Now that I have your attention, I have a confession to make: I lied.
Well sort of… because Voat 2.0 doesn’t exist yet, but it will in the future, and this thread is the first in a series of Quarterly Reviews we will be doing to get your feedback on what we need, what we need to improve, and the direction we need to move as a company and as a community.
I can finally announce that Voat’s features (software-wise) are now in the ballpark of a semi-functional platform. I’m not saying Voat is perfect, nor am I saying the features are mature, rather I am saying that we are nearing "acceptable" as a basic functioning platform.
But a basic functioning platform was never our end goal, it was just the first milestone we needed to hit. Now that we are approaching this milestone we need to lay out our future direction.
Voat doesn’t want to be a “clone” any longer. We want to stand up and proclaim our uniqueness. We want to put our differences on display and stake our future on them. Voat can’t survive without redefining ourselves, without evolving into something bigger, something better, something unique and new.
This is the post where we get to dream big, have no boundaries, no constraints, and live in world where everything is possible.
Hypothetical
You have an army of programmers, mountains of cash to burn, and you are the only board member: What does Voat 2.0 look like?
Thread is marked Anon
Canary
https://voat.co/v/announcements/1330806
view the rest of the comments →
8450765? ago
go1dfish here.
First feature request: I love the optional anon modes, but they should mix better. I should be able to choose to identify myself in anon threads, and (if the sub verse allows it) comment anonymously in regular threads. Allowing anon participation should be the default.
(Edit: plenty of folks, or one determined person has decided to help demonstrate why these features could be useful: https://voat.co/v/announcements/1727282/8450869))
The anon support is currently one of the biggest differentiating features from reddit and highly underused.
Second: separate the frontend, you are already planning on doing this.
Third: once the frontend is separated, it becomes a long running app on the user's machine. Voat already supports realtime chat (and message updates), give us realtime thread/comment updates (SSEs may be a lighter approach than the web sockets used for chat)
Fourth: Bitcoin tipping. Give every Voat user a bitcoin account managed on the server and utilities to easily send BTC between users (off chain in the Voat DB to allow minuscule payments without fees)
Ill update this or reply as I come up with more stuff.
Fifth: ditch default subverses and go to a normalized SFW /v/all for the frontage.
You/Voat should be as hands off as possible when it comes to what content succeeds or fails on the site, and the default sub verses are the biggest influence remaining in that sense that I can see.
One more thing: Make /v/TaxationIsTheft a featured subverse on or before April 15th ;) (Yes this is completely contradictory to my last point, so maybe featured sub verses shouldn't really be a thing at all)
8450938? ago
it's not anon tho. that's really a misnomer because votes are IP logged, and now with this new hidden logging feature, posts you post are IP logged as well, including in anon mode, unless @puttitout wants to comment on that.
i agree anon mode is great for many things, and does set voat apart, it needs to be, like ceo putt said, fleshed out more, way past milestone 1.
can we have realtime v/all/new again? how about realtime votes counting? it takes minutes.
the hell do you mean frontend, for a layman, please? eli5.
did you just say voat bitcoin wallets for erryone? intrigued if bitcoin wasn't fuqed. maybe a different cryptocurrency... anyway i like the idea...
wtf 5th. mod differences. what about those.
finally,
what about the rampant manipulation of votes and the front page; dissent silencing? should voat/putt be hands off? so far we have 250 bans of users mostly that never voted for "vote manipulation." with a promise to explain, with no explination. as said, secret court with secret judges with secret rules providing bans on whomever they please whenever they please. it is NOT being addressed. the war is still on.... comments on this?
8451027? ago
Oh I'm under no delusions that Voats anon mode is fully anon.
It's just a nice hybrid between the best of chan style forums and Reddit style.
Other cryptocurrencies could work as well, doesn't have to be BTC.
Not sure what you mean on 5.
You can't eliminate the necessity for trust in the operators of a centralized website. If this is a deal breaker platforms like Aether may be more your style but they aren't quite mature yet.