While interest seemed fairly high for the numbers in r/DebateAltRight, v/Identitarian didn’t nearly get the response I was hoping for, and volunteerism was not exactly forthcoming from anywhere. It seemed obvious to me that one or all of the below were true:
1) People were not fully grasping the concept
2) People don’t realize or believe in its potential
3) The project was seemed too nebulous at the time to generate active interest
4) We just didn’t get enough traffic
Rather than double down on number 4 and start posting about AltBase elsewhere, I thought a single solution could solve all problems 1-3, and set us up nicely for first exposure to larger audiences. It seemed obvious to me that, in order to generate more interest in the project, we first needed an actual functioning prototype of AltBase. Or at the very least, something to serve as a “proof of concept” for the project. Of course, this meant that I would left to my own devices to create it. AltBase: Offline was the result.
Some immediate next steps will be gauging reactions to AltBase Offline, and releasing a more “sanitized” version of the code once we’ve identified any errors. I think there could be some issues but I’ve tested it quite a bit myself and so far seems to be working as intended. I would’ve taken more time to test its robustness (and clean up the code), but production has already taken me two months so I wanted to get it out ASAP with the necessary features in order to increase interest. I definitely want to get the information into some kind of CSS/HTML format for people to use on mobile as well – similar to LOH but with a bit more qualitative data. I also regret that the tagging system isn’t really built-out at all, you can basically tag whatever you want. This will be on the list for more “immediate” upgrades, as that’s sort of a critical component to the AltBase concept.
I think its important to reinforce the idea that AltBase Offline is an iteration of refinement to an actual finished product. There is no reason AltBase can’t be changed to suit new needs. Our goal at this time is perhaps not to be first to the finish line on the ultimate argumentation and documentation tool, but to generate the interest and investment in the idea to ensure such a tool will exist.
ALTBASE 