I moved to Voat because of the censorship and full-blown SJW ideology on Reddit.
When I first started, it was amazing.
Now everytime I post I am downvoted like crazy. As we all know, I don't care about the downvotes, but rather, the racism and other views that seem to dominate every sub now.
To be clear, I am all about free speech. I support the right to write racist (or whatever) comments.
However, what scares me is how the majority of Voat seems to now agree with some of these views. It is very suspicious and it was not this way before.
To me, it was done on purpose. Reddit is full swing SJW. Voat started out moderate, but now it is just another extreme.
Think about news. It's either extremely conservative or extremely liberal. It's as if 'they' don't want you to have any moderate news source. Why?
It keeps people divided. It keeps things emotionally motivated. And it gives you a false sense of what's really going on.
So, in this Internet culture, you can now be offended by everything, or on the other side of things, you can blame everything on minorities.
In reality, it's all much more complex than that.
The conspiracy is that Reddit (or whoever controls things) let Voat prosper as long as extremist views were promoted. Moderate news will make people think and care about each other. We have to keep hating each other!!
I hope I'm making sense. I'm venting because voat was my last hope. If you don't believe me, check my post history.
I now believe that free speech is really gone. Sure, say what you want, but every online tactic has been made to silence you.
So here I am. Back on the conspiracy part of Voat, just like I was with Reddit when it all began.
Edit: there is still good on Voat, but I have a prediction that will continue to fade. And I don't think it's just a matter of it getting bigger
Edit 2: I honestly learned a lot from this discussion. I am glad most were respectful and I definitely am thinking a lot.
I realize that I do have a lot of up votes in my post history, but I spent nearly on this summer on Voat. I noticed the shift recently and have not commented as much and have deleted stuff. So sorry if that is misleading
A lot of people tell me I must be the change. Agreed.
A lot of people said they felt similarly. That's nice to know I'm not alone.
Thanks for letting me have a voice.
As 017c explains, "It feels a bit too sudden and too organized.
The amount of UK slang and the fact that every website links to UK nationalist party also makes me a bit suspicious. The again next general election is years out. Maybe a organized push of right with groups in Europe in general? Or a false flag operation?
It just feels all too sudden and too organized to be just people switching from Reddit to Voat."
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Chance ago
While I completely agree with what you're saying in a political sense (Democrats Vs. Republicans, two party bipartisan bullshit), I don't think that's what's happening with Voat.
I've been here since February. While things were definitely a bit more mellow in the beginning before people had TONS of reasons to start using this site instead of Reddit, I don't think the recent trend of more racist/sexist/anti-SJW etc posts are an intentional aspect of the site.
People are tired of feeling like they have no place in which to express their views or concerns, or even just bitch about their frustrations. Right now Voat is in high-tide for these emotions since people keep getting squished and pushed out of most other mainstream mediums (websites/forums/magazines/whatever). We aren't seeing our views being supported or even allowed anywhere else, so there's a large influx of "edgy" opinions and the like here.
I think things will once again mellow out a bit more in the coming months, at least to an extent. This is all a side effect of the huge influx of users that we've gotten over the last few months.
polkadotgirl ago
It doesn't seem to be mellowing out. I'll give it a few months though.
Chance ago
If you want to be on the more "moderate" side of things then you could always block subs like FPH or the ones dedicated to highlighting black crimes. That should filter out a fair bit.
When it comes down to it though, I do think that Voat does a better job of discussing news as it actually happens (besides all the clickbait bullshit that's recently been cropping up in /v/news). I think a lot of it also has to do with the way that people approach subjects on this website, either through a realist or even pessimistic mindset; I suspect this somewhat negative outlook is, once again, a result of people feeling as if they've been alienated and excluded from other mediums and feeling unwelcomed to share their opinions elsewhere.
If you keep pushing a group against a wall, they'll only start pushing back harder. That's what's happening now. I think given time to settle on Voat people will level out a bit more once the hype and frustration has died down a bit.
polkadotgirl ago
Honestly I only blocked like one racist sub. However the majority of racism I see is on the larger subs. So now I should block those? I feel that defeats the purpose of being here. I come here for news.
I don't even care if there are racist comments. Instead it's the brigrading.