Shall we continue? (announcements)

submitted 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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CheeseboogersGhost ago

Voat needs to try and draw in new members. How do we do that? Maybe make quality internet fliers and advertise on other sites or wherever? We also need professional members(doctors, lawyers, etc) so we can destroy the stigma that free speech is bad.

TheBuddha ago

Ain't nobody wanting to join us, 'booger.

Seriously, would you invite @9-11 into your home? Me either, and I'll let most goats in. Not him, however. He'd fuck my dog, or some weird shit.

Now, imagine Joe Fucking Average cracking open a beer and opening up Voat for the first time, only to be greated by 9-11 or someone like @tallest_skil. They ain't staying. No. No, they are backing right the fuck up and leaving, never to return. Some of 'em are gonna block it at the firewall level, or at least use the HOSTS file.

We are not the kind of folks regular people want to visit. We might be able to advertise it as 'Come watch the criminally insane!'

Tallest_Skil ago

Good. Anyone stupid or cowardly enough not to be able to comprehend truth when they see it isn’t welcome here. Don’t like that, moishe? Tough shit.

Feel free to disprove anything I’ve said at any time, by the way.

TheBuddha ago

See?

You have my permission to reply.

Tallest_Skil ago

Thanks for admitting that you have never refuted a single thing that I have said.

TheBuddha ago

You don't say anything to refute. You don't even know what the word means. You're retarded.

Am I supposed to refute that you say shill and reported? Because no, you DO say those things. You say them because you're a fucking idiot.

You have my permission to speak to me one more time today. However, that's it. So, make it good.

Tallest_Skil ago

You don't say anything to refute.

Thanks for admitting that you’re a paid shill.

You don't even know what the word means. You're retarded.

Watch as the paid shill doesn’t substantiate any of his claims, yet again.

Am I supposed to refute that you say shill and reported? Because no, you DO say those things. You say them because you're a fucking idiot.

Translation: OY VEY GOYIM YOU DIDN’T SAY ANYTHING BECAUSE I SAY SO THAT MAKES IT TRUE NOW YOUR FACTS DON’T EXIST

The more I argued with them, the better I came to know their dialectic. First they counted on the stupidity of their adversary, and then, when there was no other way out, they themselves simply played stupid. If all this didn’t help, they pretended not to understand, or, if challenged, they changed the subject in a hurry, quoted platitudes which, if you accepted them, they immediately related to entirely different matters, and then, if again attacked, gave ground and pretended not to know exactly what you were talking about. Whenever you tried to attack one of these apostles, your hand closed on a jelly-like slime which divided up and poured through your fingers, but in the next moment collected again. But if you really struck one of these fellows so telling a blow that, observed by the audience, he couldn’t help but agree, and if you believed that this had taken you at least one step forward, your amazement was great the next day. The Jew had not the slightest recollection of the day before, he rattled off his same old nonsense as though nothing at all had happened, and, if indignantly challenged, affected amazement; he couldn’t remember a thing, except that he had proved the correctness of his assertions the previous day. Sometimes I stood there thunderstruck. I didn’t know what to be more amazed at: the agility of their tongues or their virtuosity at lying. Gradually I began to hate them.

CheeseboogersGhost ago

Yeah but people can still do their thing here. If some user is saying things that they don't like all they have to do is use the block feature.

Now, imagine Joe Fucking Average cracking open a beer and opening up Voat for the first time, only to be greated by 9-11 or someone like @tallest_skil. They ain't staying.

I get it. Maybe Voat needs to be two layers; There's the deep part where all can exist. Then out front there is one for privileged members? A Risky commenters tool. If you want to make a thread and their is a 'risky commenters not allowed' box to check. Now, we run into censorship and that sucks, and it would have to be hashed out WHO is a risky commenter but I think a system like that would work. Its probably the only way to save Voat. Maybe later once there are enough members drop the RC bullshit?

We are not the kind of folks regular people want to visit. We might be able to advertise it as 'Come watch the criminally insane!'

Or just COME AS YOU ARE

TheBuddha ago

AS YOU WERE, AS YOU WANT ME TO BE

He lied. He did have a gun.

CheeseboogersGhost ago

I want to see those crime scene photo's

TheBuddha ago

I'm pretty partial to my dog. I've known him longer than I've known the missus. Sometimes, I like him more.

CheeseboogersGhost ago

huh?

TheBuddha ago

I said he'd probably fuck my dog, or some weird shit. I like my dog.

CheeseboogersGhost ago

haha I'm lost. Who would fuck your duck?

TheBuddha ago

Dog and @9-11 and I just realized you meant Cobain's crime scene.

I was still stuck on imagining him fucking my dog and how the encounter would go.

CheeseboogersGhost ago

heh heh I was like wtf hahahaha

TheBuddha ago

Me too! It took me a minute.

When I get bored, I like to imagine him working at places like convenience stores and fast food joints. This amuses me.

CheeseboogersGhost ago

lol Are we talking about Cobain now or 9-11?

TheBuddha ago

Both, now that I think about it.

Here... Imagine the cash register broke and 9-11 has to figure out tax, count back change, and be polite to the customer - who is an asshole. Go on... Process that thought and tell me it didn't make you smile.

CheeseboogersGhost ago

I'm not gonna lie. It makes me smile

TheBuddha ago

Yeah... It's 1.42 and sales tax is 5%, so 1.49 and that only took him 20 minutes, six crayons, and now he's gotta figure out what to do next because she gave him 5.10!

I'd watch that shit on pirated YouTube videos.