I have made a decision to alter and/or remove various restrictions on Voat. I’ve thought a lot about this and it’s something both @Atko and I believe needs to be reevaluated.
Voat has always had a problem with spam. @Amalek would spam posts and hijack the new queue making it unusable. MH101 and then later @SaneGoatiSwear would hijack comment pages making them unusable. The rules Voat uses were put in place in to combat this behavior. They are old rules, mostly remaining unchanged from the initial versions of this site. Most, if not all, of the rules were in direct response to spam attacks. It was never Voat’s intention to limit non-spam accounts, but this is what has happened as an indirect result of these rules.
Voat will not keep in place a system that permanently limits a segment of users from debating and conversing. This isn’t Free Speech as I see it or as I want it.
Voat will shortly be going live with a new code base, and I want to have a new system designed and ready for when this happens, so I am posting this announcement to get feedback from the community.
The main areas of concern:
- Commenting restrictions on negative CCP accounts that aren't spamming their comments
- Limiting any account that spam comments
TL;DR
We need to allow unpopular opinions while preventing comment spam.
How do we do it?
All options are on the table
https://voat.co/v/announcements/1330806
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sakuramboo ago
Why not get rid of the points entirely?
PuttItOut ago
This is an extreme option that is on the table.
Tor1 ago
That would be great if it was offered as a true additional option.
Taking away what exists and replacing it with something different based on mob preferences is the same problem that's been making the real world so terrible.
Why is there always this concerted effort towards scarcity and denial of things that have already proven themselves valued and useful.
The real problem is most users want things for free. And not only that but they want to have complete control over what's offered for free without giving up anything of value themselves.
sakuramboo ago
You could hide the points from others. For example, only I can see how much scp and ccp I have.
There's other things that can be done, too. Like hiding a posts score. If it's on the front page, it's clearly got more upvoats. No need to show us how much.
absurdlyobfuscated ago
The older voat users remember, but lots of people might not know that one of the first reddit migrations to voat came after they removed the downvote counts. People here probably value knowing what the actual, non-fuzzed, non-obscured scores are and for that reason, I think it should be all or nothing. There are still definitely good arguments for getting rid of it altogether: https://www.reddit.com/r/ideasfortheadmins/comments/cnsmx/abolish_karma/
10246582? ago
I have considered this in the past but I do not think it is necessary or desirable. The points are too intrinsic a part of these forums, and they do attract a lot of people. Removing votes should not be necessary; we can make use of communities and report features to deal with spammers.
JuiceTown ago
I spent years accumulating my points specifically for the purpose of cashing them in one day for a WInnebago.
Taking these points from me is comparable to theft. You at least need to give me a chance to get the Winnebago which I've essentially earned 12% of already.
How would you feel if someone threatened to take 12% of YOUR Winnebago?
@sakuramboo
PuttItOut ago
We aren't taking your Winnebago! You earned it!
Lube-N-Blisters ago
Putt I've been here awhile and honestly it would stop the problems that have faced voat. I've been contemplating ways we could work around it too because I enjoy voat. I do agree it's an extreme option but it's one worth discussing.