Is ATS evolving into something different?

a reply to: woodwytch

Unfortunately a lot of the more interesting, challenging and thought provoking threads / posts were made by members who for various reasons are no longer with us.

I remember constantly trawling through the UFO / Conspiracy and even Religious threads reading posts from people who were really pushing the boundaries with well researched and well written pieces.

Such threads and posts are still to be found here on ATS - just nowhere near as common as before.

I miss some of the old members and feel saddened that newer members will not benefit from their insights.
Even though I still read threads on the 'core' Forums I now find myself posting more often in UK related threads.
And if I'm being entirely honest I think I've become a bit more cynical and sceptical than I ever was before and I now expect at least some sort of corroborative evidence and / or reasoned and considered arguments before even considering something as being possible.

But ATS is still by far the best site of its type and there are still some great people here.
ATS has certainly helped me in many ways.

This thread that was written a number of years back might shed some insight into the process of being a member of ATS.

It's changed but I'm not sure what it is exactly . More boring if you ask me. I find it hard to choose a thread I want to read or post in. Might be the membership has changed. More interesting ones have left? Or the format changed. Less nutcases making wild claims are dearly missed. At least they were entertaining,

The home page top two topics never appeal to me. I'm not interested in the NLBS ones.

The religious arguments are boring. One strong belief versus another never gets anywhere. UFOs are just not interesting anymore to me. I never fancied the moon landings stories.

Perhaps there's a lack of natural disasters as of late? Not saying that's a bad thing, but there just isn't any to discuss or we've become disinterested or ignoring some that might be worthy of discussing. Ferguson has been played to death. Enough already.

Could be people aren't creative at using good titles to lure readers in as well.

Overall I'm finding I'm less interested in visiting ATS. Could be the mood I'm in or the mood you are in. For me it's just my mood.

I hope so...seeing people saying every single thing is a conspiracy over and over gets incredibly boring, and just has me repeatedly shaking my head and rolling my eyes.

Maybe this would be a good place to post this (which was posted in another thread)
Wikipedia

originally posted by: Phage
Maybe this would be a good place to post this (which was posted in another thread)
Wikipedia

This shows that Wikipedia has deleted the 'Above Top Secret' page. The deletion request was put in on November 22, and action was taken a few days later. With a little work this page could probably go up again, the main problem was lack of credible sources and references about ATS, so something like a few major media mentions, or the mentions about the site by Ventura, Jim Oberg, and others, should be able to restore the page (or not).

a reply to: CagliostroTheGreat

You know what? That was EXACTLY my answer I was going to give!! Thanx for saving Me the Time!! LOL!!! I threw out all My Sh IT Storm gear a while back. LOL!!!

I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that a lot of ats members are highly critical of wikipedia as a reliable source?

I remember citing wikipedia as evidence once and got a whole load of abuse becuase of it!

a reply to: Phage

Those who want to live in a better world have stopped posting to the braying complainers who insist that we believe official news stories for the most part, and that we parrot science sites like they are canon.

They have realized that the very conditions which cause those who believe with the crowd to be worse off in critical thought than the most religious zealots could ever be.

And they have begun moving beyond the surface distractions of which do nothing but cover the seal of lies the world is built upon.

And oh yes, also they have decided that it is a waste of time trying to get people to see just how "uncritical" the so-called critical thinkers are.

It is like watching one dimension from another, the entire perspective of the fooled is focused in on the position they occupy, but others can move around and see things from multiple angles, and that is exactly what is desperately being kept a secret.

And without knowing it, the science minded, actually scuttle the search for truth, by accepting "facts" that no commoner is allowed to verify, touch, or EVER GET NEAR.

a reply to: nonspecific

You have been registered for 2 months? That's a lot of change in a short time. Anyway everything changes. and it should. If the site didn't it would be a small memory in Simons mind about the old days when he believed in conspiracy theories....
That said, I see plenty still is the same. Member psyche is the main constant.

originally posted by: Phage

Point out inconsistencies and contradictions and what do you get? (see my sig)

Dear Phage, that sig....Very dramatic.....Get off your knees dearest ATS is not the appropriate time to be on them


originally posted by: Aleister

Wikipedia

I didn't know they deleted it. A bit odd. Not like the site doesn't exit....

I lost my account details and this is a new account, Iv'e been coming here for years!

As I said it was not a critisism but a question, I was hoping the mods had acess to data regarding posting activity over time that would show the evolution and growth of the site

a reply to: zazzafrazz

a reply to: nonspecific

Very well then old compadre, however my thoughts on change still apply

Heres my two cents. I believe most of the change happened after Obama took office. Probably a year or two afterward. My feeling was that the fear, concern and interest in things that "may" exist were replaced with a fear of what "does" exist...in that our country is under siege and our way of life threatened. Don't get me wrong...I'm not trying to preach my opinion, but pointing out that a present danger kind of overrides aliens, monsters, etc.

I grew up learning about Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and all. When I found ATS, I was in heaven. But recent changes in our world have become the immediate conspiracy and one that is an actual threat. I would love to get back to the old ATS, but what we are going through, the lies, the hidden agendas are a conspiracy. The government just doesn't care any more about trying to hide it well.

Yeah it's pretty much gone completely downhill. That's why I made my own alternative discussion forum lol. It's that deep. ATS used to be my go-to place for discussion. Now it's just an absolute shambles with no decorum whatsoever and God knows who behind the computer screens.

It's deep. Where else is left? Prison planet?...

Ugh.

Yes it is turning into something different- a political pulpit, to be exact. I have pointed this out in the past. ATS is now deluged with the same old stuff we have to tolerate in the mass media. Especially obnoxious are the endless variations of liberal political and social ideas which are completely out of place in a website for independent minded individuals and free thinkers! Lets get back to "good old" alternative news and leave politics to the mass media!