If you look at the number of upvotes and comments on any given post on voat.co, it's clear that very few people are actually using it. If deplatforming drove >50% of affected users there it would be troubling; my guess is that it's <5% though.

That we can identify potential school shooters, identity terrorists and other bad actors from their network traffic.

If Joe Bloke suddenly starts tunneling a lot of crap to 8chan... might be time for the constable to drop by for tea and persuasion.

You're going to end up with a shit signal to noise ratio for the people who visit the site for the automotive, origami and cooking boards.

Thats really worrying that guilt by association and thoughtceome is still a thing.

Isnt that just a more powerful soft censorship tool?

Thoughtful and intellectual conversations require good moderation, this is hardly a new concept.

> Great success, sending more people from reddit to their own hate platform that will grow and exploit synergies among groups of particularly toxic people.

Fox News seems like a rather good analogue of this. Despite promulgating information and opinions considered false and unacceptable by many, they are quite successful both financially and at exerting political influence. Shaming and shunning them and their viewers only hardens their viewership's belief in the truth of what they say.

By shunting the "basket of deplorables" off to Voat/Gab, we might be inadvertently creating the next Fox News.

The difference being that fox was never marginalized, it's always been mainstream.