ResetEra is a new Gaming Forum website that has been developed after the sexual harassment claims against Tyler “Evilore” Malka, the owner of NeoGaf. Many of NeoGaf‘s olde moderators and admins have left to create ResetEra. The site has similar boards to NeoGaf. It allows a user to post topics and other users to respond.
For viewers unfamiliar to NeoGaf, it is an online forum with a focus on video games. The appeal was that many posters were credible sources of potential games, video game developers, people working in the industry and like-minded individuals for games. Inside developers would speak and explain their process or even explain the gaming industry. The site had heavy-handed moderation. A post would be censored if they didn’t follow certain guidelines and trolling and unrelated topics would be deleted or led to account bans.
Recently, many women on social media have been posting #MeToo in regards to speaking about being sexually harassed. Film director, Ima Leupp, spoke about her experience being harassed by Malka at a party when she was in the shower and sick. She pushed him away and he resented her after that. Since she posted it online, many users requested a response from Malka. After lack of response, many people requested to be banned and began posting inappropriate content. This led to the site shutting down for a few days before remerging with Malka‘s statement. He denied the accusations and said, “the individual making the accusation isn’t credible, the story doesn’t reconcile logically with the facts, and there’s plenty of evidence and witnesses to corroborate that.” Despite this, many moderators have stepped down from NeoGaf and have created their own sites like ResetEra. Moderators on NeoGaf are now anonymous and Malka stated:
“The team is diminished at the moment and the folks who stuck around care very much about this community and its future. Be considerate of them. That’s non-negotiable.”
Ima Lepp has not stepped forward on the statement. Whether it is true or not, many users have returned to NeoGaf and proceeded as normal. Although there is permaban request, the site is running but without off-topic boards.
Business Insight
Despite the backlash, NeoGaf will still remain a popular Gaming Forum Board site. Many users don’t mind the harassment claim. ResetEra is reaching high view counts compare to NeoGaf, but it still has a long way to go before reaching the credibility and userbase.
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