How has Atlas Forum destroyed your life?

[free my dawg]

Inspired by Atheist2006/solarstorm's tagline before being banned. Since Atlas has destroyed my life too, I'd like to create a place where everyone can tell stories about how this place has negatively affected your real life.

Three girls once walked into my room while a picture of IceSpear kissing Hillary Clinton was on the screen. As a result, I literally had to alt-tab as quick as I could and act like they walked in on me looking at porn - because let's be real here, it'd be much easier and much less shameful to explain.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Not at all. I keep my indentity hidden to a large extent (though not as much as when I first came here). And I control who is informed of what regarding the site, but I do not actively hide it or any of its content. I have long ago established that people do cazy things on here and therefore nothing they walk in on would produce such an effect.

Sawx, this in conjunction with what you said last night leads me to think that you have taken the wrong approach from the beginning. By putting the Atlas in a closet and hiding it from your friends you run the risk of them only seeing its worst side when they inevitably bum into in situations like this.

1. Its a political site.
2. Its on the internet
3. People post stupid stuff on the internet.

You would have been better off just telling them from the beginning you post on such a site and that from time to time people post weird crap like any other internet site. Your embarrassment is sourced from their shock value, but if there is nothing that comes as a surprise, then there is nothing to be embarrassed about.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

On the contrary, I'd say it has made me a better person in so many ways.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I think I interact far better with people after almost seven years of being on here. Also at work they sometimes ask how I am so focused and reliable in spite of "never having a job before".

[free my dawg]

Not at all. I keep my indentity hidden to a large extent (though not as much as when I first came here). And I control who is informed of what regarding the site, but I do not actively hide it or any of its content. I have long ago established that people do cazy things on here and therefore nothing they walk in on would produce such an effect.

Sawx, this in conjunction with what you said last night leads me to think that you have taken the wrong approach from the beginning. By putting the Atlas in a closet and hiding it from your friends you run the risk of them only seeing its worst side when they inevitably bum into in situations like this.

1. Its a political site.
2. Its on the internet
3. People post stupid stuff on the internet.

You would have been better off just telling them from the beginning you post on such a site and that from time to time people post weird crap like any other internet site. Your embarrassment is sourced from their shock value, but if there is nothing that comes as a surprise, then there is nothing to be embarrassed about.

...because this topic wasn't based off of a troll's deranged ramblings or anything.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Not at all. I keep my indentity hidden to a large extent (though not as much as when I first came here). And I control who is informed of what regarding the site, but I do not actively hide it or any of its content. I have long ago established that people do cazy things on here and therefore nothing they walk in on would produce such an effect.

Sawx, this in conjunction with what you said last night leads me to think that you have taken the wrong approach from the beginning. By putting the Atlas in a closet and hiding it from your friends you run the risk of them only seeing its worst side when they inevitably bum into in situations like this.

1. Its a political site.
2. Its on the internet
3. People post stupid stuff on the internet.

You would have been better off just telling them from the beginning you post on such a site and that from time to time people post weird crap like any other internet site. Your embarrassment is sourced from their shock value, but if there is nothing that comes as a surprise, then there is nothing to be embarrassed about.

...because this topic wasn't based off of a troll's deranged ramblings or anything.

If this was solely about said person why state that your life had, not been "negatively impacted
" or "adversely affected", but that it has been "destroyed by the Atlas"? Which was then followed by a personal example.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I've made mistakes, and learned some of my limitations as a person. For that, I am grateful. I will say that at the time it sure felt like the forum was destroying my life. Christ.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Took away many hours of my life.

F**k you, Dave Leip.

[Simfan34]

I've been looser in keeping the forum separate from my "real life" than is probably advisable.

EDIT: Okay, so I'll post this anyway, after cutting it down. I've also come to think of the Atlas as a place that I can reliably go to if I ever want to feel like I am stupid. The thing stopping me from seriously questioning how much I really know is probably the fact that I've held my own academically, tangible proof.

Maybe you are really just all smarter than the people I go to school with-- certainly there are many people here, not that much older than I am, whose knowledge, in its breadth and depth, seems to far outstrip that of almost anyone I know-- Xahar, Foucaulf, Al, Gully, the Mikado, Averroes, and Maddy come to mind, to name just a few--not to mention my own. Perhaps it is because I am far more careful as to what political views I choose to share in public than I am here- this is the internet, after all. Then again, if I were to apply such a level of self-censorship on the Atlas, I'd probably be demonised as a "moderate hero" all the same.

So TL;DR, the Atlas has destroyed my life by making me feel stupider than I would otherwise. Also if you think that I actually am stupid feel free to say so because if true I'm probably an insufferable twat in “real life” and don't even know it

[anvi]

Hasn't come remotely close to that.  But it *has* shown me how impatient with and intolerant I can be of certain views.  Not a great thing for someone like me, who is supposed to be prepared to debate everything openly.  I'll try to do better with that in the future.  If the old saying about real friends are those who can make us aware of our flaws is correct, then, in the big picture, the forum is a friend.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

I've been looser in keeping the forum separate from my "real life" than is probably advisable.

EDIT: Okay, so I'll post this anyway, after cutting it down. I've also come to think of the Atlas as a place that I can reliably go to if I ever want to feel like I am stupid. The thing stopping me from seriously questioning how much I really know is probably the fact that I've held my own academically, tangible proof.

Maybe you are really just all smarter than the people I go to school with-- certainly there are many people here, not that much older than I am, whose knowledge, in its breadth and depth, seems to far outstrip that of almost anyone I know-- Xahar, Foucaulf, Al, Gully, the Mikado, Averroes, and Maddy come to mind, to name just a few--not to mention my own. Perhaps it is because I am far more careful as to what political views I choose to share in public than I am here- this is the internet, after all. Then again, if I were to apply such a level of self-censorship on the Atlas, I'd probably be demonised as a "moderate hero" all the same.

So TL;DR, the Atlas has destroyed my life by making me feel stupider than I would otherwise. Also if you think that I actually am stupid feel free to say so because if true I'm probably an insufferable twat in “real life” and don't even know it

I hate to break it to you, but being successful in academia has nothing to do with how intelligent a person is. There are obviously some transferable skills between the Atlas and writing a strong paper or participating positively in seminar, and this place has certainly helped me bolster those skills, but being intelligent here simply does not equal getting good grades.

Attendance marks aside, I've always done extremely well academically. I'm proud of it; I know I can write good papers of limited scope. But I am not in the upper percentile of posters here, and likely never will be. The people you mentioned not only have the skills to perform well in school (good argumentation, strong writing, blah, blah, blah, etc.), but they also have the dedication and interest that a person like me does not have. They read. And I simply get no joy out of reading something like Capital in my spare time. I lose the enrichment that people like TNF gain by diving into a diverse library of scholarship, but... I'm okay being a little simple too.

But you, Mr. Simfan, are not an impostor like me. You're up there with the names you mentioned precisely because you do read and offer a wealth on knowledge on different subjects. Don't sell yourself short.

[Dancing with Myself]

It's helped me more than hurt me really.

First it showed me there are forums for topics I love and enjoy. When I started online here I became a political nerd but had no place just for it so I was stuck to websites and was miserable. Then I found the Atlas page and here and I was set.

Second I need people who were mostly decent and weren't such a-holes. I grew more sociable as a result. Got several long friends still. And BTW I know Yank's name and he knows mine, you all cannot torture it out of me though.

This place did lead me to re-evaluate my personal viewpoints though. I'm more of a liberal because of this place. Time will tell if that's good or not.

[tik 🪀✨]

I've been looser in keeping the forum separate from my "real life" than is probably advisable.

EDIT: Okay, so I'll post this anyway, after cutting it down. I've also come to think of the Atlas as a place that I can reliably go to if I ever want to feel like I am stupid. The thing stopping me from seriously questioning how much I really know is probably the fact that I've held my own academically, tangible proof.

Maybe you are really just all smarter than the people I go to school with-- certainly there are many people here, not that much older than I am, whose knowledge, in its breadth and depth, seems to far outstrip that of almost anyone I know-- Xahar, Foucaulf, Al, Gully, the Mikado, Averroes, and Maddy come to mind, to name just a few--not to mention my own. Perhaps it is because I am far more careful as to what political views I choose to share in public than I am here- this is the internet, after all. Then again, if I were to apply such a level of self-censorship on the Atlas, I'd probably be demonised as a "moderate hero" all the same.

So TL;DR, the Atlas has destroyed my life by making me feel stupider than I would otherwise. Also if you think that I actually am stupid feel free to say so because if true I'm probably an insufferable twat in “real life” and don't even know it

I have always appreciated the variety of posters here, especially those who are way smarter than I'll ever be. There are some wonderful minds about, and it's fun to listen to these intelligent people talk, and other intelligent people rip them a new one in turn. At least, it was for a while. I don't bother with that stuff much, but I keep wasting time here anyway. I like the people here most of the time. They're interesting in ways you don't find often in real life.

[Mr. Smith]

It's been a greater enhancer than destroyer in spite of things, but there's definitely one part of life that's gotten worse because of this place:

I've found myself become a lot more reaction prone since joining, and yes that's definitely seeped out a little bit offline.


 

[RFayette]

In the past, I was a libertarian before joining the forum, though I had a brief stretch of being a rather anti-religious moderate when I had joined (this phase is long gone). I enjoyed political discussions with others of opposing viewpoints, and they usually came around to my way of thinking.  I admit I had seen right-wing economics as "enlightened."  This forum definitely humbled me in that regard with the talents of many of our posters here, many of whom are left-wing.  I've become a little less inclined to staunchly defend my viewpoints and if discussing something, I'd try my best to give both viewpoints, explain my viewpoint and why I respect the other viewpoint but do not share it.

Within my peer cohort at my high school, I'm near the top in terms of writing academic papers and exceeding in that dimension; in this forum, I'm near the bottom.  I can crank out an English paper, but the idea of competing against top university students in those domains seems quite intimidating.   I feel far more comfortable with VBA programming or math equations than writing long essays and reading large books.  Y'all who are talented in those fields, congratulations.  It's not something in my area of expertise, that's for sure.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Actually, RFayette's post reminded me of something very interesting: This forum has taught me how to respectfully disagree and discuss things without being taken over by emotions. I didn't realize how true this was until I had my first couple fights with my boyfriend. When I disagree with someone, I try to understand their points, respect the fact that they hold these beliefs for good reasons and are not evil people, and work to meet in the middle (or find common ground in our goals or purpose). Admittedly I've lost patience with this tactic on some hot-button issues like LGBT rights (it's not worth being patient with a bigot), but what I outlined above generally characterizes the approach of most people on this forum.

After my first fight with my boyfriend, however, I realized the ground rules were very different. It was an argument about offering students extensions on academic assignments. And we disagreed. He could not accept the fact that there was some truth to be told in both of our positions. It became not about the merits of our points, but about my right to hold the view I held. Basically, I was wrong and lacked decent moral character because our views diverged. I was pissed, of course, because I respected the difference of opinion and didn't judge him harshly for having a different perspective. But thinking about it, I probably would have been just like him had I not had the experience of being on this forum.

And mark my words, the experience is very different for users with red avatars and blue avatars. I don't want to validate our resident troll's hyperbole, but conservatives are a minority here. When I started off with my R-ON avatar, I learned very quickly that I needed to find different ways to engage and compromise if I was going to be respected. That difficult balancing act of respecting the fact that my beliefs were not consensus, constantly rechecking to see if my positions held water, and being open to seeing things differently, did make me a better person. Some people haven't had that experience, and it's a shame.

As for my boyfriend and I, now that we've had a few more fights and he understands how I do things, I think he's sort of started to accept the way I approach conflict and adopted that style for himself, too. He'd never admit it though, but that's okay. Thankfully, our disagreements now never end in disbelief or disgust at the fact that the other person could possibly believe x or y... we understand that we're both just making different considerations.

[Simfan34]

Hagrid, the process you've described quite literally was my childhood. When you're a black Republican, you figure out pretty quickly that you have to justify your beliefs...

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

It hasn't.  I've met some great Atlasians in real life and have a select few as good virtual friends on FB and AAD.

[NeverAgain]

I feel better informed because of it.

[RFayette]

One thing I wish Atlas had was more traditional Republicans who are articulate and well informed.  There seemed to be a lot more of them in the past.

[TDAS04]

The Atlas Forum has been more good than bad.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

It does ruin a lot of interactions I have with people:

"OH SO YOU COME FROM COUNTRY X! WHAT WAS YOUR OPINION ON THE BY-ELECTION LAST NIGHT!!!"

Is always the first thought my id comes out with.

I also procastinate a lot on the forum, because I work highly flexible hours with a lot of break (I use a tablet), I think I spread my posting out too much. Disturbingly my internship finishes sound, so I'm going to have make a concerted effort not to end up in a BushOklahomesque slothful state.

[RFayette]

One thing I wish Atlas had was more traditional Republicans who are articulate and well informed.  There seemed to be a lot more of them in the past.

Reflective of growing despair and loss of hope for the temporal world, no doubt.

James White's (my favorite theologian) refusal to celebrate 4th of July this year is probably a microcosm of that, yeah.

For me, Atlas doesn't hurt my academic performance whatsoever but it probably stunts me socially.  That being said, Calvinist websites and videos have had far more of an influence on me as of late.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

One thing I wish Atlas had was more traditional Republicans who are articulate and well informed.  There seemed to be a lot more of them in the past.

Reflective of growing despair and loss of hope for the temporal world, no doubt.

James White's (my favorite theologian) refusal to celebrate 4th of July this year is probably a microcosm of that, yeah.

For me, Atlas doesn't hurt my academic performance whatsoever but it probably stunts me socially.  That being said, Calvinist websites and videos have had far more of an influence on me as of late.

Speaking of Calvinism, one thing this forum has done for me has been to lean me more towards a belief in total depravity.