Why #gamergate is bullshit

in case of link-rot

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Somebody*'s jumped the gun on NaNoGenMo and created Journogamy

From the about page:

On the front page, youā€™ll find ā€œdiary entriesā€ on various topics. These
were constructed by breaking up a large dataset of subreddit comments
into sentences, then pulling out all the sentences that matched
particular word or phrase searches, and then grouping the matches
together based on their creation date, as if they were a seamless entry.

* else, since I have, too.

I found a sentiment I really agree with on there from a gater:

I still think that gamers and GamerGate (and notyourshield) already won!

Since the objective of gamergate was to get people made at Zoe Quinn and to accomplishing nothing regarding gaming ethics, it did already win. I wish theyā€™d hang up their hats, but I guess a secondary objective is to keep people mad at Zoe Quinn.

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Actual data?

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Yeah, but what about all the people who are discussing gamergate through tin-cans tied by long strings? Where is your data on those people? I assure you they are all very concerned about ethics in gaming journalism and show deep compassion for all people, especially women.

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Perhaps gamergate should stop talking about her so much then.

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Iā€™ve been lurking the GG boards and followed the expulsion of GG from 4chan since it started.

When anyone suggested doxx or violence the place went into uproar. Iā€™ve also seen some damning evidence that it anti-GG affiliated individuals posted fake threats against prominent anti-GGers then crowed about it - not realising that IDs were enabled and they werenā€™t as anonymoose as they thought - the IDs tied them directly to the threat.

KingOfPol (a prominent GG supporter) got doxxed and sent a knife in the post.

All I can see are colossal arseholes versus colossal arseholes. Screw GG, screw anti-GG, screw modern gaming. Iā€™m off to play Chrono Trigger, then after that Kingā€™s Quest on Atari. None of you are getting any more of my money.

The issue is that they is no anti-GG. Obviously there are some terrible people who are against GG - there are going to be terrible people associated with anything. Iā€™m sure there are some terrible people who really donā€™t like the KKK. You canā€™t go generalizing about people who disagree with a certain group in the same way as you can about people who voluntarily associate themselves with a particular group.

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Wake me when one of the GG crowd makes the NYT, WaPo, Colbert, or Nightline to talk about the harassment theyā€™ve received because they voluntarily aligned themselves with campaign known most prominently as an anti-women hate group.

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The new accounts are coming out of the woodwork for this subject.

Any takers on whether this is a few people with multiple accounts, or many different people?

Personally, Iā€™d prefer to think it was a few nasty people with multiple puppet accounts than a larger number of misguided peopleā€¦but i fear the latter might indeed be the case.

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Fred Phelps. He was a civil rights lawyer who fought Jim Crow laws, and got an award for it in the 1980s.

Or when theyā€™ve involved federal authorities and put themselves at risk of a felony if it turns out they made the whole thing up. Itā€™s reported that police and FBI have been involved in the Sarkeesian, Quinn and Wu incidents. (Or are law enforcement part of the conspiracy too?)

KingOfPol, well, he posted a photo on Twitter of a knife, and an envelope that didnā€™t look like it had ever been through the mail. Plus for some reason he took a photo of the sealed envelope before opening it, almost like he knew what was in it. But hey, maybe it was genuinely someone threatening him, which would definitely be unacceptable ā€“ did he call the feds?

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Someone else brought this whole thing about projection up before. I donā€™t know which thread, but the story was of a micromanaging boss who basically constantly thought his employees were all stealing because he was a thief himself. The sort of person who hears about a death threat and thinks, ā€œThey made that up to get attention,ā€ is a lot more likely to be the sort of person who would make up a death threat to get attention. Itā€™s sort of like trustworthy people are often trusting and how all of those anti-homosexual preachers are gay. Though in defense of KingOfPol (and I know nothing about him or the incident) if you had an envelope with a knife in it, you might well know whatā€™s in it (unless, I guess, it was one of those bubble wrap envelopes).

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[quote=ā€œmathew, post:175, topic:41770ā€]
maybe it was genuinely someone threatening him[/quote]

Actually, it wasnā€™t a threat. The package contained a note instructing him to please kill himself. That is not a threat. We canā€™t just assume some sort of unwritten addendum like ā€œor do you want me to do it for you?ā€ If there hadnā€™t been a note, maybe a threat could be assumed to be implied, but when the note makes clear what the sender wants to happen (suicide), itā€™s not accurate to call it a threat.

Edit: Itā€™s interesting to see how readily some gaters are to read that as a threat while simultaneously dismissing clearly-worded threats against the LWs.

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Well, funny storyā€¦ That KingOfPol guy has now come out and said that heā€™s been getting a lot of threats and abuse, and that it has mostly come from GamerGate supporters.

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I wouldnā€™t quibble over that. I think a person would be well within their rights to call that a threat if they felt threatened by it. Iā€™m sure most of us would. I mean, at the very least itā€™s a sign that someone is willing to violate powerful social norms to express their wish to see you dead. Thatā€™s not comforting.

Well, Iā€™m not sure what he said to get the gamergate crowd to be mad at him, but Iā€™m sure it doesnā€™t take much.

ā€œKeep sending emails but remember no one here is your friend,ā€ is an interesting message. He certainly is a true believer in the cause.

Thinking about it some more, I think itā€™s nit-picking to say that mailing a knife to someoneā€™s home address and asking them to kill themselves, is not a threat because youā€™re only asking. Iā€™ve no idea what, if anything, the law says on this matter though.

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Well, at the very least, I think it could be called harassment.

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[quote=ā€œHumbabella, post:179, topic:41770ā€]
I think a person would be well within their rights to call that a threat if they felt threatened by it.[/quote]

I disagree that the victimā€™s emotional response is determinative.

[quote=ā€œHumbabella, post:179, topic:41770ā€]
Well, Iā€™m not sure what he said to get the gamergate crowd to be mad at him, but Iā€™m sure it doesnā€™t take much.[/quote]

He allegedly fabricated evidence of a conspiracy to hire an army of shills that was tasked with taking down gamergate.

In many jurisdictions, a threat is defined according to both the estimated intentions of its source, and the meaning as interpreted by the recipient. Laws tend to be coded as to not rely on specific wording. For example, if a friend told me: ā€œIā€™m gonna kill ya, ya SOB!ā€, it would legally constitute a threat if either there was evidence that they actually intended to, or if as a consequence of what I said felt threatened. We could both laugh it off. If police overheard I could tell them that I was not threatened by the remark. Conversely, if somebody told me: ā€œIt sure would be a shame if you had an accident tomorrow!ā€, I could treat this as a legal threat despite its indirect nature, simply based upon my inference of threatening motives. Personally, I dislike statutes which are worded with so much judicial leeway. Harassment tends to be similarly subjective. If ā€œany reasonable person might think it isā€, then it is, which makes it a credibility contest - with many possible biases skewing this interpretation.

Asking somebody to kill themselves could be handled in quite a few different ways. It could be handled as a threat, or harassment, hate speech, or - that cherished catch-all - disturbing the peace, which can mean practically anything.