Here We Go Again...

[@adbraunstein]

Somewhere Frank is both silently screaming and firing up his billable hours calculator...

[@younkerscott]

@adbraunstein Frank must make so much bank every time Doug goes on a rant in these videos

[@TheT8or]

Honestly, that employee loan thing is the biggest W ever.

[@drakkon37]

This is a thing and while it has some small stipulations is amazing and a very cool thing

[@joshhighburger8869]

Massive. And having never heard of it or them flexing that on Wyrmlife up until this point is really cool as well.

[@Animaniac-vd5st]

Absolutely normal here in Germany with most companies, but still nice.

[@cogspace]

@@Animaniac-vd5st Extremely not normal in the US. I've never heard of such a thing before and in our context it is VERY generous to offer such a thing.

[@LabTech41]

I have worked a lot of jobs, including one that my uncle owned the business, and NONE of them would've given me a dime past my wage; the idea that interest free and often forgiven loans exist is a massive sign of good business culture, that's obviously left on the cutting room floor of a rag like Rascal.

[@artdollsbyariana]

Hi Doug, you don’t know me- I don’t know you but I must say, as a newly pregnant SAHM to a four year old baby girl, married to a Wyrmwood ex-employee (laid off in the recent layoffs) I really appreciate the transparency. The job at Wyrmwood was life changing for my family we really appreciate the opportunity. I cannot hope long enough that one day rehiring can happen, and we are a part of it! Feelings are high, and I was upset but it was because the job was perfect for us. Hopefully we will see you all again soon!

[@matthewderezinski8103]

The interest-free loan is a nice gesture for your employees.

[@WyrmLyfe]

Yeah, they helped me out at one point a few years ago. Exactly as Doug said, payments made to work with your paycheck with zero interest. Payment was over before I knew it. One of the better things a company I've worked for has done for me, personally.

[@JackWumbo117]

It’s more than a nice gesture. It’s something a family does for its members.

[@error.418]

@@JackWumbo117 Work colleagues are not family. Your boss is not your family. That's a super unhealthy way to frame work.

[@CRAZY-ED]

I didn’t know about the loan thing. I could use 75K

[@brendancarero3617]

I appreciate these videos, because it shows the difficulties a company goes through when they have to do difficult things like laying-off people. Thank you for volunteering to share this publicly. I have learned a tremendous amount about running a Small - Medium business. I also like watching in general for entertainment purposes.

[@akaryanc2455]

Are we gonna talk about the real content of this video, Troy's arms?

[@paulfortner3259]

HR can be a thankless job and you have to burn off that frustration somehow! Clearly curls for Troy, good man!

[@bicarus9859]

@@paulfortner3259 HR's primary job is to limit liability. HR works for the company first and foremost. assisting with employee issues is to make sure the company comes out on top as much as possible. One should not think HR is there for the employees they never were and never will. ;)

[@wolffangs3641]

At what point can we request measurements and a workout plan from the master?

[@ginginc]

This always makes me think of the famous quote from Babylon 5. "Understanding is a 3 edged sword, your side, their side and the truth".

[@mattcurr9931]

exactly, truth is a 3-sided coin

[@1965GJS13]

I'm a brit who used to work for a software company in the USA in the mid-late 1990s. The company paid for my L1 visa, and then paid for my green card so I could work in the USA. I had to sign an undertaking that for the company paying for these things, I would stay working for them for the next three years; which at the time I was happy to do. But.... after two years, my mother (here in the UK) passed away, and I had to return to the UK to look after my father, who could not cope on his own. The company let me have three weeks off work, on full pay, to return to the UK, organise the funeral and the financials etc, and then did not hold me to the three years, nor did it ask me for any of the L1 or green-card attorneys fees back, when I returned to the UK permanently. So I guess I was lucky, but I cannot fault that company for how they treated me while I was going through all that. They were great. Sadly that company folded a few years later and their IP bought out by another software house. From this, it sounds like WyrmWood are also one of these great companies who do actually care about their employees.

[@alliroarr6180]

There has been many a Wyrmlife which showcased the development of Doug's ideology as a CEO to consolidate business acumen with his core intentions: American made & Employee enrichment. This revelation of interest free employee loans & supported education is simply not shocking because of his consistent verbalized dedication to employees. Bravo Wyrmwood. I think you can truly see how aligned Troy is here and how happy he is with developing even stronger employee dedicated programs and relationships. I fully dislike that the decision *had* to be made to cut employees, but I also fully agree that you guys "landed the plane" because you're not closing doors at the cost of keeping on so many. "This sucks" doesn't cover it, but I really appreciate showing all the aches and pains. It makes me more excited to support projects going forward.

[@probey24]

Everything else aside, the loan assistance is legitimately a great way to help employees and should be more common.

[@GiggityxGamer]

Most companies cannot afford to be giving out interest free loans like that and just never getting it back sometimes. I'm actually shocked with how tight the financials have been for WW that they would do something like that. Tells you something

[@brendanrobertson5966]

After the last video, my general thought on your explanations was, "You should have been downsizing 3-6 months ago, in anticipation of your workflow." At least you re-sized before running out of cash.

[@Lostex35]

Watch to the end don't think Doug's gut was wrong at all

[@MikeWingfield]

The ugly side of running a business is actually really interesting. Thanks for sharing. Keep on keeping on Wyrmwood. Haters gonna hate.

[@Animaniac-vd5st]

I only gave one interview to a newspaper. One of my (naive) statements was around "it would be stupid to think that XXX" - headline of the article was " : XXX" needless to say that i will never do that again.

[@shannonmichalak9812]

I can't believe all the perks you guys offer your employees in need. I love you guys even more now!

[@DamienAM75]

And here I am not able to find a job in the past 12+ months and there are people like this taking advantage of a good workplace. Thank you for the video btw I love that you are so transparent about the situation and that is an amazing thing that you do for your employees

[@daethwing188]

I think, technically it would be lible not slander... given that it would be written word.

[@paulhostettler8581]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqTGknp6rdqEp6c

[@UnofficialDustyn]

Remember when this show was about the stuff they made and silly goofs?

[@eddiebouchez9615]

Now it's about Doug and his unhinged rants and his double talking.

[@UnofficialDustyn]

@eddiebouchez9615 I want to disagree with you, but then I remember the multiple episodes we had to trudge through while he decided viral custom Mario table was the best course of action. Hopefully we do pivot back to focusing on the other craftsmen for a bit and have some silly goofs to break up the Doug speaking straight to camera episodes.

[@travmadison2000]

Oh you mean 3 videos ago when Ian redid the Hex Table? Or maybe 7 videos ago???

[@UnofficialDustyn]

@travmadison2000 yeah the one in like five episodes. Thanks for reiterating my point. The one enjoyable episode which was free of Doug talking straight into the camera? Like I am not saying keep Doug off it. It is his company to run and do what he wants with. I just miss enjoying watching wyrmlife.

[@travmadison2000]

@@UnofficialDustyn I am glad I can reiterate how stupid your point is. I mean really dude? Lets pick a number lets say 15 videos ( not including them selling stuff cause thats more product advert) over the last 2 months...only 5 videos in 2 months have been NOT about making shit... 1 fucking 3rd... 33% has been talking about this layoff situation..... So how does it make sense then that your original comment and point is valid?????? Seriously stfu and watch the videos dont make stupid comments.

[@nahboh1897]

Yesterday I became uneployeed , but I still got contact with the boss to do stuff no in the workshop but at distance., but still need to find a new job cuz the extra work from the old one would not keep me afloat.

[@probey24]

"Representation" means the way the videos captured the events they portrayed. Just like an written interview can be altered to omit facts or push a narrative, so too can videos be edited to exclude conversations or change a narrative. Doug just described the thing he doesn't seem to understand from the question. It doesn't mean vibe. Take a moment and think critically.

[@Outt63]

Matt saying "accurate" was... accurate

[@Dragonslairminis]

Yeah, that was painful watching that.

[@michelguenette8998]

That was certainly one way of getting ahead of the news. The record is the important part of any conversation with a reporter and a lawyer. That is also why transcripts are kept from certain trials. You can read the transcript and know exactly what was said and by whom. Investing in (or helping) people?! What a novel concept!!! ;)

[@JonTripp115]

-I remember a year or two back when Doug argued against hiring an HR rep. Troy has been awesome on Wyrm Lyfe, and I'm sure he's been a godsend to the company. -There's good journalism, there's bad journalism, there's tabloid journalism, and then there's bloggers who masquerade as journalists. American journalism has been in dire straits since before the Internet because most people would rather be uninformed for free than have to pay people who know what they're doing.

[@allanblack8635]

I gota say. I kinda always hated wyrmwood because of the cowboy CEO. But the details mentioned in this video really shows the positive side of a maverick business owner. The loan story is wild, and it is insanely cool you do that for people.

[@michaelwoodruff9825]

This is the content I follow this page for. Not a gamer and will probably never buy anything, but love following this from a small business perspective. Thanks for sharing!

[@Haceldama777]

same

[@ImmutablePaper]

Man, Troy is so awesome, I wish he was in every Wyrmwood. Explains things so clearly and transparently.

[@rhyattgere4833]

This reminds me of the person who saves a person's life with CPR, and then gets sued for cracking a rib.

[@indywiring]

Fascinating stuff, thanks for sharing.

[@christopherdaley5617]

Any journalist who won't let you record the interview is a journalist you should not give an interview.

[@error.418]

He was speculating, the journalist did not refuse to let him record

[@christopherdaley5617]

@@error.418 I am pretty sure Wyrmwood said Tom declined to be recorded.

[@error.418]

@@christopherdaley5617 Doug did not say that, no, he said he wrote back saying he would only do the questions if he could also record and then didn't wait for a reply, just made this video instead

[@saltnpepper5]

@@error.418 If you watch past the end title screen 25min in, then you will see they responded back. They would not allow for them to record the interview, and they would not agree to using his full unedited statement if he sent an email response.

[@mathewcoppola8622]

@@error.418 Next time watch the whole video before you comment.

[@LabTech41]

It's also important to note that the online rag that contacted Doug, Rascal, was co-founded by the woman who wrote the hit piece on WW last year, Lin Codega; who's a muck-raker of the laziest kind. Her style of "research" is to just go on social media and cast as wide a net as possible for dirt on the targets of her stories, and to read it yourself there's little if any indication she attempts to cross-verify anything. The article wasn't so much an analysis of the incident, as it was a screed against Doug's personal politics, and a cliche attack on capitalists. Thankfully, Ms. Codega was let go from Gizmodo, clearly a sign of her journalistic capabilities, and helped found that rag to continue the process of slotting rumor and hearsay into pre-written Mad Libs article formats that let her rage against the ideas and people her ideology tells her not to like. Long story short, given how borderline slanderous her previous article had been, there was NO reasonable expectation that an article written by her cohorts would be any more fair, and the fact that any attempt to bypass a selective editing process was flatly rejected on their part only reinforces the fact that it was and probably still is going to be a hit piece. On a personal note, the fact that WW would offer interest free loans, and has routinely forgiven the debts incurred, blows my mind; I've worked a lot of jobs, and not one of them would've given me a plug nickel beyond my base pay rate. A lot of haters have chosen to overlook the greater good of WW in order to play petty political games, and those people are sad to me.

[@phlogistanjones2722]

As soon as your comment mentioned the "giz" I understood precisely what was going on. Thank you for the information.

[@LabTech41]

@@phlogistanjones2722 No problem, that's why the Reddit people are the bottom of the barrel, because Codega went on that site to do some of her muck raking. They're SUPER salty that Doug's being this transparent, and there's a couple people over there who seem to have a deeply personal animosity, given how often they're adding to the pile of vitriol. This is just Codega, once again and by proxy, trying to make hay out of nothing and using WW as the target. Last time she did that, karma lost her the job as Gizmodo; who knows how the wheel will turn for he little co-op online rag. I hope she has a Costco card stocked up, because she'll be buying bulk ramen for a long time.

[@LabTech41]

@@phlogistanjones2722 No problem, looks like Codega is once again trying to spin yarns at WW's expense, so that she doesn't have to go on bulk ramen at the local hostel. Karma has not been kind to her, and here she is poking it again.

[@LabTech41]

@@phlogistanjones2722 It's really all that has to be said to get the measure of these people, isn't it?

[@WyrmLyfe]

They use they/them pronouns just fyi

[@valentinoodorjan7059]

Diceapalooza update🎉

[@MadMcGlory]

Well played Doug! well played. When others would have been defensive, Wyrmwood's transparency allows for them to go on the attack instead, Impressive. Aint no hate train stopping at this station.

[@EmoKillsBest]

I've been critical of a bunch of things Wyrmwood has done, but I do have to extend an olive branch here. As someone who has been taken advantage of multiple times by family members, it's a massive shame that this employee in question would be such a POS. I realize there are two sides to every story, but this seems like an open/shut case of someone using y'all for personal gain/fraud. I'm also a person who cringes as the phrase "fake news," but in this case, it seems to be pretty straightforward. Any journalist worth their salt would have no issue with a recorded conversation. Now ship my damn dice and hoodie.

[@daringdarius5686]

I'ma stop complaining about Wyrmwood and their pricing structure. I've been a big fan for 8 years now, and I've had my grievances, but the product is good, the management may not be the best it's definitely above average at the least and morally speaking, one of the best I've seen to date, and you guys care. Thanks for restoring my faith in the company

[@Jovi_97]

It's brave being this open about the companies oppinions and desitions. It opens up the floodgate for people having a lot of outside oppinions looking in. I hope it works out for ya in the long run.

[@whitey9674]

Bobby, you're SOOOO close. It's Rocky, Colt, and Tum-Tum! It's was one of my favorite movies as a kid. ^_^

[@PatrickGrosse]

As someone who still generally believes in traditional journalism, I think this should really be framed more like "tabloids are killing journalism"

[@wonkothesane3482]

Dam...it sounds like you might have hired my sister...I know you didn't because she has not actually had a job in the last decade, but she pulls functionally the same garbage.

[@MrGuurn]

I'm just irritated by Doug tying his shoes with a grannie knot instead of a reef knot.

[@Lord_Teaspoon]

Heh, looking at the back of Doug's phone and the back of the phone on the table in front of me... Yep, that's a match. The Pixel 6 is such a workhorse.

[@SchmidtymeTimbers]

Anyone else just watching Troy's biceps flex like a beast as he's describing the situation? 💪😆 15:25

[@Lavasioth]

Videos. Of. Your. Craftsmen. Making. Stuff. We want videos of you using tools not being them.

[@coryscamihorn1811]

Speak for yourself, the last couple of weeks of videos have been the best content in a while.

[@brians7749]

I really liked the twitch channel they had where they would just set up a camera on one of the work stations or with a person to follow them around the shop. But I guess 2 vids a week of an art major pretending to be a CEO is all they can do since they're so busy creating YT shorts and IGs where they add and remove MGT toppers...

[@Lavasioth]

@@coryscamihorn1811 Yeah man, I love watching entrepreneurs fumble through layoffs for weeks instead of just seeing design and woodworking content.

[@coryscamihorn1811]

@@Lavasioth Oh good, we agree.

[@DustinKnapp7]

I am here for both. Don't say "we" when you mean "I."

[@MrGoalie2012]

The whole loan thing is just another frustrating example of how fucking sleazy, lazy people ruin insanely good benefits at companies for the rest of ppl that might actually need it. Good on WW for not letting it effect other employees

[@storiesofsarahtonin]

Perfect music choice for the end card!

[@BenRangel]

It's mad how confused Doug is about the "accurately represented" question. Seems obvious to me: it's in line with the next questions - can a paper write about what we saw in the video or do you wanna state that the video didn't show reality properly and could easily be misleading

[@Stefanicus100]

This channel has turned into Doug grandstanding and stroking his ego about how much everyone else doesn’t know. Love the videos about product development and production issues. Watching a tone deaf speech to employees and the CEO and Plant manager ignoring the HR person was tough viewing.

[@gerbotimbers]

I've always been inpressed with Wyrmwood's integrity. That goes for both the amount of transparency from the business side of things as well as the amound of abuse the products can take from crazy Ed. That's rare today, keep it up.

[@vampirehunter21]

This is just speculation but did anyone run a background check on that individual? The state should of shown that on the background check. Second was it just open hiring or were they targeted hiring? Was data used to determine the actual need of open. Is data collected on unit production or is it just a best guess. Third while being open and transparent it a wonderful thing. How that termination video appeared did not look good from a business perspective. There should have been a written statement made by the management staff.

[@bayonetbrant]

23:00 "That's what journalism is" -- clearly spoken by someone who doesn't know what journalism actually is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@elephamoose]

I'm sorry, but is Doug's Dunkin drink sitting in his mug?

[@danmur15]

I kinda love it 😂

[@viola_case]

Saves space

[@biggiebrands6205]

You guys need to get it together.

[@Mikowmer]

There were ways you could have handled the layoffs better. I think you would readily admit that. But this isn't really one of those things you could improve on.

[@irAbyssion]

Hit pieces are at a all time high and you made the right call to make a recording mandatory. It sucks having to clarify and try to explain everything but, then again it is price you have to pay being this open to the public. The upside is that the current collective mind of the internet has the memory hold of a gold fish and will move on within a few days. I honestly do hope this new content creation direction works out because public perception on social media is looking pretty bad. I would like to see this stuff eventually get picked up by a few political streamers because this would likely stir up some good discussions(for better or worse).

[@SailorRalph]

This one individual is not good with money and is very questionable as a reliable source for anything and everything. Wyrmwood is doing more than any other employer I have ever worked for or heard of.

[@surlycanadian]

Well, they SAY they do more than any employer you have ever worked for or heard of.

[@Theplayerofx]

ah, you had one of those people at the job. but these are the types of things that need to be cleared before hiring and a probation period

[@DustinKnapp7]

ever do hiring? You do your best but shit happens and sometimes people try to take advantage. If you think you can just "vet everyone perfectly" then you really haven't done that job yourself.

[@Theplayerofx]

@@DustinKnapp7 did it for 14 years, and thats why i said AND a probation period. most jobs have it now, if in a 6 month period the person is no good they can be let go, no question asked. they are at will employees so most places dont require to do what they did. and you can vet most out with properly checking on backgrounds and references. even to the point where most jobs look at social media of the person to see who people are outside of a professional environment.

[@damianthedm]

@@DustinKnapp7 That's what the probation period is for...

[@xazz]

from what i've seen in the comments the last few videos is everyone loves a transparent company until they start doing things that are normal business practices that you don't like

[@dansimmons2095]

I mean, yeah. If someone does crappy things but is honest about it, are you cool with it? "I cheated on you and stole money from your account, but I made a KZbin video showing you how I did it". Not an ideal mate, right?

[@xazz]

What a great illustration of my point. Also the what you said and what WW did aren't even the same but alright.

[@BenjaminKlahn]

@26:45 The editorial board is an entirely different thing from the editorial process. You're confusing two similarly named things that are very different. Editorial process refers to the process of editing text, the editorial board writes opinion pieces for the newspaper. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editorial_board vs en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editing

[@baldingape]

Yeah, I think it was fair for them to respond that they wouldn't agree to run the company's comment in full. But I suspect Doug would have been happy to do the verbal interview if it could be recorded, but it seems like the journalists weren't terribly interested in writing the story. I mean, the CEO of the company agrees to sit down for an interview as long as he can record it. If you think your questions are going to gain you illuminating insights, why on earth wouldn't you agree?

[@janderson5773]

Has there price's of the modular gaming tables went up?

[@novatheorem]

Yes.

[@fonzbcolorado]

Not compared to the prices from both kickstarter campaigns. It’s gone down significantly from then.

[@janderson5773]

Damn that sucks.

[@dreman5168]

Glad you guys got rid of that crazy person lol

[@error.418]

What? Doug is still there...

[@DanielBlak]

Ignore the haters - I think these types of behind the scenes are important. It shows the ups and downs, the real struggle of running a startup manufacturing business.

[@snowpython]

What's sad is linda did a great article on dnd then did the ww article. I regret going with another table based on linda's article....

[@sindex]

Even a person in the Discord at the time who helped Linda scour Wyrmlyfe videos and collect information said that the article ignored a LOT of relevant information and positivity in favor of a hit piece, ignored women in the company who offered to speak, and that they would never assist Linda again. They found the article... let's say "less than fully factual." Plus Linda came in and taunted a former media team member who used to run WW's Twitch and made fun of him while he struggled through his emotions as he read the article. Linda's kind of a bully garbage person it seems, who appears to accidentally break an interesting story now and then.

[@TakeACloserLook96]

@@sindex Howdy, I am the person you are referencing. Just providing more context: Linda had several female employees reach out to provide their perspective, and these people never received responses from Linda. I asked Linda and they clarified it was because they were prioritizing people who would do phone calls, and also they had "too many sources" at that time. In my personal opinion, I would have taken more time to release the article and also include more perspectives, especially since the article tried to push a narrative about how females were treated differently. I am still very critical of Wyrmwood, but also of Linda. Linda is a co-founder of Rascal News, who Thomas is writing for. I am very disappointed in the questions Thomas asked, and also in his decision to not allow recordings. I personally have questions I would love to ask Wyrmwood, and I have no platform to share them: I would be more than willing to chat with Wyrmwood, have them record and release it in full. There has been cherry picking on both sides of this. Rascal News cherry picking stories,their article references an employee "asking if people knew where she could post a tent-losing her job meant she was going to be homeless in New England at the start of winter." While that is tragic: it is not Wyrmwood's fault that person is homeless. It is playing at heartstrings that are not relevant to the story, and I agree with Doug. It's pushing a narrative. I also don't agree with Doug cherry picking certain comments from the previous videos, ignoring some of the other more pertinent criticisms.

[@ezmoore27]

Manuel is commonly pronounced like "Man-well" which is a simplification of "Man-oo-el".

[@Jcraft153]

Guys, this is a HR nightmare, don't air your dirty laundry in public. Haven't you learned this by now???

[@ravdeepgandhi1081]

No company I know would ever help their employees like ya'll. Wyrmwood is actually incredible.

[@dungeonsanddiscourse]

this is absolutely wild.

[@Danny_DaKid]

You’re killing it with these songs 🤣

[@joshuaprice7306]

Us: Y’all not gonna talk about Doug’s terrible speech? Doug: SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS Us: What? Doug: FAKE NEWS Us: Oh Jesus

[@hadesblackplays]

everytime doug gets question by the audience he shifts the focus to anything but addressing said issues. im used to his elon musk behavior at this point.

[@joshhighburger8869]

I missed the episode announcing the Wyrmlife rebrand into "Doug's Manic Vlogs" 😅 radical honesty is important. Reading the comments rarely is. Appreciate y'all's transparency as always.

[@melodyhawley]

I ALSO WATCHED THE THREE NINJAS, THANK YOU, BEEN THINKING THAT THIS WHOLE TOM TOM VIDEO

[@MrGoalie2012]

Side note. Can we get a Doug’s wife cancer journey update? Hopefully all positive!

[@aricrepp3253]

I've commented on the last 2 videos, floating in that middle-ish realm of criticism, but these kinds of videos are what I was pining for. My criticism wasn't for the business decision but more so the speech/portrayal of the company. I think 90+% of people agreed on that? I know you guys have that capacity for it just how it was delivered didn't help. (Still subbed btw)

[@millerliteman-2617]

This story is so personal to me, as someone who had a family business, and experienced so many similar stories. My advice, don't do the loans. Its not worth the good morals in the end.

[@WyrmLyfe]

We don't do it for the morals. We do it for our employees. If it was for the morals then the internet would have known about these loans years ago.

[@cogspace]

I'm no expert, but I like the idea of these loans. Helping your workers do their best work, grow their skills, stay healthy, be able to get to work, etc. is all good for productivity, and a little generosity goes a long way toward earning respect and helps with retention. It's very easy to quantify when these things are being abused, but it's very hard to see the benefits. They're there, but they're complex and long-term. In other words, while I certainly understand the reluctance to offer such benefits, you don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

[@matt-lang]

​@@WyrmLyfe From my own personal anecdote; my Dad was a manager at a manufacturing company for many years and had a very good relationship with (almost) all of the employees there. He had a policy of taking meetings with anyone at any level of the company who asked for one, and would always listen to employees if they had issues, or had anything that they were struggling with even outside of work. This was a company of thousands, so significantly larger than WW, even. When my dad passed, a woman came to the visitation that none of us knew, and she introduced herself as someone who had worked at the company while my dad managed it, and she gave us a letter and said she was sorry for our loss. In the letter, she explained that she had gone to my dad when she was about to be homeless and was going to lose her and her kids' home. She had poor credit, and couldn't afford any of the rates they were offering and she was basically reaching out as a last ditch effort. My dad gave her an interest-free loan and worked with her to sort out the paperwork and make sure she didn't have to lose her home, or her kids as a result of being homeless. Nobody else ever knew this happened, but she still came years later to let us know and thank him one last time. I get that there are risks with offering loans to employees, and there will be some people who take advantage of it like the unnamed person in this video, but I have seen first-hand the benefits that it can bring and I 1000% agree that it's a great policy/benefit to offer for your employees and highlights that you do in fact care a lot about them.

[@jcadult101]

@@WyrmLyfe That makes no sense. "Morals" is not "publicity", quite the opposite. It's what you do when no-one is watching.

[@paulhostettler8581]

I like how they characterized them as benefits. These are calculated business transactions, not charity. Wyrmwood invests in their employees in order to realize a return on investment in quality and productivity. That's capitalism done right.

[@streetstreetstreet]

So did "TomTom" agree to the recorded conversation?

[@bitteroldjoe]

Lord Almighty the hostility towards reporters. Double holy shit at the hostility in the stinger.

[@PatrickMoog]

You forgot a pair of ironic quotation marks, here you go. " ", You know where to put them

[@bitteroldjoe]

They never even gave the guy a chance. The encounter with Linda colored the entirety of the interaction.

[@phlogistanjones2722]

You mean the hit-piece that the "person" who *used* to work at gizmodo did? With zero cross-referencing or what some of you kids call "fact-checking"? Generalizing a bunch of aspersions one read "On Teh Webz" is not journalism. You would know that if you had an ounce of sincerity and not simply seeking to grind an axe. Peaceful Skies

[@BuddaOnDaRoll]

I hope this person dosn't sour those generous things you offer to employees because thats pretty W. It sucks when you gotta lay people off, but that's private business and if you go under everyone goes under anyway so its the lesser of those two evils. I havent commented on a lot of this layoff stuff yet but The only other thing you could have done for your laid off employees (Which would be extremely benevolent and unexpected) would be to write them all wonderful recommendations or even assist in being a foot in the door at another place.

[@salbaca1104]

shout to the walkoff of Doug as for me my now late father had his own business doing tax credits for many companies something that has since disappeared due to the changing of how business is done anyways for a short time he was in talks for a short time with a manager who knew owner who owned a group of slizzler's and what he failed to realize was that the manager was angle shooting to take his knowledge and start her own business i went in with him for a meeting and i asked her point blank as while i did not finish college due to lack of funds but also disability issues i still had my street smarts whats your intent and if its not kosher i will research your past and find all your secrets in business and expose them as i have learned leverage is a powerful weapon and that ended that dealing as i read her like a book and while his business is now gone maybe in the future i will use the businesses name to start my own company but doing income Taxes but that's for the future

[@GymLeaderPhil]

Thanks for the transparency.

[@AnimeAnarchist-rp2ob]

Jesus Christ, Doug. I am legitimately shocked that you manage to move around every day under the weight of your own victim complex. Is there honestly not a single person in your company with the sack to sit you down and say "Mate, maybe you should just shut up for, like, 10 minutes."

[@Jaymay98]

You watching and commenting is only helping the algorithm idiot

[@d_dave7200]

I didn't mind this particular video, since I very much agree with his take on modern journalism, but you're also not wrong.

[@dealbreakerc]

Lol he's not playing the victim at lol😅

[@Elyeras]

I’m tired of Wyrmlife just being a vessel for Doug’s misinformed and absurdist rants. This channel used to highlight and feature the wonderful craftsmen and women of Wyrmwood. The awesome things yall made. Instead it’s become an ignorance vehicle and I’m done giving it the time of day.

[@jessicalawson1417]

It's always been that.thats the whole reason I watch it

[@DarthPoyner]

So long. Have a good time!

[@unmer3306]

Seems like everything said was correct....sooooo

[@robertheagy925]

Craftsmen, and just women....? sexist.

[@Jaymay98]

You still watching and commenting though? 😂

[@craigchapman234]

So who leaked the information about this girl stating she is going to be in a tent. If this was on Wyrmwood property then it was an employee.

[@BlueRazz28]

The song at the end sent me 🤣🤣🤣

[@killermarine88]

I HATE youtube. Turns out it hasn't told me about the last five videos! I had no idea about any of this.

[@Adderkleet]

Make sure your default YT page is Subscriptions. Seriously.

[@Tclans]

Journalism should be objective. That is not a journalist. Period.

[@davidemerson2915]

Doug doesn't want to be selectively quoted, but he just selectively quoted Tom from his email at the end of the video. Did he specifically state in that email that he wouldn't let Doug record the Zoom call? I'm not hearing that specific quote, I'm just hearing Doug say he is a "hard no" (assuming those are Doug's words), and that he wouldn't let Doug's demands steer the piece. I'd be extremely surprised if there is a hard no on the request to record.

[@darrylhilbig6459]

It is a White Christmas. It's just that the snow is in liquid form.

[@cogspace]

It's a wet Christmas. =)

[@Korica]

After this video and the last video I can definitely see more of Doug's side, but there's still a big thing that feels off. In this video he focuses heavily on lying by omission, about how transparency is needed because if there's three good things and one bad thing you need to know all of them. And yet in these videos he's focusing entirely on all the good stuff from his perspective while refusing to acknowledge any of the bad? Surely it wouldn't be that big of a deal for him to just acknowledge that his speech wasn't great. My guy, my dude, just admit you fucked up a little bit. Refusing to admit mistakes is not a good look.

[@cogspace]

Thing is, whether his speech was "bad" is a matter of opinion. He probably thinks his speech was fine. I certainly do. The thing about engaging with objective reality is that you have to be willing to acknowledge where it ends and subjectivity begins.

[@paulfortner3259]

I heard Doug, in both the previous videos, own that decisions he made directly led to the layoffs. Specifically, he was wrong about "overhiring" to bring down lead-times believing that would increased sales. It didn't, and he was very direct about taking that. Yes, he could have had a prepared statement covering all points more susinctly in his speech. That has never been his approach and, frankly, I am glad. This is way more interesting to watch as it is real. And, if you are ever in a position to do similar, you will have a great example to fire-up and iterate upon. Not all useful examples are positive.

[@voxnewman]

What "good look" are you talking about? Whether he fucked up or not, it's his company. You're not a shareholder or owner. He doesn't owe you an admission. He doesn't owe you anything. This channel is a series of entertaining and informative videos. Some are very successful at these two things, others, not so much. They show us the inner workings of a specific company from their perspective. None of the stuff depicted in these videos effect any of us in the real world. It's a TV show. You're not in the TV show.

[@Nahitch]

Ok here's the thing, I need to know about this tent. You can't talk about someone working the system and being fraudulent to a high degree without giving details about the tent. I'm picturing both the most glorious tent to ever exist (Harry Potter style) and also a tarp over a rope (Eeyore style)! Please do better in the future and also update me on this situation.

[@terry3906]

So how about those new mugs? Purple maybe?

[@WyrmLyfe]

purple mugs... yes... it's so crazy it might just work...

[@terry3906]

@WyrmLyfe "You have permission to record this mug."

[@danmur15]

Look up the Cobra effect. I'm glad to learn about some of the employee support you have behind the scenes, but you really just need to drop it at this point

[@DarthPoyner]

Shooting red lasers that never seem to hit anything and trying to make money off of silly terrorist acts? How does that relate?

[@bobbytables4305]

LMAO. It is not anyone elses responsibility to make sure your finances are in order so that you can KEEP your home. NO company cares about your ability to afford your own shit. NOR should they...

[@NikkiWraith]

There is much good in what has been portrayed here, BUT it is 1090% that you have indeed mishandled (at the best interpretation) a Sexual harassment/Abuse case. Cut that bit out, and everything here sounds reasonable. And - I applaud you for doing th interest free loans, and paying for the hotel. That was some good shite. You did right by that person - even if they turned out to be shitty. I say this as a person who has been accused of sexual harassment by a serial suer. It doesn't negate the other bits, folks.

[@HonestAuntyElle]

15:00 fucking wild this is going out on wyrmlife, can see why wyrmwood would want to out stuff like this, but some people are only ever going to see it as airing dirty laundry and punching down. Hope it turns out for you. Always appreciated the best efforts at transparency at difficulties at running a business.

[@CanadianPooch]

great video guys, keep up the great work!

[@donaldking5791]

Gentlemen, when you are in a hole. stop digging. It is obvious that you take this business very personally and have some very hard decisions. You have made efforts to help your employees and gone above and beyond. At the end of the day, the only peoples opinion that matter should be yours and your employees, Trying to defend yourself in a business is always going to be a loosing proposition. You decided to save what you can and still have are paying 90 employees while providing a great product. You need to be proud of that,

[@Adclif]

Sticky situations indeed. Enjoy being open and transparent though. Have gotten others dice vaults before, will probably grab some more stuff in the future.

[@cahduh]

Nothing "transparent" about this

[@nomad6985]

I think one of the big issues with the firing is we didn’t hear about what you guys did for those fired employees until later so it sounds really bad up front. We really don’t hear about the other benefits you guys do for your employees.

[@PatrickMoog]

So why would you assume the worst then?

[@HonestAuntyElle]

​@@PatrickMoogbecause most people expect a company with a media team to just consistently put out stuff that paints them only in the best light, and when stuff paints them badly they assume reality must be far worse, instead of far more complex.

[@ArrowleafInc]

15 seconds of him talking and I feel like I am willing to believe any accusations pointed towards him, no evidence needed. Not a good feeling to be honest. Long time since I saw someone be that offputting.

[@martekiller]

this is why wyrmlife is nice to have for a company

[@supergeek007]

As much as I appreciate Wyrmwood’s transparency, Doug needs to talk to Linus (Linus Tech Tips) or take a leaf out of his book. They used to be open and honest (on The WAN Show), but it caused so much drama, they take the corporate approach and don’t speak on anything internal or make “generic statements” It sucks because I enough the “behind the scenes” and being apart of the journey but for the company’s survival and everyone’s sanity it seems like the most logical approach.

[@Bluemooism]

I feel for you guys. I think Doug is having a slow moving mental breakdown on Camera. Go talk to some people in private, get it out and move on.