Kotaku in Action Redditors donate more money to Eron Gjoni, following a Reddit ban for self-promotion.
Following my most recent article about Eron Gjoni and his ongoing fund drive, Gamergate's cringe-worthy break up story king has been banned from Reddit, where he was doing most of his fundraising and communicating with his backers. Gjoni was likely banned from the platform for repeatedly self-promoting his legal fund,
in violation of Reddit's Terms of Service.
Redditors at Gamergate's Kotaku in Action took this news pretty hard. Once they heard of the ban, pissed-off Gamergaters donated an additional 3,000 or so to Gjoni's Paypal overnight. As of this morning, Gjoni's raised $12,122.70 from Gamergate to combat his restraining order, with the promise he'll definitely keep writing cringe-worthy break up stories about his ex if the RO is overturned.
To Gamergate, Eron Gjoni raising 10k in a week from the same hate mob he incited to harass his ex in the first place is completely ethical, even if he violates Reddit's own rules against spamming and self-promotion to do it.
Update: Eron Gjoni has been unbanned from Reddit as of this afternoon. According to him, Reddit didn't give any reason for the ban, or the unban. Additionally, Gjoni's fundraiser exceeded his stretch goal of $15,000 around 5pm EST.
Since the ban, Gamergate profiteers like Sargon of Akkad have been quick to champion Eron's cause in his stead, claiming to know "insider info" about the case. Meanwhile, members of the Gamergate rank and file are pulling out their wallets, many to double their previous donations.
It's worth noting that (according to legal bills Eron posted on Reddit for his backers) Gamergate has funded 100% of Gjoni's legal adventures in advance. Eron probably would not have the resources to contest his restraining order if Gamergate wasn't willing to provide them. Nothing seems to pump them up like the possibility of litigation, and Gjoni's case against Zoe Quinn is top dog on the pile.
It's also worth noting that Eron's donation sites for his legitimate, non-harassment related projects barely earn enough for him to go out for coffee once a week, whereas his latest legal fund to defeat his restraining order has earned him thousands of dollars in a matter of days.
It seems like Gamergate is only interested in funding Eron provided that the money will go towards making Zoe Quinn's life more difficult. And if I were Eron, it would be hard for me to move on from stalking my ex when there's such a clear monetary incentive to do so.