Non-RPG General News - Chris Avellone responds to Accusations in 2020

[Ripper]

I'm sure Twitter will become a place full of thoughtful nuance real soon. By its design, it almost can't be -- all the nuance you can fit into 140 characters, or whatever the hell it is, all the nuance afforded by those who voluntarily choose to be the "followers" of the superficial, electronically preening their electronic reputations for whatever personal reason and agrandizement, pandering to whatever emotional appeal will generate the most energy from the brain-dead batteries powering The Matrix.

Yeah, I'm not holding my breath for the Twitter Enlightenment. But I'm just thinking more generally about people's ability now to go public on the internet, with whatever it might be - which is a pretty revolutionary change.

One of the things that struck me as a bit weird with this thread, is that although much of the commentary is dealing in generalities, it's been framed as some sort of men vs women issue. A large chunk of abuse victims are of course men and children, too.

Just to look at an example closer to home, the abuse rampant in the Catholic Church in Ireland came to light, in part, by people (including many men) coming forward and talking about what happened to them decades ago - with very little chance of legally proving their historical case. But I would say that was still very much a good thing for them to do, and as more came forward, the pattern became clear. So I think there can be clear benefit to people doing that, and it's pretty silly to suggest that these things should only be pursued through the courts.

We just need to stop with the knee jerk reactions to cases that are not nearly as clear cut.

 

[Qayto]

… People who know the process and can guide people through it, sort of like a Citizen's Advice Bureau.

Oh wait, that is already a thing:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/family/gender-violence/rape-and-sexual-assault/

and https://rapecrisis.org.uk/ mainly aimed towards women but their services & signposts for men and boys are increasing / improving

 

[SveNitoR]

I think a huge problem with social media is that its algorithms promote negative gossip. And negative gossip is very harmful to society.

When it comes to (non violent) abusive behavior, it's hard to prove and I understand wanting to shame someone publicly if there's no or little chance to win in court. But this shifts the burden of proof from the accuser to the accused, which isn't very good in my opinion.

Face to face and where everyone knows each other, the reactions to the accusations will be tempered by a wish to not destroy the entire group (for both good and bad) . There's very little leniency or worry about going too far when anonymous and of the accused isn't personally well known.

I have two personal examples:

One acquaintance of mine was accused of rape a few years ago and was acquitted. He has always been a bit of an aggressive "dudebro", which everyone around him knows, so we all find it plausible that he might have done it, even though he got no sentence. Due to this some people chose to distance themselves and he got locked out of an organization. So he lost some friends and memberships. Not very much if he did in fact commit rape, but not over the top of he is innocent..

Example number two: A male friend of mine was in an abusive relationship. His then girlfriend cheated on him repeatedly and threw him out of their house (she was the legal owner) for the smallest mistakes (once for having a drink with me, one of his long time friends, without her). When she claimed he raped her almost no one believed her, since she was such a bad person and he never behaved badly in other love or friend relationships. He was acquitted and got no bad reactions from others. He could've done it, although very unlikely, but his past behavior made us likely to believe him.

In both cases no one can really know if my aquintance and my friend did commit rape, but we still acted on prior knowledge of the persons. It can go completely wrong, of course, but I'm pretty sure it is often more fair than the internet mob.

 

[Capt. Huggy Face]

Yeah, I'm not holding my breath for the Twitter Enlightenment. But I'm just thinking more generally about people's ability now to go public on the internet, with whatever it might be - which is a pretty revolutionary change.

One of the things that struck me as a bit weird with this thread, is that although much of the commentary is dealing in generalities, it's been framed as some sort of men vs women issue. A large chunk of abuse victims are of course men and children, too.

Just to look at an example closer to home, the abuse rampant in the Catholic Church in Ireland came to light, in part, by people (including many men) coming forward and talking about what happened to them decades ago - with very little chance of legally proving their historical case. But I would say that was still very much a good thing for them to do, and as more came forward, the pattern became clear. So I think there can be clear benefit to people doing that, and it's pretty silly to suggest that these things should only be pursued through the courts.

We just need to stop with the knee jerk reactions to cases that are not nearly as clear cut.

Just like people have stopped crimes and atrocities by streaming on Facebook Live, or whatever it's called, just as rapists and killers have btoadcast their handiwork. Just as every technology can be used for good or evil, because every technology is weirded by the hands of man.

There's a reason the Web is full of porn and ridiculous shit: We're all just masturbating monkeys flinging our shit at each other. The Internet, by and large, isn't a terribly serious place, because people, by and large, aren't terribly serious. Masturbating and flinging feces are more fun.

People are always looking for a scapegoat for their own nature. People blame the media for some of the terrible things people do or think. While the media, including the Web, likely do influence people to a certain degree, I believe it is much more of a one-way street. The media primarily reflect the people. And while people aren't terribly serious most times, they certainly can be. Human nature's darker side, it seems to me, includes a need for conflict. Your man-vs.-woman observation here, I imagine, satisfies that need in some way.

 

[Zephyr]

I think Twitter put the budding social media Rage Culture on steroids. Too many people with too much time on their hands and nothing more productive or positive to do are more than ready, willing and able to pounce on anything that rubs them the wrong way. They can't keep their noses out of things that don't concern them. They're easily triggered and mindlessly fall in with whatever mob forms against their current perceived miscreant. Rage zombies shuffle around, eyes glued to their phone, and thumbs blurred Tweeting out their lynch fantasies. This crap is rampant on virtually every internet forum or discussion group and YouTube comments. Everyone is an expert and feels obligated to offer their unsolicited expertise on every imaginable topic. Disagree with them? The flame war is on and the F-bombs fly. Get off the smart phones and take up a hobby; painting, macrame, gardening, volunteer at a food bank, read to seniors at the local old folks home. Anything.

 

[SveNitoR]

Most social media companies has a low interest in truth itself if it decreases engagement, since engagement equals more ad income. This means they've actively developed algorithms to push emotion creating posts to the top. Flame baiting as a business idea.

 

[Carnifex]

I'm still questioning who on earth is actually reading twatter. I simply have never understood the appeal, I'd much rather get actual information from sources I've trusted for years over someone just voicing lurid opinions.

 

[Capt. Huggy Face]

Most social media companies has a low interest in truth itself if it decreases engagement, since engagement equals more ad income. This means they've actively developed algorithms to push emotion creating posts to the top. Flame baiting as a business idea.

I'm right with you here, and I don't think it's much good for the fabric of society and all that. These masturbating monkeys take this shit way too seriously.

 

[lackblogger]

That's actually great… I think.
Is there any (anonymous) feedback from victims or organizations if the service helped them somehow?

I've no idea, I've never used them for this. I used the CAB once many years back but I think it was just for regular employment issues IIRC.

 

[Ripper]

People are always looking for a scapegoat for their own nature. People blame the media for some of the terrible things people do or think. While the media, including the Web, likely do influence people to a certain degree, I believe it is much more of a one-way street. The media primarily reflect the people. And while people aren't terribly serious most times, they certainly can be. Human nature's darker side, it seems to me, includes a need for conflict. Your man-vs.-woman observation here, I imagine, satisfies that need in some way.

Yeah, that's why I'm kind of ambivalent about the blame apportioned to the social media platforms. I think they've become bad actors, but the technology sounded pretty good in principle. I remember when Twitter started, I liked the idea. You would follow a few accounts from parties you'd actually like to hear from, like maybe NASA, or a favourite band or writer. The character limit kept it to succinct and focused bits of information, and the whole thing seemed much better than subscribing to newsletters and such.

And then everyone jumped on, and it evolved. And then the now-valuable corporations started asking how to maximize profits.

But, in the end, as someone said, perhaps the real problem was that getting to know itself better was the worst mistake the human race ever made.

 

[Capt. Huggy Face]

Yeah, it doesn't sound so bad when you describe it. People ruin everything.

 

[lackblogger]

Social media was fine, when it was mostly a dating app or general friend network.

It was when it became monetised that it went to shit. Some examples:

Youtube: Adverts and paid promotional videos.
Facebook: Companies with pages, or organisations generally.
Twitter: The politicians got hold of it.
MySpace: Got bought by Murdoch.
Instagram: Paid influencers
eBay: Creating shops and having Buy It Now listings alongside auctions.

etc.

As a species we find it incredibly difficult not to monetise and generally escalate everything we touch.

To which, no matter how much we might disagree with @Myrthos; on any subject under the sun and, inevitably, at some point find ourselves forced to concede to the power of site ownership if any convo goes a way Mrthos doesn't like, you have to admit, RPGWatch is still one of the purest and most unmolested forums still out there, monetisation-wise.

 

[HellRazor]

Acted stupid by having drinks, got a women drunk,

If she got drunk, he didn't get her drunk - she got HERSELF drunk. No one forced the drinks down her throat. She's responsible for her own actions.

 

[Cacheperl]

Take this with a grain of salt, of course, since this is the internet. Nevertheless interesting:

https://jeffdjohnson.medium.com/bey...es-this-is-about-right-and-wrong-39d05699f2f4

(medium article by someone who seems to quote details from communication with one of the accusers)

 

[Capt. Huggy Face]

This guy's story doesn't prove anything either way. It's all still speculation. These cases are such a pain in the ass for outside observers, including the cops.

My newspaper back in the day had a policy not to print rape stories, unless there was a compelling reason to do so, such as the accused being a public figure, until a conviction, and we were far from alone in that. Maybe people today would have a real problem with that: How dare you ignore what is such a heinous crime and longstanding societal problem? Well, you could answer that question with a question: How can you be a respected newspaper and be wrong in your reporting of one type of story 50 percent of the time?

 

[Carnifex]

That is excellent advice at the end of that article, Cacheperl. Being kind to others costs nothing, and the benefits to both yourself and others are often immediate, as well as long lasting. We should all be a bit more kind.

 

[JDR13]

It strikes me as being strangely convenient. This guy claims he wasn't even aware of the accusations until seeing a recent article, and then he suddenly remembers a Twitter conversation with this chick from 9 years ago?

 

[Capt. Huggy Face]

This is why we shouldn't give too much credence to what random people on the Web have to say. This is why reporters shouldn't quote what random assholes on Twitter have to say. This is why reporters shouldn't write stories that are about nothing but the reactions of random assholes on the Web. This is why the current state of journalism in the U.S. is doing no favors to the random assholes reading Twitter and assigning far too much credence to the monkeys lined up for their turn to stare at their own reflections in the lake.

 

[Couchpotato]

Glad to see Avallone found a few jobs with developers since he was acquitted.