Slightly irritated Voater here!
Hello everyone! I'm SillyDilly! I came here after looking on Reddit for another alternative, since Voat has been down for the last day and a half. The design is so refreshing too, compared to Voat's simple reskin. I've been here about half an hour, but I love it! I've found a few tribes to replace my favourite subs (from both other places). I hope the community grows here as much as it has on Voat, and more!
8 years ago by SillyDilly
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62 comments
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As someone who isn't in the "I've left Reddit permanently" camp, but more in the "I'm seeing what else is out there" camp, I've been interested to try out Voat just as much as Snapzu. But every time I have tried Voat in the last 48 hours, it's been down. So I'm still waiting to learn what the community is like over there. What I have learned, though, is that Snapzu is an awesome place that will get plenty of my time moving forward.
Yes, same... I tried Voat awhile ago. After several minutes it finally loaded, but then it being an exact Reddit clone didn't sit with me well. It's also just a pain to connect to, and now it's down... soooo....
Snapzu party!
I tried Voat out a while ago, went there a few times a day for about a week. It was like reddit, if reddit actually made impovements and upgrades. In-line video and image expansion, dark mode available. There were other improvements to the commenting and upvoting system that essentially made it impossible to create new accounts and brigading/harassing.
The community (in general) is pretty nice, mostly reddit refugees or converts, mostly people who don't like the way the site is going. A lot of jokes about how reddit must have really fucked up (after voat's servers went down), and a lot of posts about being glad to be there, etc, but otherwise pretty similar to reddit's content.
It definitely has potential, but they definitely need to be able to handle the influx of people that are clamoring to try them out.
Honestly, I would be more than happy for both sites to make it through this with their own communities. One of the best things I've been seeing from the Reddit abandonment has been a chance for these smaller sites to show off and expand what makes all of them unique from the Reddit super-site. I don't see why only one site has to make it out of this as the only "winner".
Yea, from what I've read of comments from people who actually got into Voat, about half have said that the community is made up in nice people. So it's worth a try, for me at least.
I was able to get on for about 5 minutes today before the site went back down.
Haha, I guess I haven't found the right 5 minutes to try yet.
But I was reading today that Voat is finalizing some venture capital funds. If that happens they should be up and running soon after. We'll see what happens then.
It looks like it's back up again. Who knows for how long. It'll be interesting to see where it goes. I do like Snapzu so far though. Just wish that there was a mobile app.
Yeah, once the communities can get settled, this will be good. I hope that Voat can fix their servers.
I checked Voat out a few weeks ago, but it didn't offer anything new, complete clone of Reddit (with a worse UI/UX). So far, I'm digging the features of Snapzu and have been more engaged (gamer at heart, so xp/level/rep system is addicting).
My favorite feature so far is the ability to post a snap to multiple tribes. This has helped me find new tribes to join and hopefully will help my small tribe to grow as others see snaps that reference it.
Yea, this was my issue. A complete clone of an existing site doesn't offer anything new, it will just result in the same problems as the previous one.
It probably depends more on the owners of the site than the UI. If like Reddit Voat is being handed to people who didn't come from within the community and who try monetize the site as much as possible, then yes it will go down the same path.
That and the fact that Reddit became too large, which I made a post about here: http://snapzu.com/t/lounge/tribepost/M9CQAHV/why-reddit-falling-apart-is-a-good-thing, are two factors that to me are more important than it being a clone.
I might be putting the following words in your mouth, but you seem to assume Snapzu will be relatively safe from becoming like Digg/ Reddit.
I'm definitely not assuming that. Every venture will eventually face its own set of issues. My point was more related to mentality and other community issues I felt reddit had. There's no point for me to frequent a site like voat since I will more or less find those same issues at this point. Snapzu will face its own issues in the future, but for right now its something new and different, and a breath of fresh air.
Edit: I think a clearer way of saying it is that I am more likely to find people here who feel the same way, that Snapzu is a community where they can find something other than what reddit had, where as those who go to voat are likely looking for a very similar experience to reddit. And in the past week or so that I've been here, this seems to be true.
I have no problem with Voat's UI, but I can see your point. And the posting to multiple tribes is a huge advantage too. Hopefully There's a growth spurt here like there was at Voat so that there's a bigger community to stay around. Thanks for saying hi!
Growth spurt would be great if the site remains up and responsive. There was some downtime this morning and lots of slowness last night. I know they're working on improvements based on the blog posts, but scaling will be interesting for this site.
The invite system has helped a lot, though. Without it, Snapzu would've been hugged to death faster, and for longer than Voat.
Between last night and today the speed has increased substantially.
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I've been using Voat & Snapzu for about a year now. Voat actually is not a complete clone of Reddit, they have and continue to make improvements yet kept some of the features that reddit chose to discard. Snapzu on the other hand takes an interestingly different approach than either reddit or voat that I also like.
Yeah, there are some differences. I'll checking among Voat, this site, and a certain other place.
Another great part about snapping to multiple tribes is that when someone inevitably post in the wrong section or break their rules, the entire existing thread isn't vaporized by a mod like it is on Reddit.
Adding a reply to this: I'm probably going to be both on here and reddit in the short term, and once Voat comes up, I'll check them out (but I like it here). The community here seems great and the real crosspost ability is a great feature that I'm planning on utilizing at some point.
Voat seemed to collect a lot of the FPH redditors that wanted to be hateful. I am hoping those particular people will stay away from here. This place is much more inviting and comfy. And damn, if the UI isn't gorgeous.
Similar reasons here. I like that this doesn't just try and "Copy" Reddit, it's an actual thought out website of it's own.
I'm liking that it also shows which tribes a snap has been cross-posted to. I've been able to add several new tribes since I can read an article, look at the cross-post list, and say, "hey, since I like x, maybe I should also check out y, since it's related." Very nice feature set on here for it to still be such a comparably small community. I'm thinking that I'll be sticking around here, unlike all the other "alternatives" that I've tried, like Voat, Stack$ity, etc.
Yeah I found that posting to multiple subs was pretty innovative. I don't really like the use of "snaps". It just sounds off to me, and I feel like they should just replace it with "thread". I also feel like the website should be called Tribezu and not Snapzu, but all of these are just opinions.
Welcome! Fellow ex-redditor here. Remember to read the etiquette and FAQ. Also, keep in mind that Snapzu isn't Yet-Another-Reddit-Clone. It's an already established - small, yet apparently tightly knit - community that has its own customs and way of doing things. Use your downvotes sparingly (like almost never), and be respectful!
Have fun and I hope you like it here as much as I do!
Yes it's so refreshing to not see the downvote button as an "I disagree" button.
Reddit used to be like that too, in the early days. Sadly as sites grow the hivemind mentality tends to take hold.
My problem with Voat is the core of their system. You are not allowed to downvote until you have enough points gained through other user´s upvotes of your actions. That is a major restriction to lurkers like me who prefer to read and not write much. People who mindlessly post and comment just to gain internet points have much more power over the system than me. I´ve seen the comment history of people on Reddit who would just keep jumping from thread to thread just to say a witty remark or some inside joke that has been posted to death that will hopefully get some upvotes.
I'd agree, and not just for that reason. In my limited experience using Voat, making karma actually affect the functionality of your account not only discouraged lurkers and more casual users, but actively encouraged the sort of "karma whoring" you're talking about. By far the easiest way to farm points was to repost popular content from Reddit -- which made the site into even more of a Reddit knock-off than it already was, because lots of people did just that.
Hi rti9, this is an interesting point I hadn't considered (fellow lurker). I feel like the system is somehow self correcting with how their multipliers work, but I'm not entirely sure what the implications of "leveling" are. But, I sure am having fun investigating!
The other problem here, is this kind of encourages power users. There's an actual, tangible benefit to having more of these points. On Reddit, they were just a fun number. On Voat, they make it difficult for you to counter negative content, and content you have no interest in, so it encourages you to do things to gain points. Whether this is reposting images or stupid jokes, or just "jumping on a bandwagon", to me it feels like it's basically encouraging a Reddit style "circlejerk". It might work out different in practice, but that's kind of how I see it going.
Welcome to the lightside. We are better looking.
Just really... look at it.
I think voat has a potential, but they are simply squashed by the reddit's hug of death and exodus. Those guys should seize the opportunity and take a bank loan to get the servers up - I mean, right now is their golden hour.
However, I've also read that they had made some rather unfortunate software choices that would have made the further scaling up of their project rather troublesome.
Check their homepage, they've (predictably) been bombarded by VCs wanting to make a deal and get in on the next big thing. They're going to close some deals and expand, but they want to make sure they're not selling out to do so.
Voat seriously reminds me of Pied Piper in season 2 of Silicon Valley.
I was thinking the same thing about Snapzu :)
S02E10 spoiler: I just hope they have their fire extuingisher ready
That's a risk though. It would be a shame for them to shell out all this money for more servers, then to have the fickle Rexodus leave again.
I tried to like Voat! I really did!!! But it just wasn't for me.
Hey man, welcome :D hope you enjoy your stay!
I checked put Voat -it wasn't bad, but since I actually made an account on here, I like it a lot more.
I'm new here but I can see myself replacing Reddit with a split between Snapzu and Voat. Between them they have enough content for me and I think its better to have multiple go-to places rather then rely on a single source like Reddit.
Yeah, I agree. It's a good idea to have multiple fallback points.
Welcome to Snapzu newcomer! I hope you enjoy your stay here, and find pleasure in exploring the various tribes.
I hopefully will! Any recommendations?
/t/medicine, /t/classics are two of my tribes, and the IRC is open for everyone /t/IRC
/t/shittymspaint
Voat servers are back up now but I'm not sure how long it'll last.
Voat's servers are still down, and will probably stay down because the website is running on two potatoes and a paperclip. Its a shame to, because I want to check Voat out.
They're back down again. I honestly think they're missing their opportunity. Not that I don't like Snapzu, it's awesome.
Dude I swear voat only been on for five minutes in the past week, it is ever believable?
The design is great, reminds me a bit of Pownce, which was Django based if I recall correctly.
Interesting. The thing I disliked about Voat isn't the reskin, it's the karma-has-value aspect.
Although it is refreshing to have a new design which doesn't make my eyes bleed. And of course, Voat is always down...
lots of advantages to being here.
It's between Snapzu and Empeopled.
Same here. Tried Voat for a few hours and just found it to be a worse resigned reddit with fewer people.