Question for members who participate

Originally posted by Dock9
What intrigues me equally is the claim by someone somewhere that most of those who post might actually be the reputed '60 Mods' of ATS --- each posting under their personal stable of IDs ? Wonder if that's true ?

Well... think about it.

According to the stats page there are over 8 million posts on the board, which - applying the hate sites theory you've quoted, means that each of the 60 staff has made 133,000 posts each.

Given that at least 30% of the staff are inactive at any given time, then that number increases to 200,000 posts.

Now you obviously don't listen to the Live! radio show, because if you did you'd have figured out by now that the staff come from all walks of life, all have different employment and volunteer to be moderators on the board.

But hey.... if you want to believe the hate sites, thats your perogative. If you do then can I interest you in buying Buckingham Palace.....?

Originally posted by Blanca Rose
Ok, where did the thread go from Skeptic, about visitation to this site?

Why is it, with the amount of traffic, only certain members participate?

Do we need a union, or what? For those that post.

How is the traffic affecting those who choose to post?

It's always the same people over and over, that post, Why is that, or why would you post about how many members you have, when only a few choose to speak?

Are we that, frightening, but at the same time, Enthralling fans?

Why isn't the site enlisting more to speak?

Ideas?

Are we that mean, in denying ignorance?

edit to add:

right now there are 462 members on, but most are silent. Not an accomplishment to see that many people, with only a few typing!


[edit on 19-5-2010 by Blanca Rose]

First, I am not sure what your question is but I will try to answer parts of it.

There is a lot of reading material on the site that also links to reading/viewing materials on other sites so that may explain the high percentage of people viewing and not writing.

In your example it may not be true that all of those users are online. I may open a page and leave it open in a tab. Since it seems that your pages auto refresh it would keep me logged in and mark me as logged in into I close the window. I do lots of research so I may have 6 instances of my web browser and leave them open. I usually will never close those tabs until my PC hangs from having to many tabs open. Even then I will only close enough tabs to recover my pc.

As far as writing, I am new and am a little confused about where to post. I actually see members here posting content from my blog here (which is how I found this site in the first place).

For example, I have no idea where to post a link to this blog post

"Is Government Lying About Origin Of Florida Keys Tarballs? "

http://(nolink)/2010/05/20/government-lying-origin-florida-keys-tarballs/

I can only hope that someone who visits my blog that is also a member here will post it.


The structure of the site add to usability. I have had to change my password a few times before I could figure out how to change my password.

I don't know how to follow topics or people. My best bet is to click on HOT or TOP which would be the high traffic posts. That could explain why people only discuss the high traffic posts.

There are so many links I need to do some exploring to find out what is where and most likely I will never click on them until I need to figure out something (like how to change my password).

Perhaps the firehoses might be interesting by I still haven't been "bored" enough to click on those. My time is valuable to me.

While there is great alternative / non mainstream discussion of many topics that I find interesting from my limited experience here I estimate that 95% of the stuff may be "crank pot" wing nut conspiracies that I am to damned IGNORANT to consider.


I would suggest, if you have the capability that you could do something like the huffington post and give incentive to user to post with some kind of reward.

I see points on my profile but am not even sure what they mean. And do they actually have any value besides bragging rights? For example HP allows users to become "moderators" by flagging a certain number of abusive comments. They also change the color of super user posts so they stick out.

Also, it may not fly over to well here because I suspect the community here may have a higher than average level of paranoia, LOL, but there is a social networking protocol called APML ("Attention Profile Markup Language").

It could probably be used to track what users read/respond to and suggest similar content for those users.

For example, I don't care about the Obama Mock trials and tracking my "Attention Profile" would tell you that and instead of having that in the list something I would be interested could be displayed.

Most larger, well known, high traffic forums are the same way.
like on Ubuntu forums...
Members: 1,077,730, Active Members: 67,069~ Currently Active Users: 9864 (508 members and 9114 guests and 242 Spiders)

Over 1 million members, and only 67,000 active. lol

some people just sign up to be able to make full use of the forums.
Not all feel the need to chime in. [ a blessing i think, to be honest].. but also kind of a bad thing i guess... lol

I think the numbers alone.... speak volumes though.

[edit on 20-5-2010 by Ahmose]

I'm relatively new to ATS, so I'm reading, learning & researching. When I feel I have something to contribute I do post. I haven't found anything new and interesting that hasn't already been posted.

I understand that we must make each post count; that alone makes me cautious about posting.

reply to post by Blanca Rose


Blanca Rose.....

I tend to stay inside & post more on heavy chemtrail days.

I think that's what everyone should do.....you know, stay inside & post more on heavy chemtrail days.

Because that's when I stay inside.....when the chemtrails are heavy & they're outside.

And when I post on ATS I'm inside on the days when chemtrails are heavy on the outside.

Kind regards
Maybe...maybe not

I tend to avoid posting overly much. For a few reasons. 1: I dislike arguing with people who will never change their minds. One of the reasons I will usually read and opening post, but avoid posting in any of the religious or political threads. 2: I haven't started a lot of threads because: A) I'm lazy. and B) ATS'ers are usually on the ball. When I find I do want to say something, usually if I read a bit ahead, some other poster has already beaten me to the punch, so to speak, and made the point that I was going to. I think some of the pigheadedness and abject hypocrisy that a great many posters on this site show, is really what keeps me from jumping right in. Mostly I dislike the way some people spit on conspiracies on this site, and even proclaim their complete disbeleif of conspiracies, but then continue to frequent and post on a conspiracy-based forum. The disregard for respect on this site gets to me. People coming onto a conspiracy forum to call the beleivers names. It really is quite disgusting and couldn't be more kidnergarden. I think that about sums it up. I wouldn't be suprised of some of the less-than-frequent posters feel simularly.

Chrono

Edit - For spelling

[edit on 20-5-2010 by Chronogoblin]

The reason why I'm not post very much, is because English is not my native language,
I can read it and I can speak it, but I cannot write it, the spelling of the English words a very difficult for me, so I use Google translate to translate from my language to English,
and that takes a substantial amount of time to do, and in the meantime the thing that I would like to say, it's been said by others so why bother.

I find that on many occasions my thoughts are expressed by someone
else, so i don't post.
Also..there are so many interesting subjects, that only something i feel very strongly about would encourage me to post, as i have little time
to indulge myself.

ATS has given me so many hours of intellectual stimulation, and a lot
smiles.. Thank you ATS.

reply to post by Blanca Rose


I am fairly new to ATS (long time occasional lurker), but have had to get back to my job & RL cause I've spent too much time online the past few weeks. However, the OFAs (as I call them)- the pro illegal, socialist shill type Obamabots did seem to have really invaded & that didn't make it difficult to tear myself away. I am really sick of these people & will only suffer them for so long.
I love ATS & I really hope it gets back to normal (heh well, you know) soon.

reply to post by Blanca Rose


I think some of the outside lurkers are observing to obtain data for their use as well as monitor certain members activities and post, to make sure there are no potential threats within this internet forum. I do think some do from time to time get pulled in to threads that are interesting to them. Mabey some are observing for ways to begin disclosure, and to take it way outta the box who knows ETs may be posting lol....

I'm sure that there's lots of reasons why not all people post or start threads and even so here's a list of some of the reasons I believe motivate people to stay on the sidelines.

Bait And Bash- not all trolls sit on the sidelines waiting for the innocent poster to wander by with a repugnant opinion. The Overlord took care of most of that a couple of months ago. Now, it seems, the way to get around that is to start a thread with an innocent sounding title like "Is Christianity Relevant" and wait for the unwary to voice an opinion. The OP knowing full well what will ensue need only sit back and watch as his contingent of like minded religion bashers swoops down on the naive who dared post a reply. It's not trolling per se it's more of a birds of a feather know where the hunting is good.

Talking To Hear Your Head Rattle- once you get to the bottom of the first page of a new thread you see the number of pages of replies. It's a safe bet that if there's more than four pages what you write won't get read anyway- why bother?

Contending With The Experts- This is a variant of the Talking To Hear Your Head Rattle. ATS is chock full of those who, after watching an episode on the SciFi Channel and reading an article in Newsweek, are now cum laude experts on any and every subject and can't resist an authoritative reply on every subject (they especially love religion and politics). They never appear as opinions but as discussion ending pronouncements that infer their high IQ and your great stupidity. I don't know about you but I refuse to battle wits with the unarmed.

Structure- this is only my opinion but I don't care for some of the ways ATS is laid out. I don't like breaking away to log in and not being returned to the thread I was in. I don't like replying to a post and having the reply appear six pages later in the discussion- too much of what people would like to say gets lost in the shuffle. If someone replies to a post and I have a point of contention and I hit the "Reply To" button my reply should appear within that post not six pages later in the thread. I'd especially like that if someone is making a comment on something I've said.

Nothing To Say- I find myself many times in threads where I enjoy reading the ongoing commentary but I, myself, have no opinion. Rather than inject a SciFi Channel and Newsweek authoritative comment I remain on the sidelines and you should thank me and the others who don't waste the space.

Government Data Mining- this is not the time to be members of anything our government views as anti-establishment. It's not far off and not a stretch of the imagination to assume that vocal dissidents are going to be targeted in the future. For all the tough talk about protecting the right of free speech and denying ignorance when the FBI shows up with a court order the dime is going to be dropped on me so fast my head will spin. I don't expect, in this day and age, anyone to be willing to spend one minute in jail to protect my identity regardless of whether I'm in the right or not. I accept that and go on. Others may not have that "throw caution to the wind" mentality after all you can't eat a principle.

Just a couple of my views for what they're worth.

reply to post by Blanca Rose


I'll tell you why - cause if it doesnt agree with the views of the owners of the site - they warn you and then prevent you from posting for a couple of days...blah, blah, blah.....

But they allow members with the same view - their view to attack all those who oppose them so, people like me don't bother to post anything anymore.....we are board.

Originally posted by tomfrusso
I'll tell you why - cause if it doesnt agree with the views of the owners of the site - they warn you and then prevent you from posting for a couple of days...blah, blah, blah.....

That's a completely false statement.

No action is ever taken against a member account for any reasons other than what is stated in the Terms & Conditions. Overly-intense posters unable to participate in a collaborative and civil manner will very often mistake action against their ATS account as a staff disagreement with their opinions.

I post as I find the things I post about are interesting and I think some people on ATS may find it the same.

I don't always like or agree what I post-therefore won't defend it to anyone but it doesn't mean the topic itself should be ignored.

I try to hit a wide range of sources for thread leads. Mostly though, I do things during threads/post that make me think of the next topic I would like to hit on.

Example, my next project... will be called.... The Russian Right Stuff. look for it soon. See, got someone interest-I bet.
I have been toying with the concept and layout for two weeks now. I may work on it for a day-and not get one star or flag. But that doesn't really matter as me personally learned from what I researched and wrote/posted.

One other thread idea I have is about a Human Mulitlation (alleged) here in PA. Still gathering info for that one.

Originally posted by AlreadyGone
If you've evr been in a semi-organized group, you soon realize that, even here, it is 30% of the people doing 70% of the work.....lol.

I thought it was 80/20? LOL! The "Pareto Principle" look it up. I use it all the time in management. 80% of my time goes to managing 20% of my people. 20% of my people do 80% of my work. I have the top 20% doing all the work and requiring zero effort from me. I have the bottom 20% requiring all of my efforts to get them to barely perform, and I have the middle 60% staying out of the way, keeping their heads down, doing just enough to get by. It is like a Bell Curve of Workers.

I suspect ATS is very similar. 60% of the member read, respond a little, have pretty neutral opinions, like to say "good job" or "i agree." Then we have 20% that never respond, if they do say anything they get the post removed or they get warned or banned. Then we have 20% that always have something articulate and pertinent to say! They are very apparent to everyone, and we begin to recognize their names and/or avatars.

Not a bad distribution, and seems to be a product of nature, so I tend to like it!

90-9-1

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord

Originally posted by tomfrusso
I'll tell you why - cause if it doesnt agree with the views of the owners of the site - they warn you and then prevent you from posting for a couple of days...blah, blah, blah.....

That's a completely false statement.

No action is ever taken against a member account for any reasons other than what is stated in the Terms & Conditions. Overly-intense posters unable to participate in a collaborative and civil manner will very often mistake action against their ATS account as a staff disagreement with their opinions.

I have to agree with SO, tomfrusso. I have gotten myself into a few predicaments where I absolutely went too far. Sometimes the discussions here can get pretty heated. We are all human and try to get our point across, sometimes to the detriment of our own positions. The foot in mouth disorder.

I have been warned numerous times, globally banned once and if I would not have broken T&C this would never have happened. Hell, if there was no volatile discussion I would spend more time on the other sites I am a member of.

I like the differing opinions and the out of the box thinking that happens here. If I was not getting angry and getting my positions pushed, I would not see the other side of the arguments. Hell, I have even picked someone so far off my side of the political spectrum, as a friend, that it scares me.

reply to post by neformore


I tend to agree with most of those who have posted here already , in that a lot of people might feel intimidated by posting because of all the 'flaming' that goes on .

I myself , lurked around this site for months before joining , because of all the dis-respect that I witnessed from those who might not agree with the poster they were replying to .

Don't get me wrong , I am guilty of it too . I have even been post-banned from one of my own threads . There are those who are here just to inflame others , and if you aren't careful , you will fall for the bait while they set back and giggle at you for getting your feathers ruffled .

I have never 'foed' anyone , because I'm a firm believer that everyone is entitled to their opinion . I've put some on ignore , simply because I have learned to recognize what a troll is . But , they only stay on ignore for as long as I feel it is neccessary. Only one remains on ignore from me , because I occasionally take him off to see how he is posting.

I am logged on most of the time , that doesn't mean I am actively on the board . I simply stay logged on while I am doing other things . Being retired , I spend quite a bit of time on here .

It definitely is the best site I am aware of , I love it .

I disagreed with you just this morning , don't take it personal .

"Deny Ignorance" is somewhat of an anomoly . We all tend to think that the opinions of some of the posters show signs of sheer ignorance . Still , they are entitled to their opinions . What seems to reek of ignorance to us , may very well seem plausible to them .

So , I think everyone , myself included , needs to show more respect for other posters if we want more contribution .

If and when I disagree with anyone here , don't take it personal . Just because I disagree with you on one point does not mean that I haven't starred and flagged you on another .

We will never agree with each other on every point or opinion . So , let's not flame anyone simply because they are expressing their opinion of how they see the world .

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you .

Best regards to all of you .

[edit] Sorry neformore , it was not you , it was Blanca Rosa that I disagreed with earlier. Must have clicked the wrong post .

[edit on 20-5-2010 by okbmd]

Originally posted by Blanca Rose
Ok, where did the thread go from Skeptic, about visitation to this site?

?

Why is it, with the amount of traffic, only certain members participate?

All sorts of reasons. I, for example, participate do not in political threads for reasons that are not important atm. Therefore, you might not know me if you're not visiting other sections rather than political ones. Second, I pose that, due to individual differences, some members are more prone to react to certain stimuli (posts, subjects) than others.
Third, some members simply have more spare time. Also, it could be that the more someone posts, the more he or she will be comitted to the board and is likely to post more, hence the differences between frequent visitors and 'lurkers' or infrequent visitors (I really like this sentence).

Do we need a union, or what? For those that post.

No, just a little bit of courage sometimes, and a special suit to protect yourself against the kitchen's heat.

How is the traffic affecting those who choose to post?

Well, some people might not like the atmosphere in certain sections, so they refrain from posting there. This may be due to phenomena as 'gang posting', which means that an (impopular) opinion or attitude suddenly is backed-up by lots of members who think the same and are friends of the one who initiated the gang posting. The friend and foe system condones this in my opinion.

It's always the same people over and over, that post, Why is that, or why would you post about how many members you have, when only a few choose to speak?
Are we that, frightening, but at the same time, Enthralling fans?

I think, as I stated earlier, it's related to the amount of commitment one has towards this site/section/subject.

Why isn't the site enlisting more to speak?

You mean encouraging to speak? Good question, and perhaps worth suggesting. Ironically, we have that system where you have to make 20 or so posts in order to posts outside the kindergarten area. This should encourage more postings, regarding my little commitment theory. But perhaps the atmosphere of the site yields a sort of selection phenomenon, whereby certain members react, and others do not.

Ideas?

No.

Ok just kidding . Well, there are a lot of ways to improve things. I have not too much time atm, so I pass this one (that means, no, I really wasn't kidding after all )

Are we that mean, in denying ignorance?

Mean? No, I think just very human.

edit to add:

right now there are 462 members on, but most are silent. Not an accomplishment to see that many people, with only a few typing!

In my opinion, it's natural board-behavior. Don't forget that this site contains a large quantity of information (due to, amongst other things, the internationl character...if you don't count the political forums).
In order to post something new, you have to make sure that you're not posting something double, and that noone has posted it just before you. Second, I really really like to read threads. So I actually don't have always time to post.

I hope this makes things a little bit more clear to you, although, ofcourse, it's my perspection on things. Not entirely uneducated if you know what I mean, but my perspective nonetheless.


[edit on 20-5-2010 by -Thom-]