How ATS has changed over 13+ years

Hi, I just joined today, but I have been a lurker since 2008. I used to read a lot in the archives and recent posts I would occasionally take three to six months off from then and now. I noticed there used to be a lot more thought out threads or people who were committed or cared about them. In the last few years a lot more kids showed up and sloppy threads , but ATS is evolving and changing. There are still a lot of intelligent people here.

When these threads pop up, several times per year, I often find myself chuckling just a bit because everyone seems to externalize to an extreme with this issue. Rarely does anyone talk about personal influence or the power of perception. I'd like to take a moment to do so now.

Has ATS changed since I first arrived here? Honestly, to me, not really that much. it's bigger now and sees a lot more traffic. Many of the names have changed but many are still the same. The T&C's have had a couple of fairly minor revisions in my time here - but not really anything that I find personally problematic or disturbing. I signed onto a site that held manners and decorum to a higher standard than the other sites did ( which is why I chose ATS to begin with ) and the rules almost all exist to create a polite environment. Frankly put, if I wish to see gore, outrageous and slanderous posts, drug talk, nudity, profanity, etc... I can simply toss on TOR and go to other sites. I think it is a beautiful thing that this is a one way road though, as I have no desire to have that sort of filth in the place where I eat, metaphorically speaking.

Generally, however, ATS is much the same place it was when I first found it. What has actually changed is me.

When I first got here I was astounded at the amount of information available for perusal. Subjects I'd never even dreamt of were right there at my finger tips. ATS was new, exciting, shiny, and seemed like an endless source of new information. It was magical and very heady.

The honeymoon phase lasted for quite awhile really. But all good things must end, and so this did. One day I found myself reading thread titles and realizing that I'd read it all before. In fact I got a bit offended because I saw new threads appearing that covered subjects I'd learned of from other threads. I began to become a bit embittered that my addiction was not being satisfied. I wanted new and exciting - but for the most part found it increasingly difficult to reproduce that sense of wonder I'd felt in the beginning.

Here, on ATS, we tend to end up with what I might call "unofficial graduating classes"... those members who seem to be at the same point their own journey - regardless of actual join date - as we happen to be at any given time. My first real "class" was a group of people who had all become a bit jaded and who spent most of their time in ATS chat. We had some truly legendary members in that group... some who have gone silent, some who are now banned, some who rarely post, and a few of us who have managed to find ways to keep it fresh and interesting.

Sadly, I've watched some very close friends fall prey to their egos, to burn-out, to any number of other things... and fall by the wayside.

I truly do think that the difference between them and me is that I always understood the above... the process of becoming jaded and being able to recognize it, and that I always had the ability to take a step back when things here got too real or frustrating. The friends I have here now, from all over the world and from all 'stages" of ATS seem to know my habits... if I don't post much - it's a sure sign that the burn-out is clawing at my mind again, and I've taken a step back to refocus and put everything back into perspective.

I realize that my honest opinions might be decried as "shilling" by some... or at the least as "towing the party line". All i can say is that there is no "party line" for me to tow here. Every single word I have typed comes from my own mind and my own heart.

ATS has changed to a degree. IMO this is less "change" as it is an evolution along the lines that were already extant when I joined. Fine tuning as stories and situations come along, grow, and evolve. I can still get my "fix" here by watching for that next HUGE story to come along. Sometimes it takes months for this to happen... sometimes many such stories will come out so fast that it leaves us all spinning and playing catch-up.

The thing I know for sure, however, is that my own perception of ATS has evolved and changed at a much faster rate than ATS itself has.

The journey from discovery, to familiarity, to jaded disinterest and resentment is a very natural one. Even in marriages the term "seven year itch" is used to describe the same phenomenon. Some will reach that point and choose any of several options - and that is OK. Nobody held guns to our heads to make us join.... they certainly are not going to do so to try and convince us to stay. To those who are bitter, I simply ask...

How much of the change you see is projected from within and not actually external?

Just my humble thoughts on the subject.

Originally posted by korathin

Originally posted by Losonczy
I've been on ATS for about 13 years. In the early days, ATS posters and lurkers were interested in the most popular conspiracies. Folks enjoyed the early promise of the Internet...a deep resource for researching, providing links and doing more research, connecting dots and pointing out holes in initial/original stories. Most people studied hypotheses, contributed ideas, and enjoyed the devil's advocate back and forth. People questioned the MSM and committed themselves to serious detective work.

Thirteen years later, the site feels much more divisive and divided into countries or cultural positions. There is a lot more America bashing it seems. There is a lot more ANAL application of site rules and procedure and more personal attacks. The trolls don't seem to be put at bay as quickly and a crazy number of threads on the same topic seem to proliferate.

What once felt like a community, seems more like a collection of lone wolf skeptics taking jabs at one another. I miss the feeling of "we're in this together trying to find out the truth." The site is still amazing and often the first place I turn rather than MSM, but does anyone else feel that the site has lost a feeling of brotherhood or comeraderie? Does anyone care?

edit on 19-4-2013 by Losonczy because: (no reason given)

Inno, in the last few years it seems like ATS has been hijacked by atheist's, homosexual's and leftist activists. Seems like most of the mods try to steer things into ways that are friendly towards those three groups. Combined with over bearing anti-americanism from non-americans.....

+ the typical ageist BS from older ATS members is pretty old. They repeat the same garbage that older generations since time began have made to make themselves feel better over their own personnel failure to salute in the morning.
Only difference is, in the older day's it would of been considered a) ignorant, b) rude and c) being a total jerk to say that to younger peoples face(plus most people are functional cowards). With the internet, all kinds of cowards get to act big as they denigrate America's youth to make themselves feel better. Coupled with political and social differences....

I think it is the nature of this age. I believe that the quote that fits this century is "The political is personnel and the personnel is political". What that means is, if someone is your political enemy they are also your personnel enemy; if someone is your personnel enemy, they are also your political enemy.

edit on 24-4-2013 by korathin because: added "+" area

and posts like this are why we need an "anti-star" rating ability for posts...

jesus christ, man...the guy makes a rather astute observation about how things have changed over the years, and you call it ageist, then start implying everyone is a coward, whilst also placing the blame on lefties, homos, and foreigners....holy s**t, you are a rather absurd individual...

Originally posted by Losonczy
I've been on ATS for about 13 years. In the early days, ATS posters and lurkers were interested in the most popular conspiracies. Folks enjoyed the early promise of the Internet...a deep resource for researching, providing links and doing more research, connecting dots and pointing out holes in initial/original stories. Most people studied hypotheses, contributed ideas, and enjoyed the devil's advocate back and forth. People questioned the MSM and committed themselves to serious detective work.

Thirteen years later, the site feels much more divisive and divided into countries or cultural positions. There is a lot more America bashing it seems. There is a lot more ANAL application of site rules and procedure and more personal attacks. The trolls don't seem to be put at bay as quickly and a crazy number of threads on the same topic seem to proliferate.

What once felt like a community, seems more like a collection of lone wolf skeptics taking jabs at one another. I miss the feeling of "we're in this together trying to find out the truth." The site is still amazing and often the first place I turn rather than MSM, but does anyone else feel that the site has lost a feeling of brotherhood or comeraderie? Does anyone care?

edit on 19-4-2013 by Losonczy because: (no reason given)

I joined what.... last year?
This is all I know of this site.
Sounds like it would have been much better back in the day

I've been reading here for about a decade. It's definitely changed. Then again, everything has.

Someone asked me once what ATS was like and I said it's like watching The Burbs over and over and over and over.

Still funny every time I see it.

Personally, to be honest, I keep feeling like I'm seeing the same threads and topics over and over every day. It's terrible. I dislike it a lot. It's like being an artist and not having any inspiration for a new painting, or a writer, having a hard time finding new and exciting things to write about fin the middle of a new book. I really hope I can not only see, but rediscover that inspiration and excitement I once had VERY soon so I can participate and contribute more.

ATS has a rich history of early conspiracy theorists and alternative news and information. My view is that we have reached a precipice of knowledge petering out. It's not that we have become less interesting, we have all become more familiar and open to all topics.

You can only rail so much about UFO's, Conspiracy, NWO, Illuminati, etc., etc. Most of us are well informed at this point. There is a life to places like this that continue to evolutionize and we will see another change or step up coming soon. IMHO. Life ever changes.

And then we must ask the next question,... WHAT,...is the next level.

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
reply to post by Pinke

 

Typically ATS is slow to ban someone. When many members get sucked into something, they usually will take actions to instill a "cooling off" time (post bans, warnings, engage in private conversations, etc).

When they DO ban someone it is usually for being a repeat troll, for personal threats etc, or for acting in a way that threatens ATS as a business (some members have insinuated they are bigger than ATS and got banned for actions related to that).

I can attest to that. I have had mods and admin personally contact me VIA PM, when they could have just banned me and washed their hands.

I think one of the problems is the repetitive threads on the larger more popular forums on here, especially the 9/11 forum. The threads on there are the same as five years ago. Nothing's changed. The UFO forum is anybody's guess nowadays as well. Cgi is so easy and cheap to do that any vid you watch can easily be faked. Plus the rest is just rehashing old stories from years back. And to be honest I'm sick of reading about Roswell these days.

But for me it's the trolling and the total lack of respect for another persons opinion.
Also people seem a lot more gullible on ATS than they did a few years back.

But I still love this place. Not many other sites on the net were you can read about Werewolves then a minute later be taking part in a political debate before exploring the wonders of telekinesis. The range here is amazing and maybe it's because most of us only come on here for regular fixes on the conspiracies we love and ignore the rest, that we highlight the problems more that we encounter.