Recently, an unknown member of the appropriately named Crash Override Network group (yes, CON), leaked their chat logs (they are redacted for personal information, phones numbers, and such things.) Being a respected and serious group dedicated to fighting harassment and online abuse, one would expect their chat logs being full of open discussions about their daily work, the people they are helping, the costs of their programs, their setbacks and daily issues, and occasional ramblings into unrelated subjects (we are all human, after all.) Yeah, well, I guess so:

[23/12/2014, 1:02:36 PM] Randi Harper: feeding men their own dicks in arenas after i rip them off

Edit: You can read the original leak and the context of those quotes here.

Now, this post is purely for humorous purposes because those chat logs are comedy gold (my sense of humor may be a bit… off, I’ll admit that much.) If you want to know more about the underlying Internet drama, journalistic corruption, and so on, there are probably better articles out there. However, if you want to know the (my) highlights of those 15 days of conversation but every quote you have seen has given you something like soul cancer, perhaps this post will be for you (you may still get that soul-eating blight, but you will laugh a little while at it.)

First of all, thanks to the magic of ctrl + f, let’s study their linguistic praxis. As someone who has written a little about that, I think it’s fascinating how people use specific and tribal-bounded jargon to convey subtle and, at the same time, precise worldviews and statements about their surroundings:

[23/12/2014, 4:37:37 AM] Peter Coffin: racist, shitty fucking idiots

It’s like poetry. Now, as all human beings, CONers show a very specific word usage, and the frequency of certain words may give us insights into their complex minds:

The number of fucks given in that conversation is more or less what one would expect from the chat logs of your average helpline and online advocacy group, two per second or so:

[22/12/2014, 8:08:15 PM] drinternetphd: fuck her fuck her fuck her oh my god

I have to say I’m disappointed by the lack of “narratives” and “reinforcers” but I guess those words are saved for more academic endeavours (e.g. “8 Reasons why Risk’s narrative creates a very problematic game. The second one is about RAPE!”) Still, they seem to follow the linguistic patterns one would expect from creative and technology savvy contemporary keyboard warriors:



[26/12/2014, 1:21:05 PM] Remy: He has internalized his grossness

Like, literally.

Also, do not dismiss these chat logs as irrelevant banter. They have greats insights into human nature, society, and the perils of Internet culture. I’ll show you some great quotes and conversations about specific subjects that I’m sure will enlighten and amuse you (formatting may appear a bit screwed):

A) GamerGate finally… well, defined:

[23/12/2014, 4:42:28 AM] Peter Coffin: ggcon would be…. well it would basically be a nazi rally [28/12/2014, 8:49:37 AM] Remy: GamerGate is the intersection between a cultural counterrevolution against the use of metaphors and... well... an odd pocket of pedophiles

B) The dangers of Libertarians/Nazis hybrids:

[23/12/2014, 6:58:45 PM] Dan Olson: I’m so sad that Transhumanism is so full of Libertarian/Nazi trash.

C) In which a conspiracy theory is refuted… mostly.

[23/12/2014, 2:46:52 AM] Annie Kelly: also: anti-semites. old pros at the "libruls controlling the meeja" narrative [24/12/2014, 12:21:18 PM] Faruk Ates: Really, if we want to be systemic about this, we need to just have video/hangout debates with each other and not have any GGers represent, but do discuss their arguments (where any exist) [24/12/2014, 12:21:56 PM] Faruk Ates: control the narrative

D) Why is everybody not picking on me?

[24/12/2014, 12:45:02 PM] Randi Harper: zoe: I was so mad that they only picked on you [24/12/2014, 12:45:04 PM] Randi Harper: and NOT me [24/12/2014, 12:45:04 PM] Randi Harper: like [24/12/2014, 12:45:39 PM] Randi Harper: how many times do I have to screech "KILL ALL MEN" while painting "FUCK ETHICS" on the wall with my period blood, I ask you

Good question.

E) A short glimpse of self-awareness:

[26/12/2014, 9:33:33 PM] Rob: I kind of griped a while ago at the whole 'white people are responsible for every system of oppression in history and have done all the bad acts in history' bullshit I see a lot [26/12/2014, 9:33:52 PM] Rob: Because it's really racist, and not in the 'boo hoo they made fun of white people' way, but it's super Eurocentric and basically says 'history didn't happen until us white folks showed up'

F) About the perils of killing video games barbarians and the intrinsic imperialistic values of Civilization games:

[26/12/2014, 7:07:32 AM] Ian Cheong: Campster has a really interesting take on Civilization, about how it promotes a certain narrative about history and civilizations, and how it enables us to view 'barbarians' as a roving group of un-human monsters whose only purpose is to destroy progress. [26/12/2014, 7:08:09 AM] Remy: I think I saw that piece. Didn't they also address latent imperialistic values intrinsic within the game mechanics?

G) I like sexist video games:

[27/12/2014, 2:47:43 AM] Randi Harper: i don't even care about tits [27/12/2014, 2:47:53 AM] Randi Harper: bring on the tits, whatever. i'm just anti-harassment. [27/12/2014, 2:48:02 AM] Randi Harper: i like sexist video games shrug

H) Dianetics and GamerGate, a prospective conspiracy?

[26/12/2014, 1:32:37 PM] Chris Kluwe: GG and Scientology are perfect soul mates

I) The lack of a Black Santa is problametic:

[28/12/2014, 7:03:19 AM] Athena Hollow: dude, I'm annoyed. I can't even go into malls in overwhelmingly black neighborhoods, without them having a goddamn white santa.

J) Wherein Veerender Jubbal shows his disagreements with white folk:

[27/12/2014, 10:21:04 AM] Veerender Jubbal: White people got mad at me, again. [29/12/2014, 6:03:00 AM] Veerender Jubbal: I like Far Cry 2 because I can play as a Sikh, and shoot white people in the face! [29/12/2014, 6:03:12 AM] Veerender Jubbal: I can play as myself, and shoot white people in the face! [30/12/2014, 10:35:37 AM] Veerender Jubbal: Yo, white people are the worst. [31/12/2014, 4:47:54 AM] Veerender Jubbal: Fucking white people in my mentions. [01/01/2015, 2:16:40 PM] Veerender Jubbal: Did you know Mundane Matt said something racist about Mexicans. [01/01/2015, 2:16:44 PM] Veerender Jubbal: Fucking white men. [02/01/2015, 9:18:09 AM] Rob: Veerender, when you personally kill every single white person on earth and on proxima centauri III, can I be the last to die [02/01/2015, 9:18:17 AM] Rob: and can totalbiscuit be the 2nd to last

K) The unfathomability of other people’s humor:

[28/12/2014, 8:48:53 AM] Athena Hollow: What gets me is all the allusions to "Gaming taught me to grind" yet the idea that gaming could reinforce sexist behavior is unfathomable.

L) My feelings = Freedom

[30/12/2014, 11:36:17 AM] live:riotarms: Free speech is inherently paradoxical because speech can harm and opress [30/12/2014, 11:36:29 AM] Peter Coffin: free speech ends at arms length [30/12/2014, 11:36:42 AM] live:riotarms: IE if someone calls me a spastic in public, which has happened before [30/12/2014, 11:37:04 AM] live:riotarms: And I go home feeling horrible, that's a violation of MY freedom

M) The most transphobic argument ever is refuted:

[01/01/2015, 1:03:26 AM] Remy: Eventually GG's most transphobic argument eventually devolves to "Yeah but then anybody can just declare their gender to be anything whenever they want to" to which I respond "Yeah and so what?"

N) As a white person, I can confirm:

[02/01/2015, 2:42:57 AM] Remy: White people are the worst, Veerender [02/01/2015, 2:43:02 AM] Remy: Don't go do the stark side [...] [02/01/2015, 2:43:45 AM] Charloppe: as a white person I can confirm or [sic] shittyness

Ñ) Productive consumer feedback is explained:

[01/01/2015, 10:18:22 AM] Remy: I have also been very encouraged by how each time one of their cards gets called out for being racist or transphobic he instantly apologizes and removes the card [01/01/2015, 10:18:26 AM] Remy: No bullshit excuses [01/01/2015, 10:18:27 AM] Remy: No fighting [01/01/2015, 10:18:36 AM] Remy: Just an honest apology and some deep soul searching afterwards

O) Finding public fights, for the greater good:

[02/01/2015, 9:51:45 AM] Randi Harper: this whole twitter thing has been a whole exercise in pushing past my knee-jerk reaction of finding public fights to be repellant. I've been justifying it by saying it's for the greater good, whatever, responding to attacks. [02/01/2015, 9:52:41 AM] Randi Harper: not a fan of any public spats. [02/01/2015, 9:53:09 AM] Randi Harper: when i see people arguing in the grocery store parking lot, instant reaction is to think they are peasants. i have some problems. ;)

P) Hell hath no fury like a white man scorned, and white people really do all look alike:

[02/01/2015, 8:19:31 PM] Remy: there is nothing more dangerous in this world than a white man with hurt feelings [02/01/2015, 8:19:35 PM] Remy: I am convinced of this now [02/01/2015, 12:58:46 PM] Remy: I've never seen the tweeter and I gotta be honest here all white guys look the same to me [02/01/2015, 12:58:58 PM] Remy: I know that sounds weird coming from a white guy but [02/01/2015, 12:59:04 PM] Remy: I've been watching all the same movies y'all have and [02/01/2015, 12:59:11 PM] Remy: Frankly I just can't tell the difference anymore

Q) The fragility of white men’s ego:

[04/01/2015, 3:31:15 PM] SF: White people have very fragile egos. [04/01/2015, 3:31:19 PM] SF: I should know as I am one.

R) Wherein one is warned against accidentally making friends:

[04/01/2015, 7:36:04 AM] live:riotarms: Stephen: I stopped playing Destiny partly because they broke the fuck out of the upgrade path and partly because I'd accidentally made friends with really racist people

S) A solution to Internet’s problems is proposed:

[03/01/2015, 11:52:35 PM] Veerender Jubbal: Due to my tweet--I got some transphobic garbage that I blocked in a second. [03/01/2015, 11:52:39 PM] Veerender Jubbal: People are garbage. [03/01/2015, 11:52:56 PM] Veerender Jubbal: Just burn the Internet, forever. [03/01/2015, 11:53:05 PM] Veerender Jubbal: We have every reason, forever.

T) Wherein a CONer is legitimately confused about his enemies’ ideological allegiances:

[02/01/2015, 10:09:57 PM] Sarah, Butt-er of the Butts: im legitimately confused at the top followers randi pulled from gator stats [02/01/2015, 10:10:24 PM] Sarah, Butt-er of the Butts: obama, jon stewart, etc

And, finally:

[31/12/2014, 4:02:26 PM] Tesseract: irrelevant, we’re pretty fucked if the existence of this chat comes out let alone the logs

You don’t say.