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Comment Re:Ethics? (Score 1) 556

It's a terrible summary. Here's what happened:

Zoe Quinn's jilted ex boyfriend made a blog post accusing her of stuff. There was a vague accusation that she slept with a journalist in return for good coverage of her game, but it turned out to be untrue. That didn't stop GamerGate repeating the lie over and over and over again though, and using it to justify their "corruption in gaming journalism" angle.

Anita Sarkeesian made some videos about how women are often portrayed poorly in games. GamerGate went ape shit over this and accused her of all kinds of things, most notably defrauding her Kickstarter backers (note that she delivered the promised videos) and of organizing a vast false-flag operation against herself. There has been a little bit of thoughtful criticism of her work, but most of it is just ranting. She largely ignores the rants, except for documenting them to use in her talks.

So basically GamerGate is based on a lie that is still being perpetuated long after it was debunked (see the other comments), and rage against women pointing out that games could do a little better when it comes to female characters. When asked about the corruption angle most GGers steer away from Quinn now, but point to articles about how gamer culture has become toxic because apparently disagreeing with them = corruption.

Comment Re:Established science CANNOT BE QUESTIONED! (Score 1) 719

So we are both in agreement that focusing on extremists isn't helpful.

As to specific steps, you could look at what European countries are actually doing. You seem to be mis-informed, the EU is moving forwards quite rapidly on these issues. For example, the EU noticed that consumers have been suckered in to thinking that moar power = better when buying vacuum cleaners, when actually the best ones are fairly low power and efficient. To fix that they introduced limits on wattage and a rating system where they independently test every model and put the results on the box. Similar measures will be introduced for other appliances, and limits will be tightened to keep manufacturers improving things.

You may think that more efficient vacuum cleaners isn't a big deal, but it really is when you look at the amount of energy they use.

Germany is leading all other countries by re-building its grid and moving to renewable energy on a very large scale. There is a lot of FUD about high prices (they are not the highest in the EU, and unlike other countries that just give that money to shareholders at least Germany is investing it in improving their infrastructure and making electricity into a public utility again) and outright lies about massive increases in coal use. The real end result is going to be very significant and beneficial to Germans though, and keep in mind that they are only about 1/3rd the way through their plan (end date is around 2023).

Also note that quality of life in Germany is going up at the same time. Better houses that cost less to run, less reliance on imported gas and Russia, lots of new jobs and opportunities in the renewables industry, less pollution. In the end their energy will be cheaper too. German industry is still a powerhouse as well, with more exports than China.

Comment Re:Pebble? (Score 1) 232

6. Current weather

I never really understood this feature. I can look out of a window to see the current weather. What I want to know if the future weather, but every random smart device gives me information that I already have to hand. I can see if it is raining now, what I'm interested in is if I should take an umbrella for later.

Comment Re:Established science CANNOT BE QUESTIONED! (Score 0) 719

The people you describe are not the mainstream environmental movement, and focusing on them is just distracting people from from what actually needs to be done. Few people are suggesting we reduce our quality of life or return to an agrarian society in order to fix climate change. In fact, the push is for a better quality of life with less pollution, better buildings, less of our income spent on energy and heating/cooling etc.

All I ever see from US media and commentators is screaming and ranting in both directions. What it boils down to is extreme frustration that the US is incapable of doing what other countries are doing for political reasons (mainly hatred of anything remotely socialist) and FUD from those who are making vast amount of money by polluting and releasing CO2. It's all corrupted by money and each side keeps upping the ante, taking more and more extreme measures to further their goals.

Meanwhile Europe is getting on with it. Well, parts of it, anyway.

Comment Re:You have selected....... (Score 1) 201

probably using a product you or your employer couldn't afford to purchase if manufactured by someone that shared your pleasant lifestyle.

That isn't the case. Profit margins on Apple phones are some of the highest in the industry. Other manufacturers manage to make cheaper phones under better conditions, e.g. LG which has factories in South Korea or Sharp who have factories in Japan.

Apple could choose to make less money and pay more for manufacturing, which in turn would allow for higher wages and better conditions, without raising prices. It appears to be a case of working conditions shareholder value.

Comment Re:Does Samsung or Google have any influence? (Score 1) 201

Samsung has had criticism as well. I believe LG does a lot of manufacturing on Korea where conditions are better.

You are right that Apple does get singled out, but Apple is also the most expensive, highest profit margin and likes to promote its wholesome and ethical image. For example, Jobs wouldn't allow any adult content on the app store. Apple has said it will deal with this problem, but hasn't delivered on its promise. Criticism is fair.

Comment Re:Ethics? (Score 3, Insightful) 556

I notice that all your links are to poorly made YouTube videos. Taking the first one, the links you claim back you up are actually just links to more YouTube videos, a document on Google Docs that is unverifiable, a seemingly unrelated WaPo editorial about a spat between journalists and bloggers, and a Gamasutra article that they clearly state was written by community member and not their own staff and which seems to be mostly irrelevant.

Your claims are built entirely on top of other unfounded claims and extremely weak evidence. That basically sums up the entire GamerGate movement, from the original lies about Zoe Quinn onwards. There are some genuine issues with games journalism, although why that surprises anyone I don't know because no aspect of entertainment journalism has much credibility, but those points are lost in a sea of bullshit now.

Comment Re:cowardice (Score 2) 556

Seems like a very risky game to play, faking death threats against yourself and then asking the police and FBI to investigate. The chance of them finding out that you faked it and wasted their time is pretty high, and if the claim that it was all for financial gain via Kickstarter and free publicity is true it would be a pretty serious crime.

If you have evidence of this you should firstly pass it on to the FBI, and secondly post it here. By the way, just in case you didn't realize, a marked up screenshot of a Twitter feed is not "evidence" and won't stand up in a court of law, but you said GG had proof so I imagine it's not that.

Comment Re:cowardice (Score 5, Informative) 556

The problem is GamerGate started with the attacks on Zoe Quinn, which turned out to be complete fabrications. The alleged positive review of her game doesn't exist, there was no conspiracy. It was all just some jilted lover's blog post and all the asshats who jumped on to the bandwagon by spreading lies and rumours about her.

When it became apparent that the whole thing was bullshit, GamerGate moved on to other targets. By that point it was too late though. The "Gamer" tag was poisoned beyond recovery, and the alleged journalistic impropriety was all just innuendo and thinly veiled outrage that women were demanding respect and fair treatment as gamers.

Look at the nonsense GamerGate spouted about Anita Sarkeesian, for example. You may not agree with her points, but that doesn't excuse endless fake accounts, fake posts about her using the Kickstarter money to buy expensive shoes, weaponized pornography etc. You could argue that it was only a few on the fringes doing all that, but that's just a No True Scotsman argument.

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