I cannot believe that the IGDA is going to implement the Twitter block bot of some 15,000 people. When I read the first tweet about it, I of course thought it must be a mistake. Nope.

Of course, as a skeptic I wanted to see more evidence than just multiple unattributed tweets. It didn’t take long for people in my timeline to tweet and retweet the evidence. I still have a hard time reconciling this approach. Are game developers receiving twets and emails that consitiue harassment? If so, please provide the evidence that it comes from those that support GamerGate and are not just trolls on the Internet.

What constitutes harassment in their mind? Is it people sending letters via email pointing out the ethical problems in gaming journalism and the collusion of some game developers with these journalists? That’s harassment?

If so, please provide the evidence. We skeptics like to sat, “citation(s) please” for any and all statements and claims that don’t quite fit the current factual data on a subject. If the data rare there, sure, we’ll modify our position. Until then, don’t just make a claim without providing the evidence for that claim.

What do the IGDA believe they are going to accomplish with this radical step? Do they believe that blocking tweets of some thousands of Twitter users will somehow, suddenly, destroy the GamerGate movement? This isn’t a game where you toss a grenade and your opponent is demolished.

What they’re going to do, and just started, is to alienate their consumer base. That’s right, these people they’re going to block are their consumers; you know, how they eventually get paid for their work.

It’s not just the 15,000 either. Do they really believe that blocking a small number of gamers won’t eventually become known by the entire gaming community?

The real question I want to ask is this: Are these people really that stupid? Well, it seems they are. I wonder how long it will take them to realize that this is a bad move.

Until then, it’s incumbent upon GamerGate supporters to continue to raise the important questions about the gaming industry and use their purchasing power as their hammer.