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NeoGAF, Sexual Harassment, And A Gaming Forum Reset

A new outlet is set to rise from the ashes of a popular gaming forum after NeoGAF's owner responded weakly to sexual harassment accusations.

Charles Singletary Jr

October 24, 2017 5:50 PM

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This past weekend, gaming forum NeoGAF was set ablaze when the site's owner, Tyler Malka aka Evilore, was accused of sexually inappropriate behavior. Film director Ima Leupp shared a Facebook post inspired by the #MeToo hashtag and detailed an encounter with Malka back in 2015. This set off a series of events including the shuttering of NeoGAF, the rebirth of the site, a mass exodus of moderators, and the creation of a new gaming forum.

#MeToo is a movement with origins traced back to the work of activist Tarana Burke 10 years ago and the hashtag was an avenue for survivors of sexual assault and harassment to discuss their experiences. The movement simultaneously showed survivors that they weren't alone in their experiences and opened the eyes of any willing to read/listen. Leupp's post broke down an encounter where Malka made an unwarranted advance on her while she was in the shower during a trip to New Orleans.

As more caught wind of the post, waves were sent through NeoGAF resulting in the site going down after posters started threatening to leave the forum. To make matters even worse, Malka was silent over the weekend as things got more and more out of hand. Kotaku reported that users even started to notice moderators were disappearing from the staff page.

Last night, Malka finally spoke up with the statement below:

The mass exodus from NeoGAF continues today, with many of those calling for their accounts to be deleted finding Malka's response to be incredibly inadequate and too late, despite believing or not believing that he's guilty. 

Leupp's post added to a growing notion that Malka's progressive image contradicted his behaviors behind the scenes, specifically involving sexual harassment. Longtime members even shared with Kotaku that they were banned for progressive stances: One for a post arguing that Hugh Hefner isn't a feminist icon and another for supporting the #BelieveWomen movement.

For those leaving the forum, all is not lost. Polygon reports that many notable moderators from NeoGAF are creating a new website called ResetEra. Shinobi602, a former member, had this to say about the new undertaking:

“We see this as a fresh start and an opportunity to build our own moderation culture and aren't really looking for comparisons. We hope to be genuinely fair-minded, reasonable and transparent. We really want to shape a positive community for everyone. A few moderators may be familiar but for the most part, the staff has no connection with other forum staff.”

Full staff for ResetEra will be announced soon and invites to the website will be sent out in waves as newcomers are vetted in an attempt to keep the community safe and prevent attacks from 4chan, which seems to find issue with the new site due to political ideology. ResetEra could go live as soon as tonight, but we'll update as more information is made available.

Charles Singletary Jr

News Editor

Charles Singletary Jr keeps the updates flowing as the News Editor, breaking stories while investigating the biggest topics in gaming and technology. He's pretty active on Twitter, so feel free to reach out to him @The_CSJR. Got a hot tip? Email him at Charles.Singletary@Shacknews.com.