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11

Ok, so how does this site make money to stay up and implement improvements?

submitted by recon_johnny to whatever 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 14:31:52 ago (+11/-0)     (whatever)

Am wondering, especially with the bullshit that happened at poal and why Voat 1.0 went under (allegedly). Those bear faggots clearly were being funded from "somewhere", and I recall when @system first started he said the monthly charges were in the $10's. Since then there's been some significant improvements. Like this place almost never goes down.

I browse New quite a bit now, and see many new posts. And, I just saw the Talk.lol post.

So.

What does this site cost to run, how many users are there, there has to be costs associated with security/keeping child porn off it, any hosting concerns (as clearly it's not the best place for jews and niggers)---what's the future plans in case you're booted off, etc, etc.

Just how much of a honeypot is this place?


32 comments block

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[ - ] system 17 points 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 14:55:18 ago (+17/-0)*

Currently the hosting provider costs under $20 a month.

I was always suspicious of the server costs of voat. I've said multiple times in the past that I could run a similar site for much cheaper. But it is possible it wasn't bullshit. Back in 08 I had a pretty successful site and hosting costed $200-$300 a month, but that was an offshore dedicated server. And if you pay for a CDN, that could run another $100-$200 a month. But that site was sponsored and pulling in enough money to sustain itself. That still doesn't explain the thousands of dollars a month that voat allegedly costed a month though.

I'm not rich by any means, and if the cost goes above $50 a month I would reach out for help. If traffic continues to rise I imagine eventually I will have to get a better hosting package, potentially a dedicated server. But this VPS is running strong, and the host has been great so far. Honestly I am shocked this is all working on a cheap VPS but I am not complaining.

[ - ] collegeTry 5 points 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 15:50:02 ago (+5/-0)

I think Putt just couldn't code or code well enough to deal with the steaming pile of shit he got handed. I remember several people trying to help him get away from the Windows and MS SQL ecosystem, but he didn't seem very interested. Poorly optimized systems can certainly cost 10x more to run than they should. $5k a month or whatever seems way too high.

[ - ] a 2 points 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 16:16:22 ago (+2/-0)

Justin once claimed he couldn't hire the right staff to replace him because everyone's code was spaghetti so he had to do it all himself.

[ - ] heygeorge 2 points 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 21:20:14 ago (+2/-0)

$5k/month was from when he had to pay huge licensing fees to M$ before the port. There is no way he was paying that much in the last couple years of Voat. I have it pegged to about 500-800/month on average depending on how much he had to pay cloudflare when attacked.

[ - ] we_kill_creativity 5 points 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 15:50:16 ago (+5/-0)*

VPS? Virtual Private Server?

EDIT: I searched, and yeah, that's what a VPS is. Interesting. I don't know who you are, or your background, but if you're legit, please make the majority of Voat2 free, but a part of it subscriber based in a way that leaves us anonymous. I would have given my left nut for a way to give Putt my money (bitcoin) on a monthly or yearly basis. I'm sure many others felt the same way.

If there's a hosting solution that means we can't be censored, but you don't have the funds, please ask us to pay for that. And please, make some sort of profit off it. I for one don't mind paying an appropriate fee for a service I use and love...it's how the real world works. If you could make running this site a full time job that replaces your current income, why wouldn't that be a great thing for all of us?

In fact, it makes me suspicious when someone shouldn't be able to financially run a site, but still manages too.

[ - ] Wahaha 2 points 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 16:33:09 ago (+2/-0)

Running normal websites isn't as expensive as soydevs shilling for ad money would have you believe. Of course, you can make it expensive if you pay for amazon web services or some similar bullshit.

[ - ] we_kill_creativity 0 points 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 16:50:26 ago (+0/-0)

if you pay for amazon web services or some similar bullshit.

Which sounds like the last thing a free speech dedicated site would ever do, so we shouldn't have to worry about that.

[ - ] recon_johnny [op] 1 point 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 16:06:36 ago (+1/-0)

Hey man, thanks for the response. It verifies a bit of what we thought with Voat 1.0. I think everyone's concern is what risks do you face on keeping the site up. As evidenced, we were invested in many ways for the old Voat; and I think folks may be bit gun shy for this iteration.

I also believe that some folks would contribute in a small way, if possible.

However, the questions on security and what happens if the hosting platform kicks us remain. Any insight?

[ - ] system 5 points 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 16:39:10 ago (+5/-0)*

If the site get booted I will just simply get a new host. Switching hosting providers isn't a huge deal. As far as keeping CP and other illegal content off it, part of that battle is on the hosting side of things. Not hosting images/video cuts down on that possibility by a lot. It also reduces costs. Right now only Cynabuns and I can remove posts globally across the whole site. I'd like to have another 1 or 2 trustworthy people to help out.

[ - ] recon_johnny [op] 5 points 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 16:45:22 ago (+5/-0)

Right on. Appreciate the transparency, and again, if costs exceed anything unreasonable, goats will help.

[ - ] PorchDrinks 1 point 4.1 yearsApr 1, 2021 22:12:57 ago (+1/-0)

Very White of you.

[ - ] asdf23 2 points 4.1 yearsApr 1, 2021 01:07:52 ago (+2/-0)

If you need coding help I'm around

[ - ] MrPancake 1 point 4.1 yearsApr 1, 2021 12:39:40 ago (+1/-0)

I would consider helping out. Mountain time zone. Same username as old voat.

[ - ] account deleted by user 6 points 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 15:04:59 ago (+6/-0)

account deleted by user

[ - ] collegeTry 3 points 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 15:54:11 ago (+3/-0)

They locked themselves into the Micro$oft ecosystem though. This doesn't seem cheap: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/details/sql-database/single/

[ - ] account deleted by user 5 points 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 16:04:42 ago (+5/-0)

account deleted by user

[ - ] a 6 points 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 16:18:44 ago (+6/-0)

Atko did that.

Atko worked for Microsoft.

Justin probably did, too.

[ - ] mikenigger 2 points 4.1 yearsApr 1, 2021 02:57:27 ago (+2/-0)

Atko

oh yeah, the Muslim immigrant from what-it's-called living in Switzerland.

[ - ] a 1 point 4.1 yearsApr 1, 2021 10:43:32 ago (+1/-0)

AKA H-1B Visa program.

[ - ] mikenigger 0 points 4.1 yearsApr 1, 2021 16:22:39 ago (+0/-0)

Switzerland is not in the US

[ - ] Wahaha 3 points 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 16:36:44 ago (+3/-0)

The pricing structure of these services is basically free if you don't have much users and then it jumps to thousands of dollars fairly quickly. At that point, of course, it will become troublesome to move elsewhere. If it started as a for fun project not meant to take off and then did anyway, it could explain this strange decision.

[ - ] collegeTry 1 point 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 17:19:13 ago (+1/-0)

They also hosted the site in Germany once upon a time :D

[ - ] mikenigger 0 points 4.1 yearsApr 1, 2021 02:58:18 ago (+0/-0)

big brain moves

[ - ] gimpyoldman 4 points 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 14:59:41 ago (+4/-0)

Every month @system cashes in his upvoat points to cover the costs. I'm hoarding my internet points to finance my retirement when social security runs out.

[ - ] OoklaTheMok 2 points 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 14:45:13 ago (+2/-0)

Excellent questions. Hmm

[ - ] Lin_Ching_Yu 1 point 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 15:18:05 ago (+1/-0)

I got .37 monero burning a hole in my wallet, where send?

[ - ] account removed 1 point 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 15:07:05 ago (+1/-0)

account removed

[ - ] we_kill_creativity 1 point 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 16:04:00 ago (+1/-0)

I'm not sure it's a myth, but the CP threat is definitely used to silence. I'm working on developing a chat room that in no way uses the internet and of course the first comment I get is some rando asking the "what if CP!!!!???" question. Well in that case why do anything? They definitely want to scare people from communicating with the fear of CP being posted.

[ - ] Wahaha 1 point 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 16:39:41 ago (+1/-0)

It used to be only creation was illegal, not possession. But that way you can't scare people into silence, obviously. I also suspect it's to prevent vigilante groups from doing their own investigation. They just might discover too much, y'know. Better to make it illegal to look at your crimes.

[ - ] we_kill_creativity 1 point 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 16:48:41 ago (+1/-0)

Huh...I'd never considered that possession wasn't illegal, when did that change occur?

[ - ] i_hate_sodomites 0 points 4.1 yearsApr 1, 2021 09:13:02 ago (+0/-0)

I used to run a very successful wallpaper site simply as a hobby some years back. At it's peak (and things were more expensive then) the site never cost me for than $50 a month. I supported it entirely out of pocket because a) it was just a fucking hobby and I hated ads (got lots of requests to embed ads, always refused), and b) it was just $50 a month. You've got to be a real poorfag not to be able fork out that sort of chump change.

[ - ] Ducktalesooo000ooo 0 points 4.1 yearsMar 31, 2021 14:37:07 ago (+1/-1)

jew gold.

stolen from the spanish main.