This is 100% theory, and there is zero chance of anyone ever proving evidence supporting this thought. If that bothers you, please move on, I'm not here to convince you of anything. I'm here to talk theory, not advance that theory to fact.
After reddit spilled over into voat, there has been an obvious shift in both websites. Reddit got strangely tolerant of free thinking (which I assume is the puppets trying to save their own game) and voat got really big on posting videos with zero evidence supporting the claim mad in the title.
It seems pretty clear to me that there is a psy-op going on to make voat look like a haven for extremism, and appear as if supporting evidence is optional in our definition of a "quality post." We can not let this happen, or we as a website will quickly be as credible to the outside world as buzzfeed style blogspam is.
When I first came to this site from reddit, I loved how reluctant people were to use downvotes. Now I realize this could be a problem at the opposite extreme from reddit. I had originally planned to keep my account at 0 total downvotes, but I have shifted this opinion after observing the drivel that is being posted. I will admit it is perfectly plausible that the crappy submissions are just vote-farming, but the functional effect is the same, whether it is sock-puppets or 14 year old kids bored in class.
So, a few questions for those of you that have been here longer than a month:
1 Outside of this sub, would you guys say there has been a spike in shit-tier conspiracy submissions? (/v/videos seems to be a hotspot for this)
2 Do you feel that theories without direct evidence (like this one ironically enough) are harmful to our credibility? Is an unsupported theory more or less dangerous if it regards real world events as opposed to psychological and meta-topics?
3 If you feel this is the case, what should be done to preserve our reputation?
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Sciency ago
I see your argument, and I can't dispute it. I've looked into genetic bottlenecks before, and while scary, I cant deny the theory seems airtight. I remember in the movie "wargames" from the 80's had a similar argument coming from the scientist towards the end. The only reason I mention that, is because I was certainly on your side of thinking in a vacuum, but having a family kind of changed that for me. I suppose one might blame human biology for that, and they probably wouldn't be wrong (hormonal changes and all).
I suppose it really comes down to the pessimist/optimist spectrum. I must say, it's a rare thing to meet someone that makes me look like the starry-eyed optimist in a conversation like this, and I mean that as a complement. You've honestly forced me to evaluate my morals vs my logic, which is a very rare thing for me. I can't say that I won't keep trying to avert metaphorical (and literal) Armageddon, but you've helped me identify why I do so in the first place, and I thank you for that.
As for gardening, It's one of my guilty pleasures. I'll be the first to admit I'm no master, but there is something amazing about the ability to facilitate life, even if you didn't create it. Most of all, I just like being able to eat ;) Are there any good farming/gardening subs on voat at the moment? Reddit had a few, but they were 95% questions and jokes.