One of the most influential video games forums on the internet is offline.

NeoGAF had exploded over the weekend after owner Tyler ‘Evilore’ Malka was hit with an accusation of sexual assault. His accuser alleged that Malka made unwanted advances after a night drinking. Other allegations quickly followed. Indeed, PCGamesN reports that Malka himself had in 2012 admitted to inappropriate behaviour toward women.

Things have quickly detoriated on the site over the weekend, firstly with around a dozen moderators stepping away from the website either in protest or in a show of solidarity with the victim. This coincided with a string of protest threads, with many users openly violating user rules in the hope of being banned.

US Gamer reports that one user posted an altered version of NeoGAF’s ‘Believe’ logo that instead read ‘Believe Women’. It also seems that other, rival forums are seeing increased signups as users look for alternative hangouts.

Things on NeoGAF soon became so messy that the site was taken offline altogether. There have been suggestions that an official NeoGAF statement is incoming, but there has been nothing as of yet. Currently there is no way of knowing whether the site will be brought back online at all.

NeoGAF was founded in 2006 under the name Gaming Age Forums. It had since grown to become one of the internet’s most active gaming communities, and was frequently used by a huge number of games industry insiders. In the aftermath of Gamergate, the site had perhaps surprisingly acquired a fairly liberal voice. While questionable content of course cropped up from time to time, it would nearly always be vigorously challenged.

How pressing the need for dedicated forums is in the modern internet age is an altogether different question. For many, Discord has become a very viable alternative, while the number of other available social media outlets and sites such as Reddit have left the old fashioned forum feeling a little dated.