posted on Apr, 6 2011 @ 02:03 AM
This place (ATS) has a lot of the weird stuff, a lot of hoo-hah mumbo-jumbo silliness, a lot of speculation, and all that other fun. The 2012 madness
and such may have helped start it too (since it's covered heavily here), but that can't explain all of it.
Frankly I think this is one of the places on the internet where I've seen real news stories pop-up before it makes it to the main news sites, or even
places like Digg, Reddit, or Slashdot. (Not necessarily this forum despite its name, but on ATS in general.) Usually 3 days, if not a week or more
before you hear the same elsewhere. (The forums often are better aggregators than aggregator sites. It's the members that make the site interesting.)
Which is pretty funny in and of itself, but perhaps explains the boost in following besides the funny and/or more esoteric stuff.
There could be an economy aspect. When there's a lot of free time (no longer working, or working as much as one would like), browsing the web is one
of those things to do. Sites like this are much more entertaining that half the stuff offered on TV.