Destructoid

Parent Company Modern Method Network
Owner Yanier Gonzalez
Editor-in-Chi ef Jonathan Holmes, formerly Dale North
Ethics Policy Review Guide

Destructoid is a video game-focused blog that was founded in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez.^[1] In addition to being part of the GameJournoPros group and participating in the Gamers are Dead effort, they have engaged in the firing and blacklisting of Allistair Pinsof and Holly Green on questionable grounds.

Role In GamerGate

Destructoid's first activity related to GamerGate was participating in the coordinated Gamers are Dead campaign.^[2] Later, several prominent former employees such as Anthony Burch gave interviews about possible corruption and ethical violations within the company.^[3] When accused of breaches of journalistic ethics, site owner Yanier Gonzalez responded with "nowhere on my site does it say we are journalists."^[4]

Most important is the uncovering of evidence that suggests the owner of the website, Yanier "Neiro" Gonzalez, fired Allistair Pinsof in a manner that may have been illegal. Leaked emails show evidence of collusion and possible blacklisting.^[5] Later investigation revealed this was not the first time that someone had been fired under suspicious circumstances, as Holly Green, another former Destructoid employee, was fired under similar circumstances. In addition, her previous works and bylines were deleted by site staff.^[6]

On 20 October 2014, two days after the first article concerning the illegal firings was published, the editor-in-chief of Destructoid, Dale North, announced that he was leaving the company due to disagreements with the management, saying:

Without going into details, I feel certain actions taken and statements made by Destructoid management have not accurately reflected my feelings or taken my input as Editor-in-chief into account. I’m no longer comfortable having my name attached to the continued engagement with former staff. I love Destructoid. It has been at the center of my life for just short of a decade. It was one hell of a ride, and I’ll miss it and its people dearly.
— Dale North^[7]

Firing of Allistair Pinsof

Destructoid fired features editor Allistair Pinsof on May 17, 2013.

Pinsof was investigating a potential case of fraud involving an IndieGoGo campaign that sprung up back in early April, 2013 ...
On May 17th, 2013 Yanier “Niero” Gonzalez took to the GameJournoPros group e-mails to consult with other editors, managers and site owners to see how they would handle the situation.

William Usher alleges that Gonzales conspired to blacklist Pinsof from the gaming journalism industry in violation of Florida title 31, chapter 448, section 045.

Pinsof alleges that Gonzales threatened to delete his work from Destructoid or change his byline to "WORST EMPLOYEE EVER DO NOT HIRE!" if Pinsof ever talked about the circumstances of his firing.

Holly Green accusation

Destructoid writer Holly Green accused Destructoid of firing her, erasing her work, and ignoring her allegations of sexual misconduct. The owner of Destructoid and co-founder of Modern Method, Yanier “Niero” Gonzalez, commented that Green was "a handful"^[8] and "[s]he became increasingly outspoken for certain triggers and would rail against staff."^[8]

“When I decided to let her go (a calm very emotional 2 hour conversation) there was no “chance” to give because she hadn't made one specific mistake — she was just scary to work with for months. My team was on pins and needles as to not set her off. [sic]”^[8]

Possible Improvement

In September, Darren Nakamura announced a new disclosure policy that became "effective immediately" regarding reporting on former Destructoid employees who now work for game companies.^[9]

Recently, both Max Scoville, who left for IGN to replace their video team, and Hamza Aziz, the Destructoid CEO, left the company.^[10]