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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galabad71 ago
take a look at proboards.com or myBB.com
these are free forum software packages, and while we/you may lose some bells and whistles, it would allow for continued operation of the VOAT domain. Also, maintaining the site would be a whole lot easier than custom code.
pm-me-your-pm ago
Voat isn't a forum. More than this, though, these free software suites come with very little support and break very, very easily. They also have many known exploits and are not secure enough for a platform like Voat.
Referencing my above point about how Voat is not a forum in the same sense that these software suites are forums, we would not just lose some bells and whistles. We would lose everything that Voat is - everything that differentiates it from a free forum.
The domain (voat.co) costs around $20 / year. All that's needed to continue operating the domain is a simple hosting package ($12/mo) and the registration of the domain.
Not even close. Maintaining free software with virtually no support is an absolute nightmare when it comes to the scale of a project like Voat. Those packages don't have anywhere near the scaleability to handle a scenario like Voat. Further, the massive exploits and gaping security holes would make managing the site and keeping it secure for the user a catastrophe.
Source: I'm a website developer. I'm not saying all this to rip your comment apart, but to help educate people who think that free solutions are the best solutions simply because they save money. As with all things in life, you get what you pay for. In this case, free (or even relatively cheap) isn't going to cut it.