The online gaming forum NeoGAF has long been a major player in the gaming media. Many sites rip their claims and sources right from its posts, and industry insiders have often frequented its pages. However, there has always been a darker side to the board: More than a strong political bias, NeoGAF’s existence has been underscored by its hypocrisy when it comes to sexual harassment against women from it’s own staff.

NeoGAF’s owner Tyler Malka, also known as EviLore, has had multiple allegations of sexual misconduct leveled at him. In 2006 he helped spread allegedly private nude images of a forum member’s girlfriend.

In 2012 he bragged in a “Trumpian” manner about grabbing a woman’s ass hard without her consent, leaving her so disgusted she just left and didn’t even take her drink.

Just a few days ago, a woman claimed he invaded her shower without an invitation while she was ill and intoxicated.

Disgusting stuff all around.

Now given NeoGAF’s propensity for jumping all over people in these cases, even before a statement has been offered by the accused, and enjoying the 50+ page threads that inevitably devolve into turd-flinging messes, one would assume these claims, like many others, would have their own unified thread in which to calmly discuss accusations against the site’s own-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

No.

Threads were being locked and deleted as fast as possible. The site has gone into full damage control mode, and users are being banned for even mentioning the topic. The site keeps running slowly or going down completely, which helps slow the tide of new posts on the matter. That’s very convenient, as at least seven of the site’s moderators/admins have already stepped down amid swirling rumors that EviLore was trying to explain himself to them by accusing his accuser of being a wounded former lover caught in a love triangle. Smooth move, ladykiller! (Dear gods I hope that’s not a literal epithet by the end of this latest drama.)

This is coming not too long after former moderator Amir0x, a member that infamously used money raised for his mother’s medical bills on narcotics, was arrested for child pornography. Again, the rumor mill swirled with claims that the rest of the mods knew about and covered his “proclivities,” but there’s currently no firm proof on the matter, even if his ties to EviLore’s past sexual deviance don’t paint the whole situation in a positive light.

I’m all for waiting for more facts to come out before we say EviLore did pull a Harvey Weinstein, but the disparity in the handling of this situation in comparison to say, Nick Robinson’s #MeToo moment, highlights the hypocrisy that saturates the entirety of NeoGAF. It looks like an admission of guilt in the scummiest way imaginable, and it created a far greater backlash than a centralized thread and well crafted statement would have led to in the NeoGAF bubble.

And that’s how Tyler Malka’s hypocrisy has led to NeoGAF burning

Note: In the interest of fairness and integrity, I will update this article if and when Malka posts his statement.