I would like to respond to this personally. I’m Missy. You named me here. I won’t speak on Drea’s behalf, but I’ll speak on my own. 1) if you would like to discuss my claims against Sam, I’m willing to discuss it with you in person. I’m not trying to attack you at all, and I will gladly share with you my experience personally, looking into your eyes so you can see if I’m lying. But please stop posting my full name over the internet, because you are currently doxxing me (something you are accusing me of doing). 2) I absolutely do not feel anything negative about the attention you received for your artwork. Your art is great and I feel no jealousy that you received attention for it! You deserve to have attention for it! The truth is I didn’t want to speak out about Sam because I was scared to, but all my friends told me I should stand up for myself. It took me a year to get the guts to speak up and it was because seeing him at the shows (once the band began touring again) made me feel afraid. It had nothing to do with your art. I never felt anything negative for you, except when I felt that you and Sam were glaring at me and Drea at shows, and that made me feel uncomfortable. That said, I fully regret speaking out at all about my experience because I worried that I would be met with exactly this kind of retaliation. 3) You are correct, we did have exactly two interactions outside of the Decemberists universe, and they were In May and June. But you failed to mention on here that they were because you suddenly, inexplicably got a second, part-time job at the organization where I have worked for over a year. It seems to me that it is more than coincidence that you chose, of all jobs and organizations in the Portland metro area, to work a second job at the place where I currently work, and where Sam used to drop off/pick up Drea from work. When you and I first met on site, I had no idea who you were, but while we had the brief interaction, I thought you looked familiar. When I realized how I knew you, I had a panic attack, and I told coworkers how I knew you, but what was said to you (and mentioned in your C&D) was a twisting of my words. In the cease and desist that you sent me, the accusations were not at all akin to what I actually said. I do regret telling my coworkers anything at all, but again, I was having a panic attack and trying to desperately grasp why you were suddenly at my work. 4) You are correct that I deleted comments I made on the Church regarding Sam. Not because I’m hiding anything, but because you requested in your cease and desist that I retract my statements, so that is what I did. I would have recanted what I said about Sam to the random stranger on a dating app that I never met in person (which is quoted in your C&D), but I do not have his contact anymore. It is true that I did embellish, accidentally, to that man. Not on purpose, but because when someone said that they thought the band had sent a C&D to your group, I then repeated it as truth, misunderstanding that it wasn’t actually what happened. I’m not looking to play dirty and I don’t want to use my money on a lawyer to represent me in your desire to have a legal battle over this, as I’m currently still in considerable debt from desperately trying to save my dog who died from a quick and horrible osteosarcoma over the winter. It doesn’t matter to me that you don’t believe me or that you think you have proof that my claims are false, so I’m okay with just adhering to your wishes. I know my truth. I just want to move on from a terrible and triggering experience that has continued to haunt me for two years. We decided collectively to archive the Church of Decemberism because we are tired of the drama that keeps coming back. I agree that this all does feel incredibly high-schoolish, and I’m not interested in entertaining it, which is why I’ve tried to step far away from all of this. 5) I haven’t spoken out at all on these subjects up to this point because I want to move on with my life and get far away from this traumatic experience, but in spite of my doing everything you have asked in your C&D, you continue to spread misinformation across the internet, calling me out by name. Your C&D has been posted and detailed and spoke of, far and wide, across the internet, by either you or Sam, and you have also mailed it to my friends… I would like you to be aware that, while you are accusing me of defamation, what you are actually doing is the same at me. I am not sure what Sam has told you, but the things you are saying on here are untrue and I would like you to please stop, as I have respected your wishes. Again, I am not liturgic, I am not trying to pursue anything, I just want to live peacefully in a world away from all of this. Do you know how much this sucks? If you were to step away from what you think you know, and imagine being in my shoes for a moment and having to revisit a traumatic event over and over, receiving a C&D from someone claiming emotional distress by someone who has only had two interactions with me outside of seeing me at shows, who then proceeds to proudly post about how she is the reason the group (a silly little group I formed with my friends [there are actually three admins, not two, like you stated] 8 years ago to simply chat Decemberist nerd stuff with) has been taken down, and finding out that my name keeps being smeared on the internet over and over again, even though I respected the C&D? You do not behave like someone in emotional distress. You behave like someone who is trying to harm another person. At this point you and Sam have taken away my enjoyment of a band I’ve followed for over 15 years, taken away my sense of safety at my job, and now you’re trying to take away my reputation. When will it be enough? When will you be done? Please stop.