While writing an opinion piece on the Gollum effect in 2022, Valdez realized that no one had studied territorial behavior in academic research—claiming of specific ideas and topics, samples, or study sites—and its potential impact on the academic research community.
He then declared it to be called "The Valdez Principle", piled all of his data on it in the corner of his office, and sat on top of it hissing at anyone who approached while brandishing a halberd.
