An open debate on the future of Above Top Secret?

As the forums of ATS have grown and its body of knowledge increased the ability to gain reliable information has been obstructed. You might be saying “yes” or “no”, so how might that be applicable to the future of sharing information by using forums, arguing points, and presenting evidence? I believe this is one of the questions that should be asked here on this self-described “user-generated content ecosystems”.
Is ATS the future of sharing topics, secrets, news and information or will there be, or is there a better way? I have actually been around long time on ATS, reading combing these forums for the information that I seek since around 2007. Why have I joined so recently? I do not like to contribute my own thoughts because of who might be reading. …This leads me to another question about the future of ATS. How successful do you think ATS is at disseminating “secret” information? I am wondering how many people do you think are keeping their silence because of who might be reading. I the last few years information harvesting is now the norm, Psychological Profiling and, information awareness is now part of the scene. Does this mean the end or the beginning of ATS as a source of information?

-Stan

reply to post by XstanX888


lol yoru worried about who might be reading! So silly.

What do you have to say thats of any importance other than if your threatening to hurt people. If your threatening violence then you should really be seeking mental help.

reply to post by Wertdagf


So i should not be afraid of the massive part of corporations and governments to harvest information?? and violence??? no and that was not the question?

not seen anything posted yet that could be considered top secret ... or even secret .... rather seen more posted thats amusing ... interesting... at times absurd but always entertaining...

Originally posted by Wertdagf
reply to post by XstanX888

 

lol yoru worried about who might be reading! So silly.

What do you have to say thats of any importance other than if your threatening to hurt people. If your threatening violence then you should really be seeking mental help.

Why do you have to put him down without even knowing who he is. There is no telling what information has been held back and by who on this board for fear of being outted.

As for ATS's future. I think it will be here for some time to come. Just not sure how open of a exchange there will be.

Originally posted by Wertdagf
reply to post by XstanX888

 

lol yoru worried about who might be reading! So silly.

What do you have to say thats of any importance other than if your threatening to hurt people. If your threatening violence then you should really be seeking mental help.

Where in the OP did he threaten to hurt anyone? You obviously did not read it...

In other words, you're afraid of the government giving you a visit if you reveal too much of the knowledge you may have?

Originally posted by SilentKoala

Originally posted by Wertdagf
reply to post by XstanX888

 

lol yoru worried about who might be reading! So silly.

What do you have to say thats of any importance other than if your threatening to hurt people. If your threatening violence then you should really be seeking mental help.

Where in the OP did he threaten to hurt anyone? You obviously did not read it...

Thanks, yes seriously a said jab from nowhere..

Yea you better watch what you say...... I AM reading.... Some of it...

Originally posted by theTimeTraveler
In other words, you're afraid of the government giving you a visit if you reveal too much of the knowledge you may have?

Yes, I am afraid of how info on the net is written in ink and not easily taken away, not about now but the future of how that information might be used and profiled, for whatever circumstances.

You definately pose a very real concern. Just google your name, or a common username that you've used over the years. It's quite amazing how long some things stick around...

Originally posted by theTimeTraveler
You definately pose a very real concern. Just google your name, or a common username that you've used over the years. It's quite amazing how long some things stick around...

The goal of a spy center, to create total information awareness and copy every 1 and 0 on the internet for storage. Even encrypted information will be stored for future decryption.
www.rt.com...
Utah Data Center

if ATS' future is anything like the new front page....we are doomed

reply to post by jazzguy


In reference to the first post. Ya I am going to say that Doom is over and gloom is now consuming.

The future of ATS looks good; after all it is a business. A look at the stats will convince anyone of this.

There is a lot of useless information here as well; useless to deny ignorance, and all of us are guilty of posting it to a degree. That information is however useful in other ways, such as marketing, profiling, etc. as others have said already.

The future of the content is up to us! Like many, I mostly read the forums, star and flag them as I see fit, and comment as necessary to get my own opinion out there; even if it is not popular. We are in need of more to discuss however, without falling into the Facebook tragedy of "I ate a sandwich, lol".

Most of the main contributors of new threads who have been here awhile do some really good work assembling their threads. They spend a good deal of time preparing them, provide verifiable sources and normally the best media they can find. They also take care of the folks who can't watch videos, and oftentimes translate any non-English material for their readers. They check their spelling, grammar, and polish the thread before publishing it.

Obviously most of these contributors are writers, whether professional or amateur. They know their work will be read by millions of people, and that they will be archived for research later. It might even land them a side job, or launch a new career. These people aren't going anywhere soon, but we do need to add to their number...

Originally posted by SilentKoala

Originally posted by Wertdagf
reply to post by XstanX888

 

lol yoru worried about who might be reading! So silly.

What do you have to say thats of any importance other than if your threatening to hurt people. If your threatening violence then you should really be seeking mental help.

Where in the OP did he threaten to hurt anyone? You obviously did not read it...

LOL! You obviously did not read the post you are refering to!

Back to the OP.....
I think Above Top Secret is great! This is my favorite site. I go to quite few, but I like the format this has, the rules and regulations, and how they have shaped the type of interaction that goes on here. Many times I have used this site as an example in other forums discussion on changes they should make or not.

There is a lot of silliness here, and a wealth of valuable info too. I don't know any site that could handle this much silliness in such a mature way.

And most of all, conspiracy enthousiasts are gonna be paranoid. That is what they do. That is their definition. Like "haters gonna hate".

There is no way to reconcile that underlying fear and distrust with a way to publicly exchange information.
You'll just have to live with it, I suspect!

You are absolutely correct in your concerns. When it comes to sites like ATS there is such a thing as too much information.

Just think about it. If you were one of the most powerful governments in the world and decided you want to build a profile of your citizens who are against your rule, why wouldnt you take a peek at ATS?

If you had enough money to buy multimillion dollar jets and wotnot, and spend trillions of dollars on military might, why wouldnt you spend a couple of thousand on researching those researching you?

To be quite frank, the US intelligence agencies would be illogically stupid not to.

There's more to ATS than meets the all seeing eye.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

Originally posted by visualmiscreant
The future of ATS looks good; after all it is a business. A look at the stats will convince anyone of this.

There is a lot of useless information here as well; useless to deny ignorance, and all of us are guilty of posting it to a degree. That information is however useful in other ways, such as marketing, profiling, etc. as others have said already.

The future of the content is up to us! Like many, I mostly read the forums, star and flag them as I see fit, and comment as necessary to get my own opinion out there; even if it is not popular. We are in need of more to discuss however, without falling into the Facebook tragedy of "I ate a sandwich, lol".

Most of the main contributors of new threads who have been here awhile do some really good work assembling their threads. They spend a good deal of time preparing them, provide verifiable sources and normally the best media they can find. They also take care of the folks who can't watch videos, and oftentimes translate any non-English material for their readers. They check their spelling, grammar, and polish the thread before publishing it.

Obviously most of these contributors are writers, whether professional or amateur. They know their work will be read by millions of people, and that they will be archived for research later. It might even land them a side job, or launch a new career. These people aren't going anywhere soon, but we do need to add to their number...

edit on 7/30/2012 by visualmiscreant because: fixed some stuff man

edit on 7/30/2012 by visualmiscreant because: fixed some more stuff man

Yes!! great stuff, you have outlined the some of the major points of why people come to ATS, thanks!

reply to post by Bluesma

There is a lot of silliness here, and a wealth of valuable info too. I don't know any site that could handle this much silliness in such a mature way.

The smart/silly comments break things up a little, and is part of the attraction for some. Take for instance this signature which belongs to Monkeygod333...

"The crows seemed to be calling his name thought Caw."

On something other than a conspiracy site, this remark would lose it's richness.

Originally posted by Monkeygod333
You are absolutely correct in your concerns. When it comes to sites like ATS there is such a thing as too much information.

Just think about it. If you were one of the most powerful governments in the world and decided you want to build a profile of your citizens who are against your rule, why wouldnt you take a peek at ATS?

If you had enough money to buy multimillion dollar jets and wotnot, and spend trillions of dollars on military might, why wouldnt you spend a couple of thousand on researching those researching you?

To be quite frank, the US intelligence agencies would be illogically stupid not to.

There's more to ATS than meets the all seeing eye.

 

Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

 

Yes exactly what i am getting at, are we contributing to the Information Awareness here? by posting, is this really not the best type of tool a surveillance might need. The thoughts and ideas of everybody on a particular subject. This makes ATS and sites like it a tool for those who would use it. Over time does this idea erode the principles that make ATS the site it is, and if it is how can we help foster best parts of this site to fix this?