Opinion of the Atlas Forum community as a whole?

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Has been declining dramatically for the 8+ past years or so.

Ftfy.  I miss the Atlas of old.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Why come here if you think it is a horrible community?
Well, I lean horrible community because of all the childish fighting and other things,
but I come here to find out what's going on in the world and especially the US elections.
Maps are cool as well. There isn't much that can be done about all the crap that goes on
here, other than encouraging people to be part of the solution rather than part of the
problem.

This was my thought exactly. Why bother if it is so bad? Also, There should have been more options, such as "Annoying, but good", "somewhat bad", "terrible", or whatever. It's fine to think the forum or specific subforums are garbage, but it just seems odd to call the place horrible and then continue posting on it regularly.

Have some Atlas pride! people

It depends on your perspective.  You've been registered here 2 months.  Unless you're a sock you've missed a lot over time.   I'm here 10 1/2 years.  Not the longest poster......long enough though.  The place goes through good and bad times, but yes, your point that if you don't like it don't participate is valid.  Many of us have taken leave for a period of time.  I left for a year once.  The establishment of the death point system was a dark time for Atlas.  You'd get your pee pee whacked 5 points or so because some prudish mod thought you were inappropriate (one prude especially).  The thought police were out.  Even sarcasm was death pointed because some prudes don't get the technique of sarcasm. Certain posters who were long timers got fed up and left, a few banned.  People didn't go off the deep end "back then", like recent years.  Lots of people just moved on because life keeps you too busy to stay......we've lost more good posters that way than any other way.

I'm happy to be here most of the time and I have an alternative I enjoy as well........so all is good now. 

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

It depends on your perspective.  You've been registered here 2 months.  Unless you're a sock you've missed a lot over time.   I'm here 10 1/2 years.  Not the longest poster......long enough though.  The place goes through good and bad times, but yes, your point that if you don't like it don't participate is valid.  Many of us have taken leave for a period of time.  I left for a year once.  The establishment of the death point system was a dark time for Atlas.  You'd get your pee pee whacked 5 points or so because some prudish mod thought you were inappropriate (one prude especially).  The thought police were out.  Even sarcasm was death pointed because some prudes don't get the technique of sarcasm. Certain posters who were long timers got fed up and left, a few banned.  People didn't go off the deep end "back then", like recent years.  Lots of people just moved on because life keeps you too busy to stay......we've lost more good posters that way than any other way.

I'm happy to be here most of the time and I have an alternative I enjoy as well........so all is good now.  

Those are some good points. I'll admit, at least once in the very distant past I did some forum hating of my own despite still posting there, but now I like to think that I just went overboard on criticism but did still enjoy the board a lot, or enough to continue posting for awhile.

I think people sometimes get overwhelmed with the negative aspects of a place (such as this forum), and tend to focus more on that despite them still enjoying a lot of the other parts of said place. So I'd like to imagine that people who voted HC are just peeved about certain things but still appreciate a good deal of select content on here.

I do still think people should not be so quick to denigrate Atlas or label it negatively as a whole if they still post here, though.

My favorites are the one who post an attention whoring thread that says "I'm leaving.........." or some other such nonsense.  99% can't leave for more than a week.  Many have tried, few succeed.  This place is like heroin for some.