Brad Glasgow over at GamePolitics.com did something unique when setting out to cover the gamergate movement, he asked people taking part in it questions rather than only their detractors.
I decided to run an experiment and see first-hand the difficulties one might encounter when covering an online movement. Rather than wait for GamerGate to come to us, I went to them. I joined their very popular Kotaku in Action (KiA) subreddit and interviewed several hundred GamerGate supporters from Tuesday, July 28 through Tuesday, August 4. It is my hope that what I learned will assist journalists with covering GamerGate and any similar movements in the future.
The Experiment
I asked one question on the KiA subreddit every 12 hours. The question was stickied (placed at the top in the most recognizable area) until I posted a new question. The new question was then stickied and they were given an additional 12 hours to submit replies to the old question and vote on their favorite answer. After I asked 7 questions I then asked 7 follow up questions on the final day.
The article was interesting enough but what I found hilarious was when he then tried to do a similar interview with the anti-gamergate types over at Gamer Ghazi, he was quickly banned.
I did experience some hostility from the anti-GamerGate side for covering GamerGate. While I was treated well by the people of GamerGhazi when I tried to speak with them, I was quickly banned by moderators, who said I have spent too much time posting on the GamerGate subreddit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2015, @06:10PM
> Advertisers have found GG quite credible so far, as shown by the manifold victories in getting them to drop corrupt information sources.
Please give us a short list of these advertisers. Not just the "corrupt information sources" - the actual advertisers which have dropped said sources.
Because my impression is that they are like Intel - an unthinking instinctual reaction to avoid anything controversial soon reversed [forbes.com] followed by an endorsement of the very people gamergate rages against. [cosmopolitan.com]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday August 13 2015, @07:12PM
The list includes, but is not limited to, Ford Motor Company, Nissan, Mercedes, BMW, and Adobe. Those are just the ones a moment's thought brings back that have dropped Gawker. Not everything's a victory, of course, but every victory is still important.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2015, @07:53PM
> The list includes, but is not limited to, Ford Motor Company, Nissan, Mercedes, BMW, and Adobe.
The Adobe that said the following: [adobe.com]
We were mistakenly listed as an advertiser on the Gawker website (which we are not), so we asked Gawker to remove our logo
Oh what a victory for gamergaters - the company that wasn't advertising on Gawker continued to not advertise on gawker.
Basically the same thing with all those car companies too, as the editor of gawker site Jalopnik said on KIA: [reddit.com]
Mercedes has not recently advertised with Gawker and is not currently advertising with Gawker, thus there were no advertisements to pull
Thanks for educating everyone else reading along as to how wrapped up you are in the delusional narrative of gamergate relevancy where convincing someone to continue not doing what they have been not doing is a victory!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 13 2015, @11:04PM
thanks for being a Try Hard. How far are you reaching for those straws now?