https://www.neogaf.com/threads/how-accurate-is-alexa-internet-inc-any-other-comparable-sites.1460951/"I'm reluctant to resort to hyperbole here (someone's going to slap me in the face for that), but the hyper-partisan, hostile, polarized, tribalized, identity polics driven authoritarian echo chamber here was literally killing me inside to the point where I suggested splitting the social/political discussions off to an entirely different website so that I wouldn't plausibly and literally flat-out drop dead within the next year. The euro mods were mostly on board with this thought, but besada thought it was "too important" to discard or reorganize or change directions, in between asking me for a job. I've offered (and given) jobs to people on the team, mind you, but besada was never on my list Then he allegedly (selectively, to make it look at bad as possible) leaked the NDAed administrative slack when I got #metooed and allegedly was the main person who spoke to the press as the anonyomous "ex-mod" (we had ~50 mods and most of them were good folks and just wanted to get away from the drama and the danger to their careers at the time...no one I was in communication with claimed they spoke with the press or sounded like the one person in all the interviews circling around), all painting a very negative portrait of what was going on from very likely one salty, opportunistic, agenda-driven source. Most of the mods just were sick of the toxicity on the boards -- some were explicitly only staying on at that point because they knew I was going through so much personal turmoil that they didn't want to leave me hanging, -- and people going after their jobs or lashing out at them for not disavowing me was too much to stick through during the witch hunt, which I don't blame them for and I wished them well and to protect themselves first. I miss them; they were my friends; at least to me. A few more of the old team sticking around would've helped immensely with mitigating the damage that was being done during the critical moments with all the spam and malicious attacks before I got contractors up to purge it all until it died down sufficiently to invite new volunteers in. Some of the ex-team did stick around for various lengths of time to help save the site, and I will not forget that whether they ever post here again or not. <3 to them. You know who you are.
It's a video game message board, though, and this ludicrous #metoo crap was getting international mainstream attention. My first instinct isn't to protect myself; it's to protect the folks I care about. That's why I apparently had such a terrible PR statement on GAF afterwards (that sticky in Gaming) according to a lot of folks. I was concerned about my team getting doxxed by the witch hunt and everything. I cared about my team, and I can handle myself for the most part (or so I thought at the time, lol) and NeoGAF is my site and responsibility, whereas they all had careers and reps to worry about outside of that. So the statement centered around why the volunteer team left and why that wasn't inappropriate for them to do, why some of the board was locked down for their privacy, etc. It was difficult for me to personally navigate at the time because of my priorities. Maybe though that lens is can be viewed as something other than a terrible statement, though that's not up to me to decide.
Anyway.
Being the only game in town...it can be a problem, yeah? NeoGAF became huge -- an institution.I don't wish what happened to me on anyone, especially not during what I was already coping with in my personal life (jesus christ 2017 on so many levels), but now that things are stabilizing I more or less welcome the whole ResetEnema (stop spamming though). I suggested the damned splinter of a separate board focused on social/political issues, right before everything happened, and maybe that even predicated it for all I know. I dunno or particularly care how it all came together. It's just another message board. NeoGAF and Reset aren't enemies. You decide if the converse is true, I guess. What's there to be afraid of, exactly?
I joined this community when I was 14 to escape from my shitty, depressed, insomniac life in poverty. It was escapism, a game, a hobby, a startup, and then, far later, I suppose the biggest thing in town on some level. I sure as shit didn't intend for it to become such a pit of unending misery that it was likely driving more people to suicide than it ever had before, circa 2017, with all the sensationalism and doom and gloom. But I think we're over that and trending toward sanity. With the modern platform migration, too, I can finally get some fun stuff up and running on the gaming side properly and I'm really excited for that too. Don't think I'm neglecting gaming side.
NeoGAF doesn't need Reset to fail to continue to succeed, and Reset's existence probably benefits NeoGAF at this point by providing a home for the collective authoritarian left poison of the internet (or whatever you what to describe it as). The bitter misery addicts who banded together and drowned everything else out; please, we're good, thanks They said so many hurtful things to me, and did so much damage to this place, and attempted to harm my mods in some cases, and that will not be forgotten.
But 2018 is not 2017. NeoGAF isn't going anywhere, and it's going to far better reflect my worldview and values and decisions, directly, from here on out. With the help of a highly talented hand-picked team, of course.
Indie as always. For you guys and gals, as always, and in more ways than ever, coming up soon. Pushing new features and projects every week, listening to feedback (but tempered with two decades of experience in this case). "
