From the Shadows to the Signal

[Redsun2025]

Hey—name’s Redsun. I was on Above Top Secret for about two weeks before the whole thing vanished like it owed someone money. I didn’t check in for a week or so—was out living life in that way you do when you’re off-grid—and when I finally tried to log back on, it just wouldn’t load. I figured it was some temporary denial-of-service thing. Maybe the admins were tinkering under the hood. But nope—turns out it was gone for good. No warning, no final post. If I’d known it was going to die, I probably wouldn’t have joined at all. But hey, here I am now.
Let’s get this part out of the way: I’m homeless. But not in the tragic Lifetime-movie kind of way. I’m homeless by choice. I walked out of the system and haven’t looked back. You can only fake it for so long before the seams split.
What pushed me out? Funny enough, it was a girl. Just a girl, back then. She worked at a Cold Stone Creamery. Had this glow about her—singing while she scooped ice cream, chatting with customers like they were all in on some big inside joke. She made the place feel magical. You’d walk in needing sugar, leave feeling like maybe people weren’t so bad.
I crushed hard. Asked her out after years of talking myself into it. She said no. Not cruel, just… like the idea disgusted her. That kind of “not in this reality” no that haunts you.
And then—she blew up. Fame. Movies. Kissing guys who looked like they were genetically engineered for thirst traps. It was everywhere. My phone became a landmine—every time I opened it, there she was, smiling next to someone who probably never once hung around outside a 7-Eleven blue-boxing the payphone to call friends in California.
But it didn’t last.
Now? She’s not the golden girl anymore. The fame wore off. She's become one of those internet cautionary tales—a public figure turned lolcow. People laugh at her now. Mock her. Pick apart everything she does like she’s just content. And watching it happen? That was its own kind of heartbreak. First you lose the dream, then you watch it get dragged behind a truck.
Somewhere in there, I just stopped playing the game. I started hopping freight trains. Not the Amtrak with the drink cart—the loud, greasy, iron beasts. You find a spot, hold on, and hope nobody sees you. I’ve ridden across states like that. Camped deep in national forests. Right now I’m in Acadia, tucked off trail where no ranger’s gonna find me unless they’re real determined.
I’ve seen strange things. Real strange. Full moon night in Bald Eagle State Forest—I swear I saw something that wasn’t human. Looked like a deer walking on two legs, antlers sharp enough to split the sky, eyes that burned. I blacked out and woke up with dew on my coat. I don’t expect anyone to believe me. That’s fine. I know what I saw.
I’ve been treated better in jail than in homeless shelters. I’ve powered my life with solar panels taped to thrift store backpacks. I’ve got a notebook filled with GPS coordinates of where you can get one bar of signal in the middle of nowhere. I took a knee outside Art Bell’s old house once, just to thank the silence for being there.
I’m not here to argue. I’m not here to impress. I might not post much. But if you’ve ever felt like the world was a joke you didn’t get the punchline to, then yeah—we’ll probably get along just fine.
—Redsun


P.S: why did ATS go dark?

[Maxmars]

Welcome Redsun2025!

So glad you found your way here...

Your acquainted with the environment, so look around, maybe even make a thread.

As to your question about ATS...

The simple answer can only be conjectured by anyone who isn't an "owner." 

Most likely expiration is that a date passed on an unpaid bill or something like that.

I think you'll find many familiar ATS member names here....

[Redsun2025]

I’ve been talking to a couple folks on another platform about the whole Above Top Secret situation—trying to make sense of how a site that old and that deep could just vanish overnight. From what I’ve gathered, the general consensus is that the owner had finally had enough. Between the endless moderation headaches and the growing financial burden of keeping the lights on, it sounds like they just pulled the plug.
And honestly? That tracks. Feels about 95% right. Maybe there's a slim 5% chance it’ll come back someday—maybe archived, maybe repackaged, maybe not at all. But the tone I’m hearing from people who were there longer than I was? It’s not hopeful.
They told me the place had changed—used to be about denying ignorance, digging deeper, pulling the threads. But near the end, it felt more like a digital echo chamber filled with static and crossfire. Infighting. Agenda-pushing. People more interested in one-upping each other than seeking truth. There was a kind of bitterness there, like the spark had been snuffed out and everyone was just throwing smoke at each other.
One guy said to me, "It stopped being a conspiracy forum and started feeling like an ideological landfill." That stuck with me. Because that’s what happens when people stop listening, when every thread turns into a battle instead of a discussion. You lose the curiosity, and when that dies, the platform does too.
And maybe that’s why I only stayed a few weeks before it vanished—I had showed up hoping to connect, to share some of the weird and broken and beautiful things I’ve seen. Like seeing a goddamn wendigo walk on two legs through a moonlit Pennsylvania forest. Or riding a freight train behind a ’50s time pocket where the oxygen felt different and the past didn’t feel dead. I thought maybe ATS was the place for that.
But I guess even the strange corners of the internet aren’t safe from burnout. Like Hemingway wrote, “The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places.” But he also said some don't get strong—they just stay broken. Maybe ATS broke in the wrong place.
Still, I miss it. Not because it was perfect, but because it tried. At least once. And right now? That’s rare.
So I’m here now. Different spot, maybe better energy, we’ll see. But if there’s still anyone out there who wants to trade stories, challenge ideas, and maybe just be real for a minute… then maybe something good can grow again. Even in the cracks.

[xpert11]

Redsun2025, I am glad that you made it to Deny Ignorance. ATS have been a slow-sinking ship for a long time.

[Maxmars]

I’ve been talking to a couple folks on another platform about the whole Above Top Secret situation—trying to make sense of how a site that old and that deep could just vanish overnight. From what I’ve gathered, the general consensus is that the owner had finally had enough. Between the endless moderation headaches and the growing financial burden of keeping the lights on, it sounds like they just pulled the plug.
And honestly? That tracks. Feels about 95% right. Maybe there's a slim 5% chance it’ll come back someday—maybe archived, maybe repackaged, maybe not at all. But the tone I’m hearing from people who were there longer than I was? It’s not hopeful.
They told me the place had changed—used to be about denying ignorance, digging deeper, pulling the threads. But near the end, it felt more like a digital echo chamber filled with static and crossfire. Infighting. Agenda-pushing. People more interested in one-upping each other than seeking truth. There was a kind of bitterness there, like the spark had been snuffed out and everyone was just throwing smoke at each other.
One guy said to me, "It stopped being a conspiracy forum and started feeling like an ideological landfill." That stuck with me. Because that’s what happens when people stop listening, when every thread turns into a battle instead of a discussion. You lose the curiosity, and when that dies, the platform does too.
And maybe that’s why I only stayed a few weeks before it vanished—I had showed up hoping to connect, to share some of the weird and broken and beautiful things I’ve seen. Like seeing a goddamn wendigo walk on two legs through a moonlit Pennsylvania forest. Or riding a freight train behind a ’50s time pocket where the oxygen felt different and the past didn’t feel dead. I thought maybe ATS was the place for that.
But I guess even the strange corners of the internet aren’t safe from burnout. Like Hemingway wrote, “The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places.” But he also said some don't get strong—they just stay broken. Maybe ATS broke in the wrong place.
Still, I miss it. Not because it was perfect, but because it tried. At least once. And right now? That’s rare.
So I’m here now. Different spot, maybe better energy, we’ll see. But if there’s still anyone out there who wants to trade stories, challenge ideas, and maybe just be real for a minute… then maybe something good can grow again. Even in the cracks.

I am uncertain how to disagree with something there... I don't want to give you the impression that I took offense, nor that I associate what I found debatable with you personally.

In my direct experience, there were never "endless moderation headaches."  Granted, I wasn't there half as long as some, but for the last part it, that was not so...

However I respect that from different perspectives, also through the red-shift of memory, someone might feel it was so, But I dispute that 'moderation' had anything to do with ATS' apparent condition.

Just my opinion.

I really empathize the imagery of it becoming an ideological landfill.... it was a definite and definitive shift in the environment.
But I have yet to see any virtual place that didn't suffer the exact same thing, some worse than others...

I think that landfill process observation reflect either a natural social phenomenon, or perhaps people spontaneously exercising 'activism' everywhere...

[Sirius]

Are you using AI to write you paragraphs? Looks like it.

Otherwise, welcome.

[Redsun2025]

Are you using AI to write you paragraphs? Looks like it.

Otherwise, welcome.

I use AI for spelling and grammar because, let’s face it, I’m no English teacher. But every thought and line are mine. If that bugs you, sorry—not really my problem.

[Sirius]

I use AI for spelling and grammar because, let’s face it, I’m no English teacher. But every thought and line are mine. If that bugs you, sorry—not really my problem.

I am highly entertained. Welcome to forum, keen to see your posts.

Really welcome.

[Nerb]

P.S: why did ATS go dark?

It was an Eclipse I think, by something brighter called "Deny Ignorance".

Welcome, traveller.

So glad you made it. I hope you enjoy your time here and I look forward to sharing it with you.

:beer:

[chr0naut]

Hey—name’s Redsun. I was on Above Top Secret for about two weeks before the whole thing vanished like it owed someone money. I didn’t check in for a week or so—was out living life in that way you do when you’re off-grid—and when I finally tried to log back on, it just wouldn’t load. I figured it was some temporary denial-of-service thing. Maybe the admins were tinkering under the hood. But nope—turns out it was gone for good. No warning, no final post. If I’d known it was going to die, I probably wouldn’t have joined at all. But hey, here I am now.
Let’s get this part out of the way: I’m homeless. But not in the tragic Lifetime-movie kind of way. I’m homeless by choice. I walked out of the system and haven’t looked back. You can only fake it for so long before the seams split.
What pushed me out? Funny enough, it was a girl. Just a girl, back then. She worked at a Cold Stone Creamery. Had this glow about her—singing while she scooped ice cream, chatting with customers like they were all in on some big inside joke. She made the place feel magical. You’d walk in needing sugar, leave feeling like maybe people weren’t so bad.
I crushed hard. Asked her out after years of talking myself into it. She said no. Not cruel, just… like the idea disgusted her. That kind of “not in this reality” no that haunts you.
And then—she blew up. Fame. Movies. Kissing guys who looked like they were genetically engineered for thirst traps. It was everywhere. My phone became a landmine—every time I opened it, there she was, smiling next to someone who probably never once hung around outside a 7-Eleven blue-boxing the payphone to call friends in California.
But it didn’t last.
Now? She’s not the golden girl anymore. The fame wore off. She's become one of those internet cautionary tales—a public figure turned lolcow. People laugh at her now. Mock her. Pick apart everything she does like she’s just content. And watching it happen? That was its own kind of heartbreak. First you lose the dream, then you watch it get dragged behind a truck.
Somewhere in there, I just stopped playing the game. I started hopping freight trains. Not the Amtrak with the drink cart—the loud, greasy, iron beasts. You find a spot, hold on, and hope nobody sees you. I’ve ridden across states like that. Camped deep in national forests. Right now I’m in Acadia, tucked off trail where no ranger’s gonna find me unless they’re real determined.
I’ve seen strange things. Real strange. Full moon night in Bald Eagle State Forest—I swear I saw something that wasn’t human. Looked like a deer walking on two legs, antlers sharp enough to split the sky, eyes that burned. I blacked out and woke up with dew on my coat. I don’t expect anyone to believe me. That’s fine. I know what I saw.
I’ve been treated better in jail than in homeless shelters. I’ve powered my life with solar panels taped to thrift store backpacks. I’ve got a notebook filled with GPS coordinates of where you can get one bar of signal in the middle of nowhere. I took a knee outside Art Bell’s old house once, just to thank the silence for being there.
I’m not here to argue. I’m not here to impress. I might not post much. But if you’ve ever felt like the world was a joke you didn’t get the punchline to, then yeah—we’ll probably get along just fine.
—Redsun


P.S: why did ATS go dark?

Firstly, welcome.

Secondly, please tell us more about your experience. Weird stuff like that often leaves little evidence save in the mind of the experiencer, and without these reports, we can make believe that we understand a universe that we barely even perceive.

Thirdly, with ATS, I saw the writing on the wall, and left voluntarily. I'm also a bit of a cynic and often try to look for alternatives or reasons, and cross check facts for inconsistencies and illogic. It has often left me thinking along the lines of the 'official' narratives rather than falling for what I believe are 'conspirationally gullible' views. This seemed to mark me as a 'sheeple' to those who fall for the emotive appeals and woo woo. LOL. Talk about inversion of reality!

Anyway, I have previously suggested that ATS going offline when it did, might have had a 'politic' component. Definitely, I think that the rise of unmoderated social and conspiracist media is over, and now it is in decline after we have come to realize that people can fictionalize anything there. While there will be social enthusiasts who will carry on with things, I think that the average person won't bother anymore. And definitely, there are political pressures to limit dialogues to those that can be controlled.