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Putt would say this throughout his reign as voat.co admin. It never made sense to me. An experiment? Was I the test subject?? Either way I didn't care. I was an addict, addicted to free speech. And if I could get it through this shadey connect(tion) then whatever, it was worth it.

Well Putt's experiment is over, which led me to doing experimenting of my own. One thing led to another and here we are.

What is the experiment?

To answer: Can a website which allows free speech exist today and be successful? What problems come with that? Basically a pulse check on America.

I'm sure this is exactly what Putt meant by "voat is an experiment".

Why his experiment ended/failed is beyond me. I can only state the current status of mine.

Running smooth. No major problems to report. However, the active user numbers are dwindling. This makes it easier for trolls to cause disruption.

Well why is it dwindling?

Is it the trolls themselves? This worries me more than anything TBH. It tells me that free speech cannot survive on it's own and needs to be coddled. If I have to coddle free legal speech in order to have a successful site, then the experiment has been concluded with an answer of 'no'.

Is it me? I try to be hands off unless I am forced to act. I detest mods and admins like AOU. If had to worry about which sub a thread was posted to and where to move it, or which account needs gray text for being too 'jewish' or whatever, then the experiment has been concluded with an answer of 'no'.

Is it the site itself? This I also don't understand. Yes the site needs work and isn't perfect, but I am donating my time solo here. Surely any quirk or minor annoyance can be over looked, I do it all the time for corporate software with millions invested into it. If you want glitz and glamour over raw uncensored speech then the experiment has been concluded with an answer of 'no'.

Are just people just tired of the constant barrage of news that comes out of a dystopian society? This I believe is the case. Sometimes I suffer from clown world fatigue and force myself to visit just to check up on things. Ultimately I'd love to grow to a point where political/news talk isn't the sole attraction. But that's a dream.

It's just sad to see the old voat.co userbase splinter and continue to splinter here. I really thought this place would pick up steam. I am running it from the heart.

Which is why I'm gonna say fuck it and just announce here and now that I am demodding sparklingwizzle. He seems like a cool dude, but he does not have the same vision for this website that I do.

Nougat will remain on as mod.

I want this place to grow. But it is not a business for me. It succeeding or failing will lie solely on the original question "Can a website which allows free speech exist today and be successful?". So far the answer is, yes, but only if you censor speech the core group of users wants, of course! The glowniggers arent the issue, but the trolls and sensitive users can be. If that's the case then let's drive this shit into the ground.