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[Lime]

Somehow the editor at Kotaku UK approved this profile piece on "Total Biscuit On Dealing With The Hate", akin to the many sympathetic pieces on professional harassers, alt-right, MRAs, neo-nazis, etc. that we've seen previously last year. It's the same dynamic where media platforms publish profile pieces on harassers and bigots, instead of their victims, and thereby white-washes people who've done immense harm to others. This article, despite online harassment being central to the piece, does not mention even once Gamergate and erases the hate that TB has dealt out himself. Marginalized people have been warning everyone about humanizing harmful personalities by giving them editorial space in mainstream media, yet here we are once more where an outlet gives a sympathetic platform to someone who's done a lot of harm to people.

As some of you may know, Total Biscuit is known for

• unleashing his toxic followers on people who criticize him,
• supporting Gamergate,
• saying that racism does not exist in the UK,
• calling the women who are terrorized by gamers professional liars,
• saying that the only ones who are driving women away from gaming culture are the people who claim that women are harassed.

So honestly this article in Kotaku's week that is supposed to cover harassment of online personalities in gaming is a blemish on Kotaku UK and considering the context of today (the anniversary of Gamergate) and his past (enabling and fostering hate in the gaming community), it's pretty bone-headed and insensitive to those who've been affected by what he has enabled and fostered. The article completely eludes any mention of the harassment that he has enabled in his work and with the audience that he has cultivated. E.g.:

"I'm also not going to claim they [death threats] were credible because well, Anita is still breathing." -- Total Biscuit, Nov. 5, 2014

Remember this is what he once wrote last year:

"Hey Ross, I liked your answer to the Gamergate question and I dont blame you one bit for not diving too far into the endless void of bullshit that is that whole thing. You got the gist of it though. Publications covered their own asses because they stood accused of corruption. That was the literal start of it, Grayson was accused of favourable coverage of Quinns game while they were in a romantic relationship which he had not disclosed. The narrative was changed to portray any discussion as misogynist, the facts twisted in an effort to discredit and smear further investigation (apparently won't someone PLEEASSEEE think of the women is the new THINK OF THE CHILDREN, which is weird because I've always thought women should be treated like adults not children... like a fucking sane person would) and anyone even remotely associated with it was branded a heretic. The 40k reference was more apt than you know, having ANYTHING to do with Gamergate was basically like being tainted by the warp itself. If you even came into contact with it it was Exterminatus for you and anyone you associate with. Crazy shit. I've never had as many threats as when I dared speak about journalistic ethics or question the knowledge and motivations of some talking-heads in the last year. I literally had hundreds of people wishing death on me through social media for supporting a charity that I AM PUBLICLY AFFILIATED WITH because they somehow misinterpreted it as a sinister attack designed to destroy their charity event. Just to add a cherry on top of that, all that went down while I was in a goddamn chemo clinic.

I've been keeping an eye on this whole thing since it started and my conclusion is pretty simple. Those involved lied and lied and lied until they got the media on their side (which wasn't hard because most of the liars were the media to begin with). A lot of the people with audiences stopped talking about it because you put a target on your back whenever you did and a bunch of people on the anti side have tried to make opposing this boogeyman their career path, raising money through Patreon, getting writing jobs, promoting their games, receiving paid public speaking gigs and enjoying publicity all under the guise of fighting something that doesn't exist in the form that they claim it to. Did harassment happen? Absolutely. Could anyone have controlled that? No, because a hashtag isn't a club. There are no rules, you dont have to apply for membership, nobody can control the actions of a random guy on the internet who decides to use a hashtag. A hashtag is not a group, it is a communication channel with no oversight. Does it fucking suck that people like Sarkeesian and Quinn were threatened by thugs on the internet? Absolutely. Does any of that dispel the very real concerns people had about how games media was acting? No, if anything the way Gamergate was covered was in itself proof of the corruption. Games media had the power to make this whole ordeal go away, instead they closed ranks and pushed the narrative as hard as they could to deflect criticism. I personally found it disgusting. Gamergate is one of the worst things to happen to gaming culture in a long time, but not for the reasons Polygon claims. The only people driving women out of the games industry are the fear-mongering yellow journalists repeating the narrative that women are under attack. Well done guys, you successfully discouraged women from getting involved in the industry. How progressive of you. Dolts."

tl;dr: Kotaku UK's editor approved a sympathetic profile piece on someone who has cultivated the harassment and terrorism in video game communities throughout the years on the anniversary of Gamergate, while erasing & ignoring the hate that he has dealt out.

EDIT: if people are interested, other and better articles have been published throughout the week, such as this one

 

[Lambtron]

Good god. I despise Total Biscuit. Fuck that guy, and fuck this puff piece about him.

 

[jayu26]

"I'm also not going to claim they [death threats] were credible because well, Anita is still breathing." -- Total Biscuit, Nov. 5, 2014

I feel like punching someone.

 

[sasliquid]

Relevant

https://mobile.twitter.com/jam_sponge/status/897858860987318272

 

[GinoFelino]

The most bizarre thing is Laura Kate Dale wrote it

GG wouldn't exactly be her greatest base of support

 

[Lumination]

Just spend 10 minutes on his twitter to see what an egotistical moron this guy is. I can see why he has a following.

 

[AAMARMO]

Well, it's a Laura Kate Dale article what do you expect?

 

[Mediking]

Another YouTuber exposed. Didn't even know he was like that.

 

[BY2K]

And this was written by Laura Kate Dale, of all people.

How did she not know?

For the record, what happened to her (being harassed and eventually chased off Twitter) following the publication of this piece, is disgusting.

But I don't understand why she's give TB such a spotlight.

 

[GravityInsanity]

Yikes, this guy really is a mess.

 

[Catvoca]

The article is trash but it's worth mentioning that people have been harassing the writer on twitter so please don't do that.

Looks like she deleted her account and everything.

 

[NateDrake]

And this was written by Laura Kate Dale, of all people.

How did she not know?

For the record, what happened to her (being harassed and eventually chased off Twitter) following the publication of this piece, is disgusting.

But I don't understand why she's give TB such a spotlight.

I've seen mentions on Twitter and elsewhere she is friendly with him and has appeared on his podcast.

 

[kiguel182]

TotaBuiscuit is an awful person and shame on Kotaku for doing this.

Painting this dude in a good light after everything he has said is gross.

They should've highlighted someone who is an actual victim of harassment instead.

Also, he brings no value to the conversation around video games either so there's not even a reason to do this besides clicks.

Edit: Done by Laura too? Disappointed.

 

[ckaneo]

GamerGate is one of the most paradoxical internet events that I cant understand for the life of me. It's become such a cluster fuck I dont think it's members even know what they are fighting for anymore if they ever did

 

[Gotdatmoney]

The most bizarre thing is Laura Kate Dale wrote it

GG wouldn't exactly be her greatest base of support

Well, I no longer feel anything for her. Put out trash and I'm out.

 

[Brazil]

What the fuck, Laura?

 

[killroy87]

Yeah, it's a shame that she was being harassed after the publication. But it's also fucking bizarre that she wrote this piece.

 

[Kenzodielocke]

Called Hellblade devs stupid. Guy is garbage. So far LKD is kinda bad.

 

[Alucrid]

edit: wrong podcast

 

[Hamster Plugin]

The most bizarre thing is Laura Kate Dale wrote it

GG wouldn't exactly be her greatest base of support

TB has been shitty in the past, especially during GG, but has changed quite a lot since then. When he got a guy kicked out from Coxcon for transphobic comments, he really pissed off all the right-wing nuts and has been trolling the alt-righters ever since. I'd say TB got decent after Trump happened.

Laura was on TB's podcast two months ago along with Jim Sterling and the Miracle of Sound guy (the usual Podquisition cast). It was all fun and games there.

 

[JStein0222]

Somebody over there really needs to edit Laura's grammar. I didn't think it would still be a problem with her at Kotaku.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Laura Kate, what's wrong with you?!

 

[VichoCardenas]

I understand the point that Laura tried to make with this piece but, yeah, timing is unfortunate and really sad to go to him to ask this kind of questions.

It stills baffles me how so many people follow him as a leader and "voice of the voiceless" in the gaming space.

 

[WrenchNinja]

Fuck this shitheel

 

[Daggar]

Reading the article, all it seems to mostly be about is systems and methods that can be used or need changing on YouTube and twitch to help smaller channels avoid harassment.

What's happening to Laura on Twitter right now just helps prove the point of the article and how important avoiding that toxicity is.

 

[Landford]

Laura K Buzz wrote this? Laura?! What the HELL? A trans woman, video game critic and journalist? Like, literally the target for GG?

 

[AAMARMO]

And this was written by Laura Kate Dale, of all people.

How did she not know?

For the record, what happened to her (being harassed and eventually chased off Twitter) following the publication of this piece, is disgusting.

But I don't understand why she's give TB such a spotlight.

Probably because Laura Kate Dale thought she was being attacked at CoxCon because someone in audience ask are traps gay. TotalBiscuit was the one who sorted the situation out.

 

[Savitar]

Didn't TB have a condition and had only so much time left? Or was that much ado about nothing.

 

[Lime]

For the record, what happened to her (being harassed and eventually chased off Twitter) following the publication of this piece, is disgusting

Wait, she's getting harassed? Fuck whoever is doing that bullshit. That's not okay at all and the fault lies mainly with the editor who approved this piece and not necessarily the writer.

GamerGate is one of the most paradoxical internet events that I cant understand for the life of me. It's become such a cluster fuck I dont think it's members even know what they are fighting for anymore if they ever did

They know what it's about. It's about stomping down women, people of color, LGBTQ, etc. if they point out racism, sexism, transphobia, etc. They're basically a confluence of alt-right, MRAs, neo-nazis, etc.

 

[Nbz]

Laura is a friend of the people on the Co-optional podcast and attended Cox Con along with all of that crew

 

[OdysseusVA]

lol
garbage all around

 

[LordKano]

Wait, she's getting harassed? Fuck whoever is doing that bullshit. That's not okay at all and the fault lies mainly with the editor who approved this piece and not necessarily the writer.

It's the same person. She's a news editor at Kotaku UK.

 

[Imbarkus]

'Member that time TB ratted Shawn Elliot out to his bosses for saying something bad about him on Twitter?

Note how its his last blog post, and he mentions getting a gag order.

 

[Loxley]

The timing of this article is fucking baffling.

 

[Carl2291]

The with us or against us mentality with some people is insane.

 

[NoblesseOblige]

Didn't TB have a condition and had only so much time left? Or was that much ado about nothing.

He has cancer. It got bad but then he got better before it got bad again. I don't know the current status of it.

 

[Orb]

What a shitbag, fuck Kotaku for giving this shitheel a pedestal, what the hell.

 

[Lime]

It's the same person. She's a news editor at Kotaku UK.

Whoever is in charge need to hire more people then to ensure quality journalism then. Regardless, my point was that no one should be getting harassed and it's despicable that someone would do that towards anyone.

 

[Leafhopper]

The timing of this article is fucking baffling.

Like really.

 

[AAMARMO]

Okay, I'm not trying to be rude here or anything. But I thought Laura Kate Dale was a news reporter for Kotaku. Why did they let her write this piece, not about news?

 

[Gotdatmoney]

Wait, she's getting harassed? Fuck whoever is doing that bullshit. That's not okay at all and the fault lies mainly with the editor who approved this piece and not necessarily the writer.

The piece didn't write itself. She is entirely responsible. Don't coddle this stupidity.

 

[Number 905]

Whoever is in charge need to hire more people then to ensure quality journalism then. Regardless, my point was that no one should be getting harassed and it's despicable that someone would do that towards anyone.

She was just hired a couple days ago.

 

[Jonnax]

He's an awful person and comes off as a self important know it all.

Anniversary of Gamer gate, eh? Well kinda comes off as Kotaku celebrating it.

 

[JStein0222]

From her Twitter:

TB is an undeniably large creator. Whether you like him or not there's value in looking at his methods of community moderation.

We are literally getting the both sides talk. Unbelievable.

 

[LordKano]

Whoever is in charge need to hire more people then to ensure quality journalism then. Regardless, my point was that no one should be getting harassed and it's despicable that someone would do that towards anyone.

Funny that you say that, because she was just hired specifically to ensure quality journalism.
I agree with your point though, obviously.

 

[Leafhopper]

From her Twitter:


We are literally getting the both sides talk. Unbelievable.

Lol

 

[Mooreberg]

It's the same person. She's a news editor at Kotaku UK.

This is getting ridiculous to keep up with lol.

 

[Lime]

The with us or against us mentality with some people is insane.

This is not a case of 'both sides' or 'with us or against us', it's a case of making a sympathetic article about harassment about someone who has contributed to toxicity in gaming culture. If an outlet wants to discuss harassment perhaps the people in charge should talk to those who got terrorized by Totalbiscuit.

 

[BY2K]

Is it really GamerGate's anniversary? How do we know?

 

[Dio Brando]

even if i like his content(mainly cooptional), im not really going to defend TB himself, but the comparisons im seeing on twitter are ridiculous, saying he's a nazi sympathizer. Yes, when GG was in vogue, he supported it in awful ways.
he has changed a lot since then. Coxcon happened a few weeks ago, and he himself kicked out someone that asked a transphobic question.
With that said, the timing of this article is fucking awful. tone deaf as hell.

He has cancer. It got bad but then he got better before it got bad again. I don't know the current status of it.

had one type of cancer. won that, another appeared, and it seems it's on remission too.