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Dokidoki: Created page with "GGAutoBlocker.png]] Type Twitter Blocking Script
Owner '''[https://twitter.com/freebsdg..."

2018-01-25T08:32:02Z

Created page with "[[[[File:/images/thumb/6/6d/GGAutoBlocker.png/250px-GGAutoBlocker.png|250x83px|GGAutoBlocker.png]]]] Type Twitter Blocking Script<br /> Owner '''[https://twitter.com/freebsdg..."

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MikiSayaka33 at 17:12, 3 August 2016

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{{Project Infobox
| image = GGAutoblockerPNG300x200.png
| type = Twitter Blocking Script
| owner = {{twitter|freebsdgirl|Randi Harper}}
| status = Active
}}
'''GGautoblocker''' short for '''GooberGabber autoblocker''' (later changed to '''Good Game autoblocker''') is a brute-force Twitter datamining script written by [[Randi Harper]] on November 04, 2014.<ref>Github.com - [https://archive.today/78K3G ggautoblocker(Nov 04 Archive)]</ref>. Its main purpose is to block any accounts following prominent users who have campaigned against media corruption. The simplistic algorithm led to thousands of false positives. This made it subject of heavy criticism from journalists, developers, and neutrals who were labelled as harassers by their inclusion.

==Coding language and structure==
===Overview===
The author claims "the project is written in perl [sic] and C,{{cite|site=randi.io|url=http://blog.randi.io/good-game-auto-blocker/|title=Main Page}} although the version hosted on Github only has Perl and Bash code. The documentation claims poor performance when processing some Twitter accounts, stating Twitter's "API limits" as reason,{{cite|site=Github|url=https://github.com/freebsdgirl/ggautoblocker|title=GGAutoBlocker Github}} although a more likely culprit is the language choice.{{cite|site=Practical mod_perl|url=http://modperlbook.org/html/13-12-Comparing-Runtime-Performance-of-Perl-and-C.html|title=Comparing Runtime Performance of Perl and C}}

===Structure and in-depth analysis===
In the words of Randi Harper:

{{quote|Takes a list of the 5 major idiots of GG, looks at their follower lists. Generates a list of sheeple following more than one account, as well as a list of your followers that might be questionable.
This does not rank users. It doesn't look at bios, it doesn't look at hashtags. But GamerGate appears to be completely useless at figuring out github when it's not just a wiki explaining how to be shitheads, so they'll probably never read this README and figure that part out.}}

{|align=right valign=top
|- valign="top"
|[[File:Ggautoblocker.PNG|thumb|left|x150px|Screencap of early code calling users idiots, sheeples and stalkers. [https://archive.today/9BCZM Source].]]
|[[File:Appealsystem.png|thumb|left|x150px|Infograph containing screencaps of an appeal which was rejected for "sea lioning" and "victim blaming". ]]
|}

As mentioned above, this script doesn't search tweets, bios or any kind of information that could help define the user as a troll/harasser. Instead it bases who is blocked and who isn't by the people they follow.

The script extracts the names of vocal #Gamergate twitter users listed in '''"blacklist.txt"''' and saves them to list variable '''"@idiots"''', then extracts their followers, saving them to list variable '''"@sheeples"'''. After that the script checks if the users follow more than one person from '''"@idiots"''' . If true, they're added to list of users to block. The script also searches for blacklisted users in the consumer's follower list, and those that are found are saved to list variable '''"@stalker"'''.

When GGautoblocker went under flak, not only by it's poor coding but also by the way it used insulting variable names to talk about "pro-Gamergate". Randy changed the name from "GooberGabber autoblocker" to "Good Game Autoblocker" together with many variable's names.<ref>GitHub.com - [https://archive.today/78K3G ggautoblocker(Nov 04 Archive)]</ref> Harper explained the rename in the her commit message.<ref>GitHub.com - [https://github.com/freebsdgirl/ggautoblocker/commit/d59ec0e06fc739e6b338f3199449c2bbeb14595a]</ref>

{{quote|For the love of all that is holy. GamerGate is completely incapable of any kind of critical thought, and it appears I've got to hold their hands and wipe their asses. For fuck's sake.

This is not creating a "blacklist" to keep people out of the industry, you unemployed neckbeard (if you could grow a beard) cockwaffles. It is creating a "blocklist" so normal people don't have to listen to your incoherent looneybin conspiracy theories peppered by whatever's on your political word-of-the-day calendar.

It's hilarious that you're pretending to be anime characters on IRC/reddit/8chan while somehow loathing women that kick ass and have anime hair irl. I really don't know how you consolidate that one in the barren pit of a wasteland you call a brain, but I'm sure Mr. TotalBallsack can help you with it. I hear he's got an IQ of 155. He's all class and ready to lead you lemmings off a cliff. More power to him. You are the army that no one wants but he deserves.

You can't sue anyone from a list that's generated off Twitter's API. I wish you could. I really hope you try, because it would make my *year* if I got served for the case "'HotDog Gamer Goblin' v Randi Harper". Please. I am begging you. No? Bueller? Anyone?

Literally go fuck yourselves.

- LiterallyBlue.}}

===False positives and whitelist===
The underlying algorithm is based on the fallacious{{cite|site=Your Dictionary|url=http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-guilt-by-association.html|title=Examples of Guilt by Association}} proposition that everyone who subscribes to two Twitter accounts is a harasser. Due to the large pool of false positives flagged by this program, Randi has included a "whitelist" of accounts which are explicitly removed from the list. To be added to this whitelist, the owner of a flagged account "must include their twitter username and why they require a white-list" in the publicly visible "ggautoblocker appeals" group. The moderators of this group will then comb through the history of the appealing user "to verify there is no "sea lioning" or harassment of other users".{{cite|site=GGautoblocker appeals group|url=https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/ggautoblocker-appeals|title=GGautoblocker appeals group|aurl=https://archive.today/OrueH}} While knife-wielding trolls<ref>http://wiki.gamergate.me/index.php?title=File:Clipboard02.jpg</ref> have been fast-tracked for "hating gamergate"<ref>https://github.com/freebsdgirl/ggautoblocker/commit/f0c635c999629625aebe9d384523e60ca8d1a49b</ref>, along with prominent harassers being added to the whitelist<ref>https://archive.is/376wz</ref> cheapens harassment to encompass such buzzwords as "erasure" when denying pro-GamerGate applicants<ref>https://archive.today/Ozw4B#selection-2636.0-2661.188</ref>. It is also not uncommon for applicants to be insulted and belittled during the procedure<ref>https://archive.today/aFq2Z#selection-1323.0-1323.83</ref><ref>https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/ggautoblocker-appeals/Ft2ZDygpe1Q</ref>.

The simplistic nature of this code placed many uninvolved parties such as rapper "Lil B" and Kentucky Fried Chicken on the receiving end of the blocklist.{{cite|site=Brietbart London|url=http://www.breitbart.com/london/2014/11/22/game-developers-association-calls-10-000-tweeters-harassers-including-kentucky-fried-chicken/|title=Game Developers’ Association Calls 10,000 Tweeters ‘Harassers’-Including Kentucky Fried Chicken}}

This caused several individuals and organizations who were neutral or even unknowledgeable about #GamerGate to become involved:

*[https://twitter.com/ElissaBeth Elissabeth]: Feminist writer from NYC.<ref>Twitter.com - [https://twitter.com/ElissaBeth/status/536099602966269953 @Elissabeth:"While you're keeping track, I'm on the list and I'm publishing a feminist anthology. Not a nice girl tho so ..."]</ref>
*[https://twitter.com/GREATBLACKOTAKU Brennan Williams]: Professional Football Player.<ref>Twitter.com -[https://twitter.com/GREATBLACKOTAKU/status/536070295573254144 @GREATBLACKOTAKU:"did I speak ill of their waifu or something?"]</ref>
*[https://twitter.com/APGNation APGNation.com]: Website covering Gaming news, reviews, E-Sports.<ref>Twitter.com -[https://twitter.com/APGNation/status/536199153026875392 @APGNation:".@IGDA_ED Hi Kate, please email us your company's legal department contact information. Thank You. pr@apgnation.com"]</ref>
*[https://twitter.com/adland Adland.tv]: Site about Advertising campaigns which also serves as an internet archive for ads.<ref>Twitter.com -[https://twitter.com/adland/status/536200863090769920 @Adland:"Hi @IGDA_ED @IGDA, good call. We're an ad trade pub, and we were on it. An apology for promoting a list full of false positives is in order."]</ref>
*[https://twitter.com/MikeBaggz Mike Baggz]: American Rapper and Songwriter <ref>Twitter.com -[https://twitter.com/MikeBaggz/status/536228061659037696 @MikeBaggz:"I'm a gamer, been one since I could talk, and for them to blacklist me is disrespectful, Before today I didn't know what #GamerGate was. 👈"]</ref>
*[https://twitter.com/theaduskin Thea Duskin]:Famed Tatoo Artist and Gallery Owner <ref>Twitter.com -[https://twitter.com/theaduskin/status/536165859086307329 @theaduskin:"I am apparently on the block list of worst harassers. What a joke. My support is now totally official #GamerGate"]</ref>
*[https://twitter.com/spookyfishgames SpookyFish Games]: Indie Games Studio.<ref>Twitter.com -[https://twitter.com/spookyfishgames/status/536321923668799488 @spookyfishgames:"never made a single tweet/mention of #gamergate but somehow I'm on a #blocklist, because of who I follow!! How the fuck does that work??"]</ref>
*[https://twitter.com/ZenityGames Daniel Borgmann]: Indie Game Developer.<ref>Twitter.com -[https://twitter.com/ZenityGames/status/536198228375793664 @ZenityGames:"Same here and I'm not even GG (nor blocked, after CHS was removed from the seeds). But knowing that IGDA does not have my back.."]</ref>

==Use by Organizations==
Despite its flawed coding and massive quantities of false positives, multiple organizations adopted and promoted the blocklist.
===IGDA===
On November 19, IGDA launched their "Online Harassment Resource" section, in it included the GGautoblocker as a tool, describing it as: "A Twitter tool to block some of the worst offenders in the recent wave of harassment"<ref>IGDA.org -[https://archive.today/yEhbK#selection-2317.0-2317.84 IGDA Online Harassment Resource]</ref> without knowing that IGDA_PuertoRico's Chairman, [[Roberto Rosario]] was included in it.<ref>Twitter.com -[https://twitter.com/siloraptor/status/536044875251474432 @Siloraptor:"I'm chairman of @IGDA_PuertoRico and have been tagged as a harasser by the @IGDA itself for using #GamerGate hashtag "]</ref>.

Randi's response to Roberto Rosario's tweet was:
{{quote|If the Puerto Rico chairman of IGDF didn't want to be on the blocklist, he probably shouldn't have followed known harassers of women.|Randi Harper.<ref>Twitter.com - [http://archive.today/0DRRM @freebsdgirl:"If the Puerto Rico chairman of IGDF didn't want to be on the blocklist, he probably shouldn't have followed known harassers of women."]</ref>}}

Guilt by association wasn't enough to justify Rosario's inclusion on the Blocklist and IGDA removed the blocklist from their tools while denying any participation in the elaboration of the script.<ref>Twitter.com - [https://twitter.com/IGDA_ED/status/536193409867079680 @IGDA_ED:"Read the disclaimer: *not* the @IGDA's tool or list. But like people, tools are imperfect; we've removed it for now. "]</ref> This statement was contradicted by Diona Prior<ref>Linkedin.com - [https://archive.today/WzINj Donna Prior's Linkedin(Archive)]</ref> creator of IGDA Community manager SIG,<ref>IGDA.org - [https://archive.today/4verB SIGs: Community Management]</ref> spokesperson in the IGDA Summit and affiliated with the IGDA wing WIG(Women in Gaming)<ref>Twitter.com - [https://twitter.com/igda_wigsig @IGDA_WIGSIG]</ref> who claimed IGDA_WIG participated on the elaboration of the blocklist on Randi Harper's facebook page.<ref>Facebook.com - [https://archive.today/4RPZ0 Randi Harper:"Someone's mad.ggautoblocker is now listed on IGDA as an anti-harassment resource."]</ref>

Despite this, IGDA didn't claim responsability for any person being blocked due to their promotion and suggested developers blocked by GGautoblocker to deal with its creator if they wanted to solve this problem.<ref>Reddit.com -[https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/2n3ykp/email_received_from_igda/ r/KotakuInAction:"email received from igda"]</ref>

===Raspberry Pi===

On October 15, 2014, Raspberry Pi became vocal on its disapproval of the consumer revolt, implying it drives women away from the Tech industry. Later that day, they confirmed their stance by stating they were not misinformed.

{{Quote|We want to encourage girls in this industry. Being horrified by #GamerGate does not “taint” us as one follower suggested and if, as another suggested, we “alienate people” - well, they’re ppl we weren’t too keen on having in our community in the first place.|Raspberry Pi.<ref>twitter.com -[https://archive.today/pBYZw @Raspberry_Pi:"We want to encourage girls in this industry. Being horrified by #GamerGate does not “taint” us as one follower suggested (cont…)"]</ref><ref>Twitter.com -[https://archive.today/CqEcc @Raspberry_Pi:"…and if, as another suggested, we “alienate people” - well, they’re ppl we weren’t too keen on having in our community in the first place."]</ref>}}

{{Quote|Let us be clear, you few loud angry folks. We're not under/misinformed or blinkered: we think you’re WRONG. End of. #StopGamerGate2014|Raspberry Pi.<ref>Twitter.com -[https://archive.today/WR5tk @Raspberri_pi:"Let us be clear, you few loud angry folks. We're not under/misinformed or blinkered: we think you’re WRONG. End of. #StopGamerGate2014"]</ref>}}

On November 25, it was confirmed by Roberto Rosario that Raspberry Pi's twitter account was using the GGautoblocker.<ref>Twitter.com -[https://twitter.com/siloraptor/status/537273325069029376 Siloraptor:"Congratulations @Raspberry_Pi you just turned a block list into a black list #gamergate #notyourshield"]</ref>.

{|align=right valign=top
|- valign="top"
|[[File:Rpimail.png|thumb|left|x100px|Raspberry pi's forum moderator explaining the deletion of the thread as off-topic. [https://spacemidget.wordpress.com/2014/11/25/raspberry-pi-use-scattershot-blocklist-and-put-hands-over-their-ears/ Source.]]]
|}
That same day, "spacemidget", a frequent client of Raspberry Pi, created a thread asking for the removal of the blocklist from their official account. The thread was tagged as off-topic and deleted despite addressing a Raspberry Pi related topic.<ref>SpaceMidget.wordpress.com -[https://spacemidget.wordpress.com/2014/11/25/raspberry-pi-use-scattershot-blocklist-and-put-hands-over-their-ears/ Raspberry Pi use scattershot blocklist and put hands over their ears]</ref>

On December 11, 2014, Raspberry Pi stopped using the blocklist; the reasons of this are unknown since, to this date, the organization hasn't given an official statement regarding the use or disuse of GGautoblocker.<ref>Reddit.com - [https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/2p0f7q/raspberry_pi_stopped_using_blocklist_any_official/ r/KotakuInAction:"Raspberry Pi stopped using Blocklist? Any official word?"]</ref>

== Media Coverage ==

Newsweek praised the blocklist after mentioning how Harper was willing to block 9,000 users (including [[Roberto Rosario]]) just so she doesn’t have to hear from a vocal few hundred.<ref>Newsweek.com -[https://archive.today/o4pqA One Woman’s New Tool to Stop Gamergate Harassment on Twitter]</ref> The Mary Sue recognized the blocklist technically breaks the "no mass unfollowing" stipulation in Twitter's TOS and assumed the blocked people are conflictive, excluding Roberto Rosario, as an excuse to ignore their complaints.<ref>Themarysue.com -[https://archive.today/dllcR Some Twitter Users Are Mad About Gamergate Block Bots. Too Bad We Can’t Hear Them]</ref> and The Globe and Mail mentioned it as a tool to block people tweeting about #Gamergate and reinforced the narrative that #Gamergate is a [[Threats_and_Gamergate|harassment movement]] while stating the world isn't safe for women.<ref>globeandmail</ref>

[[Milo Yiannopoulos]] reported on how he and multiple personalities and organizations unrelated to #Gamergate were added to the blocklist which was promoted by IGDA who later removed it from their "anti-harassment" tools.<ref>Breitbart.com - [http://www.breitbart.com/london/2014/11/22/game-developers-association-calls-10-000-tweeters-harassers-including-kentucky-fried-chicken/ Game Developers’ Association Calls 10,000 Tweeters ‘Harassers’-Including Kentucky Fried Chicken]</ref>

==Responses==

* Matt Schnee suggested that the GGAutoBlocker list should turn into an employment blacklist<ref>https://archive.today/TNHrl</ref> , similar to a credit report or criminal background check.
* Boogie2988 expressed frustration at the blocklist, having attempted to do research and having been following Kotaku, Feminist Frequency, Adam Baldwin, and MundaneMatt only to be put onto the blocklist. <ref>https://i.imgur.com/OQmxiNY.jpg</ref>
* TotalBiscuit expressed contempt of IDGA for endorsing the blocklist as well as its ineffectiveness, high false positive, and its 'guilt by association', and noted that IDGA's Puerto Rico division was on the blocklist itself. <ref>https://soundcloud.com/totalbiscuit/the-igda-is-doing-what-now</ref>
* Multiple developers of games have expressed their contempt for said blocklist, arguing its ineffectivness at targeting actual harassers, large false positive rate, and the insouciant attitude of its creator when given said criticism. <ref>http://techraptor.net/content/developers-react-igda-controversy</ref>
* Chris von Csefalvay, a data scientist commented about the proportions of those who harass and that the vast majority of Pro-GamerGaters did nothing to be put on said blocklist. He also criticized the sloppy code and the portions which said 'sheeple' and 'idiots' when referring to those who had been blocked, as well as the 'guilt by association' aspect of the blocklist. <ref>http://chrisvoncsefalvay.com/2015/01/16/a-footnote-on-gamergate.html</ref>

== See Also ==

[[Randi Harper]]

[[Operation Earthquake]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category: Bot]][[Category: Censorship]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:33, 25 January 2018
Line 7:		Line 7:

	'''GGautoblocker''' short for '''GooberGabber autoblocker''' (later changed to '''Good Game autoblocker''') is a brute-force Twitter datamining script written by Randi Harper on November 04, 2014.<sup>[[#cite_note-1\|[1]]]</sup>. Its main purpose is to block any user following well known twitter users for being vocal against gaming media corruption while labeling them as sheep, idiots and harassers. Ironically, the poor coding led to thousands of false positives. This made it subject of heavy criticism from news sites, developers and users that were labelled as harassers by being included on it.		'''GGautoblocker''' short for '''GooberGabber autoblocker''' (later changed to '''Good Game autoblocker''') is a brute-force Twitter datamining script written by Randi Harper on November 04, 2014.<sup>[[#cite_note-1\|[1]]]</sup>. Its main purpose is to block any user following well known twitter users for being vocal against gaming media corruption while labeling them as sheep, idiots and harassers. Ironically, the poor coding led to thousands of false positives. This made it subject of heavy criticism from news sites, developers and users that were labelled as harassers by being included on it.
−
−	~~== Contents ==~~
−
−	* [[#Coding_language_and_structure\|1 Coding language and structure]]
−	** [[#Language\|1.1 Language]]
−	** [[#Structure\|1.2 Structure]]
−	** [[#False_positives_and_whitelist\|1.3 False positives and whitelist]]
−	* [[#Use_by_Organizations\|2 Use by Organizations]]
−	** [[#IGDA\|2.1 IGDA]]
−	** [[#Raspberry_Pi\|2.2 Raspberry Pi]]
−	* [[#Promotion\|3 Promotion]]
−	* [[#Responses\|4 Responses]]
−	* [[#References\|5 References]]

	== Coding language and structure ==		== Coding language and structure ==

← Older revision	Revision as of 03:07, 26 January 2018
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GGAutoBlocker - Revision history

Acidman: 1 revision imported

Dokidoki at 08:33, 25 January 2018

Dokidoki: Created page with "GGAutoBlocker.png]] Type Twitter Blocking Script Owner '''[https://twitter.com/freebsdg..."

MikiSayaka33 at 17:12, 3 August 2016

Dokidoki: Created page with "GGAutoBlocker.png]] Type Twitter Blocking Script
Owner '''[https://twitter.com/freebsdg..."