Note: **Updated info is ammended to the bottom.
youtu.be
This is all I can think to offer right now, and may contain errors based in ignorance. This overly long screed, attempting to carefully articulate personal opinions, will probably read pretentiously. I'll risk it, but in all likelihood, I'll end up thinking differently in a week anyway.
I'm bringing out some older allegations about WARCAMPAIGN. While they've rebutted the most convincing evidence with plausible explanations, I've considered the likelihood that this decision was either a serious mistake, or an attempt to sidestep factual evidence, though I tend to lean toward the former interpretation.
Edwin Boyette and Doug TenNapel's arrogance, sophistry, and emotional manipulation have distracted many, including myself, from well-earned questions and criticisms surrounding WarCampaign. I intend to hold their feet to the fire (rather unaggressively) with the hope they may bring further resolution to these claims and rumors that have driven wedges between people in and around CG.
On Twitter, I claimed that the current War Campaigners own their actions and apologize when they or their fanbase feel they've crossed a serious line. Rumble Terrier was there to tell me WC actually hasn't apologized for the wrongdoing he's attributed to them. This interaction convinced me Terrier could be justified in his position on WC, based on his knowledge and perspective, regardless of the truth behind the matters in question, or the behavior he's failed to own for himself.
Praetorian made it clear that Sashi, Nerkish, and Lim were manifestly justified in believing what they did about WC, and in speculating on EVS behind the scenes as a consequence. I have no doubt that EVS is both ignorant of any serious wrongdoing, and justified in extending the benefit of the doubt. His actions surrounding the CAPS kangaroo court made that apparent, arguably.
Warcampaign deserves serious criticism for their treatment of the Nerkish situation. Yes, people can joke about what they like, but these guys had long-standing knowledge of that issue, which they kept to themselves, all the while mocking the very notion of claims and suspicions they should have KNOWN to have been reasonable, at least from where concerned parties stood. They deflected scrutiny onto Prae's victims at every available opportunity.
Yes, the evidence for these matters provides no explicit, incontrovertible proof of conspiracy. No, not all of the evidence presented is without merit. Obfuscating and dismissing legitimate suspicions with humor is manipulative. War Campaign presented these people as irrational nutcases.
If they'd straightforwardly contraverted their accusers, with no end to such claims, they'd have a point. That isn't what they did. They asserted alternative explanations without disabusing suspicious parties of cause for mistrust.
**Available evidence casts WC members as supporters of doxxing. WC failed to offer sufficient evidence in rebuttal. They provided hearsay, stories, assertions without the dispositive evidence I'd think they'd have access to.
**EVS repeated their explanation without receipts. ComicsGate deserves more than that. We don't deserve to be stuck justifying their behavior with Ro's word when it's his credibility that's at stake. We are, in several cases, dealing with material evidence.
Either they're flippantly unconcerned with how they allow their actions to reflect on others, or they lack self-awareness, just as they might say of Mike S. Miller. Ro talked about that little joke of his (above) on a livestream after I brought it up. Again, I must stress that I think a sizable portion of current conflicts could be healed by contraverting any REASONABLE perception of incrimination, or owning up to personal mistakes. Parties aside from War Campaign don't really own up to their bullshit either.
**EVS claimed these screenshots were fake, because Ro told him they were fake. As long as Ro's credibility is justifiably in question, this is a worthless deflection, and they must be treated as a credible exhibit, regardless of Ren's character.
**There is no way to prove these fake unless they were proven fake by some flaw in construction. Pre-fabricated DMs can appear indistinguishable. With that understanding, I'm open to the possibility that I should dismiss these screenshots, and I acknowledge that controverting material evidence with screenshots would still leave room for that same possibility.
**I'd suggest a live showcase, however, evidence of shenanigans can be deleted. Private DMs can be lost through account deletion, room deletion, etc. I understand that some things can't be incontrovertibly proven. That doesn't make these concerns baseless on the part of the anti-WC crowd, and making light of that fact SHOULD elicit some anger.
In my opinion, Mike Miller has behaved vindictively, and Edwin has been irresponsible in levying allegations publicly. I do believe that public perception of their behavior was warranted by the information available, despite their belittlement of our intelligence.
Setting aside justifiable ridicule and the question of civil liability, this sort of behavior (above) isn't very easily defensible from where I stand. RumbleTerrier being an obsessively malicious a-hole doesn't warrant intentionally tying him to pedophilia as a joke, especially when he alleges Ty's (one-time) intention to dox him. Trolling or otherwise, this can cause substantive harm, unlike saying Edwin ACTS LIKE a drug-user. I would argue that those engaged in such behavior should be called out for it.*
No, it isn't a creator's responsibility to police the consumers. Nevertheless, they need not encourage or enable people engaging in bad action, sure. I have little opinion on whether EVS has done so, but Edwin Boyette has demonstrated rank hypocrisy toward such behavior, especially in his regard for Alexopoulos. Further to the point, I take umbrage with any active effort to force silence or cooperation on a pro, even if it isn't just designed to manipulate third-parties, as it seemed to be in Kelsey's case.
As far as I can tell, Matt "CryptoCreates" Mertz has feeble ground to stand on in his "cyberstalking" claim against Pan, but we'll see how that plays out eventually.
Those maligning WC lose credibility by lambasting WC's choice to freely express criticism, ridicule, or insult. They lose further credibility when attempting to hold professional creators exempt from being subjects of consumer speech. Maligning such speech on the grounds that its unkind, or that its content defies a subjective puritan standard, leaves those like Edwin ineffectually floundering for control, or asserting authority based in nothing but arrogance. Maligning those forms of speech on the grounds that they damage the businesses of those they make subject is both groundless in assumption and specious in reasoning. People have already taken the argument apart many times over, so I won't do it much justice.
Screenshots and audio featuring TUG were, by all appearances, virtually meritless as evidence of wrongdoing on anyone's part.
Praetorian apologized to those who believe his claims about WC, regardless of whether I buy that he's positing false allegations. From where his believers are sitting, the current WC doesn't have a leg to stand on. Prae took responsibility.
The current WC is not blameless, and even in my humble opinion, guilty parties have not taken full responsibility. While I had considered existing evidence meritless, placing the burden of proof with those making allegations, on closer inspection, there is some merit among the evidence available to warrant substantive, dispositive evidence besides the WarCampaign's word.
That said, I like those guys, and as one might expect, there are things they might take ownership for I'd be willing to forgive. I believe they've made mistakes. I believe they want the best for EVS and CG. I don't believe allegations without corroborating evidence AND opportunity for rebuttal.
*SIDE NOTE:
EVS has described Alfie, author of the often-cited several-year-old anti-EVS blog posts, as "someone who harrases [and/or abuses] children [sexually]." As far as I've seen, that characterization, with all it implies, whether said outright or left unsaid, is unwarranted, and morally irresponsible. Think what you will of Alfie's marital disloyalty, social etiquette, hostile blog posts, overall credibility, or interest in ladies far younger than himself. The evidence published on Facebook lacked significant elements: the initiation and lead-up of the interaction(s); a full transcript explicitly contraverting the possibility of previous interaction, prior sexual comments, or declaration of legal adulthood on her part; a declaration of age or minor status followed by persistance on his part; rejection, discomfort, or discouragement followed by persistance on his part; repetetive, expressly unwanted sexual interaction; or the explicit end of any particular conversation. Facebook is a non-sexual-purpose forum providing no reasonable expectation of its users' legal adulthood. In that regard, even were he proven ignorant of her age, his actions can most fairly be described and rebuked as "disgracefully irresponsible". I would encourage strong reservation in slagging the man's name as a child harasser if the assertion is based on that one girl's post.
OMITTED:
-TUG/WC screenshots, related to Nerkish, mentioned above, unincriminating
-TUG/WC/Alexopoulos audio, mentioned above, unincriminating
-Praetorian's self-incriminating screenshots
-The Facebook post about Alfie
**AMMENDED:
Update from RumbleTerrier:
-The DMs between SSJLarryDavid and Ro were confirmed on stream by EVS. Ro apologized to the public for lying, sincerely or not.
Terrier claims Ro's taken to denying those events again, and the apology stream has been privatized or deleted. WC removed many of their prior livestreams after the CAPS kagaroo court.
Update from Ro Kabir Kumar:
-Ro refutes any acceptance of doxxing in the WarCampaign. He points to former WarCampaigners as witnesses to that, citing this clip from Jesse Miller as an example:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wLod03Q4aRqWwtg313_ieKerqx7q7NKH/view
-Without expecting new public DMs every few days, former WC is a source on doxxing.
WC has never been found doxxing anyone.
