Here I am.
Open Letter to the Steampunk Community... I put off posting this until now as I had been trying to patiently wait this mess out. However, quite a few people have told me that they feel the same way and that they would like to see me post this. So, I am....
Hello!
I should like to have a list of the names of the people of the Steampunk community who lobbied to have SPWF go down in flames. I need to have the names of the people I need to thank.
Yes, I want to thank them for the pain and suffering that I will now be experiencing. I am now a victim, too.
Thank them for losing over $1000 invested In vendor fees. Thank them for a thousand dollars of stock that I now stuck with.
Thank them for causing the same hurt and pain to the other vendors.
I want to thank them for the 900 ticketed people who have lost their money.
I want to thank them for the hotels, all three, who will be out about weeks worth of income. I don't think that they will be anxious to work with any groups like ours again. I won't blame them. They have to follow corporate policies.
I want to thank them for the embarrassment they have caused me in front of the people and friends I brought to the Steampunk community.
Thank you for making it a lie that the Steampunk community is a caring accepting community. All they now see is that a handful of people have the power to dictate the destruction of the largest Steampunk event on the East Coast without caring for the community members and vendors who lost money.
They need to be recognised for their right to not only punish and ruin a bad company and bad CEO, but their apparent right to also punish over 1000 other people who were unaware of such goings on until January 2018. As well as financially ruin at least one of those 1000 people (speaking of myself).
They need to be thanked for causing causing severe anxiety attacks on several people I know. Not to mention at least 2 people i know personally, whose depressive episodes were triggered as it was the one event a year they could attend to socialise with other folks like themselves and they spent 11.5 months looking forward to that time. Those people are now their victims as well.
I suppose I will have to go back and pour over all the publically posted information to compile that list. I want to know who each of you are.
It will not be SPS that I blame. They tried their best to right the wrongs in a very short period of time. YOU are the people I have to thank for stopping them. That makes YOU the responsible parties.
In January, when this all came to my attention, I was sympathetic and empathetic to your pain. I have been in your shoes (abused and raped - by more than one person in my lifetime). I listened with an attentive ear. Followed along to see if Justice would be done.
I was standing beside you... until you hurt ME. Personally. Deliberately.
Instead of seeking justice, you sought revenge - regardless of the cost to others who were innocent.
Not only have you ruined me financially, but you have now taken away my only joy for this year - and years to come. It was a working vacation for me, and the only way I could afford a vacation. Having attended everyone frim the beginning, I will grieve the loss of this event.
Yes. I. Am. Very. Upset. And I hold YOU responsible. I am YOUR VICTIM. How does it feel to be the perpetrators to knowingly hurt innocent bystanders. Yes, you pulled that trigger.
Remember, what you do returns to you. You reap what you sow. And if you are of a pagan mindset, where is the "and yet it harm none"? The rule of 3 applies.
No, I can not afford to go to other events to sell my wares. My spare funds were tied up in SPWF. No, I will not be able to "make up" that money for next year. I barely survive on disability in my day to day life. It takes a year just to afford SPWF and hope that I break even, or I don't make my budget for that month, or for the test of the year for that matter.
While SPS has graciously offered to allow us to vend at their Fall event, this may not be possible. Fall is a very busy time with school for dependants, and the financial responsibilities related to that, not go mention personal and family commitments. Experience tells us vendors that new events, while exciting often only break even. Established events bring money.
So I just want to know who you all are, this way I can be sure to thank you in person if we ever happen to meet. You should know the faces of those you hurt so we are not faceless victims.
Nikki Cohen, MayFaire Moon Corsets and Costumes. I was one of the first to come forward publicly, and I did it on my business page, which has a reach of almost 12k. My name is ALL OVER the Daily Beast piece.
ReplyDeleteCome at me, bitch.
(via Facebook)
ReplyDeleteHi, you wanted a list of the people who "lobbied to have the SPWF go down in flames." I have some bad news for you, that list is empty. For the last two months, strong voices have stood up and spoken out about the terrible things that have happened at this company. Bad business practices have dogged it for years, poor management has driven this event into the situation it's in today. What you see or feel is an attack on the event in an attempt to burn it to the ground is actually an attempt to make sure that this situation doesn't happen again. Up until this moment, you have never been affected by what has happened at these events. Most people haven't, most people have had a totally fun time. A smaller group of people, usually the volunteers and staffers of the event were not having a fun time. Sometimes those people were having terrible times; sexual assault, shady business practices, and promised payments that never materialize are all costly things and sometimes it's more costly than money.
My name is Catherine Kopytek, you see it listed every time I post something here on Facebook. My friends call me Cat. My last name is almost unpronounceable unless you’re used to translating Slavic words into English words, that used to bother me but it doesn't anymore. That's what you wanted, right? How does it feel now that you have it? I know you wanted to thank the people who have spoken up about the wrongs they've experienced and I think I'd like to thank you too. Thank you, for showing me that small business can be just as oblivious as big businesses. Thank you for showing the entire steampunk community that there are still people who all firmly believe that victims should just shut the hell up because that sort of thing will just interfere with everyone's good time. Thank you for being so brave, and publicly letting everyone know how you feel.
DeleteSo, now that you have my name, I'm going to give you the names of the people actually responsible for this mess. Jeff Mach, Tammy Shipps, Michael Whitehouse, Amy Whitehouse, Jesse Guillen, Eddie (no legal last name listed but most of you either know him as "ofVending" or Berserk), and Tom Cristello. Jeff Mach is responsible because he's the head of all of this, he's the boss and the boss sets the tone for the rest of the group. He is still the head of all of this, he is still in charge, even if he's just hiding right now. You can't walk away from this large of a public business and disappear. Stand at his door, thank him for this. The rest of these people are responsible because they should have known better or because they still support Jeff. I'm sorry, who trusts a divorce lawyer with sale contracts for something that is billed as "the largest steampunk event on the east coast"? Who looks at a situation like this one and doesn't let the community they claim to be protecting know the whole truth from the beginning? Follow the dots, Jeff Mach is the owner of Jeff Mach Events, at first, Tammy and company just tried rebranding. Jeff Mach Events became Just Magical Events and some people got some promotions. Currently, if you go to the bottom of the jeffmachevents.com website pages you'll see the copyright mark there. That shows the company that owns the copyright for that website. I'll save you the time it's Just Magical Events. Now, a super fun moment here, if you remember Just Magical Events had a page that showed their heads of staff and their job titles. Those people I've listed up there, every single one of them has NOT resigned from those positions. None of them have publicly announced they are no longer working for that company in that or any capacity. Tammy is still listed as the website manager for www.jeffmachevents.com. I have no physical proof at this point that anyone listed above has actually ended their involvement with the original company. Those are the people you should be angry with.
DeleteI'm sure when you applied for vending you were given the usual lie, that this event will host 5,000 people for the weekend. That's a lie, a straight up, untruth. Look at the numbers, I'm betting that ticket sales hadn't even hit 1000 by the end of December, or if they did they weren't over 1500. You were going to lose money on this event anyways, you might actually have lost more than this. Did you pay your vendor fee before or after February 2nd? Before, hound Jeff, take him to small claims court, get a lawyer. After, go talk to SPS, if they won't refund your money, take them to small claims court. Stop trying to blame the victims and start pointing your anger at the proper people. What has happened here in the last few months was bound to happen sooner or later, this much rot can't thrive.
I'm sorry you're out of money, I'm sorry people don't have this event to go to. I'm sorry it happened this way, it really didn't have to. I just wanted a safe event that I could go to without being used as currency. I wanted an event company to run an event with honor and integrity. I wanted an event staff to be held to the same standards that we hold the general population to. I wanted an event where the staff follows the same rules as everyone else. I wanted an event that wasn't filled with broken promises, half fixed issues, and missing stairs. Those wants were never going to be fulfilled with SPWF.
Dear Candy:
ReplyDeleteOn behalf of all survivors, allow me to tell you to go fuck yourself for daring to compare your income loss to what people have gone through at the hands of rapists, pedophiles, and abusers everywhere. You are fucking sick.
Finally, how dare you bring up our apparently shared faith (Paganism) to blame victims?
Sorry to hear about your income loss. Maybe next time consider asking for HELP instead of attacking? I woulda fuckin helped you.
Love,
Alice