This community is in urgent need of some positive PR outreach projects; to help shape the general public's perception of what OUR community stands for. I say this with urgency - as it may be a brief matter of time before a news organization makes a scathing "investigative journalism" news segment about how this community has subversus for petite porn, legal teens, girl with braces, and hates fat people.
<p>This site stands for far more than the edgy content it's becoming known for. The Co-founders are working diligently 24/7 to keep this site functioning; and they are doing an AMAZING job. So, I ask all my fellow Voat content creators/think tank, how can we activate the Voat Social Media Platform, and act individually as stewards to promote free speech in our online and offline communities?<p>Examples: Perhaps, we do a Free Speech Day similar to the other site's global meet up day? Let's get some prominent communications professors and activists for Free Speech to do AMA's on here. Who knows/has connections with their University's research professors? Would they be willing to discuss their findings in /v/science, /v/biology, v/futurology, v/programming, and etc... fields? Who knows the robotics team at their local university perhaps they would be willing to engage the community in /v/technology or do an AMA to push the discussions there to a whole new level? Let's work together and make this community unique, engaging, and trans-formative - in a more positive light.<p>Now go fap (now that you've been reminded about the petite/braces/legal stuff), then bash on the obese, and come back with your best suggestions.<p> Seriously, from a marketing/PR stand point what could shape the public's perception, and result in positive headlines.
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[–] djjin14568 [S] ago (edited ago)
I agree with you on the better overall conversation bit, but the other site's issues lie mostly with corporate interests more than their PR efforts. Don't get me wrong their "we screwed up" PR attempts were terribly bad. But, their bad PR efforts came out necessity to cover up efforts to monetize/raise capital for investors. This is why Victoria was fired, right? They wanted to change the formatting for the AMA's, and she did not like the suggested changes.
[–] Stanley_Yelnats_IV 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
Yes, but a big part of that, and the reason for the initial wave of people here, was because they decided to cut out "offensive" portions of their own community in an effort to become more acceptable on a public level. The problem isn't that they wanted more money, it's that in pursuit of it they tried to "sanitize" the site's image by excising communities like r/fatpeoplehate. The root of the problem was this focus on achieving a clean, positive public image.
The thing of it is, PR is the antithesis of good discussion. One of the reasons you don't tend to get great debates on Facebook is because people type comments with PR in the backs of their heads. "What will this make me look like," "what can I post that will get the most likes so I can 'win' the argument," etc. The best conservations are the most honest ones, and those are created when people don't have to worry about whether their comment will seem too offensive or extreme.
[–] BloodPool ago
This was the point I was trying to make. Thankfully, you put it more eloquently.