I’ve banned all Sane alts (while leaving the main account alone) for spamming. If Sane (or his group) wants to post on Voat, they can do so without using alts to hide behind, thus preventing their main accounts from being downvoted and thus restricted. I am done letting this group stomp all over Voat unfettered* like a spoiled toddler and pushing me to enact draconian rules to prevent them from doing so.
Don’t for a second be fooled at the motivations this group has for Voat, they seek not to help. They seek only to force censorship, drive away users, and ultimately destroy Voat while ruining Voat’s commitment to Freedom of Speech. I will not let them win.
They setup an unwinnable situation for Voat, and no matter Voat’s action, they can claim a victory.
If Voat bans them, they claim censorship. If Voat does nothing, reasonable users depart. Regardless of the action, a user subset will be infuriated, and this is entirely the purpose, divide and conquer. We all need to recognize exactly what is happening here. This isn’t about a single user, this is about an organized effort.
If you ever wondered why Reddit has so many private and obfuscated areas in code, fuzzed counters, shadow bans, etc.? It is to stop groups like this. The problem is, as you all know, once this code is implemented it can be used for both good and evil. I choose not to use the little time available on such things, and will instead ban users who engage in Amalek/ManHood101 style spamming in order to maliciously claim censorship later.
A user is free to say whatever they wish, but if they resort to using alt accounts in order to circumvent the protections we do have, these alt accounts will be banned for spamming.
I’m also pulling Sane off v/TIL and v/ReportShills and moving both to @system. Both these subs were transferred to “him” and “he” has not been a good steward. What a joke. Enough of this as well.
* Screenshot taken from statistics page located at https://voat.co/statistics
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Troll ago
@PuttItOut
There are many groups vying for power over Voat, many of them much more subtle in tactics and approach than Sane. For the most part I ignored him because at first he seemed to be just a single guy with schizophrenia, and then they started operating in the open. But as you were taking action against him and his alts (or their alts) many other subversive factors are already on the frontpage, reposting old shit from Reddit, moving the "narrative" one nudge at the time, shaping the way how an isolated group such as Voat thinks etc. Make no mistake. This will continue, it's their job to subvert your site and control everything, that's what you've been paying your taxes for.
The only way to successfully combat this is to completely purge ALL dormant accounts that became suddenly active right before the elections of Nov. the 8th. It's not that hard to identify such accounts. However, you're not going to do that, and therefore you better prepare for the war of attrition. I'd purge them all for starters. Good luck, you're gonna fucking need it.
PuttItOut ago
You make good points. We can't solve everything at once, but we can make steps in the right direction.
I actually like the premise of this idea. I hate the thought of accounts being created for future use by malicious groups.
I have an even better idea though (two birds, one change) - and will make a post about it soon and get peoples feedback.
o_V_o ago
WTF is the point in the help subverse if no one provides any help?
72 hours ago I asked nicely why I can't block v/funny and I'm still waiting for answer... except now fucking done being nice about it. WTF? If you can't block subverses, DON'T FUCKING GIVE US THE FUCKING OPTION.
Subtenko ago
beta stuff i guess