Transparency On The Future of ATS

a reply to: jedi_hamster

Not wanting to speak for bill but....

As far as I know he was basically running the site himself, now when the advertisement starts to dry up and the site is just haemorrhaging money, he isn't going to be making any income off the site. Therefore has probably moved onto other ventures and is just doing what needs to be done to keep the lights on and nothing more. Therefore its hardly surprising that the site is in the situation it is in.

Well, with it being 2020, and news of ats retiring, it’s the sign of the times. From what I can understand, however we want to build it, freedom of speech, for the most part is in danger. Ats has literally been a beacon, of freedom of speech, yes thruout the years ats had her vices, we have seen many minds come and go here. Ats was a enclave of raw intellect, it attracted many people with questions they came to ats hoping to find the answers. Ats now in 2020 feels like a relic, of a different time. I believe the fall of ats is a result of the current events happening world wide, google sadly makes or breaks you online, even in real life actually. The constant over reactions occurring everywhere and the ultra sensitive mentality plaguing reality, is not only happenstance but a component being orchestrated to destroy free speech.

This in my opinion is the reason ATS has been targeted, ats is a platform of free speech. My theory now, is I do not think WE were ready for social media, what is also scary as hell, is the majority of people are not ultra sensitive, do not agree with most radical orchestrations occurring etc. yet the minority of people who feel this way UTILIZE, social media and create a larger shadow of themselves. This is actually weaponizing social media, or creating propaganda. This in a sorts is the beginning phases of revolutionary practices. Now it’s going to be very concerning not having ats as a beacon site for us to assemble and share info in the coming weeks. Yet this is a goal of those attacking free speech. When the time comes and they can do as they wish, remove all venues of free speech online, it will remove resistance towards their movement.

I don’t think people really understand what is happening.

I also think we are running out of time.

Now with that being said. If their is someone who can absorb the expenses to keep ats up, has the capital to do it, may he/she step forward, not to become overly dramatic, but it would be important. I am not so sure how a member ran site would be, I have a feeling it would become mutinous thou.

It will be a very sad day, the day I load the ats url, and I get no response.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

the "running the site himself" could be seen in him being offline on the site for long periods of time. mods kept everyone in check, more or less, and the site was running on fumes.

it was time to launch patreon or something, to have public discussion about the future like this one. the time was months ago already.

now, don't get me wrong. i get it, money doesn't grow on trees. still, talk about selling the site is just a continuation of that "do nothing that may help" policy. an easy way out.

the way i see it, there's no will to make this site work - and it could work, hosting costs aren't as astronomical as some people may think and patreon should work, easily. with no ads, no problems, and everything perfectly legal, with taxes paid.

but why bother when you can just sell it or shut it down, right?

SO the site has 350k members, assuming 1/3 are active wouldn't patreon be a viable option? Or do you want to just move on to other things and be done with ats?

a reply to: IMSAM

Yeah but we only have about 3,500 who have over 1000 posts.

Off them not all of us would be willing to pay, let alone $10 per month

a reply to: IMSAM

The OP pretty bluntly stated that the owners have neither the time nor the inclination to do anything other than sell.

originally posted by: OtherSideOfTheCoin
a reply to: IMSAM

Yeah but we only have about 3,500 who have over 1000 posts.

Off them not all of us would be willing to pay, let alone $10 per month

On patreon you can put stages from 1 dollar to 3 to 5 to 10 to whatever you like. Each patron pays whatever he can each month.In short if you pledge 1 dollar ats will get 70-80 cents each month.

originally posted by: Shamrock6
a reply to: IMSAM

The OP pretty bluntly stated that the owners have neither the time nor the inclination to do anything other than sell.

Thats what i wanted to clarify. Thanks shamrock. It is a shame if no buyer shows up. Ats will leave a void that no other site can fill. Heres hoping something postitive will happen in the end

a reply to: IMSAM

Welcome. And should either of them see it, my comment wasn’t intended as snarky. Just calling it what it is

I say the owner(s) of this site shouldn't blame the site members for their own inability to change with the times and improve their site. This site has been exactly the same for the decade or so I've been visiting it. Not one thing has changed for the better whatsoever.

There were marketing strategies that were missed all the time. There should've been multiple YT channels featuring guests. Ad revenue is easy to get if you aren't lazy and have a little foresight. FFS...Alex Jones still gets ad revenue and he's been banned on every platform...he just has smart people working for him.

Merely claiming that running a website costs money is being disingenuous at best. Websites such as forums are not expensive to run at all. At best...this forum costs maybe....MAYBE...$500/$750 per month to host. Other than that...only time is needed.

Why were there never any ATS T-shirts? No ATS Hats? Nothing whatsoever was done by the owners to further this sites revenue. I run a little server with 2k members for a DayZ community and get more than enough revenue from selling stupid things like chat colors and name tags that I've managed to not only host the game, but the extra revenue has paid my rent for all of last year. This isn't hard to accomplish if you have people willing to actually do the work and think outside the box. Merely whining and complaining to the community that ad revenue is down just shows this site owners inability to grasp that there are other ways to gain revenue besides getting Coke or Pepsi to place an ad on your site. Also...thinking that this community doesn't know this just shows how out of touch the owner(s) really are with reality.

Sorry to be such a d*ck about it, but facts are facts whether or not people like the delivery.

On deplatforming all sites that have comments by killing their advertising, I mentioned this on another forum and this was the response...

Platforms that allow comments include YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, CNN, Fox, MSNBC,USA Today.....There's no way that's true.

It is clear ATS was specifically targeted, because of it's more common opinions, and SO commented about noticing it when anti-Hillary threads were happening in 2016.

ATS needs to go fully independent, either somebody wealthy bank roles it, or it is no longer viable in this political climate, which is pathetic.

But I am still seeing ads on ATS when I am signed in, so they are not all gone.

a reply to: Blue_Jay33

ATS Was not targeted, ATS is tiny, its a little tiny corner of the web, nobody other than the membership of this site give two hoots about it. Its totally irrelevant to the giants of Google, Twitter, Facebook and so on.

Its true that google in the past made it super easy to find ats threads. Not anymore. Another ufo site has the same fate. Google doesnt feature them at all. What about ats big friends like knapp or that singer guy robinson was it? But if the owners want to just sell this whole conversation is mute

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

originally posted by: SkepticOverlord

originally posted by: Phage
Do you think Google targeted ATS?

We fought with Google several times. First in 2013 when we were delisted from their ad platform (AdSense) for controversial content. It took six months and some internal connections to get our account back into good standing. There were clear indications it was one of those fabled "human interventions" on their end.

Then, through 2015 we'd receive daily notices that URLs (entire threads really) were being delisted from the ad platform. For a time, just about all of them were threads critical of Hillary Clinton.

I don't think "ATS is targeted," but I do think the majority of the topics discussed here are indeed targeted.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

Jared Lee Loughner appears to have been a user of a web forum where conspiracy theorists discussed UFO sightings, the existence of God and racism in video games. But even there, he didn’t fit in. Other website users appeared to grow frustrated with Loughner and one even plead for him to seek professional help.A Reddit user found what is believed to be a username used by Loughner on the website AboveTopSecret.com. The website acknowledged that Loughner was likely a user on their website, and the chief executive of the website’s parent company told the Washington Post it was 99 percent likely that the posts came from Loughner. Loughner, the gunman who allegedly attempted to assassinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), killed six others and injured 14 people in a mass shooting in Arizona on Saturday, had reportedly attended a Giffords meeting back in 2007 and was unsatisfied with a response he received from the congressman.

On the contrary bub.

Link

a reply to: geezlouise

Yes read the last sentence

He says he does not think ATS was targeted it was the topics that where targeted, these topics are targeted across the index.

Nobody cares about ATS and its almost sad to see how many of you talk about it like its CNN or Twitter.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

originally posted by: SkepticOverlord
Continuing With Full Transparency

Those green lines represent known changes to Google's algorithm. The last one in early May has essentially de-platformed us from search.

We've always done well with algorithm changes because we play by all the right SEO rules.

a reply to: Bicent

That was 2011, almost a decade ago.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

From SO previous comments it seems he would disagree with you, although ATS was probably caught in a larger web designed to kill off advertising for websites with forums that express opinions that don't agree with the MSM/CNN narratives of their particular perspective of truths.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

Oh, If that’s how you see it alrighty then.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin

If no one cares then why post? Why even log in at all?

Evidently there is something significant otherwise apathy would dictate that you find other entertainment. But you don’t. You find you have a need to be here. My opinion is that it is a desire to be purposefully disruptive to the community. Which would be grounds for ROCM removal for trolling. But at the same time, even this phase is historic and it should be remembers who was helpful and who was disruptive to those around them.