Transparency On The Future of ATS

originally posted by: Willtell
Hey AM, you got access to any of that big mason money to lend a hand… out?

We're notorious tightwads, bro, the Templar Gold is busy earning dividends in mutual funds right now.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: Willtell
Hey AM, you got access to any of that big mason money to lend a hand… out?

We're notorious tightwads, bro, the Templar Gold is busy earning dividends in mutual funds right now.

How about Whoopi or Oprah?

Tell Whoopi your collecting for the WO library. COVID broke em...

She’s a bleeding heart, she might give you a wad of cash

Reddit is not the answer. What made this site great is the ability to question the narrative and then having people post all the evidence they have gathered through some amazing research. Try to go on Reddit and even doubt how severe Covid is. Try to go on there and post about ID 2020, or basically anything other than what tptb want you to think. You can't do it. It's removed and censored just like on FB, Twit, YouTube. We need a place like this. Frankly, it's all we have left.

As far as politics go. People are complaining about politics on here but again, it's the only place you can challenge and present evidence that is contrary to what the narrative is. Now more than ever, that is needed.

Having said all of that. I have been wondering lately if even this site had been compromised because it seems almost any conspiracy at all is immediately shot down by half the people on here so....maybe that's the real reason for all of this.

I need a few days to think about this.


I'm not willing to accept the death of this community. It isn't the website that keeps me coming back.

So that means the people need a place to go.

Man that stinks have been on here forever joined 2005 and lurked even longer and love the format and all the topics. I hope there is a buyer found who is like-minded. Pretty sure we won't find an adequate substitute site all under one roof and will definitely miss all the posters. Even as ATS grew more political I always found the mix much better than any other boards or social media.

In looking elsewhere over the years haven't found anything close to the variety and quality of content.

So give me some options ATS members where will we be posting now?

a reply to: burdman30ott6

Beautiful Fly.

I stayed here, on ATS, because it is moderated.


"Free for All" - - anything goes - - social media - - is insane.

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

Two words.

PAY. WALL.

I'm in.

originally posted by: awhispersecho
Reddit is not the answer. What made this site great is the ability to question the narrative and then having people post all the evidence they have gathered through some amazing research. Try to go on Reddit and even doubt how severe Covid is. Try to go on there and post about ID 2020, or basically anything other than what tptb want you to think. You can't do it. It's removed and censored just like on FB, Twit, YouTube. We need a place like this. Frankly, it's all we have left.

As far as politics go. People are complaining about politics on here but again, it's the only place you can challenge and present evidence that is contrary to what the narrative is. Now more than ever, that is needed.

I agree 100% is so difficult to find a place where you can listen to opposing viewpoints without it disintegrating into nothing but arguing.

But hell I used ATS for so much more

originally posted by: FauxMulder

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: Nyiah
They really DO have a reddit already (r/AboveTopSecret) but I still think they need a ATS conspiracy reddit & an ATS OT one to work out well on Reddit.

Everyone should at least consider making an identical Reddit handle strictly for hopping over to the subreddit if/when need be it. I hate Reddit, but I'm considering it.

Not that I'm going to post there with any guarantee but I registered my screenname just in case some scumbag tries to take it like they've done on other sites.

Someone already registered mine.

Probably a communist. You should sue.

originally posted by: projectvxn
I need a few days to think about this.


I'm not willing to accept the death of this community. It isn't the website that keeps me coming back.

So that means the people need a place to go.

Keep me updated, LOL ATS will be missed.

originally posted by: face23785

originally posted by: FauxMulder

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: Nyiah
They really DO have a reddit already (r/AboveTopSecret) but I still think they need a ATS conspiracy reddit & an ATS OT one to work out well on Reddit.

Everyone should at least consider making an identical Reddit handle strictly for hopping over to the subreddit if/when need be it. I hate Reddit, but I'm considering it.

Not that I'm going to post there with any guarantee but I registered my screenname just in case some scumbag tries to take it like they've done on other sites.

Someone already registered mine.

Probably a communist. You should sue.

Haven't you heard? We're all communist now.

Political posts are killing this sights ability to generate ad revenue, along with the the epidemic. I have noticed over the last 4 years that a once awesome site has now descended into a quagmire of divisive politics and shotgun analogies. That makes it difficult for any business that is not only selling a product, but a brand name, to position themselves in the best market. As a brand, you want to appeal to the broadest audience possible, which usually means taking a semi-neutral stance on subjects to avoid alienating (get it? Alienating...) potential customers and sales.
Every day that I go on ATS, the rhetoric is predominantly politically focused on the front page. This means that potential new folks to ATS will perceive (perception is a bitch) this as mainly a politics engine and therefore go somewhere else.
People on the whole are pretty burned out on politicians (lol ALLLLL OF THEM) and I believe that affects the ability for this sight to capture new folks and therefore make the sight more attractive again.

Here is my suggestion, move the politics off the front page. It has its place but not right in front right now.

Second suggestion, offer up sponsorship to specific forums, not the whole sight. Example, but probably a bad one. MUFON doesn't care about politics, so instead of offering add sponsorship to the whole sight, they instead sponsor ONLY the UFO forum. They put up adds specific only to their sponsorship of that forum, have freedom to change, bump up or down. Each forum then gets it's own sponsorship geared towards the discussion thread, and can be put up annually for the ability for new sponsors to take over. Now the adds are more specifically geared to the forum itself and members are more likely to click on the adds in that forum as they will fit the thinking of that sponsored forum.
In addition, Facebook/Instagram and mobile apps do not require a lot of revenue to start and maintain, but do open up the potential audience base and the ability to attract new people.
I have never actively seen this site try to attract new members, perhaps it's time to replenish the ranks

Can’t help with solving the problem. But as a massive lover of this for more than 10 years, now I’m in a more secure job I’d happily pay for a subscription. I pay enough for accounts with Netflix etc I’d happily pay and support the website.

Thanks for being honest and transparent with us

originally posted by: Liquesence
a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

Maybe the Pit truly has killed off ATS, since the attitudes therein infect other forums...I thought the Pit was supposed to broaden the appeal, in some ways, but perhaps it has metastasized...

MAGA! (Make ATS Great Again!)

I made a post about this on another thread that was mysteriously removed the same day.

The Mud Pit actively encourages the type of rude and angry discourse that has pulled the site down. The ability to digitally reward threads which are toxic using the star/flag system encourages people to make threads with click bait titles that are just opinion based echo chambers. Take a look at the home page or the hot topics - A disproportionate number of featured threads are from the pit. It is common for more than half the hot topics to be from the pit. These are the landing pages for the site and form the first impression, and many of the topics you are immediately faced with are just designed to be antagonistic with little substance, and are far from the spirit that started ATS. Is it any wonder that advertisers won't be associated with it?

The minimal moderation of the pit encourages the sort of moon howling trolls that will just create threads with no substance and are just there to slag off the other side. Like minded cretins will star and flag these threads which pushes them to the home/hot topics pages. They add nothing to the site, but are somehow the most popular.

I do NOT advocate removing the pit. It serves a purpose. However I strongly believe that removing the star and flag system from the pit pushes lower quality threads off the home page and would return a degree of respectability to the site.

[/rant]

It's a shame we've come to this. I've been part if the site for 15 years and it's been sad to watch the decline.

originally posted by: Willtell
Tell Whoopi your collecting for the WO library. COVID broke em...

She can see it from her house and I don't think she cares.

a reply to: PaddyInf

Have to agree. Get rid of the Mud Pit and return to the old moderation standards.

Should clean up nicely.

Heres the ultimate conudrum, the more the thread grows, the more it costs, the sooner the end is nigh

if you want to save ATS......................STOP POSTING

I like to think I have helped

Seriously big thanks to the owners, the big contributors, I have learnt so much regarding space, science and people

On a Day when Dame Vera has passed, never has it been more fitting to say



If no resolution can be found, I wish everyone and there loved ones all the best X

I've been on and off of ATS for 4 almost 5 years. I don't post much, but I've been tooling around lately and plastering my knowledge and opinions politely here and there.

What makes me not participate much on this site is the extreme political heat. A lot of threads that don't start political end up getting angry politics dragged into them somehow and it goes sour so fast.

Now, that doesn't always happen, and when it doesn't happen, it's awesome. This site has some brilliant minds, great writers, excellent critical thinkers, and creative geniuses. No, not some. A LOT of them. And that's why I've managed to stick around.

I have nothing against discussing politics. I've been charged guilty of this many times IRL and online--I have my opinions, I speak them. But the emotionally fueled politics that happen on here sometimes (the pit, I'm looking at you) aren't healthy. It's not healthy to argue.
Debate, yes. Argue, no.

ATS stands for Denying Ignorance, and Disagreeing without Being Disagreeable. I stand for freedom of speech and those two things just as well, but I never believe fighting or intense arguing solves anything.


Most importantly,
I came here for UFOs, hidden government projects, internet security, general conspiracy, unusual science and physics news, and great paranormal stories.
Now it's mostly virus and angry politics, so I'm still a quiet member. I do my best to contribute to the site the way I like to in my favorite topics, and if we all do that, we've got a shot at keeping this thing alive.

Let's bring back the ATS culture we loved.

a reply to: PaddyInf

I agree. I'd go further and make the pit a RATS style forum.

originally posted by: TomLawless
a reply to: DoctorBluechip
It's not any of your business to know the inner workings of a privately owned company. Chill out.

Unless, of course, it's for sale.