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[UPDATE 10/23/17]
Since the initial allegations for sexual assault, NeoGAF owner Tyler Malka has issued a statement to Vice Waypoint regarding Ima Leupp saying the film director is “a deeply disturbed, malicious individual” and that she had “two separate public mental breakdowns” during an E3 trip when they no longer dated each other. Malka also said the breakdowns were related to a “history of serious mental illness.” Leupp has said these claims are “bullshit.”
Malka rented an AirBnB for himself and a group of mutual friends, including Leupp, who said Malka is “rape-y” and described his actions as “inappropriate.” Leupp also noted he was pursuing a new girl in the group out of spite – because she was no longer interested in him. Leupp notes that he was “trying to get her drunk, being really hands-y, taking her away from the group a lot, and isolating her.”
Malka said that the original post where Leupp alleged he forced himself on her when she was seeing someone else came from the hostility from the E3 trip. “This Facebook post allegation she posted a few days ago is the story she first invented for startlingly petty and malicious reasons during that whole love triangle situation years ago,” he said.
Since their fallout after this incident, they’ve blocked each other on social media. NeoGAF is functional and its content restored, however, all the moderation staff have resigned and Malka has resorted to using “Modbot” to hide the number of moderators, if any, have returned to the site. The reason is to protect the identities of the moderators, as Malka claims the community has become too toxic for them to publicly be known as moderators.
Malka’s statement on the website doesn’t address the allegations in any shape or form, nor does it really address the fact that lots of users have either left, are now banned after demanding to be banned, or have formed their own groups and forums because of the allegations.
[ORIGINAL STORY 10/22/17]
The online gaming forum NeoGAF has long been the butt of many jokes, mostly due to its regressive hivemind and its equally totalitarian moderation staff. Now, the owner of the site is wrapped up in a new sexual assault claim.
While site owner Tyler Malka is reportedly preparing a statement in response to the claim, the entire moderation staff have resigned from the website. The website staff responded to this saying certain staff were afraid of their private information being leaked out.
The website has been experiencing outages, and has now been completely wiped for seemingly no reason. With no explanation still from Malka or any staff (because they’ve all resigned), it’s not looking good for the website known for its logo attached with the word: “Believe.”
My take: As a longtime NeoGAF user, it saddens me that the website has become what it is prior to its self-destruction today. I’m naturally more shocked at the allegations made toward its owner, but overall it’s just a depressing situation.
Editor’s Note: We’ll update this post as more information becomes available.
