"The 'shitty media men' list wasn’t made to be a bludgeon. When the anonymous, crowdsourced Google spreadsheet was first created earlier this month..."

"... to collect anonymous reports of alleged sexual abusers, harassers, and general creeps in the New York City media and publishing sphere, it was presented, and understood by its creators, more as a shield than as a weapon — a tool to help women to protect themselves from men they should avoid. It was highly and admittedly unreliable — 'take everything with a grain of salt,' it said at the top, and 'if you see a man you’re friends with, don’t freak out' — but it was also private, meant to be shared quietly and directly between women the way whispered warnings always have been. This model, of course, didn’t work for very long. For about 24 hours, the list circulated as it was intended to, among a fairly small number of women...."

New York Magazine reports.