NeoGaf is likely no more.

[johnblade]

Member of Gaf but more in the off discussion and anime. Kinda sad how it turn out this way and trying to find the people I talk to there for discussion about anime. Still a member of Racketboy but didn't go in here too often. I guess I try to come back here as much as I can and maybe discuss a bit more of the old anime show I am currently watching.

[marurun]

I think there are some parallels to the Weinstein situation, here. Basically, there are lots of rumors floating around in the community and some admissions from the offender that could be brushed off as braggadocio (they're saying it to look masculine or powerful or cool but maybe it's just made up). Everyone's heard the rumors, but most people haven't encountered a direct accusation or witnessed the bad behavior personally. That just makes it easy to brush off as just that, rumors. But all it takes is one direct accusation to bring it all down. Because once you have a direct accusation, suddenly everything makes sense in a way it didn't before. It wasn't just a bunch of rumors and showboating. The thing is, I'm not sure we can blame everyone associated with the offender as an enabler. I'm sure some of them knew more than just rumors, but many probably lacked any real reason to believe any of what they heard was true. And when someone seems enthusiastic about causes and social positions that run counter to those rumors, it can lull folks into a false sense of security. The worst we can say of many of them is that they were naive to the point of being willfully ignorant.

And that's one of the problem with serial harassers. A propensity of rumors without even a single solid accusation is often inadequate for many people to feel comfortable taking a stand. But if there is a history of rumors, and even admissions (however easy they are to brush off), all you need is one accusation to put everything in context. So the challenge is to make sure that our community, the gaming community, is one in which victims are not immediately pilloried for speaking out.

[Exhuminator]

I guess I try to come back here as much as I can and maybe discuss a bit more of the old anime show I am currently watching.

There is a fairly active anime thread on Racketboy:

https://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtop ... start=3310

[dsheinem]

Edit: Dave -- why is public shaming such a bad thing when claims often don't stick, and justice is often never served? I feel like this type of outrage and shaming is often all that's left when the justice system fails.

In a lot of contexts in our current (social) media climate, I think "public shaming" often goes a bit off the rails and in and of itself becomes for many people the grounds or "justification" for an attack (e.g. doxxing someone, contacting their employers, other IRL or online harassment, etc.)....and/or public shaming becomes a kind of collective scapegoating mechanism through which people defer responsibility for broader social problems that they themselves might probably engage in.

I think that public critique (pointing out why someone's actions are immoral, illegal, etc., investigating their root causes, and explaining what might be done in response) is not necessarily the same thing as public shaming (trying to get some public villain to adhere to or respond appropriately to some arbitrarily imposed [and often impossible] standard of mortification).

[chuckster]

I am torn regarding all these sexual assault outings lately, on one hand I'm disgusted (though I have been around long enough to not be surprised in the least), but I'm very glad people are taking notice and demanding some changes finally. I just hope it actually leads to some justice and change. I was a long time lurker on GAF, (I couldn't use my outlook email to sign up because of some rule against free email addresses which I never agreed with, but anywho), but I am happy it's down in that it was ran by a sleazeball and what appeared to be his goons. I'd say it will return in some form or another soon, but I hope it is a very different leadership team.

I will miss the Retro A/V thread though, it was the most highly-trafficked thread out there for discussion on PVMs, CRTs, retro pickups, scalers, and retro PQ (There are a few more here and on different forums but I'm not sure how much I should talk about those). There were some truly knowledgeable regulars to that thread just like Exhuminator said. If I thought it was acceptable and it was up to me I'd invite them by name to join us here as I think they'd be valuable additions (based on my lurking in the retro threads only), especially as we are looking to ramp up the website content.

In the meantime, I am reminded about how positive the community on RB is and I will try to contribute more personally.

[racketboy]

I often found some interesting threads in my research. Details from developers or something I couldn't find elsewhere. Other than that type of thing, I never spent that much time there. I'm also not one for getting involved in super-large forums. I think AtariAge is about as big as I would get active with.

[brockmoreno]

Really sucks it went down when it did. I was in the middle of a transaction for a OSSC I bought. Luckily, I have the tracking # saved.

[9Volt]

I liked it there, and out of nowhere, Neo Gaf is no more.

[Segata]

It's back but changed. All general discussion forum is deleted and will be brought back at a later time but the old topics are gone for good it seems. Evilore gave a weak statement and censoring people of course. Anyone who disputes him is banned. It's a pretty sad sight.

[Erik_Twice]

You know he's a harasser, but you don't have any position on this accusation? I don't understand how your position wouldn't be at the very least one of "well, that seems likely."

That's not a position, that's the prosecutor's fallacy.

I also think that, given this person's history, that a "boycott" or "firing" is absolutely defensible and prudent.

You really think ruining a person's career and reputation without any proof is prudent? That's a witch hunt, not prudence.

At that point, it is really up to him to disprove the claims and to use lawsuits, etc. to restore his reputation and standing if he is in fact innocent.

So, first we punish people without being proven guilty and then they have to use the judicial system out of their own pocket to sue potential rape victims if they want their innocence to be upheld and reparations paid. Not that it would matter, it would be impossible to prove your innocence. It's not even possible to prove innocence in this kind of case since it is "he said, she said".

The court of public opinion is not subject to the same rules as a court of law.

Which is why we shouldn't turn the former into the latter.