I had to do a double take at first. There's no way that something this absurd has snaked it's way onto Voat. This is the kind of sub you'd see on that other website. Surely, we've moved past ridiculousness like this. Right?
What this sub says it does is upvoat posts and comments that were buried in downvoats. This is straight from their description:
/v/disagreebutton is a verse that can be called into action when someone is being downvoted for having a dissenting opinion. Unless it was edited, we will either restore the comment with the points it deserved or futher downvote it if quality or politeness were lacking.
People literally go to this sub asking for upvoats regardless on whether or not the downvoaters were correct in their opinion. /u/stoic is quite literally trying to be the arbiter of what an opinion should and shouldn't be through voat manipulation.
What you have are people getting pissed that they're being downvoated then go to /v/disagreebutton asking for a personal army to right what they suspect is a wrong. The voting system on Voat is there for a reason. What /v/disagreebutton fails to see is that this sets a dangerous precedent. Never mind that you think what you're doing is noble. Brigading is brigading. This is a slippery slope. I would love to see Voat as a free market of ideas without the need for outside regulation, voat manipulation (which is exactly what disagreebutton is) or heinous brigading. The system isn't perfect and can certainly use some work but fighting a brigade with a brigade is not the way to do it. When does this stop? If Disagreebutton is allowed to exist, who is to say that a sub dedicated to downvoating only posts that disagree with Bernie Sanders can't exist? We all saw Reddit's narrative turn into a nesting ground for propaganda when outside groups were getting paid to up or downvote topics to the front page. We didn't like it then, so why should be condone it now?
I would really hope that /u/Atko sees /v/disagreebutton for what it is. It's a personal army. A voat brigade. A sub that condones voat manipulation. You can't allow this to exist then pretend to get all pretend-mad when a sub exists that you think is a downvoat brigade. One man's trash.....
heili ago
The upvote brigade that @Stoic started for @She is in full swing.
I would like to know, @Atko, how many new accounts are there and what are their voting patterns? Since any new registration gets the ability to dole out a few upvotes a day without any participation at all, and since @Stoic made a very pointed post in which he admits to vote manipulation by going through @she's history and upvoting as well as encouraging others to do the same, what's going to be done about that vote manipulation?
escape ago
That sub should be immediately banned, no question about it.
Omnicis ago
agree with most of your post, but this didn't make much sense to me.
care to elaborate?
Kal ago
When I saw it a while ago I assumed it was going to be the SRS of voat.
HowAboutShutUp ago
Consider looking at the suggestions about alterations to the way the voting system works to a more slashdot-like approach in Atko's most recent sticky. I think a change like that has the potential to render a lot of issues like this, as well as a sub like disagreebutton, moot.
lawofchaos ago
I was referring to this. When this was posted (hours after the news about paypal) I remember being very disappointed. This is what led to the jailbait sub being the first sub ever banned on Voat. Later it was revealed that SRS were boasting about getting Voat into trouble with Paypal around that same time. I've had my suspicions since then about who was really behind the 'truejailbait' subverse. She is the one who reported it to Paypal back then?
xeemee ago
you are right - that sub is 2 months old - i edited my post accordingly
very irresponsible on my part
Reow ago
I'm just putting this out there... What if a group of motivated people just happened to all monitor that sub and do the exact opposite of what was requested...
PiercingAjarDolphin ago
Those peoples actions would be commendable, but unfortunately part of the problem that is brigading. The mods will figure this out sooner or later and then it'll be a huge ban wave I think.
Reow ago
True enough. Hopefully certain existing brigadiers aren't exempt from those bans.
PiercingAjarDolphin ago
The only fair deal is to ban EVERYONE that has been part of a brigade, no matter the sides. That way, the admins can show that they're not choosing any side.
lawofchaos ago
I agree with your sentiment but to be fair a rule needs to be clearly defined first. And to be fair no one who took part in any of this should be penalized for a law that didn't exist yet, only if they continue to break that law afterwards.
PiercingAjarDolphin ago
That's another way of looking at it. But in all fairness, Atko has made it clear he's already looking into curbing brigading, so anyone that engages in it already knows it's frowned upon.
lawofchaos ago
Haha they know its frowned upon whether Atko says it or not.
Sydviciouz ago
It's brigading plain and simple. Just not the kind we're used to.
It's just like SRS. Manipulating votes for shit they don't agree with. Fucking dirty.
xeemee ago
you notice whose sub /v/disagreebutton is?
it was started by @Stoic who is also a mod on /v/askvoat
[deleted content]
this is a blatant vote brigading club that was created by a very unethical mod, or collaboration of mods, and should in no way be tolerated by the community in my not-so-humble opinion
having said that, and in the interest of freedom of expression, i'm not sure Voat Inc. should touch this issue unless there is a rule which applies to organized vote brigading
[deleted content]
reason for edit:
/v/disagreebutton was created 2 months ago, long before the @She drama took place, as was pointed out by @JTtheGhost - something i should have noticed before railing against @Stoic
nevertheless, the creating of a vote brigade club with the stated purpose of offsetting negative community feedback is still a very low, shady-ass concept in my opinion
Omnicis ago
What is this?
xeemee ago
read "reason for edit"
Omnicis ago
I see, didn't realize you manually put that in there.
lawofchaos ago
Holy crap! Its exactly the same person who conveniently found the CP within hours of Voat getting into shit with Paypal, hours before a post showed up in SRS boasting about it. The plot thickens...