I can't say what Voat might have been like prior to the arrival by the q followers but anything it might have been was quickly destroyed once they arrived. If you didn't agree with everything and dared ever question the narrative every post you made was downvoated to oblivion. If you weren't already established with a high score you basically had to troll popular posts making posts aping the popular opinions in the thread hoping to get upvoated. Voat under q dominance was a hivemind hugbox with no room for dissent or disagreement. Hilariously, it became what everyone always accuses the left of wanting; a safe space for q's true believers.