[–] PuttItOut 0 points 34 points 34 points (+34|-0) ago
I watched them tearing a building down,
A gang of men in a busy town.
With a ho-heave-ho and lusty yell,
They swung a beam and a sidewall fell.
I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled,
As the men you’d hire if you had to build?”
He gave me a laugh and said, “No indeed!
Just common labor is all I need.
I can easily wreck in a day or two,
What builders have taken a year to do.”
And I tho’t to myself as I went my way,
Which of these two roles have I tried to play?
Am I a builder who works with care,
Measuring life by the rule and square?
Am I shaping my deeds by a well-made plan,
Patiently doing the best I can?
Or am I a wrecker who walks the town,
Content with the labor of tearing down?
— Unknown
[–] OllieQueen [S] 0 points 5 points 5 points (+5|-0) ago
Thanks, PuttPutt. That was wonderful.
[–] TheBuddha 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
If only I were gay... You want to come play video games while I watch and amuse me with pithy sayings? I'll give you room and board and you will most certainly be entertained. Hell, I'll give you a stipend so you can concentrate on Voat. But you have to supply me with witticisms and be receptive to my man-crush (no homo). Also, you have to keep your beard. You can bring Atko with you. I reserve the right to give him a new nickname though. I also traipse around the house nude at times, again - no homo (not that there's anything wrong with that). I will try to stop doing that but I am not properly house broken. I can, and do, pee on my lawn.
Hmm... I think that is all the conditions I can think of. I'd demand a witty reposte and brilliant insight (not on command, I am not a task master) and a reasonable level of hygiene. I eat dead animal, grow my own veggies, and live in the middle of nowhere on the side of a mountain. I do have broadband with enough bandwidth to keep you amused. I do have some small, older, "big iron." We can virtualize your entire setup locally.
I don't drink any more but I have alcohol. I'd want a reasonable sane drunk though. Other assorted drugs are not actively encouraged but they are tolerated. Unless they are for your beard. Your beard gets a free pass on such things. Alternatively, blame Atko. We can make the dog sleep with him just to amuse ourselves. Also, I am visited by a group of strange characters, they are real humans and not in my head. You should be nice to them, it is not required but they were here first. Still, call them out if they are dicks.
Also, you must be a US citizen. Not for any good reason but simply because they won't let you stay unless I marry you. I doubt I can claim you as an H1B. That did not work with my last batch of Lithuanian boys. (I keed, I keed...) Also, no homo.
We'll have to make some sort of plan if you're a cigarette smoker. You can smoke, others do, but do try to keep it cleaned up.
Hmm... Also, I do not really like furries but, well, it would be kind of awesome if you wore a furry suit from time to time just to screw with people. I am not stuck on that rule and am open to the costume. I'd settle for a superhero costume too.
Musical talent would be nice but is not required. No, it is kind of required. Otherwise you have to be nice to those that do even if you don't like it much - feel free to be honest though.
There's a dog. He's a Golden Retriever. He is nice. We needn't talk about ranking or anything but let's just say he's really important to me. He's also smarter than some of the humans I know. He is smarter than some of the people who visit. Not one of them will sit still while I leave a steak in front of them for an hour and then look at me like I am doing them a favor when I tell them it is okay to eat. None of them will come put their head on my lap when I am taking a poop either.
Oh well... LOL I am sorry, I could not resist. I am gonna post this anyways.
[–] crackers1097 0 points 3 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago
It is hard to plant a seed in such a thick forest, and even harder to have it grow.
A man would rather cut a tree down for wood as opposed to plant one.
[–] OllieQueen [S] 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Wow. That is poignant. Sad, and true.
[–] crackers1097 0 points 3 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago (edited ago)
You need not worry. Thick pine forests are merely another stage in the cycle. When disaster comes and the forest is burnt, Birch trees take their place. New ideas and shades, a new ecosystem. Creation begins. And, when the birch withers and ages, the Pine may come again.
[–] diggy 0 points 5 points 5 points (+5|-0) ago
I agree with you on the topics of debate and the negative effects of name calling on civil discussion. I think a lot of people who do that are just really young or are purposely wording things in such a way to make it seem like an ironic caricature of internet speech in general. This sort of thing can be entertaining to some people, but can also be frustrating for others.
I don't quite understand where you're coming from in regards to wether or not voat is a community. I feel like voat is as much a community as a town or a state is. Just like in a town you have people rich and poor content or angry, liberal or conservative all living next to each other. Just like a town though the individual members do not necessarily have any influence on each other unless the right circumstances are met (common hobby for example). Perhaps this is a cultural difference between where you live and where I live, though? I do not know.
In regards to being constructive, I would suggest to people to keep studying even if not formally,(edx,udemy,coursera are great) so they can develop their own solutions to perceived problems. Voat itself is this, I believe. All the image hosting sites brought up in response to voat needing one is this. I see a future where many passionate gamers become passionate game developers, where many nitpicky commenters become lawyers, and maybe even a few people become doctors to help fight obesity. There is hope and time. A large portion of the community is in its 20s or younger. I would say that witnessing problems that seem outside our control is an incredibly frustrating experience, but when you can figure out your own solutions to these sorts of things it feels amazing.
It is now well past midnight as I type this and I have to apologize that I too have a tendency to ramble.
[–] OllieQueen [S] 0 points 4 points 4 points (+4|-0) ago
Diggy, I honestly love your well thought out reply to the community aspect.
In my city there is the "City" that everyone loves, but within it, there are "subsections" and each competes. Like "This one road is better than this other road" --- now, each area of town has its own community, but under the ame city name, so that's how I see voat.
[–] BaconBaconBacon ago (edited ago)
No more, no less one way or the other. It's only what you are choosing to look at right now.
[–] OllieQueen [S] ago
True, or rather what appears in my feed. I suppose I do have to hunt for the good. Just a shame though.
[–] OneZero 0 points 4 points 4 points (+4|-0) ago
Creation is far harder than destruction. It takes a team of people a lot of time to build a house but all it takes is one person a short while to burn it down.
I have noticed the same thing both in real life and on the internet. I think that at least in America it's because people are under more stress than before. People are working more hours, their commute to work is longer, and after inflation they are worse off financially than they were before. The corruption and incompetence in our law enforcement is more visible and not enough is being done about it.
[–] OllieQueen [S] 0 points 3 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago
I absolutely love this reply. It addresses socioeconomic reasons and the psychology surrounding it.
[–] 1866342? 0 points 3 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago (edited ago)
So shines a good deed in a weary world. You want the real answer? Hate and evil has already won. Humanity is doomed. People are picking up on this subconsciously, or they've experienced some reality altering negativity that they will never escape. They want to destroy, and they have every reason to. Seeing beautiful, rich people live such effortless and carefree, easy lives makes anyone not directly in that position inexorably bitter. And those with the power to help, those in positions of authority or posterity are so quick to push others away in defense of their fragile and valuable asset, and cling to it mercilessly whether they're tyrants or saints. This is the fatal flaw of humanity. The paltry pecking order. Greed and selfishness lorded over anyone who dares question their divinity. Humanity truly at its most repugnant.
[–] OllieQueen [S] 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
That was dark, but beautifully written.
[–] xeemee 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
i suspect that some of the strife is caused by reddit users/admins who have an interest in protecting their community by destroying the competition - apparently Voat is the most popular reddit-like platform besides reddit
some problems are also caused by the anonymity afforded by the net - it's easy to be a dick when you're not looking someone in the eye, however, if you want free speech, then you have no choice but to grant others the same
and other problems are cause by tensions in our individual lives and the shitty situation throughout the world regarding war, nearly worthless education systems, etc., etc., etc...
there is much more to be said about the erosion of basic compassion that exists in society today and who/what is responsible, but i think -- hope -- that major changes are on the horizon - there's more of a focus on supporting local businesses, eating healthier, sustainability, etc., and that will trickle down to our world community as well i would guess
your post very much reminds me of the documentary i just watched about the birth, life and death of the bulletin board systems (BBS), the precursor to the internet - when they started, you would typically dial in to your local node to avoid long distance charges and so these small communities were pretty close and used to physically meet to shoot the shit sometimes
as the system and technology grew, the nodes could talk to each other and some of the closeness was lost
then the internet took hold and virtually all of it was lost
some of the people interviewed in the film said they missed the closeness of the BBS system
why isn't there local forums, like for every town? meetup.com seems to be the closet thing to what i'm envisioning i suppose