Speaking as somebody who was there at the time, I know that the ConFurence got suggestions or recommendations that it should incorporate as a non-profit organization, as several s-f conventions had. The LASFS' annual Loscons -- the yearly Los Angeles s-f convention -- are officially run by SCIFI, Inc. and have been since the 1970s, I think. The ConFurence's reply may have been "We'll get around to it eventually" instead of "We refuse to do so", but as far as I'm concerned, this amounts to a refusal to do so.
It's what enabled Darrel Exline to discontinue the ConFurence arbitrarily when there were several fans on the ConFurence Committee who were ready to replace him, and to threaten to bring a legal challenge of trying to steal the ConFurence from him against anyone or any group that tried to continue the ConFurence. As we've both said, there were plenty of fans -- ex-ConFurence staff and new fans -- to create the new CaliFur the next year.
Speaking as somebody who was there at the time, I know that the ConFurence got suggestions or recommendations that it should incorporate as a non-profit organization, as several s-f conventions had. The LASFS' annual Loscons -- the yearly Los Angeles s-f convention -- are officially run by SCIFI, Inc. and have been since the 1970s, I think. The ConFurence's reply may have been "We'll get around to it eventually" instead of "We refuse to do so", but as far as I'm concerned, this amounts to a refusal to do so.
It's what enabled Darrel Exline to discontinue the ConFurence arbitrarily when there were several fans on the ConFurence Committee who were ready to replace him, and to threaten to bring a legal challenge of trying to steal the ConFurence from him against anyone or any group that tried to continue the ConFurence. As we've both said, there were plenty of fans -- ex-ConFurence staff and new fans -- to create the new CaliFur the next year.
Fred Patten