When Zoe Quinn e-mailed me at 8:33pm, she began with her credentials. She described herself as the:
“co-founder of Crash Override Network, one of the only online abuse helplines and victims advocacy groups. I’m also patient zero of GamerGate, which I will assume you’re familiar with given your line of work.”

Bad assumption.

I had never heard her name in my entire life, and hadn’t the slightest inclination as to who, or what Gamergate was.
Call me old fashioned, but I live outside of the virtual world and have had to make a living outside of my television set. I had spent the prior 4 years of my life working on Wall street and can lay slaughter to the myth that the city never sleeps; It does—it’s people in it that don’t. In 2015 I had pivoted to the idea of starting my own company, to help be a part of the change that I feel our world needs to make.

“I came across your Kickstarter today and I would very much like to speak to you about it. Or rather, I would like to talk you out of it based on what I know from over a year and a half of being a leading voice in the discussion around solving online abuse. I’m assuming you’re coming from a place of good faith with trying to fix the issue of online abuse, and I’d like to ask you to assume I am as well given my expertise in the subject”

I thought this portion was weird. Because of all of the anti-bullying communities that we had networked with and reached out to, none had approached us with such an attitude. Questions initially? Sure. But stating an intention to “talk us out” of our company? That takes a certain amount of ego.