I've never, myself, ever seen the term used that way and I frequent multiple games journalism outlets. So yes, a writer should expect that their use of a term like "blacklist" may cause confusion among their readers. What's more, one should be particularly careful about using a term that often implies unethical and often illegal practice when referring to activity that is neither. I've no idea who started using blacklist to mean what you say it means here but it was not a good choice then and it's surely not a good choice to continue the practice, especially when you write a piece designed to make yourself seem like a terribly aggrieved party.CaitSeith said:It's cheap only if you expect the reader to not be familiar with gaming journalism terminology.Gorrath said:I believe the confusion is because usually blacklisting is used to mean when a group of major industry players keep a list and jointly deny contact/hiring/some other benefit from whoever's on the list. The practice itself is unethical and in some instances illegal. To call a single entity refusing to speak to another single entity "blacklisting" fits the technical definition but should not be conflated with the unethical, industry-wide practice. So while some might call what Ubi or Bethesda did "blacklisting" it seems a cheap attempt to have the reader conflate it with the unethical/illegal practice that involves collusion. Whether or not Kotaku means for their readers to conflate the two I can't speculate but it's a pretty poor way to describe the situation in my opinion.CaitSeith said:Blacklisted is a term used when a publisher or developer denies contact and review copies to a reviewer. It's been used like that before, and it doesn't require to involve the whole industry to use the term; because each company has their own blacklist.Karadalis said:The real idiocy of this all is:
Kotaku isnt even really blacklisted...
They are just being ignored by two publishers. Not by the entire industry.
Said two publishers havent even colaborated in their decision to ignore Kotaku for all we know...
Kotaku is simply using the word "blacklisted" because it sounds so much more evil and generates more clicks then simply saying "Bethesda and ubisoft dont call back anymore!"