Fucking Kotaku

[toxicitizen]

You know, if I was paranoid, I might be tempted to say that this looks like Joel initiated contact, then was told "No, don't bother with that guy" and then used the first excuse he found to back out of it.

 

Like Dean said, this was supposed to be about the Steam group and the Kotaku community, but first thing he did was bring up this seemingly made-up crap that is obviously insane.

And when Dean shares it with others, which, like you guys have already said, is not that much of a surprise considering how crazy that accusation was, suddenly he wants to end the dialogue he originally sought to initiate.

 

I don't know, that just seems... inconsistent.

[Mr. GOH!]

You know, if I was paranoid, I might be tempted to say that this looks like Joel initiated contact, then was told "No, don't bother with that guy" and then used the first excuse he found to back out of it.

 

Like Dean said, this was supposed to be about the Steam group and the Kotaku community, but first thing he did was bring up this seemingly made-up crap that is obviously insane.

And when Dean shares it with others, which, like you guys have already said, is not that much of a surprise considering how crazy that accusation was, suddenly he wants to end the dialogue he originally sought to initiate.

 

I don't know, that just seems... inconsistent.

 

I'm fairly certain that some jerk said something threatening about Crecente's child at some point, possibly on the kotakuites forum. I mean, the original Kotaku deserters included some colorful and crass individuals. Not to mention the tripe that shows up in comments on Kotaku. I think, as someone has already said, that Crecente either confused Dean with someone else OR held Dean responsible for comments made by another on Kotakuites.

[TheRevanchist]

You know, if I was paranoid, I might be tempted to say that this looks like Joel initiated contact, then was told "No, don't bother with that guy" and then used the first excuse he found to back out of it.

 

That is what I thought, as well. He does have a job to protect and bills to pay.

 

At this point, it's no longer worth the speculation, though. It's time to move on talk about other things, like the role Felicia Day was born to play.

[toxicitizen]

Well, that would explain it, but holding Dean responsible for something someone else said would be pretty unreasonable.

 

Does Crecente feel responsible for all the inane shit commenters say on a daily basis? I seriously doubt it.

[Thursday Next]

I wonder if he's upset because he was told that story by Crecente or someone else in confidence and Dean's publicised that Joel has broken that confidence?

 

Either way, disappointed that Joel should choose to break contact when nothing in his email suggested it was in confidence. It wasn't a private email between private individuals, it was an email from someone in their capacity as a representative of Kotaku to someone in their capacity as a representative of the PXoD X-Talk/Kotakuites Steam Group. Sharing the message with the rest of that group should not only have been foreseen, but expected.

 

If you want an email to be considered private and confidential, put it in the Subject line.

[linklonk]

Crecente be bitchin'

[deanb]

It's time to move on talk about other things

 

The timing of this all was really off. At a time when we're all pretty much moving on. The active part of Kotakuites has pretty much left it for dead, the forum has dropped all naming references to kotaku. And then this.

 

Which could have gone perfectly fine had Joel chosen to stick to discussing steam groups instead of choosing to throw around accusations of Brian "Xbox Pure" Crecente.

 

Which I guess at least the side effect/bonus of this is that at least the reaction to the accusation does at least confirm I would never say anything like that.

 

Yes I have a grudge with crecente. Yes I think he's a bit of a cock and a joke. Yes I think Totilo or pretty much anyone else would do better in his position. No I wouldn't issue death threats on him, his kid or anyone else.

[linklonk]

It's time to move on talk about other things

 

The timing of this all was really off. At a time when we're all pretty much moving on. The active part of Kotakuites has pretty much left it for dead, the forum has dropped all naming references to kotaku. And then this.

 

Which could have gone perfectly fine had Joel chosen to stick to discussing steam groups instead of choosing to throw around accusations of Brian "Xbox Pure" Crecente.

 

Which I guess at least the side effect/bonus of this is that at least the reaction to the accusation does at least confirm I would never say anything like that.

 

Yes I have a grudge with crecente. Yes I think he's a bit of a cock and a joke. Yes I think Totilo or pretty much anyone else would do better in his position. No I wouldn't issue death threats on him, his kid or anyone else.

You're reaching a bit with tortillo, he's kind of a pussy.

[Chewblaha]

Son, I told you once that door closed it'd never open again.

 

Sorry.

[Chewblaha]

You know. I've managed to stay out of this thread for about 100% of it's pages and posts.

 

Though, with someone here who is OBVIOUSLY reading this thread, why not just leave the message simply saying: "No one's children were threatened. It may have been a rumor he heard or someone being stupid and typing stupid shit (Clown) who is no longer on this board. Though to stoop to murder, much less against a child, is not something we'd joke about when all that's truly at stake here is the flow of information of VIDEO GAMES. I know that some people here take that stuff seriously, maybe to a degree in which it might be unhealthy, but no one here would ever state something like that. I mean yeah, some of us are REALLY over-aggressive and stuff, but none of us would say something like that. And if they did, it's instant auto-ban and it's obviously someone we don't want associated with us."

 

That's REALLY all that needs to be done. Why send an email back when we all know this thread is being thoroughly read? Seriously.

 

 

I mean fucking seriously, guys. Someone, whether the story was made up or not, said that someone here threatened to murder a child. Sitting here calling that person batshit to each other and simply re-affirming your hate doesn't really help out the situation. You all need to seriously just calm the hell down.

 

 

And may the judge's record state this: I still read Kotaku, I don't comment as much, but I do read it. So lot me in with Tiller and Mike, I'm not ashamed of it. I'm happy with what I CHOOSE to read. Doesn't mean I read just that site. Then again, I never read just ONE site. I only actively commented on ONE site.

Upvoted, not because I agree with you, but for the Chewie "lean back" factor. I always enjoy your rants and then picturing you at your computer, arms crossed and leanin' back, thinking to yourself, "What now, TAY? What now?"

 

 

I'ts more like "/rant /drinkwater /gotosleep."

[TheRevanchist]

Another article

 

Man, the readership didn't like this one too much. Lots of good fightin' words going on.

[deanb]

heheh. This is something they felt was worthy of a cross post? Is this truly what "The Gadget Guide" and "The gamers guide" have been reduced to?

 

If you're really really aching to run an article about Spotify on a gaming site surely the most obvious would be something like "here's a look at some of the best video game music Spotify provides" than "hahah, this is what my boss listens to". And reminding people of the existence of Nick Denton isn't really a great move since most folks of kotaku know him as the guy who pushed the redesign regardless of all the push against it.

 

 

I like how the featured comment is someone pointing out how facebook isn't exactly the best tool for corporate management.

 

edit: Games

It's collaborative, feel free to add to it.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Alright, drama almost over, we can go back to the general purpose of this thread. Carry on good fellows.

 

EDIT: And holy moly, Facebook for a corporate directory? That's just... wow.

[Mr. GOH!]

Is the commenter whose company uses FB as a corporate directory a Gawker employee?

 

 

I mean, that seems very new media, but it also seems pretty darn inconvenient from an HR management point of view.

Edited July 11, 2011 by Mr. GOH!

[deanb]

Is the commenter whose company uses FB as a corporate directory a Gawker employee?

 

 

I mean, that seems very new media, but it also seems pretty darn inconvenient from an HR management point of view.

 

http://kotaku.com/people/JMFB/

 

 

Yeah that Joe Brown is Gawker staff.

 

Hey it's hip, but damn it must be a fair bit of a nightmare. I know Gawker is really into their FB with "like us on FB" "only people who liked us in FB can access this comp" "Friend the writers on FB" "only FB is worth having for sharing" (which they later went back on)

 

There's services and programs specifically built for this kind of stuff. Google Apps being a big one, why use a social network for that kind of stuff?

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Hey it's hip, but damn it must be a fair bit of a nightmare. I know Gawker is really into their FB with "like us on FB" "only people who liked us in FB can access this comp" "Friend the writers on FB" "only FB is worth having for sharing" (which they later went back on)

Yup, which makes articles like this all the more ironic.

[RockyRan]

Pretty much everyone has suggested a polite and rational response already. Even RockyRan, who was saying the more aggressive things.

 

I really don't mean to beat the drama horse past its expiration date, but accusing Dean of all people of death threats isn't exactly the most rational or intelligent thing to do whatsoever. That's the truth.

 

I've never really had any respect for Crecente, and it's instances like these that solidify my reasoning. Aside from maintaining a tremendously arrogant air about his writings and opinions, he holds irrational grudges and is completely unable to distance criticism from personal attacks, and because of this he goes out of his way to silence anyone critical of himself or how the site is run. His typical "e-mail me instead of posting concerns" response is simply a ploy to get people to privately e-mail him so he can privately ignore them, and should anyone make public suggestions they're taken as "trolling" as an easy way to dismiss anything that isn't in accordance to how he runs the site.

 

Such are not the inner workings of a rational individual, I'm sorry to say. He and the rest of the writer staff knew perfectly well who Dean was, because Dean made a very large impact and following within the site's community. Crecente himself knows perfectly well who Dean is, and he should know perfectly well that Dean would never make any death threats, even in jest.

 

The fact that Joel blatantly and abruptly changed to subject to throw such a nonsensical allegation, then even more abruptly cut off the line of communication when Dean shared this accusation (and rightfully so) with others reeks of intervention from a certain individual. Death threats of any kind, even made on the internet as a joke, are completely deplorable and neither Dean nor anyone else in this community would ever make them, and just in case...some other 3rd party is reading these posts, the purpose of this topic is, never was, and never will be a series of personal attacks or threats of any kind on the Kotaku writing staff. We only criticize the site or their jobs as writers, never on a personal level. And to be perfectly honest, I find that falsely accusing anyone of making a death threat against children is just as offensive to the accused as it is to the reciptient such a threat, because it means Crecente has absolutely no respect for Dean if he seriously believes that Dean would be so mentally deranged as to make a threat of that kind.

 

So forgive me if I came off as "aggresive" when I said those allegations were "batshit insane", but I genuinely believe that's what they are. I'm not saying he personally is, I'm saying his allegations are. If Crecente actually did receive a death threat of that kind (I wouldn't doubt it. There are millions of sick people on the internet who get off on making those kinds of threats), that's really his problem and he doesn't need to accuse Dean of making them. He knows perfectly well how Dean behaves and says due to the sheer popularity of his posts. Dean's well-known likability, Crecente's well-known antics in trying to censor criticism and holding grudges, and Joel's incredibly conspicuous change of attitude don't give me confidence that Crecente was acting rationally when telling Joel of said "threats".

 

I'm going to give Crecente the benefit of the doubt (for the umpteenth time) and assume he didn't just make that "threat" up, and I'm going to assume he simply got two people mixed up. With that in mind, he really didn't act rationally, because even five seconds of cursory thought over this would've easily let him realize that, no, the guy on Kotaku who commented rationally for several YEARS and was well respected by the community really wouldn't have made a threat of that kind. If I ever took a death threat seriously you bet your ass I would remember very well who it is and wouldn't get it mixed up the way I mix two regular Joes on any random forum. Things are just a tad different in that case. And either Joel was massively gullible or he was simply looking for an excuse to end the conversation abruptly.

 

In short, neither of them acted rationally. As is typical.

Edited July 11, 2011 by RockyRan

[toxicitizen]

So, I guess Joel won't be posting here after all?

 

Though he does seem to be reading this. I checked his profile a couple of times today and the "last activity" time changed a few times.

[McBeeferton]

 

I have no idea what's going on anymore. I was actually hoping to see Joel post...

[TheRevanchist]

 

I have no idea what's going on anymore. I was actually hoping to see Joel post...

Ditto, babe!

[toxicitizen]

Yeah, it'd be cool if he started posting here, I guess. But considering what happened, I'm not so sure he will.

 

Who knows, though.

Edited July 12, 2011 by FLD

[jayc4life]

Even if he was waiting for validation and lost the activation e-mail, couldn't he have asked Dean to just delve into the admin control panel to manually approve him? Kinda seems lazy to say "I tried signing up, but got no activation message. Guess I'll not bother then, ho hum" and just walk away.

 

Surely a fellow webmaster would be aware that an admin (or mod with certain priviledges) could approve his account regardless of activation mail, just as star commenters have done for "pinks" on Gawker for god-knows-how-long now.

 

On that note, I kinda do want him to post here at least once. Even if he did ban me on Gizmodo a few months back after that infamous rant (admittedly, I did have it coming after what I'd said), it seems kinda wrong to instantly villify him just for breaking contact. Now that the community here has his attention, and vice versa, let's at least hear him out and let him address us en masse about the whole issue.

Edited July 12, 2011 by jayc4life

[Cyber Rat]

it seems kinda wrong to instantly villify him just for breaking contact. Now that the community here has his attention, and vice versa, let's at least hear him out and let him address us en masse about the whole issue.

 

I honestly agree with this. Everyone is vilifying the guy based on speculation and theories. Theories which could be right or way off the mark. Despite the accusation being... pretty insane, I would also be upset if someone published my emails just like that.

[RockyRan]

it seems kinda wrong to instantly villify him just for breaking contact. Now that the community here has his attention, and vice versa, let's at least hear him out and let him address us en masse about the whole issue.

 

I honestly agree with this. Everyone is vilifying the guy based on speculation and theories. Theories which could be right or way off the mark. Despite the accusation being... pretty insane, I would also be upset if someone published my emails just like that.

 

I would be far more upset if someone accused me of seriously threatening to kill children.

 

Just saying.

[jayc4life]

Crecente's the accuser though, not Johnson. That's the thing. Joel's just a messenger that got caught in the non-crossfire yet he's the one that's seemingly getting teabagged by all of us.

 

I'm no Kotaku white knight coming in to defend him or anything like that, just that everything just seems very off about the whole thing and if we hear his side of the story, we'd have a better sense of where we're at with who's pointing what finger and at who.