I didn't attend the convention, but I watched the drama unfold on Twitter over the weekend and there are quite a lot of points to make. First, FemboyLolcow has posted a useful condensed (interpreted) summary of the drama. Now I'm going to play the Devil's advocate here.
Should all furry cons be run the same way? No, we'd have a very boring fandom. If you don't like how a con is run... don't go. Does this one con represent a threat in some way? There are so many other cons to choose from. If that's difficult for your budget/location, well, tough. Throw your support into Furvana, or organize other local events that better suit your needs. Like Camp Feral, which didn't want to be a hotel con.
But they banned X. Well, judging by the numbers, a lot of people didn't seem to care. If what makes the fandom important to you is so narrowly focused - maybe you need to expand your interests. According to Nuka's research, over 80% of the fandom is fine with both clean and/or mature content.
AnthroNW wasn't a non-profit? So what? Furry conventions tend to have make-or-break budgets, regardless of legal structure. Megaplex was for-profit; I don't remember anyone raising eyebrows about them.
But the con chair is Christian. Again, so what? Let's pretend that he's the only Christian con chair the fandom's ever had in its entire existence. So if it's ok to rant against con chairs for their beliefs, like religion/politics/sexuality - can we attack any con chair if they're, say, straight, a libertarian, and an athiest? If an atheist/straight person is on board, what, the spirituality and LGBT panel tracks are going to be under threat? Let's take a look at some furry cons where the staff weren't supposedly tainted by religious ideology, like RainFurrest - oh wait, that died. No problem, how about RMFC? You know, the con with a non-zero number of alt-right people on staff and ran pretty well for years and most of the fandom didn't notice or care.
A convention is not its con chair. Kage's had to deal with this bullshit, Mark Merlino before him - a convention is a group endeavor. Yeah, they're probably going to rope in some friends, but it's going to take a lot more people than friends. Most of these cons have boards, department heads, tons of volunteers. The top people don't have the power of dictators, cult leaders or hypnotists. If they're not willing to cooperate with others, the con's not gonna happen. Statistically, regardless of the con chair's beliefs, around two-thirds of furries at any con are LGBT. Also, read AnthroNW's Statement Regarding Personal Beliefs.
Who's to say a con's policies won't shift over time, for better or for worse? The Seattle hotel system was so poisoned against furries, can you seriously not accept any level of damage control, like avoiding the word "furry" and having a staff person who wasn't part of the previous crews? Let them build up trust with the hotel chains again. Let's re-name Anthrocon to Furrycon if this is so critical.
But they screwed some things up. Show me a con that doesn't make mistakes, especially first-year cons. An important distinction is whether a problem primarily affects an individual (like Tojo) or if it's systemic. Will the problems repeat? Well we don't know because there's only been one AnthroNW so far. Give them the chance to learn, adjust. I remember Further Confusion for many years really liked training new staff, so every 2-3 years some of the staff positions would have new people. One department would be really good for a few years, and then for one year that department would be kinda wobbly all of a sudden. Anyway, regarding AnthroNW, over the weekend I heard some individual complaints, but I didn't hear a ton of people at the con all making systemic complaints. (Lots of people outside the convention talking shit. Plus Tojo going full anti-AnthroNW.) On the positive side, I saw lot of compliments to A/V tech crew. Good job!
The CNN/Lisa Ling thing - con staff could've given better forewarning, given how paranoid the fandom can be with the media. As for how CNN might use the con footage for other purposes - uhh... you do realize it's standard for TV stations to keep footage? Like for playing film clips of WWII soldiers to commemorate their efforts on Veteran's day, which was also this weekend?
Yes, the fandom's had hatchet jobs by the mass media. We've got trust issues. So when something goes bad - we deal with it. Like when an online magazine misrepresented and altered an image of a furry dealer's booth in the last year, we called them out on it. But hey, we've had far more positive news coverage than negative since 2009 or so. But what if we trusted the wrong people and they use it against us? Well, you know where there's tons of furry footage? On YouTube, uploaded by furries. And yep, it's used against us, trolls making "cringe" compilations - and the fandom's survived. Be less paranoid. Be diligent ahead of time when dealing with the mass media - but for this one instance, it's too late now. Wait and see if we trusted the wrong people. Improve the communication with con-goers in the future.
For a first-time con, there were over 800 people! Considering RainFurrest's peak two years before was 2700, that's a great turnout!
To anyone reading this post: Did you attend AnthroNW? If yes, reply with your experiences! Did you have a good time? Dealers, how were sales? Buyers, did you like the selection? Fursuiters, how'd things go? Any systemic issues? Anyone enjoy a room party? Include a link to a photo, or to a tweet or a Facebook post to show you were there! Do you know someone who went to AnthroNW but doesn't read Flayrah? Poke them to say something!
I didn't attend the convention, but I watched the drama unfold on Twitter over the weekend and there are quite a lot of points to make. First, FemboyLolcow has posted a useful condensed (interpreted) summary of the drama. Now I'm going to play the Devil's advocate here.
Should all furry cons be run the same way? No, we'd have a very boring fandom. If you don't like how a con is run... don't go. Does this one con represent a threat in some way? There are so many other cons to choose from. If that's difficult for your budget/location, well, tough. Throw your support into Furvana, or organize other local events that better suit your needs. Like Camp Feral, which didn't want to be a hotel con.
But they banned X. Well, judging by the numbers, a lot of people didn't seem to care. If what makes the fandom important to you is so narrowly focused - maybe you need to expand your interests. According to Nuka's research, over 80% of the fandom is fine with both clean and/or mature content.
AnthroNW wasn't a non-profit? So what? Furry conventions tend to have make-or-break budgets, regardless of legal structure. Megaplex was for-profit; I don't remember anyone raising eyebrows about them.
But the con chair is Christian. Again, so what? Let's pretend that he's the only Christian con chair the fandom's ever had in its entire existence. So if it's ok to rant against con chairs for their beliefs, like religion/politics/sexuality - can we attack any con chair if they're, say, straight, a libertarian, and an athiest? If an atheist/straight person is on board, what, the spirituality and LGBT panel tracks are going to be under threat? Let's take a look at some furry cons where the staff weren't supposedly tainted by religious ideology, like RainFurrest - oh wait, that died. No problem, how about RMFC? You know, the con with a non-zero number of alt-right people on staff and ran pretty well for years and most of the fandom didn't notice or care.
A convention is not its con chair. Kage's had to deal with this bullshit, Mark Merlino before him - a convention is a group endeavor. Yeah, they're probably going to rope in some friends, but it's going to take a lot more people than friends. Most of these cons have boards, department heads, tons of volunteers. The top people don't have the power of dictators, cult leaders or hypnotists. If they're not willing to cooperate with others, the con's not gonna happen. Statistically, regardless of the con chair's beliefs, around two-thirds of furries at any con are LGBT. Also, read AnthroNW's Statement Regarding Personal Beliefs.
Who's to say a con's policies won't shift over time, for better or for worse? The Seattle hotel system was so poisoned against furries, can you seriously not accept any level of damage control, like avoiding the word "furry" and having a staff person who wasn't part of the previous crews? Let them build up trust with the hotel chains again. Let's re-name Anthrocon to Furrycon if this is so critical.
But they screwed some things up. Show me a con that doesn't make mistakes, especially first-year cons. An important distinction is whether a problem primarily affects an individual (like Tojo) or if it's systemic. Will the problems repeat? Well we don't know because there's only been one AnthroNW so far. Give them the chance to learn, adjust. I remember Further Confusion for many years really liked training new staff, so every 2-3 years some of the staff positions would have new people. One department would be really good for a few years, and then for one year that department would be kinda wobbly all of a sudden. Anyway, regarding AnthroNW, over the weekend I heard some individual complaints, but I didn't hear a ton of people at the con all making systemic complaints. (Lots of people outside the convention talking shit. Plus Tojo going full anti-AnthroNW.) On the positive side, I saw lot of compliments to A/V tech crew. Good job!
The CNN/Lisa Ling thing - con staff could've given better forewarning, given how paranoid the fandom can be with the media. As for how CNN might use the con footage for other purposes - uhh... you do realize it's standard for TV stations to keep footage? Like for playing film clips of WWII soldiers to commemorate their efforts on Veteran's day, which was also this weekend?
Yes, the fandom's had hatchet jobs by the mass media. We've got trust issues. So when something goes bad - we deal with it. Like when an online magazine misrepresented and altered an image of a furry dealer's booth in the last year, we called them out on it. But hey, we've had far more positive news coverage than negative since 2009 or so. But what if we trusted the wrong people and they use it against us? Well, you know where there's tons of furry footage? On YouTube, uploaded by furries. And yep, it's used against us, trolls making "cringe" compilations - and the fandom's survived. Be less paranoid. Be diligent ahead of time when dealing with the mass media - but for this one instance, it's too late now. Wait and see if we trusted the wrong people. Improve the communication with con-goers in the future.
For a first-time con, there were over 800 people! Considering RainFurrest's peak two years before was 2700, that's a great turnout!
To anyone reading this post: Did you attend AnthroNW? If yes, reply with your experiences! Did you have a good time? Dealers, how were sales? Buyers, did you like the selection? Fursuiters, how'd things go? Any systemic issues? Anyone enjoy a room party? Include a link to a photo, or to a tweet or a Facebook post to show you were there! Do you know someone who went to AnthroNW but doesn't read Flayrah? Poke them to say something!