So as we all know, voat.co went down a couple days ago. I haven't seen a comprehensive write-up on the situation yet, so I'm putting this out there.
voat.co now presents a 503 error:
The server is currently unable to handle the request due to a temporary overloading or maintenance of the server. The implication is that this is a temporary condition which will be alleviated after some delay. If known, the length of the delay MAY be indicated in a Retry-After header. If no Retry-After is given, the client SHOULD handle the response as it would for a 500 response.
By this, we know that Voat is not gone for good. It is not the end. All the Stormfags will still have their board.
Some Voat users went to /r/Voat in confusion, but their thread was mysteriously deleted. All of the most current posts on /r/Voat seem to be about how Voat sucks.
Voat is still accessible at the old beta preview site, which is currently has the largest congregation of Voat users. Using this site, Atko has confirmed that Voat is not being abandoned. EDIT: It has been pointed out that Atko has not necessarily confirmed that Voat is OK. His exact words were
I don't have any info on what happened. At this point, everything is possible, but there is also a good chance that Putt is simply enjoying a golfing trip somewhere in airplane mode and that everything will be back to normal in a few days.
Currently the front page of the site consists of some /pol/ tier memes, despair about Voat, and some shit about raiding Phuks.
Let's talk about the raids.
Kevdude made a post to /v/ProtectVoat, stating that Phuks "could use some Nazi content," and saying that the userbase is composed of "faggots who attack Voat" and "cancer mods." Seeing as the point of ProtectVoat was to keep Voat from being phukked by SRS, this is a rather strange thing for him to do.
For all coming from Voat(and take this with a grain of salt as I am not an admin):
Phuks is more or less a free speech site. It's somewhat reminiscent of Voat in the early days, before Reddit banned CT. Opinions are not censored, and we encourage open discussion. HOWEVER:
There is a difference between open discussion and merely being a cunt. This is not Stormfront, and you will be expected to be civil(remember /v/thedinnertable?). The hosting provider for Phuks does have some rules on content(no inciting violence, etc.) and the TOS is enforced. If you have a problem with that, Voat is expected to be up at some point, and you can happily return to your shittier /pol/.
If you're chill, welcome aboard.
The main point that is touted on Voat is that your post typically won't be deleted and the admins won't actually ban you unless you're spamming. The admins on Voat do so very little which is why the site is in freefall at the moment.
But I assume you mean the mods in this case. Realistically, it isn't the mods on Voat so much as the userbase. And do you know what's super funny about this situation? The effective ban you mentioned comes from a group of people downvoating you, which would represent mob mentality. The effective bans in this case come from a group decision which is primarily driven by emotion. The bans are fueled by the People, which could be considered pure Democratic, a concept which most people on Voat disagree with. Honestly, it reminds me of one of the few shows I've watched in recent memory, The Orville. The crew of the ship finds a planet run in an entirely democratic fashion with an entire country upvoting or downvoting people who are accused of crimes in order to decide their fate.