More Glitches in the ATS Matrix

[l0st]

It seems clear to me that members of ATS were of a certain kind... the kind that saw value in the community itself.  Emotionally, it is insulting and outrageous how the platform has deteriorated, and the community is such that it well knows it wasn't the staff that brought it this far into disarray. In fact, I feel it's safe to day to state firmly, ATS would already be gone if it weren't for what appears to me stands as a singular example of devotion to protect and nurture the site.

The steadfast affection for the site is evident in the community, it's potential 'soft value' (meaning everything not relevant to profit) is enormous... especially to the community itself.

A certain dispassion tells me that who is at 'fault' is not going to lead to a solution.  ATS is in need of a solution.  The only true obstacle is the need for profit growth.  If I told you that ATS could exist as a non-profit... would you believe it?  I know that is anathema to most, but assuming it can't; these dramatic moments of people shuffling, people seizing it so as to change it's nature, engaging in activism of whatever flavor... I could go on, but you probably get the point.  These things will happen again and again.  It's the ecosystem of commerce.

I don't "blame" anyone for anything.  The effect is already here, the antecedents are all 'noise.'  Fixing it means "work."  The pool of those willing to do the work appears limited to those who can't do the work.  And those who can, don't want to.

In all of this I would openly lament the loss of the labors of thousands of informal researchers and thinkers... you know... real people... might evaporate or be held hostage for exploitation.  As sad as watching a library of unique works burn down in slow motion.  Or your favorite old photograph fading over the years into a ghost of a memory.

To me it is very much like burning down a library.

I think the fact of the matter is that sites like this are operated as a community service and not as a profit seeking venture. I think this has pretty much always been the case. I had my hands in BBSes back in the 90s and it was the same then, too. A couple of them did charge for porn or slip dial-up access but in reality this never really paid the bills for these sites although they weren't prohibitively expensive to operate, either.

I think the problem with profit motive and these types of sites if that they main draw is mostly user generated content and it seems that the general public will not pay to access such content (and arguably, they shouldn't). That means the site needs to offer something else people will pay for - like scripted content, or sell ads. We already know the story behind Google essentially de-funding the CT community by denying them ad and listing space. This practice is no doubt illegal, but remains nonetheless.