Yesterday, 04:46 AM
(01-17-2025, 01:57 PM)RadioKnecht Wrote: Thank you so much for your words and welcoming!
No, I'm not dutch, I am from high-in-the-hills Mexico City. Joseph Knecht is a character in Herman Hesse's The Glass Bead Game, that's where the name comes from.
All those years ago, I truly felt a nasty downturn in the tone of conversation at ATS. The political threads took over and they became super toxic. As an outsider to (but really interested in) American politics, reading all the mud, the hiper partisanship, the downvoting and plain insult of anyone diagreeing with Trump, regardless of the reasons, really put me off and chased me away. I became just a lurker, as I really didn't feel the need (nor have the energy) to engage with many new people that joined when the Q thing popped up.
All the strident anti immigrant retoric, the "brown people are taking are jeeeerbs" arguments repeated ad nauseam there simply drove me away. There were so many threads where I read things to that effect that were infuriating.
I am all for debating arguments, facts and disagreeing when you can't reach a common middle ground, but we can still move on, be cordial and engage on a different topic. When the hiper MAGA crowd took over and the site became mostly a Q lair, to the detriment of true, old fashioned conspiracies and stories, I just couldn't cope anymore and stopped visiting.
A few years later, when Biden took over I did notice a change in the tone and atmosphere of the site and I started lurking again. But never fully rejoin. Then I found it here and the place seems amazing, admins engaged, moderators more relaxed and the people more decent in general, so I guess I will be staying over here.
Take care and thanks again for writing!!
I understand, I didnt mind the increased politics but it was a pitty that there was a decrease in conspiracy theories. I think on ATS both sides could be quite toxic. Definitely not one side over the other. Take care man.
