Last weekend’s NeoGAF implosion was upsetting to anyone who enjoyed reading and posting on the influential gaming message board. Fortunately for them, a new option has already emerged.




On Wednesday night a group of former GAF users launched ResetEra, a clean new message board with sections for discussing video games and other topics (“EtcetEra”). As of Thursday morning they already have more than 7,100 users, according to one moderator. And the site is already full of threads that resemble NeoGAF before last week’s implosion.

NeoGAF has been collapsing since its owner Tyler Malka was accused last week of entering a woman’s shower against her will, an accusation that he has since denied. The allegation also resurfaced older controversial incidents involving Malka’s behavior both in real life and on the forums. After the majority of the site’s moderation staff quit, NeoGAF went down for roughly the entire weekend before returning on Monday night with a message from Malka, who said he would be removing political discussions from the site. As he and his staff deleted the bulk of NeoGAF threads discussing what had happened, a flood of users requested bans, often in colorful ways.


As the NeoGAF user Peltz pointed out in a thread that has since been deleted, many of the forum’s regular participants were upset not just about the allegation, but about how Malka handled the situation. “If he allowed the criticisms to flow and responded humbly, then this community would still be strong,” wrote Peltz.

After less than a day, ResetEra already appears to be faster and more lively than the current NeoGAF board. The group that founded ResetEra say they set it up as an LLC, and that no single person will be in charge of the site, which they hope will prevent the same catastrophe from happening again.