Edit:
I'm simply blown away with you goats. I was expecting a somber farewell in this thread but instead you've done the exact opposite; pulled off a rally at the bottom of the 9th. On a personal note, and this may seem sentimental, but you have given me a new hope for Voat at very dark time for me.
All I can say now is: Let's do this! I think your message is clear. We have a ton of work to do, a short window in which to do it, and I fully understand I can't do it alone. We will need all hands on deck if Voat is to have any chance at survival.
I will post the plans I have for Voat as well as a status update on your contributions by Monday.
P.S. Old goats, be nice to the new kids. ;)
Original Post
As I sit here about to write one of the most difficult announcements yet, I was just reminded that my account is one month shy of three years old. Nearly three years ago I came here from Reddit when the vote counts disappeared and I felt I could no longer trust what I saw. Nearly three years ago I met @Atko and started contributing code because I believed in him, his mission, and what he was doing. So much has happened during these last three years.
I know a lot of you are new, but Voat has been through a wild ride, and never at any point was it an easy one. My memories are bittersweet when it comes to Voat. I’ve sacrificed the best years of my life for Voat, I’ve lost my business partner whom I miss a lot, I’ve lost people in my life, I’ve given up golf which was my passion, and even with all this I still believe in Voat. I still see the dire need for Free Speech in this world, I fear a world without it, and I still will do anything I can to continue providing it.
But alas, I am powerless to keep Voat running without financial support. As of right now Voat has no solid commitments. Voat has always needed a financial partner whom had balls of steel and backing deep enough to give Voat the capabilities to run as an actual business (being able to hire staff and set itself apart from its competitors), not just a one man show. Potential investors have one or the other of these traits, but we have yet to find one with both. In this day and age, this is Voat’s unicorn.
In the past Voat has been lucky enough to be part of special programs designed for startup companies which gave us free licensing on various products and significantly reduced hosting costs. These programs have since expired and we are now paying full costs. Last month was our first non-discounted month on Azure and the usage was $6,600.90 USD. Donations, ads, and merchandise only put a dent in this and this is the primary reason why we have not launched another merchandise run. And begging for donations was always something we hated doing.
I’m writing this announcement to prepare this community, and the Voat family, for the possibility of a closure. I’m not certain on timing and I have too much invested in this place to give up just yet, so I cannot provide any timelines. In the meantime, I will soon be scaling back all Voat’s servers by at least 50%. I will also turn off some features that are resource intensive.
Voat needs funding. Without it, Voat will be no more.
Voat needs an Angel
Canary
https://voat.co/v/announcements/1330806
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Grifter42 ago
Hey, Putt, why didn't you respond to my PM? I sent you a PM about how Beatle was conspiring to get Hecho to flood my inbox with CP.
http://archive.is/5tcQz
You did nothing.
Is it because you're part of SBBH yourself? You sure tend to ignore what they do. They're basically the exact same as SRS, and Spez was in on that. I wonder if there is a similar situation going on here.
Judging by the posts that have been brigaded to the bottom of this thread, I'm inclined to think you are.
In B4 being accused of being Sane by you.
PuttItOut ago
I'm not in on any collusion, and deep down inside you know it.
I talk to only a few people on Voat regularly and all my conversations are centered around Voat technically or these peoples' personal lives because they have become my friends.
When you say SBBH I think of @Mick, whom was with me from the beginning, and then I think of @Mick being SRS and I cry from laughing so hard.
Grifter42 ago
Why didn't you answer the question?
What Beatle is suggesting is conspiracy to distribute child pornography, and he implies that he and Hecho have done it before.
Beatle is also Fake Sane, and you refuse to cut the head off the body in that regards. You know it's ban evasion, and you do jack shit.
Mick is your friend, then you're compromised. That really explains a lot about the whole situation.
And it explains why you have left the brigade squads to their devices.