This post has been edited to fix a confusing typo: the date listed for Chris’s return was July 28, and should have been June 28 for the July 5 show.

This post is to inform you of the return of Chris Sniezak to the Misdirected Mark community and the steps that will be involved. It is our belief, based on communication both with third-party trainers and Chris himself that Chris has made an honest and earnest effort to understand the issues with his past actions and made sustainable changes to his behavior. It is our intention to begin the process to re-integrate Chris on 6/28/2022. 

History

In February of 2020, there were allegations of misconduct against Chris Sniezek in violation of our Community Guidelines (updated now to this code of conduct: http://misdirectedmark.com/gem-code-of-conduct/) made on social media. The leaders of Gnome Stew, Encoded Designs, and Misdirected Mark Productions met to review the allegations and then hired a third-party HR investigator to conduct an investigation, with the understanding that we have implicit bias and should be guided in our actions by a neutral party. We committed to following the recommendations of the investigator, up to and including permanent removal of Chris from the network should it be necessary, and allowed them to pursue the investigation as they saw fit. 

The results of the investigation showed that Chris had violated the Community Guidelines and recommended the following actions be taken:

• One year suspension from content creation/collaboration and the Misdirected Mark Community
• HR Training for Chris 
• An apology

You can read more details about the investigation and the HR Investigator’s recommendations here. 

Measures Taken

We have followed the investigator’s recommendations for recovery and reconciliation and Chris has been suspended for over two years. For his training, we engaged an HR Consulting firm specializing in diversity and inclusivity to perform 8 sessions of personalized training/coaching with Chris, based on the areas recommended by the HR Investigator. 

Chris has also written an apology for his actions which can be found here. 

In addition, during the time of Chris’ suspension, we created a Code of Conduct and formed a Safety Committee in order to provide guidelines for proper conduct as well as a pathway to bring up any future violations. This Code of Conduct was agreed to by all content creators in the Misdirected Mark network, and will hold all of us accountable with better clarity moving forward. 

The Plan To Return Chris To The Community

Chris has completed all of the recommendations from the HR Investigation and his HR training. While Chris has met the requirements that were prescribed, we also want to have confidence that the work that Chris has done, and continues to do, will lead to lasting change. We need time to see those changes in effect, so we will be returning Chris to the community in two stages as follows. 

Stage 1: Return to Content Creation and Slack Community

We will start by allowing Chris to collaborate on content creation. That includes the following activities: 

• Return to writing Gnome Stew articles
• Return to collaborating on projects for Encoded Designs
• Recording of Misdirected Mark show: no streaming, no interviews. 
• Return to Misdirected Mark Slack Community

In this stage, Chris’ interactions will be with his fellow content creators and a limited and moderated public interaction via the Slack Community. This is an opportunity for all of us to interact with one another again and work directly to rebuild trust. 

After 2 months of this stage, the Safety Committee will determine if Chris is ready to move to the next stage, based on his adherence to the Code of Conduct in his content and interactions. 

Stage 2 – Return to Live Streaming and Public Appearances

We will allow Chris to return to interactions with the public as a member of the various GEM entities. This includes live streaming as well as running games and appearing on panels at future conventions, virtual and physical. 

At this point, there will be no further restrictions on Chris and he will be a full member of the community and will continue to uphold our Code of Conduct as with all other members of the GEM collective. 

Conclusion

While there is no perfect solution to returning anyone to a community, it is our intention to do so in a way that is gradual and predictable.

If anyone has any questions or concerns about this process, you can contact us at contact(at)misdirectedmark.com. 

Thank you.