Are you a closet ATS poster?

Do you hide your alternate conspiracy personality from your family, friends and coworkers?

Or do you flaunt your conspiracy forum side?

I don't do either. I don't hide it and will actually talk about certain topics to people even at my job, but I don't run around talking about it all the time...and there are certain things I probably would not discuss.

reply to post by Valhall

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Ditto. But with respect to the question raised by the title, I do hide my participation on ATS. This is more out of concern for protecting my identity, than anything else.

I'm c-c-ccrazy as loon man!!!

Everyone who knows me has heard about ATS at some point or another.

I'm not one of those people who only talks about ATS, but it is certainly one of the first things I bring up when people ask me what my interets are.

I also enjoy hiking, reading and long walks on the beach.

I don't tell people about my involvement with ATS. I worry that they might go and just browse through everything I wrote, and would not understand the context in which I typed some of the things I typed. ATS is so much more than a conspiracy site, i talk about a lot of things that are't conspiracy on these boards. And people really aren't that open minded. But they need to realize that for the past 2 or 3 years, if you wanted to read about the NAU, Debt-backed currency, how the U.S. dollar is NOT on the gold standard, how the federal reserve is NOT a gov. entity, how the elite own 97% of the entire world's wealth, you had to go to a conspiracy website.

I just don't think they would understand the progression. It's like reading the last chapter of a book first. ATS is not that hard to find, I'd leave it up to them.


[edit on 9-2-2008 by Novise]

Hi All,

Well, I dont do either. Most of my family is aware that I have a conspiracy site that I like to read and occasionally post to. Some are even surprised that I am quite informed on current daily events, as they know I dont read newspapers or watch the news.

However, I dont mention it to people who I casually know, or to friends who are quite "grounded" in their perception of reality. It is not because I am embarrassed or that I am trying to hide my membership. It is because I have found that most people who I am not extremely close to, dont care, care to know, or are even mildly interested in any information that strays too far from what has been deemed "official".

This has sadly been reinforced many times and it does not matter if the subject matter directly affects them. To "force" the issue only serves to alienate people from you, although I dont mind being perceived as strange or a conspiracy theorist.

So I usually dont even mention the site unless someone is truly seeking answers and is genuinely interested in finding information from a variety of sources.

No problem talking about ATS topics. The thing is that someone will bring something up and I'm like, "We've been discussing this for days, or months, or years" depending on the topic. Our members are THE cutting edge.

reply to post by intrepid

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How right you are intrepid. (sniff) I am quite proud of ATS! I do find that I am more up to date and informed on topics than even those who consider themselves "intellectual and informed" because they read several newspapers, Time and US News, and watch all of the major news outlets.

Of course, those are usually the individuals who are very grounded in their concept of reality.

Oh, heck yeah! I do hide my alternate conspiracy personality from my family, friends and coworkers. No one else needs to know my 'weird' side and besides these types won't believe my stuff even if I told them. The worse of the bunch are the 'Babel-thumpers' who will try to explain away my versions of 'reality' and claim that it's all in my head.

I've left hints along the way for other members who may or may not know of my whereabouts here at ATS but that's for them to find out on their own. And, I thought the word 'closet' in title of this thread meant something along the line of sexual orientation, which I'm not. Thank you and good day!

The only people who know I go on this sight is my immediate family that I live with. I really love this forum but I certainly wont go around talking about it because most people just aren't into this stuff. I don't want to sound like some weird conspiracy addict. That's certainly not the case though, there are plenty of non conspiracy topics here as well. For conspiracy topics I'll read with an open mind but I wont consider anything to be fact until it's really been analyzed and investigated thoroughly(on more than just the internet).

I usually throw myself in discussions about topics that I am interested in, and usually I don't really think if I should nor not. ATS topics are something different, though. When I talk about things on ATS in my real life, I choose very carefully who I will want to let know that I know about such matters.

I think it is quite healthy for my reputation to limit knowledge about me in some cases, as people who do not understand the contexts are poison for my social life if I choose to be open. People generally take my points seriously, as they have noticed that I like to read a lot about current politics, technology, hard science and social sciences. They know that I usually know something about a subject I choose to converse about. However, if I let them know that I read tinfoilhat-discussions, participate in them and generally speaking shout for a conspiracy, all that will change.

Do I want that? no. Can I do someting about it? Yes, I can shut up.

Ditto to that.All of that.
My poor kids... I never shut up about ATS.

My sister's a moderator, no need to hide it from her, obviously...

I think there might be something genetic involved in being paranoid, I come to it naturally...

Well I don't hide the fact that I am an ATS member and a regular from anyone .
The issues surrounding conspiracy's don't come up because I am more of a political animal.

Cheers xpert11.

I don't talk about my interest in UFO's and ET's to many people. In the past I have been labeled as crazy/stupid for thinking they exist.... one of my roommates who is also a good friend will say, "Hey Alec, I don't believe in Alien's" just to get a reaction out of me. It's all fine, I don't care if people don't believe but I can't help but to feel sorry for them... there is so much information out there! Someone like my Dad could never wrap his head around this stuff, he thinks because he watches Fox News, CNN and ABC or whatever that he has a well rounded opinion. Very sad.

Nope! I am ALWAYS talking to people about this site and telling them about the things I read. I mean, there are just too many topics here to NOT take it offline and talk w/ people. I love to get people's opinions on the stuff I read here. So, im often saying "what do you think about this?" And that usually involves ANY and ALL topics here. LOL

And the response I get most on being here [so much]: "whatever floats your boat".

[edit on 26-2-2008 by greeneyedleo]

I hide my beliefs from all of my family except my wife, but even with her I only comment on things when I see a relevant topic in the news. I do toss out tidbits to my best friend once in a while, but there is usually no discussion.

I don't talk about any of the ideas I entertain on government conspiracy with anyone other than here on ATS or topically with my wife. You never know if the person you could be talking to in person might be part of the conspiracy. In that case I wouldn't want them to know I am aware of various 'truths.' If someone brings up such topics with me, I tend to play somewhat dumb on the issue but inquisitive.

Not since the days of my adolesence when I would make the midnight trip into Dad's office to well.....(involving naughty websites).....have I been more icognito about browsing ATS. Still the late night " I wonder if anyone responded to my thread, quote, etc ???" has had it's incidents of my girlfriend catching me hunched over the monitor engaged at the screen scrolling, and hitting the refresh button over and over. Her response ??
"you are such a dork".

I'm very much in the closet. I've tried to come out of the conspiracy closet many a time but as soon as i start rambling on about conspiracies my family gets worried. I think they have the numbers of a few doctors on speed dial for the future.

It's hard to come out of the closet. If you don't want to find the truth, you don't want to hear about it. I've shared a few videos and the like to friends but they just think i'm looney.

Give me time though.

if i ever mention a conspiracy angle to my family they all laugh while saying "oh but you read it on the internet"
as if i've been dumpster diving or some other trashy act.

my oldest brother, i can have a good conversation with him though as he keeps an open mind and believes some things because he's had an interest in it or noticed things himself.

my work mates are similar, some of them are into conspiracy's aswell.

i met one guy who is a total fruitloop. he believes every single thing he reads on ATS, even the stuff that is proved to be false or misleading. Hes the sort of guy who does no research of his own and just jumps in with both feet first.