ANW was underwhelming as a convention to me. There was mostly a certain type of fur in my opinion who got easily swept up in the hype I feel. With all the positivity I feel like people were at an entirely different convention than I was. I suppose if you were looking for panels as your main activity it was probably alright.
Largely it was mediocre, and the hotel space was abysmal. It was too segregated between the basement and another floor or two, and small. There was just a central "courtyard" room around the escalator on each floor, which wasn't very large and just easily too crowded. The hotel was very quick to shut down any and all room gatherings and parties as well. Parking was inconvenient and sometimes expensive, but that's just a fact of downtown Seattle.
The con banned multiple people ahead of time, and during, both having been there or not having even attended. Censorship was incredibly heavy at the event and even more so on Telegram, with probably dozens of people being banned from the telegram chat it seemed like, for any criticism there or other chats or from Twitter. Pictures, video, or gifs of the event were immediately deleted from the official telegram chat, regardless of context. Even video meant to help the event by showing questionable behavior taking place was deleted without comment. I know of people personally who were forced to remove articles of clothing who the con runners found questionable on whether they were PG enough. And I mean things like jackets with patches on them, or certain outfits had to be changed that had any fishnet as part of them, or hats.
Why is no one talking about the fact that ANW has been claiming to be a non-profit, but they are not? Registration in Washington shows it as an active single-owner FOR PROFIT business. What were the charity donations at con used for? Has that been communicated yet? Why was no one really questioning this?
Another issue here is not so much a problem with the con, but with the FLARE organization. They caused a lot of issues in their zeal to make this a "safe" con. They harassed a lot of folks, made baseless accusations and threats, and in general were very fascist in their attitude towards certain individuals. It felt like THEY were truly the ones in control and in charge, and were trying to railroad the con leadership. There were times certain issues were brought to his attention, and he stepped up and put his foot down, but I really hope in the future he makes it CLEAR to FLARE what their parameters are and who is in charge.
One last aside; you guys have it wrong that Furlandia didn't tell anyone about the MTV issue until opening ceremonies. Opening ceremonies happened on that Saturday, but there were activities and a dance the day before on Friday, and notices were posted -everywhere- disclosing their presence and intention, and people did have to register for the con at that point and were given a rundown of what was happening. I cannot recall if tweets were made that day or not as well. I know that their presence was made known to some extent prior to the convention as well.
I personally knew about ANW and CNN at least 2 weeks before the con from sources, and was shocked that no one was looking at the history lesson. Even more shocking is that there are high level ANW staff who practically went on a crusade after the Furlandia issue at that time, so I found it mildly hypocritical. It also sounded like ANW may not have informed some of their more honored guests ahead of time, so I wonder what their thoughts are.
ANW was underwhelming as a convention to me. There was mostly a certain type of fur in my opinion who got easily swept up in the hype I feel. With all the positivity I feel like people were at an entirely different convention than I was. I suppose if you were looking for panels as your main activity it was probably alright.
Largely it was mediocre, and the hotel space was abysmal. It was too segregated between the basement and another floor or two, and small. There was just a central "courtyard" room around the escalator on each floor, which wasn't very large and just easily too crowded. The hotel was very quick to shut down any and all room gatherings and parties as well. Parking was inconvenient and sometimes expensive, but that's just a fact of downtown Seattle.
The con banned multiple people ahead of time, and during, both having been there or not having even attended. Censorship was incredibly heavy at the event and even more so on Telegram, with probably dozens of people being banned from the telegram chat it seemed like, for any criticism there or other chats or from Twitter. Pictures, video, or gifs of the event were immediately deleted from the official telegram chat, regardless of context. Even video meant to help the event by showing questionable behavior taking place was deleted without comment. I know of people personally who were forced to remove articles of clothing who the con runners found questionable on whether they were PG enough. And I mean things like jackets with patches on them, or certain outfits had to be changed that had any fishnet as part of them, or hats.
Why is no one talking about the fact that ANW has been claiming to be a non-profit, but they are not? Registration in Washington shows it as an active single-owner FOR PROFIT business. What were the charity donations at con used for? Has that been communicated yet? Why was no one really questioning this?
Another issue here is not so much a problem with the con, but with the FLARE organization. They caused a lot of issues in their zeal to make this a "safe" con. They harassed a lot of folks, made baseless accusations and threats, and in general were very fascist in their attitude towards certain individuals. It felt like THEY were truly the ones in control and in charge, and were trying to railroad the con leadership. There were times certain issues were brought to his attention, and he stepped up and put his foot down, but I really hope in the future he makes it CLEAR to FLARE what their parameters are and who is in charge.
One last aside; you guys have it wrong that Furlandia didn't tell anyone about the MTV issue until opening ceremonies. Opening ceremonies happened on that Saturday, but there were activities and a dance the day before on Friday, and notices were posted -everywhere- disclosing their presence and intention, and people did have to register for the con at that point and were given a rundown of what was happening. I cannot recall if tweets were made that day or not as well. I know that their presence was made known to some extent prior to the convention as well.
I personally knew about ANW and CNN at least 2 weeks before the con from sources, and was shocked that no one was looking at the history lesson. Even more shocking is that there are high level ANW staff who practically went on a crusade after the Furlandia issue at that time, so I found it mildly hypocritical. It also sounded like ANW may not have informed some of their more honored guests ahead of time, so I wonder what their thoughts are.