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https://voat.co/ https://voat.co/ is still running. Similar design but different people. That site could use some love. Edit: People seem to think that I would

https://voat.co/ https://voat.co/ is still running. Similar design but different people. That site could use some love. Edit: People seem to think that I would endorse the things that are posted on voat. I do not. But I do endorse free speech even if it means that others express things I don't agree with or wouldn't want to hear. Voat does so, too. You can discuss your topics and views on voat. If nice people gain the majority the ugliness will have to stay in the dark corners.

distantsounds 8y ago
ah yes, an alternative whose front page is currently filled with pseudoscience, conspiracy theories, and everyone's favorite past-time, closeted racism just the different i was looking for!
- suby 8y ago
  I would say its often open racism on that site. It's a shame the community is so awful, as the site looked promising early on and we need a viable alternative to reddit.
  - steveeq1 8y ago
    steemit
    - steveeq1 8y ago
      Why the downvotes? Steemit is a viable alternative to reddit.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- std_throwaway 8y ago
  Voat once was very similar to reddit of the past before hoards of reddit users were driven away by strict moderation policies and found refuge in the free speech advocating site that voat is. It reflects what those think who are not allowed to speak on reddit. Sadly, that beautiful garden is now overgrown by heaps of ugly weeds and you have to dig deep to find the nuggets.
  - temp 8y ago
    >and you have to dig deep to find the nuggets. What nuggets would that be and how deep would I need to dig into the shit? I couldn't find any content of interest on the frontpage so I visited the section dedicated to programming. Top content over there seems to be of roughly the same value (or lack thereof, "github something something SJWs").
    - std_throwaway 8y ago
      It's like a beautiful lake gone bad where the dead fish swim on top. Sad but true, it's hard to find anything worthwhile even though there is no real barrier of contributing. It doesn't have to be this way but now it is.
  - rhizome 8y ago
    Yes, let's all shed a tear for /r/fatpeoplehate.
    - std_throwaway 8y ago
      Free speech also means that others have the right to say the things you don't want to hear.
      - bduerst 8y ago
        Free speech also doesn't mean you get a blank check to cause harm to others, like mobilizing your online community to stalk, threaten, and harass individuals.
- omio 8y ago
  Wow I didn't know it turned out so bad. Even then reddit isn't much better either. Damn the internet has turned into a cesspool or maybe I don't remember it was a cesspool 20 years ago too.
  - ghrifter 8y ago
    What are forum and image boards :S It hasnt changed, just instead of a specific domain/website, its just a subreddit. Since reddit basically killed big forums for things (building PCs, certain games like WoW, etc)
- steveeq1 8y ago
  Thats more of a reflection of our society than reddit itself.
- s_kilk 8y ago
  > closeted
marsrover 8y ago
I liked Voat in the beginning. Then it became 4chan.
- Quequau 8y ago
  It's hardly surprising given how many truly repugnant people on Reddit were promoting Voat as an alternative to Reddit for the subreddits that were so bad that even Reddit wouldn't tolerate them.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - forgottenpass 8y ago
    You've got your causality all broken http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/07/22/freedom-on-the-centralized-web/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/07/22/freedom-on-the-centrali...
thosakwe 8y ago
Voat is to Reddit, what Gab is to Twitter. That is to say, a site that prides itself on "free speech," but in reality makes itself the home of the same cesspool that produces the alt-right, incels, 4chan, and whatever hairdo Richard Spencer is wearing right now. It's sad, though. It had a lot of potential as a Reddit alternative.
- stefano 8y ago
  Sadly, many subreddits are slowly going down that path too.
  - thosakwe 8y ago
    /r/TheDonald, /r/braincels, /r/AskMen, to name a few. I don't want to find out which others.
    - steveeq1 8y ago
      /r/worldstar
- diminoten 8y ago
  I'm a big fan of free speech as a philosophy, but I also am practical enough to understand a bit about how hateful culture festers, spreads, and grows when allowed to thrive online, and honestly I'm at a loss for how I'd reconcile these two concepts. What's the current state of the art for curbing the growth of hate groups while still providing a platform for honest and free discussion? We all probably have some ideas on how we'd give it a shot, but I wonder if there are one, or a few common themes.
  - thosakwe 8y ago
    It's still imperfect, but sentiment analysis and flagging known slurs might be a good start. You can roll-your-own, or use a third-party API (whatever the implications might be).
  - std_throwaway 8y ago
jstanley 8y ago
> a community platform where you can have your say. No censorship. And yet: > Error 1008 Access denied > What happened? > The owner of this website (voat.co) has banned your IP address.
- Nadya 8y ago
  Before your edit to remove the I.P address: 146.185.172.196. Q: Using DigitalOcean to host a VPN? Bans still happen for abuse/spam and banning well-known VPS/Server/Cloud Providers isn't all that uncommon when it becomes an issue. This happens on every platform, otherwise there wouldn't be a platform. Voat has experienced many DDOS attacks in its days - so it wouldn't be surprising if some of the attacks originated from a VPS Provider and got the IP range banned.
  - jstanley 8y ago
    > This happens on every platform, otherwise there wouldn't be a platform. It's just a bit hypocritical of the Voat people to complain that another platform has arbitrary and carpricious censorship, and then to start their own platform that ostensibly has no censorship, only to instate their own arbitrary and capricious censorship.
    - Nadya 8y ago
      Banning legitimate users, editing their posts, and shadowbanning are examples of "arbitrary and capricious censorship". Banning IP ranges for effectively taking down the platform (thereby censoring everyone using the platform) is not arbitrary - although it may be capricious (since it may be unbanned once the abuse has stopped in hopes the abuse doesn't immediately start back up). Spinning up an ad bot and spamming 10,000 messages every hour on every board effectively shuts down discussion for any legitimate users. It takes extremely bad faith to argue that stopping spam and bots is anything equivalent to censorship. Especially when the goal of the abuse is to remove the platform for the legitimate users to converse on, in an attempt to silence them.
      - 8y ago
_emacsomancer_ 8y ago
There's a list of reddit alternatives at (where else?) Reddit: https://redd.it/8585ox https://redd.it/8585ox Raddle seems to be the inverse of Voat

distantsounds 8y ago

ah yes, an alternative whose front page is currently filled with pseudoscience, conspiracy theories, and everyone's favorite past-time, closeted racism just the different i was looking for!

suby 8y ago
I would say its often open racism on that site. It's a shame the community is so awful, as the site looked promising early on and we need a viable alternative to reddit.
- steveeq1 8y ago
  steemit
  - steveeq1 8y ago
    Why the downvotes? Steemit is a viable alternative to reddit.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
std_throwaway 8y ago
Voat once was very similar to reddit of the past before hoards of reddit users were driven away by strict moderation policies and found refuge in the free speech advocating site that voat is. It reflects what those think who are not allowed to speak on reddit. Sadly, that beautiful garden is now overgrown by heaps of ugly weeds and you have to dig deep to find the nuggets.
- temp 8y ago
  >and you have to dig deep to find the nuggets. What nuggets would that be and how deep would I need to dig into the shit? I couldn't find any content of interest on the frontpage so I visited the section dedicated to programming. Top content over there seems to be of roughly the same value (or lack thereof, "github something something SJWs").
  - std_throwaway 8y ago
    It's like a beautiful lake gone bad where the dead fish swim on top. Sad but true, it's hard to find anything worthwhile even though there is no real barrier of contributing. It doesn't have to be this way but now it is.
- rhizome 8y ago
  Yes, let's all shed a tear for /r/fatpeoplehate.
  - std_throwaway 8y ago
    Free speech also means that others have the right to say the things you don't want to hear.
    - bduerst 8y ago
      Free speech also doesn't mean you get a blank check to cause harm to others, like mobilizing your online community to stalk, threaten, and harass individuals.
omio 8y ago
Wow I didn't know it turned out so bad. Even then reddit isn't much better either. Damn the internet has turned into a cesspool or maybe I don't remember it was a cesspool 20 years ago too.
- ghrifter 8y ago
  What are forum and image boards :S It hasnt changed, just instead of a specific domain/website, its just a subreddit. Since reddit basically killed big forums for things (building PCs, certain games like WoW, etc)
steveeq1 8y ago
Thats more of a reflection of our society than reddit itself.
s_kilk 8y ago
> closeted

marsrover 8y ago

I liked Voat in the beginning. Then it became 4chan.

Quequau 8y ago
It's hardly surprising given how many truly repugnant people on Reddit were promoting Voat as an alternative to Reddit for the subreddits that were so bad that even Reddit wouldn't tolerate them.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- forgottenpass 8y ago
  You've got your causality all broken http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/07/22/freedom-on-the-centralized-web/ http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/07/22/freedom-on-the-centrali...

thosakwe 8y ago

Voat is to Reddit, what Gab is to Twitter. That is to say, a site that prides itself on "free speech," but in reality makes itself the home of the same cesspool that produces the alt-right, incels, 4chan, and whatever hairdo Richard Spencer is wearing right now. It's sad, though. It had a lot of potential as a Reddit alternative.

stefano 8y ago
Sadly, many subreddits are slowly going down that path too.
- thosakwe 8y ago
  /r/TheDonald, /r/braincels, /r/AskMen, to name a few. I don't want to find out which others.
  - steveeq1 8y ago
    /r/worldstar
diminoten 8y ago
I'm a big fan of free speech as a philosophy, but I also am practical enough to understand a bit about how hateful culture festers, spreads, and grows when allowed to thrive online, and honestly I'm at a loss for how I'd reconcile these two concepts. What's the current state of the art for curbing the growth of hate groups while still providing a platform for honest and free discussion? We all probably have some ideas on how we'd give it a shot, but I wonder if there are one, or a few common themes.
- thosakwe 8y ago
  It's still imperfect, but sentiment analysis and flagging known slurs might be a good start. You can roll-your-own, or use a third-party API (whatever the implications might be).
- std_throwaway 8y ago

jstanley 8y ago

> a community platform where you can have your say. No censorship. And yet: > Error 1008 Access denied > What happened? > The owner of this website (voat.co) has banned your IP address.

Nadya 8y ago
Before your edit to remove the I.P address: 146.185.172.196. Q: Using DigitalOcean to host a VPN? Bans still happen for abuse/spam and banning well-known VPS/Server/Cloud Providers isn't all that uncommon when it becomes an issue. This happens on every platform, otherwise there wouldn't be a platform. Voat has experienced many DDOS attacks in its days - so it wouldn't be surprising if some of the attacks originated from a VPS Provider and got the IP range banned.
- jstanley 8y ago
  > This happens on every platform, otherwise there wouldn't be a platform. It's just a bit hypocritical of the Voat people to complain that another platform has arbitrary and carpricious censorship, and then to start their own platform that ostensibly has no censorship, only to instate their own arbitrary and capricious censorship.
  - Nadya 8y ago
    Banning legitimate users, editing their posts, and shadowbanning are examples of "arbitrary and capricious censorship". Banning IP ranges for effectively taking down the platform (thereby censoring everyone using the platform) is not arbitrary - although it may be capricious (since it may be unbanned once the abuse has stopped in hopes the abuse doesn't immediately start back up). Spinning up an ad bot and spamming 10,000 messages every hour on every board effectively shuts down discussion for any legitimate users. It takes extremely bad faith to argue that stopping spam and bots is anything equivalent to censorship. Especially when the goal of the abuse is to remove the platform for the legitimate users to converse on, in an attempt to silence them.
    - 8y ago

_emacsomancer_ 8y ago

There's a list of reddit alternatives at (where else?) Reddit: https://redd.it/8585ox https://redd.it/8585ox Raddle seems to be the inverse of Voat