What does “witch hunt” even mean anymore? I feel like it has been overused to the point of losing all meaning. In this case, by “witch hunt”, the writer means “they have started going too far and making some bad calls”. They aren’t calling for people to mount heads on spikes or review bomb, as far as I can tell.
It’s a strange case, though. Who do we think follows these curators? The title of the list is in Ukrainian, so I’d guess it’s mostly Ukrainians. On the one hand, I don’t want to tell Ukrainian folks how to spend their money with respect to Russia. Maybe for some, even the slightest whiff of Russia will turn them off from the game, regardless of how logical it is. It’s not my busieness to question the mostly-harmless emotional reaction of a people under siege. For those, these curation lists might still be useful. Of course, people that care this much would probably research another way if the curator lists didn’t exist.
For others, I’m sure they would prefer a curator list that actually does the research and doesn’t list a game unless the purchase would very clearly benefit Russia in tax dollars. For those, this turn of events is unfortunate. On the other hand, those people are probably level-headed enough to do their own research on a game-by-game basis.
My point is: the impact of these curator lists existing is probably minimal. But maybe i’m wrong, idk. What do y’all think?
A good definition of witch hunting would be “to publicly label one or more individuals as belonging to an undesired group, with little to no regard to accuracy”. It fits really well what the article claims those users to be doing.
They aren’t calling for people to mount heads on spikes or review bomb, as far as I can tell.
In the context of the article, it’s not about the consequence - obviously, nobody’s getting burned at the stake - but about the how: the finger-pointing based on vibes or accusations of something done by another person.
On the one hand, I don’t want to tell Ukrainian folks how to spend their money with respect to Russia.
In that case, just look at how the Ukrainian users of the group are reacting. The number of users to have voiced their disagreement already exceeds that of the admins.
The number of users to have voiced their disagreement already exceeds that of the admins.
Seems like it’s kind of a moot point then, no? If even a majority of Ukrainian users are aware of the issues with the list, I would expect most would just leave and the list would fade into obscurity.
We don’t know one way or another. Even if it misleads some people, that needs to be called out. The clearly defined criteria are displayed to many of those who join, yet they’re being put aside to essentially make up evidence and then turn to the really questionable definition of what is Russian that would also cover the likes of Telegram (reportedly used by 75% of Ukrainians), Google and so on, as rightly noted by someone in the group comments. They could have gone with that definition from the start, not baited and switched.
fair points! ty for your thoughts
