Today, PuttitOut announced the possibility of a closure of Voat due to financial constraints.
Since Voat is one of the few places left where free speech is not a wish but reality, we urge you to donate. A small amount of 5 to 10 Dollars on a regular basis could do it, provided the Voat community can activate enough users.
https://store.voat.co/donations
Questions we hope to answer shortly:
How to donate anonymously if you don’t have bitcoins or a prepaid credit card?
How do donate a larger sum than 50 Dollars? EDIT: Easy. To donate 200 $ just "buy" four 50 $ donations at once.
We can pull this off, Pizzagaters!
Crensch showed us how in a comment:
At $5 a pop, 1,320 Goat Horns would need bought for the usage costs.
At $20/month for 5 Goat Horns + to-be-released-benefits, only 330 goats would need to subscribe.
Have a system-run subverse that can hit "all" where GHd comments and submissions are on display, and instead of, or in addition to the highlighted subverse, have the top GHd comment/submission on the front of /all no matter what for X amount of time.
For $50/month have your username made a different color for your posts/comments so people can see that you heavily support voat without having to click on your username.
Only 132 goats would need to subscribe to that for the month's costs. Maybe another one for 100? 66 goats.
Some combination of all of these would likely work to bring us close to server-cost levels.
Let's all work together to keep Voat afloat. Let's help keep our Voatie Goat going until that angel comes along: Set up a repeating donation. You even get a cool new badge every month when the money transfers over. We can fight or we can fold!
As I sit here about to write one of the most difficult announcements yet, I was just reminded that my account is one month shy of three years old. Nearly three years ago I came here from Reddit when the vote counts disappeared and I felt I could no longer trust what I saw. Nearly three years ago I met @Atko and started contributing code because I believed in him, his mission, and what he was doing. So much has happened during these last three years.
I know a lot of you are new, but Voat has been through a wild ride, and never at any point was it an easy one. My memories are bittersweet when it comes to Voat. I’ve sacrificed the best years of my life for Voat, I’ve lost my business partner whom I miss a lot, I’ve lost people in my life, I’ve given up golf which was my passion, and even with all this I still believe in Voat. I still see the dire need for Free Speech in this world, I fear a world without it, and I still will do anything I can to continue providing it.
But alas, I am powerless to keep Voat running without financial support. As of right now Voat has no solid commitments. Voat has always needed a financial partner whom had balls of steel and backing deep enough to give Voat the capabilities to run as an actual business (being able to hire staff and set itself apart from its competitors), not just a one man show. Potential investors have one or the other of these traits, but we have yet to find one with both. In this day and age, this is Voat’s unicorn.
In the past Voat has been lucky enough to be part of special programs designed for startup companies which gave us free licensing on various products and significantly reduced hosting costs. These programs have since expired and we are now paying full costs. Last month was our first non-discounted month on Azure and the usage was $6,600.90 USD. Donations, ads, and merchandise only put a dent in this and this is the primary reason why we have not launched another merchandise run. And begging for donations was always something we hated doing.
I’m writing this announcement to prepare this community, and the Voat family, for the possibility of a closure. I’m not certain on timing and I have too much invested in this place to give up just yet, so I cannot provide any timelines. In the meantime, I will soon be scaling back all Voat’s servers by at least 50%. I will also turn off some features that are resource intensive.
Voat needs funding. Without it, Voat will be no more.
Voat needs an Angel
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ArmedExorcist ago
Whatever you do, be careful not to dox yourself or reveal your true identity by making a donation. We never know who are or will be the actual people behind Voat. Foes or friends? We don't live in times when appearances are to be trusted. If Voat goes away, someone or something else will replace it. "Nothing could stop an idea whose time has come" (Victor Hugo).
adam_danischewski ago
Anonymity doesn't accomplish much these days - you will be known regardless of any attempts to remain anonymous. There is a slight bit of truth in that what is ALLOWED to be utilized about what is known about you may be limited if you have taken precautions to remain anonymous -- yet, if empowered people truly want to target you for some reason they will simply use the data they can't use to find a way to obtain data they CAN USE and target you anyway. Anonymity is like a cheap lock on a motorcycle, it's not really going to stop someone who is determined to take your specific motorcycle yet it may deter someone who isn't very motivated. Ultimately the question is how sincere are you about outing the truth and do you want people to know that you were targeted if it happens. If you remain anonymous, and you get targeted and killed it's very likely that no one will have a clue about it. Think about the big picture before you make a decision - this is my real name here and you can find me on YouTube and other places - you know the way I voted on it.
ArmedExorcist ago
The strength of anonymity is not in its inviolability but in the numbers of those choosing to act anonymously. In theory, we may be all "identifiable", but why make it easy for them?
Those we are against are themselves faceless. Give them their own medicine. Yes, "accidents" happen. Both known and unknown whistleblowers die in "street robbery" and "car" accidents suffer from "heart attacks", or "hang themselves". The truth of what happened to them is always just another "conspiracy". Do you think that public notoriety will protect you? If you get a thrill out of making yourself a "target", go ahead, reveal your position. I'd rather remain in the shadows. At least for now. At this point it's either us or them. I know my cover is imperfect. But I'm not going down without a fight.
adam_danischewski ago
Before this lifetime, we were arrested and murdered multiple times - we have stayed the course. Now, I am immune from most of those attacks. If you are effective you will get targeted regardless of your "anonymity" (there is none). If you consider the situation from the long term pov - looking back at events as if they were on pages in a book, and you are finally at relative safety. What will you think then of your attempt at trying to remain anonymous?
ArmedExorcist ago
Before (it there was a before) this lifetime, things might have been different. Do you remember all of it? I don't. Whether fighting clandestinely or into the open, let's try to figure out who we are before our enemy does.
adam_danischewski ago
I have the brain thumbnails from the past like everyone else, yet I know what they are and how to use them to daisy chain back to more details of the events that they correspond to. You can't keep hidden from your enemy in this world, it is a highly controlled environment - you live in a GOD computer, you pilot a human body. Those who have enough privileges/"power" can access your brain and all your body devices - see out of your eyes, hear out of your ears. The administrators of this world are repugnant SADO's and it goes all the way to the "top" (the most empowered sovereign of the Grand Machine - including many disparate interconnected universes that are quantum entangled) - this is/was one of his most preferred worlds to "play with". If you really want to "win" you need to define yourself in a document, including that you are non first order thievery and of a non first order thievery godhead and stay on the definition with the way you live your life. Be-forewarned, when I speak the truth the administrators hate it and they will program you to ignore what I have said in this in many other comments (find my other comments on this site) - you need to fight off the counter programming and FORCE YOURSELF to write down the truth and utilize it.