GiBoMeFo DiAtGiBo

GiBoMeFo DiAtGiBo (Giant Bomb Members For Diversity AtGiant Bomb)

We need a place that is a free and safe place for likeminded people to talk freely and exchange ideas without the threat of trolls or punishment from moderators.

People say things like "I don't see people complaining that Kotaku hired another white guy" but that is missing the point that GB has been the site known for, and even called out on MSNBC by name for their lack of diversity. Not Kotaku.

So I wanted to create this thread to enable an exchange of ideas for solutions.

One thing that I personally would like to see at GB are guests on UPF and other video features to increase visual inclusivity at GB. Since they have not been able to hire someone until now, if they put more effort into asking guests to come and play games on UPF and other videos it would go a long way to send a gesture of goodwill to the people who want more diversity. It would definitely enhance the gesture if they replaced Patrick with someone diverse.

Also, from outward appearances, GBEast will need help with their new studio, Vinny and Alex Can't run the stream while hosting the QLs forever. I hope they are able to hire for the East Coast studio. If they are able, this would be another opportunity to solve the diversity problem.

All we are asking for is inclusivity, not to "sex it up" or to be "Politically Correct". We just want to feel included.

If you feel the same way say so here. If you have ideas for possible solutions to help increase inclusivity please post them here as well. Please do not be afraid to speak your mind.

It has been stated multiple times that they are hiring a news editor for the GB East office to replace Patrick.

Thankfully, there's already a site for that.

Also, I really don't think referring to a person with a personal bone to pick against GB bashing it on international news is a great starting point for this conversation.

I'd love to see a female editor. Way more than that, I'd love to see a gay editor. But way, WAY more than that I'd love to see someone who can gel well with the others and be consistently funny/entertaining/insightful on camera, no matter what flavor of human they are.

This site and its content have a very specific and wonderful tone, and while it's easy for a site like Kotaku (which is almost entirely a stream of unrelated articles that don't have to be cohesive in any way, so they can include writing from just about anyone), there are few people anywhere who have the same unique combo of camera-readiness, knowledge, and dumb silliness that GB needs.

I don't have anything to say other than you probably should have just named it GBMD, GB Members for Diversity.

I don't think hiring someone diverse to replace Patrick should be a gesture of goodwill, and I certainly don't want GB to filter out anyone who is a white, straight male in favour of other people (or vice versa). What is most important is if the hired person is right for the job.

If people want to post something without the threat of "punishment from moderators," then they can abide by the forum rules. If you want to go back and look at the threads in early July of this year, where I personally stayed up until four AM multiple days in a row talking over these very issues in wide-ranging discussions with a large number of people, then you'd know that we're very welcome to discussions of these kinds of issues. Implying that the moderators is going to be punishing you for posting something like this is frankly insulting to both myself and the moderation staff.

But, hey, since you seem to think that this thread is deserving of moderator attention, we'll be sure to watch it closely.

synthetic diversity is the same thing as exclusion.

@joshwent said:

This is paradoxically the most raciest, homiphobic, and sexest thing I have ever read. I'm pretty sure Jeff knows what he is doing. wow...just wow

Right on point, I could not have said it better myself.

Some of my favorite content last year were the Extra Life streams with Samantha Kalman, Mary Kish and Lisa Oestreicher. Not because they are women, but because of their personalities, they were just fantastic people. That should always be the most important part in considering people for any position here at GB, and have no reason to think it's otherwise.

/my 2 cents

I find the opening post insulting to this site, its community, its staff and moderators.

I am excited at the opportunity for more diversity on this site, but it can be poor form to demand that the staff and owners of a private company make hiring decisions by anyone's standards other than their own (though I am in no way saying that encouraging diversity is a bad thing). As for discussion on this topic on GB: For the most part, forum discussions on this topic have been quite well thought-out and civil on this site and are guided and aided greatly by the diligence and dedication of the GB moderation team who deserve a lot more kudos than they sometimes get.

To imply that there has not been a place for safe, civil discourse on this topic on this site is disingenuous, in my opinion. I find GB to be an oasis in the wasteland that is internet videogame websites; where you know there is a community conduct policy and moderation team that allow everyone to speak their mind without being totally shat upon by mean people, just so long as you follow the same rules everyone else is being held to.

***

Rant aside; I agree that having more guests in shows and live streams would be great. They've had more guests in the past, but I think GB being in a pretty constant state of flux for the past year or so has made that a hard thing to coordinate. I hope they can increase the amount of outside guests present in their content again.

I personally think dan fits diversity to a t, i don't think he could be any more different than the rest of the staff (save maybe the wrestling love)

More guests would always be great, but we just had the Extra Life stream that had tons of different people on it. We had several podcasts with guests on it (most noticabel Samantha, which was imho one of the best podcasts they had last year) even though I hope that becomes a bigger thing this year.

When it comes to staff: I understand the notion of diversity and I hope they find someone that fits that category in the end this site depends on the personalitys and the chemestry between them. Whoever ends up getting the spot should be someone that fits the group whatever race/gender/sexual orientation that person is. If they could get Mary Kish that would be awesome (I know they won't) because she would totally fit the group. On the other hand Danny (another "white dude") would be awesome because he, too, fits them perfectly.

Demanding diversity for diversitys sake is somewhat, sorry, dumb. Also I feel like even when the debate was on it's peak GB did quite well. This is the internet so there will always be mean spirited people, but overall this site was nowhere near the level of insults and spite that some other sites were. Saying otherwise seems insulting towards the crew, the moderators and the userbase of GB.

Bringing a diverse cast of guests on the set is a great idea.

Enforcing diversity through racial or gender profiling of potential employees is not.

This industry is becoming more diverse by the day, and that's good! But there's still a majority of straight, white dudes. If a straight, white guy happens to be the most qualified for the job, too bad for diversity. Better that than people being able to legitimately say "Oh, s/he only got the job because s/he's a minority/woman!"

From the title I had kinda hoped this was a joke.... but you ARE serious, right?

I personally do not care what gender or sexual preference the next person to join the crew is. Being a woman, a men, interested in men, woman or both, black, white, brown, half bown, theses things don't matter to me. What I care about is having a wonderful new person joining the crew who will fit well with Giant Bomb as a whole. While i was skeptic at first with the addition of Dan, I've become quite fond of him and Jeff has proven to me that he knows who to get.

All i care about is that we get a kickass new human being. No matter what or who they are, no one should be getting preferencial treatment based on their gender of sexual orientation, and never just for the sake of diversity.

Totally with you, OP. I've been wishing for them to diversify their team for ages. Hopefully this time around they put some effort in for that.

Hear, hear!

Though I would prefer if they got someone more knowledgeable about games that the people already on staff generally don't care about. Jason would fill that if they had him on more.

From the title I thought it was a spam topic and I was ready to flag it, then I read the op and I flagged it anyway. We don't need more of this shit.

As long as they have a good personality that matches well with the rest of the crew they can be whatever colour and bone whichever gender they like.

@viper: What if Brad decides to be purple?

I don't understand this whole mindset, what have the staff done to make them seem so excluding?

Yeah, I like when they have diverse guests on, but it's a bit difficult to invite anyone for QLs and UPFs or Bombcasts, since recording/streaming always take place during working hours. But hey! Whenever someone's available, they stop by. Like Samantha Kalman. I don't think she'd ever pass on a chance to hang out.

Now that I think about it... What if potential guests stop by the office when there are no recordings taking place, so they just hang out for a bit and then leave and we don't know about it? :(

@chris24680:

Frankly, I found all the controversy that stirred up around GB's hiring of Dan and Jason to be pretty gross. The people who stir shit like that seem to thrive more on the attention and how much of an impact their voices can make rather than the actual cause and effect of their actions. The message they were sending was pretty much "oh more cis white males to join the others on GB, great, way to up the diversity boys!". Could you imagine a straight white male publicly announcing their dissatisfaction every time Judd Apatow hired a Jewish person to work on his films, or every time a hospital hired a female nurse over a male nurse?

Discrimination against an entire group of people is still discrimination regardless of whether they are the majority or not. The message spread by those people is one of hate, racism, gender discrimination and exclusion, the exact opposite of the values they purport to be waiving the banner for.

@narx said:

This. How hard is it to realize this is how it should be?
I draw the line at Space Nazis though, no matter how kickass they might be. As a guest on a segment, fine, but if they hire one I will cancel my subscription in a heartbeat.

Wanting a non-straight, transgender person of colour to join the site so they can specifically talk about 'diversity issues' while the rest of the staff can get on with talking about white dude video games like they always have is such a ridiculous insult to everyone involved.

How about they hire who is best for the job, unless someone shows me the document where GB denied applications to "diverse" potential employees they should hire whoever they damn well want.

So if a white guy loses the spot regardless of how good he is because he isn't "diversifying" the team, that is totally okay right? The whole basis of this call to diversify is misplaced in a big way, if you can't enjoy the site because there isn't a person for every race creed and color your always going to be unhappy. Hire the best people for the job they can be a goddamn purple T-rex who Thinks he is game reviewer for all I care as long as they are funny and entertaining. Thinking for one second that Dan might not have gotten the job because he is white should show how backwards this whole line of thinking is. As long as everyone got a fair chance it shouldn't matter.

You guys realize that "they should just hire the best person for the job" is exactly the main argument against affirmative action and so on and so forth, right? Right?

(I would also argue that being a non-white-straight-male is PART of being the best person for the job, at least in my opinion. I want people with different opinions, who are into different things, and with different experiences in life.)

That said, I think the tone of this topic is overly harsh towards the community and the moderator team. GB is probably the one place to talk about video games in an inclusive manner.

This thread has already become proof that a thread like this is necessary. A whole thread full of people putting scare quotes around the word diversity and then going "I don't see a problem with this community at all!"

Only two people did that. I don't think two posts out of 31 counts as full of.

Giantbomb, the place where it's safe to criticize anything, as long as its not the site itself.

I personally feel pretty insulted when I see stuff like this. I really wish I knew what us moderators had done to gain this reputation. It's an opinion that quite a few people seem to have, but I've never seen anyone offer an actual explanation about (or at least not an honest one that isn't fueled purely by anger or spite). Please, feel free to contact the mods or Rorie if you feel that there is a genuine problem.

I don't care what race/nationality/sex/genome the new hire is as long as they mesh well with the GB crew. I trust 100% in Jeff's decision for the hire(s).

More guests on UPF would be really nice though. I do miss the old Whiskey Media live shows when they had tons of guests. Dan is doing a good job continuing the tradition of having awesome guests in content though.

Also, the moderation staff here are awesome. From observation, they filter the forums in regulations to the site rules and no more than that.

<SunshineAndSmiles>

Gibomefo Diatgibo sounds like a pretty killer anime.

@chaser324: I didnt mean to insult the moderators. You are not a monolith and I apologize for the phrasing.

Your first paragraph really is insulting to this site. To say that it's not a place already like that, when I've seen evidence of it otherwise. What exactly have the moderators threatened you with?

You're also trying to tell the staff what they can and cannot handle in regards to workload. Who are you to suggest to them they need to hire more staff.

I'd wager this sort of reputation arises any time a group makes it known that public questioning of their authority / decision making will be frowned upon. Anytime the phrase "contact us via a PM" or something of the sort, it gives a sense of what feels like unnecessary secrecy that simply fosters further negative opinions, deserved or otherwise.

I know why this policy is necessary. (Transparency can sometimes be a teacher's biggest nightmare.) The reactions simply come with the territory.

@turambar: Sure, I realize that some people are going to have that sort of reaction against any sort of perceived authority, but a lot of what I've seen seems to go beyond that. It's nothing that stops us from continuing to try to equitably and fairly enforce the community rules, but it is just a little depressing to be seen that way.

@turambar: what? Contacting them by PM is a way to keep the site clear so that users can come on and just see what they came to see. Leave all complaints between the parties involved.

@hurricaneivan29 said:

Any perceived secrecy is going to cause doubt, especially when only one side is seen getting a word in publicly.

Part of that probably have to do with how invested people get with the site. When someone starts seeing this as not just a public forum but "their place", its easy to take things increasingly personally.

@turambar: i think you're just paranoid, duder.

I also desperately want these things, but someone's genetics is in no way an indicator that they'd bring any of those things to the table. I'm a 30 year old, white, straight-ish male, and aside from their love of video games and shitty food, I have almost nothing in common with the current GB staff.

When the word diversity itself is used to scare and pressure people into specific behavior, and worse, make personal character judgements about them because of their own unwarranted assumptions about the broadly defined lack of it, I'd say using it in that context is entirely warranted.

@chaser324: My perception is that at least the "regulars" here, myself included, are all deeply thankful for the usually thankless work that you, Rorie, and the other mods do. This is the only site that I am, and ever have been, active on and it's almost entirely thanks to the open exchange of ideas that your hard work fosters, and your ability to keep some of these more volatile threads readable thanks to your diligent edits.

Having worked tons of retail and customer service jobs, I know all too well that one shitty person can ruin an entire day of lovely people. But I hope that you can at least keep in the back of your mind, when the occasional folks pop up with their important threads about how the Nazis weren't all that bad or whatever, and then call you fascists for "censoring" them, that all of the rest of are eternally grateful and couldn't have the wonderful experiences GB gives us without what you do.

Thanks!

I don't like this idea of "I hope they hire somebody diverse" cause it basically turns whoever they hire into "The girl" or "the black kid" from those kids movies back then. They should hire somebody who fits. Don't care if it's a man, woman, black, white or whatever.

Now that I've had a chance to sit on this overnight...

@renegademike, it might behoove you to avoid being hostile and threatening (implying things like "you guys are gonna get a bunch of bad press if you don't do what I think you should do!") when trying to make points in the future. Being hostile out of the gate will only foster hostility in return, as you can clearly see from this thread.

To Rorie and the mods: You guys are awesome. Sorry there are a percentage of users on this site that take you for granted.

Or, you know, I've had the same experience as the mods, on an even more personal level, and thus understand where some of it is coming from.

I don't need there to be someone on the staff who looks like me in order to relate and feel included. I come here because they've always seemed like a cool bunch of folks who goof around (and are actually quite funny) but are also reasonable individuals when it comes down to it. They can turn on a dime from serious thoughtfulness to funny nonsense, and then back again, without detracting from their insight. The colour of their skin, or whatever their gender may be, is not a factor in my being here.

I hope the same is the case for them in their hiring process.

speaking generally- i think the crew has made it clear that it's a personality-driven site, NOT one based on A) reviews B) news or C) editorials.

so while i'd love to see a crew that is more representative of the general populace (aka people who aren't defined as white males), that can't be modus operandi for hiring decisions. it's gotta be hard enough as it is to find a personality that gels with the crew when SO MUCH of the content is dictated by ad-lib and extemporaneous riffing. and frankly, even if they were to hire an individual who was visually more diverse than the current makeup- that doesn't guarantee their opinions would be as such, and it also places a terrible burden on that person as the "diversity hire." who would want to take a token position like that on?

that said, going forward i hope the crew is a little more eager to weigh-in with their opinions when there are important conversations being had. that's why i come here, to see what they think about stuff.