# Gamergate
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamergate/697596
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [September 5, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamergate/697596 "2014-09-05T17:43:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 22
### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamergate/697596/421 "2014-09-19T01:53:20Z")
> [@bosbfdsfd](#):
>
> Sure we have. A story that would’ve been gone in two days is now entering month two, Zoe Quinn is finished in the court of public opinion, and the toxicity of social justice twats and the corruption and collusion of games journalists who hate the audience that pay their salaries have been exposed for all to see. And it won’t be ending anytime soon, no matter what the fraud does 🙂
You think you’ve won in the court of public opinion? You’ve registered here **because even 4chan won’t tolerate you any more**. It’s hard to imagine a more decisive indication that you’ve lost than that a site famous for allowing all sorts of vile excrement thinks you’re too gross for them.
---
### Author:  [@bosbfdsfd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bosbfdsfd)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamergate/697596/422 "2014-09-19T01:53:36Z")
> [@andros](#):
>
> Butbutbutbut :splutter:
>
> ETA: Also, I absofuckinglutely guarantee more people know who Zoe is now.
They sure do 🙂
> [@andros](#):
>
> I for one am more positively disposed toward her after this kerfuffle. If only because of **blindboyard**.
> .
Well, if it weren’t for those who are easily led around by the nose, frauds like Quinn would be out on the streets their nonexistent skillsets should consign them to. Don’t forget to donate 🙂
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### Author:  [@bosbfdsfd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bosbfdsfd)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamergate/697596/423 "2014-09-19T02:00:14Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> You think you’ve won in the court of public opinion?
No thinking involved, unfortunately for you. Every second that this is out there being discussed non-stop, despite every effort these clowns can muster, is another second that they lose their stranglehold on the narrative.
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> You’ve registered here **because even 4chan won’t tolerate you any more**. It’s hard to imagine a more decisive indication that you’ve lost than that a site famous for allowing all sorts of vile excrement thinks you’re too gross for them.
Are you under the impression that I care what someone gullible enough to take a fraud like Quinn seriously thinks of a certain website? Additionally, the claims of collusion by games sites to silence and censor this discussion is supposedly weakened by yet another games site silencing and censoring this discussion? Have you been drinking?
---
### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamergate/697596/424 "2014-09-19T02:04:33Z")
> [@bosbfdsfd](#):
>
> No thinking involved
Clearly.
> [@](#):
>
> Are you under the impression that I care what someone gullible enough to take a fraud like Quinn seriously thinks of a certain website? Additionally, the claims of collusion by games sites to silence and censor this discussion is supposedly weakened by yet another games site silencing and censoring this discussion? Have you been drinking?
I think 4chan is terrible, but you’re too gross for them. I think the discussion about game sites silencing you is idiotic and a classic dodge of responsibility. There’s no collusion involved, any more than there’s collusion involved in the fact that you get kicked out of every restaurant that you stand up and wave your weewee around in. When you’re a terrible person, people notice and kick you out. OOOH CONSPIRACY! or maybe not.
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### Author:  [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamergate/697596/425 "2014-09-19T02:08:00Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> You’ve registered here **because even 4chan won’t tolerate you any more**.
Wait… what did I miss?
---
### Author:  [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamergate/697596/426 "2014-09-19T02:08:33Z")
[More email leaks](http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/09/18/The-emails-that-prove-video-games-journalism-must-be-reformed)
---
### Author:  [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamergate/697596/427 "2014-09-19T02:11:56Z")
> [@Ibanez](#):
>
> [More email leaks](http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/09/18/The-emails-that-prove-video-games-journalism-must-be-reformed)
> [@](#):
>
> in an astonishing breach of critical distance, games journalists can be seen in the leaked emails proposing that members of the list together to purchase her a “feel better” gift, and even a “signed letter of support.”
Which is… not a secret at all? Didn’t Hamster King mention signing this letter on, like, the first page?
---
### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamergate/697596/428 "2014-09-19T02:13:53Z")
> [@Jragon](#):
>
> Wait… what did I miss?
This:
> [@blindboyard](#):
>
> 4chan is a varied place. /v/ is for /v/idya games. The people there were sympathetic to FYC because they like vidya games. As self-important as you may be, not everything is about feminists.
>
> Of course, now, moot has gone to the dark side and /v/, along with /pol/itically incorrect, and /b/, /sp/, /a/ and others are all being censored to silence Gamergate. Some think moot has gone to the SJW crowd, some think he is reacting to the alleged attempted suicide of the daughter of Gawker media’s boss, some say he’s being controlled by the NSA and DARPA, and /pol/ says he’s been a Jew all along. Ah, /pol/. Whatever the reason, there’s mass deletions going on, IP range bans, entire boards having most of their content wiped and entire countries being banned from posting. To 4chan. What is the fucking world coming to?
I mean, it involves believing blindboy is capable of telling an unvarnished truth, but if he is, it’s kind of funny–and the desperate attempts to deflect blame for the consequences of their own awfulness are even funnier.
---
### Author:  [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamergate/697596/429 "2014-09-19T02:17:08Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> This:
>
> I mean, it involves believing blindboy is capable of telling an unvarnished truth, but if he is, it’s kind of funny–and the desperate attempts to deflect blame for the consequences of their own awfulness are even funnier.
Of course, 4Chan banned discussion of My Little Pony too so… this media blowup really is inane isn’t it? 😛
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamergate/697596/430 "2014-09-19T02:19:11Z")
> [@Ibanez](#):
>
> [More email leaks](http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/09/18/The-emails-that-prove-video-games-journalism-must-be-reformed)
That…may be the least scandalous thing to have happened in the history of non-scandalous things. People see a colleague (yes, Breitbart, you dead ass, a colleague, someone else who works in the gaming industry) getting mobbed by poisonous cretins, and they want to send her a letter of support. And that’s your scandal? Are you fucking kidding me?
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### Author:  [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamergate/697596/431 "2014-09-19T03:01:17Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> That…may be the least scandalous thing to have happened in the history of non-scandalous things. People see a colleague (yes, Breitbart, you dead ass, a colleague, someone else who works in the gaming industry) getting mobbed by poisonous cretins, and they want to send her a letter of support. And that’s your scandal? Are you fucking kidding me?
Mike Futter doesn’t think she’s a colleague.
_I would prefer not to be associated with this. It feels wrong to me. I think it feels very off to reach across the fence from journalist to subject in this way. I prefer professional distance, especially given the accusations being levied at us from outside.
— Mike Futter, Game Informer_
---
### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamergate/697596/432 "2014-09-19T03:04:19Z")
> [@Ibanez](#):
>
> Mike Futter doesn’t think she’s a colleague.
>
> _I would prefer not to be associated with this. It feels wrong to me. I think it feels very off to reach across the fence from journalist to subject in this way. I prefer professional distance, especially given the accusations being levied at us from outside.
> — Mike Futter, Game Informer_
Yes, yes, yes. Several people don’t think it’s okay. I disagree with them. That is not what a scandal is.
Seriously. If gaming journalism is so clean that people sending a sympathy card to a game designer constitutes a major scandal, it must be the least corrupt industry on the planet.
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### Author:  [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamergate/697596/433 "2014-09-19T03:28:01Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#):
>
> Oh, I get it, you’re a conspiracy theorist. Only instead of lizard people or Jews, you think it’s women who are out to get you! Awesome.
The Lizard People are [busy trying to kill John Smedley](http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/08/american-air-flight-diverted-after-gaming-hacker-group-tweets-bomb-threat/)
> [@](#):
>
> a bomb threat tweeted by a hacking collective resulted in a commercial jet carrying Sony Online Entertainment CEO John Smedley to be diverted from San Diego to Phoenix.
>
> It all started Saturday, when a group going by the handle “Lizard Squad” tweeted links to a number of prominent Twitch streamers, directing followers to target DDoS attacks at servers for Blizzard and League of Legends maker Riot Games.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamergate/697596/434 "2014-09-19T03:47:09Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#):
>
> No, just no. Quinn is a nobody.
And what’s stupid about this whole thing is that now she’s not a nobody. You’d think 4channers of all people would understand the Streisand effect. Now pretty much everyone not only knows about her, a game designer with one free game, but they support her and are probably going to help her do more.
The ultimate irony is that all of this is probably helping “feminism” in games.
---
### Author:  [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamergate/697596/435 "2014-09-19T03:47:53Z")
> [@Evil\_Economist](#):
>
> Oh, I get it, you’re a conspiracy theorist. Only instead of lizard people or Jews, you think it’s women who are out to get you! Awesome.
No, he clearly thinks the Jews are in it as well:
> [@blindboyard](#):
>
> Some think moot has gone to the SJW crowd, some think he is reacting to the alleged attempted suicide of the daughter of Gawker media’s boss, some say he’s being controlled by the NSA and DARPA, and\*\* /pol/ says he’s been a Jew all along. \*\*
(bolding mine.)
> [@bosbfdsfd](#):
>
> This is a campaign to embarrass and ridicule two women who say stupid things, and the “journalists” who give them cover, because they agree with their imbecilic political positions.
So, in your world, “embarrass and ridicule” means “post personal information, send nude pix to family members, call up fathers and scream ‘Your daughter’s a whore!’, and threaten with rape and death”?
Personally, I don’t give two shits about video games - don’t play 'em, don’t read about 'em, don’t write about 'em. (No disrespect to those of you who do. Just not my thing.) I have no opinion on Zoe Quinn, her game, or her sex life. But setting out to deliberately ruin the life of a woman, just because she somehow offended your pissy little sensibilities - that’s just unacceptable. A crime, as a matter of fact, and I very much hope the FBI _does_ track down some of these shitweasels.
And don’t tell me to show you where you, **bosbfdsfd** , advocate those things. The very fact that you’ve chosen to side with those who have tars you with the same brush. Lie down with dogs, get up smeared in dogshit.
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### Author:  [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamergate/697596/436 "2014-09-19T03:49:26Z")
> [@Kobal2](#):
>
> Yes, but it’s also deliberately created to troll and ridicule feminists. By being a good example of feminist character. It’s multilayered trollery, which is the best kind of course, but saying “look, look, they’re saying they’re feminists and they have a good character to show for it” is borderline disingenuous. Hell, even the groupthink decision to financially support FYC was, at heart, meant as a “fuck you” to Zoe Quinn in particular, and feminists/SJWs surrounding her in general.
…_Or_ there’s some subset of a massive, diverse, anonymous forum that _genuinely cares_ about this kind of thing. Normally I’d agree with you, but normally they don’t put up somewhere north of $20k. Look at me for a minute. Do I seem like a terrible person?
…Huh, you know what, actually, don’t answer that question.
But just pretend for a moment the answer is “no”. Well, I’ve spent a fair amount of time on 4chan. My most recent involvement was in a thread on /b/ talking about 9/11, which is about as productive as pissing into a house fire when your piss is also made of fire, but I wasn’t the only one actually _discussing_. I’ve seen what /a/ is capable of. I spent 15 minutes on /v/ before seeing the first thread bitching about gamergate (and at this point, it seems the general outrage is far more about _censorship_ than about any witch hunt - people are pissed that they no longer are able to speak how they want, however misguided that is), and it was pruned. There was a lot of on-point discussion about video games - kind of like what you’d see at the Escapist, if nobody could be held responsible for anything they posted. The point being, you’d be surprised about the diverse crowd there. In fact, in a recent Vivan thread, you know what I saw? “Take that tumblr shit and GTFO”. In fact, I saw a _lot_ of that. Like I said, I’d believe it was about hating on women if they hadn’t just collectively given over $20k. That’s a pretty substantial chunk of change.
> [@](#):
>
> It’s also pretty amusing (to me anyway) that, like, 30 minutes after Vivian James emerged as a consensus concept with an ideographic identity (red hair, purple/green stripes, 4-leaf clover hairpin, grungy look and apathetic/bored attitude etc.), there was already porn and sexually objectified depictions of her being published on /v/ and some were even _sent to FYC_ as part of the “this is our character” package. Because women are just gamers like anyone else and feminism and shit, one assumes :). It’s all in good fun. But tits or GTFO. No, not really, LOL. But seriously, show us yer tits.
> I’m as much a fan of post-modernist irony as anyone, but at some point one needs to cut the shit and pick a side to stand on.
Is it any surprise? “Pick a side to stand on” is hard to do when your organization has no leading goals beyond “communicate anonymously with others”. Because 4chan isn’t one cohesive group with one cohesive ideology. It comes back to why I was bitching out **Miskatonik** - this shows a fundamental ignorance of the group. A bunch of non-assholes helped make this character. Then people made porn of her. _It’s not necessarily the same people_.
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> Can you link to the places where she made these criticisms? If it’s in the middle of a series of imgur links, I’ll ask instead for you to type out the sentence or paragraph in which she makes these criticisms. I ask because I’ve heard these claims about her criticisms made, but I don’t think I’ve seen actually what she said.
I cannot find the specific places. For all I know it might be private emails between her and the company.
Also, for the record, the whole “4chan bans gamergate thing” is because they don’t allow advocacy for witch hunts and raids any more. Not the same thing as MLP, which was because Ponies were completely flooding /b/, and now they have their own board, /mlp/. Which is safe for work, because everyone who talks about MLP on _4chan_ has only the purest intentions in mind. :rolleyes:
---
### Author:  [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamergate/697596/437 "2014-09-19T03:52:29Z")
> [@bosbfdsfd](#):
>
> Well, if it weren’t for those who are easily led around by the nose, frauds like Quinn would be out on the streets their nonexistent skillsets should consign them to. Don’t forget to donate 🙂
Wow. You’re…really invested in this. Have you talked to someone?
---
### Author:  [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamergate/697596/438 "2014-09-19T05:10:14Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#):
>
> …_Or_ there’s some subset of a massive, diverse, anonymous forum that _genuinely cares_ about this kind of thing. Normally I’d agree with you, but normally they don’t put up somewhere north of $20k. Look at me for a minute. Do I seem like a terrible person?
>
> …Huh, you know what, actually, don’t answer that question.
>
> But just pretend for a moment the answer is “no”. Well, I’ve spent a fair amount of time on 4chan. My most recent involvement was in a thread on /b/ talking about 9/11, which is about as productive as pissing into a house fire when your piss is also made of fire, but I wasn’t the only one actually _discussing_. I’ve seen what /a/ is capable of. I spent 15 minutes on /v/ before seeing the first thread bitching about gamergate (and at this point, it seems the general outrage is far more about _censorship_ than about any witch hunt - people are pissed that they no longer are able to speak how they want, however misguided that is), and it was pruned. There was a lot of on-point discussion about video games - kind of like what you’d see at the Escapist, if nobody could be held responsible for anything they posted. The point being, you’d be surprised about the diverse crowd there. In fact, in a recent Vivan thread, you know what I saw? “Take that tumblr shit and GTFO”. In fact, I saw a _lot_ of that. Like I said, I’d believe it was about hating on women if they hadn’t just collectively given over $20k. That’s a pretty substantial chunk of change.
I am aware of 4chan’s culture and amorphous nature, yeah. I don’t partake, but I enjoy 1d4chan’s output in spite of its tendency to run unfunny shit into the ground. Still, that’s kind of the problem. More on that later.
> [@](#):
>
> Is it any surprise? “Pick a side to stand on” is hard to do when your organization has no leading goals beyond “communicate anonymously with others”. Because 4chan isn’t one cohesive group with one cohesive ideology. It comes back to why I was bitching out **Miskatonik** - this shows a fundamental ignorance of the group. A bunch of non-assholes helped make this character. Then people made porn of her. _It’s not necessarily the same people_.
Again, I grok that.
But here’s the thing : if you don’t want to be associated with troglodytes, if you yourself aren’t a troglodyte, if you want to support non-troglodyte or even anti-troglodyte causes either financially or wordically… why, why, WHY, **WHY** choose to hang your hat in a place that is not only a notorious haven of vocal troglodytes, but whose very concept and rules ensures a steady influx of, and roomy accommodations for, troglodytes and the vilest, unfunniest shitpile of the internet ? To the point that when moot gently reminds them that 4chan is not exactly \*about \*being troglodytes, they have a collective pants-shitting session and scream betrayal ?
That’s kinda why I mostly stick on the Something Awful side of the Great Internet Divide (even though I will fellate a grizzly before I pay 10bux for the privilege of posting on a fucking message board on the interwebs) : it’s highly moderated, not anonymous and troglodytes get hammered and taxed until they either leave or learn how to not be stupid cunts. Unless they’re mods, in which case all bets are off :p.
As a result, while SA sure has a…let’s say _sui generis_ culture, sense of humour, elitism and so forth - which is not always clever; and while the modding staff is just as seemingly arbitrary, schyzo and bitched about that our own beloved mods here (hi, bitches !); the discussions held there and the initiatives that take root on SA tend towards the constructive and insightful. Even if gamer Goons are loathed by players the world over because they’ll take all of your precious videogame stuff from you and set it on fire to roast s’mores made out of delicious pubbie tears :), these days they’re never (scratch that, make it much, much less often) associated with harassment outside of games, smear campaigns or MRA :biotruths: bullshit. Because guess what ? They kicked those cunts out. Which is the why and wherefore of 4chan and Reddit in the first place.
Contrast with 4chan, where every time a bunch of /b/tards go out and do something that’s an even mix of terrible and retarded (as they’re wont to), there’s always a bunch of \*other \*fags who’ll go “bububut that’s just one part of 4chan ! It’s a big community ! There are other parts ! Good parts ! 4chan is anarchy, we can’t control what some people will do ! We don’t even know who they are nor if they’re serious or just fucking around !”. Yeah, we _know_, dude. But you still stick around. \*That’s \*why we’re disinclined to take you serious.
(that’s all general yous, BTW. Not \*\*you \*\*you)
---
### Author:  [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamergate/697596/439 "2014-09-19T05:48:20Z")
Fuck, forgot that part : I would also add that one of 4chan’s definite social engineering MOs and calling cards when they try to make some thing a Thing, is to deliberately play both sides of an issue : both creating content on one side, and also going all over the other side’s part of the web to concern troll e.g. “have you seen this new thing ? I’m revolted ! What are we going to do about that thing ?”, thereby creating an apparent dialogue out of thin air. Then go to the press/big websites to ask them why they’re not covering the dialogue, or what their opinion of the dialogue is. Then the major networks feel obliged to cover the controversy (if some sort of news site covers it, then it must perforce be news ! Why aren’t we having a piece of that ?!), spreading it far and wide. Bam, instant new Thing.
Which makes it even \*more \*difficult to take anything they say seriously.
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### Author:  [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)
#### Post date: [September 19, 2014, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamergate/697596/440 "2014-09-19T06:05:34Z")
It says something that on Something Awful there’s a thread called **gamers.txt** that’s more or less entirely dedicated to making fun of awful MRA-ish posts gamers make elsewhere on the web.
(I mean, that thread is terrible, but it exists and is pretty representative of the general mindset there.)
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