I have made a decision to alter and/or remove various restrictions on Voat. I’ve thought a lot about this and it’s something both @Atko and I believe needs to be reevaluated.
Voat has always had a problem with spam. @Amalek would spam posts and hijack the new queue making it unusable. MH101 and then later @SaneGoatiSwear would hijack comment pages making them unusable. The rules Voat uses were put in place in to combat this behavior. They are old rules, mostly remaining unchanged from the initial versions of this site. Most, if not all, of the rules were in direct response to spam attacks. It was never Voat’s intention to limit non-spam accounts, but this is what has happened as an indirect result of these rules.
Voat will not keep in place a system that permanently limits a segment of users from debating and conversing. This isn’t Free Speech as I see it or as I want it.
Voat will shortly be going live with a new code base, and I want to have a new system designed and ready for when this happens, so I am posting this announcement to get feedback from the community.
The main areas of concern:
- Commenting restrictions on negative CCP accounts that aren't spamming their comments
- Limiting any account that spam comments
TL;DR
We need to allow unpopular opinions while preventing comment spam.
How do we do it?
All options are on the table
https://voat.co/v/announcements/1330806
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Rainy-Day-Dream ago
can you give the users more control of the site? like being able to voat out power mods?
PuttItOut ago
Soon. (and this time I mean it) Soon soon.
Citizen ago
I've thought about this a great deal. In my opinion, the best solution would be a declaration that a subverse belongs to its users and not to its mods. On That Other Site, subs belong to the mods to do with as they please. By stating that subs belong to the users, abuse of mod powers becomes a thing that you can explain.
With that said, I'm not sure how to handle a sudden influx of users who have the intent of disrupting a community. For example, let's say /v/powerboats has an active community that loves all things nautical, including sailboats, and not just powerboats. Let's say /v/motorboats mass subscribes to /v/powerboats and tries to oust the existing community. I'd say the community that previously existed should have priority, even if the new community has numerical superiority.
Although I would imagine this would be a lot less of a problem than a single rogue mod saying, "I own you."
PuttItOut ago
We have thought a lot about this particular situation. We plan on flipping the world on it's head soon. Stay tuned.
Tor1 ago
Subverses could be controlled automatically by CCP.
A subverse creator gets 100 CCP for creating a new sub. But from then on its fair game. Whoever has the highest CCP in a sub has standing to give themself owner powers.
Those in the top 10 in CCP would have the ability to make themselves moderators. Above a certain threshold you can appoint yourself a janitor.
Certainly there would be potential for abuse. But a completely automated system would at least be objectively fair, and admins wouldn't have to get involved in subverses any more.
The race for highest CCP would also encourage a lot more quality comments and timely support of new threads in popular subverses.
Jixijenga ago
That is an awful idea. My private sub could easily be nuked by a mild brigading, I never intended it to be under anyone's control but myself.
Tor1 ago
This is in the response to the calls for more user control of Voat.
I don't see any reason to change any coding myself.
But this would force subverse owners to participate in their subs.
I don't think Voat needs a special safe space for those who curate content.
Who cares what your intentions are? You earn ownership it isn't granted in perpetuity under this new system.
Not sure what you're worried about. You're the only poster in your sub and must have an impregnable amount of CCP there.
Jixijenga ago
I post here because I don't want to be censored.
You're proposing a method of censorship, I might have well stayed on reddit.
Tor1 ago
I'm adding input to a process that is already in movement.
Personally, I think Voat is fine the way it is.
I've been on Preview Voat and Linux Voat and both of them are already different than current Voat.
Everything you don't like and that is a change isn't necessarily censorship.
The site has been outstanding so far.
Why are you so afraid it's suddenly going to change because a few users are providing feedback for the new and improved lower cost version of the site that's soon to be rolled out.
Jixijenga ago
Why am I concerned? That's precisely what happened with reddit, it was so impossible to see back then but now I am hyper-aware of it. I know I don't fit in over there like I did years and years ago, I nuked my account and went here because the process that began with "oh we just need a way to protect our users from X" turned into a system of suppression and thought control.
Your suggestion would result in the same thing that happened over there, I offended SRS and they managed to silence me. Why wouldn't I be opposed to that happening again?
Tor1 ago
This is your chance to speak up.
Go through the comments in this thread and voice your concerns.
Nothing comes from complacency.
Jixijenga ago
I have been, seems I've upset Crensch.
Tor1 ago
Maybe that's a good thing from your perspective.
Jixijenga ago
I don't really care, I've been sticking to my own little corner for the most part.
Tor1 ago
You called him a right wing nut job.
What does that even mean in a Voat context.
Do you have any suggestions for ways to improve Voat?
Are there any things currently being discussed in this thread that are of grave concern to you?
I wouldn't worry about my ideas that have no or maybe one upvoat. They're not under discussion.
Big things like getting rid of downvoats. Removing all restrictions on users with negative CCP are on the table.
What do you propose that would make Voat even more better than Reddit than it already is?
Jixijenga ago
I did in a roundabout way, I'll stand by my words though.
As for suggestions... Well, a bigger account creation process would help. We're only better than reddit because the staff is so sparse and it's basically the wild west here, beyond that the site is primed for a repeat of history the moment Putt stops caring.
All my other ideas were suggested already by other people.