Your Story is BULLSH#T!

[Nyoibo]

Can someone explain "FTSTS"?

[Ree]

Can someone explain "FTSTS"?

It's all explained in this post in Site News.

It has come to our attention that there's a culture drift towards people calling each other out in threads, saying that what happened wasn't really sucky.

That ceases.

What may be sucky to some is not necessarily sucky to others - we weren't there, etc etc etc. This site is about sucky customers of whatever level, and it's good stress relief for those who participate. I want people to feel able to do just that, and I don't want them to feel as if they have to run a gauntlet every time they post. If you think something isn't really sucky, hit the report button and if we agree we'll shift it to 'Brain Burps' or similar as appropriate.

People who ignore or forget this will have their posts removed and be reminded about this via PM. Repeat offenders will come to our attention.

We have no problem with people querying aspects of a tale, especially since it helped unmask our latest Walter Mitty, but outright claiming that there was no suck involved is off the menu.

Rapscallion

[Rapscallion]

That rule came about because people began acting with a herd instinct. One person started, and then a dogpile began.

Wasn't pretty.

Rapscallion

[Nyoibo]

Ah, many thanks

[Ree]

Well, it's been my experience that when someone innocently uses a figure of speech like, "I can't believe..." or "That's unbelievably..." and the person loses their shit and gets all defensive saying, "You're calling me a liar???" then goes off the deep end trying to prove they're telling the truth, well, there's probably a reason they thought they were being called a liar.

Just saying...YMMV.

[Ginger Tea]

An epic post with pictures, though the last one did have me going "hello" in my best Terry Thomas head voice.

[gremcint]

Honestly a lot of this is the reason I wrote this thread it was because I was reading threads where I just went "bullshit, you're full of it" and I mentally substitute whoever wrote it as the target of this thread. It was actually very theraputic.

Further I'm not going to call someone out unless I know for a fact. They could have had that one perfect circumstance and it's true.

[Ree]

Further I'm not going to call someone out unless I know for a fact. They could have had that one perfect circumstance and it's true.

Yep.
I know I have had situations where I think, "Nobody will ever believe this is happening," because even I can't believe it's happening.

[TheHuckster]

Yep.
I know I have had situations where I think, "Nobody will ever believe this is happening," because even I can't believe it's happening.

I've been told that my life often seems almost sitcom-esque in the way things happen to me, whether it's at my job, past relationships, or elsewhere. I had a friend who used to tell me outlandish stories that from anyone else would make me call bullshit, but I've witnessed first hand the oddities that just seemed to attract this guy's life and I always had to stop and ponder the veracity of his stories.

There are stories which are so fantastic I don't even care if they're true or not. The Vinegar Boy story comes to mind. Whether or not every part of that story was true or even if any part of that story is true, I still enjoyed reading it and if someone could prove or disprove it happened, I really don't care. It was well-written, and the ridiculousness of the whole thing just made me laugh uncontrollably.

But there are some really unbelievable stories that just make me roll my eyes. They aren't funny, and if they are true, they're often one of those "you had to be there to appreciate it" cases.

But every time I'm faced with a story that seems to be just on the edge of plausibility, I always consider to myself, "There was an astronaut who carried diapers in her car to drive cross-country to confront a rival colleague who she thought was stealing her boyfriend" and "There was a flight attendant who got so fed up with abusive passengers he grabbed a couple cans of beers, operated the escape slide and ran onto the tarmac at JFK and somehow managed to make it home before getting arrested."

Those stories are beyond belief yet they happened. Add to that the craziness I've encountered before and it can put some of these stories into perspective. It's obvious some stories have to be embellished or fabricated, since it's just a statistical reality that there are some people who just like to spin yarns. But I can't just sit and try to identify just which of those stories are and are not true.

[HYHYBT]

Two flags: either the story is just too perfect, or the ongoing fallout becomes contradictory or impossible. I vaguely remember a story about someone fighting off burglars at a furniture store...

Anyway, on "too perfect." For example, around I guess 2007 there was a shooting at the mall, and two of the suspects stopped running to buy hamburgers; they were arrested at the counter in my store. Unfortunately, at least from a storytelling perspective, I was 20 minutes late that day and missed the whole thing. Fortunately, from a believability perspective, it was covered on the news.

[Ree]

For example, around I guess 2007 there was a shooting at the mall, and two of the suspects stopped running to buy hamburgers; they were arrested at the counter in my store. Unfortunately, at least from a storytelling perspective, I was 20 minutes late that day and missed the whole thing. Fortunately, from a believability perspective, it was covered on the news.

Ah, yes, but if one were to post about it, and then claim that one was at work that day, and, by sheer coincidence, the same things just seems to happen over and over when they're around, or perhaps start adding in small details where they come off as the hero of the day, then it's only a matter of time before the believability factor starts to wane.

[Aethian]

Two flags: either the story is just too perfect, or the ongoing fallout becomes contradictory or impossible. I vaguely remember a story about someone fighting off burglars at a furniture store...

I thought that one had pictures Raps put on the server?

[Nyoibo]

I thought that one had pictures Raps put on the server?

The only one I remember about a furniture store was an assault in the parking lot, maybe I should head back over there, it's been a while.

[fireheart17]

The only one I remember about a furniture store was an assault in the parking lot, maybe I should head back over there, it's been a while.

Yes, please do, it gets very lonely being the only Adelaidean on the forums sometimes. (who else gets to brag about the Royal Adelaide Show coming up? )

[NorthernZel]

I thought that one had pictures Raps put on the server?

The only one I remember about a furniture store was an assault in the parking lot, maybe I should head back over there, it's been a while.

IIRC it was Kusanagi's "Ghetto Superstar" thread in the War Stories archives, as far as I recall the story was verified by the mods since the OP provided documentation.