Can we have ATS back, please?

I hate to say it but ATS is gone! Unless ATS finds a way to separate the political madness. Anytime I can post I will say it, just add an additional internet tab, name it ATS Politico, create it's own database, and be done with it. This way the two do not get intertwined.

Otherwise, we are in a state of whoever the President may be, half the people will not be happy, so half the people will bitch and moan about it.

I am also a Fortean.

and a (prepper) survivalist.

and a brewer-patriot.

The political threads drive the traffic; and ATS exists because it generates the numbers. So the argument is that he who pays the piper calls the tune. But yeah, I hear you.

For 8 years, ATS (including much of the management) was rah-rah Obama. Anyone posting anything conspiritorial or critical during his first term was in for a rapid and thorough beat-down. I basically gave up posting on the JFK assassination, because most of the discussers IN THAT FORUM viewed it as a Rorschach Test for your support of O'bama.

FWIW, the survival forum here is basically a dried empty husk. 95% if the comments are by by non-survivalists making what they see as cute (and novel!) jokes.

The noise-to-content ratio has made it less and less useful. I'm not the only person who feels that way, evidently, because there are fewer than 20 new threads a month. There used to be 10 new threads A DAY.

so there it is; too many notes.

There definitely is a shift towards more political things. I'm not sure that ATS is alone in this though. This relatively new, excessively constant obsession with Trump is downright strange.

What is happening seems more general in nature, and ATS is just caught up in the mix. I think it might appear more specific because of the nature of a site like this (odd topics).

I feel that another aspect is that those that contribute the most to such a political climate will lament the situation, then immediately create it in other threads.

In the same way, I think this is more widespread than just ATS. Self-reflection, and even responsibility, is eschewed in favor of finger pointing and blame. Its easier that way.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

Is this another thread complaining about the volume of political threads instead of making a topic you really want to discuss?

Right this amazes me.

I could be wrong, but I feel like the content of ATS is driven by the users. Are the ATS owners or MODS deleting UFO threads? Do they ban members that discuss leprechauns?

I haven't seen that.

There are these neat buttons under the "Forums" tab where you can click on subjects that interests you. You can also avoid the subjects you don't like.

Why do members posting in political forums silence those in other forums?

Threads like this one reeks of elitism. This isn't a call for increased participation in the threads the author likes, but more of a pleas to silence the threads they disagree with.

a reply to: Grambler

Look, more old school far out conspiracy to take your mind off of politics. Enter at your own risk.

So, the question is:

Is this a conspiracy site where "ATS" stands for "Above Top Secret", or an alt-politics site where "ATS" stands for "About Trump, Silly".

Ultimately, it's up to the readership of the site (all of us) as to what the site is about, and the owners/mods guiding steering where the site should go.

As for the owners, they go with the page views and ad impressions. politics is raking it in, so why not? Mods won't/aren't suppose to step in unless TOS violations happen or are close to happening.

So it's up to us.

Personally, I've been avoiding political threads like the plague ever since the election, but it's meant there's been slim pickings for quite awhile.

Maybe we should all start new threads about stuff that's not "About Trump, Silly" and give them the page views?

I agree with you.

In the time that I have been here I have seen change. Certainly, the absurd political climate has been a huge influence in our lives as of late and it can't help but be discussed lest we explode from captured rage. But that should not mean that the rest of ATS has to fall by the wayside. But there is more to it than just the political outrage of late...

I have witnessed the change from welcoming and exploring ideas to doing anything to contradict and shut down anything new or different. The closed mindedness is astounding some times. An example: the moon landings may have been fake. I remember discussing this once and the responses were so closed minded it was disturbing.

I made a few observations and was met with rabid denial. A rocket engine powerful enough to soft land the lunar module would have blown the silty powder on the surface of the moon away from the landing site easily. With no atmosphere the silt would not hang in the air and resettle in the same place. With little gravity and no atmospheric resistance, it would be propelled away from the landing site and stay there. Yet, as clearly seen in the film footage, the entire area around the lander was covered in several inches of powdery silt. That makes no sense. The other example I gave was the unknown light source. One person very adamantly stated that it had been proven that light could have been reflected so there was no unknown light source. At the very core of honest debate - THAT IS WRONG. It did not prove there was no unknown light source, it only suggested that there could have been an explanation that did not involve an unknown light source. In no way did that prove anything. Proof and alternate theory are two very different things. The old ATS would have jumped all over that, but this one didn't.

originally posted by: Serdgiam
There definitely is a shift towards more political things. I'm not sure that ATS is alone in this though. This relatively new, excessively constant obsession with Trump is downright strange.

Well, perhaps ATS came to close and swamping this site was the best option "they" had

a reply to: ForteanOrg

Thought and wish endorsed.

I found my way to ATS I think at the end of 2009 because of strange happenings with birds dropping dead from the sky all around the globe, looking for explanations. Over the years I visited this site more than any other news outlet. Read about so many interesting topics and assimilated so much information. Oh my, how things have changed. Looks though as there is no way back.......

originally posted by: GramblerThreads like this one reeks of elitism. This isn't a call for increased participation in the threads the author likes, but more of a pleas to silence the threads they disagree with.

If it is the umpteenth post today about the same topic, then yes, please, silence it. That's not elitarian, that's simply good housekeeping.

a reply to: ForteanOrg

That's certainly a possibility, but I'm still not convinced it has much of anything to do with ATS specifically.

There are people I know that after being mostly apolitical for decades, have become fervent and zealous.

In my conspiracy mind, this is the result of a new(er) type of social and memetic engineering. It targeted the left 10-15 years ago and moved to the right 1-2 years ago. What we see then on ATS is a manifestation of this, rather than ATS itself being a target or source. Regardless of the cause, I think plenty would agree that how we have conversations with each other and what we discuss has shifted.

Of course, there are great threads that still get posted. But, I think one of the things that helped move things in this direction was the politicization of previously apolitical topics. We also have the relatively new behavior of demanding links and sources for veracity. While I find such things useful, for many it seems like if it doesn't exist on the internet, then it simply doesn't exist. Kind of interesting how such an approach essentially defines reality by the internet itself.

I guess my meandering point is that I think ATS isn't alone in these changes, and that the issues you brought up seem more common everywhere from message boards to the dinner table. A specific example is if you don't want to attack or defend Trump, you might as well avoid talking with people (exaggeration, maybe, but hopefully you get my point).

When something like that happens in the general public, its bound to bleed over into sites like ATS. Given how many ATS-style topics lack anything political whatsoever, a shift in the conversation might appear more prominent than elsewhere.

The mods could simply delete all new threads that have "Trump" in them.

a reply to: Miracula2

Then what would the userbase have to bitch about?

a reply to: Freeborn

Politic really does fit into the greatest conspiracies of the human history. Fallen angels, CFR, aliens, all fit very nicely and tie in together. Any theory of JFK assassination., aliens alien technology, religion, 9-11 and scalar weaponry, skull and bones secret societies, Satanic Rothschilds control and empire and the 13 bloodlines, it's all there,

There are so many conspiracies out there.
Good solid WTF? conspiracies. 9/11 Bob Lazar etc.
you want politics?
How about political pedophile rings ?
This is our realm.
Plus with the current administration and the staff being collected
we could all be in store for the biggest false flag yet.
Rudy Gulliani and Alex Jones both on Donald's team ?
What could possibly go wrong ?
That's a conspiracy waiting to happen.

At least we have the memories.

I only login in every now and then these days.
I think we all know what's ruined it, the same people posting the same tripe and they've developed little cliques.

I didn't mind it when it was like that during a Chemtrails argument or something about the unknown, but when
the argument raised is debunked over and over along with the same insults and the same denials it's over for me here.

Maybe THEY won, maybe I shouldn't care, maybe that's what they want.

I just keep remembering when all politics was scrutinized, no one above critique, this is no longer the case.

ATS are no long DENYING ignorance.

originally posted by: Serdgiam
a reply to: ForteanOrg

That's certainly a possibility, but I'm still not convinced it has much of anything to do with ATS specifically.

There are people I know that after being mostly apolitical for decades, have become fervent and zealous.

In my conspiracy mind, this is the result of a new(er) type of social and memetic engineering. It targeted the left 10-15 years ago and moved to the right 1-2 years ago. What we see then on ATS is a manifestation of this, rather than ATS itself being a target or source. Regardless of the cause, I think plenty would agree that how we have conversations with each other and what we discuss has shifted.

Of course, there are great threads that still get posted. But, I think one of the things that helped move things in this direction was the politicization of previously apolitical topics. We also have the relatively new behavior of demanding links and sources for veracity. While I find such things useful, for many it seems like if it doesn't exist on the internet, then it simply doesn't exist. Kind of interesting how such an approach essentially defines reality by the internet itself.

I guess my meandering point is that I think ATS isn't alone in these changes, and that the issues you brought up seem more common everywhere from message boards to the dinner table. A specific example is if you don't want to attack or defend Trump, you might as well avoid talking with people (exaggeration, maybe, but hopefully you get my point).

When something like that happens in the general public, its bound to bleed over into sites like ATS. Given how many ATS-style topics lack anything political whatsoever, a shift in the conversation might appear more prominent than elsewhere.

This is true, imo. The big question is why.
Why are we shifting values so rapidly in society?
Why are our goals and aims so at odds with the type of people we feel we are?
Why are we ATS people needing (?) to seperate slightly from the herd?

By participating in this thread, are we tacitly admitting that there has been a unprecedented shift in public perspectives? If so,do we look at it closely, or shrug it off? Is this the future? And if it is, what does that portend?

Mayhaps these quetions will in themselves spawn a good thread. Go for it. I'll watch and read and think.

VF

i still love ats and come here frequently. sometimes it feels like being a stranger in a saloon full of cowboys and i have two meters of toilet-paper sticking out of my pants so i usually avoid posting. maybe i´m just a sissy.
wanted to make a thread about "black goo" for some time but have no courage.

originally posted by: glowdog
wanted to make a thread about "black goo" for some time but have no courage.

Make it. People clamoring for non-political threads will appreciate the effort.

a reply to: glowdog

Ha, I guess you never visited the original mud pit, back in the days when everything was allowed.

I got my first red flag there, (back then they called them flags), I got my butt kicked in that forum.