ATOT is Officially Dead

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Perknose

Forum Director & Omnipotent Overlord
Forum Director
Oct 9, 1999
46,867
10,654
147
A
EDIT: I should also add that the famous "Change of culture" threat by the Mods is to me, the start of the epic fail that ATOT has become. So many good posters banned/left in the following days and weeks that it just became crap.
that was the main thing that drove people away

Lol, what wretched BS! Disagree? Okay:

1. I challenge you to name even 10 regular posters who left of their own volition after that and because of that. Name as many as you can. Prove your claim.

2. Of those 10, I challenge you to name even 3 who didn't eagerly come back when we offered amnesty.

Well?
 

Crono

Lifer
Aug 8, 2001
23,720
1,502
136
People keep declaring the forums dead every couple of months.

It's nothing new. It's still (mostly) good here, so I say just enjoy it and try to contribute positively to the forums whenever possible :)
 

Ika

Lifer
Mar 22, 2006
14,264
3
81
I blame splitting OT into all the different sub-forums. That really killed the activity a couple years back. Also ever since I found Reddit I no longer feel the need to come to ATOT to get my daily dose of info or internet.
 

BoomerD

No Lifer
Feb 26, 2006
66,269
14,692
146
that was before they broke out all the forums wasent it, seriously there are too many subforums now just remerge them

Fuck that. Not many folks want to read the emo bullshit that goes on in L&R...or the chest-thumping that is so predominate in P&N.

If anything, I'd like to see a separate sports forum added to the mix.
 

Pliablemoose

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
25,195
0
56
In AT forums defense, there are all kinds of crazy laws about cyberbullying etc, and AT is worth quite a bit, opening up the forums to the wild west again would be a huge mistake...

"Your honor, the user known as Pliablemoose did purposely and with forethought tell member "crazy(insert username here)" to "stab her" Unfortunately, the mentally imbalanced member took that as a command from god and stabbed his morbidly obese batshit crazy wife 35 times, he then placed her in ziplock bags in the freezer in the garage after making a necktie with her entrails. It's only fair that AT forums owner pay for the pain, suffering, mental anguish etc, the forums are valued at 4 million dollars, please send a message that this is wrong and needs to change by awarding my client 15 million dollars."
 
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KGB

Diamond Member
May 11, 2000
3,042
0
0
In AT forums defense, there are all kinds of crazy laws about cyberbullying etc, and AT is worth quite a bit, opening up the forums to the wild west again would be a huge mistake...

"Your honor, the user know as Pliablemoose did purpously and with forethought tell member "crazy(insert username here)" to "stab her" Unfortunately, the mentally imbalanced member took that as a command from god and stabbed his morbidly obese batshit crazy wife 35 times, he then placed her in ziplock bags in the freezer in the garage after making a necktie with her entrails. It's only fair that AT forums owner pay for the pain, suffering, mental anguish etc, the forums are valued at 4 million dollars, please send a message that this is wrong and needs to change by awarding my client 15 million dollars."

Is this about that hooker in Fresno?
 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
19
81
shit, I have gotten two points in infractions to commenting on spammers in the past month. So sad AT has began seeding google even.

I revel in my new job allowing NSFW forums :)

I am not sure what AT is looking to become, but its serious low-hanging fruit.

I only imagine a team of pimple-faced and washed up moderators hanging out in some chatroom thinking "WE GONNA PWN!"
 

MagnusTheBrewer

IN MEMORIAM
Jun 19, 2004
24,122
1,594
126
Meh. The 'youts' think any controls stifle the free expression of ideas and opinion. The truth is that too many simply resort to vulgarity, racism and, shock tactics in an effort to entertain themselves. They seek to elevate themselves under the impression that the more posts, louder voice and, more extreme viewpoint somehow gives increased status.

I have no problem with the changes ATOT has made. I tend to view it as an attempt to encourage people to actually think about what they say as opposed to free flow drivel that is the hallmark of sites like 4chan.

Get off my lawn!
 

nanette1985

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 2005
4,209
2
0
The internet isn't as new and fun as it was in 1999 when I first joined ATOT.
 
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ShawnD1

Lifer
May 24, 2003
15,987
2
81
It's been trending that way for some time, some of the crazy rules don't help.

Some of the sub forums are pretty active and there are some great posters.

Rules in the past were 10000x worse. People were not allowed to swear at all so disagreeing opinions boiled down to elementary school talk like poopy mouth and butt brain. It was also against the rules to make a point by trolling, which is actually one of the most effective ways of getting your point across.

Colbert is one of the most successful TV trolls in history and his show is one of the most thought provoking. Bill O'Reilly is not a troll and his show is intellectually lazy, even for people who have severe brain damage.
 

FelixDeCat

Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
31,006
2,681
126
I blame splitting OT into all the different sub-forums. That really killed the activity a couple years back. Also ever since I found Reddit I no longer feel the need to come to ATOT to get my daily dose of info or internet.

Reddits layout is terrible. Its bad on the eyes. ಠ_ಠ
 

techs

Lifer
Sep 26, 2000
28,559
4
0
We need a true off-topic, that is very lightly moderating by 'understanding' moderators

Your ad revenue would go through the roof.



Yes, the point I was making in my sig is that forums can fail when they try to be too restrictive.

I have felt for awhile that people complaining about posts and threads had gotten out of hand.

I basically feel that if someone wants to post unfunny, or parody threads, why not? They shouldn't have to worry or be called to explain themselves because some members didn't want them to post those threads. It just gets too exhausting.

No one forces anyone to click on a thread. Or to post on a thread. As long as the post meets some minimal standards, just about anything should go.
I remember being the 9th or 10th person who posted a pic in a thread of hot babes. I got an infraction, yet no one else did. Did I mention inconsistent moderation is also a forum killer.

I know some people had complained about the number of "anti religion" or "anti Christian" posts. I don't know the outcome of the complaint, but that is the type of thing that should not matter in the least to the mods. As long as no one is saying kill Christians, etc, it should be perfectly ok to criticise religion. Remember, if you don't like a thread, don't click on it. And, if you don't click on it and don't post in it, than the thread will either be active or not depending on how interesting it is to other people.

Without a certain amount of tension, even antagonism, a forum just becomes way to boring...


/my 2 cents
 

ShawnD1

Lifer
May 24, 2003
15,987
2
81
As long as no one is saying kill Christians, etc, it should be perfectly ok to criticise religion. Remember, if you don't like a thread, don't click on it.

The people who can't figure this out are retards. They're the same people who have cable TV with 100 channels but they'll leave it on some shitty TV show then complain about it (Jersey Shore) instead of just changing the channel.
They're also the reason it's illegal to swear or have sex on TV. "Grrr I'm offended by god's craftsmanship and that's why I think nudity should be illegal grrrr"

Most of the forum categories should be merged together. I know a little about motherboards, but I never check the motherboard category. I know a little about networking and a little about peripherals, but I never check those either. Computer help? wtf is that? If they were all merged into just a general "hardware" category then I would see every thread posted and could respond to the ones I can actually contribute to. I don't think most people want to click through 10 different categories; maybe just read if anything new was posted in General Hardware then move on P&N trolling is a lot closer to what really happens and most of the threads in those other groups are never seen.
 

Maximilian

Lifer
Feb 8, 2004
12,604
15
81
Theres almost 1000 people viewing OT but there sure as hell isnt 1000 posting. Whats up lurkers?
 

Kev

Lifer
Dec 17, 2001
16,367
4
81
I think it has more to do with the fact that there are so many more options on the internet for entertainment. ATOT use to be my main source for entertainment but now there are other/better mediums such as youtube, facebook, twitter, reddit, etc, hence my and probably others' decreased use of this site.
 

JulesMaximus

No Lifer
Jul 3, 2003
74,580
982
126
I blame it on the splitting up of the forums. We used to have girl threads, car threads, photography threads all in ATOT. Now we have everyone split up into different subforums, it just makes finding something interesting more difficult.
 

ShawnD1

Lifer
May 24, 2003
15,987
2
81
I blame it on the splitting up of the forums. We used to have girl threads, car threads, photography threads all in ATOT. Now we have everyone split up into different subforums, it just makes finding something interesting more difficult.

perfectly summed up