Whats happening to the site? (Nothing at all)

Admin edit...

As it seems many people are looking past the errant graph in the opening post, and not reading follow-up comments -- even the thread author isn't reading a direct reply to his opening post -- it's best to update with perspective.

Directly-measured Google Analytics show an average of 170,000+ daily visitors and no sudden drop-off.


I mentioned here, on the first page of this thread, that the Quantcast change was the result of a different handling of their tag.






I took the liberty to open up the statistics for the site here, and one thing that really struck me right away was how the page views have dropped off dramatically.

I was just wondering if it was because of any of the following reasons.

Interest in ATS has fallen by 70-80%, as such it has effected page views.
ATS tried something new and it turned off users, as such it has affected page views.
ATS has failed to evolve as a site and it has affected page views.
Weak content has turned away users and affected page views.
Top posters do not post as much and it has affected page views.
People are just busy and don't have as much time and it has affected page views.
People have lost their internet connection and cant get onto the site, and it has affected page views.
People have found other venues similar to ATS, and spend less time here.



Any idea as to how we can pull up its socks a bit b4 the site becomes non-viable from a business standpoint?

reply to post by lnfideI


This site has been around a LOOOONG time, its the normal up and down man......and of course the traffic was up around that time...

we had elections and DOOMSDAY around the corner........

Something else will come up in alternative news and it will peak again........

Just like it always does, trust me the site isnt hurting from a business stand point

My opinion:

Weak content has turned away users and affected page views.
Top posters do not post as much and it has affected page views.

If ATS has lower page hits than normal, this would be why.

reply to post by lnfideI


That is quite a drop. Who knows, maybe it was all the gun threads, or the avalance of ads, or the media hype about "conspiracy theorists" (I myself come here for the science, space data, ancient civilizations, and then enjoy the entertainment, intelligent discussions, and fun value of some of the other threads). Thanks for noticing and bringing up the topic.

EDIT: Ah, another poster makes sense, elections and 2012 nonsense and that kind of stuff may have given ATS more publicity and drawn more attention.

reply to post by lnfideI

My rough-and-ready guide to how busy the site is comes from the length of time a post spends on the "Recent Posts" page.
The rule of thumb used to be, as little as twenty minutes when the Americans were about and active, slowing to an hour or more when they were asleep in bed.
Now it rarely seems to drop below fifty minutes.

So what you are saying is that high spike at around Dec 21st 2012, was to do with the 2012 doomsday prediction,(makes good sense).

The average over the year is 8m p/view, but now is around 3.45m p/view, thats a steep drop, and considering that just the WW3 forum has had 5000 NorKo threads added in the last 3 weeks alone.

Whns the next "big event" that should draw in peopleoids and such increase page views?

Originally posted by ManBehindTheMask
reply to post by lnfideI

 

This site has been around a LOOOONG time, its the normal up and down man......and of course the traffic was up around that time...

we had elections and DOOMSDAY around the corner........

Something else will come up in alternative news and it will peak again........

Just like it always does, trust me the site isnt hurting from a business stand point

All the BS gun crap drove me away for a while.
When people quit making any since at all it tends to drive anyone away.

The mind-numbing chemicals and frequencies are kicking in and are now in control of everyone's mind. There is nothing wrong here, please move along. Be sure to stop by your local hospital for your chip and vaccinations, and receive a coupon for a Big Mac. Have a nice day! Xenongod

Originally posted by JBA2848
All the BS gun crap drove me away for a while.
When people quit making any since at all it tends to drive anyone away.

That's to bad, oh well, your back for more I see so it couldn't be that bad.

Just saying

Was a very long election cycle and it wasnt uncommon to see a third of the topics dedicated to that subject during those times.

Also the 2012 thing was in full swing with people putting on their prophecy hats and giving it a go.

Both have passed and it doent take the stretching of imaginations to write the drop off to just those "events" alone.

When did this site start? Sorry, no time to investigate today... Anyone have a quick answer?

I know I am still a noob here but, in my defense, I can't create earthquakes, I can not summon UFO's or ET's to photograph and I have not discovered any new conspiracy to report upon and will not make up crap just to have something to post.
The ATS site has covered a great deal of things and, even though folks here seem to have taken issue with the search engine, I've been able to find and read a lot of things, even learn quite a bit about the existence of things that certainly weren't taught in my schools.

I see there are a lot of diverse personalities on here and lately I have seen an uptick in people focused on being extremely critical of others ideas, calling them trolls and what-not. Could this shift be what is causing the downturn? There seem to be a lot of newer members on here, myself included, and perhaps they need a little more guidance from the more established members on how to have meaningful discussion without trying to pick a battle over a difference in opinion.

---
Maybe the ATS system could be revamped a little to show each poster's membership length, not just in terms of date joined, but graphically like a few small stripes/chevrons/other icon in the upper corner of the post.
0-3 Months = half silver stripe/chevron
over 3 months = full silver stripe/chevron
over 1year = 2 silver stripes/chevrons
over 2yr = 3 silver stripes/chevrons
over 3yr= 3 Gold stripes/chevrons.

That would make it easier to identify folks abilities as people that have been onboard longer will produce more meaningful posts but they would certainly be known by the community and would also have a better idea of what a meaningful post should contain.

Overall, I am happy to have found ATS and hope that folks are just out prepping for, what is it now, Mid-June or November's return if Nibiru?

Thanks to all the members here who do make me want to return, post and learn.

There's been a huge increase in TERRIBLE content, and users creating threads that are obviously not thought out. I haven't seen a very interesting thread in a month or so.

It sucks that threads about someones insane thoughts being passed off as truths, are burying threads actually worth the time of day.

Example.

Proof of NK False Flag BS

There seriously needs to be a N.K. forum for all the of threads flooding the site. That or they need to be merged into one super thread, it's getting ridiculous seeing the same thread a thousand different times. But, they will have a link from a source not posted, so it gets to stay up...regardless of whether or not the content is any different that what we've been seeing already (usually it's already been brought up, and someones not getting the attention they think they deserve...so they make a new thread about garbage).

Right now on the recent threads page, roughly 1/3 of the threads are about N.K. Why can't these all be in one thread? half of them offer nothing new or substantial to what is already being discussed.

This goes for any major story in the MSM, happens EVERY TIME.

reply to post by HumansBeing



I remember coming here in high school, around 2005-2006. Even back then I saw threads dating back to around 2002-2003.


reply to post by evc1shop


I like the idea you have to revamping recognizing members worth reading. Instead of having to open the thread to see these credentials, they should be posted next to their user name in the thread link. Will help users that appreciate good content, and members that actually take the time to construct a thread. Until then, we have to click every link, remember bad users handles, and be subject to looking at one sentence with a youtube video.

reply to post by lnfideI


Seems like the biggest drop is in US viewers.

Maybe they don't appreciate the international flavor!

That and school started back up.

I am not sure that is needed.

You can look at a join date and see how long someone has been "around"

What floors me is the guys/gals who have only been here 18 months and are at 20,000 posts.

Do these people not work? have they lost the plot in their heads as to reality and somehow feel that this site is their life?.

Now only if stars and flags paid their wages, some of the posters here would be millionaires.

I avoid anyone over 200 posts a day on this site,as I think they may be headcases.

But that's just me.

You would think that a poster who posts 200 posts a day for 18 months straight would somehow be adding to the overall page views, but it is on a steep downwards spiral.

"shrugs"

Originally posted by evc1shop
I know I am still a noob here but, in my defense, I can't create earthquakes, I can not summon UFO's or ET's to photograph and I have not discovered any new conspiracy to report upon and will not make up crap just to have something to post.
The ATS site has covered a great deal of things and, even though folks here seem to have taken issue with the search engine, I've been able to find and read a lot of things, even learn quite a bit about the existence of things that certainly weren't taught in my schools.

I see there are a lot of diverse personalities on here and lately I have seen an uptick in people focused on being extremely critical of others ideas, calling them trolls and what-not. Could this shift be what is causing the downturn? There seem to be a lot of newer members on here, myself included, and perhaps they need a little more guidance from the more established members on how to have meaningful discussion without trying to pick a battle over a difference in opinion.

---
Maybe the ATS system could be revamped a little to show each poster's membership length, not just in terms of date joined, but graphically like a few small stripes/chevrons/other icon in the upper corner of the post.
0-3 Months = half silver stripe/chevron
over 3 months = full silver stripe/chevron
over 1year = 2 silver stripes/chevrons
over 2yr = 3 silver stripes/chevrons
over 3yr= 3 Gold stripes/chevrons.

That would make it easier to identify folks abilities as people that have been onboard longer will produce more meaningful posts but they would certainly be known by the community and would also have a better idea of what a meaningful post should contain.

Overall, I am happy to have found ATS and hope that folks are just out prepping for, what is it now, Mid-June or November's return if Nibiru?

Thanks to all the members here who do make me want to return, post and learn.

School started in September.

Just saying.

Originally posted by beezzer
reply to post by lnfideI

 

Seems like the biggest drop is in US viewers.

Maybe they don't appreciate the international flavor!

That and school started back up.

reply to post by lnfideI


I have no idea why Quantcast would show that. There must be an issue with their tagging on ATS I'll need to look into.

However, Google Analytics shows normal traffic for this time of year...

We're averaging 170,000 unique visitors every day... which is about 15k/day more than this time last year.

We're seeing a 5% drop in referrals form Google, but a corresponding lift in links from other sites.

The real pain point for us is the industry-wide drop in overall ad revenue for long-tail sites like ATS.

Come to think of it... I DID do something that I knew would effect the stats on that Quantcast chart we're showing here:
www.abovetopsecret.com...
But now I can't remember what it was.


I think it had something to do with Quantcast starting to resell data, and I throttled back their tags. Dunno... the Overlord has too many things in his head these days.

reply to post by lnfideI
I agree that some folks pump out posts and I, too, am leery of them. There are some that I've run into that I almost write off in my mind as dis-info agents. If they truly are then that could be proof of a conspiracy by TPTB to rid folks from communicating on these sites in the future. Perhaps they are paid to come on these sites and drive the traffic away.

Now, I'm not saying that's what it is, I would rather think it is the unverified, insubstantial or non-sourced posts that really have people turning away. Of course spring is here, too and I'm sure people are out planting food and hauling their kids off to various team sports, sporting events and other diversions from what the internet provided on a cold winter day.

ETA: Just saw Skeptic's response so maybe all is just about normal, (ATS normal that is)