ATS WILL MOST LIKELY CONTINUE TO LIVE

[PLOTUS]

I would suggest that Phage is a member of RN3 as well as DTOM aka Don't tread on me. All are welcome here at Rogue Nation, and anyone can enter.
There are a host of other names, many former members that we will recognize from the ranks of Above Top Secret. I believe they see us as a safety net against the demise of ATS if it did indeed disappear. We will grow and survive on our own merits, not on Laurels. In truth.... "the more people watching the sky, the more likely we are to see something" and that goes with our peculiar kind of sites. More is better, there is room..... 

oh..... and Phage......... that stuff is disgusting in real life, but anything John Lithgow brings smiles to my face...... how about the rest of you ?

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

Was talking with a local pastor just last week that teaches Hebrew and eschatology. We started our conversation talking about named angels in the traditional Bibles, of course that led us to the book of Enoch.

An interesting book indeed. As is all the apocryphal books. 

I agree, they definately have there place among the land of the conspiracy theories.

[Mystic Wanderer]

I joined ATS in 2012. I was addicted immediately. I couldn't wait to get home from work to read the threads. I'd get up an hour early just to have time to check things out before getting ready to leave for work.

I made MANY threads on the paranormal, UFOs, and mostly all "fringe" topics. People responded to my threads in droves, and I became well known by people searching out those topics.

It was great while it lasted, but when they (ATS) said they would charge people who didn't accept ads, everyone started leaving, others got booted off for little reason. Things started sliding downhill very quickly from that point. Most all the people I called friends were gone.
I went through withdrawals; that's the closest description I can call it.

Then, later, a new site for all those who left ATS was formed: Hernando's Hideaway. That was a good site for a long time. Then it split and half the people there left to come to Rogue Nation.  I stayed on both sites for a while, but eventually landed here full time.
There were also a couple of others sites that branched off too, but they only lasted a short time. Good sites, but they never could get enough people to stick it out and keep their sites going.
Rogue Nation has lasted through it all, and I'm still here.

I'm happy to hear that ATS will survive. I have so many threads there that are pure gold and took me through a journey that I don't want to lose in my memory. It's like my journal for 2012 up until just a few years ago. Losing that would be like losing a part of myself.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

Hernando's Hideaway. That was a good site for a long time.

Wow! I loved that place. How could I have forgotten it?

[PLOTUS]

"I'm happy to hear that ATS will survive. I have so many threads there that are pure gold and took me through a journey that I don't want to lose in my memory. It's like my journal for 2012 up until just a few years ago. Losing that would be like losing a part of myself."

Indeed you are the most Prolific writer/member I have ever seen. It would be a loss, sort of like  the Library of Alexandria fire. Lets hope one day everything internet will be archived somewhere.

[guohua]

Hernando's Hideaway. That was a good site for a long time.

Wow! I loved that place. How could I have forgotten it?

It was a Very Nice Site.

[Mystic Wanderer]

"I'm happy to hear that ATS will survive. I have so many threads there that are pure gold and took me through a journey that I don't want to lose in my memory. It's like my journal for 2012 up until just a few years ago. Losing that would be like losing a part of myself."

Indeed you are the most Prolific writer/member I have ever seen. It would be a loss, sort of like  the Library of Alexandria fire. Lets hope one day everything internet will be archived somewhere.

Wow, @"PLOTUS", thank you. That means a lot.
I've changed my interests since coming to RN, but I think I still have many topics from 2016 that would interest people looking for "fringe" threads.

If we EVER get through all this election/political crap, I'll get back to posting more threads on other topics, but for now, saving my country and waking people up is my main focus. 

Again, thanks for the compliment.  

[drussell41]

 In my own personal opinion, Phage is an asshole.

Phage introduced me to the controversial side of ATS, and taught me to be more careful at how I worded my post.

My friends tease me, and they say that I speak in parables, which, if I am not careful, comes across a bit off putting, when there is nothing to read but words in a text or post.

I don't mean to sound preachy or dismissive, but being the oldest of ten children, and years of instructing patients in understanding life sustaining information, in a way they would not just be able to understand, but would be able to relate to, and to see as something as basic as brushing their teeth, is likely why I speak the way I do.

I catch myself sometimes, and I rewrite or just delete a lot of posts in an attempt to make it less off putting, but I sometimes miss the mark, and Phage just happened to be the first one that called me out for it. I held no grudge over it, and I was not roasting him here. See, I just made another faux pas.  

Yeah, well, I disagree.  You don't come across as preachy to me at all.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

Yeah, well, I disagree.  You don't come across as preachy to me at all.

I guess all my hard work paid off.

Thanks! 

[Schmoe1]

I think it's debateable whether they have survived up until now. Sure, they're still breathing, but is that really LIVING?

.

You're right, it's been a steady decline over there, ever since politics took over.  I don't see that changing any time soon.

Sure, it's a conspiracy site, and we all know conspiracies abound in politics.  I didn't join for that reason.  It's become a left versus right shit-flinging competition. 

I joined ATS for all things paranormal, and it was a gold mine for a long time, but not anymore, and not anytime again soon.  In my opinion.

It's not even the topic of politics, in my estimation. It's the low-brow, 4th grade schoolyard brawl style of argument that is allowed to pass for "debate" over there. Can't win an argument? No problem - just personally attack your opponent, and no one will notice your lack of debate skills...

But that don't fly here, which is what sets us apart.

There is no point in merely banning certain words or ideas, turning certain "objectionable" words into pound signs, while still allowing folks to poke one another in the eye for no good reason. So we don't ban words or ideas - we just insist that you don't attack your brothers and sisters personally... or we'll turn this car right around, mister!

Debate of ideas is the foundation for knowledge and growth, but accusing your opponent of ridiculous things just to distract from your loss of ground in the debate is no longer debating the idea. It's just bitch-slapping your opponent. There is no growth in that.

.

Exactly.  I'd throw in the occasional political rant over there when somebody, a politician, deserved it.  But I never attacked another member.  In my book, they are as entitled to their opinion as I am.

Labeling members with an opinion contrary to yours as a "government shill" has become very common at ATS.

[kdog]

Change is a part of life. ATS is not the place I joined in 2009, but I sure as hell am not the same person I was back then either. 

In life you grow with some things, and with some things you grow apart.

My very first attempt at humor at ATS got me shot down and eaten alive by Phage. It took me a little while to recover, and to be brave enough to post again. 

Trying to find my voice and someone that wanted to listen, never happened for me at ATS. I soon learned to post to the lurker, because I have never, ever, done well in groups. My dry humor, the need to speak my mind, along with my adversion to cliches and entourages, made me invisible at ATS.

I thank ATS for helping me learn, grow, and for putting a couple of layers on my skin. I was warned early on by a mod, that if I was going to post on ATS, I was going to have to develop a thick skin. It angered me at the time, but I learned he was right. He also warned me that I would never collect a lot of stars and flags because of my writing style and my centrist and non political stance. He was right again, but as is evident from the Hall of Fame, at ATS, where I rank at the near bottom, which I accept with pride, as I have never posted in search of stars and flags, so I didn't get many.

If ATS lives, it will do well with those that like what it has developed into. Because it is where a lot of us got our training wheels, we will still frequent and lurk. 

I can't help but feel some sense of nostalgia with ATS, there are a lot of people that I liked that are not there as much anymore, or have been swallowed into the void. They have a couple of mods that tried to hold firm, but I watched even some of the mods get sucked up.

It is not ATS that is the problem. It is us. We changed. For better or worse, we are the disease that wrecked ATS.

 In my own personal opinion, Phage is an asshole.

He can be, but actually a funny guy. Just old and grumpy and tired of the old same bullshit.

[Ninurta]

 In my own personal opinion, Phage is an asshole.

He can be, but actually a funny guy. Just old and grumpy and tired of the old same bullshit.

Yeah, he should probably stick to technical subjects, because they are his forte and he is very sharp, very good with them. Politics clearly is not, and he tends to get tied up in political discussions pretty badly. He can be led around in circles in them all day long, and never get anywhere.

.

[Wallfire]

Just wondering what all the fascination about ATS is.

[beez]

Just wondering what all the fascination about ATS is.

ATS is the mothership of conspiracy adicts for many of us.

It's where most of us came from.

[Snarl]

Just wondering what all the fascination about ATS is.

It's where most of us came from.

The boards are easier to navigate there.  I like the people who went rogue.  All my eggs aren't in one basket.

[beez]

Just wondering what all the fascination about ATS is.

It's where most of us came from.

The boards are easier to navigate there.  I like the people who went rogue.  All my eggs aren't in one basket.

Hell, sites like this one will be the only place where we'll be able to get REAL news and not what the media wants us to think.

[Wallfire]

Sorry people but reading the comments it seems to me like a group of people pining after old long gone  girl/boy friends . Still humans are humans 

[PLOTUS]

And you could be right. Reading through the different posts both here and there, I was struck by the numbers they were throwing around. $25,000 a month to keep it functioning. ???   Well.... that seems substantial for the site.  While it has run well, run long and was an internet favorite, it's time is slipping away. Mystery is becoming a dying topic. There will always be curiosity and a hunger for mysterious topics and fringe sources of information, but ultimately it will be taken as entertainment.
$25K a month works out to $300K a year, or more unbelievable $800+ a day.. Despite the celebration and diminishing angst, they are not out of the woods.

[Wallfire]

And you could be right. Reading through the different posts both here and there, I was struck by the numbers they were throwing around. $25,000 a month to keep it functioning. ???   Well.... that seems substantial for the site.  While it has run well, run long and was an internet favorite, it's time is slipping away. Mystery is becoming a dying topic. There will always be curiosity and a hunger for mysterious topics and fringe sources of information, but ultimately it will be taken as entertainment.
$25K a month works out to $300K a year, or more unbelievable $800+ a day.. Despite the celebration and diminishing angst, they are not out of the woods.

The only way one could run bills like that up is lining your pockets, or/and using a IT firm to run it. Perhaps they are using the site to mine Bit Coin

[Chiefsmom]

I will say, ATS was the first site I found, when I went digging into conspiracy theories way back.  When I finally joined, I liked it for the "instant" information breaking around the world.
For some reason, the people I was always drawn to actually enjoy conversing with, ended up banned.  That sucked.

Then I saw over the years the "cliqueyness" and that turned me off, as well as how down right mean a few could be.
Do I still check it out?  Sure.
Not as much breaking news it seems like though.
If it makes it, good for them.
But I do see it changing.
If that is good or bad, only time will tell.

I'm glad we have chat here!