This Isn't Going To End Well

Where I respond to things I dislike. And post about things I dislike. Where I vent.

[notendwell-blog]

The above video was introduced via this tweet and linked to in a stickied thread in 8chan/gg/. It is part of the "mysterious" #Solution6.

As I see it #Solution6 is one of three things:

1) It is an actual plan they are doing in secret and are going to spring on the world, aping at best the Illuminati and at worst Fight Clubs Project Mayhem. (If it is the latter, man, did they ever miss the point of that movie.) This seems the least likely scenario of the three. The level of paranoia is staggering. Not paranoid that they are being watched (because they are). Paranoia of thinking that they need secret plans. A "consumer action" doesn't need secret plans. And they wonder why people don't want to engage in conversations with them.

2) This is all bait for the anti-gg'ers. A distraction meant to lure us in to some sort of web of investigation. Vast majority of anti-gg don't care enough. This one seems most likely. It matches what gg thinks the narrative is. They seem to LOVE the investigation part. They want the "gotcha" moment. All of this would be fine if they wanted to form a consumer watchdog group like Media Matters or whatnot. But that's not going to happen as long as they are doing "Opoerations" and whatever this is.

3) They are just playing is no real intent. They are turning GG in an ARG. Honestly, this would kind of be awesome. Turn this whole fiasco is an elaborate interactive game across the internet. Big Illuminati-style conspiracy to be explore and uncovered. Intentional fiction. Man, I wish this were true. I mean, it also completely undercuts their cause and means no one can take them seriously. But very few take them seriously now...except when one of them crosses a line into dangerous behavior. (Note: I said "one of them." Not all gaters do. But enough do that it is disturbing.)

No matter what, a secret plan with "Solution" in the name is...problematic.

EDIT: Did a tiny tiny bit of investigation. Apparently is was something (either 1 or 2) and that then someone decided to turn into 3. Which I say great! (It's a better use of their creative energies. MAKE GAME! YAY!) Hope it keeps them busy.

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Banner ad on 8chan/gg/ asks them to move to Australia.

Seems unkind to Australia.

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It's so hard to tell if this is in jest or sincere or an outsider baiting GG.

That's the hard thing about any sort of mocking gg post... So many genuine ones are already absurd.

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On #NotAllMen and similar repsonses

Here's the dealeeo - You don't need to inject yourself into every conversation.

I get it. I do. You feel like YOU are being attacked. But if you feel the driving need to defend yourself from something you KNOW doesn't relate to you, if you feel defensive... chances are, yes, you are part of the problem. Broad generalization are going to be made. Some will, one the whole, be accurate. Some will not. But, hey, if you are a white guy, just let it go. If you know you are living well and treating your fellow humans well, than they aren't talking about you. That part of you that feels the NEED to defend yourself? That is the part of you that is NOT doing so great.

Sometimes you need to speak up, sure. But really, straight white men have PLENTY of voices defending us. We have for a few quite awhile. Most of history we have been well represented. Most books and academics and politicians and journalists and, well, art, represents straight white men. We don't need a lot more voices out there.

Just try listening and not talking. Read the the point of views of others. Try to understand them. Some you will hate and disagree - but you don't need to comment on them. You are adding nothing new to the conversation. Just listen.

Really really listen. Try to see through their eyes. It's hard to do and you won't be very good at it. But you may get a bit more empathy from it. Don't worry about correcting them or making them see your point of view. It's okay to just sit quietly and LISTEN.

Okay. Minirant over. Cis white male out.

[notendwell-blog]

This is from someone who feels the email to advertisers at Gawker, Gamasutra, etc has failed…

What I propose is this: Make a daily habit of visiting polygon, kotaku, gamasutra, gawker, etc. and click exactly one ad on each. There are demonstrably over 20,000 of us who...

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Link.

It appears the rest of GG didn't jump on board. It is quite entertaining however.

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GUYS! GG has "infiltrated" twitter. Because before gg NO one ever questioned "SJWs" on twitter (or sent threat/harassed). "Chan" culture never crossed into twitter before gg.*

*This is sarcastic if you can't tell.

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My new absolute favorite plan presented on 8chan/gg/

This is from someone who feels the email to advertisers at Gawker, Gamasutra, etc has failed...

What I propose is this: Make a daily habit of visiting polygon, kotaku, gamasutra, gawker, etc. and click exactly one ad on each. There are demonstrably over 20,000 of us who are vocally and feverishly dedicated to GamerGate, which suggests another 200,000 are silently on our side. If just 5% of us were committed to a daily mass ad-clicking campaign against these sites, there would be absolutely no way for the ad networks to separate ordinary clicks from ours anymore. Normal clicks would be a barely-noticeable blip, lost in the noise. Our clicks would blot out the sun. The ad networks would notice the ROI on Gawker sites hit rock-bottom compared to every other publisher, and they would be *FORCED* to regard Gawker's publisher accounts as toxic and suspend them in order to protect the network and prevent advertisers from getting extremely angry at the poor results and jumping ship.

Operation Kill Them With Kindness? Mass clicking on ads on these sites. This is gloriously ridiculous and I so hope they try it.

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Snaps of two gifs that get posted on lots of 8chan/gg/ threads. Whenever someone thinks someone is being greedy.

The phrase "greedy jew" comes up a lot.

The divide between what gg accepts as appropriate and what the rest of accepts is so vast. They just don't see it. Or even when individuals sees it as offensive, they ignore it.

[notendwell-blog]

From the 8chan/gg/ thread about Intel reinstating advertising on Gamasutra.

Now, I understand that newspapers sometime have shoddy practices and unethical behavior. But this is a direct quote from an Intel spokesman. Do you honestly believe they would just make up a quote? Really? Your head is so deep into your own bubble... This is why it is hard to have discussion with GG on topics. There is a constant yelling of "WE HAVE TRUTH ON OUR SIDE!" except when facts are so clearly not... then those facts are "not yet confirmed."

An aside: I am glad Intel looked closer at the issue and made a call based on their business and not just emails. I hope more companies follow this model. I even understand suspending advertising if they get a flood of emails. Just to look closer at what is going on.

However, companies should reword their response emails. Currently most are along the lines of "As a company, we don't support [bullying/whatever] so we are pulling our ads from [Gawker/etc]." Something along the lines of "We have suspended ads on site X while we review" seems more accurate (and what I would like from a company).

[notendwell-blog]

GamerGate's press kit is out. They've been working on it since September I think.

Just scanning the 8chan/gg/ response. Big discussions on whether NEUTRAL = ETHICAL in journalism or not. I think they are starting to see the cracks in many of their talking points.

Oh, and the amount of typos.

I won't get a chance to go through it til tomorrow. I imagine it should be worth some chuckles.

[notendwell-blog]

A current active thread on 8chan/gg/ is about starting an alternative social media site:

tl;dr: Red (like 8chan) alternatives to major websites, which explicitly allow being a dick to everyone and guaranteeing free speech in accordance to the law. I know this sounds impossible, but maybe we could make it happen in the long run if we have people like Hotwheels among us. We could try the same thing we did with 8chan for stuff like Twitter. Just GTFO, make our own and use it. Invite the like-minded. Let the mob out-cancer itself. That is what had led us to chan culture in the first place, and since I believe humans need an outlet to vent anonymously in order to function more rationally IRL, I also believe it will happen again and again. So we could just copy twitter and call it a day. But I see that as the kind of solution feasable if #GamerGate still rolls around August 2015 and more and more bans happening. We might as well make it a kind of Label. A red label for free speech, stick it on your site to warn users that this is NOT a safe space hugbox, but rather harsh reality where your words trigger real reactions - which won't matter as long as you keep your fucking identity to yourself. If you need to say it, remember to do nothing that could lead to people doxxing you - which is kinda easy, dont be a dick. People will flock to it. If we get a culture up which isn't 90% shitposting and gore, it might even get some ads to sustain itself. Am I delusional or is this kinda thinkable?

A lot of the talk has come down to "Yeah! A place where you can say whatever you want. Unless it is SJW commending on what we say. None of that. But it is all about free speech!"

One of my favorite bit is also "If you need to say it, remember to do nothing that could lead to people doxxing you - which is kinda easy, dont be a dick." Which is amazing on a bunch of levels.

[ownnator-deactivated20150807]

THIS JUST IN

Anita Sarkeesian & Co. have begun lobbying for internet censorship laws and coordinated, expansive, mass blocking of anyone who posts certain types of content.

Under these laws, publicly insulting or disagreeing with someone using digital communication would be considered a hate crime. Using this standard, anyone who’s ever had an argument online could be fined or jailed.

This is what feminists and social justice warriors want — the end of free speech, and the beginning of totalitarianism on the net.

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UGH.

I was not at this presentation and have not investigated seeing this post. But based on these slides, you are making this something it is not.

Second slide first: These are just recommendations of blocking tools. Blocking is not censorship. No one is required to (1) let you read what they've written and (2) have to read what you have written. The one bullet point is about reporting. Reporting of harassment is not censorship. (How a company deals with said reporting might be. But this slide is not addressing that.)

Now the first slide: All of these talk about "harassing and threatening" behavior. Sure, it is important that we try to define those behaviors. While we shouldn't monitor every word we say directed at others, you know very well when you cross into unacceptable behavior. How about this metric (which is over said but apparently needs repeating): Would you say this to a stranger in the street? To their face?

To call someone a "fucker" or whatever on a street once... okay. To follow them down the street and continue to do it? That's harassment. And threats are threats.

Don't even try to say "But internet behavior is different." Yes, it is. But it shouldn't be. Don't excuse awful behavior with "Well that's just the way it is." That's not how a society grows and becomes better.

[notendwell-blog]

Plague of game dev harassment erodes industry, spurs support groups

The greatest threat to the video game industry may be some of its most impassioned fans. Increasingly, game developers are finding themselves under attack by some of the very people they devote...

This is not directly related to GamerGate. But it is fascinating how (some) people will use the ability to directly contact devs with the most vitriolic language possible...and consider that okay/justified.

Even looking at a case of XboxOne being "online all the time." Great case scenario is that public objects to announcement and gets Microsoft to reconsider. Which is what happened. But to jump to threats. And there ARE more people like that in any other community I've been involved in... or it sure seems that way.

This article address why that may be the case. (If you are hardcore GG, I know you won't want to read it because it's Polygon.)

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This is in reference to the Catcalling video... I think the two "counter" videos they are talking about are: 1) A comedy sketch video.

2) A woman walking around New Zealand (to point out how different the culture is)

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There is a large amount of hypocrisy in GamerGate not defending Lena Dunham. But of course they would not see it that way. Of course not.

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If the majority of GamerGate would be able to have an intelligent conversation about Keira Knightley's recent interview and photo shoot in Interview Magazine, I might actually be willing to engage them.

Seriously. I dare them.

Think of it as a cultural Turing test.

[rhetthammersmithhorror]

[notendwell-blog]

Actually, it’s about ethics in game journalism.