With the exception of
Nobody_Important
, that niche community WAS NeoGAF in 2017 after the exodus to Resetera. A lot of the folks being banned today were the only ones that stuck around and supported both Evilore and GAF after the proverbial knife was plunged into Evilore‘s back.
It is not hyperbole to say that without the thousands of posts by many of these users and yes Evilore refusing to give up, that the site would not be where it is today traffic wise. The “free speech” credo and loose moderation of speech initially embraced by the site is a large part of its success. Why do you think so many people are returning from totalitarian ree?
Evilore owes all those people a debt of gratitude not bans. Those are the people that stood up FOR HIM, fought FOR HIM, defended HIS REPUTATION, and defended HIS BUSINESS, when everyone else fled to Resetera and GAF was a pariah forum.
I get the fear of deplatforming. I even understand the demand of site redirection but the scorched earth bannings of the very people that kept this site alive with activity in the Dark Times is a bitter pill to swallow.
They deserved to be handled with a gentler hand, if at least in recognition that they supported and fought for your reputation, site and business Evilore, when nobody else would.
I think I’m going to take a break from GAF if this post doesn’t lead to a perm. I’m really sad about all of this.