All this being said, it's still not entirely clear to me that Williams' negative reputation can justly be put entirely down to SCOREBOARD, as Snarf put it in the OP.
That wasn't what I meant; only that while I think that there are a lot of reasons to re-visit stories the stories people say about her and reconsider how we view her, in the end, she was in charge when TSR spiraled down the drain and was sold off.
For example, in Jim's "Walking Around the Building" post from April 2020.
I love Jim Ward for his many contributions to D&D (if not what he has been involved with recently). But take this story - if you really boil it down, here's what we have-
Jim calls out Lorraine for taking him to task in public. He admits that he was behind schedule.
Now, notice what else he says. Zeb was the one who
told Lorraine in a disparaging manner about his work, behind his back. Lorraine then "spoke sharply" to Mike Cook, and Cook then spoke sharply to Jim.
So, we have-
1. Zeb going behind Jim's back and making disparaging comments about his work to the boss.
2. Cook taking Jim to task.
3. Lorraine taking Jim to task.
But what lingers? What couldn't be cured with a "man-to-man" talk? Was it going behind his back? Was it being taken to task? Was it being called out (even correctly) by both Cook and Lorraine?
I keep circling back to the same point- these stories seem different now. Again, I wasn't there. I don't know what really happened. But I am very skeptical of these stories, especially given that a lot of these self-serving stories don't seem to hold up in the light of day, and in light of what we now know about gender dynamics in the workplace.
(Which is to say I don't even know that Jim is incorrect in his own view of the matter, but if a male CEO called him out, maybe he would have considered that inspiring and leadership, and not abrasive, or, at a minimum, been comfortable speaking privately with the CEO ... it's just a subtle thing.)