NeoGAF, a popular and often-controversial gaming forum, is imploding, reports say. A mass exit of moderators has occurred shortly after the site's owner, Tyler Malka, was accused recently of sexual assault, which is not a new thing for Malka, going by the username "Evilore."
NeoGAF Owner Accused Of Sexual Harassment Again
He has been accused several times in the past of sexual misconduct and allegedly even bragged about episodes where he grabbed women without their consent. The newest allegations, however, seem to have caused Malka to turn sour, shutting down all mentions, discussions, and conversations of the matter in the forums when they popped up. This censorship angered moderators, who then sequentially began leaving in droves.
At the time of writing, visiting NeoGAF.com shows a "503 Service Unavailable" error message and a note that the site is "currently down for scheduled maintenance."
NeoGAF Shutdown: Here's What Happened
On Saturday, Oct. 21, someone published a series of screenshots on NeoGAF that detailed an incident in which a woman claimed that a man she was once with had sexually harassed her by getting into the shower naked without her consent. Afterward, she made it clear she didn't like that behavior. The alleged person then got out, became mean, and started ignoring the woman after the incident.
The woman's post was published originally on Facebook, and some of her friends asked her to name the man. Despite initially being apprehensive to name names "out of fear," she later commented, "F--- it. Google Evilore."
In the wake of the post, NeoGAF members started protesting Evilore and began flooding the site with threads discussing the allegations, many of which were immediately censored. As a result, several moderators — including popular ones such as Besada, Xander Cage, Cyan, and Kabouter — quit, and the site went offline.
Malka continued to control the situation by shutting down threads, the site itself, and by monitoring social media posts that bring up the sexual harassment allegations, as WWG notes. This heavy policing only lead users to dig up his past connections with a former moderator that was later arrested for child pornography.
Now, many users are expressing their happiness over NeoGAF's demise:
Miiverse outlasted NeoGAF.
— Imran KhaAAARGGH!! (@imranzomg) October 21, 2017
NeoGaf Admin: *Bans user for misogynistic comment* Also NeoGaf Admin: *Sexually assaults woman* — Feihcsim (@FeihcsiimNot) October 22, 2017
NeoGAF is in fucking meltdown mode. Lot of mods quitting. Hopefully that cesspool of subhuman garbage burns down. — Michelle Catlin (@CatTheUndying) October 21, 2017
NeoGAF is nowhere near as important as it thinks it is. It's ran by a bunch of arseholes. Fuck it. Burn it all down — Liam Robertson (@Doctor_Cupcakes) October 21, 2017
I think it's real sad how everyone is suddenly attacking Evilore, the owner of NeoGAF.
Sad because it didn't happen sooner.
— Dawg (@GuerrillaDawg) October 21, 2017
Born too late to explore the seas Born too early to explore the stars Born just at the right time to see NeoGAF burn to the ground pic.twitter.com/NsJEYQXaK6 — big scare tanner ahh (@TannerLPer) October 21, 2017
Wait For The Whole Picture
As Rolling Stone and many other publications have noted, the story is still developing. It's possible the woman's post is just one testimonial that's now blowing the lid off Malka's pattern of inappropriate sexual behavior, and more stories might slowly surface as the story gets traction.
It's easy to imagine that the woman's confession was inspired by a recent online phenomenon encouraging women to speak out about their sexual assault experiences, partly spurred by whistleblower reports about producer Harvey Weinstein, who's been accused of using his significant status in the movie industry to sexually harass up-and-coming actresses.
