About a week ago, one of our writers made a bad joke. "Ultimately #GamerGate is reaffirming what we've known to be true for decades: Nerds should be constantly shamed and degraded into submission." It was a joke, sure, but a stupid one, and he apologized.

For anyone who might be perplexed, of course Gawker Media does not endorse bullying. (No right-thinking person would.) Yet it's presumptuous of us to expect that every stranger should know where we're coming from, especially in an isolated tweet.

The actions of some under the banner of #GamerGate—and I can only say "some," because it's impossible to clearly define the boundaries of an organization whose only aegis is a hashtag—have been indefensible: death threats, bomb scares, anonymous promise of rape, and what often appears to be a manipulative desire to spread distress for distress' sake. We have and will continued to categorically speak out against these actions and ideals, with full knowledge that whatever attacks we weather ourselves, others—mostly women, typically and tragically—are weathering even more.

Gawker Media has been covering the often-confounding phenomenon of Gamergate in detail, and will keep on covering it.