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Old 06-10-2016, 12:54 PM   #1
deoxys
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Gawker Media files for bankruptcy

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifes...65c_story.html

Following disastrous lawsuits with Hulk Hogan, Gawker and their subsites Kotaku, Gizmodo, etc. are going the way of the dodo - at least as we currently know them. Probably.

Opinion:
And honestly, thank God. After the years of garbage shenanigans (like the infamous universal TV remote which got them indefinitely banned from CES), posting clickbait articles that only had two or three sentences in their body passing as "journalism" when really they were the Internet equivalent of a grocery store tabloid, and many, many more scummy things - it looks like Gawker as we know them are going belly up. Bye Felicia.

Discuss.
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Old 06-10-2016, 01:18 PM   #2
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Best thing Hulk Hogan has done in ages.
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Old 06-10-2016, 01:25 PM   #3
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I remember a time when Kotaku was celebrated as the go-to site for video game news. I've watched the entire ride, from the sidelines since the end of the '00s, and I'm sad for what once was but glad for what has been. It is as you say -- Kotaku in its final years under Brian Crecente's leadership and all the way onward under Stephen Totillo has been the TMZ of video game journalism. Lots of awful clickbait, lots of tabloids, and lots of ugly actions. In its final years, Kotaku found itself discredited and blacklisted by numerous major game companies and social gatherings. Rather than repent, rather than concede defeat, they dug in their heels and got even uglier. It was painful to watch even from the sidelines and I am glad to see it's finally over.

Polygon was supposed to be "the new old Kotaku," but it quickly devolved into "a new new Kotaku that's slightly less bad." I can't say I enjoy their site either, but at least we can say that anyone with a shred of decency from Kotaku probably is already working over at Polygon.

Brian Ashcraft, the weeaboo journalist of a generation, should have left to start his own weeaboo news site ages ago. I understand why he didn't, but he was a big part of the problem as Kotaku morphed into a tabloid. Weeaboo articles have no place on a video game news site, no matter the tangents which you can use to justify their inclusion.

One wonders, if even only out of morbid curiosity, what will happen now to Patricia Hernandez and Stephen Totillo. I imagine both will find it very hard to secure work in games journalism.

That's about all I have to say. I only ever used Kotaku, and then only years ago, long before they had been widely discredited. Jezebel, io9, the other Gawker sites ... no clue about their histories, qualities, or people.
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Old 06-10-2016, 02:21 PM   #4
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Yeah, Kotaku (and Joystiq) were my #1 go-to sites for gaming news circa 2006 to 2010. I stopped using Kotaku for the same reasons you described and followed their descent into madness via http://loltaku.tumblr.com a few years ago. I'm pretty sure they only posted one maybe two actually good pieces of journalism per year... if that (since their downfall).

Patricia Hernandez and Totillo both drove that site into the fucking ground. I don't need to go into detail but anyone who knows Kotaku.... I'm not sure anyone could argue against that.

Polygon was really great at first, and their reviews were fantastic, too. Then... I'm not sure what happened. They sold their souls or something for page hits and clickbait like everyone else, I guess.

Basically, you hit the nail on the head, Talon.


Edit: I will say that I hope Jason Schrier and Patrick Klepek find work elsewhere, perhaps back at Giant Bomb.

Last edited by deoxys; 06-10-2016 at 02:28 PM.
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Old 06-10-2016, 06:44 PM   #5
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Good riddance. Gawker is basically the biggest collective of scumbag "journalists" we've seen in ages.

Like they legitimately had a map feature that allowed you to stalk celebrities.
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Old 06-10-2016, 07:29 PM   #6
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They died as they lived in their later years.

Irrelevantly.
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Old 06-10-2016, 08:22 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerichi View Post
Good riddance. Gawker is basically the biggest collective of scumbag "journalists" we've seen in ages.

Like they legitimately had a map feature that allowed you to stalk celebrities.
Hey man, we need to think of the sanctity of the fourth estate and what it means when an enraged billionaire can take down a TMZ-quality journalism outlet when they do little things to hurt his feels like outing him using a source who is being completely open about how he's doing it for blackmail purposes.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87
One wonders, if even only out of morbid curiosity, what will happen now to Patricia Hernandez and Stephen Totillo. I imagine both will find it very hard to secure work in games journalism.
They probably won't have to go too far out of their way for work. Gawker is simply one of the larger tumors of the cancer that has resulted from news sites run on internet ad revenue, where getting as many clicks as you can is the the end goal and how you get there or if anything you're doing is actually worthwhile are distant secondary concerns.

Quote:
Originally Posted by deoxys
Edit: I will say that I hope Jason Schrier and Patrick Klepek find work elsewhere, perhaps back at Giant Bomb.
Jason Schreier is an enigma to me. On the one hand he writes pretty much the only longform Kotaku articles worth reading; on the other hand I always remember his bizarre NeoGAF posts about the Sorceress in Dragon's Crown being a "lolicon fantasy", which probably qualify as the most Talon87 posts not written by Talon. I've settled on imagining him as someone writing investigative articles about clusterfuck game development cycles in his lucid moments while spending the rest of his waking hours having a screaming argument with a wall while wearing only a bicycle helmet and a dangerously overloaded adult diaper.

Patrick Klepek is the most fifth-wheel motherfucker ever, and I say this as someone who is the fifth wheel in any social gathering with two or more people.
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Old 06-10-2016, 08:54 PM   #8
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Not being a gamer, I don't really know much about Kotaku beyond I always found it obnoxious that it was merging "anime weeaboo with video games". Not extreme enough for me to find them interesting, but lay enough for me to find them offensive.

However, the baseball side of me will miss Deadspin a bit. They haven't been relevant in years in my mind, and baseball sites have been in decline for a good 4 years now, but it was a good site at one point.
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Old 08-22-2016, 06:31 PM   #9
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Old 08-22-2016, 07:13 PM   #10
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I love how he tries desperately to justify his shitty behavior by being like "omg my life's work is ruined and it's ALL YOUR FAULT FOR HATING JOURNALISM"

EDIT: More "waaaah people hold me accountable for my actions" below the spoiler

Spoiler: show
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Old 08-22-2016, 07:33 PM   #11
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God, that's rich. Ugh. Sometimes I'm like 'Yo Jason seems like a pretty sensible guy', and then other times I'm like 'Nevermind, he's just like the rest of his coworkers'

The original tweets in question:

Quote:
Jason Schreier ‏@jasonschreier Aug 18
Gawker isn't closing bc of a sextape or bad choices, but bc of a vindictive billionaire. That's bad news for everyone. Except billionaires.

Jason Schreier ‏@jasonschreier Aug 18
This tweet brought out a ton of white supremacists and anime-avatared Trump fans, which pretty much says it all.
Jason... it's definitely no secret this whole business brought out the gamergaters rallying for Hulk, but what goes around comes around. Please don't pretend Gawker is the victim of anything but its own success - success that was built on abhorrence, unethicality, immorality, and shameful behavior masquerading as tabloid journalism.
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Old 08-22-2016, 08:51 PM   #12
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It's not a contradiction to think Gawker was garbage and be a little concerned about how it was shut down.

Just saying.
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Old 08-22-2016, 08:59 PM   #13
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It's not a contradiction to think Gawker was garbage and be a little concerned about how it was shut down.

Just saying.
They published a private sex tape and told people to spread it around and then refused to take it down when asked to.

That shit is never going to be erased from the internet now, especially considering the Streisand Effect allowing it to gain even more popularity, which means it found its way into even more corners of the internet and even more eyes and ears because of it.

I'm just saying, I'd sue them for everything, too. Overkill? Maybe. But I have no ounce of sympathy, nor am I really concerned with how it was shut down either. They had many chances to fix their mess or try to mitigate damages, but they continued to prod and mock Hogan long after this all originally started and they didn't stop. They literally did all of this to themselves. Their site could still be up and running right now, but their actions had consequences.
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Old 08-22-2016, 09:04 PM   #14
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Like I think it's definitely bad precedent to have a billionaire literally sue the pants off a journalistic website, but Gawker outed that guy against his will and this was how he could get his day in court.

I honestly can't blame the guy for wanting to sue them into the deepest pits of hell.
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Old 08-22-2016, 10:38 PM   #15
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Like I think it's definitely bad precedent to have a billionaire literally sue the pants off a journalistic website, but Gawker outed that guy against his will and this was how he could get his day in court.

I honestly can't blame the guy for wanting to sue them into the deepest pits of hell.
I feel the same way. I think you and I are both a little biased, though - we aren't straight and so we have a stronger feeling of empathy for the billionaire. I've been outed before myself! I know exactly the feelings of shame and fear from having something like this be revealed - and this was just to a few people I was already close with anyway. I could never imagine being outed to the entire world.

But honestly? I'm not concerned at all with how it was brought down. I think claims that "a vindictive billionaire" brought down Gawker are all false. The billionaire hired an attorney who then brought down Gawker with a very strongly legitimate defamation suit.
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Old 08-23-2016, 03:42 PM   #16
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Last I heard Gawker was bought and was under new management. It's dead now? Someone explain.
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Old 08-24-2016, 01:43 AM   #17
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Last I heard Gawker was bought and was under new management. It's dead now? Someone explain.
Univision acquired Gawker and is keeping its sister sites (Kotaku, Jezebel, Gizmodo, etc). They have opted to completely shut down Gawker itself though.
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Old 08-24-2016, 08:04 AM   #18
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Great!

Actually Lifehacker and Deadspin were good sites.

Kotaku should be boiled in Gawker's intestinal fluids.
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Old 08-24-2016, 08:14 AM   #19
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Yeah, I have no idea why anyone would want to preserve Kotaku or Jezebel. Deadspin and Gizmodo, maybe. But Kotaku is a joke within its target demographic, and Jezebel is generally reviled outside of its. Neither are brands worth preserving. Both are incredible uphill battles to rebrand. Anyone looking to make a name for themselves in video games journalism or feminist journalism would be far, far better off joining any other label than joining Kotaku or Jezebel, respectively.
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Old 08-24-2016, 12:32 PM   #20
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Kotaku could probably only be saved by firing literally everyone, and then finding people who are willing to work under that name and not also be total garbage.

...probably while redesigning the website itself to make it seem like less clickbait garbage and more like an actual news site.

...Why Univision wants to bother with it is something beyond my grasp. Who knows though, Kotaku might be redeemed. Might. Outside chance.
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Old 08-24-2016, 01:38 PM   #21
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Kotaku has a history of being decent, so rebranding wouldn't be difficult. Jezebel, on the other hand, not only has never had a history of being decent, it's based off of a Biblical story of a woman who:

1. Tempted the king to commit lots of horrible crimes and turn away from Yahweh
2. Has become mostly synonymous with prostitutes due to her love of makeup and finery
3. Died by being thrown out a window, and then apparently her blood got all over the wall and her horses and they couldn't find most of her bones

We're not really talking about the kind of person you want to brand yourself behind here.
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Old 08-24-2016, 01:39 PM   #22
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It's probably because they paid $125M for that group of sites, and while on the low end of Gawker's original value each shut down represents a further diminishment of that asset.

If the goal was for Gawker and all its daughter sites to die, it shouldn't have been bought. Likely, Univision saw Gawker itself as a negative asset, so by killing it off they've increased their purchase's value right away. There's certainly some merit to that perception.
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Old 08-24-2016, 02:30 PM   #23
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Something pretty funny about Kotaku in all of this was Stephen Totilo, Editor-In-Chief at Kotaku, expressed in an interview with TotalBiscuit a while ago that he was against ethics policies being publicly available because it could force his journalists to be written into a corner.

Univision now owns Kotaku, and has a very public, very strict/open ethics policy.

I already have a stash of popcorn kept aside specifically for where this will inevitably wind up going.
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Old 08-24-2016, 07:34 PM   #24
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Yeah, I have no idea why anyone would want to preserve Kotaku or Jezebel. Deadspin and Gizmodo, maybe. But Kotaku is a joke within its target demographic, and Jezebel is generally reviled outside of its. Neither are brands worth preserving. Both are incredible uphill battles to rebrand. Anyone looking to make a name for themselves in video games journalism or feminist journalism would be far, far better off joining any other label than joining Kotaku or Jezebel, respectively.
They probably get loads of clicks, even if those clicks are from people who are outraged over their clickbaity titles (and well, the content of their articles too). I imagine they still make pretty good ad revenue from the traffic they generate over the outrage the brew.
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Old 08-25-2016, 04:47 AM   #25
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Anybody remember the website The Gaming Intelligence Agency (thegia.com)? That's where I used to go to get video game news about 15 years ago. On an April 1, they suddenly announced that they were shutting down the site. Everybody just assumed that it was a hilarious April Fools prank, but then they really did close down and never came back.

It was perhaps the greatest April Fools prank of them all!
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