I was wondering if ATS is shutting down

a reply to: Martin75

I don't understand the hostility, They don't get paid to run the site, We don't pay to use it and We are not forced to use it!

Why should they respond to everyone's U2U's, especially when its negative and nagging? Could you build a better site, run it for free and allow such content?

In the 15yrs I've been here, the only issues I've ever had were my own internet or spyware - ok, so the website didn't load in 20 seconds.. who cares?
I'm on this site hours every day - with little to no down time.

I seriously don't understand peoples expectations.. why complain about a brilliant site that's free?

Personally, I think we should pay a $20 annual fee to use the website and we should hold ''thank the mod'' posts every month.

edit to add:

Mods, Springer, Owners.. what you created is awesome. Your attempts to moderate it and kept it going with little to no stupidity is also awesome.
If you guys are ever in Australia, id love to buy you all a round or 5.

a reply to: Agit8dChop

Just because you're not having problems doesn't mean others are not. There's no reason in todays tech that a page should take up to 2 mins to load. If they're receiving ad revenue from this site they should try and get it to run as smooth and as fast as they can.

If you were looking to advertise your business on a site, would you do it on a site that has issues or one that doesn't, especially loading issues?

originally posted by: Agit8dChop
a reply to: Martin75

I don't understand the hostility, They don't get paid to run the site, We don't pay to use it and We are not forced to use it!

Why should they respond to everyone's U2U's, especially when its negative and nagging? Could you build a better site, run it for free and allow such content?

In the 15yrs I've been here, the only issues I've ever had were my own internet or spyware - ok, so the website didn't load in 20 seconds.. who cares?
I'm on this site hours every day - with little to no down time.

I seriously don't understand peoples expectations.. why complain about a brilliant site that's free?

Personally, I think we should pay a $20 annual fee to use the website and we should hold ''thank the mod'' posts every month.

edit to add:

Mods, Springer, Owners.. what you created is awesome. Your attempts to moderate it and kept it going with little to no stupidity is also awesome.
If you guys are ever in Australia, id love to buy you all a round or 5.

Not hostile just frustrated.
Why should I not ask?
Why half ass this site?

And yes, there are a TON of issues... Maybe you don't utilize the parts I do...

I used to donate but couldn't see where my money was being used wisely.

I do not want to maintain a forum board so I do not run one. However, they decided that they wanted to. Now step up to the plate or walk away.

Sometimes the site operates like a fine tuned auto, blazing fast and other time it's like a burro loaded with sacks of beans or carrots, idk.

Apparently the Gods of cyberdom are gracing us with the 450SL; fast and dependable, almost like the old days.

Perhaps I spoke to soon.....1min, 45 sec. to load this post. I'm almost scared to edit and repair the syntax, but here goes....




Interesting....instant edit,

originally posted by: olaru12
Sometimes the site operates like a fine tuned auto, blazing fast and other time it's like a burro loaded with sacks of beans or carrots, idk.

Apparently the Gods of cyberdom are gracing us with the 450SL; fast and dependable, almost like the old days.

Perhaps I spoke to soon.....1min, 45 sec. to load this post. I'm almost scared to edit and repair the syntax, but here goes....



Interesting....instant edit,

The time of your post says it all:

"10:13 AM"

It's between the problematic :10-:14 minutes after the hour, when the page loads take several minutes. Since your edit was later, it was past the problem time range, so that's why it was fast. I haven't actually tried to post at :14 after the hour, so I'm not sure about when it goes back to normal, but I have posted at :16 after the hour and it's normal by then.

We made some adjustments and things should be better since 19 February, 2020 (US time). The SkepticOverlord tweaked the knobs and switches and things have been smooth for myself and pretty much everyone I know who partakes of the ATS.
:-)

originally posted by: Wookiep
The site used to get hosed at the 30 minute mark, now it's not so accurate on the timing but it has been happening every day for at least the past week.

That issue should now be resolved (from a performance standpoint). A few days back, I made a significant change to the queries that automatically assemble aggregate pages like the site home page.

Here's the harsh reality.

More than 65% of all site visitors are blocking ads, despite our choice of one of the most user-friendly ad networks available (yes, there are occasional bad ads, but much less than previous). 85%+ of all site visitors are "guests," not members. This issue introduces two problems:

1) Our revenue is barely more than what's required to "keep the lights on."

2) When ads are blocked, so is analytics. So our traffic "appears" up to 65% less than reality, so we get crap ads, not ads for higher-traffic sites.

Three years ago, I presented "shaming" ad banners to people who were blocking ads. A boat-load of members complained and whined. It was high drama (I'm sure some of you remember).

You're experiencing the result; there are no resources to keep the core stack stable.

originally posted by: AtomicKangaroo
Like why no SSL when it's never been easier or cheaper to get an SSL certificate.

Not hard questions to answer.

^^^^^ See above. No $$$. No resources.

For all I know the site could just be sitting on an old laptop in Springers garage and is maintained by people with zero IT experience.

It's on an 8x processor bare metal server with two hard drive controllers. One controls our 4x SSD Raid 0 array for the database. The other is for the code stack. We retain an IT management firm to monitor everything and keep it up to date (mostly).

It really does not take much to host a website, especially a forum.

It does for a forum that still, even with lower than our peak traffic numbers, averages 110+ database queries every second.

For the rest of the story ^^^^^ see above.

Only way ATS will get fixed is for everyone to say "enough of this bull#" and stop logging in.
A user strike.

Brilliant idea.
Entitled much?

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

Great to hear from you and Springer, and good to know you're still onto it.

Maybe it's time to sell supplements infowars style, introduce the ats pill..

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

Hi SO.
Thanks for making the adjustments, and for keeping us up to date.
No mention of members offers to help with financing ?

Am sure you are Springer can see that the folks would like to see y'all around a little more.
Well: more visible anyways.
How about an ATS Tailgate party ?

originally posted by: Nothin
No mention of members offers to help with financing ?

Three issues:

1) It's expensive -- enterprise-level IT expensive

2) I no longer have the necessary free time to manage it

3) After a fix, we still have the fact that revenue barely supports keeping the lights on. So any money spent on the fix is a poor investment.


Fun fact: If only 1/3 of users were blocking ads (the Internet average), we'd be okay... in fact, we most likely would have had the resources and time to see this coming and take proactive measures.

originally posted by: SkepticOverlord
Fun fact: If only 1/3 of users were blocking ads (the Internet average), we'd be okay... in fact, we most likely would have had the resources and time to see this coming and take proactive measures.

So WHY don't you implement the same software that detects ad blockers on so many other sites and block users from access if they use them.

With 100% of users recieving ads you would be minted enough to not only keep the lights on but you would be able to invest in the site.

Unless.....the free time you require for other business ventures is more important, in which case, take a percentage of those new found profits and hire a new boss for US here at ATS.

Otherwise, it sounds like ATS going dark is all about something other than revenue.

What WILL you entertain as options, or is your decision made?

Well as a longtime fan of ATS, I’m very disappointed if it really does shut down.

Is the decision already final? Is there a specific date that it will end?

Re: Ad revenue: I’d expect that most fans could care less if there’s a few more ads onscreen, if it makes the difference of the site surviving...

originally posted by: machineintelligence
a reply to: CthruU

They are always able to PM me. When we add content to this or any site we add value to it as more eyeballs are on it increasing revenue if they are able to manage it correctly.

yeah ats is all messed up.

been about 3 days now for me.

originally posted by: machineintelligence
I see the site is still not fully functioning after many days now. I am wondering if in fact you are preparing to sell the site or just shut down at this point. If you are selling out is there a bidding process going on and if so how would I get the data for the biding process. Thanks.

Whoa , you Need to " Calm The Hell Down " Dude . Try Instead of Not Wasting the Rest of your Life on your Internet Connected Cell Phone Without the ATS Website on it . You Will Survive . If Not .............











.........

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

OK.

How do we stop blocking ads?

I will.

You guys realize you’re responding to 3-year-old posts here?

a reply to: randomuser

Time is Relative ..................Discuss...

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