Just curious about something....

Considering the singular goal here is to create traffic, which translates into ad revenue....

Say a large portion of the members here on ATS became unhappy with how things were run, the rules, how they were enforced, etc and left ATS, taking a large portion (say 50%) of the website's traffic with them, would anything here change?

Would the owners think to themselves "What we are doing isn't working, people aren't happy, and most importantly we are loosing ad revenue, we need to make a change" Or would they simply not care?

Just something I was curious about. Because whenever someone makes a rant thread about being upset with some particular goings-on here at ATS, there is always a poster that says "If you don't like it leave, it doesn't matter, nobody will miss you"

Well, if enough people left, then yes, it would matter, and the owners sure would miss you(r ad revenue)

So what would happen? Would the realization surface that on a website with member-generated content, the members are in fact a very important, if not THE most important aspect of the website? People come here for content, and if that content dries up people will stop coming here.

They also come here for discussion, and if they start to feel as if their discussion is no longer allowed, or supported, they too will stop coming here. Yes, you could rely on years old content to draw in some googlers here and there, but with no current or up-to-date information here, traffic would suffer.

So back to my very basic question, would the ruling class here change the way they run things if their member base starts to dry up? Or just throw in the towel and accept a website that's a shadow of its former self?

On second thought, leaving this for the owners/admins.

reply to post by James1982


Number one, we aren't stupid. Number two, we do listen to our members. Number three, over 90% of the traffic that generates the revenue that allows us to keep the site up is generated by visitors who come to read what we all have to say, millions of them.

The goal here is to give anyone who can abide our TAC the venue to reach millions with their ideas, theories, and whatever information they want to share for free. That's obviously a pretty compelling situation.

I'll assume you weren't intending to insult when you asked the question as "would the owners care?" and answer you seriously.

There's a heck of a lot easier ways to make a heck of a lot more money than dealing with and managing ATS.

Fact of the matter is, SkepticOverlord and I turned down an offer to buy the site, that was enough to buy a couple houses, nice houses, a couple exotic cars, and still have enough left cash over to not have to think about making any money for a long while, from a large media group years ago. We turned it down because we knew they would ruin what we've built out of love of the topics and the free exchange of ideas in a civil environment.

YES, we care, we care a great deal. we care that our members have this venue, we care a whole lot more about that than we do ad revenue and we've proved it time and time again by refusing high paying ad campaigns that required us to remove what the advertiser deemed as "inappropriate content". That will never happen either.

Springer...

While I understand your question is hypothetical, at least I hope it is..

The idea that with literally 100s of thousands of registered members and 10s of thousands of active members, the idea that 50% would do anything in unison is fairly improbable..

Better chance of winning the Powerball while getting struck by lightning and bitten by a shark at the same time..

To satisfy your curiosity, there are people who call this site their home. The percentage of new members far outweighs the regular members, and there's no way short of the internet shutting down that people would leave en mass.

See, it's member driven content. As members, we steer the topics, and give others interesting topics to discuss. It all works in unison. People want to think outside the box, and that's why ATS has the niche in the market.

reply to post by semperfortis


The question was absolutely just hypothetical. I enjoy ATS right now and don't really have any reason to leave. I also realize either 50% of the people leaving, or a 50% drop in traffic would be nearly impossible with how things are going now.

It was just a "what if" type of question prompted, as I said, by reading people's rants about hating/leaving ATS. A couple people here and there are easy to ignore, but if a large chunk of people got up and left I was just curious what type of blow back, if any, there would be.

reply to post by Springer



No, no attempt at being insulting. "care" might not have been the most specific term I could have used "would you guys REACT to such a drastic drop" would be more specific. Meaning, would policies or rules change to attempt and recover some lost patronage, were that to happen?

Originally posted by Springer
....proved it time and time again by refusing high paying ad campaigns that required us to remove what the advertiser deemed as "inappropriate content". That will never happen either.

Certain subjects are "taboo" here on ATS and discussion is not generally allowed. If not because of the advertisers than I'll assume it's just something the owners don't want to let us talk about. I'm sure you know of what I speak, and legality can't be an issue either as there are tons of forums around the web solely dedicated to the discussion of such topics.

So not legal reasons, not an issue with bowing to advertising pressures, again I'll have to assume it's just a subject that, for some personal reason, you don't like us talking about. If free exchange of ideas is the goal I don't see how bringing personal feelings into what we can and cannot discuss matches up with that. You defended the idea that you care quite a bit, but if there are people wishing to discuss a subject, which won't effect advertising revenue, and won't bring any legal issues, what other reasoning is there than "we don't really care what you want to discuss"

That's not why I made this thread though, I made it because:

"...but if a large chunk of people got up and left I was just curious what type of blow back, if any, there would be."

I'm trying to pry into the theoretical "situation room" were there to be a large scale drop in membership and traffic.

reply to post by James1982


There's your mistake. The "topics" I am confident you are asking about (without naming, thank you) will KILL 100% of the revenue, thus leaving no ATS.

So, let me revise my statement, borrowing from Mr. Spock... With the exception of topics that would render the site DEAD IN THE WATER, and for which there are thousands of sites to discuss them anyway, we have decided that the good of the millions of people who derive value from ATS' existence (both Members and readers) discussing the topics that won't get the site blackballed by the only means to pay for itself, far outweighs the needs of the few who wish to discuss mind altering substances to the exclusion of the thousands of topics that truly matter to our world, future and 99% of the thinking people on the planet.

I should have seen what you were driving at, I've been doing this forever and a day, I guess my confidence builds without reason when it comes to this inane topical area.

That's the end of this discussion if that's what you want to talk about.

Springer...

Originally posted by Springer
That's the end of this discussion if that's what you want to talk about.

From my previous post:

Originally posted by James1982

That's not why I made this thread though, I made it because:

"...but if a large chunk of people got up and left I was just curious what type of blow back, if any, there would be."

I'm trying to pry into the theoretical "situation room" were there to be a large scale drop in membership and traffic.

I brought it up as a side-thought after you saying how the advertisers don't dictate content. It was not, and is not the point or topic of this thread.

I just wanted to peer into the inner workings of ATS. No offense intended, no attempt at masking discussion of taboo subjects. Websites are like countries. Some are great, they grow strong and large, and live for a long time. But nothing is forever, just like every country and civilization, every website will eventually slow down and loose their current status.

The reason or time period isn't important, a new better website, new legislation that outlaws websites like ATS, some large world event that draws people away from their computers. Tomorrow or a decade from now. I'm just genuinely curious what the response of the staff and ownership of ATS would be if/when the sites popularity drops way down. What type of actions would be taken to entice old people to come back, and new people to give it a shot? That type of thing.

Just a total hypothetical here, nothing deep or negative about it.

reply to post by James1982


Obviously we would fire up our super powerful alien brain we've got stashed out at Area-51 and ask it for direction on how best to proceed.

Seriously though, that's like asking GM what they would do if Star Trek-like beaming transports became available to the general public.

You make some assumptions that aren't necessarily accurate based on the history, considering the fact ATS has been growing since 1997 I don't see the correlation between ATS and "sites that have fallen to the way side". Nor do I see traffic slowing down over a major world event, it usually doubles when something huge happens.

But, all that aside, I imagine we would do whatever we felt was right and we had the resources to do, as far as any plans being in place for the ATS Armageddon, there are none. We plan for growth and success, not reduction and failure.

Springer...

reply to post by James1982

Or just throw in the towel and accept a website that's a shadow of its former self?

I think this is already a shadow of its former self. I think ATS is a fun place to be but I really don't consider it a conspiracy website anymore.
www.abovetopsecret.com...
The breaking alternative news is really just breaking mainstream news and that is what seems to be bringing the clicks and the money in the door. Overall ATS to me is a place to keep up to date on the news with a tendency to drift towards the skeptic and hipster side. While seeming to apply double standards to keep the users flowing in.
For example, I (and many others) are allowed to have an anonymous avatar and speak out in support of anonymous even though they are a hate group.But since bashing on Scientology will get the clicks in and anonymous is the like the James Dean of Hate groups it is accepted. But trist me, if you were to change your avatar to a neo-nazi or a KKK member and start threads promoting the actions of Neo-nazis or the KKK your avatar would be taken down and your threads would be moved to the trash. Afterall does anyone want ATS pro-kkk threads showing up in the google search?

ATS is fun but its a commercial site and is run as such, don't take it to seriously and its pretty fun.

reply to post by DavidWillts


Well, that could be argued. I've been browsing ATS for years before I joined up and can definitely see a big difference in the site over the years. But traffic and popularity is still the highest it's ever been (overall I mean) and that's basically what I was talking about.

Springer,

Yeah, I guess it's a pretty hard question to answer. But I'm sure GM does have some sort of plans written up somewhere for a time when GM looses a huge portion of market share (grovel to the government for money I guess is what those plans are)

Although I'm asking more specifically. Such as, the core rules and ideas that the owners have about ATS, are such things set in stone, and would remain the same even if the site's popularity and success started to fail greatly, or is the concept of what makes up ATS fluid, and would change drastically (if need be) to keep the site relevant and above water?

Again I'd just like to reaffirm that I'm not at all trying to be offensive or be an instigator or anything. Like I said, I just got the idea in my head, after reading peoples "I hate/am leaving ATS because XXX" rant threads that it's possible at some time in the future people may no longer flock to ATS, and if such a time comes,what the response of the ownership would be.

Kind of like one of those discussions you have with your friends when you are sitting around and someone says "hey, what do you think would happen if XYZ happened?" if you get what I mean.

reply to post by James1982


First, I would like to say…do we let people just run around willy nilly in society and do whatever they please?
I would answer no to that question, because to build upon one another and have the comfort and level of civilization that we have, then we have to make some concession to our personal behavior for the good of the whole. This is civilized life. If you don’t want civilized life you can try to choose to go live in the woods, but there is always going to be someone upstream pissing in your river.
Back to your hypothetical question, the majority would rule anything, but the majority usually want civiility that is why they are the majority, because we as a species proliferate in favorable conditions and civility brings about very favorable conditions. So if the majority came together and decided to leave ATS because their combined ideals were not being met then that void would probably be met with
A: a change in moderation
or
B: more people who want civility to fill in the gaps
I would go with B.
It is likened to the irony of OWS with the 99 still going to work, paying for gas, talking on cell phones, chatting on facebook, contributing to their IRAs, using debit cards, and on and on and on….
If people have a problem with something then why the hell do they keep doing it, buying it, or talking about it? The same reason they come up with hypotheticals like this, to find someone to validate their opinions. Acceptance. Civility.