What I Truly Appreciate About ATS.

What I truly appreciate is the fact that a member can post a thread on a subject that they may know a little about, only to then be treated to an avalanche of more in-depth knowledge by other members more educated on the subject.

Example:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I posted on a topic that makes me shudder with anger and resentment. Do I know everything about the topic? No. Do I need to in order to see it as wrong? No.

But thanks to other members, the thread has turned into a teaching base for not only myself but others as well. I could post many other instances for me personally but I think I've made my point.

And then there are the threads that I may be in possession of a higher level of experience and knowledge where I can be a teacher of sorts and still gain even more knowledge on the subject from the membership.

Here for example:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

So many times I've either created or been the benefactor of such a thread. Sometimes I've seen a 4 line thread posted only to erupt into a well researched, shared and knowledgeable thread of substance...all due to the membership.

If you have one of those threads that stand out...bring it forward if you want.

That's it, That's all. Just wanted to share a sudden understanding I had on what ATS does for me and hopefully others.

Back to my Sunday. Well, only MY Sunday actually as it's the one day my bakery is closed..

Peace

Open discourse is vital to a free and open society,

It is through openly discussing and debate that we learn more than we ever could on our own, its one of the things I too love about ATS.

S&F

reply to post by jude11


Member generated content drives this site. And it's why it's the first website I go to when I'm online (O/T that is a lot of contractions in that sentence).

ATS is "supposed" to be a consperiacy website but over the years it has snowballed into something much more, and in my opionion, for the better. There's been some threads lately that the theme is "This is not my ATS". I haven't been 'round these parts for too long but I think this site has great value. Sure you need to weed through some threads, but isn't that the fun of it???

ATS is also my go to site for breaking news, mainstream or alternative. The community is far faster than anything else posting current, revelant and yes, BS threads. Love them all.

I love ats but it is a double edged sword.
Sometimes this place makes me want to puke on myself rather than read the boards and other times,I could not be happier to be a part of this site.

There has been a few times these boards made me cry with the humanity some members have and other times I am sooooo mad,I just need to take a walk.

Its an ebb and flow thing for me I guess.

It is the members and some members might be on "FULL RETARD" (which you should never go full retard) mode....others balance it out.

To the staff that run the site as volunteers and get called the gestapo,paid disinfo agents and other things.....thanks for being fair in the face of ignorance and adversity.

reply to post by jude11


I'm the worst for creating cool threads...look at my back log....I should be in kindergarden

imagine if we conducted government and had civil discussion about laws on a regular basis like this...

thats how I think society would function optimally.

What I appreciate about ATS...

Five years back the woman I had literally, finally, fallen head over heels in love with ( after realizing that, even after two marriages, I'd never actually been in love before ) broke up with me and left me shattered, empty, and totally lost. Being that I'm one of those idiot types who will likely end up taking eight or nine extra steps after my heart finally stops beating ( someday ) simply out of spite, I found myself lost in a full on breakdown, but still trying to function. I was going to work, paying the bills, going out with the few friends that took my side in the split with the ex. But much of the time there was nothing to do. Nobody around. An empty house.

I watched every DVD and VHS movie I owned... probably 20 times each. I wrote Myspace blogs that literally were thousands of words long and made no sense at all. I did anything to fill the vacant hours. To make my empty home feel less empty.

ATS was a site that I visited regularly and had even signed up for at one point, a very long time ago ( '03 or '04 I think ) but I never used the login. I had no real urge to create or participate. I just liked to read the alternative news stories and off-the-wall theories. I surfed all the obligatory alternative sites, but ATS was almost my top choice.

One night my blogging became an issue. A distant relative found my blog and went haywire, causing a ton of family drama over the fact that I was "hanging my laundry to dry in public" and took great offense to this. So, suddenly not only was my very bitter ex, and her clique stalking my blog - but so was my entire, extended, Irish-American family ( literally between 100 to 200 relatives ). It got to the point where I'd blog "Today I ate a hamburger" and I'd get fifty comments, in minutes, admonishing me for causing family problems by being too public. And it hit me... ATS is a place where I could write and express myself...

So here I came. After about an hour of trying to unsuccessfully figure out the username on my previous account, I finally gave up and created this one. I lurked for a few days, nervous about posting. It was a new environment, with a lot of rules... and I was positive that I'd post something and immediately get flamed with some of the jerkish reactions we see here from time to time....

"Hey, idiot, there's a search engine!"
"Really? You think we care about any of this?"
"Can I have my two minutes back"

But, eventually my need to preoccupy myself won out and I began posting replies... and then a thread.

The rest is literally in my history ( on my profile ).

So, what do I appreciate about ATS? Almost everything. I could do without the troublemakers and trolls. But, hey, this is the Internet and keyboards seem to inspire boundless courage in dolts. But aside from that? I appreciate the members here, many of whom I call friends, and many more of whom have touched me, often without even knowing it. I appreciate the diversity.

I can sit in the chat room and talk to my South African friend, my Norwegian friend, my Californian friend, and my Brit friend all at the same time. And let me tell you, for those who have never clicked the "chat" button... some of the best folks you'd ever want to meet are waiting on the other end of it. So I do encourage giving it a shot. From chat, I appreciate the connections.

The staff? I'll let you in on a secret. Accuse them of being spies, spooks, agents, aliens, Nazi's, tyrants, whatever you wish. But the reality is that they are some of the best folks I have ever met. Don't believe me? U2U one and ask for help with something... anything (legal and within T&C) and see what happens. So I am appreciative of their friendship, their guidance, their support, and their faith in me.

I appreciate being able to have a voice and to be able to use that voice in a crowd that is, for the most part, profoundly insightful, courteous, and supportive.

Ultimately I appreciate that ATS is a big reason why my empty house is no longer so painful to be in. It's given me a second home within my own home. It's given me a family. And it's given me a chance to feel proud about myself again.

Sorry for rambling Jude....but ya hit a soft spot in me. Thanks for posting this!

~Heff

reply to post by Hefficide


Heff, I searched but couldn't find a thread that you referenced a few days ago. Would be perfect for this thread and enlightened me on the "history" of ATS and where it's come from, and maybe where it's going.

Sorry, but yes, the search function here sucks!

reply to post by UFO1414


This one???

reply to post by Hefficide


B I N G O... the rest writes itself. Cheers.

This picture I came across recently calls to mind the title of the thread -

Isn't it funny?