Help ATS Recover With Your Contribution

originally posted by: SkepticOverlord
a reply to: SkipperJohn

If $10 is hard…


Please don't try to find $5!


Seriously. I understand the plight some people can be in. About 20 years ago, I wouldn't have been able to find $10 at one point, and still needed to feed my kids and keep a roof over our heads. I know what it's like.


Please… only contribute if you can.



That being said. We have 53 individual contributions so far. Thank you everyone… your support means a lot to us.

Only 53 contributions?

I am so sorry, there are so many people here who practically live on ATS

and make it a huge part of their life

I'd hoped people would have donated by now.

Look for my second donation!

My father died of early onset alzheimers, I use ATS as part of my brain exercises which are necessary to keep my brain healthy and strong. So far I have no sign of getting it, but I do all I can to keep my brain strong and ATS is a huge part of my daily brain stretching routine!

Please put this thread in the flagged section, in top topics, and absolutely on the home page somewhere for more people to see, for at least a week!

originally posted by: KyoZero
I'm not being an buttkisser or a jerk...but do you see the size of this place? This thing is massive enough that "a server" doesn't cut it

Here's some tidbits to help with that…

At last count, we had just over 5.1 million distinct pages.

On any given month, we deliver more than 1 million distinct URL's (unique content pages) to visitors… and Internet spiders typically access 2-3 million distinct URL's every month.

A typical month sees over 15 million page views… from humans… add 5x that for non-human Internet spiders.

Our RSS feeds are accessed over 10 million times a month.

Our database of unique content is so large, and so much unique content is accessed all the time, attempting to cache (temporarily store common queries) database queries fills up the server's 16GB of ram in 10-12 hours.

We store and serve (for free) over 3 terabytes of member uploaded images. Every day I get notices from our hosting provider that we're bing charged slightly more because we have exceeded our hosting plan bandwidth.

That's the high-points.

Go to an analytic tool ((don't know if I can mention the name of the site)) and look at ATS's world ranking.

Not many of those are accurate any more.

a reply to: Daedalus

Like I said (and you failed to quote) the threads that were removed violated our TAC, they were also from 6 or 7 years ago and just got missed by the staff and were never reported by the members. Google's search bots don't miss anything when you use the correct keywords and you're looking for issues.

The only thing Google had to do with those threads being removed was alerting us to their existence, had we seen them sooner we'd have removed them.

I would be very sad to see ATS cease functioning. I don't post much, but like others, I class it as my internet home. I don't need any other sites, or TV.
I don't post much, but see the rest of the community post and read most threads daily. Although I don't know any of you personally, and vice versa, you all have your own personal style, and always bring a smile to my face. I honestly couldn't imagine ATS not being there anymore.

Anyway, I'm babbling.

Hope we can all prevent this from happening.

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

Not many of those are accurate any more.

Why's that?

originally posted by: funkadeliaaaa
Why's that?

First, they rely on an installed base of users' browsing habits, then extrapolate up to estimate total traffic. So if one out of 100 their users visit ATS, they assume 1% of all Internet users visit ATS (for example).

While that was somewhat reliable 10 years ago, fewer and fewer people have the software installed… so the numbers are crap.

And… it's only desktop traffic. ATS gets a lot of referrals from social media, a good portion of them are mobile.

Well, I have to say, it's worth a contribution. While I love the conspiracy's and the breaking news, I have to say, this thread alone has been so educational. Hell, I've learned more about how web sites, advertising and such work, than I probably need to know.

I do think a fund bar would be cool, so we could see where we are, and were we need to be.

Best of luck to you fellows. I really hope your goal is exceeded! What would I do at work if you weren't here?

originally posted by: zazzafrazz
Scuse me ? a reply to: yeahright

I said, "Zazz is my favoritest person ever and I always look forward to anything she has to say".

Or something.

a reply to: Springer

Thanks for the clarification.

a reply to: Daedalus

You're welcome, I know you weren't trying to be obtuse, that's why I wanted to be clear.

a reply to: Hefficide

Thanks, that was very hartwarming.

This may have been asked and answered, but I have a life and can't spend the time to look through these 16 pages of conversation.. If ATS had a reasonably good search function that would save time, but they don't..

Anyway, will ATS be transparent with it's members regarding amounts donated and what they are used for? I don't feel comfortable donating to any organization if I don't know exactly how the money is being spent. If ATS promises transparency, I will make a donation.

a reply to: TinkerHaus


I asked something similar a page or so back - still waiting to hear back

originally posted by: stargatetravels
Can you give us an indication of how much you're looking for, what the cost of the 'new system' will be etc.
There are a hell of a lot of adverts on this site and its odd that the site cannot sustain itself.
I'm trying to get my head around all of this and the paranoid, question everything side of me is, um, questioning this a little bit.

I'm not saying I actually think this is what you're doing so please don't think I am, but it would be fairly easy to invent a problem, tell the membership base that you need donations, don't say how much and not offer shares or some kind of investment and then sit back and watch the cash roll in.

The stuff about ad revenue and having a million unique hit etc is one thing but it really doesn't matter how many people visit your site, view your site etc - these folks will not keep you afloat.
You have a core membership of a few hundred members tho make this site what it is, shape it, create content and keep the other faceless masses coming back.
So these few hundred people who all may donate ten bucks, is this really going to be enough?
It seems to me with the Facebook stuff, the NLBS stuff and changing the direction and identity of the site that the focus is constantly on attracting new members and new unique clicks etc.
Are these new people going to save, donate and keep this site afloat?

a reply to: stargatetravels

In the OP:

This money will be used to repay the loan that's keeping us running, and if enough is received, engage experts to begin research into the next big ATS project, a Collaborative Community Platform for Citizen Journalism. The goal is to significantly modernize the concept of forums, integrate collaborative tools, redefine the user experience, and release the results as Free Open Source Software to enable a new wave of content that matters.

Laid out, right in front.

a reply to: intrepid

Ah ok - gotcha!! Many thanks.

a reply to: intrepid

Hi Trep

I'm frankly amazed that ATS is still free, and of course very grateful.

A small contribution is no big deal to me, just the cost of a decent bottle of scotch really, and there were days in my past I'd have not eaten in order to get that bottle. Just to be ultimately miserable.

I'm certainly going to contribute to something that gives me so much joy.

Cody

Oh wow. This is what I come back to? 'Fraid not!

So long, ATS! Sweet dreams all, from your friendly neighborhood somnolescent yogi

originally posted by: SkepticOverlord
This money will be used to repay the loan that's keeping us running, and if enough is received, engage experts to begin research into the next big ATS project, a Collaborative Community Platform for Citizen Journalism.

So how about it?...

Suggestion: ATS "definitive" Youtube Videos For Revenue Generation

C'mon peeps .....IDEAS CAN REALLY HELP SOLVE THE PROBLEM, MONEY CAN ONLY REALLY HELP THE SYMPTOM

originally posted by: SkepticOverlord
This money will be used to repay the loan that's keeping us running, and if enough is received, engage experts to begin research into the next big ATS project, a Collaborative Community Platform for Citizen Journalism. The goal is to significantly modernize the concept of forums, integrate collaborative tools, redefine the user experience, and release the results as Free Open Source Software to enable a new wave of content that matters.

Would you mind expanding on this a bit? Or will more information be released in a separate thread?

I am working on something similar, though with a different focus. There might be a lot to share..

originally posted by: intrepid
a reply to: stargatetravels

In the OP:

This money will be used to repay the loan that's keeping us running, and if enough is received, engage experts to begin research into the next big ATS project, a Collaborative Community Platform for Citizen Journalism. The goal is to significantly modernize the concept of forums, integrate collaborative tools, redefine the user experience, and release the results as Free Open Source Software to enable a new wave of content that matters.

Laid out, right in front.

No, this is simply a statement. What I'm wondering is if ATS will report it's total contributions, and then list where these funds ultimately went. Saying something and showing something are two very different things.