The end of the Conspiracy Masters Program on ATS

I have sent out a u2u to all of our Conspiracy Masters notifying them that we are ending that program effective 15 November, 2008.

As ATS grows we are constantly faced with having to grow with it and change accordingly.

While we certainly appreciate everything the CMs have contributed and wish everyone of them the best, the reality is that the program has done all it can and there isn't any effective way to take it to the next level in its present form.

We have also learned that many of our "general" members are every bit the expert any one else is and we intend to focus our energies on expanding the awareness of our general membership's genius, writing and perspective.

It is in the spirit of this fine community that ATS gets its life and it is the opinions and perspectives of the general membership the millions of people who visit ATS want to learn about.

We will be announcing new initiatives that will allow any member to get recognized in a much bigger way for an exceptional piece of writing or an eye opening discovery.

We will be keeping our "Conspiracy Pro" feature and even expanding it in the near future with more of the brains you want to pick.

Stay tuned, there's some cool things coming down the pipeline that everyone who wants to can participate in.

Springer...



[edit on 10-23-2008 by Springer]

What have the CM's said about this change and what was the general attitude? I feel for the new ones that must have been so proud to be included in such an honorable way.

Oh thank freaking GOD!

I cannot approve of this decision any more. Probably the best decision I have ever seen this board make. THANK YOU!

I have seen so many members that know so much about a large variety of topics, I always thought it quite unfair to not recognize them for the expertise they have too.

Awesome.

Yes antar...but look at it like this, they're being recognized for doing roughly the same thing other ATS members do, do you really think that's fair? I can understand the honor thing, but how do you think members who's threads get shunned or burried feel when no one pays attention to a good drawn up theory of theirs?

Springer, understand and support the decision all the way, surely there are tons of ATSers out there who have done the same and don't get nearly the attention they deserve. One person's thread is as good as another's IMO, and this is just a step in the right direction to make sure everyone is happy in the end.

reply to post by Shugo


I have noticed that when a person earns the honor, that they have proven themselves worthy of it, in due time it was never surprising that they were chosen. The other thing was that you did not have to wade through to find good quality threads, the CMs were trustworthy that way.

I am not against change, just saying I will be sad to see it end.

Originally posted by Springer

We will be announcing new initiatives that will allow any member to get recognized in a much bigger way for an exceptional piece of writing or an eye opening discovery.


Springer...

I think this is much over due. There are many awesome contributors who should be celebrated for their contributions to the board.

I personally am hoping to be appointed, "Band leader of the geek parade."

I feel as if I haven't seen much from the CM's as of late. I remember when I first got to ATS, it was MikeSinghs posts that really kept me around. And internos just got the job, so I offer him my condolences, because he truly earned the title.

We'll still have SME's right?

Just to rewind into history a bit...

The original concept of the "Conspiracy Master" was created as a means to provide members who have demonstrated a prolific expertise to receive some level of financial reward from their contributions. For those who followed along, even our most active and popular Conspiracy Master, John Lear, complained of the reality of the income he derived from the Google AdSense ads specific to his forum. We had honestly hoped that the income potential would be higher that what reality presented to us.

In addition, there have been some concerns that the elevated status had created an inadvertent divide within a realm we prefer to keep level/equal. It's possible this may have contributed to the conditions that saw the departure of John.


However, this being said, we are working on developing an alternative to the CM program that will ultimately take the shape of a regularly published e-Zine, as well as quite possibly ATS-branded editorial appearing in offline publications. Both concepts involve typical pay-per-article arrangements that would be typical of a newspaper or magazine... and we anticipate former CM's will be at the top of the consideration list when we look for material.

I hope this will end up being a much more higher profile vehicle and incentive for our members to spend extra time creating original work, and receive appropriate reward... a reward that should ultimately be much more significant than Google ads on threads in a CM forum.

...I guess for me, as long as they don't change their avatars I have no issue but people like Mike and Internos (the only names I remember) I know now by their avatars but will admit seeing their "rank" got my attention in the first place. If I see a thread by these guys, I look at it.
....anyone that has some "title" I take the time to read, if I didn't recognize Sceptic Overlord's name I would skip by because of the changed avatar. I don't take the time to read anything by "anonomous" either. I pick and choose and am bad with names and am an elitist I guess. But what ever makes the site better, rock on.

You can start by bringing back WATS. It wasn't much but it did provide incentive and reward in personal recognition to those that made the effort.

CM was pretty much elitist. WATS gave recognition to Joe Plumber.

When you're running a site based on member contributions, it would be wise to focus on the members.

Just a thought,

wupy

I am not one of the "oldtimers" here at ATS, so I have no idea what WATS is. Could you tell me a little about it?

Originally posted by ziggystar60
I am not one of the "oldtimers" here at ATS, so I have no idea what WATS is. Could you tell me a little about it?

WATS stood for, "Way Above Top Secret" and it was a badge awarded once a month to the member that had the hottest or wildest idea. It appeared on their avatar and was at one time considered a serious honor on this site. I have never won a WATS award but always wish that I had.

You had to come up with some serious contribution to get a WATS award.

I miss it.

wupy

I second the WATS motion, I know it wasn't the exact form that some of the CM's may be looking for, but it was a good incentive (on top of applauses -- and now flags and stars) for members to make spot glorious threads and discussions.

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord
In addition, there have been some concerns that the elevated status had created an inadvertent divide within a realm we prefer to keep level/equal. It's possible this may have contributed to the conditions that saw the departure of John.

Well I can say for certain I never detected any kind of divide in Justin Oldham CM forum . Due to Lear immaturity it would be unwise to plan any future moves based upon his departure.

What will happen to the threads that are currently in CM forums ?

Cheers xpert11 .

reply to post by mrwupy

The reason we ended WATS was pretty clear cut... That last few months we had it we didn't get enough votes to elect a winner. Matter of fact, the last month we did WATS we had less than 11 votes in TOTAL.

It was a huge crunch on the db server and nobody was voting. While it may prove true that with the huge traffic we get these days more people would vote it's going o have to wait until we move to our own servers and direct to the backbone access. Heck we can't even show views right now because of the intense db server loads and we are at the top of the heap in leased equipment.

Springer...

reply to post by Springer

Matter of fact, the last month we did WATS we had less than 11 votes in TOTAL.

Yet I've heard numerous people express exactly what mrwupy has. I guess you don't know what you got until it's gone.

it's going o have to wait until we move to our own servers and direct to the backbone access.

Right on.

Another thought on WATS..... only one member can be selected. If WATS is the "gold medal" of ATS, why not include a silver and bronze too? This might help encourage more participation. Person with the most WATS votes gets the gold. Second most, silver etc. The idea is if there are 3 members running around with medals the program might get more attention.

As for the OP- I have to admit I cringed when I saw the thread title because I enjoy reading threads by MikeS & Internos. Their forums provide me with an easy way to access their work. After reading the post I exhaled a sigh of relief.... I see the wisdom. I'm also looking forward to the developments "coming down the pipeline."

WATS was a good way of letting people know they were appreciated, but to a certain extent, all any of the honor systems do is encourage people to concentrate on the posts of certain hallowed members and ignore the posts of less conspicuous members.

to be fair, potentially, someone can offer something earth shattering in their first post and equally, hallowed members sometimes talk absolute drivel. all the honor systems should be dropped in my opinion, they're just window dressing.

I appraise this decision and it shows that the owners are still not only involved with the website after all of this time but recognize every member's input, specialties and importance. Although the website's motto is deny ignorance, which I couldn't agree with more, even the revealing of ignorance before being able to deny it helps us learn.

It's a great place. Sometimes I get into heated debates with some of you and you with me, but it's never anything too personal, trust me, it's all about that earnest lust for truth.

I have always felt that as soon as some one becomes a CM they seem to dissapear, it's too bad for the CM's but it will be nice seeing them around a lot more often.

To think I almost started a thread with the tittle " What happened to the CM's (a new conspiracy)".

[edit on 25-10-2008 by miguelbmx]

What's the difference between the soon to be defunct "Conspiracy Masters" forum and the "Conspiracy Pros" forum?