Sealion infestations are problematic. Be sure to call your local exterminator promptly whenever you encounter one.

You’re right. Had to dig into my memory for this one and fact check myself.

IRC, BBS, and most forums (of the era) used PM or SP. MUCKs and a few other tools used Whisper. ICQ introduced “IM me”. Part of me remebers using the term “DM” for IRC messages, but I used IRC fairly regularly well into the 2010s.

However, the forum I spent a ton of my younger years on used “Direct Messages” which has likely polluted my memory. Since it was a technology related forum, that was probabaly a customization from the operator to distance everyone from the idea of “private” since everything was clear-text and unencrypted back then. That or I’m confusing “IM me” from the ICQ/AIM/MSN days.

Point being, nobody thought “PM” meant secure and not visible to the server operators back then. It just meant that only you, the recipient, server operators, and 1337 h4xx0rz could see your messages.

What a trip down edited memory lane that was. Thanks for fact checking me.

Umm… People have been using the phrase “Direct message (DM) me” since forever in the game and online comms world. Private message wasn’t a concept until after DMs were later encrypted. And we always knew, that if we didn’t control the servers, even encrypted, those messages were subject the server operators.

Your logic is giving me the impression that you’re younger and didn’t go through these experiences.

I just wish it was an either/or situation.

I don’t always need my lawn mower/blower/weed trimmer on batteries. I wish I could easily plug them in when doing light dut work close to the house. But then they couldn’t tie me into their battery ecosystem as easily.

TBH, I never dug into rational wiki. However the timeline is fairly accurate from what I watched what happened to my friends both in the game industry and my former friends that were gamers (hint, i worked in games when this shit was unfolding).

Unfortunately, no other “timeline” source exists, with Wikipedia starting its paragraphs of history with Zoe Quinn creating Depression Quest, and many many other articles starting there as well. Some people like to attribute a slightly earlier event of a handful of journalists critiquing gamers over their reactions to the Mass Effect 3 ending, but that doesn’t really fit with how quickly things snowballed after “The Zoe Post”.

I stand against gamergate buddy.

Your timeline of events and triggers are off though.

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Gamergate

I vividly remeber this time period and witnessing these events unfold live. I lost a good deal of people I considered friends at the time due to the misogyny that rose out.

You’re right though, gamergate followers were radicalized by what we now know as the “Alt-right”.

Gamergate started with “The Zoe Post”, not the removal of jailbait.

“The Zoe Post” is a hit piece from an Ex-boyfriend of game developer Zoe Quinn that alleged that she slept with a notable game reviewer to get positive reviews for her game. Said reviewer never actually reviewed her game.

Please don’t re-write the history of these events. Especially since jailbait had been removed for around a year when “The Zoe Post” dropped.