NeoGAF Implodes

[Telefrog]

Yeah, this part is hot BS right here:

Malka’s statement on Amir0x can be read in full here, which claims nobody knew Amir0x’s real name, an explanation for why it took so long for the board to make an official statement on him. One moderator called that claim “patently false” and “the users knew it was crap.”

Many of the mods and Malka knew who Amir0x was in real life.

[Quaro]

She’s a cinematographer in the film industry.

[Mark_L]

You’re missing the videogames angle. See, he was on the trip looking for his traumatized, semi-autistic brother, and she was trying to find a house.

[lordkosc]

Saw this over on Reddit, seems a new community is forming later today.

NeoGAF competitor ResetEra has reached 100,000 posts in less than 36 hours

[divedivedive]

Psh, that’s easy. Everyone knows all you have to do to draw autistic people is drop a box of matches on the ground, they all come running.

[John_Many_Jars]

Oh, I thought it was called NeoGAY

[Timex]

@DaveLong

Amir0x angled for my ban for months. He didn’t like that I liked Nintendo games. It was as simple as that. Turns out he was into child porn

[forgeforsaken]

@lordkosc

Saw this over on Reddit, seems a new community is forming later today.

The ResetERA twitter account already has about 3500 followers and it hasn’t launched yet, just to give you an idea how big GAF was.

[scharmers]

[kerzain]

An official statement has been put up by Evilore:

The state of NeoGAF

Hi.

An allegation of sexual misconduct has been made against me by an ex. It’s not true, the individual making the accusation isn’t credible, the story doesn’t reconcile logically with the facts, and there’s plenty of evidence and witnesses to corroborate that. It’ll be a process.

All allegations of this nature are serious, of course. I first got word of it on Wednesday when a screenshot of a Facebook post was handed to Voat. I immediately talked with my mod team about the contents of the screenshot and clarified that it was baseless and explained some of the details concerning my former associations with her, and tried to ensure any concerns from the team were addressed fully and transparently to everyone’s satisfaction. On Thursday I heard that she had deleted the accusation from Facebook, and wasn’t entirely sure how to proceed from there or how this would all play out in the public space at that point. Then, Friday morning, the screenshot made its way to NeoGAF and chaos ensued.

I was in the process of writing a statement that entire day to address formally address the allegation, but the community had erupted in a flash that morning. While the moderation team was trying to restore the peace, accusations and threats concerning the screenshot started shifting to them as well by association with me, and I was asked by my team to do something to fix things and get the heat off of all of them at least. I was beyond exhausted by that point, though, stretched too thin in the time since the post had first appeared and seeing unprecedented events unfold on NeoGAF. I was slow and weak. I failed to handle it quickly enough and let the team down. Before I could finish a statement and get it out there, understandably some mods hit their emotional limit, expressed concerns about the community coming after them, and decided to leave. A few people resigned, and many more quickly followed for similar reasons, citing stress and harassment. The site started breaking under load spikes leading up to the first resignations, too, and then flatlined altogether, so issuing a statement at that time on NeoGAF itself became impossible for the time being, and my attention shifted toward the moderation team’s future.

Since that whole mess, lasting from Friday morning through Saturday, before we formally went offline for maintenance and repair and restructure, we’ve just been trying to figure out the best course of action for NeoGAF going forward. And as stories began being published by various outlets, I issued some comments to the press, since everything coming out was proving to be sensationalized, opportunist, and unprofessional.

We’ve all become increasingly stressed and weary this year in ways even I’m not accustomed to by now, and discussions on heated news, political issues, and social issues on the off-topic side of the site have become areas no one has wanted to moderate in the open for fear of backlash or just general exposure to the inevitable toxicity. I’ve gone in there myself to take the heat, since it’s very much my responsibility to do so before anyone else’s, but there’s been little headway, mostly just more anger and resentment and a lot of bans. I don’t think this necessarily reflects on our community; more so the tone of the entire internet this year with regards to heated issues.

That’s all going to inform the way forward for NeoGAF as we refocus on what the main goals are supposed to be for the site. The mod team will talk about more specifics on what that will entail below.

One last thing. The NeoGAF mod team is here for this community; all of you. You have no obligations to respect me or believe anything I say about my personal life one way or another, but if you’re going to be here and participate on NeoGAF, respect the mod team by following the rules and behaving. The team is diminished at the moment and the folks who stuck around care very much about this community and its future. Be considerate of them. That’s non-negotiable.

Thanks.

[CLWheeljack]

Man, i don’t know much about the details here, but going on the offensive in the first paragraph is not a good look.

[TimJames]

So were the witnesses in the shower too, or…?

[Mark_L]

I was under the impression that there no longer is a NeoGAF mod team.

[rowe33]

Don’t worry folks, he’s got HD video evidence of the shower incident that proves it all.

[Quaro]

Apparently this was on the discord:

Edit: crazy drama post removed
Second Edit: Ok fine, it’s out there anyway: Evilore Statement to mods - Pastebin.com

Ugh…

[charmtrap]

Boy, he’s throwing the smear campaign kitchen sink at her.

[Quaro]

He posted that in the private discord apparently, only to his mods, and it leaked. I think I’m going to delete it. Just feels gross going all TMZ on this stuff.

[charmtrap]

Oh come on! That post had mythical scientology cultists!

[Timex]

I request to be allowed to read about the cultists.

[Mark_L]

Wow.

Look, I’m tired and it’s late and I’m on my iPad in bed here, so just pretend I posted the above mentioned explanation here followed up by that one Anchorman “I don’t believe you” jpeg and I think we can call it a night.