So Who's Winning?

[chrimony]

Would you have said the same thing if you had stepped off the Mayflower and seen America for the first time? "And THIS place is a step forward"? SearchVoat is a monumental step forward! Think of a hurricane that wipes out a section of the Southern United States, what happens afterwards? Rebuilding... Does someone just snap their fingers and everything automagicly like it was before?

I respect what the searchvoat owner did. He took initiative and provided a good landing place on short notice. But my response was to somebody bashing Poal for being a step backward. Can't have it both ways. Poal was there, ready and waiting, to provide a comfy alternative for goats.

You are wrong about POAL! But if that community is more to your liking, go there! Throw your lot in with the comfort blanket crowd. Their slogan is "Say what you want" but what they mean is "Say what you want as long as it conforms with the hive mentality of POAL"

That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. My only two posts to Poal have been highly critical of the site. Nobody censored me. And you can't even get downvoted to oblivion there. So outside of the one guy that was adamant about being able to post hentai, I don't see what the damning criticism of Poal is supposed to be. The community that's there are the goats from Voat. Might was well be bitching about Voat's community.

When I first arrived here after I shut down my ID at POAL, I shared my experience there, and I was called out by someone that totally disagreed with me. A few days later, they agreed after they got nuked back to thr stone age for saying or doing something that they used to say/do on VOAT all the time.

If you mean the downvote thing, yes, it's a major trap for the unwary and a stupid design decision. That was one of my posts critical of Poal on Poal. But is it a dealbreaker? I don't think so.

[Deleted User 2149]

I've wandered the interwebs and decided I like it here best. Notabug is clumsy, saidit is ok-ish, conspiracies.win is ok, poal is not for me. This place suits me best. It's got a familiar feel and it's nice to see familiar faces (except for the pedos obviously).

[Deleted User 4246]

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[Vindicator]

An RSS will only show information that I'm subscribed to, sometimes you don't know that you want to read about something until you see it.

Click the "New Posts" link about 1 inch below the SearchVoat logo on the upper left. You'll see all new posts across all subforums. It's basically like v/All/New. Pretty cool.

You can also just subscribe to forum for the forums you're interested in and turn on notifications for new posts and you'll get notifications of all new stuff in your notifications.

[seidoken]

An RSS will only show information that I'm subscribed to, sometimes you don't know that you want to read about something until you see it.

Click the "New Posts" link about 1 inch below the SearchVoat logo on the upper left. You'll see all new posts across all subforums. It's basically like v/All/New. Pretty cool.

You can also just subscribe to forum for the forums you're interested in and turn on notifications for new posts and you'll get notifications of all new stuff in your notifications.

Well that new posts button solves alot of the problems I had.

[Deleted User 4246]

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[redsun]

I have not registered yet but I like that https://ramble.pw/ webmaster was here on SearchVoat and after presenting himself and mentioning the reasons why he opened his website, he invited Voat refugees, which means he knows what he will be getting and nobody is going to have a surprise. When I have time I am going to have a more thorough look.

[AbalbalAndPhoenix]

But my response was to somebody bashing Poal for being a step backward. Can't have it both ways. Poal was there, ready and waiting, to provide a comfy alternative for goats.

A warm hello from Somebody!

In theory, yes, you are correct it was a “comfy alternative.” In practicality, as limited to my experience, it is not a viable long term solution. This may change with time. For now, this is my impression:

First, there exists the propensity for censorship at Poal. I’m not saying it’s happening currently but the machine is setup that way. The site owner monitors and responds to many posts (big brother). The down arrow there can be misused to suppress more than the downvote (more than just a forum sliding technique). Point penalties are huge and determined by the algorithm or site owner. There is no resolution for mistaken use of the downarrow. Other voat users claimed that site admins told them to self-censor or outright banned them. I went to some other voater’s aid on day 1 and was immediately confronted by a pedestrian mob who couldn’t reason their way out of a paper bag. The posts are under the same username (here, voat, poal) for reference. That was a major turn-off from investing time and energy there.

Second, it’s not certain that most of the community migrated or is active there. If they moved, it isn’t clear that they are participating. In my estimate, the community largely splintered to several locations. The wisest of the goats are noticeably absent. I like the communities here, on the life raft (since migrated to element), and to some extent conspiracy.win and notabug.io

Third, and purely from a subjective viewpoint, ive seen comments that poal isn’t as enjoyable to use. I prefer searchvoat to poal. At some level, I’m hoping to learn more about the person behind searchvoat and the plans to build up this site. P.s. a big thank you to searchvoat.

Fourth, there is a massive history at voat that doesn’t exist at poal. It will take years to build the library.

I don’t expect that others will agree with this ungrateful viewpoint. It depends on what you want from the site. I am a truther looking to crowd-source analysis of past and current events, evaluate and reevaluate the meaning of life, identify the challenges we really face, and predict the future. The aforementioned limitations at Poal do not lend themselves to this objective IMO. It’s simply an expression of why I think the poal is an evolutionary step backward.

[chrimony]

First, there exists the propensity for censorship at Poal. I’m not saying it’s happening currently but the machine is setup that way.

That can occur anywhere, including here, unless the platform is explicitly designed to be censorship free (via some kind of peer-to-peer sharing).

The site owner monitors and responds to many posts (big brother).

I'd prefer an admin that responds to users, as long as he doesn't abuse his admin powers.

The down arrow there can be misused to suppress more than the downvote (more than just a forum sliding technique). Point penalties are huge and determined by the algorithm or site owner. There is no resolution for mistaken use of the downarrow.

I agree the downvote policy is harsh and stupid. But once you know about it, you just don't use it. I don't like it, and I've campaigned against it, and hope one day it will change, but I don't consider it a dealbreaker.

Other voat users claimed that site admins told them to self-censor or outright banned them.

I haven't seen this. All I've seen are the couple of users that insist that they should be able to post loli there. The one user in particular has been quite vocal here.

I went to some other voater’s aid on day 1 and was immediately confronted by a pedestrian mob who couldn’t reason their way out of a paper bag. The posts are under the same username (here, voat, poal) for reference. That was a major turn-off from investing time and energy there.

Just like Voat was or any other forum that has groupthink?

Second, it’s not certain that most of the community migrated or is active there. If they moved, it isn’t clear that they are participating. In my estimate, the community largely splintered to several locations.

Just look at the reply counts to posts. Is there any other alternative that is anywhere near as active? There are lots of posts here, but few replies except to a few hot topics.

The wisest of the goats are noticeably absent.

Smacks of elitism and is purely subjective. All I care about is that it's a free speech site and that's where the crowd is.

I like the communities here, on the life raft (since migrated to element), and to some extent conspiracy.win and notabug.io

That's fine and all, but it's mostly a ghost town.

[MrPim]

I think of this place as the zombie apocalypse bunker. I mean that in the kindest way. The zombie hordes finally tore down the Voat house. But @SearchVoat had dug a tunnel from the basement, then w some more work he made a bunker. It might not be pretty but it's probably my favorite anyway. I go out to several of the other's but my activity at any is less and less.