Why Create an account if you won't post?

Well it helps to have a gov't job and computer access.

U2u me the particulars and I'll see what I can do.

that's one way for the 'member list' to be Swollen,

but also, whose to say that the roll-call isn't filled with fictional persons?
i'm not accusing anything, but lets be practical...there's a lot of unethical
practices that are used to inflate the actual number of 'eye-balls' at a given site
eyeballs that generate revenues...until the number of hits/traffic doesn't jibe.
but that's for the bean counters and the double checking algorithims to determine.

remember the Cook County voter rolls of the past 'Daly Political Juggernaut"...where names off of gravesites were active registered voters,
and there were something like 500,000 'extra' voter-persons up there in Chicago.......it could be a similar situation with registered 'members'

.......but, but .....are those lives really worth living??!

Maybe they got cold feet after seeing how newbies get eaten for lunch around here.

That was kinda my reason for hesitation.....at the beginning....that and I kept forgetting my password. (Now I just let the box remember for me...)

And maybe some just wanted ATS membership as a status symbol.

Why shower? You're only going to get dirty again. Why eat? You're only going to get hungry again. Why wake up in the morning? You're only going to fall asleep again. Hell, why even go to sleep? You're only going to wake up again.

I don't know.. we just do!

I think this one was nailed on the first page though. We tend to have 200+ registered members on at any given time. On top of that, we have a few thousand visitors viewing our pages. So at the best of times, we still have less than 10% of people viewing the site with the ability to post.

Upon registration, a lot of the ads are cut back. I believe non-members even have to endure the odd pop up from time to time. (Don't quote me on that though!) Members are able to see avatars, signatures, etc., which certainly work as a form of "eye candy" which can make the experience fairly enjoyable.

Personally, I could never lurk on ATS. I googled a 9/11 conspiracy a few years ago, and within two minutes of coming across this site, I had signed up. Dove in head first and haven't looked back since. A lot of people simply sign up to read, read, read, and read a little more.

Why inundate ourselves with a blatantly biased mass media when you could read personal thoughts and opinions from real people on the best message board on the web?

At first I was shocked as well though to hear of this. Very small population of members actually post, and even smaller population post regularly.

We are growing by the second though!

What do you do? If you don't mind me asking.

[edit on 17-4-2007 by Shar]

There is also a thing called "reading" and "researching"...or just learning.
I enjoy the site a lot and read numerous topics and threads.
If i have nothing smart or constuctive to say, iprefer to keep my mouth shut and just read....instead of posting a one line reply with abosulutely no value just to get points.

I just saw this site 2 weeks ago and I joined. I have posted like crazy, I'm addicted to this place. Somebody please help me!!!

Never!

Insert Evil Laugh:

Please help me!!! Anyway, how many people are posting just to get into the chat room?

There's never anyone in there anyway.

I lurked on ATS for several months, starting in December of 03 up until June 04. I found the site looking for military related topics and mainly read those forums. I believe a really good thread compelled me to join and I have not looked back since. I thought I had it good with just reading until I became a member, it is SO much better...

Westpoint,

I agree I wasted 2 years reading and I didn't even sign up. Finally, I got my nerve up and just did it. I was really scared at first. I think the name "Above top secret" freaked me out.

That name there told me government will be lurky around here. I know for a fact they are. However, were not doing anything wrong here so it don't bother me as much.

"So the question is, why have 50,000 people created accounts but not ever posted? And surely that takes up a considerable amount of space on the server, and increases the server strain?"

I fail to see how not posting would strain the system any more then posting a lot would?

Aha, the chat room! The place where secrets are leaked and memories are shared. All the magic mega party fun we always use to have in the chat room! (insert echo here)... You need 200 posts (I believe) to be able to enter the chat room.

Registered members get to see avatars, signatures and get access to some advanced features here and there. They also get to see more details in our profiles. Plus... they get to post comments in threads or even start threads on their own. And lots of more, but I'm in a hurry so I probably forgot something. To those who visit without registering, it is free and it takes only one minute. I can't see why not. If I were only browsing ats, I would register even if I didn't post.

I'm an infrequent poster mainly because many people here have simular opinions to me, so I see no point in chimeing in just for the sake of it.
I lurked around here for a couple months before joining and after 11days I made my 1st post. Why it took me so long was because I was a bit intimidated by the high standards here. As a noob I can imagine that lots of people feel that way too and some people never get the nerve to post in fear of not being able to live up to these standards.

No biggie really. I'm in the maintanence dept. of the largest correctional facility in Canada.

There's a poster on our wall, "If you leave something long enough it will fix itself."

That's horrible! What's worse is I can't stop laughing about it...

Well, some people just like to watch I guess.

Well, the moment I saw this place, I instantly became addicted to this place. I just had to join and post as much as I could.