44 responses so far ↓

• 1 lwelyk // Sep 23, 2008 at 12:59 pm

  I’m going to once again play devil’s advocate and say that it isn’t THAT bad. Yeah, it’s a tad sleazy, but I think what Cheapy meant by that comment was that he didn’t promote that story as in he didn’t try to get it attention.

  And it wasn’t to show that people post rumors, it was to show that people would post any rumor they see without looking into it at all.

  And there’s no real bus to be thrown under, there are no real consequences, it was just something funny that showed us something about blogs not everyone was aware of. The guy got a laugh and two free games out of the deal.

  Still a kinda sleazy thing for Cheapy to do though, I agree there.

• 2 neezy007 // Sep 23, 2008 at 1:03 pm

  Well if you listened to the show Wombat was the one who came up with the idea and Cheapy never endorsed it.

• 3 pairorat // Sep 23, 2008 at 1:03 pm

  Sorry, I don’t see any fault on cag’s part here. I could see CheapyD backing his community and taking a “So what? we had a fake story contest, you’re the one who posted it.”
  But the later comments about cag’s credibility just seem like a bitter response to an egg on your face situation. Cag itself didn’t run the story, so what reference were these sites checking, if any?

• 4 lwelyk // Sep 23, 2008 at 1:03 pm

  @neezy
  Uhhh he was kinda the one offering the prize? He was more reluctant, but he was definitely a part of it.

• 5 Doc // Sep 23, 2008 at 1:06 pm

  I just think he ought to own up to endorsing the contest. I don’t are what rumor was posted… I car ethat a podcaster I respected would dis his audience by telling them to do something, incentivizing them to do it, and then saying he had nothing to do with it when the DID IT!?

  That’s lame and… well… cheap.

• 6 Lono // Sep 23, 2008 at 1:10 pm

  The consequences that CheapyD is trying to save himself from is losing credibility. He and Cresente know each other, they’ve hung out when Cresente goes to Japan for TGS and vise versa. He’s trying to save his own hide by blaming someone else and disavowing himself of any responsibility.

  He should take full credit for it, apologize and be done with it, not act like a spineless jelly fish and tattle tail on one of his “fans” like an 8 year old.

  It’s shameful, in my opinion.

• 7 neezy007 // Sep 23, 2008 at 1:10 pm

  I was just about to add about the prize lol.
  I can see both ways it can be taken but its really no big deal.
  Cheapy gave the guy 2 games instead of 1 actually.

• 8 Lono // Sep 23, 2008 at 1:40 pm

  Did he give the guy 2 games before, or after he hung him out to dry… Just askin.

• 9 rlm2112 // Sep 23, 2008 at 1:46 pm

  If you’ve listened to the CAGCast for a while, you know that Wombat says and does controversial things all the time that Cheapy does not agree with or endorse. In this case he did agree with the issue of rumors, but you could tell he was weary of supporting the contest. Either way, I’m very glad it happened. Kotaku does have a history of rumor mongering, and they profit from it. It’s all about determining which rumors are total bullshit and which have credibility. That is the job of the editor before posting it on their site. Posting an obviously flaky rumor form someone’s personal blog on a video game deal site, that isn’t even about a video game deal, from a user with only 14 posts and no credible history, is obviously stupid to do. Cresente is the one that needs to man up.

• 10 Yousty // Sep 23, 2008 at 2:00 pm

  Alright, I think we need to calm down a little bit here. I listened to the CAG podcast, I read the Kotaku article, I read CAG’s response article and all I can say is that this is getting blown way out of proportion.

  Listening to the podcast it’s very obvious that this was a completely impromptu thing and you can tell by CheapyD’s voice that he didn’t even really endorse this but was just going along with Wombat.

  Lono, I think you’re taking the above quote from CheapyD’s defense article way out of context. It sounds bad on its own, but when read with the rest article it makes much more sense. He’s not throwing his own member under the bus as you put it, he’s just trying to defend his site against Kotaku for blaming CAG for misinformation even though CAG didn’t even post it on their front page.

  I think who really needs to be publicly chastised for all of this is Kotaku/Brian Crecente. They’ve gotten to the point where they’ll take any rumor no matter where it comes from and post it instantly just to try and be the first major site breaking the story so they can get all of the page views. They’re on a very slippery slope right now and if they don’t start looking into all these rumors before posting them their credibility and popularity is going to start decreasing. Even I’m starting to get sick of reading Kotaku’s rumors because only about 1 out of 10 ever comes true.

  So instead of attacking CheapyD for defending his site, I think we should be focusing on how Crecente needs to start doing some actual journalistic analysis and research before posting rumors.

• 11 Gingerbob // Sep 23, 2008 at 2:02 pm

  Thanks, thats what I was trying to say exactly (before my posts were deleted like EA did to Spore reviews on Amazon!).

• 12 harp0x2 // Sep 23, 2008 at 2:02 pm

  Kotaku is way too full of themselves.

• 13 Lono // Sep 23, 2008 at 2:05 pm

  your posts were about spell checking comments, and had nothing to do with the above article, crybaby.

• 14 rlm2112 // Sep 23, 2008 at 2:06 pm

  @Yousty

  I could not have said it better. Thank you.

• 15 Lono // Sep 23, 2008 at 2:08 pm

  Yousty, you realize that it wasn’t just kotaku that posted the rumor… Right? Joystiq and a bunch of smaller sites posted it too. So to pick out Cresente to pick on, is a fallacy. He was one of many, and Cheapy D disavowed himself of that individual on his site just to save his own relationship with Crescente and his credibility. That’s bull crap, in my opinion, any way you spin it.

• 16 MightyMutt // Sep 23, 2008 at 2:14 pm

  I’ve got a lot of time for CheapyD & Wombat, they put out a very good podcast, are generally well informed and other than this one instance, seem to have a lot of time & respect for their community.

  I heard the podcast that all this came from and while it was definitely an impromptu decision there is no doubt that both CheapyD & Wombat asked people to do this. I remember thinking at the time that it was a bit of a foolish thing to say.

  Sometimes being man enough to hold your hands up, say sorry and admit your mistakes, can be just as good as not making the mistake in the first place.

• 17 Yousty // Sep 23, 2008 at 2:18 pm

  The reason I’m calling out Crecente is because of his extremely pompous update on the original article, specifically this line: “It appears that this rumor story could be CAG throwing their credibility out the window as part of a contest.”

  Crecent got punked and now he’s trying to take it out on CAG by being an ass. Plain and simple.

  This rumor was NEVER posted on CAG’s front page so why is CAG being blamed for what a community member posted. Yes, CAG were the ones who encouraged their members to come up with rumors, but that doesn’t change the fact that Crecente took a freaking forum topic as truth! Are you kidding me? How can they keep their credibility when they’re using rumors created in forum topics as articles? Not even this site is dumb enough to do something like that so why are we letting Kotaku and all the other major gaming blogs get away with extremely pathetic journalism like that?

• 18 Doc // Sep 23, 2008 at 2:22 pm

  Yousty now it’s you who is missing the point.

  We’re not really debating the contest or the rumor, or rumor mongering, but people standing up foor something and then sitting down as soon as it makes someone mad and pointing at the guy next to him.

• 19 mashedPenguin // Sep 23, 2008 at 2:22 pm

  I think that Cheapy D pretending that he didn’t suggest the idea is bit silly. However I agree with some of the above posters that the problem is caused by people posting rumors without bothering to do even cursory fact checking.

  Especially the bigger blogs whose writers like to call themselves journalists. If gaming news sites are going to continue to post rumors verbatim then they only have themselves to blame when they are embarrassed.

  I doubt the person that came up with the rumor is that worried. Rather they are probably stoked that their fake rumor fooled the big sites and has caused all this fuss.

• 20 rlm2112 // Sep 23, 2008 at 2:24 pm

  @Lono

  Cheapy stated that Joystiq was the only big blog to not run it, and that they have a history of contacting him first to determine the credibility of rumors on his site.

  He also said Destructoid took down their post about it, apparently to try to hide the fact that they did not research it, and Gizmoto added an update to their article saying:

  “UPDATE: It appears that we were misled by Cheap Ass Gamer as part of a prank contest. Running fabrications like this one does not help a site’s credibility.”

  This is coming from the same “credible” site that did this:

  http://www.cnet.com/8301-13855_1-9848317-67.html

• 21 Doc // Sep 23, 2008 at 2:28 pm

  dang I have one of those things, but I usually only use it at bars. Never thought of such an application. After reading the response, I am glad I didn’t.

• 22 rlm2112 // Sep 23, 2008 at 2:30 pm

  @Doc

  I understand the point you are trying to make, but many people are trying to make another one, that the ends justified the means.

• 23 Yousty // Sep 23, 2008 at 2:31 pm

  I’m not missing anything, I just think you and Lono are misinterpreting CheapyD’s article. He doesn’t even list the names of the members who created the rumors so how in the world can you claim he’s “throwing them under the bus?”

  After reading his entire defense article, I didn’t perceive it all that he was trying to push all the blame onto the community member. He admitted to the contest, he even linked to the mp3 of it so it’s not like he’s playing dumb. He’s just trying to show Kotaku and the other major blogs that there’s a difference between what a site posts on their front page and what gets posted on their forums by community members.

  Should CheapyD have handled this situation a little differently? Probably. Personally I’d be pointing my finger and laughing at all the other major blogs for taking a freakin’ forum topic and posting it as an article which, given the nature of this site, I think you should be doing too, instead of attacking CheapyD.

• 24 Lono // Sep 23, 2008 at 2:34 pm

  I agree with your issues with Kotaku Yousty, but that doesn’t take away the fact that Cheapy D attempted to distance himself from his own contest in an attempt to save is own arse.

• 25 Tobitron // Sep 23, 2008 at 2:38 pm

  Language Lono tsk tsk

  Just kidding tough, I couldn’t agree more.

• 26 Doc // Sep 23, 2008 at 2:53 pm

  @Lono

  Don’t think he’s saving his arse… come to think of it I don’t know what he’s doing. Not like Crecente can have him hurt or something.

• 27 Matthew // Sep 23, 2008 at 3:02 pm

  Perhaps Crecente is an MI agent and was warned that CAG would disavow any knowledge of his doings if he were caught.

• 28 Doc // Sep 23, 2008 at 3:12 pm

  Crecente’s a good dude. So’s Cheapy as far as I can tell.

  The l0onger this day goes on the sillier this gets to me.

• 29 Matthew // Sep 23, 2008 at 3:22 pm

  Just like this thread.

• 30 lwelyk // Sep 23, 2008 at 4:03 pm

  Yeah, this is probably a thing to let die. XD

• 31 Sean "Rothbart" Workman // Sep 23, 2008 at 4:14 pm

  And now it’s time for _me_ to chime in…

  Lono, did you just use the word “arse” in a comment?!?! Dude, you used the word “fucking” in your article, you don’t have to sugar-coat “ass” in the comments… You’re from Chicago. You’re likely to get your ASS kicked there for saying “arse” at all… I’m almost positive of it!

  LOL!

  That’s all…

• 32 Carl // Sep 23, 2008 at 8:54 pm

  Disclosure: I listen to and enjoy the CAGCAST and I am on their forum.

  Erm.. you are kinda taking that quote out of context. He was saying that this rumour was posted in the forum and that he never endorsed it. In other words he never posted it or presented it as news. How is that “throwing a fan/show under a bus”? Since when is a web site responsible for everything people post in their forums?

  Sorry but when I go to get my news for the day the last place I would look is internet forums. I know I’m reading between the lines but it seems your more upset with getting fooled then anything else.

  However if you listen to the cagcast you can hear that he is genuinely sorry and didn’t expect the impromptu contest to actually work and so quickly.

  However I also don’t like false news stories. Its annoying when your trying to find out information on subjects you care about.

• 33 Curufinwe // Sep 24, 2008 at 6:46 am

  This article is the most ridiculous thing I’ve read in a long, long time. CheapyD did not throw anyone under the bus. He just pointed out that the rumour was only posted on a CAG user page, not on the front page of the site.

  Kotaku’s Crecente and the other click-hungry idiots who used a user blog page/forum thread as their only news source for a story are the ones with egg on their faces, not CheapyD and Wombat.

• 34 Lono // Sep 24, 2008 at 9:09 am

  You’re missing the point Curufinwe…

• 35 Matthew // Sep 24, 2008 at 10:11 am

  The phrase ‘missing the point’ is being used over and over.
  Maybe because there isn’t one?

• 36 Lono // Sep 24, 2008 at 11:08 am

  I’m sure that’s it….

• 37 Curufinwe // Sep 24, 2008 at 12:35 pm

  CheapyD didn’t throw the CAG user “under the bus” by pointing out that the fake story never appeared on anything but the CAG user’s personal blog page, and not the main pages of the site. If it had run as a genuine CAG news story, then Kotaku couldn’t have been faulted for picking it up.

  The CAG user also got two $60 games for his efforts, so I doubt he’s too upset right now, despite the crocodile tears being shed for him here.

• 38 Curufinwe // Sep 24, 2008 at 12:42 pm

  “He was one of many, and Cheapy D disavowed himself of that individual on his site just to save his own relationship with Crescente and his credibility.”

  CheapyD did not disavow anybody. He simply made it clear that he and Wombat did not help promote the fake story after starting the contest, because the whole point of the contest was to show that nothing but a forum thread or blog post from a random gaming forum member can become a news story on gaming websites that don’t do proper research before reporting rumours.

  That’s the real point of all this, and you have have completely missed it.

• 39 Matthew // Sep 24, 2008 at 1:17 pm

  So it is agreed. This story has no point.

• 40 Lono // Sep 24, 2008 at 4:23 pm

  yeah, then when he caught some of the websites with the product of his “contest” he wagged his finger in their face. Puhleaze.

• 41 Lono // Sep 24, 2008 at 4:25 pm

  He used his website’s credibility to “catch” other websites posting false rumors and then bitches because other sites call him on it?

  Curufinwe, Read between the lines and stop acting like such a self righteous douche.

• 42 Matthew // Sep 24, 2008 at 10:39 pm

  Credibility? What happened to

  “There is no jounalistic integrity in the video game industry. If you feel you have some, you are wrong. This is why you write a blog about video games and not report on actual current events.”

• 43 Lono // Sep 25, 2008 at 9:56 am

  You’re right. I should have wrote “perceived credibility.” Thank you for correcting me.

  Also, I did not write that sentence you quoted, but I do kind of agree with it.

• 44 Matthew // Sep 25, 2008 at 11:13 am

  You’re welcome.

Leave a Comment