About
Operation Disrespectful Nod was an email campaign organised and executed by supporters of the Gamergate movement in September 2014, sending emails to various companies who advertised on the websites of specific online media companies in an attempt to damage their advertisement income.
Background
On August 28th, several news sites published articles calling for an end to the “gamer” cultural identity, including The Financial Post, Ars Technica, The Daily Beast, The Stranger, Beta Beat, Gamasutra, Polygon and Kotaku (shown below). On September 1st, journalists and independent developers involved in this published a signed open letter to the gaming community, asking gamers to end the harassment towards critics and developers.[3]
In retaliation to this, in September 2014, GamerGate supporters began spreading instructions amongst themselves to email companies who advertised on specific websites that have somehow wronged the movement; such as Gawker Media, Kotaku, Polygon, Wired and TechCrunch; to protest about the sites’ criticisms of their perceived questionable ethical standards and criticisms of the GamerGate movement, which was later dubbed Operation Disrespectful Nod.[1][21] The name of the project is a play on *Nods Respectfully Towards You*, a gesture which managed to become a popular subject of parody following its posting in August 2014. The campaign followed a five step plan,[2] which paraphrased reads as follows:
- Select a company and one of its advertisors from the compiled list.
- Choose a complaint of interest related to the company’s ethical standards.
- Choose an article from the company you’re complaining about.
- Combine the first three steps into an email using a pre-written form (shown left).
- If there is no reply, show patience but persistence through follow up e-mails.
Notable Developments
Gamasutra & Intel
On September 10th, 2014, Redditor endertargaryen submitted a post to the /r/KotakuInAction[5] subreddit, calling for gamers to email sponsors of the video game news blog Gamasutra in protest of an article written by staff writer Leigh Alexander titled “‘Gamers’ don’t have to be your audience. ‘Gamers’ are over.”[4] On October 1st, 8chan[6] user In ’N Out Chef submitted a post containing a screenshot of an email reply from an Intel customer support representative, who revealed that the tech company had pulled an ad campaign off Gamasutra after receiving complaints about the Alexander article (shown below). The same day, Redditor primalchaos submitted the email screenshot to the /r/KotakuInAction subreddit.[7]
Intel’s actions were subsequently covered by various news outlets, such as The Verge,[8] Tech Times,[9]NPR[10] and Ars Technica.[11] On October 3rd, Intel[12] also released an official on its decision to discontinue its ad campaign on Gamasutra on their official blog (shown below).
“We take feedback from customers seriously. For the time being, Intel has decided not to continue with our current ad campaign on the gaming site Gamasutra.”
“However, we recognize that our action inadvertently created a perception that we are somehow taking sides in an increasingly bitter debate in the gaming community. That was not our intent, and that is not the case. When it comes to our support of equality and women, we want to be very clear: Intel believes men and women should be treated the same. And, diversity is an integral part of our corporate strategy and vision with commitments to improve the diversity of our workforce. And while we respect the right of individuals to have their personal beliefs and values, Intel does not support any organization or movement that discriminates against women. We apologize and we are deeply sorry if we offended anyone.”
Sam Biddle’s Bullying Tweets
On October 16th, 2014, Gawker writer Sam Biddle posted a series of tongue-in-cheek tweets calling for a return of bullying[13] and promoting the shaming of nerds (shown below).[14] Although Biddle apologised for his tweets the next day,[15] the tweets were met with a large amount of negative replies.
Ultimately #GamerGate is reaffirming what we’ve known to be true for decades: nerds should be constantly shamed and degraded into submission
— Sam Biddle (@samfbiddle) 16 oktober 2014
On October 17th, Mercedes-Benz took down its advertisements from Gawker after receiving numerous complaints about Biddle’s tweets, according to an official reply to the Washington Post by Mercedes.[16] Mercedes reinstated its campaign a few days later. Biddle also replied to the events through an article on Gawker[19] on October 20th. On October 21st, the official Twitter account for Adobe[17] posted that it had requested Gawker to remove their logo from the site (shown below). A day later, Gawker[18] released an article in reply to Gamergate’s actions, sharing that they had lost thousands of dollars due to Mercedes’ temporary advertising removal. Alongside, the events were also covered by other news outlets, such as The Verge,[33] Ars Technica[34] and re/code.[35] A week later, on October 28th Adobe released an official reply regarding their tweet,[20] sharing that they weren’t an advertisor on Gawker and were instead mistakenly listed as one.
theLEOpirate</a> We are not an advertiser w/ Gawker. We asked Gawker to remove our logo. Adobe stands against bullying. <a href="http://t.co/uj3HrHJqi3">http://t.co/uj3HrHJqi3</a></p>— Adobe (Adobe) 21 oktober 2014
Intel’s Industry Diversity Fund
On January 6th, 2015, Intel released that it would pledge $300 million to improve the diversity of the company’s work force by attracting more women and minorities to the technology field, aiming to be a leading example against Silicon Valley’s diversity issues (shown below).[26] The pledge was the result of the events between Intel, Gamatsutra and Gamergate in October of the previous year, which resulted in negative publicity for the company, as was explained in a statement saying that its new diversity efforts came after the “recent confluence of events related to women and under-represented minorities.” Intel’s pledge was met with mostly positive feedback and covered by numerous news outlets such as The New York Times,[27] re/code,[28] Gamespot,[29] Time[30] and Wired.[31][32]
Left: Google– Right: LinkedIn
Related: Operation UV
in November 2014, Gamergate supporters launched another emailing under the name ‘Operation UV’. This campaign focused around emailing the US Federal Trade Comission (FTC), an independent agency of the United States government aimed at promoting consumer protection, and ask from them to intervene against Gawker Media’s practices.[22] The FTC addressed specific issues[23] and following this created a new guideline for advertising,[25] of which it was later on noted that GamerGate was the driving force behind the change.[24]
Search Interest
External References
[1]Gitgud – Operation Disrespectful Nod
[3]Open Letter To The Gaming Community – Open Letter To The Gaming Community
[4]Gamasutra – Gamers Dont have to be your audience
[5]Reddit – Gamasutra contact
[6]8chan – Intel pulls ads
[7]Reddit – Intel is pulling their ads off of Gamasutra due to shifts in editorial positioning
[8]The Verge – Intel buckles to anti-feminist campaign by pulling ads from gaming site
[9]Tech Times – GamerGate pressure prompts Intel to shelve ads early, will controversy ever subside
[10]NPR– After Pulling Ads, Intel Tries To Stay Out Of #Gamergate Debate
[11]Ars Technica – Intel issues #GamerGate apology, still not advertising at Gamasutra
[12]Intel Newsroom – Intel Issues Statement on Gamasutra Advertising
[13]@Samfbiddle – Bring Back Bullying
[14]@Samfbiddle – Nerds should be constantly shamed and degraded into submission
[15]@Samfbiddle – I fucked it up, and I’m sorry!
[16]The Washington Post – Inside Gamergate’s (successful) attack on the media
[17]@Adobe – We are not an advertiser w/ Gawker.
[18]Gawker – How We Got Rolled by the Dishonest Fascists of Gamergate
[19]Gawker – The D-List Right-Wingers Who’ve Turned Gamergate Into Their Loser Army
[20]Adobe Blogs – When Anti-Bullying Efforts Backfire
[21]Gamergate Wiki – Projects: Operation Disrespectful Nod
[22]Reddit – Important Update: The FTC Heard Our Complaints.
[23]Reddit – FTC Update 2: Yes, the FTC is going to address the specific complaints of Operation UV
[24]Reddit – Important FTC Update #4: FTC Confirms that, Yes, #OperationUV is Responsible for the New Guidance on Hidden Affiliate Links.
[25]ftc.gov – .com disclosures – How to Make Effective Disclosures in Digital Advertising
[26]Wikipedia – Silicon Valley: Diversity Issues
[27]The New York Times – Intel Allocates $300 Million for Workplace Diversity
[28]re/code – CES Snapshot: After Gamergate, Intel to Invest $300 Million in Diversity
[29]Gamespot – Intel Spending $300 Million to Bolster Women and Minority Hiring
[30]Time – Intel Pledges $300 Million to Increase Workforce Diversity
[31]Wired – Intel Invests $300 Million to Improve Its Workplace Diversity
[32]Wired UK – Intel announces fund for greater tech diversity
[33]The Verge – Adobe’s symbolic pro-Gamergate gesture frustrates victims
[34]Ars Technica – After #GamerGate tweet, Adobe distances itself from Gawker “bullying”
[35]Re/code – Adobe Distances Itself From Gawker After Writer’s Gamergate Tweet