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.
I’ve said this elsewhere, but my dream for Gamergate is that “eron” becomes the accepted slang for a nightmare ex. As in, “Shit, I think that’s your eron’s car parked across the street. Do we need to call the cops again?”
@ Shaenon – that really would be the only good take away from this thing (and by ‘good’, I mean ‘not completely utterly horrible on all levels and also it serves the nasty little git right’)
“Eroning” could be the expression for recruiting random shitheads on the internet to be your personal army.
Look, dude, if you want to rub oil on your penis, be my guest. But everyone else doesn’t need to hear about it.
Coconut oil will give you soft skin, and it’s great for cooking at high heat. Also, a great ingredient in homemade deodorant. Protection against syphillis? Not so much, methinks.
And now I will not be able to use my coconut oil without thinking of this disgusting douchecanoe’s ‘super semen’. Blarrrrrrrrrgh must shower.
I hope if he ever does contract an STI, he tries applying leeches as a cure.
(though I sincerely hope he never, ever contracts an STI, because that would mean some unfortunate person had sexual contact with him, and I would never wish that on anyone)
Ok, never mind.
But it is kinda funny when I say something and get replies of “no, you’re wrong” and then have just what I just said written back to me. At least here I’m not bombarded by insults the way GG’ers do when I post to other sights or Twitter.
For the record, I am 100% anti-GamerGate and do not support anyone using that tag to any reason.
Yep, your poor communication skills are everyone else’s fault.
Also I think we should surreptitiously feed Mr coconut oil cures STDs other bad health advice, just to see how gullible he is.
Another thing: why should anyone want to have tea tree oil or coconut oil inside them? I sure as hell wouldn’t be agreeing to that.
The texture of coconut oil in particular is making this seem like a bad idea to me.
I’ve no idea what the texture’s like, but the idea of some dude wanting to shove gunk like that inside me is EWWWWWW.
Also I really dislike the smell of tea-tree anything.
Tea tree is a bit antibacterial, so I guess that’s where he was going, but sorry, dude, it’s not going to help much if you catch genital warts.
Does anyone remember the rape trial of Jacob Zuma, who went on to become the president of South Africa? Where he declared he did have (according to him, consensual) sex with his subordinate, who is HIV-positive? And then, asked whether he used protection, said yes, he had showered afterwards?
Zapiro, the most famous cartoonist in South Africa since the 80s, since then consequently depicts the president with a shower over his head:
http://www.nrc.nl/wereld/files/2009/04/05sep06x.gif
Tea tree oil is toxic if used in high enough quantities and can cause confusion, paranoia and hallucinations.
Hmm.
The idea that you can just wash off any STDs you come into contact with is depressingly common, but the coconut oil thing was new to me, I have to say. I mean, if you have dry hair, then by all means lather on the coconut oil, but it lacks that certain something in terms of STD prevention.
Thing is, you have some people who manage to learn this pretty early on – like, so early that they use proxies for romantic relationships rather than actual romantic relationships.
Then you have a fair number of people who figure it out sometime during adolescence.
Most of those who don’t pick up the lesson then get it sometime early on in their early 20s…
…and then you have people like this asshole who’ll probably engage in Molotov-cocktail throwing to the point of self-immolation well into crows-feet territory (or beyond – my Dad, nearly 60, is still like this).
In fairness, much of his “Army” is probably between the ages of 15-25. Their behavior’s still effing awful and 100% deserving of ridicule (and legal action, where necessary), but part of me’s like, “Well, they’ll learn eventually.”
The vast majority of their “leadership”, though – blergh. I’m thinking they just are what they are.
The hilarious[1] thing about Gjoni’s behaviour is that a (if not the) key criticism of women by MRAs or just good old-fashioned male chauvinist pigs is that women are emotional when compared to stoic level-headed men. They’re hormonal. Irrational. Bunny-boilers. And this is why they can’t be trusted with the reins of power.
Eron, you might want to check your stove, I smell rabbit stew.
[1] Warning: may not be hilarious, except in a sort of hollow-laughter-at-the-folly-of-our-species kind of way
Tea tree oil burns mucus membranes like hellfire even when diluted 50-50 with coconut oil. It’s potent and very, very irritating. I wouldn’t want it anywhere near my ladybits.
If he’s rubbing it on after intercourse….well, dude, STDs don’t observe the five-second rule.
I also cannot stop reading “Eron” as “Enron”. I think it’s the lying, deceit, and colossal-public-fuckup factor.
Coconut oil and tea tree soap will normally protect you from STIs if you restrict your sexual partners are Mrs Palm and her 5 lovely daughters.
On ethics in games journalism – ethics in any form of journalistic review is always suspect: reviews of new cars are always slanted in favour of the major manufacturers; book reviews in newspapers have always been on a scratch my back basis; movie and theatre reviews are another hotbed of dubious practice.
In other words if you are dumb enough to believe the the release reviews of anything then you are a snow white innocent who should be shut in your mothers basement for your own protection ….
… Oh … wait …
schwadevivre:
Their idea of what constitutes a “biased” review appears to boil down to “they said something I didn’t like about this game I like.”
https://twitter.com/tomlommel/status/526897318662897664
If you’re a 20-something dudebro and have no interest in feminist critique, why do you care what Anita Sarkeesian has to say about them?
Wanting all game reviews to agree that game X is awesome and perfect—or more accurately, ignore that game X has problematic content—is the exact opposite of creating a healthy gaming industry. You’re either choosing to exclude writers with different perspectives, condoning editorial interference in games reviews and analysis, or both. That’s not promoting ethical journalism, it’s creating an echo chamber.
@Jay Elmore
It’s actually not that simple, because I’ve seen GGers complain that Gone Home got some great reviews even though it is (in their opinion) not a very good game. It’s not that they want all reviews to be 10/10, it’s that they want reviews to follow their personal tastes.
I’ve seen so many #Gaters complain about how “Unfair” and “Biased” it is that Assassin’s Creed 4 got terrible reviews even though the game flat-out doesn’t work. They just want AAA titles to get 10/10s and indie and non-Pokemon Nintendo titles to get 0/10s regardless of anything else, with Bayonetta 2 being the sole exception (and I’m positive that they’d have filed Bayo under “Lulz Nintendo suxx0rz” if it weren’t for Polygon’s opinion).
See, M? It really is all about ethics in game journalism!
(In opposite land, where ‘ethics’ means ‘pandering’ and is a very good thing)