Quality of Content of ATS is Diminishing Rapidly

All mods and site operators must have noticed that in recent times the quality of the content on the site is becoming poorer. I can see the following problems on ATS at the minute whichare really effecting my enjoyment of the site on many levels;

1) Firstly there is simply TOO MUCH DATA coming through the site. Threads are pushed straight down the list towards the bottom and get forgotton about. The exception of this is if a thread makes it onto the home page and gets a blitz of attention, then it seems to stick around for days and fills the main home page.

This also effects the 'recent posts' function, as there are so many threads it is impossible to isolate any of them.

2) The posting of threads in the alternative nres section seems to have become endemic. Threads, which in my opinion, are not breaking or alternative are saturating this board and keeping quality threads at bay, ones that are actually good at PROMOTING discussion. An example of this is the thread which revolves around a girl being bullied.

3) Threads being posted do not seem to promote discussion, simply state a fact. I see the site as a place to DISCUSS alternative topics, and that is just not happening as it used to. People are just reitorating and agreeing with the poster before them repeating the same message, and this goes on page after page, keeping these threds to the top of the lists.

4) People are not posting as much reference information and links as they used to be. The majority of threads are all centred on the first links posted in the first post. This does not lead to good discussions.

5) I am not seeing as much MOD activity on threads. If/when a mod posts on a thread, believe it or not, the quality of the thread increases dramatically. It keeps people on topic, provokes people and leads people doen other avenues of thought.

On two occasions in the last week I have recieved applause for simply posting a topic. Both these topics then went on to recieve no discussion at all. If the mods think that the topics are important, they should actively try and input to the discussion in my opinion.

There have been a lot of changes and 'facelifts' around here lately, and undoubtadly this will lead to more uses of the site, which is ultimately the aim of the site owners. Please though, if this is just attracting 'fringe' who are not interested in general discussions, then keep it low key and back to basics.

Another evident thing is that the threads here are starting to follow very definate trends. The number of Alien threads has been exponential recently, and poeple posting their personal 'alien' information has reached overload. I appreciate that the website promotes the alternative, and that is why I use it, but it is obvious that people are using it simply for creative, fictional writing, it is OBVIOUS. Why ruin the solid content we have got with this?

Threads that seem to be a made out of a nervous reaction are also increasing. 'Facebook has been down for 4 minutes, it has to be a worldwide conspiracy' ands such like are brain numbing, they really are. People are so full up on fear they are feeding their own downfall.

Even more annoying has go to be the 'PTB' threads which include them manipulating ATS etc. It is childish things like this that illustrate the intelligence of some of the users here.

There are a lot of mods on the site, and they must notice some of these things, and it can't lead to a great experience for yourselves either. There are a lot of statistics available on the site, and I would think it is possible to judge how the site is going by manipulating these numbers, such as post/thread ratios, number of new members etc. etc.

Please please please keep monitoring the content and step in when you feel it necessary, otherwise th company who brings us 'The best staff on the internet' is going to be providing us with 'The worst user generated content in history'.

Sorry if this upsets the staff here who work realy hard and care about this site, but I don't get paid by the site and I still care about it, so feel it is important. Alternatively you may disagree with everything I have said and lump it with the very threads I have been condoning.

Carlitomoore.

It seems that the mods are very active, as they moved this within minutes to the 'Rant' forum from the board business & questions forum, which I would maintain is the best place for this. Only now the thread will probably be buried in a board that 90% of users will not view.

I do not see this as a rant. This has illustrated to me however what many others have complained about in the past. Thanks for that.

reply to post by carlitomoore


I really hope this thread stays “alive” because you have just listed all the reasons I don’t use ATS as much as I used to. I started to get very frustrated at researching and writing threads only to find that everyone else on ATS what too busy looking at somebody’s pretty pictures. I really don’t understand why ATS doesn’t introduce an “editor’s choice” type forum were the threads that mods applaud go

Again I could hardly agree with you more on the issue of people using this site for creative writing rather than proposing a conspiracy that we can discuss. Same goes for the people who have convinced them selfs that ATS is controlled by TPTB and FaceBook is Satan incarnate on the internet and that every time it crashes its evidence that the end of the world is near.

It’s a shame really because I don’t see this as being the fault of the site owners or even the mod’s rather I see it as a problem with the people using ATS who I think have either became super paranoid or just like to post lies for attention. I have noticed quite allot of these type of attention seeking threads were a claim of fact is made without any proof such as the “I have been anally probed by a gray” type thread’s. Despite the fact that there is no proof there is a sizable number of people on ATS who either feed the OP’s delusions or further promote his or her’s passion for creative writing.

Although i do get the feeling that the owners of the site and the mods are possible ignoring the problem or trying to pretend it’s not here.

reply to post by carlitomoore


i propose a bifurcation of certain threads on the 'recent posts' page. i know there's already an above and below tab. but here's what i mean

make two horizontally shorter collumns of posts in each tab, one related to conspiracies, ufos, and ghosts etc. and the other related to politics, news and science.

that way the more substantive conspiracy and ufo posts that i remember so well from a year or 2 ago will be able to remain near the top of the page longer and all the political/religious stuff can cycle through at a faster speed.

reply to post by kevinunknown

I really don’t understand why ATS doesn’t introduce an “editor’s choice” type forum were the threads that mods applaud go

That is exactly what I am talking about. They have made a very good move in that direction by listing all the best threads of all time, so why not create a similar forum for threads that are steered and heavily contributed to by mods if they feel the message being portrayed is importnant?

I agree also that I don't blame the site owners for the content, but they are possibly ignoring the issue.

I hope the mods, creators and owners can see that we are not ranting, but we are simply trying to illustrate points that would lead to a better user experience.

Im glad its not just me who feels like this, I find my self getting very frustrated lately, and it is at a time where I find myself wanting to contribute more (even though I am the busiest I have ever been in my life before, and should realy stay away from here more!).

I am heading for a nice long soak in the bath to read The Iliad, a story of courage faith and conviction, the qualities the human race has held in such high esteem for millenium.

I would appreciate it greatly if at least One mod has the decency and honour to have posted their comments on this by the time I have returned. Don't bury the issue, embrace it, react to it, let it go and then reap the benefits

reply to post by carlitomoore


Honestly, a thread like yours comes along about once or more every two or three months..and has been for years. (I've been around awhile. )

My response here will be nearly the same as in many of those: Go post good content! The rest will take care if itself... Really. That is not being dismissive of your impressions. It's just the most meaningful thing you can do about it.

Originally posted by carlitomoore
5) I am not seeing as much MOD activity on threads. If/when a mod posts on a thread, believe it or not, the quality of the thread increases dramatically. It keeps people on topic, provokes people and leads people doen other avenues of thought.

This is a good point and one I share with you.

It seems often to be the case that when a great member becomes a mod, their substantive postings diminish very rapidly. Clearly, they become very busy with their administrative responsibilities, but I think the consequence is unfortunate.

Perhaps in time that will be addressed too.

I actually think this site could use many more mods to minimize the obvious administrative burden and perhaps free some of the greatest contributors to get the juices flowin' again.

In any event, recognize that nothing is perfect and that while there may be many things that could improve around here, it is still a very enjoyable, educational and entertaining place to be.

reply to post by loam


Thanks for your reply loam and the advice. Yes, I agree with you that instead of publishing threads like this, I should be out researching and producing quality threads. I think you are missing a point I am trying to make though, let me try and put it another way;

ATS is a community, without the community spirit. People are not as willing to discuss good content, give them a provocative home-brew youtube video however and they will quite quickly post all day and spread their ideals. We see the same material reiterated constantly.

And as I have said, threads that I feel do deserve attention are masked my the ones that I don't think do. I'm sure we all have that same opinion, but if we are all concerned about this and we talk to each other, we may find we are all wanting the same things and never knew it.

You have been here a long time and are much respected, you MUST have seen a decline in quality. All i'm saying is periodically, instead of giving the site a facelift, concentrate on the thing causing the wrinkles.

The stats tell us that the majority of posts come from the minority of people (just like wealth distribution in the world). There has got to be a way to broadan that base, as they are the foundations of the whole site. Without the foundations everything falls down.

reply to post by carlitomoore


I would like to add quickly, after reflecting over my posts, that I am not implying I am the all high allmighty and that my threads are brilliant and the whole of ATS are missing out by not reading them. I have psoted some very poor quality of threads in the past, and reply heavily on external content to structure them.

The difference being that I am making a conscious effort in improving my content all the time and care about spreading good information, not just imposing my views and trying to defend them.

Edit to add:

Again not trying to upset anyone, but this is another example of what I don't exactly agree with, especially after the integration of ATS and BTS has made it much easier to pick the right forum for your thread:

DUKE GIRL

I do not think this thread should be in the Breaking Alternative news Forum, but based on recent experience this will stay there for quite some time as it is provoking and peoples posts will keep bumping it, as is the case with the thread about the 12 year old girl.


Latest update, administrator 12m8keall2c changed the title of the above thread, but kept it in the breaking alternative news forum.

Seeing s though no official admin has commented on this 'Rant', I will have to quote from Skeptic himself over two years ago now:

Over the past few months, we've seen an increase in the number of threads posted to the Breaking Alternative News forum that don't really fit the criteria set forth on the news submission page. And in some cases, we're seeing what appears to be a shot-gun effect of several submissions that have little to do with "alternative topics."

Let me point out some examples.

These threads are appropriate submissions for the "Breaking Alternative News" forum:
Put young children on DNA list, to target future offenders.
Obama's Pastor Blames America for 9-11
Lord Rothschild Backs John McCain
Debt Serfdom comes to America

These threads ARE NOT appropriate submissions for the "Breaking Alternative News" forum:
Wall Street fears for next Great Depression
J.P. Morgan Chase to buy Bear Stearns for $2 a share
Royal college warns abortions can lead to mental illness
Bush: 'The Market is Correcting itself'

The Intent of the "Breaking Alternative News Forum" is to provide a single-source place to post relevant articles from other sources that are less than 48 hours hold. By relevant we mean topics that related to the "conspiracy theory" and "alternative topics" themes of the AboveTopSecret.com forums. Many of the threads we see in the first to pages of the "Breaking Alternative News Forum" should have been started in other forums on ATS or AbovePolitics.

Our Staff Will be Cleaning Up The Forum over the next few days to clear out the previous seven-days of incorrectly submitted threads. All existing threads will be moved to other forums on ATS (none will be deleted). The intent is not to single anyone out or focus/unfocus attention on any particular issue, but to demonstrate how the "Breaking Alternative News Forum" should look without staff intervention.

From This Point Forward, Incorrectly Submitted Threads Will Be Moved to the appropriate forums on AboveTopSecret.com, BelowTopSecret.com, or AbovePolitics.com. In the event the news submission is a duplicate of an existing topic in other forums, we may end up trashing it (unless it adds a new or updated twist to the existing topic).

The Goal Is To Regain Focus On Our Core Reason For Being, the intelligent and productive discussion of a broad range of "alternative topics" that include conspiracies, paranormal, UFO's, political scandal/cover-up, government secrets, and more. By regaining this focus within the "Breaking Alternative News Forum," it will be easier for our thousands of members and millions of readers to know where to look for what's happening RIGHT NOW in the world of "alternative topics."

Thanks, in advance, for your cooperation in helping to regain the appropriate focus in this important forum on ATS.

This should be a periodic thing, and we are in need of a cleansing at the minute. I would hazard a guess that almost half of all the threads currently in the breaking alternative news forum are in the right in place, and as this is the most commonly used forum with 44,000 topics, with Ufos being second on 30,000, and general conspiracies coming in thirs at 22,000, I see it as one of the biggest problems of the site.

To finish off with some suggestions again:

1) A Mods favourite forum where people can't post threads in, but they get moved there for a limited time to save them from being swamped on other boards. Mods would take a more active discussion in these threads and actively try and make them the best on the site.

2) An option on every thread to click a button which requests the thread to be considered for moving into another area. It can be behind the scenes so only mods can see the numbers unlike the flagging option, and this gives us a better control over our own content as well as lightening the burden of the mods slightly.

3) Site admin pay more attention to questions and don't simply move them to places where they are unlikely to get attention. I would bet that most mods don't think of looking at the 'Rant' forum.

Why is this thread in the General Conspiracies forum:

Lucid Dream

WTF is happening with this site!? Again after putting a wealth of information together I find my time wasted as it is being hidden by threads like this.

Mods should move this into the metaphysics or gray area forum.

Originally posted by carlitomoore
To finish off with some suggestions again:

1) A Mods favourite forum where people can't post threads in, but they get moved there for a limited time to save them from being swamped on other boards. Mods would take a more active discussion in these threads and actively try and make them the best on the site.

I'm about half-and-half in agreement with you on this. I think it would be nice to have a way to see what content the staff thinks is particularly good -- a list of recently-applauded OPs perhaps.

But I think that the mods should be allowed to continue to be members as much as possible like they were before they became mods. Whenever I hear that a member whose contributions I particularly enjoy or respect has been asked to become a moderator, there's a mix of emotions about it. On the one hand, I'm glad they've been picked because I think they will be valuable in helping to lead the site, on the other hand I'm a little sad because I know their contributions as members will go down a bit (after all, it's an unpaid gig with a lot of responsibilities and we each have only so much time to spend here).

2) An option on every thread to click a button which requests the thread to be considered for moving into another area. It can be behind the scenes so only mods can see the numbers unlike the flagging option, and this gives us a better control over our own content as well as lightening the burden of the mods slightly.

This exists -- I think the "thread alert" button is currently broken, but you can use the drop-down menu in the OP's profile to send an alert on the opening post and explain why you think the thread should be moved (or closed if for instance there are several threads already going on the topic).

Staff won't always agree with you on this, but if they do they usually act pretty quickly to put the thread in the right place.

reply to post by americandingbat


I honestly didn't know that so thanks for letting me know. I hope it gets fixed so I can start to use it.

Again, I am glad for your contribution and agree with you.

reply to post by carlitomoore


Oh another one who knows best how to run this forum, the Mods and Admin rock and do a good job on ATS, if you're so unhappy with the way things are run here why do you bother to come here. Maybe you can start paying the huge fees that it costs to run this "free" site and then I bet your ideas would be appreciated.

reply to post by Aquarius1


No i do not know best, and I couldn't make my own site and run it.

What I'm saying is, there are still some improvements that need to be made and there are some serious failings at the minute. From a business point of view, we are customers even though the site is free.

I like the site and want to see it as I have in the past, and there are a lot of people I gather who feel the same.

Forget my suggestions if you want, we all have suggestions which , practically may be useless or impossible to achieve.

But at least have better control of what we currently have, stopping dual or triple threads and threads being posted in the wrong place. It IS a serious problem at the minute.

I have made people on the following thread aware THREE times that they are repeating a thread on the same issue, but it has still gone on for another two pages repeating the same material.

Towns Evacuated in Hungary

I have also alerted Mods and no action has been taken. I am sure I going to develop a stigma from the mods now but I simply illustrating my point until someone is willing to discuss it.

I have sent several alerts over the last two days and would encourage other users to do so, as it is in the T & Cs that we are all bound to not create duplicate threads and to post in the appropriate forums or risk it being moved or deleted.

Content on ATS is user generated. Meaning the members bring the content. Be the change you wish to see. If you think content quality is down - start making some stellar threads

Content is in your hands - you the member

Also, as has been mentioned, use the alert button. Mods can not be everywhere at all times

reply to post by greeneyedleo


Thanks for posting greeneyedleo, I appreciate a member of staff taking time to comment on this 'rant'.

It is kind of easy to say what you did however, it dosn't actually deal with the underlying problems however. I will still try and post good content, and hope that staff still try and keep control of the boards

Originally posted by carlitomoore
It the mods moved this within minutes to the 'Rant' forum from the board business & questions forum, which I would maintain is the best place for this. Only now the thread will probably be buried in a board that 90% of users will not view.

I do not see this as a rant. This has illustrated to me however what many others have complained about in the past. Thanks for that.

It appears to me some of the 'mods' have their own agenda. If the thread personally offends them
1. They will jump in ad hoc and deliver their blasts
thus trying to imtimidate other posters or newbies from responding

because they have such great graphics and titles next to their 'name' that they must be important.

2. If there has been such a shift in the overal posting content of ats..............
perhaps it is reflective of the beliefs of the 'moderators'
and they close their eyes to it because it promotes their own personal 'feelings'
which is not indicative of good editorial oversight.

reply to post by carlitomoore


As I said previously, the MODs have their hands full. Cut them some slack. They do what they do for free and its quite a bit of hard, thankless work. They can't be everywhere.

Use the alert button when you see stuff that needs to be assessed. I do all of the time.

If it's helpful, it will be addressed.

If you stay stuck on all of the things that are wrong, you'll never have time to focus upon what is good-- and there is still lots of good!

See a thread drowning that deserves attention. Save it and contribute a substantive post.

You'll feel much better if you spend your time doing the things I've mentioned. Honestly.