The recent surge in new members; some conjecture.

a reply to: Sublimecraft

Snarl brings up a good point about twits and facebark giving us more exposure to alternative-thinkers and frosties intro bears all the hallmarks of this occurring.

Aren't facebook and alternative-thinkers mutually exclusive?

I also have noticed a number new of introductions. I rarely read them and hardly ever make comments when I do.

When I joined up, I didn't even make an introductory post, just commented on posts for the required total to start my own thread. I didn't even think of doing that then as I was concerned about getting my post up as quickly as possible. Upon hindsight, that could have possibly raised the "shill" flag if I had been opinionated in my initial posts.

When I look at a profile to try to discern who might be for real or not, I consider many aspects like the avatar, the general description (mood, location, join date), and the other details on their profile. I read some of their posts or responses and try to find a pattern or at least determine the disposition and general personality of the member in question.

I might see what I consider some flags and then pay closer attention to some members when I happen to see their comments crop up in an area I have an interest in. If they seem hard core or phoney, I may bookmark their profile to monitor them more closely, but I normally never go that far, not worth the time.

If you really want to play detective, then you could make a file documenting members and their posts. When you finally feel that you have found a bad guy, you can report it to the moderators. Of course you have to keep these member studies to yourself and off the boards because of the T&Cs.

The up tick in members may not be much of an indicator of some kind of shill swarm descending on ATS, but I seemed to have noticed it too and consider that it may be worth studying in more depth.

a reply to: ColeYounger

No...you just have an evasion to fb.

I spend a lot of time there. Surround yourself with the proper folk and you will find good, in depth conversation.
Surround yourself with mindless unthinking materialistic types and you'll get the "typical fb experience".

I have just as much (quantity AND quality) discussion at fb as I do here.
Sometimes, I see stuff posted by friends from around the world at fb before it is here.

I like to utilize them both.

I find the whole "fb is for idiots so go to ATS" drivel to be a bit immature honestly. It's like rebelling against something because "it's the in thing"....I don't run with the pack, so my opinion on that is my own.

Like I said, it's ALL about who you surround yourself with. A little "leg work" goes a long ways.

a reply to: tothetenthpower

ATS has always been dominantly USA based in it's membership, so more European outlooks and intros could certainly make things seem out of order.

Country wise you`re right USA wins, but in USA/foreign countries numbers USA isn`t the majority.

a reply to: Jakal26

I attribute it to the upcoming Presidential election. Expect member ranks to surge as we get closer to November 2016.

Well, I just decided against doing an intro thread because I've read so many threads like this. So, Hi, I'll never get to post my own thread but I'm Ok with that!

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

Good to see that someone else has took note of this recent "surge".

If you really want to play detective, then you could make a file documenting members and their posts. When you finally feel that you have found a bad guy, you can report it to the moderators. Of course you have to keep these member studies to yourself and off the boards because of the T&Cs.

Meh...honestly, I'll just keep track of those I find "suspicious" and keep my opinions to myself. Not worth all the effort to chase them around the boards and I'm not accusing anyone in particular anyways..
I don't have time for all that And I don't like the "snitching to the mods" aspect of any of that anyways....not comfortable with that and don't do that personally.

It takes a LOT for me to notify a mod.

I've already got "a list" (in my head) of those I know to be gatekeeper and other phony types....but I ain't tellin', so

Hell, half the time I'm probably wrong about them anyways.
Opinions very WIDELY here....that's why I LOVE this place!

a reply to: CharlieAtTheGap

Take a breath, man. I am not accusing anyone of anything.
And where have you seen "many posts about this" particular subject matter? Recently? ...I must have missed them.

...........
You only need 20 posts to start your own thread. Won't take long. You can even get a few in here

You'll be there in no time.

Hello, and welcome, btw.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

Sweet baby Jesus on fire!
I SURE HOPE that the many that find their way here already understand the left/right paradigm.

....that ilk is the reason I stay away from those type of threads. It's all "democrats this" and "republicans that"....

JUST SHUT UP!! THEY ALL PLAY FOR THE SAME TEAM YOU IDIOTS!!!

*Rant off.....sorry about that. HAD TO vent a bit.... I'm good now.

The only thing I notice in the beginning of intro threads is sometimes people say the same things, usually in the first sentence.

Like "I've been lurking", not a conspiracy or code for the secret society or anything, they just all like the movie and have to say the same thing in order to fit in…


right?

a reply to: Jakal26

I totally get you on the waste of time and the snitch aspect - if ATS was prison, that would get you punked pretty quick, beat-up bad or killed.

I understand as well your disclaimer on pointing any fingers, but sometimes when it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and even looks like a duck, then it probably isn't a majestic swan or a bald eagle.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

I understand as well your disclaimer on pointing any fingers, but sometimes when it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and even looks like a duck, then it probably isn't a majestic swan or a bald eagle.

HA...I got a laugh out of that. Speaking of "majestic swans"...I know of one here....NAWWW, nevermind

a reply to: intrptr

Like "I've been lurking", not a conspiracy or code for the secret society or anything, they just all like the movie and have to say the same thing in order to fit in…

I get that. I did essentially the same thing when I initially came here. Couldn't really find a fitting intro so I just went with the "long time lurker" cliche....which was true, but nonetheless cliche.
I was nervous when I first posted here, as many are. No idea why, to be honest....it's just a damned website and we are anonymous, not sure what I was worried about.

Don't worry, I'm not going off the deep in thinking all these people are in cahoots or some secret society or anything of that nature. I was just observing something I found interested, especially in light of all the "sporadic" stuff going on here lately.

a reply to: Jakal26

I joined ATS in 2012 and my experience from then leads me to believe that, no, most will not understand the difference. I also expect partisan bickering to ratchet up to another level as we get closer to the election and the Presidential candidates start fighting dirtier and dirtier.

I feel for you though. Even back in 2012 when I first joined I had a firm idea that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans were worth voting for.

originally posted by: bobbypurify
I'm new and didn't do an intro. So here it goes:

34/M/long walks beach/truther

Doing an intro is a pre-req to posting replies isn't it?

a reply to: Jakal26

Same here, beside being observant and seeing trends behind the BS going on in the main stream, I mean.

After all, this is a site where you can find some truth to the conspiracy 'theories'. I wouldn't for a minute think that the main stream would want to infiltrate it for any reason to discredit the site or bury it under a ton of (ahem) stuff…

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: Jakal26

I joined ATS in 2012 and my experience from then leads me to believe that, no, most will not understand the difference. I also expect partisan bickering to ratchet up to another level as we get closer to the election and the Presidential candidates start fighting dirtier and dirtier.

I feel for you though. Even back in 2012 when I first joined I had a firm idea that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans were worth voting for.

Ever wonder why the Mudd Pitt was created?!

Election season, that's why.

Yes, it will be a tumultuous time on ATS. I might even log out for a week in September if it gets too bad, but that's half the fun of ATS honestly lol.

~Tenth

what would be interesting is what "political slant" these newbies have?....I'm with the members that say it's because of the upcoming elections...didn't we see the same thing here in 2008, and 2012?.....more money and time will be spent in every type of social media, and ATS has raised its "visibility level". with that said.....get ready for Hillary to be accused of murder, racketeering, genocide, bribery, homosexuality, baby-killing, lying, torture, communism, socialism, being the devil, being a demon, being un-American, bad hair, too old, too fat, too frumpy, psychopathic, sociopathic, terrorist-loving, Arab-loving, Muslim-loving, ISIS supporter, Al-Qaeda supporter, Iran-supporter....

a reply to: Jakal26

Thank you for the welcome. I've been here a few years but never posted. Doing a quick search of "new members" will help explain what I mean.

Cheers!

i think its related to the attack the other night...they saw something and joined in preparation for something silly or they are members that opened new accounts in order to troll anonymously.

i think most of them are sympathetic to Israeli/Iranian interests in America.

while the details of their mission are still developing, there mission is quite obviously to build two camps, one sympathetic to Israel and one sympathetic to Iran and also they will reinforce the lie that the two states are not working in collaboration against AMERICA and His United States.