I give it three days.

Someone is going to say something along the lines of "this is unethical business practice". Someone else is going to reply with an allusion to GamerGate, but not outright saying anything about it ("I wish someone would stand up against these corrupt business decisions").

And then a third reply comes in. They chime in with a joke about GamerGate, sensing the general gist of the previous comment ("Actually it's about ethics in mod journalism", or some variation of the joke).

Maybe the poster is a troll, maybe they have a horse in the race. Maybe they had no idea what they were starting. It doesn't matter.

One GamerGater responds to the joke. Regardless of whether he responds with hostility or or humor, more GamerGators begin appearing in the comments, and the joker is bombed into the negatives.

SRD flicks on the computer and, seeing the comment section brawl, makes a dash for the microwave. By the time they get back, one of the anti-GG subs has linked to the conversation. Soon after, KIA responds with a link of their own, denouncing everyone who disagrees with GamerGate and, by extension, supports Valve, as members of the SJW menace. FPH stumbles into the arena, swinging wildly with jokes about Gabe Newell and taking on all comers.

The mods, seeing this massive explosion of meta-commentary about the thread, nuke the discussion, and pray to both the old gods and the new they've seen the end of it.

SRC and /r/undelete catch wind of this, and begin to speculate whether or not the mods were payed by Valve to dispose of the comment. (Spoiler alert: they were and you're a shill if you say otherwise.) Their sister-sub /r/conspiracy hotly debates if this is a false flag, and why the Jews were behind it, while /r/technology begins making Orwell references about it. Anita Sarkessian, Zoe Quinn, and Ellen Pao all publicly come out in support of Valve's decision, hoping to provoke a response from GamerGate.

As retribution, the hacker known as 4chan returns, leaking a massive collection of Gabe Newell's nude photos on the Internet, with the archive spray-painted across countless Counter Strike arenas. Gaben's affectionate nickname quickly becomes replaced with "Newdell". Reddit's admins remove the photos, claiming that every man is responsible for his own mod support.

EA announces a new and extensive modding program for free, as well as cutting DLC prices in half, and are quickly lauded as the chosen heroes of PC gaming. Valve hurriedly announces Half-Life 3, but finds their promises have fallen on deaf ears, as the true gamers have all converted to EAtheism, and the casual gamers have closed out of reddit and gone outside.

Meanwhile, the console gamers remain blissfully unaware of the socio-political conflicts within PC gaming, as they were too busy having fun with their ultimately superior machines.