More Glitches in the ATS Matrix

[ArMaP]

If I had purchased it, the first thing I would do is scale it back to current traffic levels. For the small amount of traffic the place seems to have now it could probably be run on a couple standalone boxes.

If there's not much traffic, a site can run on a surprisingly low end machine.
 

Also, there was discussion that the operation was sold off in pieces, so maybe Darko & Co only bought the forum and moved it to something much cheaper to operate. Who knows? It's all speculation really.

What pieces would those be?
 

It sounds like they were paying for all the development and whatnot to 3rd party contractors. That's $$$. I can do all that myself.

As far as I know the software was developed by SkepticOverlord only.

[l0st]

Running on a low end machine wasn't the case 25 years ago
I agree, a site like this could run on a desktop from Best Buy these days.

The rumormill on ATS said nobody wanted the whole Above Network and whatever went with it. Supposedly, the forum was sold separately. Hell if I know of it's true, it's all rumors.

SO responded on a thread on ATS saying he had paid a developer for the site facelift that happened around 2010. I can only assume that he continued to pay the contractor to maintain it, or there is no justification for the $10K/mth pricetag.

I could have a forum like this running in a day. Done it before. Now, fleshing out the bits and pieces and customizations would take longer, but those can be added over time and don't need to be present for the kickoff.

[FlyingClayDisk]

Where did the $10k per month come from?  I scanned back a few pages and didn't see that, and I don't recall it from any discussions we were ever involved in.  Not saying it's not real, I'm just wondering where this monthly fee number comes from and if it's from a factual source or just rumor (?).

The reason for asking is, if this number is even remotely close to correct, then it just ups the possibility of whomever is paying the bill is up to something nefarious.  It's one thing to have a couple hundred bucks automatically charged to some credit card every 5 years, but it's a whole other thing to be forking out $10 grand every month to keep something running (regardless if the back end is overkill now or not).  $10k per month is not some trivial charge on your credit card statement every month...unless you're someone with a metric shit-ton of money, and how many people have those kinds of monetary resources (and why would they continue to pay)??? Answer - Not many.

If the $10k per month is even 50% percent accurate, then this just reinforces my thoughts about something less than above board going on!  There's no 'innocent' way to describe that kind of coin every month.  No 'silent partner' is going to put up that kind of cash without a motivation to do so without something in it for them, especially not a recurring cost like that every month.  Clearly there's no serious advertising, so it's not advertising revenue coming in, and it's not just some generous benefactor who wishes to remain in the shadows (if this was the case, then at least one or more of the Mods would at least know, and that doesn't seem to be the case unless someone is fibbing).

Sooooo...what else is left????  Well, there IS one thing...the user content.  The user content is the only remaining thing of value, and who might want that?  Hmmmmm...

It's that, or the site, the hardware, and it's internet connections are valuable for some other (non-ATS) purpose.

What other explanation could there be????

[l0st]

Where did the $10k per month come from?  I scanned back a few pages and didn't see that, and I don't recall it from any discussions we were ever involved in.  Not saying it's not real, I'm just wondering where this monthly fee number comes from and if it's from a factual source or just rumor (?).

The reason for asking is, if this number is even remotely close to correct, then it just ups the possibility of whomever is paying the bill is up to something nefarious.  It's one thing to have a couple hundred bucks automatically charged to some credit card every 5 years, but it's a whole other thing to be forking out $10 grand every month to keep something running (regardless if the back end is overkill now or not).  $10k per month is not some trivial charge on your credit card statement every month...unless you're someone with a metric shit-ton of money, and how many people have those kinds of monetary resources (and why would they continue to pay)??? Answer - Not many.

If the $10k per month is even 50% percent accurate, then this just reinforces my thoughts about something less than above board going on!  There's no 'innocent' way to describe that kind of coin every month.  No 'silent partner' is going to put up that kind of cash without a motivation to do so without something in it for them, especially not a recurring cost like that every month.  Clearly there's no serious advertising, so it's not advertising revenue coming in, and it's not just some generous benefactor who wishes to remain in the shadows (if this was the case, then at least one or more of the Mods would at least know, and that doesn't seem to be the case unless someone is fibbing).

Sooooo...what else is left????  Well, there IS one thing...the user content.  The user content is the only remaining thing of value, and who might want that?  Hmmmmm...

It's that, or the site, the hardware, and it's internet connections are valuable for some other (non-ATS) purpose.

What other explanation could there be????

I seem to recall this being stated by SO in one of the several threads on ATS about the sale. He also had some not-so-nice things to say about his users who did not like the advertising methodology he used when the users blocked ads.

I'm of two minds about that given I understand a business needs to make money, but calling out your users for disliking your advertising methodology is not a way to retain them IMHO. He also stated that the site made no money post 2018(I believe), and he had to find an alternate source of income and stopped putting any effort into the site at that point, and this tracks with my observations over time.

Someone could have easily bought the forum and moved it to a VPS or something way cheaper. I believe he or someone stated the message DB was 160GB excluding images. Judging by my personal assessment of the posting traffic I see there, I doubt the site breaks 1TB data transfer a month. Commodity VPS hosting for this with a couple CPUs and 2GB RAM is probably about $5/mth in 2024, ask me how I know. Lol.

Honestly with some of the off responses I've gotten as of late I'm beginning to think the whole damn thing is a ruse ergo "you got trolled".

[Nerb]

What other explanation could there be????

Maybe it never was sold? Just damaged permenantly after handing over the reigns.

[ArMaP]

SO responded on a thread on ATS saying he had paid a developer for the site facelift that happened around 2010. I can only assume that he continued to pay the contractor to maintain it, or there is no justification for the $10K/mth pricetag.

Thanks, I wasn't aware of that.

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Sooooo...what else is left????  Well, there IS one thing...the user content.  The user content is the only remaining thing of value, and who might want that?  Hmmmmm...

The existing content is freely available to anyone (except for RATS and the staff-only forums), why anyone would be interested in future content?
 

It's that, or the site, the hardware, and it's internet connections are valuable for some other (non-ATS) purpose.

That's really another possibility, but why inherit all the rest?

[KKLoco]

I don’t know where this $10k figure is coming from either, but I have heard other people say it. However, I do not recall SO saying it. He was pretty tight lipped about all of that.

[l0st]

I don’t know where this $10k figure is coming from either, but I have heard other people say it. However, I do not recall SO saying it. He was pretty tight lipped about all of that.

At some point, there was a thread where he talked about carrying costs, the infrastructure, and the reasoning behind what had happened over the years and why he was selling. It's still there. I re-read it a couple weeks ago. I can make an effort to find it again when I have access to a proper computer but it's going to be a few days. There is a problem with the digitizer on my phone that's making it very difficult to type.

[FlyingClayDisk]

...
The existing content is freely available to anyone (except for RATS and the staff-only forums), why anyone would be interested in future content?
...

Just to keep the site going so the members would continue to post content.  Yes, the content is freely available, understand that, I was just referring to the future content from continued operation.  In other words, so that future content would exist.

[Nerb]

Just to keep the site going so the members would continue to post content.  Yes, the content is freely available, understand that, I was just referring to the future content from continued operation.  In other words, so that future content would exist.

Quick thought..... perhaps the current owner purchased the site with the knowledge of a future event that would as usual be reported, discussed and supported via ATS, but until then there is only an absolute minimum of imput required until it is needed. Perhaps an agenda like that has been in the pipeline for a LOT longer than we mere minions could imagine and Bill selling up was just a glitch in said Matrix and could explain why things have played out as they have.

If a big global event in the world was to happen, maybe the ATS system is only a few clicks away from being a fully functioning site again with exactly the right updates to software and format to fuel the control of the propoganda agenda regarding the breaking news. A "go to" site if you will, with decades of data and information available to back up credibility.

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I don’t know where this $10k figure is coming from either, but I have heard other people say it. However, I do not recall SO saying it. He was pretty tight lipped about all of that.

Interesting he cannot be found in the member list when searching on the site any more.