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Newswire Misreports Gamer's Suicide

Posted by Zonk on from the sad-but-not-surprising dept.

Asriel86 writes "Pulling from the AFP newswire, Yahoo, CNN, and others have been reporting about how a gamer broadcast his own suicide on a gaming forum via a webcam, and that members of the forum continued to ridicule the gamer while he killed himself. Gaming Horizon has just learned that this is completely untrue. The newswire reporter failed to check the facts, and in turn painted this simple gaming forum into cruel monsters. The forum (hosted at metalgearsolid.org) has been taken offline at the request of Government agencies following these news reports."

11 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. *sigh* by Kelson · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It seems there is no tragedy that can't be made worse by sensationalist media trying to make the story fit their preconceived notions of what will get them ratings.

    (Not that reporters have a monopoly on this sort of thing. Self-serving politicians looking to make a name for themselves are entirely capable of it as well.)

  2. Give AFP some feedback by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    From the article:

    "If you'd like to contact the AFP newswire about their story, you can do so via this form and selecting the "Contact news department" option for the first drop-down."

  3. What? by voice_of_all_reason · · Score: 4, Funny

    The forum (hosted at metalgearsolid.org) has been taken offline at the request of Government agencies following these news reports."

    "Government agencies" can take down websites without even determining if a crime has taken place? Land of the free, hmm? I can see where this is going...

    "Hay guys, it's Bill again. I think that apple.com is actually a secret code for terrorists. You should close it for a few years until your investigation is done."

    1. Re:What? by ReverendLoki · · Score: 2, Informative
      I think the forum was hosted in Bulgaria. I didn't realize they were a land of the free, too...

      And that would be a "fact" garnered from the same article that got all those other "facts" correct. A quote from the article linked in the news blurb above:

      The article also claims that the site was Bulgarian, which it isn't. The company that designed the website is based on Bulgaria, but it is hosted and maintained in the US.

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    2. Re:What? by Blakey+Rat · · Score: 2, Insightful

      A government agency *recommended* it be shut down and the owner of the site did so. Nowhere does it say the government agency forcibly shut the service down, or ran into their offices with attack dogs and shotguns or anything like that. There's nothing illegal about a government representative saying, "might be a good idea to shut this down" and the site owner doing it.

      I think you're being more than a little paranoid. Save the rant for when our rights *really are* in danger.

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      Comment of the year
  4. sounds like a slam-dunk slander case to me by Ender+Ryan · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Sounds like a slam-dunk slander case to me, and considering how awful a thing the reporters did, I'd seriously consider taking them to court for it, considering it has caused damage already.

    I don't know how realistic that is though.

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    Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
  5. Government takes metalgearsolid.org offline? by MobyDisk · · Score: 2, Informative
    The forum (hosted at metalgearsolid.org) has been taken offline at the request of Government agencies following these news reports."
    This appears to be true. The site is down and displays the message below. To me, the story here is how and why "Government agencies" (whoever that is) requested the site to be shut down. And the message appears to be from the ISP, not from metalgearsolid.org. Is this another ISP caving at the first request to shut a site down? Or is there something legitimate happening there? Shutting the site down, when there is nothing wrong with it, just adds to the sensationalism.

    Text below:

    This Account Has Been Suspended
    Please contact support as soon as possible. Your site could have been suspended for one or more of the following reasons.

            * Your site's paid service has expired. To check this, login to your control panel at bluehost.com. If your site is expired, it won't let you log in and will take you immediately to a renewal page.
            * Your site was sending out spam. Please note that many "safelists" are still considered spam. BlueHost.Com has a ZERO tolerance stance towards spam.
            * Your site was consuming too many resources. This happens on occassion to very busy sites that have inefficient scripts running.

    For information on restoring your account please call customer service toll free : (888) 401-4678
    Following is a link for our acceptable use and terms of service for bluehost.com : Terms of Service
    If you would like to reach our support online you may do so at the following link : Bluehost Support

    When/If you call our support help line, please have your site name ready.
  6. The real political leaning of the media by arkham6 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I love how everyone on the right rails about the media being a leftist propaganda wing, while the people on the left call it a mouthpiece for the Bush white house.

    Both are BS. The press leans whichever way will make it the most money.

    The media exists to make money. Simple as that. They provide a service people pay for, and they temper their reporting to get the most exposure. Ever hear of "if it bleeds it leads?"

    This is simply another example of the media 'sexing' up a story to get more attention and interest. I mean, which sounds more dramatic, "kid kills self, net friends try to talk him out of it", or "kid kills self, net fiends egg him on and watch his deathtrows on webcam."

    The press leans neither left nor right, they lean towards $$$

  7. From the form by FooAtWFU · · Score: 4, Informative
    From the form:By filling out and submitting this form you authorize AFP and its agents and/or representatives to contact you (via e-mail, phone, and/or mail) about its products and related services, including announcements of special promotions.

    spamspamspamspamspam!

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    The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
  8. more info by webwench_72 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Kuja's posting on gamefaqs, with responders' posts:
    http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?bo ard=2000075&topic=25527152&page=0

    One of the metalgearsolid.org's admins tells his story here:
    http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s= &threadid=1777029&highlight=metalgearsolidorg

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  9. proper reaction? by leland242 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Picture it - you're on a forum. Someone makes a post "i'm going to kill myself". Do you a) say no, b) say do it, or c, say nothing?

    I'd probably say nothing, assuming it was bullshit. If I was in a mood, I might provide a wikipedia link to suicide techniques or tell him to slash up, not across his wrist.

    Either way, would you honestly believe the posting and attempt to stop the person?