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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Dantalian ago
It's okay to call it quits if you'd rather go golfing. You really shouldn't waste your life away maintaining a website of all things. This is the internet, you can rest assured that we fat nigger kike haters will find somewhere else to go, and that your work was not in vain. You have learned and grown so much as a person, and any future endeavors of yours will have the backing of wisdom that you didnt have before. I'd miss voat if it went belly up, but having it drag along while you miss out on grabbing titties and puking your spleen out the morning after while you are still young puts a bad taste in my mouth. Let voat die for now if you have to, and then come back to it when you're 35, divorced and have plenty of time on your hands because your wife got the dog and the kids.
9141987? ago
Kill yourself.
Dantalian ago
Eh, maybe tomorrow.
9142030? ago
Voat is too important to abandon. There's no other place on the internet like this right now that isn't compromised as far as we know. If this was RL i wouldn't tell you to kill yourself but jesus we can't just abandon this platform. He can pass it over to someone who cares or do a million other things, shit he should have asked us for help MONTHS ago. No, this isn't something we can compromise on. Voat needs to live.
Dantalian ago
I take Voat for what it is. It is a website. Websites come and go. When they die, new ones pop-up in their place. I prepared myself for Voat's demise long ago, and my period of being emotional about losing it is over.
What I gathered from the post is that Putt is very much overwhelmed, and perhaps that clouds his thought process and impedes taking action on things. We can offer him what we have and tell him what we think that he should do, but I acknowledge that he is a person with free will. Never should maintaining a website take precedence over your passion that keeps you sane (in this case, golfing). Websites come and go, but you only get one life. I place more value on Putt doing what he wants to do, whether it be putting more effort into the site or letting it go in favor of molesting cute blondes than letting it drag on so that I can have a place to rant.
9142326? ago
You're a bit touched huh? Last time I checked Molesting isn't a cute word to describe consensual actions. This isn't about putt, genius. This is about Voat. If putt wants to step down, fine, but he doesn't need to take the site with him. Go back to reddit.
Dantalian ago
Sex with consent is boring. If you really want to have a good time, catch the bitch by surprise after she's had something stout to drink.
But anywho, back on topic. If he takes the site with him, something else that is similar will pop-up within 6 months or so, so I'm not too.worried about it anymore. I love voat, but it's in Putt's hands and he's gonna do what he's gonna do. And thank you for acknowledging my intelligence and supplying me with some fun back and forth in these comments as I hopelessly wait to fall asleep. Goats are good people.
9142494? ago
Send me nudes.
Dantalian ago
I will after I kill myself tomorrow. :)