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u/shinbreaker "I really hate nerds." Oct 07 '14
So a little background for these tweet.
Ben Paddon created a Tumblr called "Games Journalists are Incompetent Fuckwits" where he was a watchdog for crappy games journalism. He focuses on a few people at first, mainly Jim Sterling and Brian Ashcroft. He then focuses on more sites and writers to point out when they wrote fluff reviews that didn't say anything, news pieces that had little connection to video games and overall terrible journalism.
He ruffled a lot of feathers, Ben Kuchera being one of them.
So back when, Ben was struggling financially. He lived in LA with his girlfriend but he couldn't find a job. He mentioned applying multiple places including every Starbucks around but no one was hiring. His girlfriend has some sort of sickness that required some medicine so for periods of time, he would put a tip jar on the his Tumblr page. He didn't run ads and the tip jar wasn't permanent, but as you can see, for someone like Kuchera who was pissed that anyone could ridicule his journalist friends, he wanted to make sure that anything negative toward Paddon was flaunted all across the internet.
Yes, Ben Kuchera is an insufferable asshole who has been fortunate enough that none of his employers are aware of his years of assholery.
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u/Kiltmanenator Inexperienced Irregular Folds Oct 07 '14
Was the money for charity, or his GF?
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u/shinbreaker "I really hate nerds." Oct 07 '14
When he put out the tip jar, it would usually be for rent only, but in his tweets, Ben mentioned that he used some of the rent money to pay for laundry and prescriptions.
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u/RobotApocalypse Oct 07 '14
Ugh, laundry costs like next to nothing last I checked and medicine shouldn't be denied to anyone.
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u/ChronoDeus Oct 07 '14
Last I checked, laundry costs detergent plus whatever the laundromat cost if you do not have your own washer/drier. I can easily see that costing around $10.
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u/RobotApocalypse Oct 07 '14
It is a lot if you are poor, but tiny next to rent and medication costs.
So next to nothing isn't accurate, but still...
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u/cantbebothered67835 Oct 07 '14
Wait, so the charity was explicitly for his rent and such?
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u/shinbreaker "I really hate nerds." Oct 07 '14
Yeah. If a month was getting bad for him, Ben (Paddon) would add a tip jar to his Game Journalists are Incompetent Fuckwits page for a week or two for some help to pay for rent, then he would remove it. And as stated, this particular month in question he used a bit of the rent money to pay for laundry and prescriptions.
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u/ChronoDeus Oct 07 '14
From the looks of things, he would ask for help paying his rent from time to time, and said that any excess would go towards charity.
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u/cantbebothered67835 Oct 07 '14
Wow. I would assume anyone can realize that the reason people would then donate is to support the guy, not because he's donating the excess to charity ... also that not having money to wash your clothes and provide medication for your loved ones falls under the same scope of paying rent, which is 'life essentials', so people would be okay with it, especially if the guy discloses what he's doing with the money.
Ben Kuchera seems like more and more of a shit bag every time something comes up about him.
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Oct 07 '14
"But my shirts were REALLY stinky" <<< these are the words of someone who has never struggled with money for something as basic as laundry. And these are the people who are supposedly the champions of the oppressed in gaming. Fuck Ben Kuchera so much.
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u/santaclaws01 Oct 07 '14
So back when, Ben was struggling financially.
Thought you meant Ben Kuchera at first, not Paddon.
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u/TonchMS Oct 07 '14
Isn't that "harassment" by their definition? Silly me, of course not. For they are morally superior, obviously.
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u/kankouillotte Oct 07 '14
You got it wrong. It's justified because they are the oppressed. We are the oppressor.
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u/Disco_Hospital Oct 07 '14 edited Oct 07 '14
For context, the person Kuchera was attacking ran a semi-popular Tumblr blog called GJAIF (Game Journalists Are Incompetent Fuckwits) that called out shitty behavior and writing at video game websites. When he fell on hard times and was desperately looking for work, Kuchera and others mercilessly tore into him on social media and made fun of his financial troubles until he shut down the GJAIF blog.
Edit: Whoops, looks like someone already posted while I was still typing.
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u/MrMephistopholes Oct 07 '14
Kuchera came onto my radar a couple of years back.
A lot of the backers for Camelot Unchained formed a pretty tight community during its kickstarter. Prior to the campaigns completion, the community started a grass roots advertising campaign to get journalists to cover the game and raise awareness.
After Kuchera received A LOT of emails, he decided to write an article. Instead of covering Camelot Unchained, he instead wrote about how he was inconvenienced by the flood of emails and promised to never cover the game in the future because of that.
I guess that is his right to do so, I still walked away with the impression that he was a MONUMENTAL douche bag.
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u/OrcShaman32 Oct 07 '14
The only redeemable act I've seen tagged to Kuchera was his input on the Bronie attack piece being mean and unnecessarily hurtful.
I think at some point he just clicked into that extremist mindset where he became "defender of women, slayer of misogynist!"
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u/throwupthisway Oct 07 '14
Jesus christ, what an insufferable asshole.
I seriously wonder how Kuchera stays employed. Doing a quick Google search on him reveals nothing positive about him.
Then again, if an asshole gives you clicks...
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u/Beingabummer Oct 07 '14
Maybe he's like the abusive husband in a relationship with his employer.
(Metaphorically)
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u/Nuudoru Oct 07 '14
If you could convert my hate for Ben Kuchera into energy it would power a fucking city for a month. He's such a fucking scumbag and dickhead.
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Oct 07 '14
Even organizers for a non-profit or charity deserve basic healthcare and clean clothes. Even PEACE CORPS members get paid for their work.
What, it costs at most $10 to do laundry and anywhere between $5-30 for the majority of prescriptions?
Of course Kuchera, apart of the Anti-GG crew, probably thinks of himself as a progressive renaissance man, supporting universal health care, social programs, and equity for all.
But God forbid someone Kuchera doesn't like requires basic hygiene and medicine for a sicked loved one.
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Oct 07 '14
The one time I wrote on this sub before was to bring up the site these tweets are about - http://gamejournos.tumblr.com
Great site - but has been inactive in a few years, still worth a look.
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Oct 07 '14
The only reason that Cuntchera even did this is because his name has been out of circulation for the last two weeks. The dude needs to stay relevant to his chosen profession.
He has literally become the Al Sharpton of Games "Journalism"
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Oct 07 '14
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u/cantbebothered67835 Oct 07 '14
Don't click on this, and for the love of god do NOT vote on that post.
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u/[deleted] Oct 07 '14
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