[Discussion] The Inconceivable Power of Trolls in Social Media

This is a follow-on to the nearly two year old topic "Trouble at the Kool-Aid Point." The intention is to provide a place to discuss the unreasonable power social media trolls have over women and minorities, with a primary focus on video games (though other examples are certainly welcome).

Hypatian wrote:

Pro-tip: Smashing milkshakes is messy.

But Smashing Pumpkins is/are/were great

Wink_and_the_Gun wrote:
Hypatian wrote:

Pro-tip: Smashing milkshakes is messy.

But Smashing Pumpkins were great :)

FTFY

Also, again, WTF is wrong with humans (in this case men)?

Hypatian wrote:

Pro-tip: Smashing milkshakes is messy.

So is murdering people the way I want to murder those people.

BadKen wrote:
Hypatian wrote:

Pro-tip: Smashing milkshakes is messy.

So is murdering people the way I want to murder those people.

My wife always reminds me that taking out these assh@ts will turn them into martyrs and of course result in me doing life or worse. I don't want to be where they are in life - unemployed, isolated, and without a woman in sight.

jdzappa wrote:
BadKen wrote:
Hypatian wrote:

Pro-tip: Smashing milkshakes is messy.

So is murdering people the way I want to murder those people.

My wife always reminds me that taking out these assh@ts will turn them into martyrs and of course result in me doing life or worse. I don't want to be where they are in life - unemployed, isolated, and without a woman in sight.

That assumes that a) their bodies are found and b) you get caught.

I'm not saying that I've spent a lot of time fantasizing about going on a rape/death-threat tweeter murdering spree, but... well, I haven't gone shopping for any 55 gallon drums of nitric acid.

12-year old trolled for her social justice views and the (awesome) cartoon she drew about the whole Marvel milkshake situation.

Sasha Matthews is only 12, but she already has the initiative and backbone of a superhero. Sasha first received nasty messages when she undertook a comics-driven ACLU fundraiser, because the bridge trolls of the Internet have no shame or souls. Then Sasha drew a cartoon based on our coverage of the Marvel editor harassed over her selfie—and she got harassed herself.
asha’s drawings, on display at her website rumblecomics.com, show remarkable skill and ingenuity. She’s been self-publishing comics for years, and has appeared on TV and at live events—not to mention receiving a Citation from the New York City council—due to her exceptional abilities and big-hearted motivation. The featured art at Rumble Comics right now is her project, “Everyday Superheroes,” which transforms people (and animals) in Sasha’s life and those who have commissioned her into dynamic heroes in brilliant colors.

A mess of sh*t has come out on Twitter in the past 24 hours. It started when Nick Robinson (video producer for Polygon) called Overcooked out for dropping a bad Switch port, which lead to some eyebrow-raising responses.

The originator for which was this:

@bloodyhoney_ wrote:

Maybe Nick would have time to help the Overcooked devs out if he wasn't in every woman in games' DMs all the time

From the replies, this seems like something that's been bubbling under the surface for some time. A group of people then started talking about it in their own threads, as friends or associates of those that have had to deal with Nick.

Most notably:

@xoxogossipgita wrote:

When someone preys on you sexually or manipulates you, or misrepresents situations to gain your consent, it's hard not to blame yourself

https://twitter.com/xoxogossipgita/s...
https://twitter.com/xoxogossipgita/s...

@ali_west wrote:

The reason information feels like its smoke hanging in the air is bc being The One Who Speaks makes you a target which is obvious by now

https://twitter.com/ali_west/status/...
https://twitter.com/ali_west/status/...

https://twitter.com/aurahack/status/...
https://twitter.com/Hbomberguy/statu...

Those directly affected by this haven't spoken publicly about it (their accounts have been made private), but after reading those threads, and knowing this industry and its culture, it's not especially hard to understand why.

If that's not damning enough (respected people with no reason to lie talking about it), Matt Kessler, co-host with Nick on Podburglars, and his friend, said this:

@MattBodega wrote:

Done with podburglars
If that dumb show contributed to anyone feeling like they couldn't call out such gross bullsh*t, I sincerely apologize

His colleague and most frequent collaborator, Griffin McElroy, has also said some things:

@griffinmcelroy wrote:

So, I’m at a loss for words about the events of the last day. I’m shocked, and angry and so deeply, deeply sad about it all.

Finally, the Editor-in-Chief of Polygon made this tweet:

@chrisgrant wrote:

I've heard the allegations re Nick Robinson and am taking them seriously. Nick has been suspended pending a thorough Vox Media inquiry.

In other words, a mess of sh*t.

It took me longer than I would have liked to parse my way through all those twitter threads but I got there in the end, I think.

So the gist of it is Nick Robinson has been regularly sexually harassing women in the industry in private chats / DM's, right?

The details are unclear, but that's the impression.

pyxistyx wrote:

It took me longer than I would have liked to parse my way through all those twitter threads but I got there in the end, I think.

So the gist of it is Nick Robinson has been regularly sexually harassing women in the industry in private chats / DM's, right?

Twitter might as well be another language AFAIC. I cannot understand it.

Here's a NeoGaf thread that illuminates the situation a little more clearly.

It probably doesn't help that most people are talking about it obliquely. Part of it is that many people are intentionally being vague about the victims, as a step to protect them from harassment. Which I think is generally a good thing: we, the general public, don't need to know the details. We're not a jury that needs proof. There's often a gossipy need to rubberneck combined with a reflexive impulse to defend the person being accused that ends up with exhausting repetition of demands that the victims provide public proof.

In this case the people close to the--I suppose I should say alleged, though I don't really doubt the women who came forward so that sounds more hedging than I mean--the people close to the alleged perpetrator in question are now publically taking steps to deal with the situation.

It does highlight that when there's a power imbalance many people are afraid to speak up about someone who is popular and has a following: the catalyst for all of this was someone half-joking about something that enough people knew about to be an obvious it's-funny-because-it's-true but that the majority of people either weren't aware of or didn't publicly acknowledge. An emperor-has-no-clothes watershed moment, sort of.

This was posted in another thread, but I think it applies here too:

That is a lot of words.

But worth it.

And hey, NOT ALL CAPS LIKE HULK USUALLY IS. So easier to read.

Stele wrote:

That is a lot of words.

But worth it.

And hey, NOT ALL CAPS LIKE HULK USUALLY IS. So easier to read.

WHY YOU HATE FILM CRITIC HULK'S SHTICK?!

Drop this into Chrome bookmarks and it makes Hulk a lot more readable: The Dehulkifier.

Nick Robinson has issued a statement. Polygon has 'let him go'.

Certis wrote:

Nick Robinson has issued a statement. Polygon has 'let him go'.

(forwards link to James Damore)

I fail to see how creepy "flirting" as a private citizen was somehow a-ok, but creepy "flirting" as a popular internet celebrity was the point where it crossed a line.

I agree. I don't think that's a good apology. It seems sincere on the surface, but the focus on him being in a position of power and reducing what he did to mere flirting suggests he really doesn't get why that sh*t was wrong.

pyxistyx wrote:

I fail to see how creepy "flirting" as a private citizen was somehow a-ok, but creepy "flirting" as a popular internet celebrity was the point where it crossed a line.

I couldn't find what he did specifically, everyone was being vague. However, if he didn't do something like grab asses or make sexually suggestive comments the difference would be same difference between a classmate flirting with you vs a teacher flirting with you.

Does anyone know the details beyond the power dynamic of the main complaint? I see people saying he should apologies for what he actually did but not saying what he actually did which seems kind of odd. I mean shouldn't we at least wait to see what the original women say about the apology? Maybe they'll say he pulled out his dick and waved it at them so the apology is crap. Or maybe they'll say I'm glad he sees the light because they were only put off because he was in a position of power.

The general consensus I've seen from scoping thing out on twitter is that the apology isn't one. It's humble bragging about his power and not actually going into why he should be sorry(because he isn't or doesn't understand why he should be).

There was a tweet that also suggested that one of the girls was underage but it's been deleted. There's also a few screenshots out there where he is asking for nudes and for this female fan to come over to his place(she lived close and eventually a sexual relationship did occur between them). She was 18 at the time and he was close to 30. While I personally find age differences like that to be very weird and predatory they aren't TECHNICALLY wrong...except that she was a fan of his and that bleeds into the abuse of his position.

Baron Of Hell wrote:

Does anyone know the details beyond the power dynamic of the main complaint? I see people saying he should apologies for what he actually did but not saying what he actually did which seems kind of odd. I mean shouldn't we at least wait to see what the original women say about the apology? Maybe they'll say he pulled out his dick and waved it at them so the apology is crap. Or maybe they'll say I'm glad he sees the light because they were only put off because he was in a position of power.

Derailing conversations with asking for nudes and sexual favors is wrong regardless of who does it. Details beyond those (and they apparently do go beyond that), aren't known to the rest of us. Friends of those that Nick has harassed have found his statement incredibly lacking, and I don't see a reason to doubt them.

@aurahack wrote:

I wish Nick's statement read more like an actual apology and less like damage control full of lies.

https://twitter.com/aurahack/status/...

@danikaharrod wrote:

as someone who's witnessed the absolute pain nick robinson has caused others, his message is disappointing, sure, but it's not surprising.

https://twitter.com/danikaharrod/sta...

Y'all beat me to posting about this.

I have zero doubt that Polygon letting him go was appropriate. I don't need to know any more details of the harassment or the pain that he caused (what I am aware of is bad enough). The people who had a position of authority were finally made aware of his actions, and took appropriate steps.

As Hyetal said, there are many people disappointed or upset with his apology. Though at least Polygon cut ties.

Waypoint radio (some of whom interacted with him in the past) had an episode discussing it, from after Polygon said they were aware of it but before Polygon issued their statement today.

I won't speak for the women, but from my perspective it was pretty positive that most of the people around Nick spoke out against his behavior. It's also fairly positive that for once we're not seeing his victims get raked over the coals by name (as far as I know). There's no need to try this in the court of public opinion, and no reason to expose them to more online abuse. (Though I also wish that this had been exposed earlier, or even better that Nick hadn't acted this way in the first place.)

Someone Live Streamed Themselves Sexually Harassing Me

Particularly the update to the article:

*UPDATE: His channel has now been reinstated, with my bullying broadcast sitting proudly on his profile page. I have contacted Twitch Support for advice, but this message has been left unanswered for a week now.

We Need to Talk About Online Harassment

The public forum is taking place on social media, a place where women are being systematically silenced.

Reddit has finally banned a sub dedicated to the killing leftists/liberals because of what happened in Charlottesville and how it was celebrated. Their conclusion: she needed to die because she was "antifa".

https://archive.fo/jekir

What does antifa stand for? Anti-fascist?

Correct

bekkilyn wrote:

What does antifa stand for? Anti-fascist?

garion333 wrote:

Correct

...it's also the up and coming contender to side with SJW as a new slur that the right and centre are hurling at lefties they don't like.