Exactly 1000 Posts

Well, the creation of this thread brings it up to 1,001.

So I just want to reflect on my time here at ATS, and how I have grown and changed as person since my membership began in 2009...

So I joined on 8/28/2009, a few weeks before the birth of my first son. I was never a lurker on the site. I actually visited once or twice in the past from being linked through Google searches, but every time I arrived at ridiculous threads about the paranormal. I was unimpressed with the lunacy of some of the posters here. So anybody who says ATS has changed, yeah it has, but one thing it has always been is full of crap threads lol...

So anyway, I didn't consider joining until I noticed my father was on the site a lot. His readings here sparked a lot of interesting real world conversations between he and I. So eventually, I decided to join the site myself. My father ceased his activity on the site some time ago, because he felt that ATS had become full of crappy, nonsensical threads where nobody did any real research. Maybe he was right, maybe not, but he doesn't visit anymore.

So, how have I changed over the past 3 years? When I first joined, I was on the fence about my belief in God. Some of you know I was raised in a very religious environment. A very evangelical home. I was forced to go to church 3 times a week, pressured constantly to pray, to do the "right thing" according to the Bible. Needless to say, I am now an atheist, albeit an agnostic one. I don't actively believe in any Gods, however I don't rule out the possibility of there existing beings with enormous intelligence and capabilities. The universe is huge. In a way, ATS has helped me come to this conclusion.

I've learned many things on ATS. I frequent the Philosophy & Metaphysics forum, because I've always been somewhat of a philosophical minded individual. I have greatly enjoyed the discussions there. I find personal, societal, and universal philosophical discussion to be some of the most stimulating conversations anyone could ever have. ATS gave me a venue to engage in such conversations in a world sorely lacking philosophical minded individuals (and I exclude those college students who study "Philosophy" and suddenly run around calling themselves Socrates and Aristotle).

I've also received some invaluable information from different members on the site. I found a download of a Marine Survival Manual that I would have never discovered otherwise. It provided me with some wonderful information should I ever need to survive out in the wilderness. I've learned some interesting facts concerning astronomy, astrophysics, geology, meteorology, to name a few, that I've been able to relay to people outside of ATS who were grossly misinformed.

I've also been vastly entertained on the site. First time threads by members claiming to be from the future, or angels, or aliens, or gods, or demons, or government insiders, or children of the illuminati... Yeah they can pile up. But boy, some of them are pretty entertaining... even if they do inadvertently damage this site's reputation lol...

I've also been exposed to neat pictures of things I may not have seen otherwise. I remember a thread which showed the beauty of the Persian landscape of Iran. I remember seeing pictures of different things in nature like forests in caves, up close volcano photos, some giant crystal cave...

ATS has provided me with some great experiences. Every single year there are threads about how "ATS is dying!" or how it's going downhill or what have you. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. If you see ATS going down a dark path that you don't like, don't just quit. Don't give up and leave like my father did. If all of the respected and veteran members stay and keep contributing, the value of this site will remain intact and even continue to grow and flourish. By quitting or giving up, you would be letting the "newbies" take over and the site really would go to crap. Nobody who cares about the internet or who cares about all the GOOD this site has to offer wants that to happen.

So that's just my reflection of ATS... the good, the bad, and the beautiful. Good Night, ATS!

-Jon

reply to post by OrphenFire


Let's give you a flag to go with these congrats. I remember when I hit a 1000. Though I must say 1000 kills on World of Tanks was just as exciting for me.

I have to take lots of breaks from ATS because the idiotic bickering gets to me sometimes. But I always come back, sigh!

reply to post by OrphenFire


Great thread and congratulations on the thousand posts!

To many more.

Thanks guys. I reckon I'll be here awhile. I admit I'm not always right, but if I'm the only voice of reason left on the site 5 years from now, then so be it

But I know many other, more valuable members than I will be here. And I don't look down on all newbies to the site. Being a newbie in and of itself is not a bad thing, we were all that way at one time, just as in life we were all children at one time (though I think a lot of the newbies are still children, based on some posts). They'll grow up.