Major News Regarding The Above Network and AboveTopSecret.com

Originally posted by Yarcofin
From an investor standpoint and being an investor myself, I don't see why anyone would "invest" in ATS.

Depends what you hope to achieve, I guess, be it monetary return or 'someting else'. Sites such as this could be useful to many interested parties I would imagine, and not just in terms of potential greenback generation.

I would also presume that the 'investors' will be entitled to some sort or input regarding site content. Let's say, for example, the identity of one or more of these people were revealed, along with some information that, while not being libellous, could paint them in a less than favourable light. Would such an expose be allowed to stand?

Originally posted by KhieuSamphan
Depends what you hope to achieve, I guess, be it monetary return or 'someting else'.

investors tend to invest with the sole purpose of making money.

Originally posted by KhieuSamphan
I would also presume that the 'investors' will be entitled to some sort or input regarding site content.

Per Springer and SO's comments, the only difference in the site will be working on expanding the reach of ATS, expanding the audience, as it were. He mentioned a book a page or two back. More ATS for the members.

Originally posted by KhieuSamphan
Let's say, for example, the identity of one or more of these people were revealed, along with some information that, while not being libellous, could paint them in a less than favourable light. Would such an expose be allowed to stand?

Seems two of the amigos covered this. The investors have no control over the site or the content, unless they decide to log on, join up and post and then they would be held to the same standards as the rest of us. The T&C are for all members. As far as I can tell, that even includes the owners, the staff and the admins.

Oooh! Our alien overlord masters have purchased a stake in ATS!

Congrats to you guys! Hopefully this means that you can pre-purchase the domain for the next 100 years...

Looking forward to the next century of great topics!

Originally posted by Yarcofin
From an investor standpoint and being an investor myself, I don't see why anyone would "invest" in ATS. I just don't see where the revenue is going to come from, unless a mass-merchandising operation starts up. Although ATS LLC (does that make it a partnership or a corporation?) probably has very little debt, from all reports it sounds like they are just barely scratching enough together to pay for the necessary server and other web-hosting related updates.

So I would say giving money to ATS is more of a charity and donating to something you love than an investment that you would expect a return on, but the "private investors" were probably privvy to a lot more information than us. Heck, if I had some persuasive information I'd invest in it, because I know it's not just going to disappear overnight.

[edit on 7/26/2007 by Yarcofin]

Springer...

I was a lurker for a very long time before I decided to registered here on ATS and I have always felt ATS was run extremely well.

From my observations, I feel confident that the Three Amigos understand that we, the users, make this site. I do not feel the Three Amigos would steer us wrong.

CONGRATS!

Originally posted by Crakeur
investors tend to invest with the sole purpose of making money.

Absolutely, however a medium which enables direct interaction with 'Joe Public' must also appear attractive to people with interests that do not solely consist of 'making money'.

Originally posted by Crakeur
Seems two of the amigos covered this. The investors have no control over the site or the content, unless they decide to log on, join up and post and then they would be held to the same standards as the rest of us. The T&C are for all members. As far as I can tell, that even includes the owners, the staff and the admins.

Forgive me for saying so, but this seems like a very simplistic proposal. Perhaps I am being naive, but I would have though that if someone puts up a load of cash (Is it cash being put up, by the way?) to finance a content driven product, and that content subsequently appears to contain, shall we say, disparaging remarks directed towards the financiers, said financiers are going to have something to say.

Does Rupert Murdoch personally write a letter to 'The Sun' (British, ahem, newspaper) when an article appears that questions his actions, or suchlike?

I see most here seeing this as a good thing. There are some that are reticent about this. Cool, keep it up guys. What's being missed here is that it is the MEMBERSHIP that has led us to this. If that changes so does the site and it wouldn't be the same investment. I believe Springer said that.

This is payback for ALL of us. A way to send ATS out to the world and getting more members coming in and adding their knowledge, thoughts, whacky ideas to the mix. Without you guys this wouldn't be able and the Amigos know that. Sure there's work to be done to keep the site working BUT without the membership this would be a ghost town. Do you think they would turn their back on what MAKES this site the best alternative site on the Net? Would someone investing change what MAKES this site what it is, if they were allowed.

ATS is MEMBER generated and this is a move to bring in even MORE members. Some have said that ATS topics can be stagnant. The 9/11 forum comes to mind. What about some new thoughts on the matter? This is ALL about the MEMBERS, damn, did I say that again?

Now, if we could influence the 2008 elections, that would be monumental. Let's get serious here. I don't see that happening before 2012. Oh. not THAT year.

Duhh. Now I understand why some threads get moved to BTS, descriminantly, when they really do belong on ATS. And some that clearly don't belong just get ignored. I should of looked at the business perspective of it first...

Congratulations chaps!

Busy times ahead eh, time for me to work on some interesting threads for all the hungry minds out there.

Originally posted by nerbot
Busy times ahead eh, time for me to work on some interesting threads for all the hungry minds out there.

Methinks someone gets it.

Congratulations, it's always nice to see people succeed with a concept they believe in, and take a chance on.

Originally posted by souls
Duhh. Now I understand why some threads get moved to BTS, descriminantly, when they really do belong on ATS.

Can you give me an example?

There are no "editorial" decisions in moving threads that are influenced by business concerns (since 99.9% of the people moving threads are members of "the best staff on the Internet"(tm))

I think this is fantastic!!! This gives the Amigo's some direct capital to help expand the site. The lads have been clear that the isn't going to be any core changes to the site and I think thats what is important. By the way, why haven't we heard from Simon yet? I'm sure everyone would like to know what he thinks about his baby "growing up".

This is, by far, the best "alternative theory" website on the web. We have some brilliant minds that are both believers and skeptics and the debates that occur are usually, but not always, fairly civil. Most sites regardless of their focus come no where near the decorum that this site has and it's the reason I keep coming back. If i want to be called vulgar names and told I'm crazy for thinking what I think, I'll go talk to the girlfriend. She doesn't mind telling me how I'm nuts for believing the stuff I do.

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord

Can you give me an example?

There are no "editorial" decisions in moving threads that are influenced by business concerns (since 99.9% of the people moving threads are members of "the best staff on the Internet"(tm))

Of course. A couple days ago I made a thread . my thread was moved for the resaon that it was just general news and had no conspirational value. He also said that the topic I brought up does good in that section he moved it to, that it gets a lot of attention. Well, I begged to differ, and that thread in specific does have the potential of a conspiracy. I showed UM_GAZZ that the thread did belong in Alternative Breaking News, and I also showed him that he is moving my thread when there are other threads in the same section that clearly do not belong there, even some written by himself.

He moved my thread back, but messaging me that why I make it a big deal that if it was all about points. I answered him back saying that Im not making it a big deal, im just looking for an impartial decision and that yes it is about points.

Obviously it is about points. What other way can members access areas and features of the website if it is not done through points? R.A.T.S.?

Anyway, he moved the thread back to the General Breaking News section and left it at that. I was trying to think to my self why in the first place they would move my thread to BTS when it belonged on ATS. Clearly it did, otherwise he would not have moved it back.

To me this just says that in the eve of your expansion, as a bussiness, in order for investors to be attracted to ATS and the sister sites, there needs to be a certain amount of traffic, good one at that. Now, it just seems that maybe BTS is not doing so hot since it is very sheepish, and not at the same level of content and traffic that ATS generates. As a bussiness, you need to find ways to improve that traffic so that the investors can be attracted. By moving a thread that clearly belonged to that section, and overlooking others that clearly do not, just makes it a little bit suspicious.

I'm probably wrong and it could be another "isolated" case, but isn't this thread we are posting on now, belong on Breaking General News? Maybe we can find a conspiracy in this thread?

[edit on 26-7-2007 by souls]

Originally posted by Springer

Springer...

Well that sure didn't help answer any of my concerns... Good way to evade them... but isn't there a rule against making posts like that?

I'll just assume that the investors aren't in it for the money at all.

[edit on 7/26/2007 by Yarcofin]

Originally posted by Springer

Springer...

Care to handle your replies in line with the "polite decorum" concept of ATS? I think your "content" providers deserve better. ATS is built on the intellectual property of people you are laughing at.

[edit on 26/7/07 by SteveR]

Originally posted by souls
Anyway, he moved the thread back to the General Breaking News section and left it at that. I was trying to think to my self why in the first place they would move my thread to BTS when it belonged on ATS. Clearly it did, otherwise he would not have moved it back.

I'm a bit confused by your post, I moved your thread back to the General Breaking news forum?

For clarification, I moved your thread to the General Breaking news forum. Not back.

We have three breaking news forums, and we try to make the best use of all three. Everyone likes to submit news to the alternative forum, and on occasion we move some topics to the Breaking Political news forum, or to the general news forum.

Anyway, I am sorry if this gave anyone the impression that I am making these decisions based on business, as I can assure you, I have nothing to gain financially from here, we moderators are strictly volunteers. And we do this job out of our care for this online community. We are not perfect, but we try to always do the right things here.

For example, no one even approved me posting the news in the opening post of this thread,.. I did it because I thought it was an important NEWS item relevant to ATS, and important to all members. Did I do the right thing?

Well, I haven't been fired yet!

Carry on.

Well I can only see this as an positive step until I see anything to indicate other wise . As an member who admittedly spends to much time on ATS (you know that you are addicted to ATS when you catch yourself signing off emails with your user name ) I am very grateful that ATS has been available to me and that membership as remained free.

I think Mark was "laughing" because the points had been covered, but let me try to expand...

Originally posted by Yarcofin
From an investor standpoint and being an investor myself, I don't see why anyone would "invest" in ATS.

The investment is in "The Above Network, LLC" which has provided a proprietary and detailed business plan for consideration by the investors. A good portion of that plan involves AboveTopSecret.com... but the "big idea" that has inspired investment is some ground-breaking concepts in user-generated content, and how ATS can become a leader in certain techniques.

I just don't see where the revenue is going to come from, unless a mass-merchandising operation starts up.

You don't have the benefit of the business plan, so it certainly would be difficult to speculate on what revenue we project, and where it comes from. But suffice to say, we anticipate a reasonable return simply by continuing to do what we've always done -- inspire meaningful discussion and promote the hell out of it.

Although ATS LLC (does that make it a partnership or a corporation?) probably has very little debt, from all reports it sounds like they are just barely scratching enough together to pay for the necessary server and other web-hosting related updates.

LLC = Limited Liability Company -- a mix of corporate and partnership

The idea of seeking investment is to gather up a cash reserve that covers tactics not normally supported by monthly revenue. The long term hope is that by investing in promotion (we have a PR firm), advertising (it's already started), new technology (this weekend), content development (ATS MIX and a book by Jim Marrs), and a few other surprises will ultimately improve the value of the company such that the equity purchase by the investor is worth more than the original purchase price.

Originally posted by UM_Gazz
I'm a bit confused by your post, I moved your thread back to the General Breaking news forum?

For clarification, I moved your thread to the General Breaking news forum. Not back.

I recieved three e-mails saying that my thread was moved. The original, the second, and the third. Now it could be an error on my part because I just delete those emails and could have mistaken it with just the second, but...I don't often doubt my self. The issue was the first move.

We have three breaking news forums, and we try to make the best use of all three. Everyone likes to submit news to the alternative forum, and on occasion we move some topics to the Breaking Political news forum, or to the general news forum.

And I'm guessing those on occasion moves are based on the content of the thread and were it appropriately fits? Right?

Anyway, I am sorry if this gave anyone the impression that I am making these decisions based on business, as I can assure you, I have nothing to gain financially from here, we moderators are strictly volunteers. And we do this job out of our care for this online community. We are not perfect, but we try to always do the right things here.

I don't see your need to apologize to anybody. Did you do something wrong?

For example, no one even approved me posting the news in the opening post of this thread,.. I did it because I thought it was an important NEWS item relevant to ATS, and important to all members. Did I do the right thing?

Well, I haven't been fired yet!

That doesn't mean it is not in the wrong section according to the sections posting guidelines found here .

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