Readercon

[ckd]

There's a lot I want to say about the Readercon failure, but other people have said most of what I wanted to say already -- and my RSI is acting up, so typing is a bad idea.

Two things I think need saying, though:
1. The Board is not the Concom, and the Board is not Readercon. The Board can be replaced without the convention ending...and it is my opinion that it should be replaced due to its failure to respect its own declared policies. Perhaps the members that supported this decision can "retroactively retire".

2. I haven't yet asked for my money back for next year's preregistration. I will if I have to (see #1 for why I might not have to), and if so I will then turn around and donate it to BARCC. (Sure, the policy says "non-refundable but transferable" -- but hey, Readercon's policies are made to be broken.)

Comments

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Well said.

[timprov.livejournal.com]

We're about to have an interesting weekend.

[aedifica]

You said it.

[moiread]

That's what I've been thinking since this morning.

[redbird]

And not the shape of interesting I was looking forward to a couple of weeks ago. Or not entirely.

[cjtremlett.livejournal.com]

I like this bit "The Board is not the Concom and the Board is not Readercon." I don't know the specifics of how the organization works, but is there a way for the Board to be replaced? Given the damage to the Con's reputation from this problem, that and a public apology would go a long way towards repairing some of the damage. If the Board does not seem inclined to do so, is there a way for Concom, or the membership at large, to impeach the Board?

I hope that there will be steps taken to repair the damage. I've never been to Readercon, though I had heard good things in the past and had it on the "maybe someday or if I move to the area" list. But I do care, because even if it's not a Con I'm invested in, the nature of fandom and Cons means that what happens at one Con can spill over to others. Sometimes, that's a good thing. Sometimes it's even awesome.

In a case like this, I expect other Cons will be thinking of what they might need to do in terms of their own harassment policies - even if they decide the policies in place are fine, I expect the discussion will happen. It would be nice to see Readercon decide to set a better precedent than what they've done so far, or other Cons will be seeing the discussion as one of how not to make the mistakes that Readercon's board has made thus far.

[emilytheslayer.livejournal.com]

There are things in progress but I'm drunk and not entirely sure what's public yet and what's not, so I'll leave it at that.

[emilytheslayer.livejournal.com]

Heh so, in case it's unclear, Rainbow Dash is mad about what's going on, not you for asking the question. I woke up this morning and realized it could look a lot meaner than I meant, sorry. :)

[orangemike.livejournal.com]

Looks like time for a Readercon Spring movement.

[teenybuffalo.livejournal.com]

The only redeeming part of the whole fiasco: comments on the idiotic Readercon LJ post. It's cathartic to see so many people calling BS on a BS decision. Incisive, angry, articulate, and funny, and some of them make me want to stand up and cheer.

[julesjones]

While it's the Board and not the concom who decided that "no means maybe", since you posted this someone who claims to be a concom member has posted in the Readercon thread the good old "maybe he's Aspie, and you horrible people are being mean to someone who just can't read social signals" excuse. Complete with suggesting that the victim wasn't really a victim because she didn't say "no" clearly enough and often enough.

That for me undid all the good that Rosefox has done by her clear stand on this. My opinion is irrelevant to those who are responsible for Readercon finances, since I'm highly unlikely to go to another US con. But at this point I want to know the names of every member of the board and concom who did not stand up and say "the board has just said it's okay to assault and stalk someone if you're a BNF and claim to be sorry afterwards, and I'm not okay with that". I want to know so I can make damn sure I never go to *any* con they have any hand in, because they have just made it extremely clear that they believe that a no-name like me is fair game for predatory behaviour, *even* *if* *I* *have* *witnesses*.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Also, zero-tolerance policies are bad (http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/11/zero-tolerance.html).

B

[alicebakescakes.livejournal.com]

HI! My wife is copperwise (Mia) and we're on the phone right now and she really wants to hang out with you there in Chicago/WorldCon and she's afraid she lost track of you. Can you leave her a message on the Voodoo Board as to where you could meet up in the convention OR reply to me here and I can give you her mobile? She doesn't know how else to reach you as she doesn't have a computer with her so I said I'd leave you a message. :D

[ckd]

Yeah, send me her cell # in an LJ private message (or email to ckd @ livejournal dot com) & I'll text her so she has my number handy. I'd love to catch up with her.