#GamerGate and Chanology: How not to Become a Joke

Scientology is not a religion, it is a dangerous cult. Chanology was born of exposing it for what it was: bat shit crazy money hungry evil.



Born of a DMCA claim and internet censorship Chanology is in many ways what many falsely try and paint #GamerGate as; it was a targeted campaign born out of 4chan based on wrecking the shit of an organization that has fucked with the Internet. It's first volleys genuinely caused people to sit up and take notice. But there was a large amount of harassment and simple destruction too: DDoS attacks were launched, black faxes sent and many of pizzas ordered.



Then in came Mark Bunker: he instilled an idea that would save but arguably also sow the demise of Chanology: restraint and policing. He addressed the anons and told them not to do stupid (and illegal) things and instead protest in a way that would not be so denounced. This part i very much agreed with but the policing of ideas and actions would later swing too far the other way, turning many off from wanting to be involved. The idea of a group of users taking down a cult could have gone much further but it was ultimately squandered Here is how:



By far the most important aspect of the stages i was involved in was information leaking, document sifting and breaking down the cult's language. Having a repository of documents with annotations and a team of people able to explain the often baffling practices of the cult was key. Wikileaks was one of our main tools (before it was a household name). There hundreds of previously obscure documents were downloaded, archived and picked through with motivated people exposing every inch of the insanity.



There was also the pretty huge Feb 10th protest. I'm sure you know about the stereotype of the guy Fawkes mask wearing neckbeard loser. I never did any chanology work offline, i thought it was a little crazy too but those early protests looked amazing. A spontaneous "fuck you" to a cult that was famously almost untouchable, that hunted and systematically destroyed it's critics. An anonymous collective was seemingly immune to this. But physical protests were never going to keep up momentum. Within months images of a terrifying meme spewing front was replaced by gaggle of cold looking masked losers not really sure why they were still there. That's part of the physical element demise.



The other i only got told second hand: the social justice hippies invaded. Soon the bulk of the protestors were the same occupy hippies people mock today: professional sign holders for ineffectual causes. Simply put: it lost it's edge. Tone was policed, fun was no longer had. The The message and image of those who had co-opted the movement was lame. It was boring. It stopped being good. That's the best way i can put it: physical protest is difficult to maintain and when it fades it looks like failure.



But the online side of things was strong. At least for a while. We were throwing documents everywhere we could. People were picking apart their structure and even finding cause for legal alarm. But we had one fatal flaw: 4chan had removed Chanology (because it had started to get embarrassing fun-policely and lame, not because M00t is pro censorship a beta cuc like he is now). But we made a mistake. We centralized . Enturbulation.org was a wonderful hub. It provided a base of operations for fast reaction to news and organizing protests. It allowed teams of people to work on documents in dedicated threads, It was the glue that held the raw data leaks from Wikileaks together. It was also pretty much the only place we had. It had the same culture of fun as a chan at it's heart (and a creepy basement)



For reasons both petty and fuzzy the 4channers who owned Enturbulation pulled the plug. For the lulz. The official line was it had stopped being worth the trouble. The tone/ fun police had got to them. So they literally pulled the plug on the entire site. In a single day we lost the main hub of operations and we never recovered. Gamergate was never born of 4chan but we need to avoid these same vulnerabilities:



But how?



1. Don't be centralized: I left Chanology because, for me, the movement died with Enturbulation. Nowhere else came close to it's level of resources or culture. The cracks had started earlier and it was doomed to fail in hindsight. We need to look at this in GG. For instance would we be utterly fucked if /r/KotakuInAction disappeared overnight? No we have twitter and 8chan but it would set us back. Don't put your eggs in one basket. Don't become about once place. It could happen. Any resource can disappear at any time. Be mindful of that. #GG is not about a place, it is about a clear set of goals consumers want met.



3. Don't be a 'movement' in the traditional sense : We are consumers in open revolt. We aren't some grand ideological force. Always keep that in mind. Your mantra isn't "we are doing this for morality and good" our mantra is "We are doing this because you keep fucking up basic practices in a very obvious way". Adaptability is key. The minute dogma and outside interests come in you're over. We saw this recently with MRAs and even occupy trying to muscle in on the message. Beware convenient allies and mission creep.



3. Have achievable goals. We're not here to destroy the entire gaming press. We're here for a specific correction of practice that should be common in the first place. #GamerGate's goals are not root and branch reconfiguring but a basic application of good practice. It should be simple for outlets to NOT fuck up. Don't fight too big of an enemy. We can't remove all aspects we dislike within the press. We can't fight on every front. We need to be laser focused. Like Oliver Campbell keeps telling us: "Stay on Target".



Our goal is actually quite small and narrow; get a decent code journalistic of ethics, stick by it and enforce it when people break the rules. That's all. A conflict of interest arises fix it an apologize. If i writer withholds information for an editor they should be punished proportionately. 'journalist' carries a basic expectation of standards. They have not been met lately. Fix that.



4. Don't get co-opted, homogenized or overly policed: Like i said the professional protestors moved in. The adaptability and the sharing of information died down. The non-physical side of Chanology was ALWAYS more important. The leaking, cataloging and public dissection of insane cult material in a public space was highly effective. #GamerGate needs to not be about defending GamerGate or point scoring, it needs to be about facts and information. We need to break real stories and show evidence that stands on it's own not merely make noise. We also need to not tell people to get in line.



I know people mean well but STOP FUCKING APOLOGIZING FOR THINGS YOU DIDN'T DO. Yes we need to call people out for harassment. No you can't tell someone exactly how to behave. You will kill GG dead. Never apologize for 8chan, embrace it proudly. Embrace the weirder, more carefree aspects as well as those that seem to have better PR. Don't kill the culture that created #GamerGate.



GamerGate is a movement of individuals. Do not centralize. Do not homogenize. Do not preach at each other. Do not become a movement, remain a hungry loose group in pursuit of a specific goal.

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