Please ATS Members and Non-Members alike, STOP Blocking Ads- Or there may be NO ATS at ALL

a reply to: cado angelus

Yep - ATS offered 5000 ATS points for every member who joined Twitter.
Most of us had never heard of it and had no idea what it was and how to use it, some of us still don't.

a reply to: stargatetravels

They did indeed...

Little did we know the behometh it would become.

Thanks for the reminder on the details...

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

While I have been a long time user of ATS and respect you as an admin...

I am going to partially disagree with you here.

I can't speak for anyone else but myself in this regard, but the adblock extension I use in Chrome, does NOT modify your HTML at ALL.
All my adblock extension does is act as a firewall to certain IP/Host Addresses.

So your HTML/PHP remains untouched and does not violate any copyright terms at all.
I could literally do the exact same thing with the base Windows firewall.
Will you then claim my Windows install is violating your sites copyright?

With all that being said... When I saw the ATS popup asking to whitelist the site... I did so because I appreciate what information is provided through the site.
And as another member has stated, having whitelisted the site, I still don't see any ads.

a reply to: EmpathicBandit

tl:dr

Did you say something? Succinct?

originally posted by: VictorVonDoom
Why would I block ads? How else am I going to find horny singles in my area?

Harte

removed my adblock for ATS only a couple days ago, you guys are in some pretty rare air considering it's the only website I think I've done that for.

I'm not blocking them. I don't care...but what are you so worried about. Those who are blocking ad's from any website, are blocking them because they don't want to be bothered by them. I think it's a fair assumption that those who block ad's, aren't going to be so magically hypnotized by one that they will buy anything anyway. I personally already know what I want and flashing an ad in my face constantly, only annoys me to the point that I wouldn't by anything anyway just out of protest. You can't block ads on here anyway. You can partially block them, but many of the top row menu buttons will be gone. If any webpage gets money from me, it's because I already came to the website to purchase something, or to donate. Once the Internet gets owned by the government, they are just going to shut this site down anyway, or monitor it to the point that everyone will leave on their own volition. The government has already made it clear that conspiracy sites will be no more.

a reply to: EverydayInVA

All you have to do is put them in the white list. You don't have to uninstall it and be subject to ads on other sites.

a reply to: NightSkyeB4Dawn

Thank you for your repy and i think i understand where you are coming from. I live on a very low income too. I do my best to grow my own food, collect my own fuel and use whats around me to survive.

I would prefer the place to remain free and a $5/10 subcription seems like a lot to me and really not sure i could afford to pay it.

I have been on ATS for a few years now and enjoy it very much. I know it must take a lot of effort to keep it running and am suprised at some of the responses.


Anyways Happy Days

a reply to: StallionDuck

First and foremost. I like reading the ATS forums. However... I do not like it enough to give it money. It's a forum. Forums SHOULD be free.

ATS is free.

originally posted by: introvert

originally posted by: Thecakeisalie
a reply to: TrueAmerican

First it was Skeptic pleading for a PayPal donation, which I gladly donated to. Now I'm expected to switch of ad block-You can only draw so much blood out of a stone.

Perhaps an entry fee? say ten dollars per member? It's not a lot of money and frankly I was p!$$ed off when i found out I now had to disable adblock. I among others donated to this site under the premise that it needed support, but apparently our sponsorship isn't enough anymore.

Which, again, begs the question which I have posed twice with no response.

Where did the money go?

====
After a bit of research and based upon my
EDUCATED GUESS that ATS has it's 1.4 million hits
I am saying a yearly revenue of $450,000 a year
or $37,500 a month.

Here is MY EDUCATED GUESS at ATS total costs:

1) Tier-3/Tier-4 Offsite Server (Bandwith Costs: $1500/month

2) Four Person Staff: $3500 Salary/month = $11,400/month

3) $750,000 Loan or Line of Credit at 5% for 10 years ($6,250 Month payments)

4) Taxes: Combined Gross Federal and State taxes
nearly 38% depending upon the state: $11,400/month
(MUST BE PAID --- IRS doesn't kid around when it comes
to taxes! The agents actually COME AROUND TO YOUR OFFICE
if the monthly/quarterly bill doesn't get paid!)

5) Leasehold and Office Costs: $1000/month

6) Legal Fees, Tax Prep, Payroll Prep Costs: $1000/month

Total Costs: $32,550/Month or $390,660 per year


Gross Revenue $37,500/mnth $450,000/yr
Operating Costs $32,550 /mnth $390,660 /yr
------------------------------------------------------------------
Gross Profit: $4950/Mnth $59,400/yr

So each ATS founder/investor (four if I remember correctly!)
gets $1237.50 a month as a dividend after all is said and done.

The above MIGHT BE A TAD PESSIMISTIC but it's PROBABLY
not that far off from AT's financial reality! ...BUT...if someone
buys ATS for $1.5 million and after the 20% Capital Gains taxes
the payoff for each investor (i.e. the four ATS investors) would
get a NET cash-out of $300,000 which isn't too bad for a Conspiracy
website like ATS! You could live off that comfortably for 5 years
at least and start another company then!

SO NOW YOU KNOW what the PROBABLE reality is
for a website like ATS in terms of costs and profits!

a reply to: EmpathicBandit

ZERO TOLERANCE for the things outlined in the T&C's

Like the use of AdBlockers you mean?

a reply to: StargateSG7

You forgot to pay their marketing company!

a reply to: purplemer
I, like most people here, was a lurker for a many year before I was stirred up enough, that I felt I had to respond in a thread. I became a member in order to do just that. Of course I was in for a penny, in for a pound, by the time I had written my prerequisite number of post for starting a thread.

It was a good run. So if it has reached its apex, or is transitioning into something else, I am happy to say I was around during it's heyday.

I stopped being surprised at the responses I see here on ATS back last year, when I think it hit one of its all time lows.

I have to laugh now because I was so upset, I wrote the mods for instructions on how to cancel my membership. I was told there was no official cancellation process, and basically that I needed to grow a thicker skin, and learn how to suck it up.

I left for several months, but was lured back in when again, when I dropped by to see if things had changed at all, and my emotions wouldn't allow me to let a particular post pass, without my two cents being added into the pot.

I think the old ATS is dying or dead. It is probably just time for us old farts to pass the baton and reminiscence about the good old days.

I have reached the stage in my life where I accept the changes, brought on by this brave new world, that I find useful or are required, and I just pass over those that I don't want, need, or can afford.

When I was young everyone walked everywhere they needed to go. Now people drive to the store around the corner. When I was a teenager, we had telephone party lines, and almost all non-local communication was done by US mail. My first cell phone was larger than my purse, and could only be used in or near my car.

So I am pretty good at adapting when it is necessary. I will continue on this journey until the path becomes unmaneuverable, then I will just take the long walk home.

originally posted by: VictorVonDoom
Why would I block ads? How else am I going to find horny singles in my area?

Haha. Word.

I don't block ads on ATS. But I never ever click them (I don't think I've clicked an online ad since the early 2000s) because they're always foreign crap (or worse, local crap), and because I'm a broke student with no desire to spend money on rubbish I don't need. This website has always been about tackling things like mindless consumerism and subliminal messaging (ie. advertisements). So this seems counter-intuitive to me.

I know we live in a capitalist world and a few ads here and there won't undo all ATS stands for, but that doesn't mean there are no alternatives to raising money than participating in the cold capitalist model of obnoxious online advertisements and pro-consumerist policies which contribute to many of the problems ATS claims to be trying to solve.

Why not just ask for donations? If people love ATS and want it to survive, they'll donate. Wikipedia has managed, and that's a HUGE user-driven not-for-profit text website with more resource overhead than ATS (and no ads!). Surely this forum can manage? And what about Wikileaks? That site is not-for-profit and is under constant attack by the feds and that remains up and free.

But then what the hell do I know about running conspiracy websites?

originally posted by: Atsbhct
a reply to: StargateSG7

You forgot to pay their marketing company!

---

The College-age kids of the ATS owners do that !!!

It gives them experience as what it's going to be like
for their future 6-month to one-year unpaid internship
at some ad-agency or Media Portal in San Francisco......

They can then steal the ramen noodles in the office
cupboards after they find out that $3600/month rent
divided by 4 people still means $900 a month minus the
$300/mnth stipend from Mom and Dad because you
aren't getting paid DURING the internship and that
3 hour a day 2nd job at Subway ISN'T NEARLY
ENOUGH to pay the rest of the rent PLUS FOOD !!!
And when they can you after the internship
they'll have to go BACK to Mom n Dads because
they now have NO money coming in and it's
EXPENSIVE to get around in San Fran
to even LOOK for a job and goto interviews!

--

Hope my cynicism isn't showing through too much.... ;-)

originally posted by: theySeeme

Thats not true. This website does not require keep-alive connections nor does it load much of anything outside of text. The only resource intensive feature of this website is the database and PHP - which are still relatively minimal in use in today's tech field.

If you do not have active (as in current, present) experience in the web field, you will have no idea.

I too have current experience running websites and databases for government contracts.

And still think what I said before is valid.

If they want to run the website this way then that's their business.

originally posted by: schuyler

originally posted by: TrueAmerican

THIS SITE IS BIG AND IT TAKES A LOT OF RESOURCES TO KEEP RUNNING.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT? DO YOU?

.The fact is that ATS has an "ad blocker checker" anyway. This prevents you from accessing ATS until you turn it off. So what's your problem?

I accidentally used ATS with my adblocker on last week for a brief moment and was able to access the site no problem. So either this is bait, or their ad detection system isn't working.

originally posted by: Stormdancer777
a reply to: theySeeme

Total member accounts: 309,685 members who have posted: 169,023 percentage who have posted: 55 % members with 20 or fewer posts: ..... Etc.

What doesn't help is that all of the old-time good, great, quality posters that been access banned over the years for what I would call unreasonable causes. (ATS called is a violation of the T&C, but would not reveal what the violation was.) Heck, ATS wouldn't even talk about why people got banned in the past. Good posters were here one day, and gone the next with no explanation as to why. Threads that talked about why a poster got banned resulted in the thread being deleted. (Why? Was there something to hide? Was it too embarrassing for ATS?)

As such, coming here has lost a whole lot of value over the years. Value is what makes something worth it. Using a home as an example, a home's value is not what you want to sell it at, it's what the market is willing to pay for it.

Who brings value to this site? It's the posters; certainly not the ads. Ads do nothing but piss me off, but they do bring revenue to ATS. Revenue is not value, although they are similar, but not the same. Revenue goes to the one providing the product. When the product keeps getting access banned thus shrinking the posters pool, eventually there will be nothing to "sell" to generate revenue.

It saddens me that we lost so many great long time posters because of stupidity - either by the posters fault causing access bans, or by ATS banning on its own. Since posters are the product, seems to me like ATS willingly shot itself in the foot by throwing away value by access banning quality product (verbose posters). All long term readers are aware of this non-sense, whether they want to admit it or not. An access ban is too severe of a punishment and is the equivalent of a cyber death penalty for the poster, and for ATS. (I'm talking about banning from the site permanently as opposed to a post ban.)

In my opinion, ATS's overall VALUE has significantly diminished over the years. The people I used to follow are no longer here - the product is no longer available - so why continue to come here?

I used to get excited and loved to come here to read what my favorite posters had to say, until one day (one by one) they were access banned which caused the site to loose good content. Then I just came here hoping they would return. They never did. Even the ones that were invited to come back - they did not want to return to a place where they were not wanted or expelled from.

Don't get me wrong, I support this site and have white-listed ATS, but I honestly don't believe it will do much. In my opinion, it is sad that the product isn't what it used to be - both in quantity and in quality.

Just my narrow minded 2 cents.

-E2

a reply to: grey580


For webservices AT REAL DATA RATES
such as what ATS would need gets expensive.

See Link:
www.avnetwork.com...

I know that document is pretty old since Telus here
DOES NOT charge $18,000/month for 1 gigabit/sec
bandwidth. My $40,000/mnth earlier quote was for
OC-768 lines which I found OUTRAGEOUS
for 40 Gigabit service! You can get OC-768 speeds
downto $10,000/mnth and less if you piggyback
on other services! That is the Canadian pricing
so the US may be MUCH higher --- In the high
end data rate class it is A LOT CHEAPER to
get heavy bandwidth here in Canada than
in the US while for HOME USERS, our costs
are 4x HIGHER than the US!

I guess I'm pretty spoiled here! I can get 40 Gigabits/Sec
Upload AND Download speeds via Fibre Bandwidth from
here to the edge networks while everyone else
has to make do with 10 megabits to 100 megabits
if they host their own server.

I SHOULD NOTE that in REALITY cut your bandwidth
data rates IN HALF from ANY quote you get from a
service provider. In reality that 40 Gbits/sec is
PEAK data rate and in the REAL WORLD that quoted
40 gbits USUALLY gets on AVERAGE about 20 to 25 Gbits/sec.

So if a site like ATS wants one gigabits/sec service IN REALITY
they will get only about 500 to 600 megabits a second.
Swicthes, fibre lines and routers NEVER all work at the
same rate and overhead is USUALLY more than 30% to 40%!