(no subject)

[neadods]

Passing on a rec: rm's well-written How To Behave at a Con

(And on a side note, Lunacon was the second con I ever went to, and WTF???? ALL of this batshit happened this last weekend? I'm perversely curious about the second bullet point under #5, but I know hearing the details will probably make me sick.)

Comments

[ladyfox7oaks.livejournal.com]

Hol-eeee CATS! *AND* 8+ pages of comments that will undoubtedly grow...

[neadods.livejournal.com]

It's been recced a lot of places; that's raising attention to the post.

[fandance.livejournal.com]

Wowie Zowie - that list was AMAZING!

I've seen some of the behavior described take place at cons, but never all of it, and especially not all of it in one weekend in one hotel.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Yeah. That *all* of this reputedly happened one weekend - this must take some kind of prize for convention hell.

[lagilman]

I have to say, I didn't hear anything about anything (I haven't clicked the links, being Rather Insane with Work) and I was hanging with several people who assuredly WOULD have made noises...

Then again, I was only there part-time, so could easily have missed bad behavior.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Well, some of it was con standard, I hate to say - people not bathing, not giving personal space, etc. Apparently there was one guy who raised his hand to speak before panelists even introduced themselves in every panel - little annoyances that takes only one person to be remembered.

And then there were more serious infractions of general social behavior, apparently.

[lagilman]

Sadly, many of those aren't "convention" complaints but "real life" complaints, as any teacher can tell you -- and there have always been unsocialized twists who think that basic courtesy doesn't apply (and Lunacon's actually better than some, in terms of hygiene). It was the serious infractions I was talking/wondering about.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

There seem to have been some egregious sexual harassment, judging from the post.

[evil_plotbunny]

Having to squeeze the con around work meant that I wasn't there much this weekend. I missed most of the things on the list, but too many of them are things I wasn't surprised at. :(

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's a sad statement, to not be surprised. *sigh*

[evil_plotbunny]

I wish I were. I'd like to think we'd moved past a lot of these behaviours, but clearly we haven't.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

The human race hasn't changed in all of recorded history - I've met some of the same attitudes and infractions in stuff unrelated to SF.

[stoplookingup.livejournal.com]

Most of that stuff seems like good advice anywhere.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah. But moreso at cons, I think, because people tend to think that a more relaxed attitude means anything goes.

[bill-leisner.livejournal.com]

Geez, ya grab the ass of one transgendered parapalegic albino Eskimo nymphomaniac with hygiene issues, and suddenly the whole internet's against you...

[neadods.livejournal.com]

BWA!

[raqs.livejournal.com]

once again: so not sorry i don't go to cons any more!!

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I enjoy the conventions I go to, and can usually roll over the minor nonsense (or dine out on the major nonsense) - but this really makes the latest Lunacon sound like a circle of hell.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Inaccurate assumption. Remember, the reason this post is news is because that kind of shit doesn't happen all the time at every con.

I do go to cons, some 20-30 a year (I'm a dealer); and I went to cons long before I became a dealer. By now I'm probably well past the 500 mark, life total. And some of the stuff in that post was just unfuckingbelievable. If you think it's all typical con behavior, all I can say is that my experience doesn't support that.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately this isn't confined to Lunacon or even the US, having observed at least some* of the list at UK conventions. Two years ago, a friend of mine had someone sectioned under the Mental Health Act for their behaviour at a con.

*actually, now I come to think about it, large swathes of the list.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

!!! But surely one isn't sectioned just for a weekend's bad behavior, it's that the bad behavior is endemic and that weekend was just an illustration of standard operating procedure?

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

Well, yes. I think it was a case of a steady deterioration over several weeks followed by a psychotic episode that either just happened to be at a con or was specifically triggered by attending a con, depending on how one sees it.

[gonzai55.livejournal.com]

I'm mostly a media con person, so fortunately I've missed out on a lot of these. But Rule 1, of course - eesh. Balticon, I'm looking at you and the con suite I couldn't stand to be on the same floor with one year.

I think the only other con I've been to with major issues along these lines was Dragon*Con, in terms of sex/public displays/revealing costumes/etc. It was pretty much an orgy. I haven't been back.

Whew. I've been lucky.

[shawan-7.livejournal.com]

I've been to two - maybe three? - DragonCons and haven't seen much out of the ordinary in the way of sex/revealing costumes that isn't out of the norm for such convention.

That said, my first con was 1975, and I've been to atleast 2 a year, so I've seen a lot over that time.

And the most amazing (esp to my coworkers) array I ever saw was about 30 Princess Leia slave girls in one place getting their pictures taken. And they were all physically correct for that costume. Amazing!

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I think the most amazing thing is that all of them were the right body type!

[kradical.livejournal.com]

Not to put too fine a point on it, but those complaints have been true of every convention I've been to that has more than 100 people at it. There's always some clueless folks around that try to ruin it for everyone else.

Now admittedly, I was commuting to the con, but this Lunacon wasn't any worse than any other con I've been to, and better than many.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear it.