Andy Baio just published his statistical research into 72 hours of #GamerGate hashtag activity on tweeter. Needless to say, it’s a much better affair from what we came to see from Newsweek a couple of days ago.

Yes, he’s biased against the movement but he’s fully disclosing it (ethics, right?). This analysis is worth a look whether you support, oppose or merely are an observer of the whole GamerGate thing.

After reading into some of the data myself, there are a few anecdotes I’d like to share:

Seems to me that Andy missed the context of Adam Baldwin’s first involvement with the whole affair when he mentioned first use of the #GamerGate hashtag. Adam’s first related share of the events was actually Ariel Connors’ twitlonger message. Other links were lated tweeted at Adam which he then summarized in his first use of the #GamerGate hashtag.

I find this important because reading this message will tell you what is the first piece of content that actually went viral (thanks to Adam’s 2ook follower crowd). The claims brought up in the message from Ariel (from DCMA takedowns to harassment and doxxing) weren’t properly addressed at all by parties involved or the media itself which is supposed to cover exactly these kind of things. [edit: very bad and misleading wording in this anecdote. corrected] It’s unfortunate that Andy is mashing together the #GamerGate and #NotYourShield hashtags, as separating them could have added some other insights about possible differences in usage patterns between the two. Also, it would have been interesting to compare them to one of the many hashtags those who oppose Gamergate use (although they are so erratic about hashtag usage that there might not be a good data sample) The average account age of #GamerGate supporters turns out to be very young: around two months. This obviously makes sense to me simply because I started using this account only recently for the exact same purpose.

All the possible reasons Andy raises are valid: from the systematic silencing of any debate in many moderated forums to the fact that twitter is where it’s all happening now. The data only tells us what happens, not why it happened. And then there’s the mandatory anonymity. While those who oppose gamergate are concerned about harassment and threats, many key industry members on their side don’t have any problem to voice their opinions. But those who are pro #GamerGate and work in the game industry are keeping their identity hidden except for a select few.

When you start hearing about key figures like Jonathan Blow and Ernset Adams talking about how exposed #GamerGaters will be outcasted and not have a place to work in the industry, this paints quite a different picture of who’s living in fear and of whom (even if these threats are empty, why would you even take a chance?) The Gephi tweetmap looks awesome, yet depressing. It shows us is how separate (and apparently similarly sized) both camps are. Which then brings you to the following realization:

#GamerGate opposers claim the hashtag must be dropped before there can be any dialog (yeah, won’t happen) - yet they keep on using the exact same hashtag to promote their own messages

Daily Dosage?

Bonus: Choosing purple and green to represent the two camps? Now you’re just trolling us, right?