I appreciate what you are saying, tyder, but I think it's a little more complex than that. I spent quite a bit of time and energy at ATS until I found the Paracast. There are some legitimate complaints about ATS that I think have engendered some of the negative comments you are reacting to here.
First of all, the site is extremely busy. As a result the signal to noise ratio is high, with emphasis on the noise. When anything goes, everything does. There is no sense of getting to a conclusion there. Stuff just keeps churning over and over. A rationalist like Jose, for example, will have a very difficult time making headway there, where here he can be heard much more easily. He still may get yelled at, but not at the volume he would on ATS.
Secondly, there is a feeling of exploitation there of the users themselves, who are treated somewhat paternalistically by some of those in charge. As a large site, they have lots of moderators, and some of those moderators have obviously had it go to their heads when, in fact, they don't know much about what they are moderating. I do think Springer is a reasonable person, but the others--not so much. There are lots of rules to follow, and you'll get slapped around and penalized if you transgress any of them.
For example, I once wrote a book review there and was accused of plagerizing. Those were MY WORDS, and I had to complain bitterly and continually to get that 'decision' overruled. They are always suspicious of someone who can write complete grammatical sentences.
If they can get you to 'do work' for them, they'll give you a badge and you get to work for free. The point reward system is kind of interesting where you earn points that you can then spend on over-sized avatars and such, but you still get the sense that they are playing you like monkeys rewarding your 'appropriate behavior' with cookies.
I guess the bottom line is that ATS is like being in a large, crowded restaurant where you can't hear the conversation of your mate at the table and the waiters are surly. The Paracast is more like small quiet bar where you go for the interesting conversation and you are motivated to leave a larger tip.
BTW, I originally reported this story on another thread. I got it from slashdot.org, a Linux geek site that is also huge, but much more civilized than ATS. The response on that thread was much more low key. I guess that shows how important venue is to the acceptance of an idea. Sometimes the issue is not so much what it is, but where it came from.
