A woman at E3 + a dead phone + Reddit = absolute chaos
For all the good Reddit can do, it can make an enormous mess of things, and then it can react badly when the mess it makes backfires.
It's E3 week, which is usually supposed to mean a cavalcade of video game announcements and fan disappointment. It usually doesn't mean a coordinated online manhunt, involving the local authorities, for a woman whose cellphone died.
Laura Lania is a popular game streamer who was visiting E3, where she had set up meetings and appearances at a few panels. After showing up at Twitch's party on Wednesday night, Lania's social media went dark and she did not come to any of her scheduled appointments on Thursday.
Early on Thursday, colleague @ashleeeeean put out a call on Twitter to anyone who had seen Lania in the day since. Presumably, the tweet was of good-natured concern and worry. It also started a whole heap of trouble.
Has anyone seen @TheLauralania ?? She went missing after the @Twitch Mixer last night. RT's greatly Appreciated. pic.twitter.com/VJbL6WaCpE
— ash 🏃🏼♀️LA (@ashleeeeean) June 15, 2017
Soon after the tweet went out, multiple gaming outlets on Twitter retweeted the message with their own pleas for help. Those were followed up with multiple reddit threads, rallying communities to try and locate the missing person.
Colleagues, fans, and attendees of #E32017, if you know anything of @TheLauralania's whereabouts, please help & contact the authorities. https://t.co/Gf2h2zM1GO
— IGN @ #E32017 (@IGN) June 16, 2017
Twitch family, if you have any information please help by contacting LAPD 213-996-1800 https://t.co/9JsyDwlu4x
— Twitch (@Twitch) June 16, 2017
The threads continued into Thursday night, and the original tweet received almost 25,000 retweets. The heightened activity, whether through Reddit or through Twitter, led to the involvement of the local Los Angeles authorities to search for her as a missing person. (LAPD told us that a missing person report went by a case by case basis, depending on the severity of the situation and no press release had been sent out to local media during the time of her disappearance.)
Meanwhile, Reddit spun its detective skills up (which has previously led to disastrous results) and searched high and low for Lania. That's when she reappeared.
Guys I'm at my hotel. I'm fine. I just wanted a day unplugged.
— Lauralania™ @ #E3 (@TheLauralania) June 16, 2017
It was only six hours between the time of the initial tweet and when Lania sent the tweet, but that was enough time to get a portion of the internet whipped up into a frenzy, with photos of her flying through timelines.
By the time Lania returned to social media, she faced a barrage of internet sleuths and well-wishers all expecting some grand reason that she had gone underground. Many even suspected that her phone was hacked to send the tweet.
May be too good to be true. Account may have been hacked. Her friends waiting on confirmation that's really her tweeting. Hope she is safe
— Justtise_CtR (@Justtise) June 16, 2017
So, she recorded a video with a borrowed phone.
"I am fine... I'm shaking because this is crazy," she said. "I just wanted to have a day alone and playing poker ... I never in a million years thought that this kind of thing would happen. I am sorry."
— Lauralania™ @ #E3 (@TheLauralania) June 16, 2017
Well, that wasn't good enough for many angry people.
A backlash formed, then a backlash to the backlash, then a backlash to the backlash to the backlash.
Some people were furious because they felt they had been betrayed by their outpouring of support, then others called out the angered ones for not letting a woman live, then others doubled down on anger by throwing up wild conspiracy theories.
Just another day in America.
People accused Lania and @ashleeeeean of a publicity stunt. They accused Lania of spending the night with someone else and cheating on her boyfriend. They accused Lania of being a drunk. They accused her of lying. They accused her, and basically all women, of a lot of things.
This unnecessary drama is why women shouldn't be allowed in gaming
— Paulie Roast Beef (@DarCraw) June 16, 2017
TLDR from last night drama w/ lauralania: thot blows off fans at e3 to blow off some dude in a motel. LUL
— Alex!Light (@PaladinEter) June 16, 2017
A handy, sadly too-accurate summary of that whole lauralania drama nonsense. pic.twitter.com/QDRB2Oh6i7
— bitscreed (@Bitscreed) June 16, 2017
Some people even demanded to see proof of where she was the night before, and she complied by showing her receipts.
More later kids. pic.twitter.com/E0TecJN9Fe
— Lauralania™ @ #E3 (@TheLauralania) June 16, 2017
No times yet but take this for now. MORE LATER pic.twitter.com/NjdvQC0QCB
— Lauralania™ @ #E3 (@TheLauralania) June 16, 2017
@ashleeeeean, the person behind the original tweet, even did a livestream Q&A this afternoon, saying again and again that this was not a publicity stunt or a hoax.
Explaining Last night and answering questions. https://t.co/N8vMsNyHOm
— ash 🏃🏼♀️LA (@ashleeeeean) June 16, 2017
After facing so much internet ire, Lania had initially said she was quitting streaming, though @ashleeeeean said that she had retracted that statement. Still, the lasting anger that festered out of what had appeared to be the internet's good will seems to have cast a shadow over her E3 trip and, possibly, her career.
This is the most humiliating day of my life
— Lauralania™ @ #E3 (@TheLauralania) June 16, 2017
Mashable has reached out to Lauralania for comment and will update if we receive a response.