My position on doxxing and harassment (announcements)

submitted ago by Atko

So today after a rather long day at work, I checked out Voat during my commute and noticed a bunch of posts and comments where people demanded that I take action and ban a user for threatening to doxx another Voat user.

First things first: I urge all Voat users to read this Computerworld article about doxxing. The article points out things you can do to stay protected and explains what doxxing is. This article can help you in the long run and the advice given in that article will help you more than any website owner/admin ever could. Period.

If you have been doxxed by another Voat user and would like your personal information removed from Voat, please send an email to [email protected] and provide screenshots and links to said information and I will do my best to remove it and ban the offenders.

I also urge you to contact your local police authority if you have received threats from other Voat users. The police will in turn contact us and we will offer our cooperation to the extent required by law.

Now, I have not received an official request to remove alleged personal information from Voat which was allegedly posted by this Voat user. Please be patient while I investigate this case. I will post an update later today once I piece together all information necessary to handle this case.

I would like to point out that over the course of the last 2 years, I have received several email requests to remove personal information from Voat and I have always complied with these requests.

My personal position on doxxing and harassment is that it is just wrong and I urge you to try and stay civil. I did not create Voat so that it can be used to harm other people. I cannot possibly offer this service and support it as much as I would want to because I have a full time job and Voat is a huge cost and a burden. Voat is also a platform which can be used for far greater things. I hope you will recognize the possibilities that Voat offers and cherish it and do everything you can to keep it alive. Voat has been under constant attack for far too long, and I am positive that many high ranking political figures would be happy to see Voat shut down.

Edit: I could not find any evidence of doxxing taking place in this particular case. A user did send a threat to doxx another user, but the actual doxxing never took place. As such, I have decided not to ban any Voat accounts in this case and PuttItOut supports my decision. Our intent is to give Voat users as much freedom as permitted by law, and to achieve this, a lawyer is currently working on creating a new Voat terms of use/guideline document which should serve as a definite guide on how we operate in the future. Please send an email to [email protected] if you are being harassed by other Voat users, and if you see anyone breaking the law, please report it to your local police department and also notify us by email.

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G4 ago

Thank you Atko. I can't imagine all of the shit that you have to put up with because of this site. It means a lot that you listen to your users and address issues professionally.

Atko ago

For the record, I have received death threats from Voat users so the shit I have to put up with is hard to comprehend even for me, after all this time. The good thing is that I have been so close to getting killed so many times as a child that I have become desensitized to it. Just a quick example: I have watched a man get hit by sniper bullets while others tried to throw a rope and pull this wounded person back to safety... I have been shell-shocked so many times I lost the count. As a result, I have tinnitus and I can never hear silence again. Anyways. I have work to do with this thing and I also need to grab something to eat, I ate only once today.

babajee ago

wow man. I thought i was the only one here with adventures!! hav been injurd in a bomb blast, kidnapped and tortured for a month...

life is cruel but fk it

ruptured_pomposity ago

I'm sure you have some crazy stories, Amigo. Keep on keeping on.

Jazsper ago

This guys john rambo

1982 ago

It's the internet mate, cunts will be cunts. Don't let it get you down.

BlackBeltBob ago

Recent reddit post about a cure for tinnitus. Not sure if it will help, but some people seem to be glad with it.

Bosnia was some mean shit. Respect, man!

Ecilsemoh ago

Rough stuff man... Bosnia?

1smartass ago

I have received death threats from Voat users

You mean Redditors who've come to Voat to harass you. I'm a long time Redditor(10+years), a lot of Redditors come over here and use the same username, especially several I know to be major assholes over at Reddit.

You have a lot of Voat users who've had plenty of practice at Reddit on how to be an asshole from their keyboards.

typos4ya ago

Death threats? This fucking place had such good timing, is a good concept, but damn we need more people to even out the crowd. Voat needs to fucking market itself.

TLDR for the Admin/Mod: Hey fuckers, I may or not ban someone in time, if at all, especially when I have a life that I must attend to most of the time, yet I am not your security daddy, nor am I the single force of regulation within this community. I'll do my shit but you need to eventually learn how to protect yourselves.

I deal with death threats for you thumb sucking needle-dicks.

axolotl__peyotl ago

Amazing.

When they turn your book into a movie I want Shia LaBeouf to play me k?

Thanks for everything.

Forinauta ago

I have tinnitus

I find this on the other site, hope it helps:

Place the palms of your hands over your ears with fingers resting gently on the back of your head. Your middle fingers should point toward one another just above the base of your skull. Place your index fingers on top of you middle fingers and snap them (the index fingers) onto the skull making a loud, drumming noise. Repeat 40-50 times. Some people experience immediate relief with this method. Repeat several times a day for as long as necessary to reduce tinnitus.Dr. Jan Strydom, of A2Z of Health, Beauty and Fintess.org.

luddite ago

I have received death threats from Voat users

I hope you have had the time to follow up on these with the police.

cynoclast ago

Have you tried this:

Place the palms of your hands over your ears with fingers resting gently on the back of your head. Your middle fingers should point toward one another just above the base of your skull. Place your index fingers on top of you middle fingers and snap them (the index fingers) onto the skull making a loud, drumming noise. Repeat 40-50 times. Some people experience immediate relief with this method. Repeat several times a day for as long as necessary to reduce tinnitus.Dr. Jan Strydom, of A2Z of Health, Beauty and Fintess.org.

? Apparently it worked for a bunch of people at least temporarily.

PandoraTheFirst ago

Respect. Thank you for your reasonable explanation above and for handing all this shit so sensibly. And thank you for sharing a bit of your personal perspective with us. Now I know how you can stay so cool though all of this. After being through what you have, dealing with the pests on this site must seem like swatting houseflies. Not sure I could have been so patient.

123_456 ago

Please keep in mind that the people who threaten you might not be real Voat users. It just may be the case that they are from other competing websites, like reddit, and are trying to scare you. Death threats, which by the way are illegal. You can report them to police.

2669367? ago

Shit mate, that's some hard memories to carry. Stay strong.

OpenSource ago

If you have tinnitus you might want to try this :

Place the palms of your hands over your ears with fingers resting gently on the back of your head. Your middle fingers should point toward one another just above the base of your skull. Place your index fingers on top of you middle fingers and snap them (the index fingers) onto the skull making a loud, drumming noise. Repeat 40-50 times. Some people experience immediate relief with this method. Repeat several times a day for as long as necessary to reduce tinnitus.Dr. Jan Strydom, of A2Z of Health, Beauty and Fintess.org. This always works for me.

sheepsexplode ago

Really wish there was something we could do to help you out. You have created a place for free speech but I don't feel you are getting the reward you deserve. If there is anything we can do as a community or individually please let us know. I too work a full time job but I wish I could help you with what I know is your second unpaid job that probably you spend more time on and get less reward. You deserve any help you need though vetting users and their intents could be near impossible. For now please keep up the good work. Thank you for being the amazing person you are.

akornblatt ago

tinnitus

Have you tried this?

Zenocide ago

Thank you for providing this platform for us Atko.

By and large Voat is free from any kind of political manipulation and does it's very best to offer as much freedom as possible while staying on the right side of a moral standpoint.

I think you do a great job walking the line and I appreciate your efforts, as I believe the majority of Voaters do as well.

Let us know what we can do to help you.

Gasablanca ago

Thank you so much for providing this platform of free speech for us

1smartass ago

It ain't free, I can name off a Redditor who's a major propagandist/activist who uses Voat's mod tools to censor in the same way he and other Reddit mods do. On Reddit, he has 150 subreddits under one name, and with the same name, he has 10 over here at Voat, but I doubt he can resist starting other accounts so he can have more subverses to control.

He also finds the time to work other sites under the same name, like Twitter and Tumbler.

babajee ago

people hav so much time?? the fuck?? i seriously think reddit mods hav no life.. some people are just born to 'report'.. i hav seen some mods who hav THOUSANDS OF THOUSANDS of KARMA on reddit... ALL they post is REPORTS on spam.. i hav been in fight with many of those losers.. hahaha

Gasablanca ago

Under what cause is this person a propagandist for?

1smartass ago

Mostly anti GMO - pro organic. He actually started a hate page against a prominent scientist who doesn't even work on GMOs, he's just pro GMO.

Kleyno ago

Where in the hell did you have your childhood?!

Fuck man just... fuck.

nigganaut ago

Where is he from?

American here. Grow up in the south. Many of us experience very similar things simply to earn an education (a ticket out of methville). I was 18 the first time I saw a man split at the pelvis. He didn't scream, just sort of moaned as he tried to scoop his insides back into himself. Wasn't the last time I saw it. To echo atko's experiebcw, I'm also 50% deaf in my left ear. No disability was approved. The worst part is that my two ears ring in different pitches.

Not looking for sympathy, just want to say that he could be from America. Your corner of the US doesn't define America

Kleyno ago

You're right, my corner of America does not define America, because I am not even from your country.

Perhaps you should start by not assuming that everyone who posts online is from America, sincerely, rest of the world. :)

nigganaut ago

Way to attempt to completely dodge my point by becoming offended over nothing.

just_signed_up ago

The Danger Zone.

Atko ago

In Bosnia, April 1992– December 14th 1995. I woke up one day and there was a war raging outside. Just like that. I even started to write a book (in English) about my childhood during this period but at one point it became too painful to relive those memories so I stopped writing. I really hope to continue someday. I spent the last 6 or 7 years or so of my life in Sweden and I am currently living in Switzerland.

Vithar42 ago

One of my best friends grew up in Zenica during that time. The stories from people who were actually their and not the propaganda from the news are crazy and I'm glad you made it out more or less safe.

The_Wanderer ago

So, you are Slavic. I wondered if "Atiff Colo" was a common Germanic/Nordic name...

I'm sorry to hear that your childhood was such a trainwreck. That war got extraordinarily nasty extraordinarily quick for being so close to Europe.

escapefromredditbay ago

that's sounds like a fascinating experience. just, good luck for being here, man, congratulations.

PotatoFarm ago

Wow, just wow. Anyway, as usual amazing job man.

tame ago

I remember seeing that stuff going on on TV when I was a kid. Some truly bad shit happened over there. I'm glad you got out.

kintsugidream ago

I hope someday you do write that book.

savageslav ago

Pozdrav zemljak :) ... I just wanted to thank you for giving us this site. Stop by /v/Slavs form time to time.

Lake ago

I know this isn't the best source (It's Reddit) but maybe this could help your tinnitus?

https://np.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/3l3uri/these_guys_lighting_a_mortar_shell_in_their_garage/cv3474n

middle_path ago

It has just occurred to me that many vocal users of Voat would have liked to stop you from moving to Sweden all those years ago (I am talking about the anti-immigration crowd, of course). I think you are an awesome person for allowing those that would have loved for you to stay in Bosnia to still have a voice online. Voat may be full of racists, xenophobes, and a whole mess of other unsightly ideals - but all we are doing is typing words. Simple harmless words.

What you have experienced in those few years is unimaginable to me and US citizen, but those experiences helped shape you into the person you are. Keep on trucking, man. If you ever find yourself in the USA, Maryland to be be specific, I will buy you a drink and make you dinner.

Achtung_Shitlord ago

Don't even try to compare people coming in from the war in Yugoslavia with the completely uncontrolled mass streams of refugees and what not coming into Germany, for example. The numbers are completely different and there is no cap on the people coming into my country.

Voat may be full of racists, xenophobes, and a whole mess of other unsightly ideals

You can call me what you want but I assure you hardly any of us in this country is thrilled with what is happening here. Then we are all racists, xenophobes and whole mess of other unsightly ideals. No SJW polemics is going to change my view and the genuine fear I have for the future of this place. It's over for us.

Captain_Teemo ago

I'm quite sure the people are talking about wouldn't mind about him moving to Sweden, the reason they are so apposed to Muslims moving into Europe is that they believe that they refuse to assimilate and abide by the new laws in the land they are in and only wish to carry out their archaic and barbaric practices. I don't know how different the people of Bosnia and Sweden but I can't imagine they are too vastly different.

SpicyChickenJ ago

Also, a lot of the current migrants aren't coming from war zones.

For example, the family of the famous dead toddler had been living in Turkey for three years. They only attempted to move to Western Europe because the father wanted free dental work.

Gorillion ago

Bosnia is the former Yugoslavia, so the basic ethnicity is "Slavic".

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/the-bosnia-crisis-serbs-croats-and-muslims-who-hates-who-and-why-tony-barber-in-zagreb-traces-the-1539305.html

I'm vague on the whole Bosnian crisis, but according to this it was the same cultural clash people are fearing in the rest of Europe now. 3 races, 2 defined by ethnicity (Serbs and Croats) and one by religion (Muslim). But the tensions had been going back forever and it was the two ethnic groups who started going hard at each other.

This is all post-Soviet control. So it was likely all that shit was being kept down by the Russians.

Sweden's current identity crisis is more likely to enable clashes among various ethnic groups than create a successful "melting pot". Neo-nazis are already on the rise thru Europe. So if it isn't "old world" tensions starting shit, or Muslims going all Sharia, it will be the Swedish Nationalists starting it.

Atko would be better off in Switzerland for the time being, if he wants to avoid potential doorstep wars in the near future.

dancemonkey ago

You should finish that book- how much did Zlata make with her diary?! Anyway, fair play to you- I was friends with some Bosnian refugee girls as a kid and that was a horrible situation for everyone. Congrats on becoming a successful adult and our Benevolent Leader whom we love dearly.

toobaditworks ago

I hope you eventually do continue to write it.

WakkoWarner ago

I was 14 back then, i remember that i watched it on TV... it was horrible. I was scared, after all it was happening on the other side of my sea, i can't imagine what you might have gone through. Did you run away? If you ever finish that book i am interested in reading it.

ChokingHazard ago

Out of curiosity which ethnic group are/were you part of?

ATKO_AMALEK3 ago

Trying to market a book and make us feel sorry for his Muslim ass.

Too bad you weren't executed and massacred like some of your friends and family.

SocialPuppetWario ago

Man, what the fuck?! I'm only here for the v/niggers community and even I think this shit was out of line. @Atko has been pretty damned transparent and unbiased from the get go. What the hell is your problem? Being an edge lord on the Internet isn't working for you bro. Re-evaluate your shit.

destinthegreat ago

He said he isn't writing a book

Nationalist ago

That's the only objection you had to that comment?

toats ago

I'm sure you're aware already but it might be very helpful therapeutically to write your book, to work at being able to recall those memories with acceptance. Slowly of course, change doesn't happen overnight.

you-dumbass ago

Hell we might be able to crowdfund the publishing, I would contribute if I had money

media4voat ago

Today in mod news: feminist SJW mods @Mick and @Arotaes_Forgehammer and @FuzzyWords get butthurt after they get CAUGHT POSTING CHILD PORN. Try to blame it on @Atko

Voat to throw celebration after these whiney faggot crybabies throw their temper tantrums and storm off with all their toys LOLOL! U MAD? :)

BUT BUT BUT manhood academy's opinions are sooooooooooooo controversial!!!!! they want live debates and discussion!!!! we can't have that on voat!!! instead let's encourage guys like this who tell us that "blacks have smaller brains”...yeah that's MUCH more acceptable than manhood academy wanting free speech on voat.!!!

so glad these faggot crybaby mods are now on the receiving end of their own bullshit faggot censorship policies LOLOLOL! :)

HOW DOES IT FEEL FAGGOTS? :) HHAHAHAHAHAH!

Arotaes_Forgehammer ago

I'd put in $100 if I could.

you-dumbass ago

With you at the craps table you might be to fund the whole thing

Arotaes_Forgehammer ago

Tru dat.