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Community Article- NeoGAF & it’s Bias, by Tim Dog

Community Article

  “NeoGAF & it’s Bias”

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“I cannot think of any other industry that is actually influenced by a forum in the way that the videogame industry is with NeoGAF.”

 

 

NeoGAF is a gaming forum that at first glance is pretty simple,  it’s easy to get to, and format is easy to navigate though. It is the #1 source for all of gaming media,  IGN, Gamespot, Giantbomb, you name it, they get their info from NeoGAF. The first stories, the first breaking news, & talking points all start at NeoGAF. I cannot think of any other industry that is actually influenced by a forum in the way that the videogame industry is with NeoGAF. If you want answers, or you wanna rage at something, NeoGAF is the place to start the fire.

 

That is great, but the problem is that it is one sided and the forum is moderated by people who have a defined hate for anything Microsoft. It is known, and sadly it is accepted. Phil Spencer, Aaron, Larry, and all the Xbox guys know it, will they admit? Nope, but they do know it, it’s pretty obvious and really NeoGAF doesn’t hide it.

 

Above is Head Moderator Bish (Timothy Lewinson) wearing his Sony hat, and Tyler Malka the owner of NeoGAF.

 

Bish is the head moderator of NeoGAF, he is the guy that verifies insiders like cboat, thuway, and even Dodd at the time. For example, if you say Xbox is getting a downclock on its CPU speed because of Yields on the ESRAM like Thuway LIED about, it has to get vetted and Bish is the guy who gives the go ahead. The thing here is that these “insiders” who all seemed to come out in force right before the launch of xbox and ps4, all would only have news that was negative or undermining of Xbox. The downclock thread (http://www.NeoGAF.com/forum/showthread.php?t=576869) is one where Thuway actively pushed out knowledge of a downclock, which as we all know now was a complete lie as the CPU was actually raised. The point though is that this actively went on, Bish supported Thuway, even banning Senninsage for a month for saying he had knowledge that the downclock wasn’t true. This is just one example of what goes on, lie is made up, thuway, dodd, cboat all chime in or whomever Bish wants to verify, and so be goes the anti-Microsoft bash fest.

Another example was when a digital foundry report came out about PS4 having 4.5 to 5.5 gb available for gaming, this thread I was banned in because I believed in Digital Foundry finding, yet Bish and his “insiders” claimed that PS4 had 6gb and actually had the media believing Thuway over Digital Foundry (http://gamingbolt.com/ps4s-5-5-gb-for-games-developer-calls-rumour-false-other-sources-say-6-gb)  its all there, even thuway and his “Lie”.  Again Bish the moderated supported all of this, and actually gave Thuway his “insider” status that many clueless media outlets actually still report on.

There was also the time when the Xbox UI dropped, and all of a sudden this dropped by Peter Dodd http://67.227.255.239/forum/showthread.php?t=705280.  Yep Xbox Live is bouncing and OS issues,  even Bish joked around said he was going to go into a “shelter”. I ask you to please read these threads, look at the hate in them, look at the false accusations that are put out. IF you are a fair person you will see there is an issue here, and it’s hate, and trying to make a product fail NeoGAF will defend and put out fires for Sony, even to the point they will lie as we see in 6 gb thread, but they will do their best to make Microsoft look bad, ban Xbox fans for having a different opinion than theirs, and then claim “neutrality”.

 

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Pictured above is a clear connection,  Adam Boyes of Sony, who reads the Gaf daily , and Head moderator Bish Timothy Lewinson both worked together, actually Adam was his boss at beefymedia and worked as recently as 2012 together. Let’s be real here, they have a friendship, they have a connection, and guess what, it carries over to Bish and his moderation of NeoGAF.  So many Xbox fans can relate, as we are pretty much all banned, or the ones that are still posting on NeoGAF are afraid to say anything remotely bad about Sony, and walk on egg shells when defending Microsoft. It’s not like we know of any other mods either that are pro Microsoft, they are all anti-Microsoft, from Kagari, to y2kev.  They protect Sony, call out warnings for trolling in Driveclub thread post 7 (http://www.NeoGAF.com/forum/showthread.php?t=905048)  yet let Ryse get trashed beyond belief pre launch.

 

 

Its really something too when its owner Tyler Malka claims neutrality in all of this,  as he did when Major Nelson was nice enough to offer NeoGAF an invite to E3 because they had their access pulled in 2014.   (http://www.NeoGAF.com/forum/showthread.php?t=824557).  Fine that’s ok, but then in an interview Tyler Malka claims that Major Nelson was offering a bribe. Tyler answers the question ” Hey Jason. I think the publisher reps have, for the most part, wised up at this point. Back when NeoGAF was a much smaller site and it was treated in the same way that a fansite would, I’d get all sorts of offers to be flown places, to get swag, to get review copies. None of that makes any sense whatsoever to compromise the neutrality of the site over, of course, but that’s the typical tactic. The most egregious recent example of attempted bribery was Major Nelson offering to get me and the NeoGAF staff into E3 last year after the ESA decided to no longer treat us as Media. The offer was to come “under the banner of Microsoft” as, like, official Microsoft delegates. I had a good laugh at that one!”

http://kotaku.com/kotaku-asks-the-guy-who-runs-NeoGAF-1697035983?hipra_discussion_redesign=off&utm_expid=66866090-52.r5txldOmRkqnbJxnyozIeA.1&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

Ok now I want you all to stop and think right now.  This alleged “bribery” event happened at E3 2014, the date of the AMA was April 2015. That’s a long time to hold this kind of negative thoughts about someone under the Microsoft banner. Do you think he might of harbored any kind of negativity against Microsoft, this smells of crap.

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How do you really say that the owner of one of the most influential sites is looking for neutrality when he holds this kind of resentment?  Also how do you infer bribery from a handshake without having some kid of negative thoughts being around your head? Is it because you are insecure with the fact that you are running a website that isn’t really fair to Microsoft? Now if this hasn’t opened your eyes to what’s going on at NeoGAF nothing will.   This live blog will do very little to change anything, I have talked to many Microsoft executives about this place called NeoGAF, and the consensus is they really dont think its a big deal, but the fact is that it is a big deal.

If you wanna pretend that nothing is wrong, you can, as many do, but at least know one thing, the Bias will continue and won’t stop unless you stand up against it.

timdog

-Completely written by Tim Dog (Feel free to follow him on twitter -> @PNF4LYFE)
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