To whomever owns this site, Thanks!

Thank you for all that you do and paying the bills to keep this site alive. I know sometimes you must feel unappreciated and wonder if its worth it. I can tell you that it is appreciated by me and many others. They might not always act like they appreciate it, but there are a lot of people here who lose their minds when the site goes down. I know its probably a lot of work to keep it running so thanks for all of your efforts.


Also, mods thanks for all what you do as well.

Well enough ass kissing for the day, but I just don't want anyone to think that there aren't tons of people who use this site and are grateful that it's still here.

I second this!

a reply to: MRinder

You aren't kissing ass, I checked if this was down about 20 times in the past couple days.. Googled Is AboveTopSecret.com down? It came up and people were talking a lil bit lol.. been coming here a long time and hope it stays up.

I agree. The last few days were depressing. I thought ATS was gone for good.

I am happy it's back, and hope it stays.

Yeah I agree. I’d star your post but they don’t seem to be coming up on any threads.

A few topics do not use them. This is one. a reply to: lambros56

Two things can be true at once.

We can be glad and appreciative it's back up and also expect transparency, professional and stability from a longstanding website with previously high caliber stewardship.

That's neither ass kissing nor ingratitude.

The new owner obviously thought, at some point, that ATS had value, it seems foolish and wasteful to squander that value with neglect.

I respectfully disagree with you. The new owner(s) owe us nothing. Not transparency. Not stability. Nothing!

For that matter, neither did the previous owners.

a reply to: MRinder

a reply to: MRinder

I'm sorry but you are wrong.

It was the decades long investment by previous owners that created something of value for the new owners to want to invest in. It was staff's scrupulous process that fostered an environment that allowed many different opinions. And it was the bravery and creativity of members that provided content.

We all play our part.

If any one of us doesn't, then why bother making a credit card payment to keep the lights on?

You all acknowledge it's special. You missed it. You refreshed a thousand times over several days.

That didn't happen by accident.

Your loyalty came at a price. Thousands and thousands of man hours. Countless pages of content. Bans. Bills.

So, sure, "thanks".

But, please, also, do your job new owners. We will. Staff will.

a reply to: JetBlackStare

If the new owners bought this as an investment then good luck to them. But as far as what I know this site was losing money. My best guess is that they bought it because they liked hanging out here.

Regardless whether they are making a small fortune each month from the site they still don't owe us, the mods, or the previous owners a thing.

I assume they paid the asking price, so in theory they could just shut the servers off because they bought it with their money and it's their property from that moment forward.

The posts we make have pretty much no value whatsoever other than the entertainment of debating or being pompous or funny or interesting or whatever.

To put it in perspective, if my account (or yours) were taken away tomorrow nobody would even notice, but take away the site for a few days and everyone notices.

Don't think I realized how much I love ATS, you know the whole don't know what you got till it's gone, till we couldn't get on the site. In a world where differing opinions is shrinking or being silenced, frowned upon, etc etc it is nice to have a place to come where we can all agree or disagree, and still carry on. Glad we are all back and hope the site lives on for years to come.

a reply to: MRinder

Should have refreshed the forum page before making my thread

a reply to: TDDAgain

LOL, me too.. its no biggie though.

I apologize for trampling on the other similar threads that i magically overlooked.

I really wouldnt even care if you copy and pasted my op to start a thread. I am really not that important and none of this really matters other than it's enjoyable.

Have a great day.

a reply to: MRinder

A person who would buy this site would do so for only a few reasons:

They love it
They want to make money
They want to control narratives
All of the above

Do they love it? Have they improved upon it? Have they invested anything since they wrote the check?

Have they made money? They disabled all but one ad.

Have they controlled the narrative? I'll let members and lurkers decide that. But, recently, there's been a trend.

Functionally speaking, anyone associated with the site; owners, members or PTB, need content to make it work.

Who provides content? Members.

Any asshat can get a website, but that doesn't mean people will post there.

It's a two way street. The forum is nothing without participation. Participation thrives with good management.

Who here would pay a nominal monthly fee for ats? I know after a weekend without, I realized how much I enjoyed it. RN3 was great don't get me wrong, but I've roamed these forums since around 08, over several different names. This place has kept me sane and put me in touch with like minded people whom at one point, I didn't believe existed. Anyways, I'd definitely pay 5 bucks a month, for this place we call home (providing they rid the site of ads as well as update the site a little)

Glad to be here again, and seeing all these familiar names.

a reply to: MRinder
Was more like, redundancy, was not thinking you would have a problem

There are more down the line?
*burry face*

*backing out of this sub forum slowly*

a reply to: JetBlackStare

Well if your value to the owner is content than you aren't contributing much. You have been here since 2015 and you have managed to create 38 threads in 7 years and reply 645 times.

But it's fine, we can agree to disagree. I don't really care either way, as always its just my opinion.

a reply to: MRinder

Fair enough.

Why? Reasons. 2016 was an election year. I ate a crap ton of crow. A belly full of regret.

also happy to have this site
gratuitous second line