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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Snarf Zagyg" data-source="post: 8434887" data-attributes="member: 7023840">Part 2- Why I have begun to re-think the Lorraine Williams Saga.So this is a general response and addition in regard to some of the comments (some thoughtful, some ... well, I don't agree with) in the thread. Why? What brought me to this point, other than reading Peterson's book (causing me to re-evaluate the ouster)?A brief interlude. When I was growing up, it was common to bike everywhere. I remember it as a time of unfettered freedom. Think of it like Stranger Things (maybe a little earlier time, but same gist). Day or night, I could be on a bike, out somewhere. Anywhere. Sometimes in packs of kids, sometimes alone. It was awesome. It is one of my most treasured childhood memories. So I was talking to a friend of mine. She grew up in the same place. Same time. And we were discussing biking. And she agreed it was great, but she said that she never, ever, biked alone at night, and wouldn't even bike alone in remote areas. And I was kind of stunned- because, you know, it was safe, right? But she explained that there were older men in some areas that would catcall and harass girls. Middle school girls. And she just felt that lack of safety. Thing is- I never knew that. I had no idea. I just assumed everything was the exact same, because ... why wouldn't it be? But from a young age, her experience was already very different than mine (in a lot of ways, I know, but I'm just pointing this one out).And now I think about Lorraine Williams. And I think about these older posts people are pointing to as definitive evidence of how bad she was. Like the one Desert Gled linked to, by Mike Breault. Why? Well, Desert Gled wanted to push back against the possibility that Lorraine might not have liked "bikini clad" girls at a convention, so he quotes Breault as saying that Lorraine called a woman a fat cow.But is that true- what Breault actually said to begin that quote was, "I did not witness this  but was told it independently by two higher-ups whom I trusted" Okay then! So, maybe? Could be true, could be urban myth. Who knows? But what else do we see Breault say?"This is rather cruel but I will pass it along, considering my audience. One Christmas party, Lorraine announced she was eight months pregnant. While we all politely applauded, you could see all the stunned looks in the room; almost no one knew. Did I mention she was a large woman? <img src="http://www.knights-n-knaves.com/phpbb3/images/smilies/icon_surprised.gif" alt=":-o" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />"Ha! She was fat! Get it? In her list of horribles that he is producing, no one liked her, and so it was funny when she told the company at a Christmas Party that she was pregnant, because she was so fat! Ha! That's so funny!I can't even.And that's where we get to the root of the issue I'm having. We have a female executive in the 80s and 90s. That's not easy. And ... she was the executive of a gaming company! I mean... wow. Okay. Now, let's imagine, for a second, just imagine ... that the gaming community back then was somewhat male-dominate. Somewhat insular. Maybe just a little ... I know it's hard, but work with me. And the head of THE gaming company is a woman. Imagine the pushback she would have received. After a while, I think she might not have been very fond of all those people mocking her. Giving her lip. Talking down to her. "Man"splaining things about the business. And yet, when you read many accounts that discuss individual and personal dealings with Lorraine, you usually see something along these lines  (by Jose Freitas)-These are my opinions based on stuff I heard from a lot of the insiders, they may not be entirely true and as usual one's perception of reality is skewed by the people we know, those we call friends and so on. To me, Ms. Williams was always unfailingly nice and polite, even though the 2000 or 3000$ royalties per year my company was sending her were probably close to insignificant.And then you have the received opinions, most of which are rumors upon rumors, or don't look that great in the light of day. This isn't a request for canonization. This doesn't minimize the eventual failure of TSR under watch. But my goodness, we really might need to re-evaluate this vilification. Because the more I think about it, the more actual evidence I see, the more I realize that parroting the words of older gamers about her ... is not a good look for me.YMMV.</blockquote>

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