Alpha Preview: Voat Votes (voatdev)

submitted ago by PuttItOut

I am going to start getting community feedback regarding the new Vote infrastructure we have been working on. When we release this feature, it will be a huge change for Voat, one I think will truly make Voat a community. I have always longed to empower the community content producers (submitters and commenters) rather than to centralize moderator power. It has always bothered me that a community can be hijacked by a single person or small group. It is my hope that this feature will make us all stakeholders and prevent some of the most obvious problems with platforms such as these.

This feature will introduce a ton of “what if” scenarios and we need to start thinking about the details in order that we introduce a solid feature.

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way we need to accomplish two things:

  1. We need to start testing the functionality that is present to ensure we don’t have any gaps in functionality that we will need.

  2. We need to start a dialog to find all the weak links and scenarios that this feature will introduce.

Work Flow

  1. Create and Edit Votes (Votes are private until you "publish" it and can be found in your profile under Votes tab).
  2. Publish Vote (This creates a submission to the subverse and allows others to see it, comment, and vote on it)
  3. When the Vote is "closed" the system will execute it, meaning the outcomes will be executed (Not implemented yet)

Create a new Vote:

In Subverse sidebar click "Create Vote"

https://preview.voat.co/v/whatever/vote/create

Find your Votes:

Click your profile name > then click Votes

To see Votes in a sub:

In Subverse sidebar click "View Votes"

https://preview.voat.co/v/whatever/votes

I will be answering questions in this post so if you have a question just comment and I'll get back to you.

Thanks Voat.

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Owlchemy ago

I guess I don't know enough about this whole idea to really comment intelligently, but I do have some concerns. I pretty much like Voat the way it is, otherwise I wouldn't have spent as much time here posting, so as with anything, change can be scary. My biggest concern is that I am in the vast majority here ... those who follow the Voat philosophy and have almost never banned or censored someone from any subs I mod. I've also spent a lot of time building up subs that I enjoy. So my concern is that it now sounds like in the interest of appeasing a few for the misdeeds of a tiny minority of mods like HenryCorp, I could be voted out of one of my own subs by a group which bands together for no other purpose but to take over a sub. Maybe I'm just reading more into this than there is ... but I don't get the point.

PuttItOut ago

Ok Owlchemy, let me try to take on a few points:

So my concern is ... I could be voted out of one of my own subs by a group which bands together for no other purpose but to take over a sub.

This is an issue I have given a lot of time thinking about. Part of sites like Voat is that a user can create their own unique eco-systems and I do not plan on abandoning this.

I do not want malicious take over of a sub by people that don't contribute to it.

So I've designed most of the infrastructure to give the "content producers" the power and to strip it from those who don't contribute. So if it is done right, a group of people who do not contribute to a sub will not be able to take it over. If you don't have skin in the game you have no power.

How this works: Votes with an outcome (mod removal for example) will have a restriction placed on it so that only contributors to that subverse can place votes. Just for simple purposes we can say that in order for a user to vote they would have to have say X comments in that subverse in the last Y days.

All these details are yet to be hammered out but I wanted to make sure you know that I am not enabling a mob here, I'm giving producers their voice back.

In addition, only certain subs will have these outcome votes allowed in them. I was thinking that once a sub gets to a certain size (posts per day, subscribers, etc) it then turns "public" and allows outcome votes.

NeedleStack ago

It sounds nice but I don't see how this stops a malicious takeover of a sub.

Let's say a group coordinates an attack against /v/JustGrowIt. They conspire a long con to post and comment in that sub several times a day in order to eventually be the top contributors.

After they get a strong foothold in the sub they would then upvoat each others' posts and comments (which I think is the definition of brigading?) enough to twist the sub to fit their agenda and ruin the original spirit of the sub. That could and would indeed enable a mob to take over a sub.

11750517? ago

Long cons are the major issue I see with all of this. /u/derram raised the same concern.

Liber ago

It’s obvious as soon as you read the new Vote idea. This is a way to give Voat to the content producers.

Who are the biggest content producers on Voat? They’re people with agendas and too much time. @PuttItOut is this really so shortsighted, or is it a way to sell Voat out?

Rotteuxx ago

Hey Discord fag, so this is one of you long term sleeper accounts ?

Yeah, who else would go around calling @Cheesebooger a ((( )))

Liber ago

Haha, this is my only account man. Don't feel like you have to fight (((Cheeseboogers))) fights for him, I'm sure the Rabbi is more than capable.

Rotteuxx ago

@Cheesebooger has 431 posts over an 8 month period, roughly a quarter of which are in 2 system subs & another rough quarter are shitposts.

So let's take a look at this a bit closer shall we :

8 months = 244 days

431 posts ÷ 244 = 1.76

Not even 2 posts a day, hardly a heavy content creator wouldn't you say ? More like an average user at best imo.

Add to that his posting history which contains nothing a kike agent would post, as a matter of fact it's quite the opposite, and your argument is nil.

So you see, I didn't attack you for making a valid point but rather a very shitty one. A poorly disguised character attack based on nothing, like we've seen so often from either fresh or barely active accounts.

Liber ago

I’m actually very surprised that you feel the need to defend Cheesebooger based on his amount of posts. Comments and the content of his posts and his earned contribution points are what set people aside.

Aside from that I understand that Cheesebooger isn’t the worst example of this and it’s possible that he just has too much of his life dedicated to an online forum.

Either way I’m still very curious as to why you’re trying to downplay the obvious problem with the changes to Voat.

Use logic to understand the implications of such a system and the old sentiment of cui bono?

Rotteuxx ago

I’m actually very surprised that you feel the need to defend Cheesebooger based on his amount of posts.

...

his earned contribution points are what set people aside.

Pick one and stick with it.

Use logic to understand the implications of such a system and the old sentiment of cui bono?

Cui bono isn't a sentiment, it's a question... you sure you want to adress logic ?

Liber ago

For you to take my last point in such a way clearly shows you live in a black and white world. I’m not asking who benefits, I already know..

Rotteuxx ago

For you to assume that such a badly written statement can be perceived as you intended it to be shows how self absorbed you can be as a person.

Next

Liber ago

Sorry I only just realised that I’m talking to a 12 year old. You have absolutely no idea what you’re even going on about.

I’m sure you will understand how to make logical deductions after high school. Next time add something to the conversation other than whining.

Rotteuxx ago

I know you are, but what am I ?

Womb_Raider ago

Never change, Rot. Never change.

Rotteuxx ago

Why would I :)

Womb_Raider ago

Well, everyone has to grow up eventually

Rotteuxx ago

But I love being a 12 yo.

I don't wanna gro up !

Womb_Raider ago

Taking things literally, for example, is indicative of either immaturity or potentially autism.

Rotteuxx ago

Or tiredness, linguistic differences & much more !

Cheesebooger ago

Thanks for defending me against these malicious accusations from this swinging dick.

AmaleksHairyAss ago

You are a niggerfaggot.

Cheesebooger ago

Thank you, sir.

Rotteuxx ago

No worries m8 !