For years now the subreddit has been quite abandoned, while still getting a ton of spam and off-topic joke posts. We mods decided maybe it's a good idea to just disable new posts, essentially freeze it in time, and keep the subreddit as an archive of what was once dreamed possible.

The redditisland idea came up before the term crowdfunding even became popular. Over half a dozen years there have been many attempts to revitalize the idea, unfortunately none of them gathered enough momentum. But we hope this subreddit inspired some people to think out of the box, feel the potential power of many people undertaking a mission together, working in unison towards a common goal.

Who knows, maybe one day somewhere somebody actually manages to crowdfund the buying of a private island in order to turn it into a self-sufficient mix of vacation and rental homes — but unfortunately time has shown it is not our subreddit that does this. :)

Thank you all for taking part, thank you for believing.

Just letting you guys know...

It looks like despite the name being island, we're mostly looking at inland options, which I actually like better (for the most part). I think that because started by people from the Internet, why not have speedy internet connections? I'm talking about Google Fiber or AT&T U-Verse. I'd prefer us creating a town or something in North Carolina, but anything's good.

I love this idea, but I won't be able to do too much just yet. Right now I can pretty much only do things that don't require me to leave my computer. Once I finish college, I'll be able to help alot though. If we end up choosing a location near a good college, I'll be able to help two years earlier - I'm doing basic courses at a community college because it's cheaper.

For locations, I have only looked at North Carolina so far. Google Fiber only has upcoming cities there, but AT&T Gigapower has quite a few available now. Ideally, we would find a piece of land that we can make a village/town out of close enough to one of these that service would be easy and cheap to extend into.

Here's some options I looked at:

A constitution is really key for something like this to work, for example Denmark has a monarchy but it's fine because they have a constitution and an elected Parliament. I want this place to not involve political chess matches as much as I want it to be a merit based system. When sovereignty is declared, our home nations may rescind our original citizenship. I cannot imagine a nation using military force to evict us if we purchase the land and stubbornly remain. http://www.wikihow.com/Start-Your-Own-Country

First of all, let it be known that this is NOT my first choice by any stretch, but that it may be a valid option and something I can look into more in depth if there is any interest here. My first choice would be an island in the Phillipines, but my second choice would be land in Baja California, which I've been outwardly supportive of here.

With that out of the way, I would like to share that I am originally from a village with a population of less than sixty people. My family owns much of the land in and around the village and I can nearly guarantee that they would be willing to part with it for cheap. Beyond that, and potentially more importantly, the government there is nearly nonexistent and the only three positions in government there are not so much done by vote, but everyone takes turns in those spots. Each mayoral election has about fifteen voters show and usually the mayor runs unopposed and wins unanimously. If there was interest, I could look into this more, when the time is right, I or someone elected from here would become mayor of the place, then we utilize my family's old land to do what we do.

Of the many issues with this idea, much of the issue is space. My family's land isn't contiguous and we would need to try to over time buy up the lands that lie between those areas in order to have a contiguous community. Anyway, now the idea is out there for consideration/discussion.

Peace!

After voting is done we will take the top 1/3 with the most votes and vote again. To vote reply to the comment you are voting on so people aren't voting multiple times.

Points of discussion:
1. What is our current funding? How much money do we have pledged? What do we have planned to keep us afloat after we've made the down purchase?

2. Does it have to be an island? Can it be a large area of land in a sovereign nation that we convert into a reddit commune?

3. How are we going to go about making final decisions on what land to get? A lot of what I've seen is "here's option a", "here's option b" we need to collectively take that point of no return and buy something. How are we going to do that?

Honestly, we need to start winding this thing up if we're ever going to get this thing done, so let's start talking!

If Reddit wants to create a thriving community, we need to stop focusing on rural parcels of land. Quite simply, zoning laws would create a drawn out fight, and Reddit would have to create its own electrical, water, and septic systems, as well as roads, all of which are enormous capital costs, detrimental to the environment, and would put the tiny town in a large amount of debt.

If Reddit Island wants to be successful, sustainable, functioning community that won't be buried in debt, we need to reuse existing structures (much more environmentally friendly, as well as cheaper), and locate in a place with existing infrastructure.

Detroit is perfect for this. Warehouses and housing are almost free, which is perfect for indoor farming, office space, tourism, and other endeavors. Hell, properties such as over a million square footage this former American Motors headquarters building are available at auction for $500, and nobody wants them, because of their six figure tax bills. If Reddit Island knows what to do with that space (maker space for entrepreneurs, server farms, etc), the buildings would be a steal. Plus, the old brick buildings have a unique historical aesthetic, potentially creating a unique sense of community in the area Reddit Island wishes to settle in.

Detroit is planned in a grid format, which is perfect for urbanism and car free living (ironically). That is perfect for Reddit Island. What's more, there is so much empty land in Detroit that belts of parks could be created, enhancing the community and drawing in ecotourists.

Seriously, why isn't Reddit Island thinking of settling in dead cities, instead building a town in a field, which is much less practical?

I remember THIS 1.0

I hope 2.0 goes better.

incorporate

http://n55.dk/MANUALS/LAND/LAND.html

and join n55

like

i would make one small change when it comes to this

i remember last time it got intense and fell apart

i would start the process off with a piece of shit home on some large land

it's not that it's a bad or impracticle idea

it's just that

woah! huge logistics here

if you are spinning your wheels

spin

spin em

spin em good

but if you are remotely serious find the smallest city you can find in the united states and buy a house there

it would work out better if you would start with using cars for logistical purposes to get goods and food to the location

than boats and the such

this is unless this is the original subreddit 2.0 of something reddit did some six to eight years ago

start with a goal that you can accomplish

and

i would recommend a house on land in a remote village or the smallest city in the US you can find

and work there

not a terrible idea

quite natural

just

it didn't get off the ground the first time

kickstarter.com wasn't available then either

so you may succeed where 1.0 did not

but

if i was to offer advice

you can find an island on land

you just have to find a remote enough location

i hope this is inspiring and not of the writing that would make you feel like foolish people or something

it's a noble goal to involve reddit in buying land

but

an island doesn't have to be surrounded by water to be an island

it can be a house in the middle of nowhere

and still be considered an island

forgot this

but

i would also incorporate the concept that this would be the headquarters for reddit

if the largest # of subreddit moderators were involved

i would think it would work better

if subreddit moderators did most of the work

i think it would make more sense

if the mods had a place to mod out

it would be the reddit headquarters and would be a good spin for kickstarter

if the reddit sub mods worked together to build a head quarters for the reddit sub mods they could get their real estate i would imagine

the majority needs to fund the minority for this and mods are in the minority and if the majority was funding a headquarters for the reddit mods

that would probably work in terms of raising capital

OH and

On another note ... why an island? why something more difficult than say a random apartment building if you are being about it?

where are the amenities that you want?

where is reddit's favorite bar?

where is reddit's favorite restaurant?

where is reddit's favorite grocery store?

where is reddit's favorite night club?

where is reddit's favorite public television station?

an island has ZERO amenities

do you want ZERO amenities?

or do you want

amenities?

there is the natural

http://www.thefarm.org/

mentality

but

reddit belongs in a city with a lot of people

it's based on a lot of people participating

if you had real estate in a major city

the city council of that city may out of novel interest appropriate funds if it knew the people involved in this project were going to run a public television station or the such

if you can find a locale in a major city

that would be the other side of the coin

and

amenities

the middle of nowhere

can lead to a major cult disaster

where that won't happen in the city

not that i am aware of