Ad-blockers, subscriptions and money? ATS is worth $2 million and makes $466,920 a year

originally posted by: SkepticOverlord
a reply to: IlluminatiTechnician

There is an [X] at the upper-right of the ad to close it.

Also, clicking anywhere outside the boundaries of that ad will close it.

It only appears when your cursor rolls over the original top-of-page ads.

Fair enough. I don't see the ads as that big of a deal. You gotta make money somehow, but maybe make some rules for your advertisers, as you make the rules for us. Tell them to keep them a certain size, just like our avatars, banners etc. If we have rules on the size of what we post here, they should too. Considering no one likes them anyway. I didn't know about the X in the top right, it must've been hidden, or not very noticeable, and when I clicked anywhere else on the page, it would not close..it was frozen on my screen like that.

I have a question for SkepticOverlord, when a person is banned is that persons name removed from the membership list or it it still "sold" to the advertisers to show how many members ATS has.

originally posted by: imod02
I have a question for SkepticOverlord, when a person is banned is that persons name removed from the membership list or it it still "sold" to the advertisers to show how many members ATS has.

I have a question back at you if I may, What does it matter to you as you are not banned and this is a free service.

I would hazard a guess that the number of members is not a factor and it goes on traffic but that is just a guess.

As I said in SO's original post, the ads here don't bother me enough to pay not to see them, as for paying for a "upgraded" version of ATS, it would need to offer me something more then no ads to be worth it to me. I've never had problems with ads on ATS interfering with my ability to enjoy ATS, where I have had and will turn off other sites that overwhelm my computer with ads.

Maybe I'm old school, or more of a "capitalist" then I might think...being a Bernie supporter and all.......but I think trying to put pressure on the owners of ATS to disclose their personal finances is frankly very rude. It's one thing to demand disclosure of finances for politicians and government agencies that have access to billions of tax payer dollars. I say audit the Fed and all the other criminals ripping us off !!

The owners of ATS that have devoted a decade + to this site, that many of us enjoy very much, do they deserve to make money? Yes they do ! Even by the highest speculations of the income generated here, no one is getting rich, and why wouldn't we encourage entrepreneurs that make a living doing something positive for the world to also hopefully secure a comfortable retirement.......SS isn't going to be enough, and I doubt ATS has a pension plan.

If I had to make a guess, I would say that SO and the other owners have been faced with a moral dilemma, they can increase their revenue for the site and possibly themselves too by allowing ads, but if the ads piss off their current members and discourage new members that's a problem....is there a "middle of the road" to offer their members an ad free ATS and still generate the profits they need to maintain the site and also secure their own futures. Oh Boy....good luck...I'm planning to hang around and support this community by not blocking ads.

originally posted by: nonspecific

originally posted by: imod02
I have a question for SkepticOverlord, when a person is banned is that persons name removed from the membership list or it it still "sold" to the advertisers to show how many members ATS has.

I have a question back at you if I may, What does it matter to you as you are not banned and this is a free service.

I would hazard a guess that the number of members is not a factor and it goes on traffic but that is just a guess.

The question is simple, at what point does ATS stop making money from us, ATS is not "free" they sell us and make money from us, and we do 99% of the work

originally posted by: imod02

originally posted by: nonspecific

originally posted by: imod02
I have a question for SkepticOverlord, when a person is banned is that persons name removed from the membership list or it it still "sold" to the advertisers to show how many members ATS has.

I have a question back at you if I may, What does it matter to you as you are not banned and this is a free service.

I would hazard a guess that the number of members is not a factor and it goes on traffic but that is just a guess.

The question is simple, at what point does ATS stop making money from us, ATS is not "free" they sell us and make money from us, and we do 99% of the work

I can to a point understand where you are coming from but let us be honest here.

Current stats are...

Total Posts: 20,317,791
Total Topics: 1,093,485
Total Members: 321,615
3,538 new posts in the past 24 hours
101 new topics in the past 24 hours
1,874 guests visiting right now.
226 members logged in right now
2,200 members visited in the past 24 hours
711 members posted in the past 24 hours

Your stats at present are...

Posts 825

joind on: Mar, 03 2012

last visit: Mar, 05 2016

applause received: 2

member posts: 825

member threads: 10

member flags: 22

member stars: 1,461

ave. stars per post: 1.77

ave. posts per day: 0.56

WATS score: 10

member karma: 27

So although your input is I assume valued does it really equate to a stake in the business and the demand for transparacy?

Not trying to be mean here but do you see my point?

On average you make a post about 4 times a week and make a unique thread on average twice a year. This I think we must agree does not entitle you to make any kind of demand or expect things given the stats as a whole.

There are members here with 60,000 posts and even they do not even dint the over all user generated content that makes up the whole site.

originally posted by: nonspecific

originally posted by: imod02

originally posted by: nonspecific

originally posted by: imod02
I have a question for SkepticOverlord, when a person is banned is that persons name removed from the membership list or it it still "sold" to the advertisers to show how many members ATS has.

I have a question back at you if I may, What does it matter to you as you are not banned and this is a free service.

I would hazard a guess that the number of members is not a factor and it goes on traffic but that is just a guess.

The question is simple, at what point does ATS stop making money from us, ATS is not "free" they sell us and make money from us, and we do 99% of the work

I can to a point understand where you are coming from but let us be honest here.

Current stats are...

Total Posts: 20,317,791
Total Topics: 1,093,485
Total Members: 321,615
3,538 new posts in the past 24 hours
101 new topics in the past 24 hours
1,874 guests visiting right now.
226 members logged in right now
2,200 members visited in the past 24 hours
711 members posted in the past 24 hours

Your stats at present are...

Posts 825

joind on: Mar, 03 2012

last visit: Mar, 05 2016

applause received: 2

member posts: 825

member threads: 10

member flags: 22

member stars: 1,461

ave. stars per post: 1.77

ave. posts per day: 0.56

WATS score: 10

member karma: 27

So although your input is I assume valued does it really equate to a stake in the business and the demand for transparacy?

Not trying to be mean here but do you see my point?

On average you make a post about 4 times a week and make a unique thread on average twice a year. This I think we must agree does not entitle you to make any kind of demand or expect things given the stats as a whole.

There are members here with 60,000 posts and even they do not even dint the over all user generated content that makes up the whole site.

Intresting responce to a simple question that was not addressed to you,seems your doing your best that the question is not answered. Could you please stop answering the question as its NOT adressed to you

I find it somewhat ironic that biggest 'conspiracy story' on a conspiracy site for the last few days has been about the site itself and it's business model!

It's obvious people really do care about this forum but are obviously concerned and getting frustrated because of what the future may hold.

A simple suggestion to introduce a fee to remove the ads for members has caused a furor. (Mainly because it was preceded by donation requests last year and it seems that something more is going on at ATS than meets the eye).

That uncertainty is what I see as the problem amongst most of the members commenting here.

originally posted by: [post=20449862]
Why are people hung up that SO and company want to make a living providing this site for us to exchange ideas?

There's a huge difference between making a living in Arizona and ballin like a boss in NYC.

The last pity party was supposed to help offset the cost of ddos mitigation, apparently they wound up getting what they needed plus a whole lot more.

I think a subscription system is a bad idea, as we would lose a lot of our members and that by itself would cause a loss of content.

In addition, if someone wants to use ATS for research (through a Google search, for example) are they going to have to subscribe? I doubt they would in order to look up one thing. Who knows what affect this would have on the site's ranking for Google searches.

Whitelisting ATS on ad blockers is the answer. Maybe even deny content to people who use Ad Blockers on the site. This, along with measures to make ads user-friendly, is the correct approach.

A subscription is a bad idea. I may have misread, though, if this subscription is like an ATS PLUS deal that simply removes ads, that could be okay. Although the site should stay away from making it any more than that.

originally posted by: imod02

originally posted by: nonspecific
snip

Intresting responce to a simple question that was not addressed to you,seems your doing your best that the question is not answered. Could you please stop answering the question as its NOT adressed to you

Dude send a PM if you want to keep it private, as You are free to ask in public, anyone is free to answer

a reply to: the owlbear

I 2nd that, I love ATS even when I was post banned twice (they were fair and the heavy moderation that is reported is not something I've experienced) which I deserved. It's a buisness, people work hard they deserve to be paid, I'm sure if SO could he would extend that to the moderators ect, the point is people go into buisness to make money we shouldn't expect anything less. I have no problem with what ATS is pitching , and those who do are probably the ones who disagree with capital gain of any kind , or always question the integrity of those in buisness. remember, even in paradise the fault finder will find fault.

a reply to: imod02

Actually, any member can reply to ANY post you place on ATS.

Regardless of whether or not it was directed at them. It's also a valid question. Members who complain about seeing ads, should simply contribute more, therefore removing the ads.

ATS rewards participation, it does not punish for it. As for the facts in the OP, all I can say is LOL.

If the members who tirelessly complained about all this, spent even half the time trying to help SO and the staff find viable solutions, we probably could fix this a lot faster...

~Tenth

I'm getting sick of this discussion..

We have had countless threads on it...

Can we just move on.. more threads/posts

Less/No ads...

I'm against subscription... but jeez this is exhausting!

originally posted by: darkbake
if this subscription is like an ATS PLUS deal that simply removes ads, that could be okay.

That is the plan. More Like ATS++

I'm looking at a more sophisticated live chat system, extended edit window, dedicated private forum for talking with ATS staff, a weekly ATS e-magazine sent via email, no ads, and incognito mode (no analytics or 3rd party scripts whatsoever) as the benefits to being a subscribing ATS Patron.

Our core free offerings; large avatars, profile backgrounds, unlimited image uploads, customizable titles, customizable profile text colors, customizable background colors, images in signatures, social walls, and integrated reply notifications are already what many forums put into paid subscription packages (when they offer such packages).

But if you're not a subscribing ATS Patron, none of the existing free stuff would go away, and access is still completely open and free.

originally posted by: SkepticOverlord

originally posted by: darkbake
if this subscription is like an ATS PLUS deal that simply removes ads, that could be okay.

That is the plan. More Like ATS++

I'm looking at a more sophisticated live chat system, extended edit window, dedicated private forum for talking with ATS staff, a weekly ATS e-magazine sent via email, no ads, and incognito mode (no analytics or 3rd party scripts whatsoever) as the benefits to being a subscribing ATS Patron.
.

So the site will be split and there will be a two tier system.
Oh well - at least it's confirmed.

originally posted by: stargatetravels

originally posted by: SkepticOverlord

originally posted by: darkbake
if this subscription is like an ATS PLUS deal that simply removes ads, that could be okay.

That is the plan. More Like ATS++

I'm looking at a more sophisticated live chat system, extended edit window, dedicated private forum for talking with ATS staff, a weekly ATS e-magazine sent via email, no ads, and incognito mode (no analytics or 3rd party scripts whatsoever) as the benefits to being a subscribing ATS Patron.
.

So the site will be split and there will be a two tier system.
Oh well - at least it's confirmed.

I'm in for that idea. Not to make me feel better than anyone else but to offer financial support to the site and help keep it afloat for both paid and free members alike.

You'd still be able to participate in forums as a free member, so what is the problem?

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

I'd say many of the thread authors who've made this site successful for you should get a free subscription.

Allow the ads, Billions of them..


That way the site could be a kind of CO-OP as the members are the ones that keep it going and it would be great if there was some cash floating about that it was passed onto to us for our contribuition hence we have a vested interest..

Maybe put a dollar under the star and the more doller signs you get the more cash you are payed at the end of the month???.. As casual members we inturn can save money on tuition and do not need to worry about furthing ones education as you will learn far more on here anyway and you do not need to even leave the house, that is a WIN WIN forsure..

To kool for skool and all that...

Just a idea


RA

a reply to: markosity1973

No chat for non-paying members.
Most people asked for the only perk to be no ads, but seemingly there is a little more than that.
It's shame but it was inevitable - hopefully it won't be a huge difference but time will tell.