In late January, public and private allegations were raised regarding Chris Sniezak engaging in behavior harmful to the community and implicating his colleagues in shielding Chris from accountability for his actions. The following week, in the interests of caution and impartiality, Chris agreed to a suspension from operating in a professional capacity for any of the three organizations that make up the GEM collective (the Gnome Stew gaming blog, publishing house Encoded Designs, and podcast and streaming network Misdirected Mark Productions) while the matter is under review.

To help investigate these concerns, the GEM leadership* has partnered with an HR consultant whose specializations both in research and in practice include workplace mistreatment, gender and sexuality, and diversity and inclusion. We have engaged the services of a third party in recognition of the potential for bias in investigating a member (current or former), of our organization, and to assure all that any concerns raised are treated with due seriousness.

This consultant will be the primary contact for the majority of this investigation. They will interview individuals who wish to speak with them about their concerns regarding the subject of the investigation, including the subject himself. They will evaluate and analyze any evidence that supports or challenges the alleged behaviors and provide the GEM leadership with their determination and recommendations for action based on their findings.

Get In Touch

If you wish to speak with the consultant regarding this matter, please email them at MMP2020investigation@gmail.com. Upon contact, they will follow up with you to schedule an interview. The consultant will do their best to maintain the confidentiality and protect the identity of any individual who reaches out. For greater details about how they will keep information private and confidential, please contact them at the above email address.

We would like to stress that any information sent to the email address above goes directly to the consultant. In particular, nothing sent to that email address is accessible by any of the leadership or membership of Gnome Stew, Encoded Designs, or Misdirected Mark Productions. The consultant wishes to remain publicly unnamed while the investigation is underway, but prior to being asked to assist in this investigation, they had no prior association with any of the GEM leadership team or organizations.

We would like to reiterate that the email address listed above can be used for directly contacting our HR consultant, and nothing sent to that address comes to Misdirected Mark or any of the GEM leadership. As always, if you wish to contact Misdirected Mark Productions, you can reach Senda and Rob at contact@misdirectedmark.com.

Time Frame

The initial investigation will begin today, Thursday, March 19, 2020, and will end on Saturday, April 18, 2020. However, if any individuals reach out to the consultant via the email address above at the end of this time window or after, they will do their best to follow up. When the investigation is fully completed, we will provide a summary of our consultant’s findings as well as our actions taken or planned based on their recommendations.

Thank you for your patience in this time. We want to do our best by you, our listeners, readers, and colleagues.

* GEM leadership in this case refers to Rob Abrazado (co-head MMP), John Arcadian (co-head Gnome Stew, partner Encoded Designs), Senda Linaugh (co-head MMP), Angela Murray (co-head Gnome Stew), and Phil Vecchione (owner Encoded Designs).