Apologies for length.
I am someone who has previously almost never commented on anything on the internet ever. I believe most people are like me, we occasionally glance at comments with a sort of morbid fascination, and/or with a desire to make sure someone else noticed something hilarious and ridiculous. I am saying something now because @patrickkelepek has urged people like me to speak up. Normally I would just stare incredulous at the absolute lunacy which has ballooned into an actual story, now legitimized by my favourite website, as well as some mainstream press.
It would be great if game writers disclosed potential conflicts of interest in reviews/pieces they write. Giant Bomb has accomplished this sufficiently in my opinion, by explicitly stating these things, bowing out of coverage where appropriate, and publicly sharing their friendships and connections with devs in order to provide unique and entertaining insight which I really love. This gave us Brad Muir! :D. This is the only actual goal I see being made by people associating with “gamergate”. As such I say, that’s great.
You can politely write things to writers and publications at any point with this concern. Jeff & crew are clearly very aware of this as a potential issue already, and if others aren’t and refuse to be, you don’t have to trust or read their opinions. Beyond that, if you are angry at any point in this process, your anger is sorely misplaced. I am a young man who is angry about many things I see in my life and in the world. I personally find it embarrassing and absurd that so much hate and anger has been generated on the topic of writing about video games.
Finally, I want to say I completely appreciate the decision to stay silent, I assume in the hope that this went away. I also agree with the decision at this point to make an official statement about it, as the whole story has and continues to generate more anger, division, and victims. So thanks @jeff and the whole crew for saying something to support those vulnerable, and attempting to be reasonable with those willing to accept reason. More importantly, thanks for making really entertaining content and being funny and cool dudes.
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