Can we have ATS back, please?

originally posted by: SpeakerofTruth
a reply to: ForteanOrgmembers who continue to give those types of threads prominence by replying to and flagging them. Soooo.... Shrug...

If flags and stars are any measure, than it is now clear that a significant number of members are not really happy with the total loss of manners and decorum and the mainly political nature of many threads that make it to the top of the front page.

I'm not sure if management here will do something about it, but I hope they will. A forum, simply named "Trump" might be set up, and a strict policy communicated to the mods that they should move any thread that refers to the issues regarding the current American President there might help. Then add a rule that only ONE thread from the Trump forum can be on the front page, and I believe we're well on our way to get ATS back again.

a reply to: ForteanOrg

I agree wholly. Years ago I found this site by searching some eh .. weird stuff.
Within the past year I decided to join hoping to have conversations about the topics I wish this site were still all about.

Instead it's not ATS. It's OHT - Obama, Hillary, Trump.. and I swear every thread I get on is full on people arguing like their opinion is going to save the world. I'm not talking about discussing nor debating but flat-out arguing and flaming others. It even got me to the point where I wound up freaking out and posting ignorant stuff because it was driving me nuts.

All sites need to make money - that's fact. This site however is all about the money, you can tell from the 5 million ads. I don't see the mods wanting to change what's popular and risk losing the site money just to get it back to what it was originally so, here we are. Call it a conspiracy if you will, I call it selling-out.

Conspiracies and "weird stuff" are already hard enough to talk about. There is NO WINNING talking about politics. No matter what, it will turn into an argument. "My dick is bigger than yours".

I would love this site if it were actually what I thought it was. Hell, I'd even donate and I'm not just saying that to sound good. Many times I've tossed money to people doing good work to provide quality software or content. This isn't quality. It's a site that allows pointless political arguments for more ad revenue.

Mods won't crack down and it won't change any other way unfortunately so, it is what it is as they say.

When I first joined, ATS, BTS and PATS (Politics Above Top Secret) all had their individual domains, then the Three Amigos decided to blend ATS and BTS (much as we see now) and PATS just got integrated back into the main ATS page.

Perhaps the Site Owners would be willing to offer that old design (or a similar) option again?

I know it's a coding re-design, and Skeptic Overlord would probably grumble at the thought, but I really enjoyed the "tabbed" option for the sites on the main Recent Threads page.

I guess I wonder if the dissatisfaction that's being expressed here is strictly about the political elements of the threads. There's a lot of conspiracy stuff that's virtually inseparable from politics.

I don't see a ton of attention paid to the newer threads that come out that have nothing to do with politics, the one's that seem to me, to be more inline with what some of you would like to see more of.

What I rarely see, regardless of the topic, is threads that take an "exploratory" tone. The kind of thread where interested folks work together to peel away the layers of a mystery, or even seriously and genuinely try to understand why the "other" side thinks the way they do.

I don't mean to offend, but It's like the motive here, all too often, is to pontificate rather than collaborate, no matter what the topic. And I think that's what's missing. Take a look at some of the newer better conspiracy theory threads or ancient civilization threads, how many of them devolve into "I'd like to see more threads like this" , or "Great OP, this is why I came here to begin with", but little or no real discussion of the topic takes off. Why not? It's not that the Op's aren't long enough, some of them I enjoy, but I leave because I feel like there isn't anything else to say. I wonder if other people do.

I think what's lacking, at least for some of you, is that sense of satisfaction that working together to sort out a topic brings.

Figure out how to turn you posts, whatever the topic, into collaborative projects that draw in participants, and I think you'll get more of what you're looking for.

Eh, anyway, just one tired old man's two cents.

originally posted by: daaskapital

originally posted by: Annee
Here's a tip:

BE THE CHANGE.

It's not as simple as 'being the change' though. One can make as many alternative threads as they want. It won't matter so long as many others ignore them for the political topics and debates. Sure, we get the occasional interesting thread, but the traffic of political discussions and interests far outweigh, and consequentially damage, the quality and frequency of these alternate topics.

What does one have to do with the other? Looks like many are here for the ambiance. It also looks like many what some form of censoring to take place under the flag of preservation.

a reply to: imwilliam

I suspect that's a lot of it. You made a good observation by noticing a lot of the more mysterious topics here don't see past 3 or 4 pages of replies. It's also true that it seems as though posters just run out of thoughts on those topics.
I am well versed on a multitude of subjects from politics to mystical experiences, but after a while, if no one else is bringing up any other aspect of the topic, I have nothing else to say about any given topic. I suspect the same is much the same with many other folks as well.

originally posted by: karmicecstasy
It's just a sign of the times.

It is easier to post a snippet from an article and copy and paste the name of said article as the thread title, than it is to come up with a thought provoking original thread.

Actually, that's the ATS standard... to avoid problems where a thread title is full of slurs against one group or another, we are asked to post just the title, then a comment, then a cut and paste from the article, and a comment.

It avoids misleading readers about the content of the article and thread as well.

The writers aren't being lazy. They're following ATS News standards.

a reply to: ForteanOrg

Except Trump can appear in nearly every thread topic.

Lost kitten....Trump.

Failed baking recipe....Trump.

Back pain....Trump.

I think you get the point.

In my view, the best approach is to author thread content that is not Trump and ignore the rest if that's what one prefers.

I see threads complaining but this site is user content driven. Instead of creating a thread complaining about lack of content create a new thread.

a reply to: ForteanOrg
I challenge you to make one new post at least every 2 weeks for us to read! Enough with the political nonsense! I enjoyed it while it was comedy before it became real life.

Let's get back to conspiracy topics and the strange and mysterious! I only subscribe to the cryptozoology forum and the survival forum. I click on myATS to see if there is something new, if there isn't anything new, I usually click on that X on the top right and check out listverse.com to waste some time. I'm so sick of political talk at this point.

I will also take my challenge.

a reply to: superman2012

Once upon a time, we had members who came up with something new every few days. Those days have long been gone.
I think part of the problem is that a lot of people just aren't versed in a multitude of subjects. We live in an era of "specialization" it would seem. The average person seems to be informed about one or two subjects and know a whole lot of nothing about everything else.
I guess it has been that way for, arguably, a long time. You don't come across very many of what they used to call intellectual "drifters."

a reply to: SpeakerofTruth

Deny ignorance became destroy everything that isn't the official narrative myth,legend,story,lateral thinking,the strange,the unusual,alternative health,gangstalking,mind control all these topics have their trolls,shills and sceptics that can be found in every thread. Im only here for news these days

originally posted by: SpeakerofTruth
a reply to: superman2012

Once upon a time, we had members who came up with something new every few days. Those days have long been gone.
I think part of the problem is that a lot of people just aren't versed in a multitude of subjects. We live in an era of "specialization" it would seem. The average person seems to be informed about one or two subjects and know a whole lot of nothing about everything else.
I guess it has been that way for, arguably, a long time. You don't come across very many of what they used to call intellectual "drifters."

Agreed. My point was that it is easier to point out a problem than to come up with (and solve) one. I think if people have a problem with how things are, they should change it instead of pointing it out. I do this too.

ATS is no longer a site of advanced thinkers, or even conspiracy thinkers….It is a pedestrian site with very low-level political trolls particularly, imo, from the right invading it and taking it over.

Often this place looks like a Stormfront site

Hate liberal this, hate liberal that, Muslim hate this, Muslim hate that, over and over and over and over...non stop.

I cannot prove it, but it looks like it’s intentional by some outside sinister force. The same force that orders Alex Jones, Rense, Red Ice creations and others form going from conspiracy sites to Alt-right at the same time of the Trump candidacy.

Just look at the OP’s today there are so many liberal hate Ops as to be an extension of Alex Jones

ATS cannot do much about it; they have to just wait until it boils over one way or another.

It’s good though for the sites ratings and people have a right to make a buck

originally posted by: Willtell

It’s good though for the sites ratings and people have a right to make a buck

Is it? Not according to the Alexa report. Site traffic is down

originally posted by: imwilliam
I guess I wonder if the dissatisfaction that's being expressed here is strictly about the political elements of the threads. There's a lot of conspiracy stuff that's virtually inseparable from politics.

I don't see a ton of attention paid to the newer threads that come out that have nothing to do with politics, the one's that seem to me, to be more inline with what some of you would like to see more of.

What I rarely see, regardless of the topic, is threads that take an "exploratory" tone. The kind of thread where interested folks work together to peel away the layers of a mystery, or even seriously and genuinely try to understand why the "other" side thinks the way they do.

I don't mean to offend, but It's like the motive here, all too often, is to pontificate rather than collaborate, no matter what the topic. And I think that's what's missing. Take a look at some of the newer better conspiracy theory threads or ancient civilization threads, how many of them devolve into "I'd like to see more threads like this" , or "Great OP, this is why I came here to begin with", but little or no real discussion of the topic takes off. Why not? It's not that the Op's aren't long enough, some of them I enjoy, but I leave because I feel like there isn't anything else to say. I wonder if other people do.

I think what's lacking, at least for some of you, is that sense of satisfaction that working together to sort out a topic brings.

Figure out how to turn you posts, whatever the topic, into collaborative projects that draw in participants, and I think you'll get more of what you're looking for.

Eh, anyway, just one tired old man's two cents.

Iwilliam your absolutely right. collaborative projects are great and here the UFO forum one can find that sometimes.

Conspiracy, though, has kind of died out and that is where progress could be made through collaborative threads.

Its interesting that those conspiracy threads are the ones flamed so often, by usually non conspiracy maniacs who want to derail the threads, I've noticed.

originally posted by: SpeakerofTruth

originally posted by: Willtell

It’s good though for the sites ratings and people have a right to make a buck

Is it? Not according to the Alexa report. Site traffic is down

Down where, ATS?

If that's the case then that's unfortunate and that may have something to do with the present trend

yeah just give me a button that allows me to just get rid of the political BS i'm so sick of!

I'm similar in my beliefs in that I have none. The term I use is nihilist.

originally posted by: DeathMetalJesus
I'm similar in my beliefs in that I have none. The term I use is nihilist.

If one beliefs one has no beliefs - one beliefs, of course!