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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Nihilist ago
Fuck Microsoft azure. Go 100% Linux to save shitloads.
Licensing fees or for normie losers.
PuttItOut ago
We would love to port our code to .NET Core and run on Linux, but this is a big job, maybe 3-4 months of code freeze and port. Would only happen if we got funding.
Wowbagger ago
I'm a sql server pro and I'm not terrible at .net programming in general. If you can give specific tasks I may be able to help when the time comes. A conversion to Linux could save us a bundle. As for money, I can easily afford $25/month to help keep the lights on. There have to be a decent amount of us who can do that.
Donbuster ago
I could do 25 as well, but can 250 of us? That seems to be pushing it considering our userbase...
9141787? ago
I'm already building a thread of all the monthly donation pledges people have made so far. It's looking good. If you and @Wowbagger both pledge $25/month that would go a long way and help a lot! Let me know if you do so I can add you to the thread.
Donbuster ago
Link please?
9142539? ago
To the user list or the donation page?
If you want to more easily donate each month there is a donate $5 a month for a year option. Just add five of these to your cart before checkout if you want to donate $25/month. If you do this let me know and I'll add you to the user list.
Donbuster ago
Moneys tight at the moment, i'll commit once we get a bit closer, so that I know it will lead to the site's continuation. Can you pm me when you hit something like 20%
9142605? ago
You mean once we reached 1/5 of the costs up from 1/16 where we're at now? Sure thing I will. And if money is tight don't push yourself. There are a lot of goats here; we should be able to scrounge together what we require.