Cultural diversity within ATS

reply to post by ladyinwaiting


Sorry, my bad. What does N/M mean?

I guess that if we want certain people here because the topics would benefit from their input then we should look for them and invite them.
Many people don't know about ATS until they search for something that they were looking for and it links them to here.
For example, the thread about the video of the girl that escaped the Illuminati, I needed help researching documents and facts but only a few people here read Spanish and I couldn't get much help. What I decided to do was to find other conspiracy related websites from Latin America and talk to those people and maybe bring them here.

Edit: N/M means never mind.

[edit on 13-6-2010 by Elieser]

reply to post by Ulala


Maybe these data will provide some insight into who's using the internet and why the contributors to ATS are distributed as they are.

www.internetworldstats.com...

These figures still don't address the "interest factor."

Not everyone is going to be interested in posting political opinions on the internet and those who are so interested may not be drawn to ATS.


[edit on 2010/6/13 by GradyPhilpott]

reply to post by strangleholder1


Africans are naive bunch? Not interested in politics? Don't search for truth? lol

Incorrect. There are those Africans whom are as you say, but then there's naive/ignorant people in every country, including yours.

Honestly, it does not sound you know anything of this continent. You'd be surprise what we know though.

[edit on 6/13/2010 by qonone]

Originally posted by qonone
reply to post by strangleholder1

 

Africans are naive bunch? Not interested in politics? Don't search for truth? lol

Incorrect. There are those Africans whom are as you say, but then there's naive/ignorant people in every country, including yours.

Honestly, it does not sound you know anything of this continent. You'd be surprise what we know though.

[edit on 6/13/2010 by qonone]

Just out of interest, as I note you herald from South Africa, do you come across many South African ATS members?

reply to post by Whisper67

I'm grateful to know her and I'm grateful for the global community of ATS.

Wow - and right back at you!
Yeah, we had a rocky start - but through combined patience and the real honest desire we both had to learn and experience from each other we made it through and are both much richer for the experience. You've taught me a lot, and I mean that.

The internet proves it's a small world after all - but one so infinite in it's incredible peoples as you go so far to prove!

I'm grateful for the opportunity to know you, and, to come into contact with so many diverse groups of people. And here on ATS is where I find a sack of them!

peace (and hugs!)

Tena ra koe e te tuakana,
Nga mihi mahana ki a koe mou whakaaro...otira, ka nui te mihi hoki, nau mai, whakatau mai ra.

Acknowledgements to you my elder,
Warm greetings to you for these thoughts (of yours)...as well as greetings (for your arrival), welcome, settle.


Cultural Diversity.

As others have mentioned, perhaps the 'English Only' *rule* is a bit of a barrier...so people pretty much need to have at least a passing familiarity with the English language in order to really become involved with this site.

That said...there are certainly a few different peoples here at ATS...from different cultures and countries.


My greeting to you was in my own native language - Maori.

I'm - if there was any doubt - a Maori from New Zealand...way down here in the South Pacific...

I've seen the odd Maori now and again around this site over the years...but we're a bit of a rare breed.

Certainly hold some rather differing cultural perspectives from the *norm*...

...and I've been a Staff Member here for around 8 years now...


There are other Staff Members on this site from other *ethnic* cultures, and indeed *cultures* in general which aren't the aforementioned in a previous reply: 'white male'.


Yeah for sure - would be good to have a few more different voices adding to the chorus of ATS...so certainly all for diversity.

I think ATS is pretty good the way it is. Sure, there is room for improvement, but I disagree that cultural diversity is lacking. There is a rich assortment of opinions and perspectives already present on this forum.

Instead of trying to change the forum too much, perhaps you should find one that better accommodates your expectations?

[edit on 14/6/2010 by Dark Ghost]

Originally posted by Elieser
I guess that if we want certain people here because the topics would benefit from their input then we should look for them and invite them.
Many people don't know about ATS until they search for something that they were looking for and it links them to here.
For example, the thread about the video of the girl that escaped the Illuminati, I needed help researching documents and facts but only a few people here read Spanish and I couldn't get much help. What I decided to do was to find other conspiracy related websites from Latin America and talk to those people and maybe bring them here.

Edit: N/M means never mind.

[edit on 13-6-2010 by Elieser]

I'll read Spanish for you all day long...as a translator I'm a little bit poetic, but authentic...what do you want me to do? (Transcribing spoken words is harder unless the audio is clear, for me...I saw that video of the girl yelling, but there were too many words I had trouble hearing the exact sound of...know what I mean?- Plus I'm a little bit deaf - hello punk rock - and I can't crank up my laptop loud enough sometimes for bad audio to become clear...maybe I oughta figure out how to put my computer through my TV set, huh...but not today)





[edit on 14-6-2010 by nine-eyed-eel]

not going to happen in the pretext of your original post. it will allow other people to use the internet and advance leaving behind archaic lurkers who like to troll and be disrespectful or self aggrandizing.

Showing that we are open to diversity is not a bad thing, except that it assumes we don't already enjoy it.


Just a thought, however: Some may have nothing to gain and much to lose if they are too public about who they are, and where they are from or currently living.

IP addresses can be searched, after all. All areas are not safe places to practice free speech, and political and cultural changes come so fast it can be death itself to make a public stand (online).

I'm sure they are here, just keeping their heads down. We should make more of an understanding effort to realize that our words are there for them, and be sure to include them all in our thoughts and ideas.

Originally posted by Copperflower
Showing that we are open to diversity is not a bad thing, except that it assumes we don't already enjoy it.

Just a thought, however: Some may have nothing to gain and much to lose if they are too public about who they are, and where they are from or currently living.

IP addresses can be searched, after all. All areas are not safe places to practice free speech, and political and cultural changes come so fast it can be death itself to make a public stand (online).

I'm sure they are here, just keeping their heads down. We should make more of an understanding effort to realize that our words are there for them, and be sure to include them all in our thoughts and ideas.

And you make a good point here. It would be interesting to see a 'safe' board advertised for people to talk freely. Maybe incorporating some of the Tor technology?

Originally posted by LarryLove
reply to post by packinupngoin

 

Looking at the demographics of this site, the vast majority of visitors come from the States, UK, India and Australia. There are other countries listed, but they are the usual western suspects. It's when you see a whole continent like Africa on the verge of a communication explosion that you realize there are so many other voices that need to be heard and engaged with.

This isn't a race/ATS thing.

They don't have as much internet connectivity in places like the "Stans" and Africa, therefore, less people from those regions come here. Not to mention you need to be literate in English for ATS to work for you.



[edit on 14-6-2010 by downtown436]

Originally posted by alien
Tena ra koe e te tuakana,
Nga mihi mahana ki a koe mou whakaaro...otira, ka nui te mihi hoki, nau mai, whakatau mai ra.

Acknowledgements to you my elder,
Warm greetings to you for these thoughts (of yours)...as well as greetings (for your arrival), welcome, settle.


Cultural Diversity.

As others have mentioned, perhaps the 'English Only' *rule* is a bit of a barrier...so people pretty much need to have at least a passing familiarity with the English language in order to really become involved with this site.

That said...there are certainly a few different peoples here at ATS...from different cultures and countries.


My greeting to you was in my own native language - Maori.

I'm - if there was any doubt - a Maori from New Zealand...way down here in the South Pacific...

I've seen the odd Maori now and again around this site over the years...but we're a bit of a rare breed.

Certainly hold some rather differing cultural perspectives from the *norm*...

...and I've been a Staff Member here for around 8 years now...


There are other Staff Members on this site from other *ethnic* cultures, and indeed *cultures* in general which aren't the aforementioned in a previous reply: 'white male'.


Yeah for sure - would be good to have a few more different voices adding to the chorus of ATS...so certainly all for diversity.

And thank you for your warm Maori welcome. Never met a Maori before, so the ATS diversity is looking good! And I get to learn a little from a new language. It's the cultural differences between us that interest me and see ATS as a means to reach out and say hello. I appreciate that ATS has its roots in conspiracy, but it is a well run site that has quite a significant web presence and on the whole, has a very intelligent membership base.

White Anglo Saxon Protestant me and from the UK.

Originally posted by downtown436

Originally posted by LarryLove
reply to post by packinupngoin

 

Looking at the demographics of this site, the vast majority of visitors come from the States, UK, India and Australia. There are other countries listed, but they are the usual western suspects. It's when you see a whole continent like Africa on the verge of a communication explosion that you realize there are so many other voices that need to be heard and engaged with.

This isn't a race/ATS thing.

They don't have as much internet connectivity in places like the "Stans" and Africa, therefore, less people from those regions come here. Not to mention you need to be literate in English for ATS to work for you.



[edit on 14-6-2010 by downtown436]

Understand what you are saying, but Africa's internet connectivity is booming now that they don't have to rely on satellites so much. And English is spoken quite fluently throughout the continent. A poster here called Ulala was suggesting an ATS Africa, ATS Europe etc. Not a bad idea.

If over 80% of visitors to ATS come from the UK, States, Canada and other Commonwealth countries, I think there is good reason to try and elicit membership from other countries so as to create a true global voice.

It might be true that most of the users are from particular countries, but look at how diverse the UK and US are, it must also be said that China wouldnt like a site like this, what with communism and all, and alot of the more religious countries may just not like some of the religious content on here.

Just remember not everyone is given the oppotunity to be as open to new idea's and ways of thinking as we are.

Originally posted by la2

It might be true that most of the users are from particular countries, but look at how diverse the UK and US are, it must also be said that China wouldnt like a site like this, what with communism and all, and alot of the more religious countries may just not like some of the religious content on here.

Just remember not everyone is given the oppotunity to be as open to new idea's and ways of thinking as we are.

Very true and I am interested in getting first-hand accounts of the life of people in the countries we all like to write about. ATS should be paving the way to allow people opportunity to speak with open minds. Interestingly, this site does get visitors from Iran and China etc. so now we just need to encourage their membership and input.

Perhaps ATS should look at making 'safe' boards that guarantee anonymity?

It really makes me happy to see how a lot of ATS members are open to other cultures. I have been to other boards hoping to find information and update myself on the situations that are happening in the world right now and whenever I say where I am from members start to kinda bully me. I understand that they are young and do not know better but that kind of treatment pushes you away when the whole purpose of these kinda sites is uniting people, helping them and spreading the word.

I'm an Arab muslim from Dubai. Dubai is very diverse in cultures, the people here are very much exposed to everything in the world just like a westernized country. We do have problems just like any other country but the thing is people are not asking questions here because the government works for the people.

There is an abundance amount of information for people to wake up on the internet but the problem is the language barrier as someone stated before. Only about 10% of information is translated in arabic and it's hard to find. Even if i choose to tell others about it (which i try sometimes) it will be hard for them to see the whole picture because i wont be able to mention every bit of detail on the matter, it's their job also to research it and even if they know the language there is too much usage of jargons and slangs.

I'm working on a project right now, to try and translate as much as possible for the Arabs and create a database because they are deceived and manipulated just like anyone else outside of the Middle East and believe me the Islam being portrayed on the MSM is nothing like the real Islam we practice which makes me very sad to see people misjudging us and basing their arguments on how the "radicals" act in the name of some religion. brainwashed kids who blow themselves up in the name of Islam who call themselves Jihadis are condemned in Islam.

Originally posted by Ulala

Originally posted by greeneyedleo
Anyone from any Country is more than welcome to start a thread about something in their Country

Absolutely nothing stoping them.

Nothing stopping them at all !

Some non US threads are a tremendous success, the Norway Spiral being one of them, or the downing of the Polish President's airplane ... but they're the exception and random events, they're not the rule.

Post a thread about Finnish politics or the latest Italian news ... similar in significance to their US equivalents ... and they'll BOMB. Because there's not a critical mass of contributors from those countries to support such threads.

And as you see your thread bomb, and all the time and energy you spent translating it into English wasted (and what a stupid rule that is, what are you so scared of threads which are not in English) ... you ask yourself ... why bother ? Because no-one cares. You might get a sympathy post ... "that's an interesting thread" but that's about it.

I totally agree. And I think this is mainly to do with the fact that America is a very insular nation. Quite simply, most Americans do not care about what happens outside of their borders, unless it's an exceptional global event that they cannot ignore, such as the volcanic ash cloud for example.

I made a thread a while ago about how the UN and the media fabricated the existence of a "famine" in the African country of Niger, when there was no famine at all. I did plenty of research on this subject and wrote about 1500 words on it. I got about 6 or 7 replies. That's the last time I waste my time making an effort on a thread that does not involve American issues, sadly it's not worth it as most of the people on this site are Americans and do not care unless your post mentions Obama, Palin, Democrats, Republicans, guns, the oil spill or Jesus.

reply to post by manta78


Posters from China appear if you mention Tibet, had that happen.

I think this forum is predominantly white male.