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[PrimeRib_]

Attention Journalists, I have some information for you:

Mountain dew & dorito Cupcakes!

You will need:

Mountain Dew
Boxed cake mix lemon or white
Frosting (vanilla) but you can use butter cream if you like
Doritos

First boiled a can of mountain dew on the stove to try and carmalize it a little bit then added that to the cake mix instead of water. Next mix it then bake per box instructions.

For the frosting boil another can of mountain dew then mix it with the vanilla frosting and top the cupcakes with the frosting and crushed up doritos!

This will be my breakfast

 

[XANDER CAGE]

Wowie zowie, just caught up with this thread. This is pretty gross, and also the kind of thing that actually makes me thankful that my video game coverage work hasn't been big enough to attract too many ugly proposals/deals/what have you from publishers and whatnot.

All this to get a free PS3 or whatever? Shouldn't a journo already have a PS3? Christ.

 

[Fistwell]

I hate to be that guy but I'm lost on what is going on after the first couple pages. Can someone explain it to me like a 5 year old.

I'll do a short recap:

• Keighley surrounded by doritos followed by gaming bloggers retweeting a hashtag for advertising to win a PS3 makes Florence of Eurogamer curious.
  
• Florence writes an article saying how things are shady and some sound like straight up PR e.g. Wainright orgasms for everything Squenix.
  
• Eurogamer/Wainwright send libel threats to Eurogamer, at which the article was edited to remove mentioning of Wainright.
  
• Wainwright responds in twitter "Apology accepted" and something in the vain of applying her law classes to use.
  
• Florence either steps down or is forced to resign to avoid any libel threat.
  
• Both sides deny any threat or are not talking about it directly, but twitter posts hint that such threat existed. Florence is not confirming or denying whether he was fired or he stepped down.
  
• "GAF and 4chan combine forces to see this standalone complex issue" alongside digital protest from Penny Arcade and more, showing what happened.
  
• Wainwright's profile shows she is a freelancer for Square Enix. She admitted it and denied doing any reviews for Square Enix or shilling (she is wrong. She reviewed Deus Ex, Tomb Raider and did countless previews).
  
• All this fiasco is too much for her and she privatize her twitter account. Next thing you know, she starts deleting tweets, videos and articles, and edits her profile to remove any mention of Square Enix freelancing.
  
• David Jaffe offers Keighley Mountain Dew.
  
• Gaming journalism.

.

 

[Zeliard]

He needs to be holding one of these

I think Geoff Keighley is responsible for this, having manifested the Mountain Dew Dorito Cupcakes into existence through sheer willpower.

If you look at the Hilarious Image™, you can clearly see his unnervingly deep concentration, eyes glazed over in the merry thought that the horrible mutant cupcakes would soon be his.

 

[Hanmik]

This thread is a goldmine.. Damn this is crazy..

You should all read the thread while you watch this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdaYCMB8xWs&feature=youtube_gdata_player

(I am on my iPad, I would have made tons of gifs if I was on my PC)

 

[Osiris]

What are PR people going to do to him exactly?! Rab would just throw a 2lt bottle of Jinga right in their faces.

They are obviously mistaking Rab for a pasty, basement-dwelling geek, I would personally pay to see some of the PR flacks and their lackeys attempt to size up to him face to face.

...good money, in cash.

 

[Amagon]

.

Well, fuck.

Who watches the watchmen game journalist?

 

[GazzaScotland]

On yourself Rab for having the balls to actually run with it and stick by it. At least he has other work outside of gaming that he can fall back on, not that it makes the situation any less shady. Hopefully someone will pick him up or he'll start something new.

 

[Kinyou]

Be sure to read John Walker's two excellent pieces on this subject.

This one was written after the original Rab Florence article came out but before the shit hit the fan with Lauren Wainwright and the article edits. Contains lots of disclosure and honest truths about what the biz is like, and lots of smacking about of idiots:

http://botherer.org/2012/10/24/games-journalists-and-the-perception-of-corruption/

This one is post-shit-hitting-fan and even angrier:

http://botherer.org/2012/10/25/an-utter-disgrace/

The best part about the second article is that he predicted that "Square enix" would be removed from her job site.

 

[Delusibeta]

anyone remember the gamespot drama over a bad review of kayne and lynch?
Squeenix again?

Eidos, which Square Enix since bought out. So, yeah...

 

[diffusionx]

How can people be so hostile towards him? So disappointing.

I said it upthread; these cozy clubs end up being more about protecting their own than making sure they put in good work. You see it in politics, Wall Street, etc. - the real transgession isn't committing a crime, but exposing it. Obviously this isn't criminal in nature, but the fact is that probably everyone is putting in work like Wainwright and how dare anyone say they aren't clean.

 

[SolidSnakex]

He basically said in public what everyone already knew. It's just that nobody really cared to talk about it before this whole mess up.

Yeah, but this backlash probably shows why others kept their mouth shut about it. That or it's just so common that they don't see anything wrong with it.

 

[Corto]

I was being cautious latter trying to not to jump to conclusions and go full-on on a witch hunt... This attempt to erase all traces behind her is indefensible though and pretty damning on Lauren part. I'm sorry to have posted that Rab was an idiot for not being cautious at wording the Lauren part of his original article (not that it made/makes any difference though it is/was just an opinion of a complete outsider of all this circus). Considering these last events he should have been even more direct in his critique. I understand though that perhaps he didn't have solid evidence to do so. Unfortunately. This is just disgraceful and I don't want to wish that she loses her livelihood but I hope that she, by her own volition preferably, chooses to change her career.

 

[RotBot]

Err, there is no conclusive evidence in any of that. Her two SE reviews came out in 2010 and August 2011. The Tomb Raider piece was published in November 2011. The game she consulted on was not released in the west until January 2012, and unless I'm missing something nothing she's said indicates she worked on it before those articles were published.

Anyway, the tweet she made that everyone is using as proof of hypocrisy states that she didn't review the games she consulted on, not that she never reviewed squenix games.

That's a good point. Which if true, makes it more bizarre that she wouldn't just come out and correct the narrative building around her. Instead, she tries to delete the evidence, which is the most incriminating thing you could do.

 

[Averon]

How can people be so hostile towards him? So disappointing.

Do these "journos" realize that the more they attack him to more it proves his point?

 

[lednerg]

I might get flamed for this but whatever. I don't think Florence needed to name names in order to write a compelling article. I'm NOT saying what he did was libel or even necessarily 'wrong', it was just a bit much, especially towards a relative noname such as Wainwright. He could have just described the situation and guided people on a Twitter search for the offending hashtags. By calling her and others out by name, it makes things a little too personal for my liking. What could have been constructive criticism of the industry in general was instead something that could easily be misconstrued as personal attacks. [Note: I'm saying they were not personal attacks.] Regardless of how I feel about this admittedly minor point, I'm on the same page as most folks here about everything that transpired afterwards. At no point should anyone, especially a journalist, resort to or even fake legal action to silence criticism. I don't care how singled-out or unfairly treated she felt, nothing excuses that.

 

[Jackl]

I think it's a problem with every industry is kinda this way. Companies always wine and dine regulators, journalists, colleagues, and whoever may serve their agenda.

But I think what is most annoying about our media is we don't even try to cover it up. I mean you have this extremely minor issue turning into a complete disaster over social networks from total disregard that it might be revealed one day you're not exactly an impartial entity.

Contingency plan? Plausible deniability? Nope. Just quick reset your jobs profile before anyone can figure out. Come guys. Not even the medical industry is that bad with their kickbacks. They at least try to pretend that Professional Conference in Hawaii is for legitimate reasons.

Maybe the entertainment industry in general is just too young? I don't know.

 

[DCharlie]

They are obviously mistaking Rab for a pasty, basement-dwelling geek, I would personally pay to see some of the PR flacks and their lackeys attempt to size up to him face to face.

...good money, in cash.

Someone needs to edit together parts of the TEAMMMMM! videos - -just scanned through them and so many quotes... soooooooo many quotes....

I think it's a problem with every industry is kinda this way.

It tends to be that the TOP eschelons get involved in that sort of business - in gaming though, it seems to be pretty much a necessary cohabit : Reviewers want early access, a late review leaves them at a competitive disadvantage, so they have to start cosying to PR. This basically gives PR houses an insanely strong hand in dictating the relationship - because sidestepping that hop means other publications who do play by the PR boys rules "win" out.

Certainly in the 4 industries i've worked in the rules laid down on personal responsibilities and unexceptable behaviours were and are -absolutely- made clear as day. So i guess it's just down to the last point you make - the entertainment (or rather - gaming industry) is just too young. Plus - you also have a vast number of freelancers who are unlikely to be signing up to any documented "code of conduct" - they need to be self regulating themselves and given the usual Enthusiast/hobbyist->Blogger->writer->journo path it just seems unlikely to be a deep consideration.

 

[Dawg]

How can people be so hostile towards him? So disappointing.

Because he's the hero gaming deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So they'll hunt him. Because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight.

 

[ShowDog]

Let me make this clear, I think what she did was stupid and handled in the worst possible way and that she really exacerbated the whole situation with the takedown request.

That said, I would put forth that the difference between cyberstalking and investigative journalism is in the intent. Investigative journalism is done by a professional in an effort to discover the truth. This "cyberstalking" is done only to antagonize someone that has done something that people don't like.

It's the difference between a police officer shooting a crook in the line of duty and a mob of vigilantes breaking into the crook's house and murdering him.

First off, she refers to herself as a journalist. Everything she has done since this incident goes against the very principles of journalism.

Second, she just got a real journalist fired for doing his job.

Third, all of this information was purposefully shared by her on public forums to bolster her marketability. No one is posting her address or phone number.

Drawing attention to someones lies and hypocrisy is not cruel, nor is it mean spirited. It is representation of facts. Robert did not stoop to any personal attacks, and most of the posters here haven't either.

Every journalist should be wary of their own ethical status and how they are perceived by their readers. If people don't trust your opinion you're largely useless in that profession. She has failed miserably thus far. That is her own fault.

 

[LAUGHTREY]

What ever happened to Sessler? He was good.

 

[theJwac]

I might get flamed for this but whatever. I don't think Florence needed to name names in order to write a compelling article. I'm NOT saying what he did was libel or even necessarily 'wrong', it was just a bit much, especially towards a relative noname such as Wainwright. He could have just described the situation and guided people on a Twitter search for the offending hashtags. By calling her and others out by name, it makes things a little too personal for my liking. What could have been constructive criticism of the industry in general was instead something that could easily be misconstrued as personal attacks. [Note: I'm saying they were not personal attacks.] Regardless of how I feel about this admittedly minor point, I'm on the same page as most folks here about everything that transpired afterwards. At no point should anyone, especially a journalist, resort to or even fake legal action to silence criticism. I don't care how singled-out or unfairly treated she felt, nothing excuses that.

I agree. In fact, this thread had an image earlier showing several other uses of that hashtag by people who describe themselves as being affiliated with different gaming publications/sites.

 

[JazzmanZ]

Damn this is a three rin--no four ring circus of Game Journalism.

Where do the Doritos fit in.

 

[Meccanical]

What ever happened to Sessler? He was good.

He's still around.

In a transitioning period I think,.

 

[schwabdizzle]

I think Geoff Keighley is responsible for this, having manifested the Mountain Dew Dorito Cupcakes into existence through sheer willpower.

If you look at the Hilarious Image™, you can clearly see his unnervingly deep concentration, eyes glazed over in the merry thought that the horrible mutant cupcakes would soon be his.

We need a photoshop of him holding this please.

 

[King_Moc]

Here's a random, unrelated bit from the UK bribery act:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/23/section/1

(1)A person (“P”) is guilty of an offence if either of the following cases applies.

(2)Case 1 is where—

(a)P offers, promises or gives a financial or other advantage to another person, and

(b)P intends the advantage—

(i)to induce a person to perform improperly a relevant function or activity, or

(ii)to reward a person for the improper performance of such a function or activity.

(3)Case 2 is where—

(a)P offers, promises or gives a financial or other advantage to another person, and

(b)P knows or believes that the acceptance of the advantage would itself constitute the improper performance of a relevant function or activity.

(4)In case 1 it does not matter whether the person to whom the advantage is offered, promised or given is the same person as the person who is to perform, or has performed, the function or activity concerned.

(5)In cases 1 and 2 it does not matter whether the advantage is offered, promised or given by P directly or through a third party.

Though i certainly wouldn't alledge that this kind of thing is happening all the time. Nope.

It's just a shame that it's "opinions" we're talking about.

 

[I H8 Memes]

Was Lauren Wainwrights twitter page always set to be viewable only by subscribers, or is that something she did since this story came out?

 

[Effnine]

What ever happened to Sessler? He was good.

Oh the stories that could be told ... yeah, not a good point of reference when speaking about PR/press events.

 

[Gomu Gomu]

I might get flamed for this but whatever. I don't think Florence needed to name names in order to write a compelling article. I'm NOT saying what he did was libel or even necessarily 'wrong', it was just a bit much, especially towards a relative noname such as Wainwright. He could have just described the situation and guided people on a Twitter search for the offending hashtags. By calling her and others out by name, it makes things a little too personal for my liking. What could have been constructive criticism of the industry in general was instead something that could easily be misconstrued as personal attacks. [Note: I'm saying they were not personal attacks.] Regardless of how I feel about this admittedly minor point, I'm on the same page as most folks here about everything that transpired afterwards. At no point should anyone, especially a journalist, resort to or even fake legal action to silence criticism. I don't care how singled-out or unfairly treated she felt, nothing excuses that.

People need to be called out for their bullshit. When they are not called out by name, most people don't take the matter as seriously, since there's always a chance of lying or whatever. Also, it's not like he leaked some secrets, that no one was suppose to see. HE LINKED TO THEIR TWEETS. They were being public about it.

Naming names, and linking to their public self-condemning, is what got this ball rolling and everyone noticing this story/issue.

 

[McBradders]

I just wrote out a lengthy response to this whole debacle. It basically boiled down to;

I am really, really disappointed with Eurogamer.

I am really, really disappointed with us as an audience.

I am really, really disappinted with us as an industry.

 

[Dennis]

Damn this is a three rin--no four ring circus of Game Journalism.

Where do the Doritos fit in.

 

[Corto]

Was Lauren Wainwrights twitter page always set to be viewable only by subscribers, or is that something she did since this story came out?

She changed her status pos-shit hit the fan.

 

[Tmdean]

I might get flamed for this but whatever. I don't think Florence needed to name names in order to write a compelling article. I'm NOT saying what he did was libel or even necessarily 'wrong', it was just a bit much, especially towards a relative noname such as Wainwright. He could have just described the situation and guided people on a Twitter search for the offending hashtags. By calling her and others out by name, it makes things a little too personal for my liking. What could have been constructive criticism of the industry in general was instead something that could easily be misconstrued as personal attacks. [Note: I'm saying they were not personal attacks.] Regardless of how I feel about this admittedly minor point, I'm on the same page as most folks here about everything that transpired afterwards. At no point should anyone, especially a journalist, resort to or even fake legal action to silence criticism. I don't care how singled-out or unfairly treated she felt, nothing excuses that.

I half agree with you, but consider the alternate universe where there wasn't a legal semi-threat and redaction. 99.9% of readers would have just skimmed right over that paragraph and would never have even associated Wainwright with a scandal. She could have responded, even on her Twitter and there would have been two sides to the story. I think Florence bears very little responsibility for the reaction.

 

[Effnine]

Was Lauren Wainwrights twitter page always set to be viewable only by subscribers, or is that something she did since this story came out?

This was posted in an earlier page:

Lauren Wainwright ‏@atheistium

Going private for a couple of days while the insults are coming in. Lots of people getting the wrong end of the stick which is interesting.

 

[Gomu Gomu]

I just wrote out a lengthy response to this whole debacle. It basically boiled down to;

I am really, really disappointed with Eurogamer.

I am really, really disappointed with us as an audience.

I am really, really disappinted with us as an industry.

I think your post would be something like this: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=43597574&postcount=830

 

[Oersted]

How can people be so hostile towards him? So disappointing.

Is that him: https://www.facebook.com/robertflorence ? Wanna write thank you. He wrote a wakeup-call for the gaming ""journalism" industry and we should be ashamed to let him down.

 

[MormaPope]

Because he's the hero gaming deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So they'll hunt him. Because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A game journalist.

Fixed.

 

[Codeblue]

Why are they being hostile towards him? Do they really think we can't see shills for what they are? We don't need to be told that blatantly advertising something on your personal twitter account divorces you of your journalistic integrity.

Can't believe the guy holds a mirror up to his profession and they all throw a fit. At least RPS has been sensible, as always.

 

[billy beane]

Who is this woman? I'm still not sure what she actually does, and don't have enough time to look through the thread.

 

[FStop7]

I might get flamed for this but whatever. I don't think Florence needed to name names in order to write a compelling article. I'm NOT saying what he did was libel or even necessarily 'wrong', it was just a bit much, especially towards a relative noname such as Wainwright. He could have just described the situation and guided people on a Twitter search for the offending hashtags. By calling her and others out by name, it makes things a little too personal for my liking. What could have been constructive criticism of the industry in general was instead something that could easily be misconstrued as personal attacks. [Note: I'm saying they were not personal attacks.] Regardless of how I feel about this admittedly minor point, I'm on the same page as most folks here about everything that transpired afterwards. At no point should anyone, especially a journalist, resort to or even fake legal action to silence criticism. I don't care how singled-out or unfairly treated she felt, nothing excuses that.

1. They posted their shit to Twitter, he just called them out on it.

2. When you write an op-ed decrying the state of affairs of something you need to provide specific examples rather than vague allusions or people will blow you off. All he did was back his opinion up.

 

[Canis lupus]

Thank you for exposing, Rab Florence.

 

[Amalthea]

Why are they being hostile towards him? Do they really think we can't see shills for what they are? We don't need to be told that blatantly advertising something on your personal twitter account divorces you of your journalistic integrity.

Can't believe the guy holds a mirror up to his profession and they all throw a fit. At least RPS has been sensible, as always.

I think their reactions are even more revealing than his article.

 

[flyinpiranha]

I'm only reading through the first and last pages, but this post seems ridiculous. There is a difference between calling someone out and going on some witch hunt that involves cyberstalking and investigating them for the sole purpose defaming them.

People digging through her LinkedIn and other profiles are just anonymous assholes that get their rocks off by humiliating others, that behavior should never be tolerated and I can't believe anyone defends trying to ruin the career of another - especially over something as stupid and petty as games criticism.

Guarantee that if these people doing the stalking were publicly known people, they wouldn't say shit.

"Petty as games criticism" ... funny, because isn't that kind of what her job is? This is just like getting the scoop on a story. I have no issue with people digging through her Linkedin and Journalisted files, they're public, the information being posted is public, it's not some 14 year old about to commit suicide.

White Knight all you want, her job is to be in the public and if she's going to lie and backpeddal ... well, that's going to be public too.

Don't shills on GAF get called out here? Don't people track down post history and such? "I don't know about you guys, but the fan attachment from Mad Catz for my console is just too good to be true!" ....

It's the same shit every time something like this happens. White Knights with the "leave Britney alone!!" attitude and others that just see it as a way to call out somebody who's lying and backpedaling over things that they have already made public to thousands through the internet. She could have easily shut up, or better yet ... (long shot here, I know) use her journalistic "skills" to form a rebuttal.

 

[LAUGHTREY]

Oh the stories that could be told ... yeah, not a good point of reference when speaking about PR/press events.

Nice ambiguous post bro.


Penny-Arcade is usually good if you understand their tastes, even games they do or don't like personally they can remove themselves and recognize if it's a good game or not. Ben Kuchera/Penny Arcade Report isn't really any good though, it's like my grandpa writing gaming editorials.

 

[Effnine]

Why are they being hostile towards him? Do they really think we can't see shills for what they are? We don't need to be told that blatantly advertising something on your personal twitter account divorces you of your journalistic integrity.

Can't believe the guy holds a mirror up to his profession and they all throw a fit. At least RPS has been sensible, as always.

The status quo is in question. Also, there may be a few out there scared of losing all the freebies they enjoy.

 

[Dibbz]

What are PR people going to do to him exactly?! Rab would just throw a 2lt bottle of Jinga right in their faces.

No one can withstand my 2 litre bottle of ginger, bitch

Go get 'em Gordo

 

[Amagon]

Any sites covering this debacle yet?

 

[GazzaScotland]

Any sites covering this debacle yet?

I doubt any will, sadly.

 

[randomwab]

Because he's the hero gaming deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So they'll hunt him. Because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight.

"Batman? Shatman, more like"

i miss consolevania

 

[IdreamofHIME]

If any of these journo's attack Rab, he should just "Bum them in the gob"



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my2NVhUjekA