WHAT HAS HAPPENED?

Just a suggestion....Be the Change You Wish To See

If more members posted things other than politics.....it would benefit the OP and whoever reads and replies.

Of course. But it's also undeniable that there is a real social and societal change at work too, imo. No matter how good the content and how well formulated and how frequent, right now at least, political topics are simply going to receive more attention, and end up dominating front pages.

Again, I'm not saying this is a good or a bad thing personally... but imo at least, it's just the reality. And the more sensationalist/controversial/divisive it is, the more magnified and attention grabbing it is. That's just how things work today.

Again, just my opinion. And I totally agree, those who want discussions about other topics should make them... I just don't think that will change the present reality personally.

Peace.

a reply to: Dizak

If you think about it.. the biggest conspiracy of all time is happening right in front of our eyes.

At the core of it lies a truth that is so fringe it's almost unbelievable ..

I agree with DTOM.

It's not that hard to pick out and research an interesting topic.
There are numerous new discoveries that could be shared everyday.
Once I find enough topics that I am interested in and get my post count up to were I can make a thread, I will.

Until then, I look forward to the brilliant and curious minds that are on ATS to do that. There use to be plenty of them, but somehow, they seemed to have moved on.

Mods just removed a posters thread on how ATS has changed over past 10 years. So I assume your thread is on borderline as well.

That said, when I find something interesting away from politics it is like more people jump onto the latter thread and feed into that.

I am hoping to find another gold vein topic soon

a reply to: Skywatcher2011

What!?

You think I didn't earn those ten million plus stars?

(((harumph!)))

originally posted by: seagull
a reply to: Skywatcher2011

What!?

You think I didn't earn those ten million plus stars?

(((harumph!)))

in proportion to new model of star giving not really but I still believe you earned those stars. I just wish mods would applause some of my threads more

But then again I wasn't here like 10yrs ago plus...so I will have to check out your blockbuster posts on ATS

a reply to: Dizak

By some farcical water ceremony... WHAM!... you have now become president of ATS!

All Hail our new Commander in Chief, Dizak!!

Now how are going to fulfill your campaign promise to...

Make ATS Great Again

I struggle with that because some watery bint launched a scimitar at me and I am faced with the same dilemma. I tried to get into a meaningful discussion about Manatee Effects (that is a whole other topic, I am campaigning to give pour Nelson a break so now refer to them by their proper name. And don't get me started on Panda Extremists!!) but hit a road block. So no I sh# canned talking about the whole topic because when two people talk at the same time neither is listening. I know a couple members here who have not logged on in a long time for that reason.

Since this is an open forum for discussion how to get people to listen? How do you become a better listener as well? Can you respond to some post without it being because the poster yanked your chain?

See, that is the problem. You work on yourself but there is always a troll, a noob, or just down right not nice folk that have not started down the path. How do we all get along?

Must be a good question because it generated even more questions!!

Best of luck, Mr. President! Just to let you know, this president will be doing his due diligence as well!

There was just another thread over in rant a few minutes ago similarly lamenting the days of old on ATS. The poster was comparing ATS today to the ATS of 10 years ago. I was in the process of replying to that thread when it got biffed, so I'll put the essence of my reply here...

How many members were on ATS then versus how many members on ATS now?

How many threads were on ATS then versus how many now?

How many viewers were there of ATS then versus now?

And frankly, how much has the internet as a whole changed then versus now?

That was my reply on the thread I referred to, but there's actually more to reply with here...

I like a good conspiracy/mystery/UFO thread as much now as I did then, but I think a lot of things have changed. For one thing, virtually every major historical conspiracy/UFO theory has been posted here on ATS (many several times). Most of these have all been debunked one way or another. I mean, how many times can you do "Who shot JFK redux", or "Man never went to the Moon"?

Another thing is technology has changed. In the past decade alone technology has improved leaps and bounds. Ten years ago you could struggle to find something on youtube. Now, there's (12) videos about anything and everything. The point here is, true "conspiracy" and "UFO" stories are much more easily debunked using technology which didn't exist even a half a decade ago. Not to mention advances in things like CGI and photoshop, etc. make everything much easier to fake, so more people take everything with a grain of salt. Bottom line, it's hard to get any traction with a good UFO story, and especially hard when someone is stealing your couch or poisoning your wheaties...or the MSM is blaring 87 channels of why you should be afraid about the same.

I don't think you can really blame ATS for these changes, it's society which has changed. We live in a different world today than just a few years ago. Politics has risen to the top of virtually every discussion, not just here, but everywhere. People have begun to realize their futures and the futures of their children truly are at stake, or at least they believe they are (thanks to the MSM). And frankly, just look at the changes the internet has brought in peoples lives. That, and smart phones. People are connected 24x7x365 now. It wasn't like that even 5 years ago, and 10 years ago it wasn't anything like that at all. I work in technologies and I often joke around about going and unplugging a Verizon site or an AT&T site just to see people's heads explode, one by one, as a result! People can't live 5 seconds without the net now.

The metrics of advertising are changing also, and this has a lot to do with content on websites.

So the bottom line is this; what's the one common denominator in all these things? Politics. Doesn't matter if it's public politics, corporate politics, job politics or family politics...it's all politics. People are consumed with it, they thrive on it.

I still look at the paranormal, UFO and other conspiracy boards here every day. I still post in aviation, Area 51, UFO's (to the extent I have something of value to add), and I love reading original content there. However, as I noted much original content is getting a lot harder to get traction with due to advances in technology. And, as a credit to ATS (frankly) original content is getting a whole lot easier to debunk for the same reasons.

Hope this helps, and I really do understand.

Keep posting...I'll read.

originally posted by: Dizak
Hi everyone

I just have a small question. What happened to this site??? I used to come here for the laughs, strange stories, information on obscure subjects and all the little things that made this place unique. But now it all political crap with Trump... 18 posts showed up on "live" when i clicked it. Is there no mystery left? Nothing?

Nothing new in Antarctica?
No strange military operations happening locally?
No Ufo's?

Please come back , I need the Old ATS.

I totally agree. Now if ATS wanted to do something about it they could do this simply by modifying what threads appear in the categories new,top , live etc. If it was weighted against multiple threads on the same topic that would help. So for example you can only ever have the top 2 "political" subjects in each of the 3 I mentioned.

I suspect ATS is driven by advertising revenues which means audience sizes and thus all the mindless cr.p of the day will keep re-appearing....just like soaps and quiz shows on TV!

Why is this thread still here, and mine(asking for site suggestions, semi critical like the op of ats) and anothers(the guy returning after 10 years) where scrub due to I assume criticizing ATS?

Interesting, I don't understand the logic behind that.

originally posted by: Dizak
Hi everyone

I just have a small question. What happened to this site??? I used to come here for the laughs, strange stories, information on obscure subjects and all the little things that made this place unique. But now it all political crap with Trump... 18 posts showed up on "live" when i clicked it. Is there no mystery left? Nothing?

Nothing new in Antarctica?
No strange military operations happening locally?
No Ufo's?

Please come back , I need the Old ATS.

BOOM! Exactly my thoughts!

ETA: Maybe the Political Mud Pit forum should not be included in the Live or Fire Hose so the other forums can be displayed in new or live. If people are interested in politics they know where to find it.

a reply to: MisterSpock

So are you asking for a thread to be deleted or locked? I never ask for threads to be deleted or locked. I'm not a big fan of the posters who go around and post about another thread in existence either (to corral people back onto their thread), so what? I guess I could understand if it was a storage space issue, but for the most part these threads don't take up much room (individually).

Perhaps you should just be asking why yours was biffed (in Board questions) instead.

Hey now, I did my part today.

Observe:
Update On The Upcoming Robot Apocalypse

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: MisterSpock

So are you asking for a thread to be deleted or locked? I never ask for threads to be deleted or locked. I'm not a big fan of the posters who go around and post about another thread in existence either (to corral people back onto their thread), so what? I guess I could understand if it was a storage space issue, but for the most part these threads don't take up much room (individually).

Perhaps you should just be asking why yours was biffed (in Board questions) instead.

Not at all, I guess just pointing out the hypocrisy on top of the mountain of other issues that seem to be developing as we transition into a spastic RSS feed.

Been a member here since 2006, I have to say that I don't see near the array of topics discussed that used to be discussed here.

a reply to: jtrenthacker

Yes, you did!

What's more I read it. I may even reply--if I haven't already...

originally posted by: SpeakerofTruth
Been a member here since 2006, I have to say that I don't see near the array of topics discussed that used to be discussed here.

Good to see you around man.

Maybe ATS could have politic free weekends every now and again? A freeze on all political forums and topics for an entire weekend. Or Trump Free Tuesday?

It would also be cool to have a "theme" day. A theme is chosen for a certain date at least a week ahead of time. On that day, you are only allowed to post threads on that theme. Examples: UFO day, 9/11 day, science day, crypto day, etc.. Could be fun, and encourage ATS members to start researching and posting more.

Just throwing out some ideas.

Want a laugh?

Jr was studying to be a truck driver. The instructor asked him, 'You see 2 trucks and can pass. When you get to the 2nd one you see a third with one barreling towards you in his lane. You can't get back in time and can't accelerate to get by the third. What do you do?' Jr replies, 'I'd wake up Frankie.' 'Why would you do that?' 'Because Frankie has never seen an accident like the one we're going to have.'