First of all, I am not selling the website. Anyone who pays attention to the broader online publishing landscape would understand that this is a very tough time for games media websites and selling at this moment would be a waste of the past ten years I have spent building the Shacknews brand alongside the team.
Something that we all agree on is that the Shacknews Chatty is a special place on the Internet. This community has shown up to rally for Shackers in need with charity fundraising efforts, help with resumes, and even job postings. That sense of community is the best part of this place and we want to make sure it remains for years to come.
Our community has some amazing and supportive people who contribute in positive ways like weekly selfie threads, movie posts, NFL threads, and by answering questions that are increasingly hard to find useful answers for on the Internet these days.
This community's history is an important part of the overall website, and simultaneously an albatross that highlights deep-seated problems that began many years ago.
It's been quite rich to witness this community that allowed the phrase "10% n----r d--k" to become an acceptable meme telling me what to do in the best interest of minority users. I have expressed my disappointment with the moderators regarding this specific fact alongside other examples of hateful speech directed at members of the LGBTQ+ community, women, and other minority groups like Jews and Muslims that have gone unmoderated for years.
For the Shacknews Chatty to continue to operate in-line with the values of the rest of the Shacknews brand, changes have to be made.
For those who pay attention to the front page, our social media platforms, our Twitch and YouTube channels, you may have already noticed our efforts to make content for a more diverse audience.
Shacknews has reviewed more games this year than ever before and we continue to give opportunities to minorities, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and women to have their voices heard on our platform.
In the interest of fostering a safer community, things must change here to align with the brand and company's values.
In no uncertain terms, this community has a negative reputation amongst minority groups, women, and LGBTQ+ community members in the gaming industry.
Our Shacknews coverage universe on the front page includes topics like gaming, technology, finance, and emerging fields.
The truth is that general political discussion has nothing to do with our day-to-day operations at Shacknews. Political threads have driven off countless users and have been home to some of the hateful speech I mentioned above. In fact, many of the unmoderated hateful posts in the last ten years have appeared in political threads usually found in massive derailed subthreads.
While some people here may feel that the only value Shacknews has to offer is political news, it is simply not true. These posters have a warped idea of what Shacknews is, and they will not be allowed to continue to drag this place lower while ignoring the actual content hosted on the site.
The half measure political thread ban allowing for posts Tuesday-Thursday during December was poorly executed and failed to establish the positive community standards I am aiming for.
Today, we are implementing updated Community Guidelines in the hopes of setting a new course for the Shacknews Chatty that fits alongside our company values and our core mission of bringing compelling gaming and technology coverage to all areas of the Internet.
Things like the use of racist, homophobic, transphobic slurs or any other hate speech will be met with zero tolerance going forward.
Cyberstalking across platforms will also receive zero tolerance, and we are going to be working on a feature for users to block Shack Messages from other users to prevent a part of the hateful behavior from some users on this site that the moderators can't deal with directly.
Additionally, the minimum ban time period has been increased to one week. For community members who have been here for decades, a 30-minute ban isn’t even remotely significant enough to warrant a change in behavior.
One goal here is to create a safe place in which our own staff will want to engage, and down the road new members from elsewhere in the broader Shacknews ecosystem can join in the discussion.
I understand that this may feel like we are taking away something from a group of people here, but there is no shortage of places (Reddit/Discord) to recreate the daily political discourse that some of you feel so passionately about.
If you feel like this path forward is not your Shacknews, you are right. It is my Shacknews.
To the Mercury subscribers past and present, I want to thank you for voting with your dollar to support our efforts here. Unfortunately, the subscription revenue has never made a meaningful dent into the costs of operating the company, and will not be a way to leverage me into changing my mind.
This is just the first step to make Shacknews Chatty a more welcoming place to people from all walks of life, and I hope that we can work together to ensure that this forum remains alive and growing for years to come even if some long-time posters head for the exits in the near future.
For those in the know, you have already seen Shacknews become one of the largest independent games media outlets in North America with our reviews being featured in accolades trailers from Sony, Microsoft, and even Nintendo.
I believe the Shacknews Chatty must heal from the wounds of the past before it can ever meaningfully grow again and fit alongside our broader efforts as a company and a community. It is my hope that the best people here will join us in this effort while welcoming new members of the community we are trying to grow moving forward.
Please read the updated Shacknews Community Guidelines.
The Shacknews Staff is heading on our holiday break for the next few weeks and these new rules are in effect as of the time of this post.
