Checking on the status of the website

originally posted by: Mahogani
Knowing if they work for a foreign government also means knowing if we are aiding and abetting an enemy by furthering their agendas.

I don't have any known enemies, so I don't have that kind of problems.

Whether someone is a nice person or not is a pretty juvenile way of looking at this from where I stand.

I prefer to be related to a nice person than to a brute, regardless of how subjective those classifications may be.

How do you know if someone is nice or not, or lying to you or not, or using you as a tool? How would you know any of this if you don't know who they are or can't even follow the money in the first place and deduce an agenda?

Imagine you know who the owners are, how do you know if they are lying or not? There's no automatic way of knowing if someone is lying or not just because you know their name.

Also, how can anyone use me as tool on a forum like this? I only post public information and my personal opinions.

Money exposes agendas, regardless of how nice or not nice someone makes themselves appear on the surface.

Money doesn't expose agendas, although the source may do it. But it's not an exact science, knowing the source of the money doesn't mean you know what the people using it think, you can only assume it based on your own biases.

That's why I prefer to ignore those things.

I can't think the way you do... I need to know. I need to know my participation is not causing more harm than good.

I'm curious, wow can someone's participation in a forum like this cause harm?

originally posted by: SchrodingersRat
And why would the new owners want the site to die?

If that's the case, why buy it in the first place?

Before the sale, according to the old owners, the site was having difficulty generating revenue because advertisers were avoiding advertising on sites with comments, and this site is all comments, so, not an advertiser magnet, thus not profitable.

After the site changed ownership, there were some different ads, like rations for preppers. So one theory might be the new owners thought the revenue from those new ads for prepper supplies etcetera might cover the site hosting costs, so that might be a reason to buy the site.

And if that turned out to not be the case, and the new ads didn't cover hosting costs, then why wouldn't someone think about just letting the site die if it wasn't profitable and they just had to keep sinking money into it? The only kind of person who would keep sinking money into an unprofitable site is someone who really loved the site, and has more money than they know what to do with.

But we don't really know, these are just educated speculations, except the part about the ads changing, that did happen.

BTW I never heard the Darkos pretend to be owners, I saw Darko talk about the owner as someone else who made lots of money in bitcoin and was kind of a hands-off owner, and maybe hired Darko to work on the site. Darko or someone did upgrade the site from http to https, a security improvement. But other than that and the ad changes, and some strange banning of long time members in May 2023, and the October 2023 lost passwords fiasco, I didn't see that much change with the new ownership.

a reply to: Arbitrageur

The prepper ad is still ongoing, it is My Patriot Supply . com and a Matt Redhawk owns it.

About Matt Redhawk:

about.me...

Who knows, maybe the owner of ATS is Matt Redhawk and maybe we should start buying stuff off his site ?

Digging deeper:

Conversely, My Patriot Supply states they spend no money on marketing and fear mongering, but rather focus on making their products affordable

The company routinely sponsors talk radio hosts and popular podcasters like Glenn Beck, Dan Bongino, and Sean Hannity and offers discount codes there. You can usually find a coupon code or current promotion through one of their partners.

www.reviewopedia.com...

I would like to draw everyone's attention to ATS' wallpaper, 'Global Warming Ends Here; Coal Fuels Climate Change". Here's another clue, that the owners of this site are not climate/global warming deniers.

originally posted by: SchrodingersRat

originally posted by: KrustyKrab
a reply to: SchrodingersRat

Who/what were the Darko's?

I believe they were hired by the new owners to run the site, although they seemed to try and come off more as the actual owners. My theory is that they were either let go or told to back off because owners are going to let the site die. I also think they may have went rogue after that fact and were possibly even some of the bad actors when SHTF🤷‍♂️.

Interesting.

And the name "Darko"?

C'mon man!

And why would the new owners want the site to die?

If that's the case, why buy it in the first place?

🤔

There’s a mrs darko too😂. Many speculate as do I that they’re two of the same.

I don’t know why they would let it die, maybe they’re really fascist and just want open public dialogue shut down? The way the world is going I could easily see that. The monetary value of ATS is chump change to many.

Was thinking about something kind of crazy a few nights ago. That is I’ve been on this site for a third of my life and I’m 60, so…20 yrs come next year. It would be a sad day if it does go away. 😭🤞

originally posted by: SchrodingersRat


And the name "Darko"?

C'mon man!

It's a common Slavic name. Eastern European or Russian. Or Serbian or similar.

I don't think it's a reference to Donnie Darko, it's just a common eastern name.

originally posted by: SchrodingersRat

originally posted by: stonerwilliam

originally posted by: SchrodingersRat

originally posted by: stonerwilliam

originally posted by: SchrodingersRat

originally posted by: JinMI
a reply to: KKLOCO

If we are to take everything told to us at face value, then if they risked the capital involved in the purchasing of ATS, only to lose it then their pockets must be pretty deep.

Deeper than say hocking crystals to an audience that may be interested.

That presupposes that the sale price was high. It may have been sold for a beer and a cheeseburger for all we know.

It looks like the site was sold off in segments? From what I remember hearing

Really?

What segments?

I didn't realize you could break this site down into segments.

I'd be very interested to learn what you believe those segments are.

Can you share?

I wrote a thread lin July last year about selling merchandise and trying to drum up some support and new members www.abovetopsecret.com...

I am sure the information was in another thread about how the place was broken up and sold off because I did the last post in the above link on October and was not best pleased at the non action of the darkos or the new owners explaining this to the members here .

The exact details elude me now due to my dementia problems but I will dig around and see if I can locate the thread in the board and business area

Thanks for posting that link. Interesting reading. At that time those posts were made I hadn't been participating on ATS for a number of years. Not out of anger or pique, just got busy doing other things.

Who/what were the Darko's?

Sounds ominous...

For years I have wondered what would happen to all the data from this site as there has been some good researchers who have walked the halls of ATS over the years , I was shocked at the running costs of this site and can understand why SO wanted out and thought a group of members here were in the process of buying the place ? .

Who ever bought the place does not have the best interests of the site at heart despite what SO said and seems to have their fingers in a few pies money wise and has no interest in modernisation and got the darko in to stick a plaster on and kick the can down the road a bit longer .

I had a year of the net when most of this went down and missed a lot of chatter but with what I am seeing it is someone or a 3 letter agency who wants the database to die and the membership scattered and voiceless but they are in for a shock .

We will not go quietly into the night

a reply to: stonerwilliam

Indeed, we will keep reappearing like a rash that won't go away. lol

a reply to: quintessentone

a reply to: quintessentone

Have you read any good "signatures" lately.

Best guesses please...How much time does ATS have left?

a reply to: CarlLaFong

I think May or so has been mentioned as the time the bills are due ?

Cheers

a reply to: F2d5thCavv2

Thanks.
I'll make the leap before then.

originally posted by: Terpene
a reply to: ksihkahe

I just read your rant somewhere else...

In effect they said they were just here to educate ignorant evil Republicans. That's not what good faith discussion is based on, but is what political activists do. Their "participation" is not in good faith. Their post history is full of condescending political propaganda and....

Take all political words away or replace with religion if needed and your statement is as valid.

"Educating", condescending, propaganda, no actual interest in good faith discussion.

There are obviously diffrent interest groups here peddling their bull# through their shills, not just one political side... That's too onesided of an approach to hold any water.

I'm not really reading replies and responding to people on this particular topic because all the evidence is there for people to see in post history, but you aren't somebody that has only conversed with me here so I'm responding to you. In this particular case the topic of politics is the only one that applies as it is their only purpose being here. It's not really a rant as I'm not emotionally invested in it any more than I am in flushing the toilet. I flushed a turd down the toilet yeterday. This poster is perpetually acting in bad faith and fabricates things. Simple facts that have no real sway on my emotions.

What probably escaped your notice is that every person currently on my naughty list has been caught red-handed, while playing fact-checker in COVID threads, making things up. Most of them also cheer for funding more bombs dropped on children, but that's too widespread a hobby for me to even begin dealing with in the wider membership. That's in addition to whatever other disreputable things they do, which certainly should not be left out when their credibility is being reviewed. Liars and propagandists are most successful when engaging an audience that doesn't have in depth knowledge of the subject matter. They flew too close to the sun playing expert on behalf of authoritarians and pharmaceutical companies for COVID propaganda. That was their choice. They all could have all stayed in their lane with the political bs that's mostly opinion anyway, but COVID became a political issue to them and they dun goofed. Now their political bs is fair game too.

There is much more at work than political party affiliations. It's about lying and bad faith. As is almost always the case people don't see that I've done the same thing to those on the opposite side to whatever tribe their current political allies consider themselves. I've actually run off more right wing propagandists than left wing propagandists, and a couple that were probably foreign influence peddlers. I'm starting to believe that's because most of the left wing propagandists actually feel no shame when caught lying and only get uncomfortable when they can't just hop to a new thread to start again. There is also a distinct difference between posting delusions, dogma, or irrational beliefs (which is rife in nearly all political discussion), and being dishonest in order to promote it to others. I'm all for people being free to lie to themselves, but it's not civil to repeatedly lie to others. People mostly likely get away with far more lying than I've noticed that simply slides by, but they got too ambitious with their tall tales on COVID.

I don't feel guilty for calling out people that routinely act in bad faith or engage in dishonesty. If dishonest people choose politics as their sword, they shouldn't be surprised when their reputation dies by that sword. I can name a dozen people of similar beliefs to the person in question that I simply don't even bother with because I think they're delusional, but they aren't lying or being deceptive. They're just biased ideologues and there a plenty of them on both sides, but they aren't all dishonest.

If you want to argue with traditional religious people that's entirely your choice, but it's mostly a waste of time in my opinion. Religious dogma is often hypocritical and based on nonsense, but so what? Some of them are arrogant? Well, add them to the very long list of misguided know-it-alls that think I'm in league with the forces of evil. Western religion is mostly a toothless relic of a long gone time. The neo-religion of "The Science" and the globalist eugenics cult are far bigger threats, but they're really just new ways to worship the same old "God". I don't play well with their acolytes and I don't see that changing any time soon. If they can't advocate their repugnant beliefs without constant dishonesty then I guess they're going to have a bad time as long as I'm allowed to post here. The same goes for religious people.

I'm sure I disagree with many of your political beliefs, but I've never discovered you fabricating things with the intent to deceive or just to score political points. Troll? Sure, you often lean trollish, but you aren't a serial fabricator for some fake political ideology. I'm not them. I don't believe that disagreeing with my political beliefs means you don't deserve the respect and consideration of my honesty, nor does it mean you should be eliminated from society.

What you won't get from them is a thoughtful and sincere reply to a disagreement. Nor will you get an admission that what they're are offering is just their opinion which you can take or leave, and are free to disgree with. I said what I meant and feel no need to further convince anybody, but for somebody that is being sincere I'm more than happy to fill in some misunderstandings about my intent.

a reply to: ksihkahe

What probably escaped your notice is that every person currently on my naughty list has been caught red-handed, while playing fact-checker in COVID threads, making things up.

You have a naughty list?

Can you share who's on it? You outlined your reasons pretty comprehensively in your post.

I've actually run off more right wing propagandists than left wing propagandists, and a couple that were probably foreign influence peddlers

When you say "run off", do you mean shamed out of continued participation in that thread? I don't think you mean run off the site...

What you won't get from them is a thoughtful and sincere reply to a disagreement. Nor will you get an admission that what they're are offering is just their opinion which you can take or leave, and are free to disgree with.

I agree you with you here. The so called "expert pundits" never admit when they're wrong. They simply try to deflect or go to another thread altogether. They are pathetic in my view.

a reply to: ksihkahe

Thanks for your thorough and differentiated reply.

I was hoping you would take the time to reply, and you didn't let me down.

As to me leaning trollish, guilty as charged...

Down with the walls and up with the bridges.

a reply to: Terpene

I never thought of trolls in that way

a reply to: quintessentone

My patriot supply is owned by Darko. This Matt dude may be his business partner, but Matt is not Darko.

originally posted by: theshadowknows
a reply to: quintessentone

My patriot supply is owned by Darko. This Matt dude may be his business partner, but Matt is not Darko.

I would think as a business owner/entrepreneur they would know the value of advertising. ATS has only one advertiser that I can see, so what does that mean? That the owner of ATS is the owner of patriot supply and can readily afford ATS' monthly running costs? It's a mystery for sure, but we will soon find out in May where the chips will fall.

I noticed the wallpaper has changed, who changes it, anyone? I see contrails on 'My ATS' page; actually different wallpaper on a loop it appears.

The things you find on the Internet

www.satanicinternationalnetwork.com...

So according to rumours in the above thread link Josiah and Co were recruited from Reddit to muck the place up .