I was just perusing comments in the Reddit thread linked in the article and wanted to clear up some more misperceptions:
Firstly, this article refers to Slide Wolf as "A FurFright director." This needs to be corrected to say "A self-proclaimed FurFright director," until someone can confirm his actual title. (For starters, the director of the department I know he is involved with is the Dealers room, whose director is K'gra.)
Second: Dragoneer and crew keep repeating that they first took the issue up with con staff who did nothing about it. From their comments on Reddit it's clear they told the Reg Director (Gavin) and Assistant Reg Director (Lucian). Apparently, Gavin either did not have the time to pass this important message to the con chairs before things blew up online, or he did not intend to. According to Dragoneer's journal, "multiple con staffers and some of the directors" told him directly that they could do nothing about it, and (so implied) chose not to escalate the issue to the correct people.
Even if Reg handled it correctly I'm not sure if Dragoneer & crew gave them enough time to do so - things blew up immediately after the con, when staff was still packing up and returning home and a hurricane was knocking out half of the grid in the Northeast. I'm hoping that Reg, for their part, had actually intended to do something about the complaints.
But, if people have a problem with Security, why did they complain to Registration? If you're on staff (as SilverAutomatic was this year) in that department you can gripe to the Registration team, sure. But the staff of FurFright is much bigger and not as close knit as a tiny con like FA:United. FurFright staff is larger and highly compartmentalized, and I see it operate far more smoothly and efficiently compared to many other cons as a result.
You would think that people with experience running a convention (as you'd expect Dragoneer & crew to have by now, with FA:United, as everyone involved is in fact an FA:United staffer) would understand how to make a complaint through the proper channels. If someone has a problem with a security volunteer, take up a complaint with the head of security. If someone has a problem with the head of security, take up a complaint with the Con Chair. If you don't know WHO to complain to, that's what the Information Desk is for, where active Con Ops staff is happy to help you. It's Con Ops' job to take your complaint seriously and pass it on to the correct people who can address the problem. Registration should have an obligation to pass the information on or at least guide the offended to the correct place to complain. And nowhere in the book does it say you should try to stir up drama online instead.
On a personal note, I do I find it sad (and very backwards) that FA:United's staff should choose to act the way they do. Dragoneer runs FA:United. At that con his fiancée runs registration. SilverAutomatic is the head of security. Cray and Zero are on staff as well. In the past week and a half they have been lambasting the Dorsai and repeatedly calling them and FurFright "unprofessional." In the conversation with Slide Wolf on Reddit SilverAutomatic rudely throws the debate aside and tells him it's "time to stop talking now" on the grounds that Slide represents FurFright and everything he says or does digs FurFright a deeper hole. Do you see where I'm going with this? If you didn't guess it, it's the staff of one con yelling at the staff of another con to "shut up, you're making your con look bad." Do as I say, not as I do.
Do they think it's right to do that? Does FA:United not get feedback of any sort that the staff does anything about? I'm sure there are a few FA:United staffers who were not at FurFright or were not involved with these incidents. There are some FA:United staffers who ARE (and have been) on FurFright staff still. If they disagree with another department of the convention for their seemingly deplorable actions, should they just get up and quit staffing FA:United?
I was just perusing comments in the Reddit thread linked in the article and wanted to clear up some more misperceptions:
Firstly, this article refers to Slide Wolf as "A FurFright director." This needs to be corrected to say "A self-proclaimed FurFright director," until someone can confirm his actual title. (For starters, the director of the department I know he is involved with is the Dealers room, whose director is K'gra.)
Second: Dragoneer and crew keep repeating that they first took the issue up with con staff who did nothing about it. From their comments on Reddit it's clear they told the Reg Director (Gavin) and Assistant Reg Director (Lucian). Apparently, Gavin either did not have the time to pass this important message to the con chairs before things blew up online, or he did not intend to. According to Dragoneer's journal, "multiple con staffers and some of the directors" told him directly that they could do nothing about it, and (so implied) chose not to escalate the issue to the correct people.
Even if Reg handled it correctly I'm not sure if Dragoneer & crew gave them enough time to do so - things blew up immediately after the con, when staff was still packing up and returning home and a hurricane was knocking out half of the grid in the Northeast. I'm hoping that Reg, for their part, had actually intended to do something about the complaints.
But, if people have a problem with Security, why did they complain to Registration? If you're on staff (as SilverAutomatic was this year) in that department you can gripe to the Registration team, sure. But the staff of FurFright is much bigger and not as close knit as a tiny con like FA:United. FurFright staff is larger and highly compartmentalized, and I see it operate far more smoothly and efficiently compared to many other cons as a result.
You would think that people with experience running a convention (as you'd expect Dragoneer & crew to have by now, with FA:United, as everyone involved is in fact an FA:United staffer) would understand how to make a complaint through the proper channels. If someone has a problem with a security volunteer, take up a complaint with the head of security. If someone has a problem with the head of security, take up a complaint with the Con Chair. If you don't know WHO to complain to, that's what the Information Desk is for, where active Con Ops staff is happy to help you. It's Con Ops' job to take your complaint seriously and pass it on to the correct people who can address the problem. Registration should have an obligation to pass the information on or at least guide the offended to the correct place to complain. And nowhere in the book does it say you should try to stir up drama online instead.
On a personal note, I do I find it sad (and very backwards) that FA:United's staff should choose to act the way they do. Dragoneer runs FA:United. At that con his fiancée runs registration. SilverAutomatic is the head of security. Cray and Zero are on staff as well. In the past week and a half they have been lambasting the Dorsai and repeatedly calling them and FurFright "unprofessional." In the conversation with Slide Wolf on Reddit SilverAutomatic rudely throws the debate aside and tells him it's "time to stop talking now" on the grounds that Slide represents FurFright and everything he says or does digs FurFright a deeper hole. Do you see where I'm going with this? If you didn't guess it, it's the staff of one con yelling at the staff of another con to "shut up, you're making your con look bad." Do as I say, not as I do.
Do they think it's right to do that? Does FA:United not get feedback of any sort that the staff does anything about? I'm sure there are a few FA:United staffers who were not at FurFright or were not involved with these incidents. There are some FA:United staffers who ARE (and have been) on FurFright staff still. If they disagree with another department of the convention for their seemingly deplorable actions, should they just get up and quit staffing FA:United?