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By Matt Kim
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Video Game Forum NeoGAF Goes Dark After Sexual Assault Allegations Against Site Owner
The NeoGAF moderation team resigned in solidarity against website founder.
News
by
Matt Kim,
10/21/2017.
Full Disclosure: USGamer's Mike Williams is a former moderator at NeoGAF who has also stepped down in light of the allegations.
Online video game forum, NeoGAF, is currently down after sexual assault allegations came forward against site owner Tyler "Evilore" Malka. Many of the site's moderation team have stepped down in protest against Malka, and the forum's future is currently unclear.
Today, sexual assault allegations against Malka began circulating online which alleged that Malka made unwanted sexual advances against an individual. The moderation team stepped down from the site for various personal reasons, some in solidarity with the victim. Furthermore, NeoGAF users began protesting the site and its owner just before the site went down.
According to Twitter this is not the first time allegations of sexual assault have come up against Malka. However, recent events regarding sexual assault and harassment in the video game and larger entertainment industry have prompted swift action against perpetrators of sexual assault.
One screencapped post from a Neogaf member announcing their resignation posted a banner of Neogaf's logo with the words, "Believe Women" attached. A take on the site's regular slogan, "Believe".
This is the best NeoGAF abandon ship post I've seen so far. pic.twitter.com/FaL2Hh9cUV
— Liam Robertson (@Doctor_Cupcakes) October 22, 2017
Neogaf is reportedly preparing a statement, though the future for the website is unclear. A popular video game forum, NeoGAF counts industry figures as members and part of its community. As such, news and breaking events in the video games community often come first from the website.
We will update the story as more details arise. If you have any further information regarding the situation, please reach out to USGamer.net at matt.kim@usgamer.net
Correction: An earlier headline referred to Malka as the site Founder. He is the site owner. The headline has been changed to reflect the correction.
This article may contain links to online retail stores. If you click on one and buy the product we may receive a small commission. For more information, go here.
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Comments 36
From what I've gathered the timeline seems to be that the mods locked threads saying they'd make a statement about the accusations later on, they talked to Evilore about what that statement would be, then they didn't like what they heard and bailed. People started doing account suicide posts in protest (like the one in that tweet,) then people realized that the locks and bans wouldn't actually come because there was nobody around to do them and shit got *really* crazy.
And to think he once bragged about not selling the site for millions.
What a piece of worthless garbage.Edited October 2017 by gigantor21
The news broke about 4 days ago and the mod team was nuking any thread, post or poster that mentioned it. This includes the guy who confirmed that the accusation post was genuine, he did not confim this on gaf but they banned him anyway. They were doing such a good job of hiding it that the majority of the forum was unware of it until today.
My speculation is that they knew they couldn't keep a lid on it much longer and asked evilore to make a statement and whatever answer he gave them caused them to step down.
This is the same mod team that stood behind evilores last statement that they barely knew amir0x. It's also the same mod team that has been deleting and banning posters who dared to ask about previous evilore accusations and had been doing so for years.
So excuse me if i don't buy "The moderation team, in an act of solidarity with the victim, stepped down from the site."
Have multiple people come out saying he has harassed them?
In no way saying that he is innocent or going against the lady,
Just lynch mobs and lack of due process in any situation disturbs me.
Having dealt with a lot of people with mental illnesses in my life, one person's words being able to destroy someone else's life scares me.
Obviously, the victim in question probably felt the same way when she was harassed.
I don't know all the details about what happened here, but if he sexually assaulted someone, I can believe that especially in today's world where nonsense isn't tolerated anymore. He's that kind of dude, unfortunately.
Anyways, I'm sad to see that the site had to be nuked. I had a community there with some really some really nice people that I regularly conversed with.
It's also telling that Mike quit the moderation team. The allegations must have been serious.
The most hilarious one I can recall off the top of my head was the "Link should be a girl" thread. The only allowable opinion was "Yes, Link should be a girl and Nintendo is sexist." Saying anything that deviated from that would lead to being banned. I think they wound up with 80 something people banned over the course of that thread. But that's the kind of thing that happens when you let the patients run the asylum.
So long GAFFE, I'd say you'll be missed. But you won't.
I think MHWilliams should be speaking up about how much he knew about Malka's behaviour.
Like, banning anybody who expressed Anti-Girl Link opinions in a horrible, volatile, death threatening way is fine, but doing so for politely disagreeing? That's Mercykiller grade corruption, like blowing someone's head off for being near a "No loitering" sign for two seconds.
Edit: For the record, I'm in the Pro-Girl Link camp.Edited 2 times. Last edited October 2017 by MetManMas
For now, all I will say is that I bear zero surprise to hear about this sort of thing coming from GAF staff. There's a saying about protesting too much, it applies.
Seriously.
So has Mike Williams stepped out of the burning building he helped run and into the onlooking crowd with just a "tsk tsk", end of story? Cool.
NeoGAF's mods were probably being oversensitive in some cases, but overall, if you were chill, you got to have a say in the matter.
However, I did notice some weird stuff going on in the past year. It really did seem like hivemind was in full effect with communities straight up being attacked and little moderation going on to end the pile ons.
(Also, let's give Mike time to react, yeah? Even someone on an inside channel may be unaware of things that are "open secrets" or otherwise actively and aggressively Not Discussed. I think Mike has a good enough track history that we can assume honesty in good faith, and I imagine he's writing a more detailed article now.)
As to how much I knew about the situation in the allegations. Nothing. Zero. Zip. Zilch. I've been a mod for a year and some change. I read boards, commented on shit I was interested in, and banned some people. Same as here on USG and Millarworld.
There won't be a further detailed article, just because part of me doing both was keeping my time with USgamer and GAF separate. Ethically, I can't write anything for USgamer about any major GAF situation. I disclosed on any news story I pulled from GAF that I was a mod there. And if anyone from GAF has issues with this story, I'd merely have to forward them to Matt. All of this was part of taking the position and why I certainly didn't hide any of my associations: MHWilliams here is MHWilliams there, same picture, same person. Part of that is being open and honest about what I do and who I am.
@jayzii I'm unsure what else you'd like? I was told of the scope of the situation, and I left.Edited 3 times. Last edited October 2017 by MHWilliams
Well your explanation in the comment above would have been a good place to start, rather than having someone else at the website you work for write a piece about the situation while casting the moderation staff you were a part of in a positive light, bravely stepping down in solidarity.
There's been sketchy things going on with the people running neogaf and its moderation practices, especially when it came to discussing said sketchiness, for a while now. Just assuming everyone thinks you bear no relation to that behavior or the minimizing of that behavior –and the strict moderation (banning) for even discussing it– because you left when the site owner was put on blast for being a creep for the second (third?) time, without an explanation, seems naive to me. On the internet, people usually want explanations for things like this.
You do you, though.Edited 2 times. Last edited October 2017 by jayzii
Sure sounds like a subject they got spammed with way too many discussions of.
The rest, I frankly have little ability to change or affect your perception of the situation in any meaningful capacity. I've said what I've said and been rather open about everything I've done on GAF and USgamer. So, as you say, you do you.
I hope you continue to be a reader for USgamer though, given the great work being done here.
Yes, I will continue to be a reader. I'm not accusing you of anything, just pointing out the optics of you not saying anything while someone else at the site distances you from the situation. You were a moderator on a site known to have questionable moderation, especially around personally... "unflattering" topics.
A statement to say where you stood on the matter seemed in order to me, more so than just leaving. You could have written an explanation like you did in your comment somewhere else and the article could have linked to it or something. Maybe you were waiting for Malka to make a comment first and I jumped the gun, I don't know. This past year has been a lot.
I'm glad you addressed it in the comments here at least.
But this is probably fatal, at least to A "GAF", not the spirit of the site. The only way "GAF" under that name can come back is if he completely divests himself till he can sell the site and enough leadership comes back...a tall order.
So yeah, I've lost more good acquaintences and friends from the site's history than I have now, so I'll track where they go and perhaps coordinate on a new home away from the drudgery, more like here than the bowels of Reddit or what have you I escaped from.
@swamped
It is THE thing now. Those manbabies got a job doing what they loved...
@MetManMas
That's been the thing about GAF: it's heavily moderated but hasn't been cheeky about it in about a decade (ie, "if Drinky can't do it anymore, than it's after that time period). Hard to get, easy to lose. Much better than the exploitable techno-libertarian messes that function as signal boosting to urban legends at best.
Puts some texture on this butthurt and schadenfreude, it does...
Agree entirely. While not diminishing the seriousness of this type of issue, whatever happened to "innocent until proven guilty"?
I sure bet Tyler is really regretting turning down that multi-million dollar offer he got to buy the site some time back, now that the value of the site is about the same as a meal at Arbys.
This guy may be a scumbag. I have zero knowledge of who he is, or of NeoGAF outside of some interesting posts I've read there. But I do feel like perhaps in situations where it is warranted, we extend some benefit of the doubt to the accused party.
@ Duncarin: It could very well be that the moderation team was doing the above, extending the benefit of the doubt while they had time to evaluate the evidence. And honestly, if you're not sure about an accusation, I wouldn't throw it out there for public consumption right off the bat anyway. You can absolutely ruin someone's life with an accusation like this. The fact that they all pretty much resigned tells me that the evidence is likely pretty strong... but since I haven't seen said evidence, I'm going to withhold judgment until I do.Edited 2 times. Last edited October 2017 by SargeSmash
You admit in your post that you have very little knowledge of the site or evilore himself, i assume this also extends to the actions of the mod team.
As i said they covered for him for years. Gaf has some very creepy ex members who document every little thing that happens on and off those forums. All of this is just a google search away if you want to see it.
Personally i've been with gaf since gaming-age, i was one of the first to signup to neogaf and saw the majority of this as it happened.
Now politics? I post on neogaf, but I sure don't post there. If you can stay calm and relax when posting on politics, you'll likely be fine. If you're a gamergater? You'll be banned pretty quick. Reddit is the place for incendiary opinions, as Gaf rarely tolerates it. Fair? Maybe not, but I don't need an incessant flame war based on some obscure connection between game journalists. I'll fully agree that there is a lot of groupthink in the politics threads, but hopefully that will dissipate with a new mod team. If it ever comes back.