New Forum Guidelines -- please read (phenomena, ghost, government, conspiracy)

[Tallysmom]

Welcome to the Unexplained Mysteries and Paranormal forum - a place for sharing experiences and asking questions about out-of-the-ordinary happenings.

This is NOT a forum for prosthelytizing or for bashing members who hold worldviews that differ from yours.

All participants in this forum are expected to be respectful of others' views and opinions, and posts that do not follow these guidelines will be dealt with in accordance with City-Data's Terms of Service.

Be civil, no personal attacks, flaming, or insults. We may attack ideas (politely) but we do not attack the speaker of the idea. Be careful with your words, there is a point where being direct crosses a line into blunt, in-your-face hostility. Just a warning -- I am big on manners. Before you hit post reply, re-read your post and make sure you're not making something worse.

Please report posts which violate the Terms of Service instead of engaging in flame wars. You can report posts by clicking on the triangle icon on the banner at the top of the offending post. It will ask you why you're reporting it, fill in the box and send it off, and I will get an email alerting me to action. (Of course, I have to get the email, and I have an outside job and am not online all the time -- so give me time to respond)

And I can also be reached by Direct Message by clicking on my name, and scrolling down the box that comes up to send Direct Message to Tallysmom.

Many of the threads in this forum were moved here from other forums, and many of them were started months, if not years, ago. Because of that, you may encounter older posts that may or not be entirely relevant to the thread topic. Checking the dates of a thread may help you.

As for a little background on me -- I am an open minded skeptic, with no real paranormal experiences. My husband is a total non believer. And HE'S seen a ghost....

Thank you all for reading this, and I hope we all have fun here.

[Tallysmom]

I've been very busy of late -- car accident (I'm fine) sick kitty (she's better), and work -- and I haven't had time to clear up the other thread, but it will be cleared...

Following the new guidelines. Infracting will be starting SOON -- I will be referring miscreants to this thread. In fairness, I feel I need to let people know I am being tough here, because I was trying to not be "that Mod"... You all know you are not allowed to attack about belief systems.

Posts that are Bigfoot isn't real will be deleted. FROM NOW ON, it will be considered trolling, not unlike a Urbanite going onto the Rural board and telling them they are all idiots for living in the country.

I would like to remind you -- if you don't believe in Bigfoot -- why are posting about Bigfoot? No one is forcing you.... which is why they are now infractable offenses.

Posts that are fighting over and over and over about the same evidence or lack of evidence may also be deleted. When it starts being "yeah huh" "nuh-huh" back and forth to me that's the end of the thread.

I will add to this as necessary.... and trust me -- it will be...

[Tallysmom]

Okay -- a poster has convinced me to reopen this -- "Bigfoot isn't real" posts will still be considered trolling -- ONLY IF they are not qualified. In other words -- if a poster comes on and says Bigfoot isn't real and you guys are crazy. That's TROLLING.

If a poster says Bigfoot isn't real because there's no evidence that's a different thing.

One other request -- temper your tempers. You guys get quite passionate about this and that's fine, but there's no reason to get hostile... reread your posts before you hit post.

Modding isn't a paid position. I still have to work a real job, manage a home and tend to family. Having you guys report each other over stuff isn't fun to deal with.

I really didn't mean to stifle the discussion I just wanted to give it some parameters to work within.

[Tallysmom]

Was just old we have a limit on sticky threads -- so I've merged BIGFOOT conditions here.

[AmyW123]

Originally Posted by Tallysmom

I've been very busy of late -- car accident (I'm fine) sick kitty (she's better), and work -- and I haven't had time to clear up the other thread, but it will be cleared...

Following the new guidelines. Infracting will be starting SOON -- I will be referring miscreants to this thread. In fairness, I feel I need to let people know I am being tough here, because I was trying to not be "that Mod"... You all know you are not allowed to attack about belief systems.

Posts that are Bigfoot isn't real will be deleted. FROM NOW ON, it will be considered trolling, not unlike a Urbanite going onto the Rural board and telling them they are all idiots for living in the country.

I would like to remind you -- if you don't believe in Bigfoot -- why are posting about Bigfoot? No one is forcing you.... which is why they are now infractable offenses.

Posts that are fighting over and over and over about the same evidence or lack of evidence may also be deleted. When it starts being "yeah huh" "nuh-huh" back and forth to me that's the end of the thread.

I will add to this as necessary.... and trust me -- it will be...

'Posts that are Bigfoot isn't real will be deleted.'
Umm, just expressing an opinion here, but to me it sounds a little like supression of opinion... It's like telling someone off for saying that they think God is real or someone else for saying that they think God is false.

[ocpaul20]

Posts that are Bigfoot isn't real will be deleted.'
Umm, just expressing an opinion here, but to me it sounds a little like supression of opinion... It's like telling someone off for saying that they think God is real or someone else for saying that they think God is false.

Except that there is no physical evidence for God and there is a kind-of physical evidence for large feet and hands which have been plaster cast. There is also a proper scientist studying the Bigfoot phenomena (Prof Jeff Meldrum) and I dont remember hearing of any proper scientists studying a divine being.

Apparently, you cannot prove a negative so we cannot prove something does not exist - as in Tooth Fairy - however, I dont think there is a ban on arguing politely why the evidence actually presented for Bigfoot in a thread is invalid but maybe I am wrong on that. I guess we are supposed to put forward a proper argument either way and be respectful - also it depends if she (Tallysmom) has got out of bed the wrong side, had an argument, or just had a "bad hair" day. Pretty much the same as all of us really.

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by ocpaul20

Except that there is no physical evidence for God and there is a kind-of physical evidence for large feet and hands which have been plaster cast. There is also a proper scientist studying the Bigfoot phenomena (Prof Jeff Meldrum) and I dont remember hearing of any proper scientists studying a divine being.

Apparently, you cannot prove a negative so we cannot prove something does not exist - as in Tooth Fairy - however, I dont think there is a ban on arguing politely why the evidence actually presented for Bigfoot in a thread is invalid but maybe I am wrong on that. I guess we are supposed to put forward a proper argument either way and be respectful - also it depends if she (Tallysmom) has got out of bed the wrong side, had an argument, or just had a "bad hair" day. Pretty much the same as all of us really.

My hair is fabulous!

I thought this was very clear.

The post — a simple one sentence “X isn’t real”.

It adds nothing to the conversation. It’s a dismissal. It’s a scoff. There are tons of people who don’t believe in the paranormal. THEY don’t come here and scoff.

I’m not talking about skeptics. Skeptics do add to the conversation. Without skeptics, this board would be dull.

But to come here and dismiss people’s beliefs? It very rude, and frankly, it’s trolling. But if you want to come on this board and say x isn’t real, you better be darn sure you back up your claim. That’s all I’m saying. It’s that simple.

[Happy in Wyoming]

Originally Posted by ocpaul20

Except that there is no physical evidence for God and there is a kind-of physical evidence for large feet and hands which have been plaster cast. There is also a proper scientist studying the Bigfoot phenomena (Prof Jeff Meldrum) and I dont remember hearing of any proper scientists studying a divine being.

Apparently, you cannot prove a negative so we cannot prove something does not exist - as in Tooth Fairy - however, I dont think there is a ban on arguing politely why the evidence actually presented for Bigfoot in a thread is invalid but maybe I am wrong on that. I guess we are supposed to put forward a proper argument either way and be respectful - also it depends if she (Tallysmom) has got out of bed the wrong side, had an argument, or just had a "bad hair" day. Pretty much the same as all of us really.

Why are you insulting the most tolerant and fairest moderator on this website?

[Bill790]

Originally Posted by Tallysmom

….But to come here and dismiss people’s beliefs? It very rude, and frankly, it’s trolling. But if you want to come on this board and say x isn’t real, you better be darn sure you back up your claim. That’s all I’m saying. It’s that simple.

I think this is a solid argument. And I've made it very clear that I was not going to post on this forum, constantly asking for proof. I get it. There are unexplained phenomena out there, and people have some pretty extreme explanations for some of them. There should be a forum for people to discuss these things without others constantly asking for "proof."

I was motivated to post once when somebody said "...you're deluded if you don't believe..." X. It's one thing to say "I believe in X." It's something completely different to say "I believe in X, and you're an idiot if you don't believe it too." That got me a little cranky.

I also responded to a post putting forth the idea that the US Government was involved in "targeting" certain individuals. This sort of goes hand-in-hand with the whole notion of "gangstalking." The argument was that US Government was "targeting" certain individuals, electronically and otherwise, causing them to snap and do horrific things (mass shootings, etc.). My question was not "where's your proof," because I knew there was none. My question was "why?" "Why would the government want to do this? What's the point for the US Government going through those kinds of machinations and expense and take that kind of risk, simply to drive somebody crazy enough to commit a mass shooting?" I didn't get a satisfactory answer, but I didn't really expect one. I was just bringing it up as a point of discussion.

You might want to keep some of things in mind when posting on this forum. Don't ask, "Where's your proof for the existence of Bigfoot?" You might want to ask, "Why is it after decades of research, and a lot of hard work, we still don't have any definitive evidence that Bigfoot exists?"

I hope this doesn't violate Tallysmom's guidelines. I don't think it does. But I'm sure, good hair and all, she'll let me know if it does.

--

[Tallysmom]

I’m going to put in an addenda here.

I’m going to be very strict from now on on politics, as I have been.

On either side.

A lot of our prophet video posting is very political, it is also a lot of it based on very inflammatory false ideation conspiracy theory hokum. And while it might seem that’s what this forum is about, there is no way to prevent it from veering off into political discussions. It just can’t.

This might make some people angry, but I have very strong feelings about this stuff and the fact that I feel it is highly inappropriate means I won’t tolerate it.

Our feelings politically are still extremely divergent, and emotional, and that’s not what we’re talking about here and I’m just not going to allow it. We can have a discussion if you guys want, but basically my decision is made and it’s going to stand.