well, the the escapist was just attacked.

[Zipa]

I am truly trying to follow what the f*ck going on, but every time I fail...
A summary of this situation please?

From the very beginning:

From my understanding, this is Gamersgate in a nutshell.

1. A woman is suspected of sabotaging a charity event with feminism as her justification, even though the event supposedly aimed to support female developers.
2. A more or less reasonable group of people get upset about this, and make the issue somewhat known.
3. An ex decides to share information about this woman's sex life, which picks up popularity because of the aforementioned scandal.
4. A crazy guy builds a conspiracy from this sex life, which may have started with a kernel of truth, but quickly gets out of hand.
5. Misogynist pick up on this conspiracy and go nuts with it, attacking the woman in typical internet fashion.
6. News sites, always eager to paint things in black and white, ignore the concerns raised by the reasonable people and make the issue about feminism versus misogyny, grouping all people who don't praise the woman in the latter category.
7. The aforementioned reasonable people, having been lumped together with misogynists, become resentful of news websites who use the "feminism" debate to cover their refusal to address real issues.
8. Misogynists start backing up the reasonable people. The reasonable people don't notice, being too focused on their new enemies.
9. An unusually high number of comments, videos, and forums posts are deleted en masse for siding with "gamersgate", regardless of whether they fell into the reasonable or misogynist categories.
10. A portion of the reasonable people begin thinking there's maybe something to this whole "conspiracy" angle, and start becoming indistinguishable from the crazies.
11. Repeat steps 6, 7, 8, and 10 until the whole world's gone crazy and everybody is convinced that everybody else is a mis[ogyn/andr]ist and that there are absolutely no mis[andr/ogyn]ists on their "side".

From just now:
The Escapist got hacked by multiple anti-GG activists, who were targeting the forum's Gamergate thread. Forum's gone down for some time but the site's brought it back up.

That's some serious revisionism right there. Also we have no idea who attacked the site other than that they are shitheads. Big giant shitheads.

You have to admit that its more than a little convenient that they were targeting the gamersgate as mentioned by Archon [https://twitter.com/archon/status/513377137035059201] There is also the tweet from Archon that states the Escapist won't stop talking about Gamersgate because of said attacks. Here [https://twitter.com/archon/status/513395926149656576]

That in itself seems rather compelling evidence, then take into account the timing of this, a DDOS attack against a thread about Gamergate happens after Greg Tito refuses to bow to pressure and shut down the discussion going on about Gamergate on the Escapist.

Heres the email thing where Greg refuses to bow to pressure [http://yiannopoulos.net/2014/09/19/gamejournopros-zoe-quinn-email-dump/]

To me it seems extremely well timed to just be coincidence.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

So that's why I saw a funny picture late last night.

I feel like I need an internet holiday from this bullshit. I don't even give a toss in the first place, but I can barely even read the regular gaming news without this crap being brought up.

 

[Josh123914]

The reason someone might not be in the big thread is because its fucking stupid and I don't want to read shit about it.

Ddos attacks happen all the time. Who cares?

Obviously people that had nothing to do with GG until now, and this DDoS attack has brought it into centre stage.
Seriously? I could spend hours explaining why GG is important, but luckily other people have done that for me. But TL;DR: Corruption in the press, followed by conflicts of interest, then censorship, then shit flinging by both SJWs and GGers, rinse, repeat.
Anyone that says Zoe Quinn is relevant now is lying. She was the catalyst for this whole corruption scandal, and the only way she makes herself relevant now is in relation to the people she allegedly slept with, the charity she allegedly ruined, and those Cracked articles where she's trying to get our attention.

Also, for whoever DDoS'ed the site: Fuck you.
I'm willing to bet with an 80% certainty it want someone from the Anti-GG side.
The Escapist has been one of the few sites to allow discussion about this whole fiasco, and (in general) those on the GG side tended to want transparency, and wanted to get to the bottom of this rabbit hole, while (in general) people against them spent less time making valid points, but more time getting bogged down in whether this is misogyny, or bigotry, or getting bogged down in minutia, or came in still thinking the discussion was still about Zoe Quinn.

The site that allowed discussion had the GG side winning in a lot of the arguments, and got their points across.
So what benefit would it be for them to shut down one of the only sites that they had ground in?
It couldn't have been them, unless there's proof, which there isn't. Stating that it was the GG crowd that brought the DDoS because 'False Flag' is nonsense, it makes you sound like a 9/11 Truther.
For it being some sick troll's idea of a good time: I could see that happening, but there are much juicier targets than the Escapist to go after, and, with for instance Lulsec, they came out afterwards and announced they did it.
As for the Anti-GG side, there's no proof they did it either.

HOWEVER. This side has a proven track record of DDoSing sites before, and according to TFYC, they were doxxed by this group.
There's no outright proof one side or another did ANYTHING, but if one guy has a gun and the other has a knife, and there's a body on the floor with a bullet in it, who's the killer? The guy with the knife COULD have found a gun and shot it to frame the other guy, but it's much more likely the guy with a gun shot, especially when there's rumours flying around that he's killed before.

 

[Hoplon]

That's some serious revisionism right there. Also we have no idea who attacked the site other than that they are shitheads. Big giant shitheads.

You have to admit that its more than a little convenient that they were targeting the gamersgate as mentioned by Archon [https://twitter.com/archon/status/513377137035059201] There is also the tweet from Archon that states the Escapist won't stop talking about Gamersgate because of said attacks. Here [https://twitter.com/archon/status/513395926149656576]

That in itself seems rather compelling evidence, then take into account the timing of this, a DDOS attack against a thread about Gamergate happens after Greg Tito refuses to bow to pressure and shut down the discussion going on about Gamergate on the Escapist.

Heres the email thing where Greg refuses to bow to pressure [http://yiannopoulos.net/2014/09/19/gamejournopros-zoe-quinn-email-dump/]

To me it seems extremely well timed to just be coincidence.

Yes, too well timed and targeted. however supposition is no replacement for actual evidence of anything. The emails for instance, Greg simply disagrees with a stance, Yet you are trying to grow a heroic narrative out of it. Also don't link to some one that was calling gamers the worst people on earth just before he became a champion of the cause, he's not a nice or reliable human.

 

[Zontar]

The reason someone might not be in the big thread is because its fucking stupid and I don't want to read shit about it.

Ddos attacks happen all the time. Who cares?

How about every person who wanted to use this site when it happened, for starters? Or people who don't think you should be attacked solely for allowing others to discuss their opinions on a matter in a civil manor? Or people who like the idea that, so long as you keep it civil, you should be allowed to say what you want in peace?

But no, you just don't want us to talk about the issue, you just want it to die. I mean come on, you're acting as if we are forcing you to read either the megathread or one of the ones which has branched out of it. No one is, and given the date you made your account it's pretty clear you're only here because of this hole mess in the first place. (either that, or you have an incredible sense of bad timing)

 

[Zipa]

That's some serious revisionism right there. Also we have no idea who attacked the site other than that they are shitheads. Big giant shitheads.

You have to admit that its more than a little convenient that they were targeting the gamersgate as mentioned by Archon [https://twitter.com/archon/status/513377137035059201] There is also the tweet from Archon that states the Escapist won't stop talking about Gamersgate because of said attacks. Here [https://twitter.com/archon/status/513395926149656576]

That in itself seems rather compelling evidence, then take into account the timing of this, a DDOS attack against a thread about Gamergate happens after Greg Tito refuses to bow to pressure and shut down the discussion going on about Gamergate on the Escapist.

Heres the email thing where Greg refuses to bow to pressure [http://yiannopoulos.net/2014/09/19/gamejournopros-zoe-quinn-email-dump/]

To me it seems extremely well timed to just be coincidence.

Yes, too well timed and targeted. however supposition is no replacement for actual evidence of anything. The emails for instance, Greg simply disagrees with a stance, Yet you are trying to grow a heroic narrative out of it. Also don't link to some one that was calling gamers the worst people on earth just before he became a champion of the cause, he's not a nice or reliable human.

I never claimed and nor do I think he is some hero or champion or even a supporter of GG. He did in this instance though show himself to be better than many of his peers by allowing this discussion to take place despite what he personally thinks and despite pressure from his peers. And yes I am well aware that there most of the info about the attack here is supposition but as you say yourself its too well timed and aimed to be random shitheads.

 

[Stats ^1]

The reason someone might not be in the big thread is because its fucking stupid and I don't want to read shit about it.

Ddos attacks happen all the time. Who cares?

How about every person who wanted to use this site when it happened, for starters? Or people who don't think you should be attacked solely for allowing others to discuss their opinions on a matter in a civil manor? Or people who like the idea that, so long as you keep it civil, you should be allowed to say what you want in peace?

But no, you just don't want us to talk about the issue, you just want it to die. I mean come on, you're acting as if we are forcing you to read either the megathread or one of the ones which has branched out of it. No one is, and given the date you made your account it's pretty clear you're only here because of this hole mess in the first place. (either that, or you have an incredible sense of bad timing)

People can go without a website for a couple of hours.

And I don't want you to make a separate thread for every separate issue. What about that point was so hard for you to grasp? You have a thread dedicated to the whole affair, so use it.

This issue isn't important, and definitely not important enough to have a large thread as well as a bunch of tiny threads about it.

 

[Zipa]

The reason someone might not be in the big thread is because its fucking stupid and I don't want to read shit about it.

Ddos attacks happen all the time. Who cares?

How about every person who wanted to use this site when it happened, for starters? Or people who don't think you should be attacked solely for allowing others to discuss their opinions on a matter in a civil manor? Or people who like the idea that, so long as you keep it civil, you should be allowed to say what you want in peace?

But no, you just don't want us to talk about the issue, you just want it to die. I mean come on, you're acting as if we are forcing you to read either the megathread or one of the ones which has branched out of it. No one is, and given the date you made your account it's pretty clear you're only here because of this hole mess in the first place. (either that, or you have an incredible sense of bad timing)

If the boot had been on the other foot and someone in the anti GG camp had been DDOS attacked like Kokatu for example then you can bet that there would be another round of all gamers are evil stories going around. I wonder if any of the major sites will even report on this.

 

[Zipa]

The reason someone might not be in the big thread is because its fucking stupid and I don't want to read shit about it.

Ddos attacks happen all the time. Who cares?

How about every person who wanted to use this site when it happened, for starters? Or people who don't think you should be attacked solely for allowing others to discuss their opinions on a matter in a civil manor? Or people who like the idea that, so long as you keep it civil, you should be allowed to say what you want in peace?

But no, you just don't want us to talk about the issue, you just want it to die. I mean come on, you're acting as if we are forcing you to read either the megathread or one of the ones which has branched out of it. No one is, and given the date you made your account it's pretty clear you're only here because of this hole mess in the first place. (either that, or you have an incredible sense of bad timing)

People can go without a website for a couple of hours.

And I don't want you to make a separate thread for every separate issue. What about that point was so hard for you to grasp? You have a thread dedicated to the whole affair, so use it.

This issue isn't important, and definitely not important enough to have a large thread as well as a bunch of tiny threads about it.

Its very obvious what this thread is, if it bothers you that much you could just not click on it and go on with your day.

 

[Zontar]

The reason someone might not be in the big thread is because its fucking stupid and I don't want to read shit about it.

Ddos attacks happen all the time. Who cares?

How about every person who wanted to use this site when it happened, for starters? Or people who don't think you should be attacked solely for allowing others to discuss their opinions on a matter in a civil manor? Or people who like the idea that, so long as you keep it civil, you should be allowed to say what you want in peace?

But no, you just don't want us to talk about the issue, you just want it to die. I mean come on, you're acting as if we are forcing you to read either the megathread or one of the ones which has branched out of it. No one is, and given the date you made your account it's pretty clear you're only here because of this hole mess in the first place. (either that, or you have an incredible sense of bad timing)

People can go without a website for a couple of hours.

And I don't want you to make a separate thread for every separate issue. What about that point was so hard for you to grasp? You have a thread dedicated to the whole affair, so use it.

This issue isn't important, and definitely not important enough to have a large thread as well as a bunch of tiny threads about it.

You're talking about a forum which has theads dedicated to which Power Ranger robots people enjoyed the most [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.854502-What-is-your-favourite-Megazord] or discussions about weather or not the droids in Star Wars where the good guys [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.838951-In-the-Prequels-the-Confederates-are-actually-the-good-guys], having something which is a very serious issue have a thread or two, and one dedicated to discussing an attack which effected all of us who used the site, is not only reasonable, it's much more logical then an easy 85% of what is posted on this forum.

No one is forcing you to read these threads, so don't. It only effects you because you let it effect you.

 

[Zontar]

The reason someone might not be in the big thread is because its fucking stupid and I don't want to read shit about it.

Ddos attacks happen all the time. Who cares?

How about every person who wanted to use this site when it happened, for starters? Or people who don't think you should be attacked solely for allowing others to discuss their opinions on a matter in a civil manor? Or people who like the idea that, so long as you keep it civil, you should be allowed to say what you want in peace?

But no, you just don't want us to talk about the issue, you just want it to die. I mean come on, you're acting as if we are forcing you to read either the megathread or one of the ones which has branched out of it. No one is, and given the date you made your account it's pretty clear you're only here because of this hole mess in the first place. (either that, or you have an incredible sense of bad timing)

If the boot had been on the other foot and someone in the anti GG camp had been DDOS attacked like Kokatu for example then you can bet that there would be another round of all gamers are evil stories going around. I wonder if any of the major sites will even report on this.

Well, Forbes already made an article on this attack, and I have a distinct feeling we all know one specific gaming site which will at some point report on it. No guesses as to which.

 

[Josh123914]

I.

Don't.

Care.

Your ridiculous ramblings are no excuse to make a separate thread for this issue. It already has a huge thread dedicated to it.

Oh you don't care?
Then why are you here?

Nice job discrediting my post there by addressing nothing about it in a throwaway comment, mad props.
And yeah there's a separate thread dedicated to this issue, but then YOU should have posted your initial comment there if you gave enough of a crap.
And the ENTIRE SITE was down for a few hours, I didn't make this thread, but it seems A LOT of people deemed such a thread necessary.

 

[Zhukov]

Still, in terms of general "badness" SJWs are at the far end of the scale. Right up there with the Westboro Baptist Church. Granted arguably a little worse since those idiots don't infringe on others' right to free speech.

Jeez, the generalisation is strong in this one!

Isn't this exactly what you folks were complaining about with the whole "oh-my-sweet-baby-jesus- they're-attacking-gamers" thing?

Going by your reasoning, should I start assuming that the person who was sending nasty anti-SJW PMs to forum members around here is representative of you and all your ilk? That seems to be how this works. I bet he's your best buddy. Hell, I bet you planned it right there with him! You're all in on it!

You, and I mean you personally, individually and specifically Witty Name Here, are acting exactly like that one guy who got you all in a tizzy by comparing you folks to ISIS.

But I guess it's cool when you do it, right?

 

[MathHamy]

The reason someone might not be in the big thread is because its fucking stupid and I don't want to read shit about it.

Ddos attacks happen all the time. Who cares?

How about every person who wanted to use this site when it happened, for starters? Or people who don't think you should be attacked solely for allowing others to discuss their opinions on a matter in a civil manor? Or people who like the idea that, so long as you keep it civil, you should be allowed to say what you want in peace?

But no, you just don't want us to talk about the issue, you just want it to die. I mean come on, you're acting as if we are forcing you to read either the megathread or one of the ones which has branched out of it. No one is, and given the date you made your account it's pretty clear you're only here because of this hole mess in the first place. (either that, or you have an incredible sense of bad timing)

People can go without a website for a couple of hours.

And I don't want you to make a separate thread for every separate issue. What about that point was so hard for you to grasp? You have a thread dedicated to the whole affair, so use it.

This issue isn't important, and definitely not important enough to have a large thread as well as a bunch of tiny threads about it.

This thread is not about GG, it's about the DDoS attack on Escapist, which warrants its own thread as a separate affair. A good policy is "ignore stuff you don't like", so feel free to go to any other thread that you like instead of complaining in threads like this. Believe it or not, people may care about things that you don't care about.

Anyway, I've collected my thoughts on the matter.

Anti-GG motives for attack:
-Revenge against Tito for not purging GG threads from Escapist
-Divert attention from the recent e-mail dump
-Attempting to remove another discussion forum where GG can be openly discussed
-Coupled with some alleged threats and one confirmed GG-supporter losing his job, scaring people away from supporting GG

GG motives for attack:
-False flag to make anti-GG side look bad

Independent troll motive:
-Stir up things on both sides, watch drama unfold

The comparative importance of these objectives is not easy to quantify, but I would argue that it does look like the Anti-GG side would have the most to gain from doing an attack like this. If GG was behind it, then it would also mean accomplishing the last two of the Anti-GG motives, which is basically attacking themselves. Besides, the whole thing doesn't accomplish a single major goal of GG, as GG's goals are all related either to transparency and ethics in journalism or artistic freedom.

Consequently, if GG is doing this, then it is merely a desperate move to fend off the opposition. If the opposition is doing this then it is actually an attempt to accomplish its actual goals - that is silencing GG and punishing Escapist for agreeing to GG's demands (the public ethics policy and the allowing of GG discussion).

I'll leave the independent troll scenario as a possibility, though I believe it is unlikely.

It's true that we can't know for sure who did it, but referring to the above arguments I believe that the rational belief in this situation is that some assholes on the "anti-GG side" are the perpetrators.

 

[The Lunatic]

I do wonder if people will finally start to realise just how toxic the anti-GG camp is.


I guess some people will still believe what they feel is correct, however, when things like this stare you in the face, it's perhaps time to consider the reality.

 

[ElMinotoro]

I'm pretty sure we can all see the obvious truth here. This was a false flag attack by gamergate supporters in an attempt to make anti-GG supporters look bad. Don't you find it strange that one of the first posts on this thread was this theory that it was an anti-GG plot? Don't you find it strange that this all happened while the moon was ascending into Aries? The timing is too perfect.

I, too, can make spurious claims based on nothing.

 

[Zontar]

I'm pretty sure we can all see the obvious truth here. This was a false flag attack by gamergate supporters in an attempt to make anti-GG supporters look bad. Don't you find it strange that one of the first posts on this thread was this theory that it was an anti-GG plot? Don't you find it strange that this all happened while the moon was ascending into Aries? The timing is too perfect.

I, too, can make spurious claims based on nothing.

Well it all stems from this website's own manager posting on twitter that it was probably anti-gamergate, which, given that it was targeted at the main thread, makes sense. Sure, we don't know for a fact that it was, but using occam's razor someone or a group which is part of anti-gamergate is the most logical assumption, with someone or a group from gamergate being a distance second and unaffiliated being third.

 

[Zontar]

I, for one, am glad 4chan took a stand against this thinly veiled hatred of women and it is disgraceful that so many gamers these days have their heads so far up their asses that /b/ has to be the voice of reason and tolerance.

Good post. I don't think 4chan even really cares that much about the misogyny on the whole, though; it's more that, aside from the "movement" being perhaps the most tiresome thing ever, they seem to have realized "waitasec, death threats and harassment are illegal and these dudes are about to bring a metric ton of drama down on us for absolutely no reason."

Then why is any discussion in support of anti-gamergate allowed when supporters of THAT movement are on record with one or two orders of magnitude more death threats and harassment being thrown towards others?

IF your assumption is correct it's a massive act of hypocrisy on their part, and that's with giving them the benefit of the doubt that this is only blanket censorship of everything to silence comments which are next to non-existent. Punishing the whole for the actions of a small few. That's the best case for them scenario, and it STILL makes them look bad.

And hell, I don't see anti-gamergate cleaning its house up. Right now as it stands the ratio is about 2 to 1 by the most conservative estimate in terms of harassment and death threats being thrown around, yet its US who need to go out of our way to deal with it before we can move forward? This whole situation is not even the pot calling the kettle black, it's more of a mass murderer complaining about someone who hit a dog with their car. Anti-GG complaining about harassment is turning into hypocritical white noise, and rightly so.