submitted 6.8 years ago by PuttItOut

First off, I need to say that I know I’ve let a lot of you down (if not all). I know I’ve not met your expectations of an admin or a leader. I have no excuses as even I feel this way about myself. I won’t make attempts for empathy, I will only acknowledge the truth, and it is such.

Life is full of surprises. You can be rich one minute and living out of your car the next. You can be healthy one year and a regular in the doctor’s office the following. You can have life figured out only to discover you know nothing in the end. The only constant in life is change. My life is not the same it was when I first met @Atko and started working on Voat. I have much less time, I have a bit less fight in me (getting old does this), I have a bit more struggle in life. These life changes have forced me to put Voat on the back burner (which hurts me).

Let’s get real

When it comes to “Free Speech” sites, I once believed that people cared enough about the value of free speech to make “clone” sites like Voat (or gab) successful. I’ve come to realize, and have said before, that this single factor isn’t enough. People simply do not value this right enough to make a “clone” successful.

You can see this with Voat. A majority of Voat users still use Reddit. People use Reddit for posting and interacting when it comes to PC topics (4 wheel drive subs, movie subs, book subs, etc.). They use Voat to post the things they can’t post on Reddit. This creates an imbalance where Voat becomes increasingly un-PC, while Reddit gets the neutral content (I know even the most hardened ideologue has a level of civility). The end result is this imbalance drives people away as people wear out when confronted by content like this over the long run.

I don’t know the solution to this, and I am not attempting to pass blame, I am simply stating a truth that has to considered.

What makes a clone not a clone?

Why I mention this in the first place is that I know a “clone” site will not become sustainable based on Freedom of Speech so I’ve tried to revolutionize the “community” aspect of Voat by providing a way the community itself can “vote” on policy (rules, mods, anything actually). It's the future capability of this feature-set that is appealing. A community can become self-sustaining and self-manageable through this new technology. After all, the draw of sites like Voat or Reddit is that it is community-oriented vs. self-oriented.

And I’m going to finish it. I’m going to finish it for me. I’m going to finish it for you. I’m going to finish it for Voat. I’m going to finish it for Freedom of Speech (because I still believe in this ideal).

I’m going to finish it because a “clone” site with no differentiation but policy will never succeed.

So Voat, please forgive me for my shortcomings if you can, and expect my work to continue on making Voat a truly unique website.

Soon.

P.S. Downtime today was because of a full disk (Thanks @derram for letting me know). We had an issue from about a year ago that inflated some files to crazy sizes and I took the time today to deal with this. So the next downtime should be something completely different! Yay!

https://voat.co/v/announcements/1330806

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albatrosv15 6.8 years ago

1) Do you remember the monthly donation drive? It is gone. You know why? Cause we just can't donate anymore. Why?

2) You have to get a second living being besides you, who would maintain voat. And you could blame everything on him or her, when everything goes south!

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Mr_Quagmire 6.8 years ago

Yeah I don't understand how he keeps complaining about no time yet doesn't ask for help or donations.

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FormerBaltimoreRes 6.8 years ago

Honestly, he probably does not know how to get the money from point A to B without causing himself grief.

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firex726 6.8 years ago

Yea, he got a bunch of bitcoins, but it's like telling your boss you don't need to be paid for your work since you have a savings account. Makes no sense.

We need a second, ideally full time person, use the bitcoin and donations to fund their salary.

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TallShortSkinnyFatM 6.8 years ago

I agree with this but a paid employee would take heat and be targeted when some jackass posts shit they shouldn't.

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PuttItOut 6.8 years ago

We were shut down and blacklisted for merchant services industry wide.
Agree.

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HomerSimpson 6.8 years ago

Have you tried using a payment processor like Blue Dog? Or another industry standard when it comes to firearms? They are usually less trouble when it comes to stuff like that.

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Sandmich 6.8 years ago

We were shut down and blacklisted for merchant services industry wide.

I've heard that pop up and it sounds like collusion to me, not that I think any prosecutor on the planet will bring the offending parties up on charges. :(

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coopzy 6.8 years ago

You don't need a payment processor for crypto. Get Exodus, a multiwallet, and easily allow people to donate what they can.

You can use anon crypto like Dash or XMR to willfully dodge tax regulations. Please Putts allow us to give you money again. It takes 10 minutes to set these up. We WANT to GIVE YOU MONEY.

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Bojangles 6.8 years ago

It's pretty amazing that they feel so threatened even by Voat--a broken piece of shit website with a moronic and generally unpleasant userbase--that they have to blacklist it from all payment processors.

I'm of the opinion that we should respond by sending every last Jew in the United States to one of many specially-built fake amusement parks, where they will be packed into rollercoaster cars and launched into giant ovens at the end of the track, one after another. This song will be playing in the background the whole time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9-7uLg-DZU

@Antiracist10 @eagleshigh @watitdew

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sjwTroll 6.8 years ago

Could you at least have a bank account or address where people could send checks? Has to be better than nothing, right?

I get the point about #2.

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FormerBaltimoreRes 6.8 years ago

I wonder if you can look how you are systematically shut down by financial institutions and not realize (((who))) you are up against.

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redpilldessert 6.8 years ago

If you PM me, I'll send you $500 worth of ethereum RIGHT TODAY as a thank you for all you've done.

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CrustyBeaver52 6.8 years ago

You can use old tech to do an end run around any commercial industry wide ban sanctions. For example, you can set up a post office box number and have people mail you money orders - cashable by you, in banks and other money vendors around the world. There are many legal ways to send money that do not rely upon dependence of third party credit providers.

There is always a way. Many business may pay their bills with checks drawn on bank accounts, but still accept cash only.

You can also have a lawyer write a cease and desist letter to the credit card companies. Their ban of your website is highly illegal, and you can sue them for massive financial damages if they refuse to lift it. Voat is an American company, and it has legal rights to operate in an American manner under American law. Freedom of speech is very much protected.

Understand that under American law, companies that provide merchant services do not have the legal power to blacklist any lawful corporation. It's called illegal restraint of trade, among other things, and it is illegal for them to do so. They are liable to you for commercial damages for interfering in your legal contractual relationships with the rest of us.

They know this is true, but they are doing this until they receive a demand letter from your lawyer, then they will stop, or they will pay. They know you are not an American lawyer.

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Voopin__Voopin 6.8 years ago

I really like the sound of that. Hope putt reads it. @puttitout

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CrustyBeaver52 6.8 years ago

Yes, there are solutions.

Also, I believe under American law, the users of this website would qualify as class participants in any lawsuit against the credit companies - for it is not just Putt's transactions that are being interfered with, it is also ours. They are illegally interfering in OUR trade.

Something to consider.

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UchihaMadara 6.8 years ago

That's nonsense - you could easily use bitcoin.

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ExpertShitposter 6.8 years ago

Let people give you buttcoins. Instruct them how to do so. Step by step guide, don't just say google it.

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Slayfire122 6.8 years ago

Buy a hardware wallet, such as Trezor or Ledger Nano S. Also create a Gdax account or one with another exchange.

Have the donations sent directly to the hardware wallet and use the exchange to sell what you need for your monthly fees. This way, you still have full control over the unused coins and can create a new account with a different exchange whenever. You can even set up your hardware wallet to accept multiple cryptocurrencies, such as ethereum and litecoin.

I don't know your knowledge level, but there will be a whole army of people willing to help over at /v/bitcoin.

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NACHTJAGD 6.8 years ago

I agree, e-currencies have been specifically designed with the intent to combat this financial boycotting from centralized entities. I already support Wikileaks for that very reason simply because they were boycotted by the financial world. I can send a 0.02000000~ Satoshi / 150~ euro per month to help with server costs, if everyone chipped in a few bucks Putt could rapidly gain enough money for server costs, operating costs and even programming costs for adding features and improving the site.

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Slayfire122 6.8 years ago

Exactly. For the small cost of a hardware wallet (around $100ish), Putts can easily set up wallets for several different coins. I guarantee he'd make that money back within minutes of posting the wallet addresses.

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belphegorsprime 6.8 years ago

As bitcoin has been mentioned, I wanted to also mention bitcoin cash as an option too. Very low fees, and very convenient.

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CheeseboogersGhost 6.8 years ago

Take funds for a kitty picture site. Have Katsharzo run it. People can go there and look at kitty pics and then graciously donate shekels through it. You dig?