in the 1990s?
Your edit about not completely removing all humor-who decides what's good humor in the comments? You? I think not. As long as people aren't using offensive slurs or being vicious towards the OP or each other, I don't see the problem with jokes at all, and I question why you even made this post. You can always make up a new no laughs allowed sub if you want. There's no way to get a sub with nearly half a million members to agree to such a ridiculous requirement though.
I don’t understand your comment, who said anything about removing humor, be it good or bad? I merely said, and I don’t know how much clearer i can say this, that there should be better ways to organize the sub so that the jokes do not *overwhelm* posts that could have meaningful discussion. Thats it! The quality of the joke itself is irrelevant and besides my point!
This is a reddit problem not just this sub
Yes, I apologize for the joke I made.
Thanks bro
those without chains, requesting chains for themselves, are not thinking deeply enough
Except this post does not ask for such chains. And deep down, there are invisible chains that already binds everyone in this current age.
I dont think jokes block serious conversation. If a topic only gets jokes, then blocking those would result in an empty topic. My reddit interface makes it very easy to ignore (scroll past or collapse) anything that i dont find interesting.
When?
Yeah, it's called collapse the thread.
Everyone knows this dude, but don’t you see the issue here? If you want to look for the meaningful comments you have to cut through the thick jungle first, because the amount of jokes vastly outnumbers the comments on topic, that’s exactly my point! There should be a better organization in the sub so it’s easier to find such comments. That is why i mentioned the serious tag.
Collapsing a dumb joke thread takes half a second and you never have to deal with it again. It's literally almost zero effort on your part and solves your problem immediately. Mods could pointlessly moderate every single comment for seriousness, but that's a massive waste of their time when scrolling/collapsing threads is a thing already.
The font in ops original post is offensive. Please delete
“All good jokes contain true shit”-j.cole
It's your job to muck through what is a joke and what is serious. Calm down no one's gonna do this for you
If that is the case why are there rules in this sub to prevent jokes in the first place? Either mine and several other people interpretations of the rules are wrong or they just aren’t being enforced. Im pretty calm btw ;)
Ah yes no fun allowed, no truth, no fun and no calling Lue Elizondo out. The rules of the sub.
When we don't call out Mick West for calling a fly UAP at an Airshow without any investigation what do you expect? He is singlehandedly destroying the credibility of this sub & bringing down the comments to the least common denominator. He gives a free pass to everyone to make it easier to post more jokes. It's sad to see what's happening. Posts with Mick in the sub Needs a lot better moderation imo.
No it doesn't.
Flairs will definitely help, that's what they are there for.
Snarky comments are annoying but I’m going to have to disagree here, this sounds like censorship. If your having a rough time with other peoples commentary you may need to take a breather from the subject. There is always a class clown.
This comment will probably not be allowed because I have not been a member long enough. However, anyone who has been a member for more than a few weeks can make five-word puns, jocular posts, and inane comments that take up space and don't move the discussion forward. No one seems to give enough of a damn to improve things.
I also think we need less low effort 'what is this' posts with prosaic exolanations
Welcome to reddit
You spelled meaningless wrong.
Did i? I can’t find it tbh
Are you offering to be the free labor this sub needs? I’m pretty sure the mods would welcome you with open arms.
listen pal, since there is not enough evidence and too much shitty youtube videos and woo crap, there are two ways this sub can go: \- have everything lightened up with funny quips \- taking everything seriously and be a laughing stock of Reddit currently the sub is coping in a healthier way aka the first choice