Ten years gone: engaging with ATS again after a long silence.

(well it's 11 years actually, since I signed up in '09, but then I wouldn't be able to use this thread as an excuse to post a Zep vid ):




Well I haven't actually been gone ten years...I was at leaat dropping in once in a blue moon as recently as 2014. But my heyday was around a decade ago, give or take a few years, and then I mostly faded out.

Why did I leave? Why did I come back this year? Can't really say in either case but a proper answer to both questions would certainly include the word "boredom."

Some time in the early/middle part of the last decade I became bored not with ATS per se but with the general format of BBS posting as a whole.

I also thought that by 2014 I had absorbed most of what the "online conspiracy world" had to offer, and that the tenor of conversation in general was coarsening, becoming more paranoid, critical, and argumentative, and less "mutually exploratory." I even made a thread on it at the time that garnered more attention than most things I've written here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...


Coming back, I find this board has become highly politicized. There always was that element, but it's certainly the most conspicuous difference. My favorite topics in the old days were spiritual/theological/metaphysical. I will do what I can to kick up some dust in that corner again, but at the moment it is looking pretty moribund.

I'm pleasantly surprised to see a lot of old names I respected and admired (even if I was too below their radar as a mosly-lurker to be noticable in return). I also see a lot of "new talent" I've enjoyed in the last month or so.

Clearly the minds of ATS are still pretty sharp, and that's probably what's drawn me back in.

I'd be interested to hear others' opinions on what has and hasn't changed over the last decade or so, whether you are a returnee like me or one who never left.

Peace

a reply to: Never Despise

Welcome back...

At the moment tensions at a big high with the election and everything but since the introduction of the mud-pit here on ATS things have been going south.

Hope to see you around.

Peace

a reply to: Never Despise

It is still a place to seek freedom from ignorance.

There is no denying that.

a reply to: Never Despise

Good thing you didn't have to create a new account.

a reply to: Trueman

I was pretty surprised I could still log in to be honest.

a reply to: Never Despise

I don't remember you.

a reply to: galaga

Wouldn't expect you to. I was never a high profile poster and even back in 2012 I remember reading the board has over 200,000 members registered. I've always been just another face in the crowd.

a reply to: Never Despise

Welcome back!
Politics has been high on the list of topics, but there are always other things to explore and enjoy as always. I love this site and my ATS family!

I do recall your name from my lurking days. Welcome back to the fray.