I Want To Know My ATS Neighborhood

Howdy! I have only been a member for a few months, but I am thoroughly enjoying this site with all it's colorful and intellectual members and their attributes. It is so refreshing to be able to see/participate in so many angles on various subjects, whether it be supportive or skeptical, one always walks away more informed here.
I am curious about some ATS history and stats.
When did it start?
Who started it?
How many members do we have?
How much has membership grown since ATS inception? (chart maybe)
How many Continents are we on?
Any major future plans or changes?
Has ATS ever been threatened to be taken down?
Is there an area where we can practice our embedding and quote features, or should we just find an old thread and practice there? I don't want to tread on anyones efforts.


That's it for now, and if any of this info is only for the privileged because of security reasons I understand. Thanks guys for any responses and best wishes to all members!
Peace
Best Wishes To Doc!


[edit on 28-5-2010 by speculativeoptimist]

I won't be too much help, But I do know that ATS is accessed through many many countries and there IS a future plan for an overhaul of the entire site. A preview of it is available HERE

reply to post by The_Zomar


Thanks Zomar! I dig the sense of humor in a lot of your responses man, thanks for your contributions!
Peace

Originally posted by speculativeoptimist
When did it start?

The earliest thread I have found from the first day of the 2002 incarnation of ATS is this one: www.abovetopsecret.com...

This is the first date that a message board shows up on the wayback machine (sometime between Jun 22, 2000 and Aug 15, 2000) as part of ATS. And ATS itself as a website shows up for the first time as an archive on Dec 05, 1998.

Who started it?

I believe it was Simon Gray.

How many members do we have?
How much has membership grown since ATS inception? (chart maybe)
How many Continents are we on?

Stats Page

Any major future plans or changes?

Yes, depending on your definition of future.
But yes.

Has ATS ever been threatened to be taken down?

Probably ... I have threatened to take my pants off on several occasions. A course of action which would have inevitably led to dire consequences ... not just for ATS but for the internet at large.

Is there an area where we can practice our embedding and quote features, or should we just find an old thread and practice there? I don't want to tread on anyones efforts.

You can "preview" every post to see if you have embedded/quote properly by pressing "preview" instead of "reply." I'm not sure if the freshman forum is an appropriate place for that ... I would suggest asking a staff member for assistance/clarification.

That's it for now ...

Phew ... that was exhausting.

[edit on 28 May 2010 by schrodingers dog]

reply to post by schrodingers dog


Thank you so much SDog! I appreciate your effort, and this is very helpful!
Peace

[edit on 28-5-2010 by speculativeoptimist]

Edit to add -
or what S-Dog said...

Originally posted by speculativeoptimist
When did it start?

Old AboveTopSecret.com

Who started it?

SimonGray was the individual whom started ATS. If you look at the sky long enough, you may just catch a glimpse...

How many members do we have?

Currently there are 193,434 member accounts

How much has membership grown since ATS inception? (chart maybe)

Check the link above; there is a graph from July of 2009 as well as many other statistics. Though I think with any successful business model, the growth is slow and then continues an upward climb until it becomes exponential...

How many Continents are we on?

All save for Antartica...though for a look at the countries...check here...

Any major future plans or changes?

As mentioned/linked by a previous poster, there are plans for the future and a preview is available via the provided link.

Has ATS ever been threatened to be taken down?

No.

Is there an area where we can practice our embedding and quote features, or should we just find an old thread and practice there? I don't want to tread on anyones efforts.

I have the u2u system to be a good place for that though currently some of the coding doesn't quite work. My recommendation would be to check out the following thread for reference; A Guide to BBCode on ATS; and then use the edit feature for corrections.

Hope this helps...

[edit on Fri, 28 May 2010 14:32:20 -0500 by MemoryShock]

some info can be found here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...


some more can be found in our press section:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

in a nutshell, Simon started the site about 12 or so years ago and he brought Skeptic and Springer on board to help run it when it became too big for one guy. About three years ago the entity that now owns abovetopsecret was formed, with angel investors jumping on board to help push the site, and the goals of the owners onto more screens, into more minds and into more genres. Shortly after the funding, a book, written by Jim Marrs, came out. The book is a discourse on several major stories that were discussed here on ATS.

There's more to come, the conspiracy chicks should be hitting your monitors soon, the new site design is coming along nicely and we're always working on new and interesting ways to bring the news that the main stream media ignores to the masses.

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


You're most welcome ... also if you have other technical questions you can use this helpful thread: Hey new members!! Come here if you need advice. They are very nice and helpful in there.

Thanks Memory Shock and Crakeur, much obliged!
Getting to know more about this community only strengthens my conviction for it's resourcefulness and services!!!
Peace