Russ Pitts resigns as editor-in-chief

[SolidState]

Do you not remember how fucken toxic the forums were when gamersgate was going on here? This site was a shitshow.

Then surely the blame should fall on the moderators for not handling things better.

You can't blame the patrons of a store when the shopkeepers let it go to wreck and ruin.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Then surely the blame should fall on the moderators for not handling things better.

You can't blame the patrons of a store when the shopkeepers let it go to wreck and ruin.

I can sort of agree with this in a tentative and general fashion. Since discussing GG in particular is not allowed, I'll just make this general statement: Any event that causes a great divide in a community is bad for the community and runs the risk of greatly diminishing or wiping the community out. It is always up to the leaders of the community to minimize the fallout of the divide and mend it as much as possible, and if they don't they deserve blame for not doing a good job or the right job. The people who just spoke their mind, no matter how rabidly or vicariously, might be shitty people but they are also exercising their right of free speech and can't be expected to put the good of all of the community above their own good.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Anyways, bring R&P back.

Stay classy Lune.

Yes, shame me for shaming the most recent person to say they care, then disappear on us, and then finally fully just bail.

But hey, know what the difference between them and me? I am still here. I realize you think me giving a fuck is a bad thing, but it isnt.

The guy is leaving because of personal mental health issues and your first response is use a video of 'Another One Bites the Dust'. Yes, it does sound like you don't give a fuck about anyone but yourself, just like most of your posts do.

... until you realize that the places that did "ban free speech back in the day" are not only still in business, but doing a million times better than this sorry site.

It's a generally accepted consensus that allowing the subject here is what killed the site. If that makes you happy then... good I guess?

Still wonder why anyone blames GG for what happened here when these forums were dying long before that happened. Sure it shot the forums in the head but it was already frothing at the mouth with rabies before that.

 

[Saelune]

Anyways, bring R&P back.

Stay classy Lune.

Yes, shame me for shaming the most recent person to say they care, then disappear on us, and then finally fully just bail.

But hey, know what the difference between them and me? I am still here. I realize you think me giving a fuck is a bad thing, but it isnt.

The guy is leaving because of personal mental health issues and your first response is use a video of 'Another One Bites the Dust'. Yes, it does sound like you don't give a fuck about anyone but yourself, just like most of your posts do.

The guy is leaving cause he fucked up and doesnt want to face responsibility for it. But go ahead, I already am well aware you just want to find any and every excuse to shit on me. I doubt if it was me leaving for 'mental illness' you would be as 'caring'.

But hey, thoughts and prayers, right? Meanwhile we're still here dealing with revolving door leadership who never want to care about the community that has endured here time and time again. But thanks Pitts for destroying R&P and then bailing.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Best of luck to him. Ok, bit surprising that he's leaving so soon, but if he's worried about his mental health, running this place probably isn't for him. I do wish people would stop attacking him over this.

I for one welcome our new alien overlords, assuming Anthony Agnello is a group of aliens.

 

[Baffle]

Meanwhile we're still here dealing with revolving door leadership who never want to care about the community that has endured here time and time again. But thanks Pitts for destroying R&P and then bailing.

If I had to choose between my mental health and a community that couldn't care less about my mental health, I'd drop that community like a sack of warm shit.

 

[Worgen]

Do you not remember how fucken toxic the forums were when gamersgate was going on here? This site was a shitshow.

Then surely the blame should fall on the moderators for not handling things better.

You can't blame the patrons of a store when the shopkeepers let it go to wreck and ruin.

Of course they do, but the owner of the site at the time wanted to let gg come here so how much could they really do?

 

[Agema]

The Event was toxic. The management decided - no doubt because Macris was pally with that side of the political divide (note he appears to be well in with Milo: they've got a lot in common, including as people who ran dodgy web companies that stiffed their workers) - to encourage one side onto their site. Obviously they were looking at securing a niche in the market. Instead it just escalated civil war, and we all know, the general community is the loser in any civil war.

In the long run, however, I suspect the Escapist decayed more because Defy Media was (allegedly) badly run, leaked money and obviously was not going to be investing in quality content.

 

[tippy2k2]

Anyways, bring R&P back.

Stay classy Lune.

Yes, shame me for shaming the most recent person to say they care, then disappear on us, and then finally fully just bail.

But hey, know what the difference between them and me? I am still here. I realize you think me giving a fuck is a bad thing, but it isnt.

The guy is leaving because of personal mental health issues and your first response is use a video of 'Another One Bites the Dust'. Yes, it does sound like you don't give a fuck about anyone but yourself, just like most of your posts do.

The guy is leaving cause he fucked up and doesnt want to face responsibility for it. But go ahead, I already am well aware you just want to find any and every excuse to shit on me. I doubt if it was me leaving for 'mental illness' you would be as 'caring'.

But hey, thoughts and prayers, right? Meanwhile we're still here dealing with revolving door leadership who never want to care about the community that has endured here time and time again. But thanks Pitts for destroying R&P and then bailing.

Russ took his leave of absense mid-February. R&P was shut down at the end of March.

I would have thought given your own posts about your experiences/causes that you'd be a touch more sympathetic to someone stepping back to deal with their own well being and mental health.

Yeah, it would be nice if we got some stable leadership to this site but if the man determined the spotlight of being an online public figure was causing him to continually lash out like that (this isn't the first time Russ stepped on a landmine of his own making), I'd rather give up the site than to have him keep suffering like that. Especially given this was always seen as a temp role according to him.

 

[Saelune]

Anyways, bring R&P back.

Stay classy Lune.

Yes, shame me for shaming the most recent person to say they care, then disappear on us, and then finally fully just bail.

But hey, know what the difference between them and me? I am still here. I realize you think me giving a fuck is a bad thing, but it isnt.

The guy is leaving because of personal mental health issues and your first response is use a video of 'Another One Bites the Dust'. Yes, it does sound like you don't give a fuck about anyone but yourself, just like most of your posts do.

The guy is leaving cause he fucked up and doesnt want to face responsibility for it. But go ahead, I already am well aware you just want to find any and every excuse to shit on me. I doubt if it was me leaving for 'mental illness' you would be as 'caring'.

But hey, thoughts and prayers, right? Meanwhile we're still here dealing with revolving door leadership who never want to care about the community that has endured here time and time again. But thanks Pitts for destroying R&P and then bailing.

Russ took his leave of absense mid-February. R&P was shut down at the end of March.

I would have thought given your own posts about your experiences/causes that you'd be a touch more sympathetic to someone stepping back to deal with their own well being and mental health.

Yeah, it would be nice if we got some stable leadership to this site but if the man determined the spotlight of being an online public figure was causing him to continually lash out like that (this isn't the first time Russ stepped on a landmine of his own making), I'd rather give up the site than to have him keep suffering like that. Especially given this was always seen as a temp role according to him.

My empathy is for the people of the Escapist who have endured broken promise after broken promise from irresponsible people.

Anyone who thinks I am unempathetic simply is ignoring that my empathy is earmarked for others.

Responsibility is a well, responsibility. This isn't just about Russ Pitts, but about all the people he had responsibility over.

If a person cant handle having responsibility over others cause of their own mental health, maybe they shouldnt be put into such positions. I want to have kids one day, but I sure as hell am not going to do that until I know my own problems wont be their burden. If I cant be responsible enough to have kids, I can atleast be responsible enough to know that.

He didnt even tell us. Johnny Novgorod just happen to find an article elsewhere where he said he bailed on us. If he cant even tell us himself on this very site, why should I feel bad for him?

 

[Saelune]

Meanwhile we're still here dealing with revolving door leadership who never want to care about the community that has endured here time and time again. But thanks Pitts for destroying R&P and then bailing.

If I had to choose between my mental health and a community that couldn't care less about my mental health, I'd drop that community like a sack of warm shit.

If I had to choose a man who doesn't care about the community I am part of, or the community I am part of, I am going to choose the community I am part of.

 

[Baffle]

Anyone who thinks I am unempathetic simply is ignoring that my empathy is earmarked for others.

Your empathy appears to be reserved for yourself.

 

[Saelune]

Anyone who thinks I am unempathetic simply is ignoring that my empathy is earmarked for others.

Your empathy appears to be reserved for yourself.

So if I leave and cite 'mental health problems', do you become the bad guy now?

You're calling me selfish, yet are arguing that Russ is not only selfish too, but that its ok when he does it.

If Russ is justified for abandoning people who don't care about him, then I am justified too.

 

[Baffle]

So if I leave and cite 'mental health problems', do you become the bad guy now?

No, because I won't moan about it if you leave, I'll just accept that this wasn't for you. I don't feel you owe me anything, and I don't owe you anything.

You can say you're justified all you like.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Still, I dunno why GG has to matter in this context. I guess people are still salty this place didn't ban free speech back in the day? If so I'm happy they're upset lol.

... until you realize that the places that did "ban free speech back in the day" are not only still in business, but doing a million times better than this sorry site.

It's a generally accepted consensus that allowing the subject here is what killed the site. If that makes you happy then... good I guess?

Nah that's silly. It was people's reaction that caused whatever was caused here. Whatever happened is solely the fault of the people running the site and of the general community here. I will never treat people as incapable of handling any subject, ever. People should be able to discuss anything like rational individuals. Also I don't think comparing a smaller site like this with sites like reddit makes much sense. Reddit wouldn't go out of business over one subject somehow and in fact them banning people harmed them more than helped them, they'd have been fine either way, and this site would have ended up however it has ended up either way.

I've been here for long enough to know that things didn't take a sudden downturn in 2014, people just like to say they did because they were against allowing the subject to be freely discussed here to begin with and have had a chip on their shoulder ever since so they will blame anything and everything on that in order to feel better.

Do you not remember how fucken toxic the forums were when gamersgate was going on here? This site was a shitshow. Those fuckers were horrible. Having free speech is different then allowing bad actors and gg was full of those.

I don't dispute that. I just simply rank it similarly to the grand 2012 pedophilia debates or to the extra credits arm surgery fund crisis. Those were all shitshows and there were also various smaller ones peppered in there too. People were saying literally the same thing at the time, that each of those events ruined the site irreparably. I'm inclined to be a lot more measured about it all. I don't think anything mattered since responsible adults are to blame when they let a subject ruin their community. It is never the subject's fault. I just refuse to abandon my rational faculties like that and segment off a particular subject for fear that our frail minds can't handle it. If that's to mean that a site will die then that's still better. I wouldn't want to be part of a site that didn't uphold that reasoning. (hence why I never had a reddit/facebook/etc.)

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Anyone who thinks I am unempathetic simply is ignoring that my empathy is earmarked for others.

Empathy is not some finite resource. You can feel empathy for this community and feel an equal amount of empathy for Russ Pitts. The fact that you choose not to empathize with, and is in fact actively hostile to, someone who's re-evaluating their life due to mental illness does not show you in a good light. Especially as the reason you choose to act hostile towards them is because you feel they owe more to you and yours.

You are essentially arguing that Pitts is not getting your empathy because he promised to re-vitalize the Escapist and is not up to the task because of his mental illness. From where I'm standing that's a really shitty attitude to take, especially when the stakes for you are as low as "my favorite forum might disappear" and the stakes for Pitts is a life time of anxiety and self-harming behavior.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

Still, I dunno why GG has to matter in this context. I guess people are still salty this place didn't ban free speech back in the day? If so I'm happy they're upset lol.

... until you realize that the places that did "ban free speech back in the day" are not only still in business, but doing a million times better than this sorry site.

It's a generally accepted consensus that allowing the subject here is what killed the site. If that makes you happy then... good I guess?

Nah that's silly. It was people's reaction that caused whatever was caused here. Whatever happened is solely the fault of the people running the site and of the general community here. I will never treat people as incapable of handling any subject, ever. People should be able to discuss anything like rational individuals. Also I don't think comparing a smaller site like this with sites like reddit makes much sense. Reddit wouldn't go out of business over one subject somehow and in fact them banning people harmed them more than helped them, they'd have been fine either way, and this site would have ended up however it has ended up either way.

I've been here for long enough to know that things didn't take a sudden downturn in 2014, people just like to say they did because they were against allowing the subject to be freely discussed here to begin with and have had a chip on their shoulder ever since so they will blame anything and everything on that in order to feel better.

Do you not remember how fucken toxic the forums were when gamersgate was going on here? This site was a shitshow. Those fuckers were horrible. Having free speech is different then allowing bad actors and gg was full of those.

I don't dispute that. I just simply rank it similarly to the grand 2012 pedophilia debates or to the extra credits arm surgery fund crisis. Those were all shitshows and there were also various smaller ones peppered in there too. People were saying literally the same thing at the time, that each of those events ruined the site irreparably. I'm inclined to be a lot more measured about it all. I don't think anything mattered since responsible adults are to blame when they let a subject ruin their community. It is never the subject's fault. I just refuse to abandon my rational faculties like that and segment off a particular subject for fear that our frail minds can't handle it. If that's to mean that a site will die then that's still better. I wouldn't want to be part of a site that didn't uphold that reasoning. (hence why I never had a reddit/facebook/etc.)

Not even remotely comparable. There is no single event that had more site members banned than GG. There is no single event that had more content creators and staff lost and no single event that had more site users leave due to the conduct that was allowed during that time. People lost their jobs and were doxed, stalked and threatened. Danyal's nonsense is nowhere near comparable to what actually happened here. The site literally had damaged it's reputation in the gaming community for allowing that to happen. Other gaming sites were talking about how bad it was, it actually made news elsewhere over it.

 

[Saelune]

Anyone who thinks I am unempathetic simply is ignoring that my empathy is earmarked for others.

Empathy is not some finite resource. You can feel empathy for this community and feel an equal amount of empathy for Russ Pitts. The fact that you choose not to empathize with, and is in fact actively hostile to, someone who's re-evaluating their life due to mental illness does not show you in a good light. Especially as the reason you choose to act hostile towards them is because you feel they owe more to you and yours.

You are essentially arguing that Pitts is not getting your empathy because he promised to re-vitalize the Escapist and is not up to the task because of his mental illness. From where I'm standing that's a really shitty attitude to take, especially when the stakes for you are as low as "my favorite forum might disappear" and the stakes for Pitts is a life time of anxiety and self-harming behavior.

I stopped caring about looking good a long time ago when I realized that people who care more about looking good than being good are shit. I constantly get shit on for caring and opposing bigotry cause I 'come off as shitty'. As my now lost essay about the bullshit of civility would attest to.

But I really don't care if you think poorly of me. I think you also failed on your responsibilities to this site, now former mod. And if your response is 'Well, I don't care what you think either', then you have failed to live up to your own post.

Anyways, where is my empathy hm? Live up to your own advice, not this 'Do as I say, not as I do' I get constantly from my critics.

All I am getting is a bunch of virtue signalling sent my way.

 

[Saelune]

So if I leave and cite 'mental health problems', do you become the bad guy now?

No, because I won't moan about it if you leave, I'll just accept that this wasn't for you. I don't feel you owe me anything, and I don't owe you anything.

You can say you're justified all you like.

I also wasn't responsible for the site or the people on it.

 

[JoJo]

Gonna lock this, as the thread has been thoroughly derailed by personal arguments (and please remember that Gamergate is not a permitted topic on this forum).