Randi Harper is one of the women that Gamergaters love to hate the most. A software developer, she became Gamergate Public Enemy #4 — after the troika of Sarkeesian, Quinn, and Wu — when she developed a BlockBot that enabled Twitter users to easily shield themselves (insofar as this is possible) from possible Twitter harassment at the hands of Gamergaters and others of their ilk.
This little bit of software garnered her many months of vicious harassment herself, and ultimately a three-part smear series on Breitbart by Gamergate’s pet “journalist,” Milo Yiannopoulos.
Now one Gamergater is going after Harper’s Patreon supporters, using personal information taken from the crowdfunding site when it was hacked earlier this month.
After finding the names and addresses of Harper’s several hundred Patreon supporters in the leaked data, British blogger Sam Smith took it upon himself to “warn” these people of Harper’s alleged crimes against decency by sending a mass email to everyone he found on the list.
But to a lot of people — myself included — his supposedly friendly warning read more like a blackmail attempt.
One of the recipients of the email shared it with me yesterday. It starts off in a decidedly unfriendly manner:
I am the author of the major blog www.matthewhopkinsnews.com. I am sending you this email because your name appears in a list of people who donate to a Patreon operated by a person called Randi Harper. The list was confidential but has been hacked and placed online by unknown third parties. As a result of the leak you may be named, so please read this email carefully.
Smith — who goes by the name “Matthew Hopkins” online, styling himself as a sort of digital reincarnation of the original “Witchfinder General” — then lays out what he sees as Harper’s ethical failings, linking to Yiannopoulos’ three-part smear job as proof. Among Smith’s complaints:
Harper has … admitted to drug abuse, including attempting to smoke meth from a broken lightbulb. She also irresponsibly dyed her dog blue and accidentally allowed it to lick up her drugs.
Dyeing a dog blue may annoy the dog, but if done properly it will not harm it. And literally billions of human beings on our blue planet have used drugs at some point in their lives.
Now we come to the blackmaily bit, which Smith insists is not blackmaily at all:
You are supporting a person who is associated with some of the vilest imaginable extremism. …
As a responsible journalist, I can assure you I shall not be publishing the list. However, some of you may work in regulated roles with responsible access to information, vulnerable adults or children. There may be a lawful public interest in my contacting the relevant authorities (including an employer).
Smith went on to ask Harper’s supporters if they, personally, “endorse her extremist views” and if they felt “aggrieved at Ms Harper’s failure to safeguard your personal data.” (Never mind that it was Patreon’s job, not Harper’s, to protect the data on its servers.)
If Smith’s email was intended to rattle its recipients, it seems to have succeeded. The person who sent the email to me reported that “[i]t left me quite shaken and furious.”
If the email was intended to scare donors into abandoning Harper, it has apparently backfired in a big way. Indeed, Motherboard reports that, according to Harper,
Smith’s efforts has had the opposite effect: her backers have responded by doubling, and sometimes tripling their donations. Her campaign has jumped more than $1,300 a month in donations after the emails went out.
For his part, Smith insists, as he did in a post yesterday, that his email wasn’t intended to be threatening. He had simply
decided the ethical thing to do would be to warn the people concerned, reassuring them I would not release the data and also what might happen, as I thought the Patreon boilerplate warning insufficient.
That bit about there being “a lawful public interest in my contacting the relevant authorities (including an employer)?” That was
actually just boilerplate legal language related to UK law. Obviously I am analysing these supporters and in some limited circumstances I might be required to report things – for example if they were a risk to a child. As a person who may wish to enter a regulated profession, I would be expected to cooperate with the authorities. Far from being a blackmail demand it is just standardised ‘cover-yourself’ legal language.
I will have to consult with the monkey lawyers flying out of my butt on that one.
Some Gamergaters have insisted that Smith isn’t really one of them, which is a bit silly, considering that he is a regular on the KotakuInAction subreddit — one of Gamergate’s main hubs of activity — who happily posted a photo of himself hobnobbing with Yianopoulos at a #Gamergate meetup in London last April.
But it is worth noting that the overwhelming majority of those posting about Smith’s email blast on KotakuInAction since word of it got out earlier this week have been strongly critical, blasting it as the sort of thing that (in their mind) only evil anti-Gamergaters would do. (Never mind that they haven’t.)
Of course, Gamergaters (and the mythic “third party trolls” they like to talk about so often) have been doing far worse to Sarkeesian, Quinn, Wu, Harper and many others among Gamergate’s favorite villains for more than a year now.
Still, the reaction to Smith’s blackmail-that’s-not-really-blackmail-honest suggests that at least some Gamergaters have a few sickly shreds of decency still living deep inside them somewhere. I can only hope they can nurse their decency back to full health before they ruin the lives of more people in their attempt to rid the game world of anyone and everyone who disagrees with them.
And I hope Patreon brings the full force of its lawyers down on Smith.
@Argenti
“Regarding dyeing dogs — like Robjec said, the dyes aren’t tested on dogs (in theory, in practice who knows),”
The long term effects of their use on dogs is unknown, but then again the long term effects that many cosmetics have on humans are unknown as well. Honestly, if your using a non-toxic dye like manic panic, IMO it is seriously the least of any worries surrounding the things that people put on (or in) their dogs. What about the integrity of the suppliers of ingredients for pet food? Or the long term use of bathing your pets in shampoo?
I can understand people who don’t like it, or think that it’s not worth risking an allergic reaction. But, much like humans, dogs can be allergic to pretty much anything, and there’s no way to protect them. If the dogs enjoy it, (and many do), what’s the harm? 🙂
Certainly doesn’t make someone an “irresponsible” pet owner. 🙂
@Moocow
Well, considering they keep claiming that gamergate is “about ETHICS IN JOURNALISM yo”, they’ve all pretty much declared themselves not actual gamergaters anyways, so I buy it 😛
@EJ
Wild dogs!!! Bless you sir, you’ve made my day. I miss those bastards!
I was following the Peeple story, and it definitely seemed like the creators were just really naive about the broader implications of their product. I think the the Peeple creators thought (think?) that they were doing something really bold and innovative with their app, but the truth is that “Yelp for people” isn’t such a strange or novel idea – it’s kind of the logical endpoint of a lot of current technological and social trends. What was special about the Peeple people wasn’t some sort of visionary boldness on their part – it was that their drive to create an app (and the access to resources to do it) came coupled with blinkered naivete about how the internet works and about how people would respond to such a thing.
I just wanted to add a little more to this: apparently this witchfinder dude is really leaning on Harper’s association with Sarah Nyberg (aka @SRHButts), and a lot of other GG types have been going after Nyberg and those associated with her. So, for those who don’t know: Nyberg has been actively critical of GG for a while now – she posts unflattering screencaps of GG stuff on Twitter – so naturally, GG has been looking for ways to destroy her credibility (and, it seems, her life). Recently someone unearthed some chatlogs from a website that she ran about ten years ago (she’s around 30 now, so this is stuff from when she was 19/20); in those chats, she said a lot of stuff about wanting to molest her young cousin. It’s creepy, sure, but it also seems like just a bunch of early-aughts chatroom bullshit – there’s no reason to think she’s an actual child-molester. She wrote a really good thing about it:
https://medium.com/@srhbutts/i-m-sarah-nyberg-and-i-was-a-teenage-edgelord-b8a460b27e10
Not sure why the link didn’t post, but if you go to her Twitter you’ll find it…
John Oliver had a great take on peeple:
As to the rest…..I wish there were a way to take internet privileges away from gators and all tamtrum throwers that sail with them. The way I see it, if one is going to act like a baby throwing a tantrum if they don’t get their way, their toys are taken away until they calm down and learn. If they don’t learn, well, no projectiles get tossed our way.
It’s impressive how far GG has twisted just about everything at this point (remember they also keep claiming the block bot is illegal).
A more effective strategy would probably have been pointing out that she’s politically conservative and loves guns, but that would disrupt the “SJWSs are ruining everything” narrative.
Donating money to her might put a child at risk? No. Being an MRA/PUA/Gamergater/misogynist will put children in danger.
@Shadow:
You’re very welcome. Wild dogs are awesome. Are you yourself from the Best Continent?
@Mike:
Thanks for the infodump. I learned something.
I agree that Peeple is, as you say, the logical endpoint of a lot of current business trends, and so it’s very unlikely that this is the last we’ll hear of that concept – but hopefully next time it rears its head, it’ll be better thought out.
An honest person would have emailed *everyone* whose data was leaked on Patreon, especially considering that Patreon failed to do so. An unbiased one would also realize that the people most likely to get blowback at work are the ones supporting Thunderf00t and Sargon of Akkad. I’m not a fan of people getting fired for off-the-clock stuff, but I’m sure some employers would want to know if their supervisors have chips on their shoulders against women, Christians, or anyone else. That’s damned relevant to their job duties.
If giving money to someone who admitted to past drug use is cause for a firing or criminal investigation, then anyone who donated to the George W Bush campaign is in trouble. After all, he admitted to cocaine use. I’m sure Mr Witchfinder’s pals at Breitbart will be pleased to find that out.
@Naira – It’s not much different.
The big thing’s still disclosure, though they seem to require a bit more of a time span between “then” and “now”. From what I gather, some agencies / departments also have other disqualifying past behaviors, but it varies a bit and, honestly, seems to also come down to the individual, their circumstances, and their skill set.
I have no particular knowledge of the process, though – just what I’ve picked up from living in a clearance-thick area and talking with people.
Seriously; at least products made for humans are pretty well guaranteed not to contain lead or anything like that.
That said, while dogs are pretty game, some other animals like cats can’t be painted safely/humanely, because they have a strong instinct to wash themselves and would be miserable while covered in chemicals.
That’s what killed Ruh, the tiger in Beastmaster.
I now cannot look at Milo Yiannopoulos without also thinking of Javier Bardem as he appeared in Skyfall…
According to Randi Harper, she used Manic Panic.
So Gamergaters have spent the last couple of years combing the Internet for dirt on their Public Enemy #4, and the most damning material they have is that she made drug jokes and once dyed her dog blue. That there’s some ethical journalism.
maistrechat:
They… what? Unless I’m seriously misunderstanding the blockbot, how could it be illegal?
‘Cause FREEZE PEACH!
Which is also why they like to silence people they disagree with – as if that makes any sense, whatsoever.
WordPress, please stop eating my comments. I’d like to comment please.
Because they confuse the right to speak with the right to be heard.
@Dag-Erling: And they confuse “right” with “I’d like to have this”.
As for the “witchhunter” stuff: I’m still relatively new to the whole witch thing, but this guy grosses me out something fierce.
The idea that you’d brand yourself on a history of falsely persecuting women (and even going so far as to name yourself after a particular offender who knowingly faked accusations for money) for witchcraft is part of it, and the other part is “branding” his ideological opponents as not only witches, but essentially implying they need to die (and in painful ways) because they’ve somehow “blasphemed” against his ideology. That’s fucking gross.
@Shaenon
> … she made drug jokes and once dyed her dog blue.
Oh, but it’s much, much worse than that. She didn’t just dye him blue. At one point, she dyed her *male* Golden Retriever *pink*. Call PETA and the AHA!
Bit off topic, but I am hoping others will put in compiants to WordPress about him (I already have).
A self proclaimed ‘left wing intellectual’, who insists he is not a MRA but wrotes endlessly abut his hatred of women (natch), his racist beliefs and his homophobia (double natch).
In many ways he is far worse than most of the MRAs.
But even by his low standards this latest article is terrible:
The article shows a picture of a young girl (maybe 13 or 14) in a bikini, arguing that if you are not a (borderline at best) pedophile then you are gay.
“Test to See if a Man Is Gay or Not”
“,,,,,,,They would also insist that a man who is turned on by this female is a “pedophile,” a “predator” who needs to be beat up, killed or imprisoned.
I have some news for you. All of you men who say that female doesn’t turn you on and say any man who likes that pic is a pedophile…guess what? You’re all gay! Every single man who thinks like this is gay. Gay, gay, gay, gay, gay, gay, gay! Only a gay man is not aroused by that female.
We need to start attacking all these idiots running around screaming “Pedophile!” at every man who looks at a teenage girl. Next time a man says that to you, laugh in his face and call him a faggot. Tell him he’s gay. A homosexual. A queer. A nancyboy. A fruit. A swish. A girl. A woman. Tell him he’s not a man. We need to start shaming these men who are working for the enemy – the women.
Sure women say any man aroused by this female is a pedophile, but what does that prove? It proves that on certain subjects, the vast majority of females are dumb c**ts. But you already knew that. Nothing to see here, move along.”
“https://robertlindsay.wordpress.com/…/test-to-see-if-a-ma…/…”
Wow, this stuff is ridiculous. Though also not surprising. Also not surprised that the main result of it has been increasing her support.
This has also reminded me that, for completely unknown reasons, Randi started blocking me on twitter several months ago. When I noticed it (because I’d been following her for awhile and suddenly thought one day “I haven’t seen any tweets from Randi for awhile, I wonder what’s up?”) I was pretty baffled as my few direct interactions with her had been totally positive. I can’t imagine it wasn’t some kind of mistake, and considered trying to contact her directly about it, but decided it wasn’t worth bothering her time with. though it bums me out thinking that someone i admire and really enjoyed following on twitter has me on her literal shit list.
Gamer-gate, in a nutshell: Youtube: somegreybloke: “Take the Red Pill”
“Mensa for antisemites and misogynists”… whose major concerns in life are “The Jews,” “FEMA camps,” “Sheep,” “Climate Change Hoax,” “War on Men,” ‘The homosexual agenda,” “the liberal media” (he forget to mention, The BLACKS and the ILLEGALS.” In other words, the Libertarian Paultard/Alex Jones set.
Is there some reason folks have taken this long to snap to the fact that these are ‘Tea Party’ white supremacists prone to regurgitating John Birch Society conspiracy theories for the purpose of fomenting hatred and anti-government paranoia along the lines of Timothy McVeigh? We’ve only had about 6 or so years to look into it.