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As an aside, since I've been asked about it quite a few times in the last day or two, no, the person named 'stuntmonkeys' who seems to enjoy liking reprehensible posts is not me the online VO who uses the nickname 'Stunt Monkey' on discord. There's a couple of aliases people have created on here that "just" so happen to use that name and tend to like some awful stuff with it, the only alias I have on here that uses that nickname is 'Stunt_Monkey' though I more normally post under my actual name or my original forum alias 'suthainn'.
Can you explain the bold portion please?
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Since it's been a while, and self promotion isn't beyond me. Did you hear that Jeff Alvarez doxxed community members and the trolls seem to be fine with that?
I mean, knowing this I completely believe that Diego left his employment in support of a co worker/manager who he felt was wrongfully terminated. What kind of environment does a president of a company cultivate if they are willing to Dox their customers to instill fear that speaking up for yourself on a forum will get your personal information published?
The majority of the dialogue is still on the forums, read up while you can.
I will continue talking about this until the message from Paizo is sufficient to make me believe that change is actually happening and not this empty message that was given as a way to hopefully placate the customers during GenCon weekend.
Am I that important? The trolls will ask me. So let me just say. I feel I am the most important person in my story.
Details here:
https://paizo.com/threads/rzs43h04&page=7?Staff-Change-Update-from-Paiz o-President-Jeff#335
Go to Clickified.
Editted to Add because basic reading skills can be difficult:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dox
slang : to publicly identify or publish private information about (someone) especially as a form of punishment or revenge
Note: No where in it does it say it has to contain anything specific. Just personally identifiable information, and for the record troll, you didn't take the time to read my post or the linked forum posts.
Your personal definition of doxxing is irrelevant. The relevant parties felt intimidated. That is harassments, by legal definition. And to be clear, yes within 5 minutes of the doxxing I knew the persons full name and could identify other things about him that I won't reveal here that otherwise I wouldn't have been able to find. Jeff eventually apologized and redacted what he did. Had he felt he did nothing wrong do you feel he is the the kind of person to apologize for his actions?
So.... yeah, he was Doxxed and you are a troll. Keep casting doubt though.
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It's a good statement. A very careful one it seems.
It does skip over one of the most worrying claims Price made though, that he actually retaliated after being refused:
Almost immediately, however, I began having trouble getting information out of his department (given that I was managing the production schedule, this was a problem).
Finally, Mona and I went to talk to his team while he was out of town.
His team told us Bulmahn had instructed them not to talk to me, give me updates, etc. They did not know why.
Mona expressed his disappointment to me that what had seemed like a good working relationship with Bulmahn and his department had somehow gone south
It doesn't, though? He basically says "yeah, I got drunk and did this stupid thing, and then I sobered up and realized it was stupid and retracted it about as well as I could. I'm sorry about that. Also, yeah, my relationship with her degraded pretty badly around that time for reasons that I'm pretty sure were unrelated, but at least partially my fault. I'm certain that that made her job harder, and I'm sorry about that, too. It was a bad time for a lot of us, myself most certainly included." That's... pretty much directly addressing the strong implication that Price made. Price didn't even assert it fully. She just basically said "Hey - this timing was super-suspicious."
So... either you believe him when he says that it was unrelated, and had to do with a bunch of other suck that was going around the office, or you don't, and you assume that it was retaliation, but it's not like he didn't address it.
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In my 4 years on these boards I have had 0 interactions with Diego or Sara. Zero.
That seems unlikely given the number of times your threads are locked and pruned. Sara always reached out to people who were getting modded too frequently.
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Don't be more obtuse than you already are. You don't need those three things for it to be a doxxing, and the fact that Jeff redacted it later shows that he knows he was in the wrong there.Intentionally Obtuse
Within 5 minutes I had enough personal information on the guy to make me start advocating for him to get the name removed. It took weeks. If I was someone who wanted to do ill, I had more than enough information based on what was Doxxed to do so.
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With the idea that before getting into a position of power over others, you should probably know what is and is not appropriate to do with other people's personal information. You should also have the basic idea that co-workers do not want to be asked out, especially by those in a company who have the ability to retaliate based on the answer: even the ABILITY to retaliate makes asking someone out inappropriate.
You know, because of the implication.
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I've been giving Jason Bulmahn some consideration, and I've come to the opinion that he should no longer have authority over people anymore in said workplace, considering he has admitted to making romantic advances towards at least one Coworker who reported to him, and when that did not work out, Cut her out of the system.
It's good that he admitted to this(thats a first step), and apologized, but what don't we see here? He seems unsure if he had done it to anyone else.
She didn't report to him, though. He specifically wasn't her boss. She worked *with* him. Still not good, but not on the same level of bad.
I'm also not convinced that it went as far as "Cut her out of the system", or at least that the causal link was anything like that clean. We've got two people with human memories talking about events from years ago, both of whom were apparently undergoing some fairly significant emotional experiences at the time. That's not a recipe for 100% accuracy in remembering exactly what went down when.
I'm certainly a lot happier with him (and Erik) than I am with Jeff right at the moment.
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She didn't report to him, though. He specifically wasn't her boss. She worked *with* him. Still not good, but not on the same level of bad.
If her account, or some middle ground between their two accounts is accurate and he or his subordinates stopped coordinating with her and her department in retaliation for her not accepting a date with him - that is very close to the same level of bad.
She didn't report to him, though. He specifically wasn't her boss. She worked *with* him. Still not good, but not on the same level of bad.If her account, or some middle ground between their two accounts is accurate and he or his subordinates stopped coordinating with her and her department in retaliation for her not accepting a date with him - that is very close to the same level of bad.
He mentions this was not done in retaliation. Which means it is literally a he said she said situation at this point.
Who is right? Who is believable? That's a debate I'm not starting. But over the past hours a lot has become more clear and apparent.
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Who is right? Who is believable? That's a debate I'm not starting. But over the past hours a lot has become more clear and apparent.
What has become clearer in the last hours?
Here’s what I’m adding to this trainwreck:
-At Will states can terminate their employees at any time for any reason. They will not, and moreover, can NOT disclose to anyone reasons for termination. If the supervisor writes up a report about the employee about any kind of work or work place difficulty seen through their management filter, as long as it’s not illegal, the employee can be terminated.
-If not for the fact that I have made myself more active on the discord for Glass Cannon over the prior 4 months, I would know NOTHING about this event of Sara Marie’s firing, or of this Jessica Price person. I just bought Secrets of Magic, I’m really looking forward to Guns & Gears, and I’m sure Gen Con would tell me some more cool stuff that I’d look forward to in the future.
Most consumers of Paizo would know none of what is going on. The few dozen here yelling and screaming for 3rd party arbitration, Presidents to step down, implementing a union; that stuff won’t affect the larger community of people who simply purchase the products.
(Now, do I believe that organizational changes should be wrought? Sure do! But want and desire versus practice and implementation are different things).
So yes, speak with your wallets. Speak with an email to the company contacts. Speak to others you know to do the same. Write an actual letter!!
There will continue to be much internet screaming, arguing, and fighting from this point forward. Public perception will be key most of all for Paizo going forward. Will more employees decide to leave? Will more anonymously speak, will more leak ‘tell-alls’? Will the public forum of people who simply purchase Paizo products be made aware of any of this? The biggest factor will be- will there be a financial hit? Or will there be any form of legal happenings? If not, Paizo won’t have to do a damned thing. Except lose good-will; possibly, or probably employees, and internet/twitter aware posting fans. The worst thing will be to do nothing, and lose everything.
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Jason Bulmahn has said he regrets hitting on Jessica Price and his behavior was unacceptable. He also confirms that sent "salacious images", and that upon reflection, he can't guarantee they were wanted. That confirms enough of Jessica Price's account that nobody should be dismissing her out of hand, as I've seen from posters who should know better.
Price aside, the fact remains that Diego Vasquez resigned after Sara Marie was fired. Even if you don't trust Price, you can trust him.
Posters who are in "hear no evil, see no evil" mode, or argue that corporate ethics don't matter, aren't doing Paizo any favors.
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Bulmahn’s admitted behavior definitely upsets me a great deal. “Don’t drunkenly hit on people who are lower in position at your job” is the kind of thing you learn in your first ever HR training.
I’m also still waiting on word from Paizo about the allegations around trans employees being denied hotel accommodations and convention travel.
Director of Game Design
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So, just to add a small amount of clarity here folks, since I assumed some things were known in my statement.
Jessica was not my boss, nor was I hers. We were coworkers at about the same level on the org chart. The relationship between me and her deteriorated afterwards for a number of reasons, and while my awkwardness over the situation likely contributed, I believe that a huge part of it was office politics over one specific project, an event that damaged my relationship with a number of coworkers, including my boss.
That said, I respect that everyone might see these matters differently and I am not here to tell you to think otherwise. This is my perspective on events of over 6 years ago and I have learned a lot and changed my behaviors in the office since.
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I think Jeff posting his "update" before GenCon was the smartest move.
Because there is a pretty good chance that most of the energy here, on these worthy topics, will have dissipated in a few days. And that it will be eclipsed by the GenCon announcements.
And most people will go back to business as usual.
Smartest move is not necessarily best move though. If Paizo's management is unable to change in the direction indicated here, the company will stagnate, or even atrophy.
While other smarter, better, more modern companies, more in tune with the tech-savvy and inclusive zeitgeist, will know success and leave Paizo behind to fade into obscurity.
This crisis is truly an opportunity for Paizo to evolve into a better and ultimately more successful company.
I hope they seize it.
Best of luck to those who left AND to those who stay.
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She didn't report to him, though. He specifically wasn't her boss. She worked *with* him. Still not good, but not on the same level of bad.If her account, or some middle ground between their two accounts is accurate and he or his subordinates stopped coordinating with her and her department in retaliation for her not accepting a date with him - that is very close to the same level of bad.
So first, let's look at what her actual claim was.
And oh, boy, Bulmahn. Bulmahn hit, as far as I can tell, on every woman in the creative department who wasn't in a relationship. So, in the beginning, despite his reputation for being difficult to work with, I had a good working relationship with him.And the execs expressed some surprise, but hey, none of us were going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
Then Bulmahn propositioned me. I turned him down as gently as I could, and he apologized and I was like, "oh good, that could have gone so much worse."
He was awkward and avoidant at a social event the same weekend, but I was like ok, it is a little awkward, but he seemed cool in his response so I'm sure it'll be fine.
Almost immediately, however, I began having trouble getting information out of his department (given that I was managing the production schedule, this was a problem).
Finally, Mona and I went to talk to his team while he was out of town.
His team told us Bulmahn had instructed them not to talk to me, give me updates, etc. They did not know why.
- They had a surprisingly good relationship
- Bulmahn hit on her. She turned him down gently, and he apologized.- At a party the next weekend, Bulmahn was being awkward and avoidant, though not hostile.
- She starts having difficulty getting info out of his department - not "sudden brick wall", but "began having trouble"
- Finally (unclear how long after) she goes to talk with his team while he's out of town. Bulmahn had apparently told them not to talk with her.
Now, what does he say?
- He acknowledges that their relationship deteriorated.
- He acknowledges that "this mistake" played a part in it.
- He states that a bigger part was based on office politics that let him feeling that his work an his department were being undermined
- He acknowledges that by the time of her departure, communications ahd broken down almost entirely.
So, I'm reading this, on *both* sides and what's going on is not retaliation. He was getting along with her, and in an ugly place, and got drunk, and made the dumb move of trying to reach out for romantic validation in a place that he should have known better than to reach out to. She turned him down gently, he took it pretty well, and then started getting awkward about things. The awkwardness impacted their ability to work together and communicate. He starts suspecting that she's aligned with the people who he feels are working against him, and communication degrades further. Given that she both said (at the beginning) that she was talking with other folks about him in uncomplimentary ways ("You actually communicate well together? *Weird*. We'll take it.") and that one of her steps in trying to address things was "come in with Erik Mona and talk to his people while he wasn't there" (with no mention of attempts to address the situation with him directly) he may have had a few reasons for believing that.
So what this all says to me is that he had some serious voids in social clue, thought he was being persecuted, and reacted badly. None of this suggests to me he was retaliating for her turning him down. Now, it wasn't exactly making him look *good*, but he spends quite a lot of time addressing *that*, and openly admitting it, and talking about how he'd noticed that and realized that, and taken steps to try to make himself a better person about it, apparently with some success, and talking about how he continued to make efforts in that area. I mean... the idea that an RPG designer might have some failures of social clue isn't all *that* bizarre, right?
I don't think that that's anything *like* the same level of bad, really - not assuming that he actually has been putting in effort to do this batter. I do not currently have reason to think that he's lying on that.