Many of the rumors had a similar vein to Furlandia's, like for instance "They just made the con to get people for CNN who is paying them." was basically a rumor that was nearly identical to an argument that was made on the relationship between MTV and Furlandia.
I did note, I do believe, that the blunder on Furlandia's part was not a death throw, but it did cause quite a few headaches similar to this situation. In the Furlandia article I did note that it was possible, and my hope the convention would continue onward and it has. As noted in the article, as well, Anthro NW was also the resulting controversy handled better by the staff of this con then the prior one.
However most of the headache could be avoided by being transparent about mainstream press presence at the con. It's not too much to ask. The attendees are the consumer and it is clear that the consumer dislikes having mainstream press spring up as a thing as a first year convention without announcement.
When you say "look at your history" we have no examples of a first year con bringing in mainstream press and making a public announcement about it BEFORE the convention starts. So don't nark being translucent here until you try it. My guess is that it'll seem less like the convention is hiding things from their attendees.
You can have a pie in the sky dream that people will stop being paranoid about things springing up around them like that, but it's better to not fantasize about a fictional desired universe and instead work with reality. People are paranoid, particularly about the media, and particularly furries about the media.
I know it's ultimately your goal to eliminate that paranoia in this fandom around the media as is clearly evident by your articles. But it would make the process a lot smoother if conventions stopped feeling like they needed to hide the work they're doing with the mainstream press? To invite the attendees into the symbiotic relationship instead of making them feel they are a third wheel who's just being exploited?
Many of the rumors had a similar vein to Furlandia's, like for instance "They just made the con to get people for CNN who is paying them." was basically a rumor that was nearly identical to an argument that was made on the relationship between MTV and Furlandia.
I did note, I do believe, that the blunder on Furlandia's part was not a death throw, but it did cause quite a few headaches similar to this situation. In the Furlandia article I did note that it was possible, and my hope the convention would continue onward and it has. As noted in the article, as well, Anthro NW was also the resulting controversy handled better by the staff of this con then the prior one.
However most of the headache could be avoided by being transparent about mainstream press presence at the con. It's not too much to ask. The attendees are the consumer and it is clear that the consumer dislikes having mainstream press spring up as a thing as a first year convention without announcement.
When you say "look at your history" we have no examples of a first year con bringing in mainstream press and making a public announcement about it BEFORE the convention starts. So don't nark being translucent here until you try it. My guess is that it'll seem less like the convention is hiding things from their attendees.
You can have a pie in the sky dream that people will stop being paranoid about things springing up around them like that, but it's better to not fantasize about a fictional desired universe and instead work with reality. People are paranoid, particularly about the media, and particularly furries about the media.
I know it's ultimately your goal to eliminate that paranoia in this fandom around the media as is clearly evident by your articles. But it would make the process a lot smoother if conventions stopped feeling like they needed to hide the work they're doing with the mainstream press? To invite the attendees into the symbiotic relationship instead of making them feel they are a third wheel who's just being exploited?
This "opacity" hurt your goals here too.