Voices of Youth: A Website Just Like WTY!

   

YO, guys. I found a THING. 

I've been having a hard time figuring out exactly what to refer to WTY as, how to explain my goal with it, etc. 

And then one day- today actually- I was bored and googled "We The Youth", wondering what would come up. 

First thing I found was something about painting murals. I was like "Welp that looks cool but that's not me" and added "blog" to the search engine. And what did I find?

What did I find?

I found Voices of Youth, a website that is already doing what I'm trying to do here! DUDE. Nothing new under the sun, amiright? 

Like guys, it's got a thing for you to guest post. It's got a phrase that says "for the youth and by the youth"! It covers world events, social media, human rights, abuse, cultural differences, the economy, EVERYTHING, from diverse views!

 

Just listen to this paragraph from their FAQ's! 

"Voices of Youth is a global community for young people to learn about development issues (such as Environment, Education, Human Rights, etc.) and to express their opinions. Voices of Youth seeks to create a space that will help young people make a positive difference in their countries and communities. On VOY, young people will gain knowledge and awareness of the key thematic issues affecting young people around the world, enabling them to have an open and honest dialogue about the world in which we live." - Voices of Youth FAQ

It's doing exactly what I'm trying to do. O-O And it's doing is successfully. I feel like someone has seen into my brain, pulled out the idea, and made it a reality. But the thing is this has existed long before WTY, so either a time traveler has done this, or they thought of it first.

I haven't read much on the site, but from what I can tell it's got multiple authors, guest posters, all kinds of opinions and beliefs, all kinds of everything. It's super cool! And do I totally, 10000.2% want to do a collaboration with them sometime?

UM. YEAH. 

(also their FAQ says they are willing to work with other youth-centered websites so maybe this can actually happen sometime!)

I'm seriously taken aback by this. I mean I figured there'd be other things like this out there, but not to this extent. It's crazy, and it's really cool. 

Do I see them as a competitor? Not at all! The whole point of We The Youth is to give the youth a voice, not for me to be the one who holds the website rights. I wish VOY the very best of luck and thank them for giving so many youth a voice already, and encourage them to continue on. 

Do I feel like my job's already been done for me? Well... kinda, to be honest. I mean, they show art work, poetry, videos, audio, and posts all made by youth. They have a section for guest posting already made. They debunk misconceptions. They are certainly more professional than I, and they're doing the job really well. 

So what's the need for a second website with the same thing? 

Well, friends, I don't know. But We The Youth is going to stick around anyways. After all, it can't hurt to have more than one place for the exact same thing, right? It just means more youth have the chance of being heard. 

Common Misconceptions, guest posts, deep talks, encouragement, controversy, and all manners of WTY activity will continue on as usual, but now we have another source! I will most likely link to VOY's posts when applicable and direct the youth from here on over to their, because you can never have enough resources.

Go check out Voices of Youth and maybe tell them hi for me! 

-EJ

P.S. I don't think this needs to be said but in case it does, I'll say it anyways. I didn't know about VOY prior to this, so I do not mean to copy them whatsoever! I'm seriously blown away that something so similar to my own goal already exists, and am torn between finding it super cool and being mildly weirded out at the similarities.

P.S.S. Do you know of any other websites like WTY and VOY? Have any thoughts regarding WTY or VOY? Have any random remarks you'd like to make? I'd love to hear about them below if so!