An Open Letter to Patrick Klepek

Hello Patrick,

When I recently listened to the audio clip that you posted from your Dark Souls call-in, I was greatly disturbed. Over the last year, I have come to see the Giant Bomb community as something of which I can be proud member. It seems almost impossible that this kind of crap came from inside the house. However, so much of the gaming world experiences, even tangentially, this sort of insane vitriol on a regular basis and even Giant Bomb is not an exception.

Part of what drives me to write this letter is an unexpressed sadness and appreciation for Ryan Davis. I had felt the urge to write something last summer but the words never quite made it out in a developed form. I'm relatively new to the community and consequently, I never had the opportunity to meet the man in person. Even so, I had a personal sense that I knew who he was as a person, a sentiment echoed by numerous others at the time. That trait, shared amongst all of you at Giant Bomb, is what has made the site something special. It is that defilement of that which was that upsets me so much.

For someone to invoke Ryan's name while wishing for your harm is the height of misunderstanding, for all that I could tell, of who he was. Twisting the memory of a good person for that kind of evil is enraging and deeply saddening. If ghosts existed, I'd imagine that the fucker would be haunted forever. This evil person is an offense to our entire community, not a true member of this mico-culture.

I was able to experience the Giant Bomb community in person for the first time at PAX Prime last year. It was an amazing event and I hope to continue enjoying more of them. You guys are the real shit. That panel, along with the CAH tribute, brought the memory of a baller dude to life in the minds and hearts of everyone that took part.

But this letter is for you, Patrick. Thank you for continuing to shine a light on the darkest corners of the Internet's bullshit. Thank you for having the courage to stand up against bullies. Thank you for asking hard questions. Thank for your pointing out the good when you find it. Thank you for keeping it real. Keep on keeping on.

-David Trudeau

(Context: https://twitter.com/patrickklepek/status/433391559258562560 A warning, it's really fucking bad.)

Wait, what was said?

Some fairly evil shit that isn't worth repeating.

I must've missed something, too.

Well put.

@excast said:

Well then this thread is a wet fart that should be deleted if nobody will provide any context. Are we supposed to link arm in arm and poo-poo generic vitriol? Are we supposed to just shrug and say "that's the internet"? I'm not being sarcastic; I have no idea what the hell the OP is talking about and clearly several other posters don't as well.

I didn't listen to the audio clip, but it's safe to say that the little shit who harassed Patrick is a sad cunt who's life is so sad that they need to annoy others to forget their failures. Patrick (hopefully) knows this, so all is right with the world.

@oldirtybearon: If you so like, here ya go. https://twitter.com/patrickklepek/status/433391559258562560

@littleemille: Wow.

You should probably edit that into the blog so that people know what you're talking about.

But man, wow.

Seriously. What the fuck.

ok some guy said something bad on the internet, why are we surprised? the internet shows people for who they really are. the thing is anyone with computer skills-not me-could track this guy down. whatever he said, we all know its wrong and hes a cocksmoker.

@littleemille said:

What the fuck!? I knew we had some sections of the community that isn't entirely all in Patrick's club, but that's disgusting. Man, I am really let down by that. A lot of people in this community are so damn awesome, it's a shame to see we're housing some pretty terrible people as well. I suppose it's to be expected after a certain point in size. But geez, I don't even.. so disappointing.

Yeah I heard this when Patrick posted it on twitter. I don't know about this. This guy is an obvious dick and doesn't speak for the GB community at all but I can see highlighting this turning into a witch hunt (which isn't necessarily unwarranted but nether the less, internet detective is kind've the worst).

How about a general rule people, if you have nothing nice to say to the staff just fuck off and say nothing at all? Yeah, I think we can all agree on that one. Patrick wanted to bring the community in for a segment and you spoilt it with your toxic behaviour, he'll think twice now before he does it again.

When I heard that sound clip I physically recoiled, it was completely vile.

And we've all given the little fucker exactly what he wanted by spending days giving him more and more attention over it.

Nah, I don't think that's the case at all. He knows we're a mostly great group and won't let pathetic people like that keep him from hearing the good ones out.

People speaking out against this kind of vitriol and meanness aren't giving this guy what he wants-- it isolates and alienates a sad, sad person and sets a positive example.

Oh, that guy sucks. Let's not give him anymore attention.

@marokai said:

Sadly I think it's the opposite. More than likely this was someone who saw an opportunity to get a shot in, took it, and has by now probably forgotten about the whole thing. The thing about bullies or trolls or whatever the current buzzword is; they get their jollies and they log off. I don't know if that makes it better or worse, but there it is.

Yeah but I mean theres a sense of trust saying to people 'Hey call up my voicemail and leave messages.' He has to listen to them and vet them to see if they're going to make it into the show, imagine hearing that and just being like, wtf is up with some people. As Patrick said on his Twitter, it's different to see it in text but to actually hear it come from another person's voice is just beyond fucked up.

Ugh. I really don't know how the Patrick haters haven't gotten over it yet. Surely he's proved himself 10 times over already? Without Patrick GB would've been a graveyard for the past 6 months.

That guy is a douche.That is really are there is to say. (guy who left the message, not Patrick)

I can't imagine how what its like to be someone of renown. And have to deal with all the negative BS that comes with it. I am sure the positive outweighs the negative. But man.

@rockyraccoon37 said:

What the guy wanted was attention. He wanted to shit on Patrick and get under his skin. We haven't done anything to deter this kind of behavior because anyone who is willing to actually put into words something so repulsive and send it to his Google Voice account isn't going to give a fuck about what any of us say. We haven't isolated the dude because we don't know who the guy is and can't exact any kind of punishment. It would be better to call it disgusting and leave it at that, rather than comment on it for days on various threads, various sites, and various social media. Anyone sane realizes it was unacceptable.

No one spends that much effort spewing hatred on the internet while also having any sort of decent life. There is comfort in knowing that.

The goal isn't to track this person down. Patrick made that pretty clear as well. This stuff can't stay hidden, though.

Holy fucking shit, who would say stuff like that? Seriously, only pepole that have something wrong with them would actually come up with that shit.

I agree with the sentiment, Patrick is cool, fuck that guy who sent the nasty audio clip.

It's really gross and disgusting that someone said that.

The unfortunate thing is that the sentiment is not uncommon. There are plenty of people who frequent GiantBomb but just don't post on these boards and discuss their opinions on other message boards instead. I have visited some of these, and they almost universally make statements like this regarding Patrick in particular. In fact, what he said was far from the worst; as an example, one particularly incensed individual once described Patrick as a 'Curse' which destroyed G4 and was 'now destroying Giant Bomb,' referring (outrageously I must add) to the death of Ryan. The only thing that makes this guy stand out is that he had such outrage over the idea of Patrick doing *anything* that he actually vocalized his opinions somewhere other than an anonymous imageboard. However, I would never in a million years pretend that this caller's non-unique opinion excuses his actions.

I enjoy Patrick's presence. I think his journalistic articles are almost always excellent reading, and are absolutely always able to make me think about something. Some of his editorials, and parts of his TEDX talk, I drew issue with, but as a universal rule he is at least an inoffensive, and usually incredibly entertaining, addition to the team. But there are vocal contingents of people out there who will forever view Patrick as an outsider, and that unfortunately makes him a very easy target for Internet Vitriolites such as this caller.

Toxic parts of communities are always a very tricky subject, and there are no 'ideal' ways to deal with them, but I think, so far, Patrick has done an alright job keeping his head above the tumultuous waters. The best thing we can do is keep a level head and continue showing our support for the site and commentators we love, with the confidence that cooler heads will more than likely always prevail.

Yeah I agree with putting it out there purely for the purpose for people to stand up and say this isn't okay and won't be tolerated. And believe me, I'm not saying the guy shouldn't be named and shamed, just the internet has a tendency of going over board and digging a bit too deep at times.

Man, this in combination to the whole thing that Totalbiscuit wrote this morning makes me realize how much it would SUCK to be an internet personality. The internet houses so many dipshits who hide behind their anonymous wall to attack people who can't do the same thing. Patrick has my sympathies for having to deal with this shit, and I hope it doesn't get him too down.

Someone who is that much of an idiot is doing this for shits and giggles. Like @littleemille said, Giantbomb is not an exception to this sort of internet shenanigans. Therefore I think that we should treat this internet troll like how we treat all the other internet trolls that came before him - ignore them.

They crave for this sort of attention and feel powerless when you don't respond.

I understand that there is a certain need to bring awareness to this issue to the public, but most Giantbomb users already hate these types of assholes. If we bring this issue up to the community to try to "stop" the trolls, then I ask why we trying to reason with unreasonable children?

The only thing that publicizing something like this accomplishes is bringing more pain to the community. I wish that I didn't listen to this clip and I feel that it was unnecessary for Patrick to post it.

Yeah, when I first heard that clip, it really bothered me in a way that I've never felt from reading just general awfulness on the internet. There's a big difference between words on a screen and hearing an actual voice saying these things, to me anyway. It really made me sick.

But yeah, as far as Patrick goes, I think there honestly were some growing pains when he first joined the site, which is to be expected. But for a long time now, he has been just as essential to this site as any member of the "original" crew. He produces my favorite content on the site (Spelunkin'/Spookin') and I could not be more happy that he's a part of Giant Bomb.

makes me worried for patrick, people be crazy.

That's very upsetting. While I may not always agree with Patrick's viewpoints, or find everything his does necessary, I have always held that he is the best pure journalist on the site, and when his interests and my own do align, he's a joy to listen to. In short, I may not agree with him, but I respect him. And I respect most of you guys, as a community I'm generally happy to be part of, so the fact that there's this unsavory element among us really rubs me the wrong way.

PS: And yeah, how dare that little fuck invoke Ryan's name to wish ill on Patrick. I wish Ryan's specter could appear and rip that dude a new asshole.

GB used to be a small little community with cool mature duders, with the increase in popularity and viewership there's bound to be a few nutjobs here and there. Not saying this is acceptable behavior of course, that guy was a complete douche and I feel sorry for his mother for having to bring up such a kid.

At first I thought this thread was actually about Patrick and I had stopped reading the original post and started reading replies, then I found out what it was. That's fucked

I could not agree more. One internet personally recently made a video about this topic, and said that he has friends read his comments, and pass along anything important, or interesting, but only if it's something positive. Because of this, he never has to read anything hateful, and still is able to get many encouraging message from his fans, as well as politely worded constructive criticism.

Sadly, I really do believe that Patrick tweeting about this "to shine a light on it" or whatever is really just giving a troll exactly what he was looking for.

This whole voice mail shit really real bummed me out. It got me thinking though. Are there any reformed dicks that have ever actually apologised or come forward to own up to what they did? I want to hear a good news story. Even if it was just one dick that spat vitriol and owned up and apologised.

Well said.

I think the whole "stand up against the bad behavior of the internet" thing is naive and will never work. Maybe i'm a cynic. But hey i'm not going to shit on Patricks good intentions however naive or misguided i think they might be.

So keep fighting the good fight. I'll admit i'm a snarky ass online alot, but i'm putting more effort in not being so snarky. So maybe his crusading will help? I don't know. I was never as vile or hate filled as everything thats discussed in those stories or that voice mail. More like a sarcastic snarky doucheyness but hey, every bit matter.

@drbobbint: Hmmm...not a bad trolling attempt. I've seen better though. I'd give it about a 4/10

@thesoutherndandy: So calling someone a troll=autowin these days?

I know I may have given Patrick a hard time when he was newer here but this stuff is nuts. Don't know how someone could be so mean spirited. Props to you Patrick for putting up with this stuff and I'm glad to say that the morning thing you do with Alex is some of the best content that is put up on this site.

Yeah, because not wanting someone to make a vile and unnecessary comment is TOTALLY the same thing as erecting giant golden statues of Ryan Davis right? We remember Ryan because he was a great man, and he affected a lot of our lives in ways we didn't think was possible. If you think this site is being turned into a "Ryan Davis Memorial" you really need to get some perspective.

I feel like Patrick has been nothing but a pleasant, though opinionated, person to have on this site. Even if you don't like him or don't share his opinions going that far to threaten him is crazy.

@drbobbint: for that comment? Yep.

Slightly off-topic, but do deleted comments not even show a "Message Deleted" note anymore?

Because without that, there isn't even a placeholder for the stupid thing drbobbint said. It gets rid of a little context. Seems like an odd thing to change.

Dude sounds like a very miserable little guy. Not the OP, the dude in the sound clip. He probably recorded that in his room, alone, in his underwear, lonely, with a dumb little frown, and red eyes from crying due to no one wanting to have sex with him.

At least that's what I imagine.

I like Patrick's stuff and I think he is a cool dude, never understood this "hate" against him. It's sad that when you are in the public eye, all kinds of nutters and douche nozzles crawl out of the woodwork and spew their crap at you. Life is too short for hating, it will turn you into a miserable old git if you let it.

Oh wow, I didn't even notice that shitty comment being quoted when I came to this thread earlier. Cot damn.

The deleted comments not showing could be on purpose? I never noticed it since the site made changes.

This is the stuff Patrick gets, this is the stuff Phil Fish gets, Zoe Quinn Depression quest Dev and this is the stuff the Flappy bird Dev gets.

What ever your feeling's and opinions are of any of these people. It should never evoke such a vile response. This is one dude that made you guys feel sick or awe full. THINK ABOUT A THOUSAND DIFFERENT PEOPLE! At any given time this random abuse.

Its truly a terrible thing. I dont Blame Phil Fish or the Flappy bird dev quitting. If anything I am surprised at people like Patrick and Zeo keep going with what they do.

Patrick is the same man that some fucked up individual sent crystal glasses to him for his wedding with the engraving along the exact same lines as what the guy said in the audio clip. Who sends such vile things on such days and in such weird and vile ways making sure to try and fuck with a guy.

For context on the glasses I mentioned. It was during the 2012 CBSI Spring clean it was only streamed on Twitch and should still be archived there. As they cleaned up someone came one of the glasses on his desk.
He told them the inscription and then laughed. He then said "I keep it on my desk to remind myself....Ive made it. When someone is so filled with hatred they must send you such an insulting gift and spend money to show it. You've made it."