We appreciate you man, I've always been happy with voat just the way it is. I don't mind the ideas but I've been thrilled since the first day. I don't have a problem with the suggestions if they want to mess around in dev but I certainly don't want you to have to spend any extra time doing that.

BUT

SOMEHOW

YOU

DON'T

HAVE

TIME

TO

DO

SUBVERSE

TRANSFERS

FOR

AN

ENTIRE

MOTHER

FUCKING

YEAR

NOR

GROW

THE

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AT

ALL

you are lying, kevdude - - i mean, @puttitout @puttitout @puttitout @puttitout @puttitout

Thanks for all you do.

I was one of the only guys who defended you and thanked you in that old thread. I was disappointed at all the suspicion and even hate you received, especially considering how much work you put into the site.

I will say this though: If you had just very quickly said back then: "burnt out, and just had a week off to see my mum - will give more detail later", I think that would have done a lot to calm down the atmosphere. I'm not excusing the response you got, but fears would have been allayed.

Your work is very much appreciated. I work in the software business and I've noticed that you've been wearing many hats.. working on dev ops, development, and creating requirements. That's a pretty big job for one person.

Be sure to set aside enough time for your putter.

.....so....ask for help..... Stop doing it alone.....

i love you.

Write the word "berries" if you are writing this under duress.

Thanks for everything! We <3 you

hi Putt, there are a lot of monetization solutions that I think everyone would happily support here. I suggested a while back and PM'd you that we could include an inetgrated Cryptocurrency type tipping/gifting system in the Voat framework, and the site takes a % of all transactions as a service fee to help generate funds. I do not think anyone wants you to spend your time for free, community is happy to help.

https://voat.co/v/whatever/1305583/6399475

My comment from 1.5 years ago seems rather apropos for now .... just saying.

Dude. You are doing more for Freedom than any of us.

I fucking salute you, niggerfaggot.

Isn't the obvious solution here for other people to create alternative/clones of Voat to alleviate this being the only place we come to? On the alternatives the owners can then add features that you do not have time to work on.

Thanks for putting up with us too.

If you feel bad dipping into Voat finances to pay yourself, consider a bitcoin tip jar denoted specifically for administrative funding. Then we can donate to you (and/or other helpers as you see fit) and you won't have any conflict about taking it for yourself. Keeping yourself in a good frame of mind (some nice dinners, new toys, maid service, whatever...) to manage the site is just as important as keeping the servers happy.

I always thought you were badass. My original offer for a round of golf still stands. If you're in the LA/OC area just let me know.

Don't worry about Voat, the people will always be here. Thank you immensely for all the work you have done.

Hey! This is all fine and dandy but i wanna know why voat is no longer potentially on fire when its down for maintenance!?

Fight the confirmation bias. The users that are happy to just have the place keep running don't spend all day making hate threads about the people who keep it running.

Well, first, obviously, thank you. I don't know how many times I said this to you and atko and the other guys that collaborated with css, bug chasing, suggestions. But one more will not hurt. Thank you.

Second, if you allow a suggestion, pay more attention to the hugs than to the slaps. There were a lot of people here really concerned about you and voat. I know, we don't know you, what right do we have to be concerned? Well, this is the price of being in a position of evidence. You are a faceless celebrity, deal with it.

Third, remember that the one who always says you're right it's not necessarily your friend, and the one who occasionally says you're wrong is not necessary your enemy.

There's people that will always piss on you whatever you do, we all know this. The hard part is discerning this from the legitimate/sincere questions and critics.

I can't and don't want to tell you how to live your life, but I can offer you my view: if you had made an announcement after the blackout, and said that you wouldn't have time to discuss every comment, there would be attacks, but the overall result would be better. IMO, of course. IDK if you'll even read this, but if you do, remember that this is human to human, not user to admin or group versus group. If you can take anything useful from it, I'll be glad.

This should have been your first post when when you realized what happened and the servers were back up. Did you not want to admit you are burned out? I would've been less sketched out if you would have been honest in the beginning.

Welcome to the world of open source. 98% of users of open source projects are parasites, who'll take your best work and then hurl disparagement when you don't instantly implement their "feature requests" or respond to support requests as if they're paying you $200/hr. I guess when you give your best work for free, people feel entitled to more of the same.

Does Putt accept BitCoin for his troubles?

Don't let the (((whiners))) get you down.

yeah i did that. i spent more time on voat than you. i have all the time in the world to take voat. of course, you're a shill and wouldn't give it to better people. so i've spent the year learning to code, growing a dev team, and building the replacement to voat.

that's right @puttitout @puttitout @puttitout @puttitout @puttitout prepare your anus.

Many of us disagree with the critics and think you’ve done a great job. Don’t let whiny cunts get to you.

We love you puttko, and we understand your burdens. Its just a vocal minority that cant hold in their verbal diarrhea. Don't let them discourage you, and take whatever breaks you need. And also remember that some of these people are paid to compel you into abandoning voat.

Its alright Putt, after you complete the user data wipe this week Voat will be back to normal.

Oh, well look at that. Glad the big man isn't disappeared. Go get yourself a vacation.

I can't do enough to satisfy this community.

Welcome to being a leader of anything on the internet.

I just want this place to stay up. I don't need a bunch of random features. here's to hope you can take care of yourself and keep Voat up second

Been looking forward to your new framework for some time now.

I posted this a few days ago, hoping to put a smile on your face.

Let us know what we can do to help, bud.

It's not a conspiracy. It's rather simple.

Here's the problem, Putt, that you still don't seem to understand:

You saying it isn't a conspiracy conveys your misunderstanding. See, there are those of us that seek out vulnerabilities, who seek out corrupted systems, and even some that look for snakes in the grass.

You exclaiming the problems you're facing looks to some of us like the tall grass bending while we hear the hiss of a slithering snake. Do we know where it is? No (that's the fun part!).

Maybe I should make it more clear: you getting "burnt out" or 'in over your head' is exactly the thing some of us look for. Do you know how many sites have been taken over/down due to administration issues you're discovering as such? Do you know the history of the old sites, back before the memetic councils at the UN, or Media Matters, ShareBlue, Correct The Record, Act.Il, Camera, Unit 8200, leftypol, or our disruptive friends from /b/? No, you don't. It's rather apparent.

You see, the same pattern exposes itself right around this point like clockwork. I wrote this for our friend @kevdude the other day, and now it's time for you to read it, as, conveniently, you've basically laid out exactly the framework I'd proposed the other day, and it's all being hurried as we speak. Here's the excerpt:

It starts off with people focusing way too hard on semetic influence, the users all adopt similar quirks that all have something to do with nazis, they regularly post swastikas and thunderbolts, talk about the fourteen words, and regularly mention violence towards jews and niggers and others.

Next, other weird theories pop up - you've got flat earth/hollow earth, Illuminati stuff (which is seeming more and more of an actual issue these days), aliens, people never having died, and then even other crazy things like that. Well, it usually ends with child porn being posted and the site being shut down or taking on new owners... sort of like the atko and putt situation...

You should take the time to read that, especially since I fucking warned you about this particular thing happening months ago. Surely enough, you're about to hand the site off to someone with "more time on their hands." And, surely enough, we'll see the same exact thing many of us have seem plenty of times - the fall of a site that brought us together to expose things or speak of things we couldn't in other places.

Unfortunately, Putt, it's NOT rather simple.

@puttitout both sides have legit causes for concern. i know you get a ton of message spam but please hear me out.

the users aren't ungrateful (well some of them are but that's just how it goes) they're just ignorant. they don't see all the work you do and the hours you put in behind the scenes so you can't really blame them too much for not understanding that. to them voat is like a utility service and they don't really know how or why it works it just does, and to the extent they do understand i think they are grateful. and it doesn't help that communication from the admins to the userbase has always been a major weak point of this site. and when the site crashes for a week and the admin is awol you can hardly blame people for being a little worried.

aside from that as the boss it is incumbent upon you to communicate to the users when you are upset or burned out or whatever is going on and not expect everyone to be a mind reader. that could be as simple as writing a post on /v/announcements, updating a twitter, a blog, etc. it doesn't have to be a big thing. and if you need help you need to tell us that. and then you need to actually let people do it! a lot of people here would gladly step up if you only asked and offered them an opportunity. people beg to donate and help in various ways and are met with radio silence, vague/empty promises, etc meanwhile the store and donations are broken/offline. that is just unacceptable.

as for people not appreciating your changes that you worked really hard on all i can say is try to understand human nature and be reasonable and look at it from their point of view. it's great that you want to improve the site and worked hard on it but at the same time a lot of people might like the site the way it is and/or they might be okay with changes but might not understand where you are trying to go. either way when you take something people love and start changing it, even if it's for the better, a certain percentage are going to get upset about that. this is human nature, it's not personal my dude.

if this site has any chance of long-term survival is absolutely crtitical to be realistic and open and honest with yourself as well as the users about where you stand in terms of the commitment level to the site and long term plans as well as your own abilities and weaknesses. for example maybe you enjoy programming but aren't a business guy or don't like being a system admin, whatever. that's okay, but if you totally neglect these aspects it's going to lead to our demise. and this isn't just an internet thing - it happens all the time in the business world. people start companies and neglect the areas they don't like or aren't good at and focus on their favorite parts. a business cannot survive that way. and that's exactly how this web site should be run as, a business. right now it's being run like your hobby that you only pay attention to when you feel like it and aren't busy with other things (and you're working full time elsewhere so it's no wonder you feel pulled in many directions).

whatever the case, at this point it seems fairly obvious things aren't in a good state. and it is never acceptable for a responsible site admin to be totally awol (like you are most of the time) and specifically not to allow what happened over the past weeks to occur. if you honestly feel that is ok and that the users are just ungrateful and you don't owe them anything and you're getting a raw deal then i really think the best thing to do at this point would be to take a deep breath, think about it hard and make sure, and let people know you are done and make arrangements for an orderly transition to someone else (or if you won't do that at least let everyone know what is coming). otherwise if you keep going the way things have been if not fair to yourself or anyone else and it's only going to end in tears one way or another.

or i guess we can keep doing what we're doing and the site will just randomly disappear one day when you either get sick of it or something happens to you and noone knows what to do. i really think after everything we've built here that would be a shame and i think you are better than that.

whatever happens, thanks for your and @atko 's hard work over the years. it's been fun.

Hang in there Putt! Like many others, I was concerned about your well being while the outage was in effect. I'm happy that you're ok, even though you feel burned out. Whether you decide to continue giving us this space to say whatever we like or not, thank you for everything you've done for free speech thus far.

I appreciate what you've done. Thank you.

Thank you for everything you've done to keep this site online.

I'm a former startup CEO who has dealt with burn out myself. I know how much it sucks, and I'm sorry you're having to go through it.

I think there is a real opportunity to turn Voat into something the community can get behind without having to sell its soul to advertisers.

Perhaps do some kind of ICO, raise some funds to bring on a development team, and pivot to something like Steemit? Or even create a more scalable solution where communities can self fund their hosting bills?

There is a number of possible solutions to build a team, and some form of business to sustain the site without compromising its values.

If you ever want to talk feel free to ping me. I'm happy to advise you at no cost, even if its just on personal matters of how to manage your burn out.

I personally like the way you run voat.

Putt, if there's anything any of us can do to help, just ask. You don't need to do this alone.

As always, thanks for everything you have done. I’m sure you have heard by now if not you will soon. I made a new site just Incase this one disappears. You do not owe us anything period, you have done way way more than your fair share. If you keep voat around I’ll be around and I’ll be disappointed if it’s gone but I wouldn’t blame you I don’t know where all this hate for you is coming from but it’s bullshit.

I understand, having put countless hours and years into projects that didn't pan out.

Your options are plain to see; do nothing and lose voat when something similar happens again, or delegate and risk shenanigans and drama. Anyway, you make backups, so it's not a huge risk. There is some motivated guy that made poal.co, maybe you could approach him to take on some of the operation of this site rather than just plan for its demise?

You haven't made any effort to be paid. People have been wanting to buy ads and merch, but how?

Please tell us how to help!

Thank you for all you’ve done. Hope you are ok!

1. Time to include paying yourself as part of the requirements for voat to continue running.

2. Try to limit yourself to 40 hour work weeks. Hire some low cost people to monitor & take care of low level simple tasks for you.

Your work is appreciated, please don't let this insecure, spoiled kids get you down.

In all seriously man, I hope one day you will be generously rewarded for all the work you have done.

I'm probably going to be accused of brown nosing but ..... you've kept this platform running and have done a commendable job at it.

You have my thanks.

(end transmission)

What can we do to help? Do you need coding? Accounting? Some glorified secretary to answer the same questions 30x a day? Money?

Just ask.

So, this is you admitting to being a shill? Seriously, though. Myself and all but a few loud crybaby fucks here completely understand. I'm grateful as hell for the hard work you put in. You don't get it enough, but thanks, man. Sincerely. None of us have a right to bitch and whine here.

Hey brother, I'm glad you've posted. The people harping on and on and denigrating you have annoyed the shit out of me. Glad you're ok. I can understand being burnt out. I had a minor breakdown just the other day because I am as well. Something as simple as bumping my head sent me over the edge because of how much other crap is going on. Life ain't easy. I don't understand how some people handle the pressures of success.

If I had any idea what I was doing, I'd love to help.

I think a lot of people were just acting like doomsayers and other subversives, but there's definitely a lot who were genuinely worried about you and your well being, and additionally, the ramifications of losing this site. Losing Voat would be a major loss for the side of good.

Thanks for letting us know what's up. Take a breather and take care of yourself.

Appreciate what you have achieved here many thanks, will donate if given the option.

Dearest lovely, Putt,

For whatever reason, at this point in history, instead of just a guy that writes code, you have become one man holding back the darkness. You didn't ask for this burden and it is honestly more than most people can bare.

But what you do is not for naught. They attack you because they know they cannot win unless they convince you to stop playing.

There are few men left with courage and principles. I want to see you get through this.

Most importantly, we can't help your burden if you never tell us what you need and how much it cost. If you asked it of us, we would send you on a vacation today. Bots could automate announcements and updates. We could research payment processors for you. You could even give us a proper scolding for being shitheads if that is what you need.

I agree, Putt. All I want from Voat is what it already gives.

I have a hard time finding the time to submit content let alone run a website. I totally get it.

Can you at least tell us why there was a blackout?

If I suck your dick dry would that make things better? I don't have a lot of money but I have a mouth

Explain why you let SoapBoxBanHammer run the fucking site then.

Is it just fuckin' apathy? Because you act like they're in charge of the site, and you.

Is there anything we can do to help?

You have no principle and no integrity. That is your problem.

Voat has never, is not, and never will be about free speech. You know this, yet still after THREE YEARS make the false claim that it is a place to 'have your say'.

You are fake news. A lying piece of shit.

The only work you've done is to destroy this platform. Go kill your self.

I'm thankful for everything you do. Don't let the crazies wear you down.

Is there a reason you are not paying yourself? I think lots of folks round here would support someone getting paid for their work.

I just hope you're getting rest and are doing well. Thank you for all you've done for us. <3

I thank you for the time and effort you've already put into this site. Please don't let the negative words of a handful of people get you down. There are many more who are appreciative of what you've accomplished with Voat. Great to see you, have a few beers and relax all you like.

Hey Putt - you're very much appreciated by the vast majority. Surely you know this? You're a rock star, man.

Can you please consider delegating to a very small trusted group, over which you would have veto power? I'm thinking of @peaceseeker and 3 or 4 others, whose judgement you trust, to take care of things as Voat continues to evolve and grow. You're only human, and can only do so much...

Please consider delegating to a small group, and entrusting them with some type of authority should anything ever happen to you, the site could continue on if you're not available for an extended time.

Just an old geezer's two bits.

I think it's something of a novelty that this site runs ^without you. I mean no harm by saying so. Take more time off. But ^do check whatever knob atko turned last week more frequently that you do now ;-) 503 is a boring-ass website.

Well that's good enough for me

At least now I know you didn't get deported to gitmo by mossad under gag order with tucker carlson

I really like the nighmode btw, great css theme, it's simple, good looking, doesn't get in the way, pretty good job

The whole site is great too

Maybe you could add a crypto miner to the site, so you get paid, sort of

Idk maybe it's a dumb idea

Dude, it might be time to start thinking about handing over the reign to someone(s) who might have a better go at it. Someone who could be generally trusted to keep everything running. Or, at the very least, enlist some help from the community. I've seen countless offers to assist with coding, hosting, updates, management, etc, from people around here. You, having backdoor access, would know whether or not those offers are legitimate (or even viable), but if it's that difficult for you to maintain it... dude, I'd rather see voat live on, in the long run, than have you suddenly (and completely) burn out, from the stress of it all, and shut the whole thing down or simply let the clock run out on it.

People's complaints come from a place of wanting to understand, and their concern for you; not because we all think you're some kind of faggot, who also happens to be a nigger. You matter to people, whether you like it or not. If my dad calls me a few times, and I don't pick up, he'll lecture me for twenty minutes straight, once I do; even though I'm a grown-ass man, in my 30s, with a family and a life. Just sayin'.

The real goats love you Putt. Don't let the haters bring you down.

So why couldn't this have been an announcement? And stickied? That gets way more visibilty here than you jumping into comments.

I think you have done a great job. I am very thankful for everything you are able to do for voat.

I wish we could just put up a Patreon or something and get you a salary. I'd paypig a few $$ a month.

Putt we love you and appreciate everything you’ve done. Voat is a very important thing to hundreds of people.

Could we pay you for your time? In a perfect world, you could work on voat full time...

Are you at all open to the idea of doing what Atko did, and pass the site on. I understand any hesitancy, as one person with the reigns could easily fuck everything up. But consider choosing an apprentice. Allowing him to be tested, and slowly take on more responsibility.

Theodore_Kent has been a popular choice when I’ve floated this proposal to other users. I think we all accept that the decision is entirely yours to make, just a suggestion that I know is popular.

Granted I’m not sure what skill-set is required to run voat..

You're not alone, @Puttitout. There are those of us that get it. You'd think these nancy boys would understand how busy "people who get shit done" are.

Do you have a team right now?

Thanks @PuttItOut Genuinely thank you for everything. As someone who is also pretty burnt out with work right now I understand and hope life gets a bit easier for you in the future. Snows leaving here so at least the golf courses are opening up. Cheers mate

Holy shit its the man, the myth, the legend!!

I appreciate you and your website. Voat is a beacon of light in a dark & shitty world.

@PeaceSeeker, see parent.

In the time it took you to type out your reply here, you could have wrote a short note to everyone and allay their concerns.

Well I can't say I was really expecting a reply from the man himself, so thanks for that.

Problem is I don't have the time manage Voat as a business.

I'm well aware you have a full time job. I'm not really asking for anything other than a monthly update like you said you wanted to do. And a way to donate I guess.

I'd think that just keeping it up and running (mostly) would satisfy users but people always want more from me

Again, I'm just looking for updates, even it's just "sorry I haven't been able to do much this month, works been killing me" I don't know whats going on with my favorite website. We're still not sure about funds, and quite frankly this is a very controversial website that a lot of people would love to be shut down. We all know money talks, and if I could help out with that I would. I know you said that you wanted to add some way for us to donate, and I'd love to do that.

Plus I'm burned out big time.

I realize that you put a lot of your free time into this website. If there was anything I could do to help I would, but I don't know anything about programming and all of that. I know a very long time ago I designed some little stainless steel sheet metal keychains, and another user was going to cut/sell them, but that never went anywhere unfortunately.

not ever getting paid for a single one

You know we're willing to pay you. I myself wanted to buy some shirts and donate but I think I missed out when the credit card operator was still up. I'd like to donate but theres no real option to.

Cheers

We are worried about you... The criticism and anger comes mostly from fear that we have already lost you and Voat. There is nothing else like Voat that exists. We need you a lot more than you need us.

I said this recently, but you should br extremely proud of what you have built here. You are actually DOING something to fight back against the evils in this world who want to divide us. Please just remember that we're only human, and some people are only here to tear you down.

We will absolutely support you. We absolutely will do whatever it takew to help you and save this place. You just have to communicate with us. We are scared, and lacking leadership. You are the only goat we all trust.

You could copy and paste this exact comment as a sticky if you want to prevent future threads like this.

Yeah but how long did it take to post this? Sixty seconds to say "yeah stuff's really busy, can't answer questions, but we're all good" would help a LOT.