We are what we eat and we attract what we post at ATS!

I've been pondering something for a few days now, as I've gotten U2U's from a couple friends which mentioned the issue. That, being the lower number of posts and quality ..or, perhaps that isn't the right word here. Lack of diversity, of threads would be a better way of terming it.

A good deal of everything running is political and pretty harshly political too. Not much 'Mind Candy' as it were, as has existed in past years. Past forum history shows a difference.

So, this isn't the kind of rant where it's yelling at anything or being angry. It's a rant on the limited nature of contributions for what may, I've just come to realize, have made something of a self fulfilling prophecy and trend.

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Okay, to explain that and what I mean.

Fact #1) Google is what most of Earth uses to find things online. Love 'em or hate 'em, the numbers say something approaching 70% of everyone uses them.

Fact #2) ATS uses Google supplied stuff which further adds to an already amazing degree of indexing by the world's leading search engine.

Fact #3) A fair majority of average people don't dig far, if at all, beyond the first page of a search engine result for info on a topic of news or general interest.

Fact #4) All the search engines, among other subtle data points, track by relevance and prevalence then by chronology.

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So what does all this mean to what many have been commenting on here and there? Well, we are what we make as a completely user contributed community!

Sounds simple..but in practice? It means the less threads we all start on other topics, the less anyone with an interest in those topics will see ATS in a list of places to learn more or check out chat about it. The fewer folks our happy little community then will see with other interests ...and the more insular it all becomes to the areas now on primary focus.

I guess some people might have realized this a long time ago, but it just hadn't occurred to me for the circular, self feeding nature of it until now. My own thread patterns show the same tendency I point out, in fact.

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So what would the solution be? How about....We all generally work toward more than just politics and war (All war)? It might even attract more to contribute on other stuff too!


* I don't mean, by any stretch, any topic isn't great to share. I'm no book burner type. lol... I just mean the 50-75% of new topics usually, these days, being one of those two things. Politics or War. Diversity can be a downright nasty word these days...but in this case, it might just be the spice of online reading, anyway.

Just my two carrots worth.

What a wonderful observation, and thank you for this thread. It is not metaphysical as I initially thought based on the title.

Maybe there are more Politics and War topics currently because that is what is on everyone's mind (important or not is a matter of opinion). Also, as ATS grows longer in the teeth, there are less new 'alternative' topics that are available to be discussed here, since they have been posted about already.

reply to post by Ulyeney


Well, there is some of that deep thinking in it. For instance...

Maybe there are more Politics and War topics currently because that is what is on everyone's mind (important or not is a matter of opinion).

Oddly enough, that illustrates the point as much as anything. Is it what is on everyone's mind or is it what seems to be on everyone's mind here, since people are coming here to find it, as a specific point and not other things that aren't attracting attention?

If new discoveries are made in science or aircraft or zoology or UFO topics...who shows in the top 10? The thing I realized was...whatever ATS has in very recent topics? Likely will. Whatever the subject, for the degree of indexing done and how it's reflected. It's almost a real time feedback for result in some ways, I'll bet.

Au contraire, rather than viewing this as a dismal reality, instead recognize and appreciate the opportunities that it presents.

People lack ambition and fear the unknown, so basically anyone with initiative can boldly plow through.

Not only are we unaware of 99% of reality, all of the things we are aware of need to be reevaluated, rewritten, and simplified. Chart unexplored territory, or improve the maps of the already charted realms.

“ There are known knowns; there are things we know that we know.
There are known unknowns; that is to say, there are things that we now know we don't know.
But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don't know. ”

—United States Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld

Tap into the unknown unknown, seek it, exploit it.

reply to post by wrabbit2000

Agreed 100% sir!

I guess I'll just have to get back here and start posting again...

I pop back on every few days now just to see what's happening and it's definitely leaning politically. That along with arm chair warriors getting all excited over the coming war seem to be the only topics these days or at least a very large percentage.

But to be fair, it does change with the issues going on in the World. Next week might see the pages full of the latest disease outbreak or Monsanto up to their old tricks again.

We can only hope.

Peace

reply to post by wrabbit2000


Interesting thought there Wrabbit. Guess I would fall into that category as well as as I have little knowledge of the Paranormal, Cryptoids, Aircraft, (decent) web design, video games. People generally gravitate to where they are comfortable not necessarily where they have an axe to grind. Well maybe some do... stop looking at me.

reply to post by muzzleflash


The only thing Rumsfeld didn't know was how to pile America with enough horse puckey so we'd believe his. You realize that old fart held a position in the Nixon administration and was briefly the Chief Of Staff to President Ford?

..but see what I mean? There is politics and war in the same shot! lol....

wrabbit2000
I just mean the 50-75% of new topics usually, these days, being one of those two things. Politics or War.

Because nearly everyone on the planet with a TV or Radio is in fear of World War III happening due to Obama's ineptitude. The threat of World War III and the fact that people are dying all over the place is of higher discussion value than the most recent UFO sighting or a discussion about demons vs ET. Ya' know?

The immediate threat gets the attention. It's natural.

If the Chicago/O'hare UFO comes back and lands again ... then the topics will switch.

Or did I miss the point of your post???

reply to post by wrabbit2000


Do what I do. Pick a forum and look for the oldest threads or do a search for specific topics.

ATS GOLD!

suz62
Pick a forum and look for the oldest threads or do a search for specific topics.

that's always a fun thing to do on a rainy weekend ...
find a thread from 2004 or 2005 and bump it up.

I agree.

I've been working on a new thread. It's been done before , but what hasn't! LOL

It's a fairy thread in relation to abduction and it's similarities to alien abduction. I plan on making it different from the other threads on it in ATS's archives by introducing a lot of illustrations from "The Good Fairies, Bad Fairies book" by Brian Froud in my home library.

I'm rather excited about it because fairies are near and dear to my heart. I hope you will all enjoy it when I get the thread up. I'm just wondering - should I post it in the paranormal thread or UFO one? What do you all think?

PS - And I think that's a good idea FlyerFan! I'm definely going to link prior threads on ATS of the same topic to my threads.
CdT

reply to post by wrabbit2000


lol way ahead of you. Made a thread on Friday that is outside of politics and straight into the scientific and philosophical debate arena. Don't usually make a whole lot of threads but pretty sure that I was suffering from Monty Python Brainwashing as the urge to present "something completely different" popped into my noggin after seeing a lot of Syria stuff for the entire week.

reply to post by wrabbit2000

I think as always politicians are trying to make more wars and I don't blame people for being interested in both very important issues, because another WW will probably wipe us all off the maps one way or another and if we do not do something about it right now,our children will most likely suffer the very harsh consequences for the years to come, if alive at all...And that is a big deal!...I mean as much as I admire UFOs,lost civilizations and french cooking,but they are not number one priority right now,at least not for me.

Great points...

It is almost impossible to post a UFO video here.

You are quickly pummeled into submission. Even interesting photos are immediately dismissed.

Until ET lands on somebody's lawn, we are done with UFO photos and videos.

It is fun to go back and look at some older threads. Some real fascinating stuff.

The problem I see is this.
There's too many skeptics/debunkers!
I was reading a thread a few days ago, and every other post was from the same member, posting their view over and over again. I clicked to view all their posts in that thread and they (at that point) had three pages of just their own posts, and the entire thread was only 5 pages! Sometimes you'll have half a dozen posters doing this all at once! They overwhelm the thread and destroy any chance of it being enjoyable.

reply to post by whyamIhere


That is part of what is sad and annoying about the way things have changed. You're right. Bringing up UFO's? We may as well be at NASA.com or Science.com for the reaction that will bring from the first post to the end.

I'm not quite sure where to find fresh new UFO related stuff or I'd pull some and share across that topic as well. Any suggestions?

VoidHawk
The problem I see is this.
There's too many skeptics/debunkers!
I was reading a thread a few days ago, and every other post was from the same member, posting their view over and over again. I clicked to view all their posts in that thread and they (at that point) had three pages of just their own posts, and the entire thread was only 5 pages! Sometimes you'll have half a dozen posters doing this all at once! They overwhelm the thread and destroy any chance of it being enjoyable.

Exactly! There was a recent rant that was in part about past/present/future, threads regarding rocks that might possibly looks like animals.

This is a Conspiracy Forum and rocks that look like animals fall under that category.

This kind of thing is very discouraging to people and may cause some to not want to post or to even start their own threads.

There's a fine line between being a skeptic/debunker and just being a bully.

Bravo and I think the politics and war are so intertwined in our perceptions because they are of heavy concern and frequency these days both in incidents and reporting via media outlets. It seems we have a lot of people that like to bash this administration daily. I had to pull out of the discussions because of the futility. That is another subject though.

I noticed a decrease in ufo threads and I think it is because of today's tech and constant investigation of existing cases. There is just not so much novelty in this area anymore. I too enjoy exotic topics and ATS is the best place for those and the followup discussions. I have certainly noticed the changes the past couple of years. I also wonder if the passing of 2012 caused a lot of breaking away from participation here.

Skeptics? Gotta have them for the learning(unlearning) process. Surely there are still subjects of intrigue outside of war and politics, but the brevity and widespread reality of these subjects are dominating our consc these days, and it makes sense in a world of people fed up with it all.

Additionally, sooooo much has been covered at ATS in it's time and maybe the ole search function has an effect when someone goes to post something of interest and finds it has already been done.

My .02

VoidHawk
The problem I see is this.
There's too many skeptics/debunkers!
I was reading a thread a few days ago, and every other post was from the same member, posting their view over and over again. I clicked to view all their posts in that thread and they (at that point) had three pages of just their own posts, and the entire thread was only 5 pages! Sometimes you'll have half a dozen posters doing this all at once! They overwhelm the thread and destroy any chance of it being enjoyable.

It seems the increase in skeptics and debunkers is related to the increase in incorrect information being posted. If you look at older ATS threads, members fact checked their own threads and posts. If they proposed an idea, they checked up on it before plastering it here on ATS.

Compare that to today, where new threads in "alternative" subjects are just blasted out with an obvious lack of fact checking or research. People use information that's already been proven false to support their ideas. People start their threads based on Hoaxes.

If people would stop posting incorrect information and outright lies, there would be little need for debunkers.

Notice the relatively new section here on ATS, "ludicrous online lies"? That's there because the prevalence of people posting stuff with zero evidence or anything even remotely approaching a reasonable premise.

Hopefully now that school is back in all the overly sensitive kiddies and their poorly researched ideas will slow down.

Anyway,

Good points OP, for me personally ATS used to be a place to come find amazing things, stuff that's hard to find elsewhere on the web. To hear from people with real life experience in subjects that have limited coverage elsewhere. The mysterious and the awe inspiring. The well sourced conspiracy too, such as the Franklin credit union scandal/coverup, now THAT was a crazy and REAL conspiracy! Not just some random idea someone posted here on ATS.

Now it's just a place for me to come argue politics. While I enjoy debating politics, it seems ATS has lost its magic. I used to feel like a child while browsing the threads here, where everything is new and exciting. Now it's no different from going into work and talking with the guys there.

I think, as someone else mentioned, part of this is because ATS has been around for so long. In the early days of ATS there were centuries of mystery to bite into. Now a large majority of the mysterious matters of the past have already been covered here, so we rely on new mysterious matter popping up, which it does, but very slowly compared to the plethora of available subject matter open to people years ago on ATS.

I'll do my small part to steer ATS back onto another path, I'll do my best to cut down on the political posts I get involved in. Less political content means less visibility to those who only have an interest in politics.