My Thoughts on Comments

In the comments section of the Newsweek article on GamerGate, dozens of users logged on to leave comments on the subject matter. Many had intelligent thoughts and well written comments. Others did not.

Credible Comments:

#1

 I thought Brian's comment was credible for a number of reasons. Brian included several facts and even calculations on the subject matter. He used correct grammar and appropriate punctuation. I suppose one sketchy aspect of Brian is his so called "self-employment", but I will give him the benefit of the doubt on that one.

Brian seems to fear that the article and similar forms of media are giving people the wrong idea. We can tell by the way Brian strongly argues his opinion with statistics. Brian believes that the claims of harassment are dramatized and should not be seen as egregious. We can tell by some of things he says. For example, Brian states that a very low percentage, roughly .0004% of all GamerGate tweets contained true harassment.



#2

I believe Johnathon is credible for a few reasons. First of all, Johnathon draws on personal experiences of his in the gaming world to formulate his opinion. Also, Johnathon speaks with a very mature and intellectual tone using words such as "misogynistic" and "polarizing". 

It seems as though Johnathon fears people will believe there is no form of sexism in the gaming world at all. He explains at length his thoughts on sexism towards both men and women in the gaming industry, citing his own experiences with online gamers. Johnathon believes that neither men nor women are perfect in the gaming industry and that neither gender is innocent.

Uncredible Comments:

#1

Brine Cat lacks credibility for several rather obvious reasons. For starters, Brine Cat refuses to use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation for the entirety of his comment. Also Brine Cat seems to express two different opinions. Initially he calls the harassment a form of criticism, but he then says that GamerGate is all about harassment. 

Brine Cat seems to fear the alienation of females in the gaming industry. He talks briefly on this and says GamerGate is aimed towards harassing these women. Brine Cat seems to value equality between men and women based on the way he defends the women being harassed at the end of his comment.

#2

Handre lacks credibility because of the way he writes his comment. Unnecessary use of curse words and capitalization makes Handre appear as someone who is ignorant and unstable.

Handre seems to fear that criticism can't be made against certain parties anymore. Handre calls the GamerGate tweets "legitimate criticism" and is upset at the way the media is portraying GamerGate. Handre seems to believe that we can say what we want as long as it is intelligent criticism. We see that in the first couple sentences of his comment.

EDIT:

 After reading Bri's and Samantha's posts on comments, my idea of credible comments is reinforced. Credible comments will be controlled and analytical. The writer will clearly be passionate about the subject, but they won't let their emotions dictate their post. They express their fears, but not in a way that shoves information and opinion down the reader's throats. Comments that lack credibility often allow anger and even hatred to dictate their posts. They make no attempt to hide their fears on the subject, which hurts the credibility of their writing.

My Controversy

http://www.newsweek.com/gamergate-about-media-ethics-or-harassing-women-harassment-data-show-279736

On the website Newsweek, I found my controversy. The controversy, GamerGate, is relevant to me because I love to play video games and regularly consume gaming media.

Beginning in late 2014, harassment of female game developers became a trend on social media sites such as twitter. Those harassing prevalent female developers were calling the ethics in gaming journalism into question. Specifically in regards to a relationship between developer Zoe Quinn and gaming journalist Nathan Grayson. Many believe the review Grayson wrote regarding Quinn's work was biased due to their personal relationship. Others believe their relationship had no bearing in the review and that this incident was falsified to create an excuse to harass women in the gaming industry. Regardless, a large majority of the blame is being put on these female developers, while very few fingers are pointed at the actual journalists.

Calendar Reflection

After completing my weekly calendar, I learned that I should have plenty of time to complete all of my coursework. For this class specifically, if I dedicate one hour a night to homework I can easily meet the weekly deadlines.

Cholet, Dafne, "Calendar*",  1/20/2011 via Flickr, Attribution 2.0 Generic License

I seriously doubt that I will ever do it in such an effective manner. Two hours on Fridays and four on Saturdays is a lot more accurate.

I do plan on picking up a couple clubs and intramural sports though. Factoring that in, I will need to be more diligent about spreading out my work. Since my Tuesdays and Thursdays have significantly more classes than my Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I will do what I can to spread out my coursework on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

EDIT:

After reading Sam's and Evan's posts on time management I realized I need to be more on top of planning time to work. Both of these posts had great plans laid out to more effectively use their time. I should add similar structure to my life to ensure I get everything done in a timely manner. Buying a weekly planner or calendar would be a great way to start planning my days more effectively. 

My Writing Process

The Student's Guide section 3.2, "Discovering Your Writing Process", we learn about four different approaches to writing. These approaches include heavy planners, heavy revisers, sequential composers, and procrastinators. What is most interesting is you can identify with several different approaches at once.

1. Personally, I consider myself to be both a heavy reviser and procrastinator.  It's difficult for me to dedicate time to simply planning what I'm going to be writing. I've found my ideas flow better when I pick a starting point and see where it takes me. However, this style often leaves me with a very rough draft to begin with. I usually need heavy revising before reaching my final draft.

Now on to one of educators worst nightmares...the procrastinator.

Witts, Jonno, "Writers Block (5)" 4/20/2008 via Flickr, Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic License

I've fallen into the never ending abyss that is procrastination. I have a hard time motivating myself to work on writing assignments ahead of time. No matter how much time I have for the assignment, a large majority of it is done in the last moments before it is due.

Procrastinating is almost like smoking cigarettes. I know it's bad for me, I just can't help myself.


2. In general, my writing approach brings success. Utilizing heavy revising has several advantages. I can write down whatever thoughts come to me at the time, and if the writing is not sufficient, I can draw on the opinions of my peers, my instructor, and myself to make my writing better.

While procrastination often leads to unnecessary stress, I do feel like generally I accomplish more at the last second.

However, I'm not sure how long this can last.

One of the main drawbacks of being a heavy reviser and procrastinator is time. If for whatever reason I need more time to write my paper, have a peer edit my writing, or get my instructor's opinion, then I'm out of luck. I'm left with what I've done and nothing more.

Combining a heavy reviser and procrastinator is far from the optimal combination of writing styles.


3. As I've forementioned, my writing process includes both heavy revising and procrastination. In the last weeks, days, or hours before a project is due I will do most of my writing. I take my rough drafts and revise them heavily before reaching my final draft.


4. If I were to commit to a new writing style, I think I would learn a lot. I believe a combination of heavy planning and heavy revising would be the optimal writing style.

If I took a writing project and employed planning and revising techniques, I would gain a new perspective on writing. This is a new goal of mine. To take this new approach, utilize it, and understand exactly what writing style is best for me.

EDIT:

After reading several different blogs on the same topic, I realized many people have very similar styles to mine. For example, Hallye Becker identifies most with heavy revisers. Her plan to attempt heavily planning out future projects is something I also want to try.

In addition to many others I identify with, there are some classmates who have very different styles to mine. Swati Chandra made me realize the merit of being a sequential composer. Both planning and improvising a writing assignment allows for a structured yet natural final product.