Why jeuxvideo.com is bad and why Wizards should not give them previews
Hey @wizardsmagic, I’m sorry but we really need to talk.
Since quite some times now, you have been giving previews of cards for most upcoming sets to the French website http://www.jeuxvideo.com/. It was Duskborne Skymarcher for Ixalan, Start to Finish for Amonkhet, Toolcraft Exemplar for Kaladesh and Inexorable Blob for Shadows over Innistrad.
In order for all the non-French people here to understand why this is problematic, I think a little context is needed. jeuxvideo.com is the main and biggest website about video games in France. It is huge. So huge in fact, that, over the course of the years, it had killed almost serious concurrence. For many, it’s the entry point for video games related content on the Internet.
One of the many reasons of its success lays in its forums. They are probably the biggest ones written primarily in French. There are hundreds and hundreds of people using them, to talk about video games of course, but also about anime, books, movies, politics and almost everything.
However, the main things that those forums have become known for is to be a meeting point for all kind of harassers and a platform for far right propaganda. Several harassment campaigns targeting women (and especially feminists and trans women) have previously originated from those forums. Even worse, Webedia, the company behind the site, have demonstrated numerous times they didn’t care about what happens on their forums.
Last week, when Clara Gonzales and Elliot Lepers, made public an anti-harassment phone number that women can give to man asking them their number, people from those forums flooded the line with hate calls and messages until the service had to close. They then proceeded to harass the two creators on Twitter, sending them death threats.
When the journalist Nadia Daam made a chronic about this incident earlier this week, she instantly became the new target of the harassment campaign. After receiving multiple rape and death threats, after having her child threatened online, she deleted her Twitter account.
Since then, numerous people have raised their voice against this website and its lackluster moderation. Barilla has announced that it will not advertise on jeuxvideo.com anymore and the French secretary of state for women rights, Marlene Schiappa, has sent a letter to both Twitter and Webedia to ask them to take appropriate measures.
J'ai demandé à @Twitter et à @WebediaFR de prendre leurs responsabilités pour que cesse le cyber-harcèlement @claranote @nadiadaam pic.twitter.com/7TYvfBZ04s
— MarleneSchiappa (@MarleneSchiappa)
3 novembre 2017
But the problem isn’t new. In fact, it has been denounced for years by various feminists activists, some of them having been target by similar campaign in the past. In 2013, an article published on Machisme Haute Fréquence (French for “High Frequency Machismo”), already accused the editor of not moderating its forum and summarized the various harassment campaign that happened so far. This is well sumarized in this message, posted on Mastodon by a trans women and feminist activist:
Je suis super amère sur ce qui se passe autour du 18/25 en ce moment.
Ça fait des années que ces ordures harcèlent et doxxent des féministes, préférablement des trans et/ou des racisées bien sûr, sans qu'il ne se passe absolument rien.
Et maintenant qu'ils se sentent plus pisser et qu'ils s'en prennent à une journaliste, là on a des tribunes signées par le gratin médiatique parisien, des cris d'orfraies, le président de Webedia, qui fait mine de tout découvrir, convoqué au secrétariat de l'égalite femmes/hommes.
Où ils étaient tous ces gens il y a 3 ans quand on se faisait raider MHFreq ? Quand ils doxxaient des meufs trans ? Où ils étaient l'an dernier quand le harcèlement était tel que j'ai du faire et partager une blocklist de 6000 comptes Twitter pour avoir la paix ? Et cet été quand ils ont harcelé un⋅e non-binaire pour simplement être passé⋅e à la télé ?
Justice à deux vitesses…
http://www.letelegramme.fr/france/europe-1-plainte-apres-le-harcelement-d-une-journaliste-par-des-membres-d-un-forum-03-11-2017-11727361.php
I know your goal is to sell cards and I can assume jeuxvideo.com is a good advertisement platform for you. But in the light of the recent events, and knowing how some people who are working for you are committed to promoting equality and social justice, I really hope you’ll take time to reconsider your partnership with them.
