SXSW Harassment Panel Cancellation

In response to ongoing anonymous threats, on Oct 26th, 2015 SXSW organizers announced the cancellation of two panels titled "Level Up; Overcoming Harassment in Games" and "SavePoint: A Discussion on the Gaming Community". While "Level Up", organized by Caroline Sinders, intended to broadly discuss the issue of harassment in gaming, "SavePoint" was organized by GamerGate supporters. It was branded as focusing on "ethics in gaming journalism" but many were skeptical as to the organizers motives.

The choice to cancel both was ill-received by the broader community, resulting in widespread criticism and threats from prominent media corporations such as Buzzfeed and Vox to pull out of the event. Ultimately SXSW organizers apologized for its choice and announced a one-day summit dedicated to the issue of online harassment in the place of the panels. This section will be updated as this issue unfolds.

Update: On November 13, 2015 the SavePoint panel was reinstated to its original time slot at SXSW Interactive, while Level Up is still scheduled to take place during the Harassment Summit. Content concerning these developments can be found in the Online Harassment Summit section of this page.

Official SXSW blog

• Hugh Forrest on SXSW News: Oct 26, 2015: Strong community management: Why we cancelled two panels for SXSW 2016
• Hugh Forrest on SXSW News: Oct 27, 2015: Safety is a top priority and so is your voice
• Hugh Forrest on SXSW News: Oct 30, 2015: SXSW announces March 12 online harassment summit
• Hugh Forrest on SXSW News: Nov 13, 2015: More speakers announced for online harassment summit: SXSW working to build March 12 agenda

General coverage

Before the panels were chosen and then cancelled, Caroline Sinders wrote a blog post about how GamerGate supporters were targeting her panel.

Caroline Sinders on Fusion: Aug 18, 2015: GamerGate is going after SXSW panels: How 'the downvote' gives power to the mob

• Noah Kulwin on Recode: Oct 26, 2015: SXSW Interactive cancels two panels on harassment in gaming, citing threats
• Andi Robertson on The Verge: Oct 26, 2015: SXSW cancels GamerGate-related panels after 'threats of violence'
• Jude Terror on The Outhousers: Oct 26, 2015: Harassment leads SXSW to cancel "Overcoming Harassment in Games" panel
• Adam Rosenberg on Mashable: Oct 26, 2015: SXSW cancels gaming panel on harassment following threats of harassment
• Maddy Myers on The Mary Sue: Oct 27, 2015: SXSW Interactive cancels gaming harassment panel due to 'threats of violence', fails to see irony
• Laura McGaughy on Chrone: Oct 27, 2015: SXSW acknowledges frustrations, but doesn't reschedule Gamergate panels
• Emma Boyle on Gadgette: Oct 27, 2015: Dear SXSW: harassment is a terrible reason to cancel a panel on harassment
• Caitlin Dewey on Washington Post: Oct 27, 2015: SXSW canceled two panels after threats — but did nothing when female panelists asked about harassment
• Michelle Quinn on Times Standard: Oct 28, 2015: Quinn: SXSW caught in the GamerGate vortex
• Maddy Myers on The Mary Sue: Oct 28, 2015: SXSW considers all-day forum on Internet harassment
• Game Politics ran a poll on their website asking users to vote on whether or not SXSW should reinstate the panels.
• Billboard: Oct 30, 2015: SXSW (finally) responds to panel cancellation backlash, announces day-long summit
• Mike Snider on USA Today: Oct 30, 2015: SXSW announces online harassment summit
• Caitlin Dewey on Daily Life: Oct 31, 2015: SXSW to hold all-day online harassment summit after backlash over cancellation of panels

Companies threaten to back out

• Nick Windfield on The New York Times blog: Oct 27, 2015: Backlash Grows Over SXSW Interactive’s Canceled Video Game Panels
• T.C. Sottek on The Verge: Oct 27, 2015: Vox Media and The Verge will not attend SXSW unless it takes harassment seriously
• Andi Robertson on The Verge: Oct 27, 2015: BuzzFeed threatens to pull out of SXSW after threats shut down anti-harassment panel
• Laura Colby on Seattle Times: Oct 27, 2015: SXSW decision to cancel panel on sexual harassment draws protest

Responses

• Anita Sarkeesian weighed in on the controversy on Twitter.
• Arthur Chu on The Daily Dot: Oct 27, 2015: This is not a game: How SXSW turned GamerGate abuse into a spectator sport
• Ryan Grenoble on Huffington Post: Oct 28, 2015: Wendy Davis calls SXSW panel cancellation 'disturbing'
• Katie Richards on AdWeek: Oct 28, 2015: Cindy Gallop says cancellation of SXSW anti-harassment panel shows industry's gender imbalance
• James Fudge on Game Politics: Oct 28, 2015: ACLU weighs in on SXSW panel cancellations
• Leigh Alexander on Wired: Oct 28, 2015: SXSW's GamerGate debacle shows it's clueless on diversity
• Miri Mogilevsky on The Daily Dot: Oct 29, 2015: 3 ways SXSW got its GamerGate problem wrong
• Caroline Sinders on Slate: Oct 29, 2015: I was on one of those canceled SXSW panels

Online Harassment Summit

This section houses articles concerning the evolving agenda of the summit.

• Maddy Myers on The Mary Sue: Nov 13, 2015: SXSW removed that Gamergate-affiliated panel from their anti-harassment summit - but it's still on the schedule
• The Open Gaming Society: Nov 13, 2015: [SavePoint] comes full circle
• Jacob Kastrenakes on The Verge: Nov 13, 2015: SXSW removes Gamergate panel from harassment summit
• Noah Kulwin on Re/code: Nov 13, 2015: Anti-abuse panel to appear at SXSW online harassment summit; Gamergaters moved elsewhere