Category Archives: Gamergate

Those Who Wait

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Last year, the Kickstarter Game ‘That Which Sleeps’ was announced. A well presented publicity and video campaign made for a Kickstarter that netted over $85,000 from backers on an initial $12,000 goal. Release of the beta was originally promised for December 2014. It is now a year since the product was funded on 22/10/2014 and backers have yet to see even a video of the game being played. ‘That Which Sleeps’ still slumbers fitfully and there is only the lurking, eldritch horror of … Those Who Wait.

VideoScreenshotThatWhichSleeps

King Dinosaur Games recently released a video showing the scenario selection screen for their game. The beautiful, revamped, scenario selections screen has come a long way since Kickstarter. However backers were told to expect a playable beta in December 2014 – it is now October 2015. This video, whilst well presented, shows nothing but a revised version of functionality customers have seen before. Click for full size.

I have a rule in relation to Kickstarters. It is a very simple rule. I will only back a game if it has a playable demo I have played and liked or the developers have previously released a game I enjoyed. I have only broken this rule once – when I backed Joseph Vivolo and Joshua Perry, trading as King Dinosaur Games, and put down $50 to back the Kickstarter for That Which Sleeps.

That Which Sleeps was intended to be a kind of ‘ancient evil simulator’. The player would control one of a number of slumbering villains locked away eons ago. As they stir towards full wakefulness they gather their powers like Sauron from the Lord of the Rings. Like Sauron the players must work in the shadows to avoid discovery whilst they are still weak lest the world unites against them, using agents and subtle manipulation.

A lot of development work had allegedly been done and from 29/08/2014 until 08/10/2014, King Dinosaur Games released 6 videos – just over one a week [1], [2], [3], [4], [5] and [6]. The videos portrayed a game nearing completion – and that was how Josh and Joseph represented it. They expressly stated they had a working game –

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Block Bot Funds for #GGinLondon – Final Account

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As the claim against the Block Bot has ended the remaining money from the donation fund needs to be accounted for and put to proper use. The original request for funds said it would be used to support a KiA London meet. Today I transferred the funds to @SabrinaLianne who is organising the meetup in London this weekend, to put behind the bar at the venue.

CR DR Balance
Donations £285.00 £285.00
Go Fund Me Fees £23.09 £261.91
Court Issue Fee £60.00 £201.91
Available Funds £201.91
Transfer to #GGinLondon £201.91 0.00

Account Close

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More Patreon Info Incoming – Randi Fact Checked – SJWs Inflating Donations? (developing)

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Yesterday was fascinating. I was astonished to be accused of helping Randi Harper increase her income. This was obviously untrue for the simple reason that if you look at her graph, the alleged ‘spike’ in donations started about 3 days before I sent my email to the leaked supporters list or wrote my article about her Patreon.

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Randi Harper’s fundraising. Note that, if we believe her, the alleged massive fundraising increase started a couple of days before my email or article. Source – http://graphtreon.com/creator/freebsdgirl . Click for full size.

Click the graph for full size. If we believe Randi, a glance at the graph will show that neither my article nor @Nero‘s has actually had any effect. However, that does not end the story. How can this be true? I have people telling me they think she is erratic and are ceasing to support her, yet here is this upward graph? Continue reading →

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“Abhorrent” – Patreon Donors React to Randi Harper Revelations

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The Witchfinder explains himself, answers baseless blackmail allegations and releases heartening (anonymised) information about some of Randi’s (former) subscribers.

I remember my first interaction with Randi Harper well. In fact I wrote an article about it. I had created, as obvious satire (literally labelled ‘parody’) a ‘Bot for Endangered Sealions’. A while later, I started to receive tweets. Lots of tweets. I tried to reply only to find the stranger who was sending them had blocked me. It was Randi Harper.

ImaginaryRobot

Randi Harper is very, very angry. She is also very, very dumb.

Soon after, a small group of her friends started trying to brigade me using discriminatory language. When I shared my article about her with supporters, one of them called it a ‘meltdown’. I laughed at them. Continue reading →

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Ethical Journalistic Treatment of the Randi Harper Patreon Leak

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The Witchfinder ponders the most morally appropriate way to handle the leaked list of extremist online bully and admitted drug abuser Randi Harper’s supporters.

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Randi Harper admits to the leak of her donors on Twitter. Face blanked out for ethical reasons.

This is a brief trailer for a longer article. It is now well known that the complete list of Randi Harper’s donors has been leaked online by unknown third parties. Indeed it has been admitted by Harper herself (archive here). Your author in no way endorses hacking or other illegal activities and will not be publishing the whole list as this would be irresponsible.

Online leaks of the membership or supporters lists of extremists groups are nothing new. In 2009 the members list of British far right political party the ‘British National Party’ was leaked online and placed on WikiLeaks.

Given Harper’s extremist online behaviour, such as releasing people’s private contact details (doxing) and other forms of abuse, well documented by the journalists at Breitbart and blogger the Ralph Retort, many legitimate journalistic concerns may arise about those who support her – Continue reading →

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Legal Remedies for Milo Yiannopoulos and Julie Bindel Versus Manchester University Student Extremists

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The Witchfinder explores legal remedies that may be open to gay journalist Milo Yiannopoulos and feminist Julie Bindel after being banned from attending an event at University of Manchester Students’ Union. Comments are legal opinion, untested by any court.

JessLishakSharpenedHammerAndSickle

University of Manchester Students’ Union Women’s Officer Jess Lishak, shown in a black shirt with hammer and sickle. Original picture was released on Flickr by ‘Jennifer’ here (archive here) under the irrevocable NC-BY-SA 2.0 open source license (archive here). Image was further amended by cropping, enhancing and photoshopping a Communist hammer and sickle onto Jess’ convenient black shirt for parody purposes. It is therefore asserted the image falls under s30A Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1998 – the ‘parody exception’ and can be used commercially for that purpose. 09/10/2015 – Image Amended

In 2012 the European Court of Human Rights rules in the case of Redfearn v United Kingdom (Application no. 47335/06). Arthur Redfearn was a bus driver. He was also a member of the British National Party, a British far right party that opposes immigration and multiculturalism. Conservative grandee Lord Tebbit once called them, “Labour with racism”.

The Court ruled in favour of Mr Redfearn and UK law was changed. Recent case law appears to confirm that political views – even extremist views, can fall within the definition of a ‘philosophical belief’ under s10 Equality Act 2010.

Yet Milo Yiannopoulos does not hold extremist views. Manchester Students’ Union, in a statement (archive here), say they banned him because –

“We have been made aware of various comments lambasting rape survivors and trans* people, and as such we are concerned for the safety of our students on the topic of this event. He is a rape apologist and has repeatedly used derogatory and debasing ableist language when describing members of the trans* community.”

I am unaware of any occasion where Milo Yiannopoulos has apologised for, nor mitigated rape. He has on some occasions highlighted false allegations and the need for procedural safeguards.

Yiannopoulos is a supporter of #GamerGate, a cultural libertarian, pro-free speech, anti-censorship, consumer movement. As a prominent cultural libertarian, he would likely have mentioned #GamerGate in the context of freedom of speech.

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Sources Shed Further Light on Gjoni Strike Out Application

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The Witchfinder illuminates dark places!

I have now been able to ascertain the basis of Eron Gjoni’s motion to strike out Zoe Quinn’s response to his appeal. It is really pretty simple. Zoe Quinn is seeking to have his appeal dismissed as moot – because she has caved in by filing to vacate the order she does not want the constitutionality (or lack thereof) of the restraining order she obtained against him reviewed.

According to my shadowy sources, the problem with Quinn’s filings is that they are largely supported by impermissible material. The function of an appellate court is to determine whether a lower court has made a mistake and therefore it will only consider the material before that court. If a party to court proceedings wants an order changed on the basis of new information, the proper venue is the lower court (appellate judges are more expensive and in shorter supply).

Quinn has produced additional documents in support of her appellate response, however, in these documents she has also included fresh allegations that were not before the court of first instance. Allegations introduced in this manner are not normally permitted in an appellate forum where Gjoni would have no opportunity to rebut the veracity of Quinn’s claims nor to compel her to offer evidence in support of them. For good reason such filings are normally not permitted by the Massachussetts Rules of Appellate Procedure without prior permission by the court. Gjoni therefore seeks to strike out these questionable documents and the legal arguments based on them.

Looks like Gjoni’s lawyer is making good use of the crowdsourcing funds! Whatever happenes, Quinn is not going to have it easy.

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Eron Gjoni Moves to Strike!

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The Witchfinder comments on recent developments in the Gjoni / Quinn case, which seems to be heating up. Eron Gjoni has filed a motion to strike out at least part of Zoe Quinn’s defence to his appeal. (Massachusetts court service page here and archive from today here).

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Screenshot from the Massachusetts court system. Motion to strike? The plot thickens.

Recent entries for the case make fascinating viewing. Zoe Quinn (real name Chelsea van Valkenburg / Valkerburg) filed a response, slightly late, to Gjoni’s appeal, shortly after a barrage of notices of appearance by her legal team.

The theoretical sanction for lateness is, as I previously reported, that the documents are not admissible and the appellee will not be allowed to make oral argument without the permission of the Court. In practice of course the Court may allow late documents especially if the deadline is only missed by hours.

Now Gjoni’s lawyers have had a chance to review the brief, looks like they are putting the funds he has raised to good use. Gjoni has filed two motions – firstly he is asking the Court to take note of fresh documents, and secondly he is asking that the Court strike out at least part of Quinn’s defence. Continue reading →

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#PeDont – the Anti-Paedophile Tag Created by #GamerGate Members is a Force for Good

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The creation of the #PeDont tag by #GamerGate members after the recent sickening revelations about a prominent opponent is an opportunity for GamerGate to do some good in the grand tradition of other online groups like opDarkNet.

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A Frightened Child. Together we can help stop this from happening. Stock image licensed from Dreamstime.

The left and their ilk have been apologising in various ways for paedophilia for decades. Last year, I wrote an article exposing a British activist called Peter Tatchell because ‘back in the day’ he wrote a chapter for a book in which he questioned the idea of having an age of consent at all.

This sickening subculture needs to end, and the brave activists who support #GamerGate and #PeDont can help, just like opDarkNet.

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Looks Like Zoe Quinn Missed a Court Deadline – and the Penalty May be Deliciously Ironic

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The Witchfinder has been keeping an eye on Gjoni’s appeal. The deadline for Zoe Quinn to file her response (the ‘red’ brief) has passed earlier this week. The Witchfinder explains what that means.

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Looks like Zoe Quinn has missed the deadline!

A while back your author reported that in response to Eron Gjoni’s appeal, Zoe Quinn had filed to discharge the injunction against him. The relevant court case page is here (today archive here). There is another page for the case here. Just a reminder that Zoe Quinn’s real name has been cited as Chelsea van Valkenburg or Valkerburg and that is the name for her on the case.

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