This doesn’t seem like it’s worth the weight of its own news post, but we’ve come to a point in the gaming community where sites that allow freedom of speech – when discussing the corruption running rampant in the media industry – warrants some type of praise. Sad, I know.

Back in August a lot of sites took to censoring the topic of #GamerGate so the public wouldn’t be able to catch wind of the dirty laundry being hidden away behind the scenes. Thankfully, after a video surfaced and an article on the Ralph Retort gained a lot of attention, “Angry” Joe Vargas decided to open communication with the gaming audience about his neutral stance regarding #GamerGate and allowed people to discuss the topic once more on the forums.

Over on the official Angry Joe Show website, Vargas himself dropped in to address his stance on the situation and open dialogue with the community, stating…



“I'm tired of having to defend actions that adhere to our conduct policy for every new GG dogpiler who wants to start from zero and scream bloody murder against ME personally on twitter when they catch wind of a non-issue or a locked thread on the AJSA. This is not a fucking WAR between GG and AJSA. Stop trying to frame it as such. We simply locked threads that got mean-spirited and had enough.”





“So I've reopened a specific thread for everyone to see and monitor. All "GamerGate" specific discussions will be allowed in this thread. Gaming Ethics discussions have always been allowed and will continue to be allowed all across the forums.”



The majority of the first post to open the #GamerGate thread reads in similar tone. It’s a rant, and if it were a video it would probably be a 20 minute long rant… or maybe longer.

The original thread was locked down, much to the protest of some members. This caused some groups of to start digging into Angry Joe’s background and into the dealings of his moderation team to see if they had their had agendas to push. Joe used the first post on the new thread to dispel any sort of agenda-pushing from his end.

All of this came to a head following the exposé of Blistered Thumbs, as well as a series of videos from veemonro dissecting the operation of the Angry Joe Show. Some individuals attacked Joe on social media, resulting in Joe firing back and eventually a fallout taking place with people questioning Joe’s stance when it comes to corruption, media journalism, consumer rights and the gaming industry.

Joe used the first post on the Angry Joe Show forums for #GamerGate to make it perfectly clear that he’s against corruption, he’s pro-consumer and he doesn’t need a hashtag to talk about ethics in media, stating…



“I support people within GG who want to do good. I'm Pro-Gaming. And for Better Gaming Journalism Ethics. No matter what you assume about me. I truly believe in what I do.”



Both Total Biscuit and Angry Joe have mentioned that they don’t need the #GamerGate hashtag to talk about ethics or corruption in media; this is true. However, only Total Biscuit has acknowledged that the average consumer, the layman, the Joe Schmoe and Jane Same do need a hashtag to make their voices heard. People who are trying to “signal boost” discovery of corruption or information that needs to be shared to the general public require a central outlet to have that information discovered. This is why a central info-hub like the #GamerGate hashtag or the Kotaku In Action sub-reddit are imperative for maintaining a network of easy-to-access information for the average consumer.

Additionally, when corruption in media was being censored or blocked out by major gaming media websites you do need a central hub for discussion, and it’s nice to know that there are places like The Escapist, MMO-Champion, Game Front and now the Angry Joe Show forums to discuss these things, disseminate information and converse about events. I mean, if you can’t talk about or share information then how will anyone know about it?

(Main image courtesy of DrunkardHu)