First off -- why is this article even posted here!? This isn't a news posting or a bulletin; it's a rant (or an essay, if you want to be polite) and is more properly suited to other venues, such as AFF. This is wildly out of place on this board.
Secondly, I don't quite get your point. You seem to be saying, "You can't do anything to stop bad publicity and negative exposure, so you might as well bend over and spread your legs. Resistance is futile!" An argument I totally reject. You can always fight back and stop bad publicity. Not a full hundred percent, no, of course not. But every little bit that you can block or stall is worth every effort made. The only reasons for allowing it to happen at all is laziness and fatalism.
Your arguments that conventions cannot ban reporters from attending because they are open to the public are in error. Conventions are private affairs and are open only to attending members; ie, those who buy admissions. Those who buy admissions are subject to conditions and terms set down by the convention, and these generally include rules of conduct and terms under which members can be evicted and/or banned from future events if deemed appropriate. Being on the staff of Conifur, I can assure you that such rules are not only in effect, but that we require a signed statement from attendees that they have read and understood said rules of conduct and behavior.
There are areas of the convention that spill over into the public areas of the hotels they are held at, but most of the event rooms are members only and are generally manned by con security to keep non-attendees out. And while it isn't possible to keep out a reporter who doesn't announce himself beforehand, cameras are verbotten in most areas of the con unless there is a special dispensation made by the committee. (That is, a film crew may have made prior arrangements to film segments of the convention for some upcoming show or documentary, and do so with the convention's permission.)
The fact that CSI had a technical advisor in the form of a furry fan is pretty much a joke. Did that convention that they portrayed on the show even look remotely like any furry convention you've ever been to? Looked more like a mascot con to me, or a weeklong masquerade marathon -- with seminars and a banquet??? By his own account, Dark Fox admits that the producers pretty much ignored about three-quarters of the things he told them because it would have made the convention much duller and more ordinary than what they wanted to portray, so he really might as well have not been there at all.
First off -- why is this article even posted here!? This isn't a news posting or a bulletin; it's a rant (or an essay, if you want to be polite) and is more properly suited to other venues, such as AFF. This is wildly out of place on this board.
Secondly, I don't quite get your point. You seem to be saying, "You can't do anything to stop bad publicity and negative exposure, so you might as well bend over and spread your legs. Resistance is futile!" An argument I totally reject. You can always fight back and stop bad publicity. Not a full hundred percent, no, of course not. But every little bit that you can block or stall is worth every effort made. The only reasons for allowing it to happen at all is laziness and fatalism.
Your arguments that conventions cannot ban reporters from attending because they are open to the public are in error. Conventions are private affairs and are open only to attending members; ie, those who buy admissions. Those who buy admissions are subject to conditions and terms set down by the convention, and these generally include rules of conduct and terms under which members can be evicted and/or banned from future events if deemed appropriate. Being on the staff of Conifur, I can assure you that such rules are not only in effect, but that we require a signed statement from attendees that they have read and understood said rules of conduct and behavior.
There are areas of the convention that spill over into the public areas of the hotels they are held at, but most of the event rooms are members only and are generally manned by con security to keep non-attendees out. And while it isn't possible to keep out a reporter who doesn't announce himself beforehand, cameras are verbotten in most areas of the con unless there is a special dispensation made by the committee. (That is, a film crew may have made prior arrangements to film segments of the convention for some upcoming show or documentary, and do so with the convention's permission.)
The fact that CSI had a technical advisor in the form of a furry fan is pretty much a joke. Did that convention that they portrayed on the show even look remotely like any furry convention you've ever been to? Looked more like a mascot con to me, or a weeklong masquerade marathon -- with seminars and a banquet??? By his own account, Dark Fox admits that the producers pretty much ignored about three-quarters of the things he told them because it would have made the convention much duller and more ordinary than what they wanted to portray, so he really might as well have not been there at all.
-Chuck Melville-