Regret: Working as a Contributor of Revolt (now Known as Stoat)
revoltAbuse of children briefly mentioned in chapter 3
During 2022 and 2023, I was a contributor to revolt (now stoat), and experienced the usual things in an up-and-coming open source project like bugs and other issues with the client. You will possibly never think about how the people who were once excited to have new members enthusiastic about helping out abusing you. Or how you could experience some of the worst things people have done.
Chapter 1: Innocence
I joined Revolt in 2022 and was happy and eager to help with small things that needed to be done. I was aware of some of the minor problems but I was hopeful that things would all work out in the end.
During this period of time, I designed the logo for Revolt's first official moderation bot, automod. I enjoy doing graphic design, so I figured why not? I'd get to have fun and help out. Win-win!
Chapter 2: Fall
Since I was credited for my work in helping the automoderator bot, I decided to help out further in the project. I designed the now famous blob avatars that you see by default for every user.
After designing that and having the team lead agree with my desired license (CC with attribution), I figured that all was well and good.
You know what happens next, to people like me, who decide to help out with a project they're excited about? If you guessed, getting totally and completely removed from the project, whilst my work remains in the project, violating the license that everybody agreed on, you'd be correct!
Chapter 3: Regret
Later on, in 2023, I still used Revolt. I'm not sure that this was a good decision, but I was excited about the project still. Even if me being a contributor wasn't on the table anymore. So you know what happens next? I get exposed to CSAM by some individuals wanting to cause harm by raiding a popular server I was in. This continues to haunt me today. And of course, Revolt's team had not yet designed a system to detect content like this, or raids in general.
I feel used by the revolt team. I do not feel that they have held their end of the bargain, and it upsets me, along with many others.
It is now my official stance that people who contribute to Revolt do not get credited.
This is wrong.