Speaking as a new user who came here because voat is such an awful place; poal is not /the/ underdog, but small sites like this serve a purpose for people who prefer a chilled-out quiet site to post on. It's small enough that it's not controlled by the left/right paradigm or special interest groups and that's something of real value.
We should support small sites like poal (and phuks) etc.. because even if they provide value to only a handful of users, that's something worth keeping on an internet that's being taken over by giants and monopolies. The internet was built on small sites, not big corporate interests - and I'd hate to lose that.
Poal is closing on 1000 accounts. That being said. This site will NEVER be taken over by a corporate interest. It will not happen ever.
No matter if poal remains small or gets big I will always try to keep it a neutral public forum. I allow a lot of people to say a lot of things here and I believe thats a good thing. Without dialogue civilization doesn't happen.
I appreciate the sentimate that people should support small sites, I really do. However I started the site because I think bigger sites need to have less bias and allow for more opinions and let those opinions stand on their own merit.
I'm rambling at this point which is something I from time to time, I'm human like everyone else. So enjoy your wall of text from the founder. Read it or don't, either way do me a favor and support free speech wherever you go.
Poal is closing on 1000 accounts. That being said. This site will NEVER be taken over by a corporate interest. It will not happen ever.
You don't like money?
I believe you; but no matter the strength of your convictions now you can be turned, it's just a matter of amounts and specifics.
If it's not money that controls you, it's fear. We are just meatbags who like fancy things and don't want to suffer.
Even if you are tempted and manage to withstand those temptations; you are a mortal like the rest of us and can only exert your influence over the site as long as you breathe.
Promises are great, but the lesson of reddit is that platitudes don't mean anything in the long run, and even those who you thought took a principled stand on issues that matter can be quick to turn their back when it is convenient or profitable.
Voat, poal, phuks, etc.. these are temporary refuges on a path to a more permanent solution.
This isn't me bitching about Poal, I think this place is doing a great job. It's just a more general rant about the place the internet has come to.
You're fighting the good fight, but we need to end the war.
Well honestly I don't really like money all that much, I think it does a lot more harm than good in the world. I think the love of money probably explains most of the problems the world has today.
I'm sorry I'll have to disagree that its a matter of amounts and specifics, I've resigned myself to my socioeconomic status and I'm happy where I am. No amount of money is going to make me sacrifice my principles.
You are correct that I can only exert my influence as long as I breathe but should that ever become an issue I already have things setup in such a way that someone that holds my values would succeed me. I'd also advice that person to do that same.
I Just don't see P2P being a viable solution look at bittorrent people believed that was the solution to file sharing and could never be shutdown and it wasn't but governments did huge damage to it. I think this fight needs people standing up and saying no. I don't think P2P can win it in the end.
We are both fighting the good fight but the war is far far from over. Who knows how it will end or if it ever will but we both are standing and fighting.
The distributed intention behind notabug is brilliant - I basically agree that power corrupts and all these sites can be turned if they take off.
Notabug is not for everyone: Having the vast majority without an identifying label and casting unlimited meaningless votes makes for a real mess that is almost too chaotic to bother with. No doubt you have your own reasons for not attempting a more standard reddit clone with minimal censorship....
Could Poal be distributed? If not, what would need to be done?
Exactly this. I hang out on a lot of mediocre backstreet video game forums just because how you can get to know people.
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