Corruption in gaming journalism discussion and update thread.

[Xenomoose]

[QUOTE=EXPLOOOSIONS!;45847396]Hell, the [B]title[/B] is "Corruption in gaming journalism discussion and update thread."

I don't think it gets more clear than this, that this is past Zoe Quinn now and is an issue with gaming journalism. At this point, people in the "pro-Quinn" camp are no longer "pro-Quinn", they're pro-corruption/nepotism/everything else to do with this sordid affair.[/QUOTE]

To be fair, this thread was originally titled something more specific to Zoe, but it seems like someone changed it to something more appropriate.

[Miya]

[QUOTE=Swilly;45847415]Actually, the nuts are in a box that you can or don't have to grab. They're free and contained in a singular area as well as there being a drive thru. You could easily get it dude.[/QUOTE]

Fries are cooked in peanut oil

[url]http://www.fiveguys.com/about-us/faq.aspx#faqSection-1198[/url]

The Fries is what completes a five guys meal

[Tamschi]

_Axel just asked me via PM about advice for contacting sponsors, and thereby gave me a good idea for a short guide on this kind of activism:

(quoted with permission)
[quote=_Axel]Hello, I've seen on the corresponding thread that you've sent mails to advertisers to inform them of the situation. I'd like to do that as well but so far I've only sent two mails to vice's editor about their two articles (and they didn't do jack shit about it).
So this here seems different. First I thought about emailing those same mails to Vice's advertisers, but I can't see a list of them anywhere. I also considered emailing it to Shane Smith but I can't find his address either. That would be cool if I managed to do that because I don't want the two hours I spent in writing them to go to waste.
About the other articles, this is the list of the biased articles I've seen:

[...]

Which is mainly about Polygon, Kotaku and the Escapist.
However, from the articles I linked, three of them are from Gamasutra, and only one is from Kotaku, which means I can only mail Kotaku's sponsors so far. Do you have a list of Gamasutra's sponsor? Are there other articles I could link to other sites' sponsors eventually?

Lastly, I'd like to know about what approach you take when emailing their sponsors. Obviously we need to emphasize that sponsoring such sites may hurt their sales and profit, and also tarnish their reputation as a respectable business. But what part of those articles should we use for those? Do you say that they are antagonizing the average gamer? Or do you point out that their coverage is partial and ignores the huge mountain of evidence that was amassed so far? I'd think the former is the main goal, but perhaps pointing out the latter would help fluff it a little.[/quote]

[B][U]How-To Complain to[/U][/B] (uninvolved) [B][U]People with Money[/U][/B]

First off, the existing lists are not all that useful unless you want to just shoot off a bunch of batch mail to many different advertisers, all at once.
(Which you hopefully do in a way that sends them individually with only one recipient in the [I]To:[/I] field at a time.
Secretaries will know if you just [I]BCC:[/I]-batch it, so avoid that. Anything's better than sending a mail with multiple recipients in the [I]To:[/I] field though.
If you want you can [I]CC:[/I] the news site though, so they know immediately what is going on :v:)

[U]The first step is to look for advertisements that appear on the page, and to create a screenshot of them.[/U]
Just refresh until you find one with a prominent company logo, Vice articles won't always display any for example.
Since not all that many ads are paid per view (to my knowledge), this shouldn't give the publication any money. Refreshing from the same browser should also prevent that.
The screenshot should ideally cover the full page, not just the visible part. There are addons that can do this for you, but you should test them to make sure they work.

You can also check the main page of the news site for advertising, for example Levi's is running a [I]huge[/I] ad on Vice's front page. Bonus points if the article is recent enough to still be on the front page. Highlight it if that's the case.

[U]You should also copy the advertisement link.[/U]
If you want to share it here do so in [noparse]

[/noparse] tags like

so

. However, that may not always be the best idea for reasons I'll get to a bit later.
The link is probably going to look like garbage, but it can help the company to identify the exact ad campaign. It's especially important if they are large and operate in multiple countries.

[U]For the next step, you should look up the company's website through Google.[/U]
Use the company that appears with their name and/or logo, not the one the advertisement links to!
Then look for a [I]Contact[/I] or [I]About[/I] link. It should be near the bottom and contain mail addresses and/or phone numbers.
Some countries (e.g. Germany), require the [I]About[/I] page, but any serious company should have instant contact data.

[U]If the company has multiple offices, you should look for the one that deals with your region.[/U]
Par exemple, since _Axel is French he should look for any French office.
This makes sure you're one of the people they care about, increases the likelihood that they are the branch that is responsible for the ad campaign (since they are often localised even on international pages) and, perhaps most importantly, allows you to contact them in your native language.
If you can't find an appropriate way to contact them in your region use the international or main office, if available.
Otherwise, try to find a way to contact them in your language (for example if you speak French and the company is Canadian). The exception to this is if they don't actually speak your language well, in which case you should just use English.

There are three, maybe four main ideas you should try to express: [quote]0. You found the company's logo or name on the website with the offending article.

You can mix this a bit into the other areas, but it should be stated explicitly. If you mail them I think you should attach the screenshot.
For bonus points say that you're concerned they are financing/supporting the website by running advertisements there.

1. You don't belong to the stereotype that is presented in the article.

Don't say this as such, but instead give one or two sentences about yourself that clearly show you know about the wider context.
You can mention that you've been discussing with Reimu here for example and bring up their TwitLonger if you need further explanations because the article alone isn't bad enough.
Use a proper email address! your(.)[e-mail] is good, [noparse][e-mail][/noparse] even better. Don't mail them from [noparse][e-mail][/noparse] or some shit like that!

You also have to make sure you follow proper form and correct language/spelling.
Signing with your full real name usually is important (unless you have a title, but to me it always looks a bit ehh if they abbreviate it), but you shouldn't mention your age because the form of your mail should speak for itself, for example.

Try to be as formal as appropriate (depends on the recipient of your message), but stick to language you're comfortable with.
It's detrimental if you try to be super-polite while never having written an official email before. Stay true to your style.

2. The article is wrong.

Present obvious breaches of trust/common courtesy/journalistic guidelines/internal consistency and whatever else you can find that you can use to undermine it without long explanations.
You should still mention that there's a lot more to the issue than what's presented in the article, but if you can do without attaching long conversations on Twitter that's the best.

If the article by itself isn't an utterly obvious piece of garbage (to the eyes of an average person not involved with games or social justice!) you definitely should attach (and properly source) additional evidence though.

3. The article is offensive [U]to you[/U].

Since you can't really (and also shouldn't!) speak for anyone other than yourself without clear delegation, it's important to explain why the article is specifically wronging you as a person. Here it may be necessary to provide some more context if you haven't done so already.
You could talk about the wrong accusations of misogyny, sexism and criminality whenever someone tries to point out falsified information, but there are definitely different approaches here depending on who you are and what's important to you.

If you self-identify as "gamer", you could say that they are unjustly vilifying a diverse group of people for example.
If you're an abuse-survivor or feminist activist you can point out how the author does not represent your view and is damaging your cause. If you have previous public work in that regard it's good to link it.

[U]Don't[/U] try to explain how being associated with the offending article is hurting their profit/sales/reputation.
That is something the company [I]already knows[/I], and it doesn't need to be reiterated. You contacting them at all in the first place is the best proof of this fact!
However, if they deal in public relations or brand management you can allude to their expertise in this field.

As a closing note, offer to be contacted if there are further questions. Possibly ask for their stance on the matter, but more regarding their advertising since they are unlikely to be directly concerned about the drama.
(You can keep that last part ambiguous, they'll interpret it however looks friendlier to them.)

Most important of all, and applicable to everything you communicate: [highlight]Don't lie![/highlight] I can't overstate how crucial this is.
If you don't have a history with the company then don't say you do. If you weren't going to buy their products don't say you would. All of this doesn't matter.
You're contacting them. You're trying to change their policy. From that alone, it's evident that you may tell everyone you know about how this company is associated with [insert slanderous site here], without you even so much as hinting at that possibility.

Most people lie fairly badly, especially when they do something they aren't used to.
Whoever is going to be contacted by you is used to see all kind of stuff. They are likely to notice if you're making up things or may catch you on a lie when contacting you again.[/quote]

You can mix and reorder the parts a bit, but try to keep a clear structure.

If you decide to call them, the same points apply but you should limit the topics you bring up yourself to about one page of medium-large handwriting.
Brevity is even more important on the phone than in writing and you can always clarify if there are questions.

Write down what you want to talk about in advance in the language you're going to have the conversation in.
Keep a pen ready in order to quickly be able to take notes.

Also ready the screenshot and any additional evidence and information for easy sharing over a voice connection.
(Imgur URLs are [I]probably[/I] short enough. You can tell them to look up the article through Google too though, if you make sure it's clearly the first result. (Google displays things differently for each user, but the title [I]should[/I] be fool-proof.))

Calling may be a bit more difficult for some, but it gives you the HUGE advantage that the person on the other end can't ignore you.
Depending on their workplace guidelines they may even be unable to hang up, [U]so you absolutely must make sure to stay friendly[/U]. This doesn't mean you can't be a bit angry if you honestly are, but you must make sure to use company-first language when expressing these things whenever it's not inconvenient.
[U]The person fielding your call absolutely does not deserve to be made responsible for anything that's happening.[/U]

After you state your initial concern, it may be a good idea to ask if they person on the other end can receive your complaint.
If not: Ask to be forwarded to someone who deals with issues like yours.

At the end of the conversation, offer to be called back for clarification, or if that's inconvenient for you say that you prefer to be contacted via email (on a proper address!).
Also offer to provide additional evidence that way but don't let yourself be deferred to text entirely during the first conversation.

Improvise a bit too, you don't want to make it super blatant you're in part reading off a script.
Let them lead the conversation for as long as it stays on-topic, then politely move back to one of your bullet points.

If you can call them on Skype that's even better than a plain phone call, since you can quickly share digital evidence.

Should you decide to record the conversation (which you probably won't, it's not important in this context), you absolutely must inform them! Not doing so can be illegal depending on the legislations involved.
Leaking emails is maybe not a nice thing to do but should be legal, especially if you've been [I]CC[/I]ing everything to the site running the article.

This guide is meant as flexible guideline, so if you think you can do better in a certain area or situation feel free to deviate from it. Thanks for making it this far and taking my suggestions into consideration.
Please don't call them if you sound like an angry 12 year old.

[01271]

[QUOTE=Neddy;45847246]I'm sorry but when does someones personal life need 'discussions' or to be 'talked about'[/QUOTE]

This is why the thread belonged in SH, so we could have easy access to "didn't read the article" bans.

[Reimu]

By the way, for dealing with the OP, I highly recommend putting in this summary from SRD so people understand why everyone is so obsessed with this: [url]http://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/2eg78g/the_quinspiricyquinngate_reaches_category_5_as/cjzdoas[/url]

[quote]To everyone wondering why this has blown up so much, the answer is incredibly simple:

This clusterfuck has absolutely everything.

It has sex, it has lies, it has corrupt journalism, it has doxxing, it has self doxxing, it has abuse, it has the Streissand Effect, it has rampant nepotism, it has bullshit indie cliques, it has drama, it has 4chan, it has hypocrisy, it has charities being attacked, it has harassment, it has Tumblr, it has NeoGaf, it has alleged transphobia, it's got mods doing shady shit, it has SJWs, it has MRAs, it has youtube, it has Vidya Games, it has Phil Fish, it has Anita Sarkeesian, it has JonTron, it has Totalbiscuit, and it has LOTS and LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of SHOUTING.

It's the internet equivalent of a train, a plane, a submarine, a cruise liner, a tank, the ISS, a meteor, and 20 cars all crashing into each other at a single spot. It is... The Perfect Shitstorm. [/quote]

I'm also responsible for the SRSGaming thread, so by definition that subreddit post is like a concerned Godchild making sure their Godfather is ok. :v:

[Miya]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/azcJjlJ.png[/IMG]

[Rangergxi]

[QUOTE=Reimu;45847483]To everyone wondering why this has blown up so much, the answer is incredibly simple:

This clusterfuck has absolutely everything.

It has sex, it has lies, it has corrupt journalism, it has doxxing, it has self doxxing, it has abuse, it has the Streissand Effect, it has rampant nepotism, it has bullshit indie cliques, it has drama, it has 4chan, it has hypocrisy, it has charities being attacked, it has harassment, it has Tumblr, it has NeoGaf, it has alleged transphobia, it's got mods doing shady shit, it has SJWs, it has MRAs, it has youtube, it has Vidya Games, it has Phil Fish, it has Anita Sarkeesian, it has JonTron, it has Totalbiscuit, and it has LOTS and LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of SHOUTING.

It's the internet equivalent of a train, a plane, a submarine, a cruise liner, a tank, the ISS, a meteor, and 20 cars all crashing into each other at a single spot. It is... The Perfect Shitstorm.[/QUOTE]

Can we fix it if we sacrifice Bruce Willis?

[Miya]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/oVsd7UM.png[/IMG]

[url]https://twitter.com/PlayDangerously/status/505595472804081664[/url]

called out

[Tamschi]

I think that should deal with the formatting issues...

Feel free to share it in other places you think people can benefit.

([editline]edit[/editline] I probably shouldn't self-promote by plastering this everywhere. I'm a bit too proud of it since that's the longest cohesive text I've written in a while.)

[Swilly]

[QUOTE=Wii60;45847421]Fries are cooked in peanut oil

[url]http://www.fiveguys.com/about-us/faq.aspx#faqSection-1198[/url]

The Fries is what completes a five guys meal[/QUOTE]

Oh.

[Miya]

best part of all this is 4chan comparing themselves to Ultron from the marvel comics

[RayvenQ]

[QUOTE=Wii60;45847522][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/oVsd7UM.png[/IMG]

[url]https://twitter.com/PlayDangerously/status/505595472804081664[/url]

called out[/QUOTE]

[quote]Not giving the benefit of the doubt to women targeted by harassment is a reaction rooted in sexist ideology. Its called victim blaming.[/quote]

No, it's called not blindly accepting the word of someone who got given loadsamoney to buy games and to help fund a series of videos, then turned out to not have actually played the games, ripped off artwork and even ripped footages from Let's Players (usually without crediting the original uploader) instead of using your footage of your own experiences in the games and thus be more informed about the situations you're cherrypicking to basically say "these tropes exist" as if we didn't fucking know it already.

[Reimu]

[quote]
Not giving the benefit of the doubt to women targeted by harassment is a reaction rooted in sexist ideology. Its called victim blaming.
[/quote]

In principle, this is true. But context is everything, and those threats coincide a little too closely with all the PR stuff going on re: gamers are dead. Combine that with the fact that the Kevin tweets were made AFTER she posted the original news about the doxxing (iirc, according to /pol/?) and it's very suspicious.

Also, Anita has connections to Maya Felix Kramer, and I wouldn't trust jackshit about anyone or anything connected to Kramer. And I'm saying this as someone who likes Anita's work.

I honestly think something really strange/fishy is going on. Anita has the chance right now to put her money where her mouth is, and if she doesn't post the police report, I'll be firmly convinced she's lying.

[Rangergxi]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/9U5Wj9T.png[/IMG]

[QUOTE=RayvenQ;45847601]No, it's called not blindly accepting the word of someone who got given loadsamoney to buy games and to help fund a series of videos, then turned out to not have actually played the games, ripped off artwork and even ripped footages from Let's Players (usually without crediting the original uploader) instead of using your footage of your own experiences in the games and thus be more informed about the situations you're cherrypicking to basically say "these tropes exist" as if we didn't fucking know it already.[/QUOTE]

Gotta love how she plays a damsel in distress to further herself.

[Stalketeer]

This is truly satan's work

Now if we can just get Rust involved

[Miya]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Lukz73w.jpg[/IMG]

[Rangergxi]

I can't tell if that last comment was sarcasm.

[Swilly]

I just really wanna make a twitter to respond by stating

"So you're just as braindead in logic as you are in humor."

[Miya]

get your klans costumes on, because we are now the KKK!

[url]https://twitter.com/devincf/status/505816649673351168[/url]

[Papa Gator]

[QUOTE=Wii60;45847800][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Lukz73w.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE]

why do these people even bother?
these are the prime example of people completely turning this into a shitstorm.
they're literally trolls, they have no other purpose into the discussion but to talk shit to people who they know nothing about. no constructive view on the corruption, or the people taking sides, nothing at all but some opportunity to talk smack.
does this person really hate men or something? 'patriarchy' LOL

[AxeI]

[QUOTE=Swilly;45847823]I just really wanna make a twitter to respond by stating

"So you're just as braindead in logic as you are in humor."[/QUOTE]
I made a twitter burner account to complain to Vice. I can use it for you if you want. If it turns into a conversation it may end up polluting the thread though.

[editline]30th August 2014[/editline]

On second thought I'm not sure if it's a good idea to rouse rabble on twitter. I'd prefer to keep it for constructive debate as people would point out my previous tweets to discredit me.

[Swilly]

Don't actually say it, we'll let them be idiots.

[Christof P]

[QUOTE=_Axel;45847847]I made a twitter burner account to complain to Vice. I can use it for you if you want. If it turns into a conversation it may end up polluting the thread though.

[editline]30th August 2014[/editline]

On second thought I'm not sure if it's a good idea to rouse rabble on twitter. I'd prefer to keep it for constructive debate as people would point out my previous tweets to discredit me.[/QUOTE]

Don't add to the sea of shit that is twitter on this. There is not reasoning with people like that, and whatever you say you will always be wrong in her eyes.

[Sgt. Napalm]

You're never going to have a meaningful discussion at 120 characters a pop.

[Reimu]

[quote]No, I don't play video games, video games are for babies and fucking loser nerds @LibertyandRamen[/quote]
[quote]Because I like to stick my cold feminist hands into your sad nerd garbage and ruin things for you. You, specifically. @LibertyandRamen[/quote]

Does this person realize that this actually hurts the ability for feminists in video gaming to make call outs and critiques? It's really hard to do it when random people run in and say "haha video games are for fucking losers and video games are garbage."

No one will take you seriously when that happens. It makes it really hard for us to do actual thoughtful discussions on gaming, because people become even more defensive than they already were.

[Pennywisе]

[QUOTE=Wii60;45847835]get your klans costumes on, because we are now the KKK!

[url]https://twitter.com/devincf/status/505816649673351168[/url][/QUOTE]KKK Terrorists ruling from a cathedral of misogyny.

You know, if this whole scenario was taken literally it would be almost indistinguishable from the finale of Hellsing. I'm sure someone has called someone else a Nazi somewhere just to cover all the bases.

[Miya]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/WDfzmR8.jpg[/IMG]

never use dthis to describe anyone but devin is a colossal faggot

[editline]30th August 2014[/editline]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/q6prYPx.png[/IMG]

and he keeps piling on the evidence that he's a colossal faggot

[URL]https://twitter.com/devincf/status/505817304051879936[/URL]

[Reimu]

He's literally going to make things worse for everybody he's trying to defend when he inevitably gets reprimanded for all this bullshit he's doing.

Not to mention he makes /v/'s tweeters look like [i]victims here[/i] which is a stupendous feat in incompetently fucking up.

[A Beaver]

"MLK didn't know what he was talking about because he got shot"

That's pretty much what I just read, correct?

[Rockeiro]

[QUOTE=Wii60;45847925][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/WDfzmR8.jpg[/IMG]

never use dthis to describe anyone but devin is a colossal faggot

[editline]30th August 2014[/editline]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/q6prYPx.png[/IMG]

and he keeps piling on the evidence that he's a colossal faggot

[URL]https://twitter.com/devincf/status/505817304051879936[/URL][/QUOTE]

[IMG]http://jesusfuck.me/di/54NV/Untitled.png[/IMG]

shots fired