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The Overwatch Reddit Scandal

S

sjay1994

Member
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eDzawK81Aw&feature=youtu.be

I know this is about another website and not GAF, but I just found this entire thing really gross.

Basic gist is 17 hours ago on the Overwatch subreddit, a user claimed that they had won a contest and was cheated out of a steam gift card by youtuber ohnickel. This thread exploded reaching not only the top of the overwatch reddit, but the top of the sites r/all as well. People had even offered to pay this guy money that he was supposed to win...

Except it was someone impersonating the contest winner. The real contest winner had received their prize.

This imposter generated an internet mob, where the youtuber was berated on twitter, as well as a mass of dislikes and subscriptions to his channel.

I feel people should at least see the video, because this guy was attacked based on false claims that people took as the truth.

Note: Please don't turn this thread into a Them vs Us discussion about websites. I feel this is a cautionary tale of internet mob mentality, because I doubt a lot of the people who felt sorry for the imposter should be associated with the bad conceptions people have with the site as a whole.
 
S

sjay1994

Member
BraXzy said:
I was just about to post this. A horrible culmination of the culture online today...

Over 22,000 upvotes on a post that was completely fake. Mob mentality with no fact checking.
Click to expand...

Not to mention that people offered to pay the imposter money that he wasn't owed. I didn't see this thread in motion on the OW subreddit, but looking through this fallout is depressing because people genuinely believed in him.

And the sad thing is, I would have probably would have believed him too if I read the thread before it was disproved.
 
godhandiscen

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
Water is wet. Communities like Reddit, tumblr, GAF, etc thirst for these type of crusades. Fact checking be damned.
 
R

RenegadeXV8

Banned
People should always be highly skeptical in these situations. It's almost always angling for free shit/money.

I've even seen it here on GAF where a guy will post a one paragraph sob story about how he doesn't have money for new games or whatever and in less than 10 posts there's already people offering him money.
 
T

True Fire

Member
I vividly remember the GamerGate mobs on the front page. It was hundreds of users attacking a poor woman over 4chan allegations. Gamers really showed their true face that week, even if they've gone back to "normal"
 
Aangster

Aangster

Member
Always occurs on any social platform and also a major failure by moderators to verify accusation posts. They shouldn't be allowed in the first place given that it's too easy to lie and generate anger at 'failed' prize giveaways.
 
D

disappeared

Banned
That's just awful.

GAF is virtually the only online community I subscribe to and it's because for the most part it's fairly moderate. I just can't stomach the extremism other communities seem to cater towards.
 
A

Alucrid

Banned
iWUgzqG.png


17 hours you say. even detective gaf could have fingered this one
 
M

MKIL65

Member
That's what happens when you have a stupid Upvoting and Downvoting system. All the bandwagoning makes discussions pointless.
 
K

kuroshiki

Member
disappeared said:
That's just awful.

GAF is virtually the only online community I subscribe to and it's because for the most part it's fairly moderate. I just can't stomach the extremism other communities seem to cater towards.
Click to expand...

If you think mob mentality is nowhere to be found in neogaf, you are wrong. Always think twice and checks facts regardless of where you are.
 
R

Ryce

Member
The blanket hatred of Reddit is so amusing to me. Reddit has thousands of communities and hundreds of millions of users. There are obviously going to be some shitheads in the mix. I've never really experienced anything unpleasant in the four years or so that I've been a member there.
 
R

Rats Off To Ya

Banned
Ryce said:
The blanket hatred of Reddit is so amusing to me. Reddit has thousands of communities and hundreds of millions of users. There are obviously going to be some shitheads in the mix. I've never really experienced anything unpleasant in the four years or so that I've been a member there.
Click to expand...

#NotAllRedditors?
 
S

sjay1994

Member
Ryce said:
The blanket hatred of Reddit is so amusing to me. Reddit has thousands of communities and hundreds of millions of users. There are obviously going to be some shitheads in the mix. I've never really experienced anything unpleasant in the four years or so that I've been a member there.
Click to expand...

Same. (but thats based on my experience)

There are a lot of communities on reddit, but it makes sense there are users who act in this manner, based on the sheer amount of users on the website.
 
P

pa22word

Member
kuroshiki said:
If you think mob mentality is nowhere to be found in neogaf, you are wrong. Always think twice and checks facts regardless of where you are.
Click to expand...

This. Gaf crusades get just as vicious and nasty too. It's something that's seemingly inherent in Internet culture, and it's gross.
 
Spukc

Spukc

always chasing the next thrill
Warning warning incomming outsider..
Y U HEF TO BE MAD?

IT'S JUST A GAME?
 
S

spindoctor

Member
Alucrid said:
iWUgzqG.png


17 hours you say. even detective gaf could have fingered this one
Click to expand...

That was the whole point of the scam. Find a giveaway winner who doesn't have a reddit account and then impersonate him. Even the real winner would have had a brand new reddit account had he chosen to post about it.

Ryce said:
The blanket hatred of Reddit is so amusing to me. Reddit has thousands of communities and hundreds of millions of users. There are obviously going to be some shitheads in the mix. I've never really experienced anything unpleasant in the four years or so that I've been a member there.
Click to expand...

Agreed.
 
M

Mechazawa

Member
The worst part is that the fake dude might've scammed a few Reddit people out of some generosity before it all got debunked. Someone apparently tried to give him a Steam card, but smelled something was up when he asked for real money instead.
 
S

SolidSnakex

Member
It's amazing that it managed to get that far given that the guy who actually won the prize had a Twitter account where he'd tweeted to ohnickel several times and thanked him. Why didn't anyone bother to just check that?
 
D

dogpowerd

Banned
You would think Reddit would have learned it's lesson after the Boston bomber screw up.
The internet makes people stupid and crazy.

Ryce said:
I've never really experienced anything unpleasant in the four years or so that I've been a member there.
Click to expand...

Try turning your monitor on. :p
 
S

sjay1994

Member
spindoctor said:
That was the whole point of the scam. Find a giveaway winner who doesn't have a reddit account and then impersonate him. Even the real winner would have had a brand new reddit account had he chosen to post about it.



Agreed.
Click to expand...

And the means to scam make sense. "Who should I go to to demand my "prize?" Why not one of the largest overwatch communities on the internet".

SolidSnakex said:
It's amazing that it managed to get that far given that the guy who actually won the prize had a Twitter account where he'd tweeted to ohnickel several times and thanked him. Why didn't anyone bother to just check that?
Click to expand...

It was done only after the initial gut reaction of feeling bad for the person.
 
Blam

Blam

Member
To be fair he mentions he lost a lot of subs, but I went, and checked on socialblade he actually gained subs that day.

Edit: I checked to be fair he actually got more subs that day then normal.
 
G

Gilby

Member
Ryuelli said:
Eh, depends on the subreddit. Plenty of great ones out there. I've personally gotten significantly more out of reddit then I have here, for example.
Click to expand...

It's crazy how neogaf looks down its nose at Reddit, which is one of the best sites on the internet. I've learned so much weightlifting, gymnastics, game design, art, and world/local news from reddit.
 
D

Deleted member 325805

Unconfirmed Member
Gilby said:
It's crazy how neogaf looks down its nose at Reddit, which is one of the best sites on the internet. I've learned so much weightlifting, gymnastics, game design, art, and world/local news from reddit.
Click to expand...

Yep, I spend a lot of time on Reddit, there really is a sub for everything.
 
B

BraXzy

Member
Blam said:
To be fair he mentions he lost a lot of subs, but I went, and checked on socialblade he actually gained subs that day.
Click to expand...

More than likely the number he lost wasn't crazy, but just a lot compared to normal. Whereas now since the added exposure + proof of innocence has given a big boost in the positive.
 
K

kulapik

Member
Blam said:
To be fair he mentions he lost a lot of subs, but I went, and checked on socialblade he actually gained subs that day.
Click to expand...
Now that this has gotten him a lot of exposure, of course. I had never heard about this guy and I just subbed to him.
 
K

Kangi

Member
A subreddit can be as decent a community as you can want it to be, but once stuff hits r/all all Hell is going to break loose.

Though r/all didn't make it blow up in the first place. That's on r/overwatch for wanting a witch hunt.
 
R

Rorschach

Member
Find it kinda ironic that the youtuber posted an unverified story about another user. This shit just happened to you and you're going to give more legs to a story you didn't check up on?
 
V

Veezy

que?
Ryce said:
The blanket hatred of Reddit is so amusing to me. Reddit has thousands of communities and hundreds of millions of users. There are obviously going to be some shitheads in the mix. I've never really experienced anything unpleasant in the four years or so that I've been a member there.
Click to expand...

Reddit is admined my an individual who lets the following exist on his site:
r/incels
r/truecels
r/burningkids
r/hurtinganimals
r/sexyabortions
r/MensRights
r/KotakuInAction

There's more, but I've neither the time nor the stomach to list them. Reddit has some subreddits that are decent, but the site is a hotbed for racism, misogyny, all forms of bigotry, and other incredible examples of online harassment. Spez takes zero accountability for his site's actions under the guise of "free speech" and even with blatant violations of their code of conduct are brought up his team refuses to act.

So, yeah, fuck Reddit.
 
Alias03

Alias03

Member
Ryuelli said:
Eh, depends on the subreddit. Plenty of great ones out there. I've personally gotten significantly more out of reddit then I have here, for example.
Click to expand...

I agree and not sure where the hate it gets on here comes from. Obviously there is always bad examples of everything if you're looking for it. In my limited use of reddit I've found it to be pleasant and informative at times
 
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