In 2020, we, the GEM Leadership (made up of the leadership of Gnome Stew, Encoded Designs, and Misdirected Mark), opened an investigation into allegations of misconduct by Chris Sniezak, podcast host at (and former head of) Misdirected Mark Productions (https://misdirectedmark.com/2020/01/27/actions-taken-due-to-recent-allegation/). In the time following, we have taken actions based on the investigator’s recommendations including education and training on matters of discrimination and harassment and suspending Chris from participation in GEM projects and communities (http://misdirectedmark.com/2020/07/15/investigation-into-allegations-completed/). At the same time, we needed to reflect upon our actions throughout this incident, acknowledge our shortcomings and where we did harm, and come up with a plan to effect lasting change in the leadership of our organizations. As this statement is specifically about our failings as leadership, past and present, we will release a subsequent statement regarding our path forward from this investigation in regards to Chris.
Our Failures Before The Investigation
Our primary failure, as leaders of the organization, was that we failed to listen to victims. We failed to recognize allegations of improper behavior, multiple times, when it was brought up to us, and when it happened in front of us we failed to recognize it or address it. We dismissed inappropriate behavior as being acceptable or dismissed it because it happened in the past. We failed to take any action, and we did not open an investigation. These were mistakes on our part, and they resulted in people being harmed. We are deeply sorry for the harm we caused by not listening to victims.
As an institution, we failed by not having any rules or policies for proper and improper behaviors, and lacked any mechanism for the reporting and investigation of any allegations. The GEM collective, like many other companies and groups in our hobby, arose from a group of friends wanting to work together. We organically grew into something larger without creating the necessary guidelines and rules for professional conduct and how to handle problematic behavior. That is a failure of leadership and we are sorry for the harm that this has caused.
We realized that, prior to this investigation, we had been overseeing an unsafe environment. Without guidelines and procedures we relied on our individual judgments on a case by case basis, which was incorrect. Having guidelines and procedures would have ensured there was a way for victims to make complaints and that individual, potentially biased judgment would not be used to evaluate them.
Our reliance on individual judgment resulted in two more failings. The first was that without a mechanism for how to report issues, we failed to act earlier, which could have prevented other unprofessional and problematic behavior. This failure resulted in further harm to victims, something for which we are deeply sorry.
The second failing was that it took us much longer to figure out how to deal with the investigation. We had to create a process on the fly because there wasn’t one in place, in which we made mistakes and did not communicate clearly (see below). We were slower to react, slower to initiate the investigation, and combined with our defensiveness, this led to the delay in starting the investigation. This resulted in victims not feeling as if they were heard or that any action was being taken. We are sorry for the harm that was caused by our delay to act.
Shortcomings During The Investigation
During the investigation we made several mistakes that were also harmful. We acknowledge that as a leadership team we failed to support victims in this situation. Because of our lack of policies and procedures, our leadership team was not prepared to handle the claims that were presented. This is not an excuse for our failure to manage it, but an acknowledgement that we did not manage it well. In addition to the failure discussed above, we also identified the following additional failures:
Defensiveness and Bias
When presented with allegations of misconduct, the Leadership team acted defensively, which made us slow and reluctant to take decisive action. We were biased, and it affected our judgment, causing us to initially treat this as a social media attack and not as signs of problematic behavior. In our defensiveness we engaged in victim blaming; failing to both listen to and protect victims. This was also wrong and we apologize for this reaction. In addition, our defensive reactions hurt and caused people who were harmed to be excluded from spaces, and we are again sorry. No one should experience any kind of repercussion for reporting an incident.
Lack of Communication
In the time since the investigation, we failed to keep anyone informed of progress, including the victims and our community. We should have communicated regularly, rather than waiting until certain milestones, such as the completion of the investigation. We can also tie this to our lack of having any procedure for how to handle an incident, which should contain a communication plan.
Our lack of communication again hurts victims by not keeping them properly informed of developments and giving the appearance that we were trying to cover things up or had stopped caring about or working on making these improvements, and again we are truly sorry.
From this point forward, we are committing to regular communication, even if we have not completed any milestones.
Personal Apologies
I, Senda, must recognize that I reached out in a state of high dysregulation, forcing a victim of the situation to manage my emotions and resulting in unintentionally engaging in white women’s tears. It is my responsibility to manage my emotional state through appropriate channels, and to make sure that I am not using it as an instrument of harm. I am truly sorry for my actions, and while this apology is long overdue, I can at least say that I have improved at this in the intervening time and am continuing to work on it in therapy myself.
Additionally, I, Phil, apologize for not recognizing and not acting on racist and sexist behavior when it happened in front of me. Because of this, I allowed people to be harmed and helped to propagate a toxic environment. In addition, I also apologize for the things I have said that were both sexist and racist micro and macro aggressions. This not only propagated that toxic environment but contributed to it. It caused harm to people that I respected. For that I am truly sorry. It was done out of ignorance and privilege, and it is something that I have been working on since the investigation has started, and something I continue to work on in therapy.
I, Rob, although no longer a member of the GEM Leadership, share in the responsibility for many of the shortcomings outlined in this statement and would also like to offer my apologies. Specifically, during and following the investigation, it was primarily my responsibility to maintain the lines of communication. In this role, I was inappropriately passive, and my continued silence and the silence of the organizations worsened the situation for victims and for members of the GEM community. I regret that I failed to act as an effective community leader when I was called upon to do so, and my inaction as a leader allowed harm to continue. I stepped down from the leadership team earlier this year, and for the ways I allowed harm to accumulate during my tenure and for the ways harm may continue as a result of the work I left undone, I am truly sorry.
I, Bob, as co-host of the Misdirected Mark Podcast, must also take responsibility and apologize for my part in allowing toxic behavior to occur. I failed to recognize both sexist and racist behavior as such, and for that I am truly sorry. I have since shined the spotlight on my own white male privilege in an effort to be more cognizant of its impact on others, and continue to work with everyone in the GEM collective to move forward in a positive manner and be a better human being.
How We Are Improving
Recognizing that we, as an organization, had several major failures, we are taking action to address these shortcomings. We have spent the time since the investigation working on the following initiatives to improve the organization and its ability to handle issues in the future.
Code of Conduct
To better define what is acceptable and professional behavior and what is not, we have designed a Code of Conduct for all Content Creators working for or with our organizations. It sets a baseline set of behaviors and expectations for all content creators in all facets of GEM. A copy of this code of conduct has already been reviewed by all GEM Content Creators and is posted on the Misdirected Mark web site (http://misdirectedmark.com/gem-code-of-conduct/).
Safety Committee
As part of the Code of Conduct, each facet of GEM has created a Safety Committee made up of one member from Leadership and two other Members who will address any allegations of misconduct in the future. These groups will also be responsible for maintaining and enforcing the Code of Conduct, as well as maintaining and monitoring an anonymous form for reporting issues.
Incident Policy and Procedures
As part of the Code of Conduct, we now have a clear policy and set of procedures for how to handle any complaints and allegations about any Content Creator. This procedure addresses rules for managing any complaints, as well how to deal with bias or conflicts of interest.
We have created a Google Form that will allow people to present complaints to the Safety Committee of the various GEM facets (https://forms.gle/aAgF178W8Dfv9L9x5), and we have posted information for all Safety Group members on each site to make them directly accessible.
Full Investigative Procedures
Our Code of Conduct outlines a high-level process for handling investigations of misconduct, but in order to establish more detailed procedures, we will now work with all the Safety Groups to draft a more robust and complete process for conducting investigations. Our plan is to have this draft completed in the second quarter of 2022.
Leadership Training for Anti-Racism and Sexual Harassment
Based on the failures we have listed above, we feel that we as a leadership group need to receive training in the areas of Anti-Racism and Sexual Harassment to improve our skills in these areas and to better recognize and deal with problematic behavior when it appears. This training requires a third party with expertise in this area to provide the training. Our initial plan was to have this training done before we posted this apology, but the HR consulting firm we were working with is overextended through next year. As such we are working to locate another appropriate resource and will have a better anticipated completion date once this has been accomplished.
We understand that between the slow progress of these initiatives and our lack of communication, we have made it appear that the focus of our time and money has been rehabilitating our friend instead of taking the necessary steps to change, listen, and improve. Since the beginning of 2021, the main focus of both time and money has been on our code of conduct and the necessary organizational changes to make it effective, something that we feel is important to our community as a whole and is part of our responsibility to the larger spaces that we move in.
None of the actions mentioned above or the apologies given can undo any harm that we have caused. Again we are truly sorry for that harm. What we must do, in order to move forward, is to take actions to prevent these failures from happening again. We believe that the actions we have listed above will move us in that direction. Going forward, we will, on a monthly basis, post an update as we work to complete the tasks we have listed above.
Our apologies.
GEM Leadership
Phil Vecchione
Senda Linaugh
John
Angela
Rob Abrazado