The Voat platform is 1) compromised 2) inefficient 3) ineffective
I have an idea to make a social platform specifically for pizzagate. It will be very easy for me to do, since I already have built a social network site for a different purpose, but can repurpose the code for this investigation.
The fact is, we have no organization here with what needs to be researched. We have diamond posts and stellar leads that are being buried beneath all the crap that is being posted.
The platform that I can make for Pizzagate would enable us to have a greater reach to the general public (you'll see how once it's built) and allow us to be much more effective and efficient with our investigatory process.
Before I go full speed ahead to put the website together, I need to hear your opinions.
1) Would you be willing to use the platform if I can successfully deliver (and yes, I can successfully deliver. I just need to make sure all the bases are covered, which I am discussing now).
2) How many of you would have time and interest to help moderate the site?
3) There are two potential domain names I've considered. We can keep pizzagate in the domain (pizzagatejustice.com) or we can do something more general (citizeninvestigators.com) Cast your vote for the name style you think would be best for this.
4) I am willing to put my time and effort into building this (and quickly too) however there obviously will be costs to maintain and improve the servers and maintain the site. I can't afford to pay for all this stuff as the site would grow and require more server space. Are you all willing to pitch in to help cover the costs of running the site once it grows?
I basically am looking for your commitment before I dive in. I think this will be really great for our cause, but I can't do it alone. I can promise that I can build a very kickass platform for us to improve and supercharge the public investigatory process, as well make it SUPER simple for us to spread information from the investigation to the masses. But I need your support. Let me know. If you're with me, I am ready to start doing this right now.
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ghost_marauder ago
No, I am not willing to devote attention to a product not created, that does not have a proper proposal, and would be on untested grounds. Sorry, but if other people move that way and it shows to be secure and useful I would, but you haven't dropped any of the following which just makes me think this is the crappiest sales pitch I've ever heard.
1.) Feature documentation - what's it got over voat and how will the user layout be
2.) Basic assurance of tech to support a DDoS attack - can the systems you plan on putting this onto handle a full blown attack. Are you going to use f5 or HAProxy. Is this going to be some product that you don't care about the architecture and hand off to Amazon to host (in which case - hell no)
3.) Permission control schematic should definitely be highlighted in number one. What algorithm and method do you purpose to keep shills out. Easy enough to say you will, but that's just bullshit.
voatsucksreally ago
I can understand your hesitance to pledge support before seeing the final product. I do agree that most people will be willing to use it once it has built traction and credibility. This isn't necessarily a sales pitch (I will impress you with that once I have organized the platform). This is more of a gauge of interest.
1) Feature documentation. I planned to just build it out and let the features speak for itself - I am confident in my ability to provide pertinent features, and confident in the power of open collaboration to continually suggest feature additions as time goes on. To give you a general idea - it is going to allow user-submitted posts just as voat/reddit does (albeit with a different deign and less noise). It will also include a section for verifiable evidence organized in a persuasive, beautiful, and succinct manner. I will include embedded chats on a section of the site for everyone to live chat. I will include social sharing buttons that will enable user-submitted posts to be shared on reddit, FB, twitter, etc with the click of a button (this will help expand the information and not just keep it contained, for instance how voat/reddit work). These are just a few of the features I will include.
2) I will be honest that I am not a security expert. However, people are doing research on 4chan (DDos'd several times). People were doing research on reddit (sub completely wiped clean by administrators). Do we know if Voat is using f5 or HAProxy? Yet we are all doing research here. I feel that once it gains traction, then perhaps some fellow citizen investigators will offer their support on the security side of things. What have we got to lose?
3) Permission control is definitely important. Obviously Voat is compromised, so we do not even have it here. My initial thought about shill control is to dedicate a section of the website for us to specifically list their tactics, and provide a list of suspected shills as we have here. The biggest deterrent of shills will be embedded in the design of the site. On Voat, shills have power to upvote their bullshit and downvote the good stuff so that it gets buried away. With the dedicated Pizzagate site, I will build it in such a manner that "old" posts do not get buried after a few days - on the contrary, I will make it so that each important subject has it's own place for ongoing discussion to build onto as time progresses. I would also love to hear other people's suggestions on shill control - as I said, I can't do it all alone.
VieBleu ago
Answer these questions:
It is time for people to come forward who are known entities- bring forward donars, backers, celebrities, media, or journalists, whatever you can muster, to verify that THIS site is indeed a step forward in the civilian look at pizzagate and its associated criminal activites.
You need to provide COMPELLING reasons to continue this movement towards your conservatorshiop and you have so far not really done that. This is not just a game that can be moved around like pawns on a board.
anonentity ago
Build it and they will come. Give the addy on relevant sites. It would be great to have as many cross checking sites as possible.
ghost_marauder ago
1.) So SCRUM. K, doesn't really come off as thought out.
2.) They use a simple load balancer yes, most sites do. They also use cloudflare which although I do not know the technicals of (never wanted or had to use it) does seem as an active deterrent against DDoS. But, really you need to think about security from the get go. Otherwise provide massive anonymity. Both sides have their downfall.
This site doesn't require an email (although that's an easy bypass) and user's are more willing to work on anon systems. This allows shills to create as many shell accounts to move between as they need. A simple bit of web-scraping tech and they could flood this place.
Semi-Anonymous is prone to hacking internal user data. Minimum required is an IP address, that can be spoofed easily. Invites are a good method, but you always have some jerk letting in tons of idiots to write. You would need a punitive method that moved upwards. They put on a trojan user to hold open the door then knocking out the shill should also knock out the trojan and anybody who he let in. Solid method, but nobody the time to get a user base becomes ridiculously long.
Plus I have no idea what database you're thinking about. SQL injection attacks are a dime a dozen, but no sql is far more dangerous to a system if an injection attack succeeds. If you have no idea about security, you're going to get people hammered. to the wall.
3.) Internal shill hunting is stupid. Learn a bit of Lean 6 sigma. Post inspections never work as well as having a solid method implemented originally which is shown to reduce defects.
voatsucksreally ago
1) Nah, I wouldn't call it scrum. It's iteration. I have a plan for how to build it and which features, but I'd rather just go ahead and build it. Then, if people have other features to suggest, those can be built on as time passes. I'm very familiar with 6 sigma, lean startup concepts, etc. Iteration is key. That is why I will build what I think is necessary by my own opinion and by the suggestions you guys give, and then we can all continue to improve it from there.
2) As far as general security, of course I have thought about that. I just mean that I'm not as skilled as a cyber security professional would be on the technical side of things. Some initial security considerations - the new site will also not require emails (even if emails were required, there are plenty of temp-email services shills and others can/would use to bypass). It is going to be completely anonymous. Yes, we will still have a problem with shills, but they will not have as much influence over what submissions get seen and what does not. Their biggest power will be in manipulating the dialogue, which in reality can't be controlled no matter where we are. Our biggest defense is to provide the best and most persuasive dialogue. I will not implement any features that will increase the chance of identifiable user data being stored and/or stolen. Will have to keep it simple - I've considered the invite route but I think our main goal at this point is to spread information as wide as we can, and as you mentioned it would take too long to build the userbase that way (not to mention, it would make people are susceptible to being personally identified).
3) In the end, we can never eradicate the shills. The best we can do is learn what tactics they use and implement solutions to deter them as much as possible.
ghost_marauder ago
If you can think up methods around this https://cryptome.org/2012/07/gent-forum-spies.htm you'll have the best platform out there. Good luck.