Fucking Cowards

"Sir Halffast" (Sir_Halffast)
10/31/2019 at 11:46 • Filed to: None

I know this has probably been discussed, but the owners of G/O Media are fucking thin-skinned cowards to shut down Deadspin comments. It’s a bullshit stupid policy, promulgated by billionaire pinkos who are completely mentally inept and incapable of wiping their own asses without smearing their taint. This is how discourse dies. Because some panda-dicked moose knuckle decides that money is more important than literally anything else. The irony of it, is that in focusing on money over all, they eventually all go broke. I hope no one attends their funerals. #eatshitspanfeller

DISCUSSION (37)

Discerning > Sir Halffast
10/31/2019 at 11:55

Okie Dokie

Cash Rewards > Sir Halffast
10/31/2019 at 12:00

Yeah, it's been addressed. Deadspin is dead, the entire staff quit yesterday, or near enough

Sovande > Sir Halffast
10/31/2019 at 12:01

The site is a commercial enterprise. The goal of such an enterprise to make money. As such, that is going to be the main goal of the owners of said enterprise. When employees start to ask readers to shit talk their bosses and then act surprised that they get fired, it becomes hard for me to feel much sympathy. The site was little more than poor reporting followed by comments that are rarely more than clever dick jokes. People with the attitude you expressed above are the one’s who are maladjusted. Wishing death and a sparsely attended funeral is a bit extreme, don’t you think?

fintail > Sir Halffast
10/31/2019 at 12:09

If anything, ghouls like Thiel and the vulture capitalists are the opposite of pinkos.

My bird IS the word > Sir Halffast
10/31/2019 at 12:10

Bankrtupt company gets bought out, new owners change everything, goes bankrupt again. It's possible they just had a shit business model.

Sir Halffast > Sovande
10/31/2019 at 12:11

I didn’t wish them death. Just to eat shit.

This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja: > My bird IS the word
10/31/2019 at 12:14

If only we had all just bought more Anker products

TheRevanchist > Sir Halffast
10/31/2019 at 12:18

I’m just avoiding DS for a long time. No page hits from me.

ttyymmnn > Sir Halffast
10/31/2019 at 12:23

On a certain fundamental level, employees are expected to do as their boss says or expect to get fired or at least asked to quit. If you worked at McDonalds and you insisted on putting strawberry jelly on the Big Mac instead of Special Sauce™ you would likely be asked to follow the corporate recipe or face termination.

I enjoyed Deadspin. Once you got beyond the jokes, there was often some insightful commentary, and I liked exactly how they didn’t stick to sports. There are enough just sports websites out there as it is. It’s unfortunate that it came to an end in the way that it did, but you can’t exactly throw a tantrum, tell your boss to fuck off, and expect to keep your job. But maybe I’m just an old fart. Wait a minute—I am .

Sir Halffast > TheRevanchist
10/31/2019 at 12:28

Yeah. Nothing worth seeing. I was really looking forward to some fun and interesting analysis of a thrilling game seven, but no. Spanfeller’s a gaping asshole instead.

Also, I love your icon. I’m playing KOTOR II right now for like, the 12th time? Just because it’s so freaking good.

benn454 > fintail
10/31/2019 at 12:33

Yeah, that came off as very "old man yells at cloud" to me.

Sir Halffast > ttyymmnn
10/31/2019 at 12:34

On a certain fundamental level yes. The issue for me is not that the employees told the boss to fuck off. I get that being a “fireable” offense. The bigger problem is that the boss specifically BECAME the boss because he KNEW that he would be told to fuck off, so that he could do just this. Just like Thiel suing Gawker and forcing a sale. It was never about Hogan’s video, it was only ever about Thiel taking personal vengeance for some real or perceived insult . Same thing here. This Spanfeller group didn’t like Splinter, didn’t like Deadspin. So they bought it on purpose so that they could remove it from the media landscape. Just wait, Jezebel and the Root better be looking over both shoulders because I guarantee the chop is coming soon. They’ve already took out the “commie socialists ” and the “won’t stick to sports” crowds. Who do you think is next? They’re putting everyone on notice that no one is safe. You cross their right-wing perspective and you’ll get your comments shut off and your staff muzzled. This is not simply about telling your boss off. This is a transparent effort by someone of a differing political viewpoint to destroy credible and effective opposition.

Sir Halffast > Sovande
10/31/2019 at 12:38

Also, “this site is a commercial enterprise” is a lame dodge for a clear policy that is intended to shut down a mouthpiece for journalists who oppose the current presidency. Where’d Splinter go, huh? Wasn’t that highly trafficked site also a commercial enterprise? Or is it not really about commerce after all?

Sir Halffast > fintail
10/31/2019 at 12:39

Technically yes. Feel free to mentally replace “pinko” with “goose- stepper.”

Sir Halffast > My bird IS the word
10/31/2019 at 12:40

Gutting one of your most popular and profitable sites is not a business model, it’s a message.

For Sweden > Sir Halffast
10/31/2019 at 12:40

I don't think that people who oppose Trump have trouble getting published.

fintail > Sir Halffast
10/31/2019 at 12:46

That works better given the recent climate. I am amused so many are defending the idiots, too.

Sir Halffast > For Sweden
10/31/2019 at 12:46

Generally, no. In this case though? You can’t honestly tell me you think that this was not a political move.

Sir Halffast > fintail
10/31/2019 at 12:49

Which idiots? The Deadspin idiots? It’s a website, if you don’t like it, vote with your clicks. Unfortunately for management, people WERE voting with their clicks. Overwhelmingly, and in favor. Whether you like Deadspin or its style, this was an overtly political move that was meant to limit an opposing viewpoint. It’s disgusting, and it’s unethical, and it’s emphatically NOT a “business decision.” Because no one makes a business decision that is guaranteed to lose money.

For Sweden > Sir Halffast
10/31/2019 at 12:50

Likely, though I think they know that Kinja Deals affiliate revenue isn't keeping the website solvent.

fintail > Sir Halffast
10/31/2019 at 12:59

No, the gormless G/O overlords who don’t seem to understand what drives clicks and views, and the value of a relatively unique site . I had no problem with Deadspin. I hope they go broke, but even if they do, someone else will likely be holding the bill.

Sir Halffast > fintail
10/31/2019 at 13:02

Yep. They didn’t like Deadspin’s politics. So they woodshedded it like cowardly cowards. Less than a month after canning Splinter too. I’ll be surprised if Jezebel and/or the Root both make it to the new year.

fintail > Sir Halffast
10/31/2019 at 13:04

I’ll be shocked if anything under the umbrella survives. Aside from Jalopnik, Deadspin and Splinter got the views. Without them, there’s not much left. Politics are definitely a factor.

Sir Halffast > fintail
10/31/2019 at 13:08

They’ll survive, but neutered, impotent, and managed by “on all sides” false-equivocating wolves.

TheRevanchist > Sir Halffast
10/31/2019 at 13:12

Thanks! I’ve had it for quite some time now, more than a decade, as my avi.

I have 1 OG XBox in the living room and one in the closet in case the first one dies . Both are used for playing KoTOR and KoTOR 2 only. Both games have such amazing stories .

Kreia is the most well written and voice-acted character I’ve ever seen in a game. There are moments when you feel for her, and, yet, you know she is deceptive and holding back so much knowledge about what is happening. That initial cut scene at the Trayus Academy where she is betrayed: Wow.

I’d go on about both games , because I could, but I won’t, because it would be a 10 page essay and still feel incomplete.

fintail > Sir Halffast
10/31/2019 at 13:15

I can’t imagine anyone would read it, and few would want to write for it. Going to be hard to sell that ad space.

Sir Halffast > fintail
10/31/2019 at 13:17

Purveyors of gold bullion have to advertise somewhere.

My bird IS the word > Sir Halffast
10/31/2019 at 13:19

Most profitible website on a bankrupt platform is the same as the tallest man on a sinking ship.

fintail > Sir Halffast
10/31/2019 at 13:22

Along with prepper supplies, supplements, and confederate-themed memorabilia, no doubt.

Sovande > Sir Halffast
10/31/2019 at 13:36

Not everything gets to be a right wing conspiracy against whatever opinion you happen to hold. If you don’t like the people that are running the sites, go visit another site which has ideals which more closely align with your own.

I don’t have any idea as to the “success” of Splinter as a commercial enterprise. My suspicion is that they didn’t garner much revenue and they held views that ran counter to those of the new management. That combined to lead to the demise of that blog. The good news is that left leaning bloggers should be able to find work wailing to the masses about how the wealthy are the embodiment of the devil himself.

Welcome to being a grown-up where your words and actions, especially as they relate to shit-talking the hand that feeds you, can, and often does, lead to some real consequences.

Sir Halffast > Sovande
10/31/2019 at 13:41

No, you’re right. Not everything gets to be a right-wing conspiracy. EXCEPT for the things that are overtly right-wing conspiracies. Spanfeller and company bought GMG so they could do explicitly what they’re doing now. Why else would they shut down their main political site a year before one of this country’s biggest elections instead of building it up and pouring money into its operation? Why else would they order Deadspin to “stick to sports” when that is the most loaded right-wing, “we don’t want to examine where these two popular things intersect, ” overtly political statement that they could have made? Sports has NEVER stuck to sports. Unless you’re the sort that thinks Kaepernick overreacted by taking a knee. So yes. Not everything is a conspiracy. But this venn diagram is a fucking circle.

Sovande > Sir Halffast
10/31/2019 at 14:06

Honest question, with no snark or anything implied: Why do you care so much about Deadspin?

Sir Halffast > Sovande
10/31/2019 at 14:23

Because it’s not about Deadspin. If Deadspin sank on its own merits and under its own weight, that would suck because I enjoyed the site, but companies go out of business all the time. That emphatically is not what happened. What happened is a malicious force (in this case, the Spanfeller crew) purchased a news conglomerate (Gawker cum Gizmodo cum G/O) in order to break it up and shut it down because they disagreed with the viewpoints expressed. How do we know this? Because their public statements, and the statements and memos made public by the G/O staff, are absolutely contrary to the notion of a free press, and to the encourage ment of colorful discourse . Independent journalism and editorial integrity are fundamental to the very existence of our polity and to democracy more generally. What Spanfeller has done is antithetical to public discourse, and to the very idea of a free press. It’s the very principle of “I don’t agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” The recent actions against Splinter and Deadspin are the exact opposite of that, and that is a purely anti-democratic sentiment, full stop.

Again, one more time for those who need a TL:DR (clearly not you because you’re actually responding), this is NOT about Deadspin and it was NEVER about Deadspin. It is purely and simply about controlling and directing the media for personal and political gain. In the exact same way that Peter Theil funding the Hogan suit was NEVER about Hogan’s rights, but Hogan was a thinly-veiled excuse for personal revenge against Nick Denton and Gawker.

Sovande > Sir Halffast
10/31/2019 at 14:41

The thing that you seem to gloss over is that Deadspin is owned by a group of people. As such, they are allowed to make whatever editorial decisions they wish to make. That’s how things work. This is not the New York Times we are talking about, it’s a site that questions whether or not it’s okay to fuck to music your friend’s band plays. This is not the end of times for Democratic discourse, it is a blip in the long and goofy record of the Gawker universe. It’s not the stumbling block that is going to allow the facists to win. It’s an example of poor management coupled with a misunderstanding of the core audience of a website.

Sir Halffast > Sovande
10/31/2019 at 15:01

Fine. You can reduce it to that if you like, but you’re simply wrong . Sorry. Just like “ sticking to sports” is not just about sports, neither is this “editorial decision” merely an editorial decision.

Sovande > Sir Halffast
10/31/2019 at 16:44

Firstly, t here’s no need to apologize.

Deadspin will be shuttered, the idiots running G/O Media will run it into the ground and not realize the ROI they were anticipating. That’s business, sometimes you get it right, and sometimes it punches you right square in the dick.

Wh at this isn’t is a great miscarriage of justice and a threat to democracy. Time to grow up and recognize that not everyone shares the same views as you do and that those people may have more money than you do, allowing them to make sweeping decisions concerning the content of the sites they own.

facw > Sir Halffast
10/31/2019 at 22:16

Seems like it’s coming to an end. In addition to all the resignations yesterday, Drew’s out today: This Is How It’s Gonna Work