Not at Voat apparently.
The theories are all over the place, like a blind man throwing darts, and upon some reflection I can see why. I have not been very visible lately and Voat has had some down time recently that raised the Voat Uncertainty Index (VUI) past 52 week highs. With the recent Facebook F8 conference and their announced plans to fully control and rate publishers while limiting content visibility in the name of making news more “trustworthy” (via AI based technology), places like Voat are increasingly more sought after. I often forget how much Voat means to you all and how much trust you've put into @Atko and I over the years.
About the recent downtime
I finally have a few minutes to explain what happened. This will not be an exciting tale but here is how this all went down. Since the port we’ve lost a few management tools that have monitored Voat and notified us if it was being bad, so take this into consideration.
Every AM and PM I check the site manually, I’ve done this every day for nearly 4 years (where is my cookie?), but I didn’t do this for an entire week (perhaps a week and a half). I went completely dark, turned off all notifications on my phone and didn’t even touch a computer and it was everything that I thought it could be. I did this because my mother was in town and I haven’t spent much time with her over the last few years. I decided to 100% disconnect from the virtual world in order that I could be fully present with her. She is an incredible person and life is short.
But then… like a perfect storm, the voat webserver ran out of disk space on the primary drive. This is what caused the downtime. It’s almost laughable (because it’s not the first time something this junior (can I say noob) has happened here at the High-Tech Capital of Free Speech).
Thank God superman @Atko was in between fixing catastrophic world events to fly over and fix Voat. He used his x-ray vision and nerves of steel to lift away the huge weight of unneeded log files in order to allow the webserver to breathe again (I'll never be a writer). I’m so glad Europe has a superman too.
TL;DR: Problem happened and @Atko fixed it. Send him praise.
While the decision to go dark was a huge plus for my family life, it was a choice that has caused a lot of distrust, uncertainty, and concern within the Voat community.
About me
I have been fairly burnt out lately (code related) and a bit down about Voat in general (I will perhaps write a post about this later), which is why I am not very visible lately. I've recently started pursuing further education and have dedicated myself to reading more.
I have been lurking though (and watching everyone like Big Brother /s).
I’m sorry about how things appeared, about not communicating earlier, and about the concern it caused. I'll also apologize for being short with a few people that were good to Voat over the years - that isn't the kind of person I want to be.
https://voat.co/v/announcements/1330806
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chronos ago
@puttitout - not sure if you will see this but will put it out there. It is obvious that the admin / business / management of Voat takes a heavy toll on you. I see it clearly since I have very similar issues in my life. You are a coder and do great things when left alone enough to focus on it. Same for me (other areas, not coding).
The real key man is you have to really figure out how to offload those things that wear you out and distract from what you are good at.
The problem is that figuring out that part is similar to admin / management etc. And it sucks and is not fun and takes its toll. Speaking again from personal experience.
I have had some success with offloading. But it does cost me to get it setup. But if it works, it frees me to go back to what I love and am good at.
I know you have made efforts in those areas specifically with the subverse rules update and janitor level mods which is good, but obviously not enough.
What I would do if I were you is make a spreadsheet of every "task" that you hate doing or is hard for you to do. Just list out every single thing you wish you didn't have to do. Then work in the 2nd column which is how you could possibly offload it. If you haven't done this already, you may be surprised that some things could actually easily be offloaded once you take the time to really think about it and come up with an offload plan.
Taking it a step further, the solution to offloading could be seemingly impossible. Find a person to do X. Or raise X funds. Those become part of a secondary list. How to find people or raise funds?
Just pick a problem at a time and find a way to offload it. Based on my observation you are in firefighter mode and when you get some time, you try to upgrade / tweak / revamp the site. But those daily fires (SGIS, DDOS etc) just take such a heavy toll you end up with not even enough time for the good stuff, leaving Voat an unwelcome burden.
Speaking for myself, I've come to really love Voat and look forward to it every day. I hope it does not go away. But we are a community with zero power to do anything if you call it quits or get hit by a bus or whatever other than to migrate.
And THANK YOU for the update.
Hope this helps,
chronos
Islamiscancer ago
The Jew reveals himself. Give me power over Voat. Make me an admin. Hiss or else I'll bite off your foreskin.
chronos ago
Nice try. Not volunteering for the job at all. Would not take it if offered. Got my own full plate in life. Just trying to throw a bone to Putt. i see lots of advice and criticism, but not so much concrete steps he could take to get out of firefighting mode.
Islamiscancer ago
Oy vey Rabbi. Yes, give up centralised control of the site. Let these random accounts have control. Yes goyim.
chronos ago
I think you must spew so much garbage because you are a virgin. Jackin off can help relieve the pressure bro. Save your cum too. For all the chicks I'm sure will be making a beeline for you once you get your head on straight.
Islamiscancer ago
First you call me a virgin.. Then you encourage me to jerk off.
Rabbi, your payess are showing.