I‘m on a brief blog hiatus, but I wanted to direct your attention to idledillettante’s definitive account of how Eron Gjoni, Zoe Quinn’s vengeful ex-boyfriend, not only launched what became #GamerGate but has shaped and directed it both in public and behind the scenes. And it’s all carefully documented with screenshots of Gjoni’s own words online — on 4chan, on Reddit, on Twitter, and on his own blog, often in direct violation of the restraining order that’s supposed to prohibit him talking about Quinn online.
Here’s idledilletante’s summary of the whole sordid story:
1. Eron knowingly promoted his tell-all blog post about Quinn on 4chan, knowing it was likely to cause harassment.
2. Rather than try to quell the harassment (As he might have you believe), Gjoni actually basked in the attention, to try and stir up even more agita against his ex.
3. Once confronted with his actions, Eron tried to distance himself from #gamergate, and move his involvement of Quinn behind the scenes. Unfortunately we have evidence of this string-pulling.
4. Eron’s fight against his restraining order is merely a continuation of the harassment he was already engaging in. If he wins his legal battle he’s likely to post even more private info about Quinn as a reward for his backers.
5. Gjoni has essentially ruined his good name in pursuit of this revenge quest. He knows this, and it makes him bitter that his plans to sideline Quinn in her own industry have backfired so spectacularly.
6. Gjoni sexually harasses women critical of him; especially when caught in a lie or backed into a corner logically. I find this a telling clue about his real attitude about women, although Gjoni claims to be a feminist.
But I suggest you read the whole thing; the details are creepy and revealing indeed.
It’s a shame this all comes down to spite. If both sides really were interested in the truth and so on, this whole mess could actually have some good come out of it. But by now that’s far too late.
[Mod note: this was amicably resolved on the first page of comments: there is no need to bring it up again.]
Both sides? The side that wants to kill her and the side that thinks she should not be killed? Where do you find truth between the perps and their victims?
It warms my heart knowing that abusive stalker Eron Gjoni ruined his own career (and hopefully life) just trying to be an abusive stalker. I hope he vanishes into obscure, isolated poverty and spends the rest of his life under a bridge, with no internet access, where he belongs.
Also not even slightly surprised that he sexually harasses women in a bid to shut them up while calling himself a feminist. He’s a poor woman’s Hugo Schweitzer wannabe.
Really? You’re going to throw around false equivalence “both sides” garbage when idlediletante has laid out in excruciating detail how this whole mess was propagated by a spiteful and vindictive ex orchestrating a hate campaign against a woman who was no longer in his life?
The overwhelming cry from those targeted by GG for four months now has been “leave us alone!”. GG doesn’t get to pretend there’s an equal and opposite hate movement opposing them. No matter how many MSPaint red lines are drawn over collages of stupidly innocuous interactions.
@Ira Shantz-Kreutzkamp
Ah, the old Golden Mean Fallacy. Why can’t the “side” that wants to help a vindictive narcissist destroy a woman and her family, and the “side” that doesn’t want to destroy anyone just compromise on a middle-ground solution? Because middle-ground = automatically correct.
What would make you happy, Ira Shantz-Kreutzkamp? Would you like to see Zoe Quinn and her loved ones just mildly destroyed? Maybe just irrevocably harmed and stalked for a few years until Mr. Gjoni has gotten it out of his system?
There’s no “both sides” here. Eron Gjoni is a shit, and Gamergate is a bunch of shits. Meanwhile, Zoe Quinn is STILL not safe from the death threats, the stalkers (yes, STALKERS, plural) and the dudes who think it’s funny and harmless (it’s neither) to give out her personal phone number as that of a burger-and-fries joint. One “side” is trying to live her life and do her work, and is having trouble with it, because the other “side” is cramming dead squirrels into her mailbox and sending porn to her dad.
Gjoni accused Quinn of spite, vindictiveness, acting crazy, etc and proceeded to write a blog which showed all these qualities and more. I am not interested in other peoples dirty linen, therefore Gjoni washing it immediately gets me hackles up.
@Ira,
Sorry, I don’t see that there are two equally culpable “sides” to this unrelenting shit storm directed against a woman whose “transgression” was dumping a bad boyfriend. It’s too bad she took up with this a-hole in the first place, but many of us misread potential partners’ characters, especially when we’re young… In the long run, she’ll be OK — but he will always be remembered as the vengeful stalker who devoted months to ruining his ex’s reputation.
Meanwhile Randi Harper’s become a target for the mob because she wrote a script that allowed Twitter users to auto-block Gators.
A Gator took a photo of himself outside her workplace, and promised he’d be back. Another suggested he should bring a knife next time. You know, to defend himself. Just in case.
There’s GamerGate, and there’s Everyone Else. I don’t mean that in the sense GG does, the “you’re with us or against us” way. I mean there’s people who subscribe to GG, and the general populace who is either unaware of GG or appalled at its tactics, impact and hypocrisy.
You can only use the phrase ‘if both sides were interested in the truth’ in the sense that one side already is, and the other isn’t.
I do have a certain amount of conflicted enjoyment in the idea that many of the people Gjoni meets for the foreseeable future will react with some variant of ‘oh, you’re that guy who. . .’. It’s not enough, but it’s something.
Reblogged this on J. B. Garner – Musings of a Starving Author and commented:
A bit political probably but I love to spread truth about scumbags.
Uh-huh. There’s two sides here like there’s two sides to the earth’s crust: one is habitable, the other is bathed in magma.
But, sure, feel free to- wait hang on
How in the hell does anyone read that account and then go, “But both sides!”
Ah, RIP my impromptu Condescending Wonka embed.
But seriously Ira, please do elaborate on the “good” that could have come out of Eron Gjoni siccing the worst parts of the internet on his ex. I’m all ears.
When I first heard about the Zoe Post I went and read it, and I felt a little bad for Gjoni. But, as time went on and more shit came out, I suddenly feel really happy that his life is being ruined because he’s a vindictive stalker asshole.
The idea that this whole thing kicked off because a bitter ex-boyfriend who claims to be a “feminist” aired out his and his ex’s highly edited dirty laundry in public and made outlandish claims that she was sleeping around for good scores on her indie game is baffling. It’s like a particularly shit episode of Jerry Springer: “My Ex is a terrible person who got the internet to harass me when he couldn’t!”
There is a reason why leaving an abuser is the most dangerous time for a woman. That is when the try to destroy us. Frequently they kill us. Gjoni is trying to get someone else to do it for him.
That Luke McKinney quote from the Cracked article, 7 Reasons “Gamergate” Proves Humanity is Doomed is more appropriate than ever.
QFMFT
http://i49.tinypic.com/28ind6q.jpg
(I’m going to get a lot of usage out of that reaction GIF today.)
Please tell me that was just really, really, reeeally badly worded and that you don’t actually believe there’s any sort of “Both sides” going on here.
Seriously, that’s kinda like saying that the truth behind 9/11 lies somewhere between terrorists and the Jewish Illuminati working with Reptilian Bush and Kenyan Obama on the orders of the Reverse Vampires.
I had to look up “reverse vampires” and loled when I realized that they were talking about Bunnicula.
I can’t believe no one has pointed out that actually, it’s about ethics in game journalism.
*eyeroll
@PoM
Today vegetables, tomorrow the socioeconomic stability of the West!
Ira, what the hell “good” comes out of men harassing, stalking, and inciting the rape and/or murder of women? That’s all this is about and it’s all it’s ever been about. Did you even read the article?
Kudos to idledilletante for all that work, too.
LOL! Greyskye you beat me to it.
Ira-maybe it was a poor choice of words on your part, but I simply don’t see how both sides can come to some sort of accord on the Truth (TM) in this situation. Unless victims of harrassment and stalking in any way are culpable for said treatment, which I am not one to entertain. There are the harrassers and the harassed. You can see the two sides are not equal in searching for some truth.
As much as I don’t get the “both sides” thing, I think the reference to “truth” puzzles me more.
Like, what truth are we talking about here? EG and ZQ are not on opposite sides of a philosophical debate. They are a bitter, stalkery man and a woman who slept with someone else when broken up with EG. There’s no “lets talk about this and see if we can reach a logical consensus on the nature of God and reality.” This is an abuser who is violating a restraining order in order to keep abusing a woman who doesn’t want anything to do with him.
What “truth” should we be searching for in this?
Has there ever been a more specious argument than “both sides”? I can’t think of one.
Isn’t Ira normally on the side of reality? Where the hell did that come from?
M, yes, and I’m totally puzzled too, like everyone else.
The whole game side of this is hardly relevant. Zoe Quinn was attacked because Eron Gijoni is an abusive, controlling piece of shit. Her job just happened to be a convenient tool.
The “truth” that Zoe Quinn is a flawed human being and/or had some part in their breakup, I guess, instead of the faultless fragile flower nobody living in reality ever said she was. Since the gator brigade’s particularly monochromatic brand of “logic” doesn’t allow for the possibility of those things being both true /and/ irrelevant, they take it upon themselves to dig more deeply in search of a truthier truth.
(That’s as far as I can get in gamergate logic before I have to stop and lie down.)
Both sides?
BOTH SIDES?
What the fuck are you on about with “both sides”, Ira Shantz-Kreutzkamp?
There’s no “both sides” here. There’s nothing “both sides” about this shit. This is an entitled, MRA douchebag harassing a woman, Zoe Quinn, and orchestrated a campaign of harassment against her. And then there’s us, trying our damndest to defend her and to shut this shit down.
Eron Gjoni is everything GamerGate is. It is ONLY a targeted harassment campaign, dedicated to destroying the lives of gamers who happen to be women. Zoe Quinn is chief among them. Anita Sarkeesian and Brianna Wu are just two other named of the numerous women being targeted.
Men spoke out against GamerGate, too. But they didn’t get anywhere near the kind of shit women got.
Take your “both sides” shit and shove it.
@ Ira Shantz-Kreutzkamp:
But even if I assume that everything that Gjoni has said about Quinn is true, that doesn’t make his actions acceptable. Quinn could be an abuser herself, but that wouldn’t make it acceptable for Gjoni to orchestrate a campaign of abuse against her. Heck, Quinn could be the most terrible person on the planet and that still wouldn’t make the harassment that she’s received justified.
It’s not that we’re spitefully assuming that everything Gjoni says is untrue. It’s that Gjoni’s behavior is despicable regardless of whether or not he’s telling the truth.
@POM Ain’t that the truth.
FWLIW, while there is definitely no “both sides” to this conflagration, there are two separate, completely unrelated issues; harassment of women/minorities real problem with game journalism. The Gaters who came into this mess solely to address the latter don’t know about the former and believe it’s just part of the conspiracy of collusion. That can be seen in the incessant cry that “no harassment has ever been proven to have come from GamerGate.” They need to get as far away from this tag and the women like Quinn, Sarkeesian and Wu. If they could understand this and concentrate on the actual problems things would clear up.
But this won’t happen. It’s become a holey war for them. You’re either part of GamerGate or part of the conspiracy. Which is why I have previously made the comment that Gaters are like Truthers.
@GOBACK
Yeah, no. Nobody can engage with #GG in good faith for more than a couple of days without noticing that the GG leading lights have made the harassment of specific women their primary goal. Try again.
@GOBACK
their primary issues are 0% unrelated, come on
Well shit, that is probablly to be expected. After seeing just such careless wording used and mocked over and over agan I deserve that and more for being so thoughtless myself.
I don’t think there are actually two equal opposing factions, that’s a self-serving myth chucked around by GamrGate, and I’m a fool for even unthinkingly perpetuating it.
There wouldn’t happen to e some penance I might do to atone for this gaff, Mods?
@Ira
Honestly, I’d just like to know what the hell you meant.
Cat pics Ira, and plenty of em.
The “We have to look at both sides!” things seems to be a common fallacy in modern journalism. Sometimes things really are black and white and right vs. wrong. From all indications this is one of those times.
I really have little patience with anyone who really still thinks #GamerHate is really about the ethics. There is so much damn evidence at this point you have to be swimming in some pretty deep denial not to be aware of it.
It’s disturbing, even without the definitive guide, how some people will ignore the truth that the reasonable among us can inherently see. The lengths to which they will go to make the world fit their view is stupefying.
@Ira
Well, shit. In that case, and in all non-snarky sincerity this time, I’d like to know too.
What thebewilderness said, Ira!
I agree. We would like to know what it was you meant, and will not devour you alive like giant mutant shrews.
That’s because we’re not the baddies.
Okay then. I wasn’t going to say since I figured it was beside the point by now, but since you ask.
Essentially, that GamerGate does not care about truth. Their vanguard of useful idiots doesn’t care, their militia of harrassment goons doesn’t care, their most prominent members don’t care beyond if the truth makes for a nice cynical tidbit to toss their slavering disciples and further inflame them aginst imaginary enemies..
The rather smaller collection of people actively trying to debunk their claims, sort out their bullshit, and trying to get a clear picture of what happened and why, DO care about the truth.
For this reason alone they’re irreconcilable by now. There are people who don’t seem to grasp the fine point that Rogue being banned from Twitter was neither a violtion of his rights or a random injustice. It’s an act against their own. That’s all they care about, tribalism in the face of all reason and basic observation skills.
That’s what I meant.
Also, how to embed images? http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/fb/05/d8/fb05d885cb6ae994cc4a153c5d32218c.jpg ?
[img]http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/fb/05/d8/fb05d885cb6ae994cc4a153c5d32218c.jpg[/img] ?
Alternates?
Aw, neither.
You can’t just “not know” about the harassment part. One of their primary modes of communication is Twitter. It’s impossible to follow a hashtag while remaining insular.
I will toss in my tertiary endorsement for what thebewiderness said, Ira.
@Ira
That makes sense. Very bad wording, lol.
One does not embed images; images embed themselves. Just put the link onto a line by itself and – if Ceiling Cat is with you – it will embed itself.
Well that’s a blessing.
http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/fb/05/d8/fb05d885cb6ae994cc4a153c5d32218c.jpg
Imgur links imbed. So do Twitter links. I don’t think all the image sharing sites do.
Speaking of twitter links:
https://twitter.com/Elverojaguar/status/541411791553986560
Also, I’m a bad cat mom because I accidentally locked Pan out of my apartment for about ten minutes. He slipped out while I came in, and I didn’t realize it until he was scratching at the door.
More for the road.
http://img.posterlounge.de/images/wbig/kevin-schafer-leopardin-schlaeft-auf-einem-ast-179916.jpg
http://www.tehcute.com/pics/201109/cat-sleeping-on-dog.jpg
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_LlfXWxcpJyU/S5EQBFTkZgI/AAAAAAAAamo/Q9t-yg9TCqw/s800/cat%20climbing%20tree%20photofarmer.jpg