A few links

[sasha_feather]

Because I'm trying to figure out what is going on:

bc holmes, July 27, has extensive links about ReaderCon, harassment of G. Valentine by R. Walling, and subsequent fallout:
http://blog.bcholmes.org/the-readercon-thing/#more-169

Rose Fox, 9/8/12:
Done Like a Done Thing

I am deeply dismayed and disheartened by the ways that most con-runners appear determined to run their conventions into the ground, but I don't personally care enough about most conventions to try to stop them. So I'm done. Readercon always has my heart. The rest: ciao.


N K Jemisim, 9/8/12:
Things People Need to Understand, Issue 223.2

Jim C Hines, 9/13/12:
Crap people say about sexual Harassment

kehrli at LJ, 9/12/12:
Regarding ChiCon7

Well, that's plenty for now.

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

Rose Fox ponders "What Conventions Are and Aren't" at the Genreville blog at Publishers Weekly.

She considers both Readercon and conrunning in general, and provides an actual item to discuss -- the volunteer convention business model -- which provides a useful change from the slanging matches occurring else-net.

begin quote  Conventions are not communities in the traditional sense of the word. They are not townships. The conchair is not the mayor; the head of safety or security is not the chief of police; the concom and the board are not tribunals or juries. The organizing bodies are not directly or representationally elected and are almost never demographically representative of the convention-attending population. I think that treating conventions as in some way parallel to real-world communities governed by law is a really bad idea, especially when we get into these crime-and-punishment discussions. Conventions are not in the business of dispensing justice. They aren’t designed for it or equipped for it, and no one–especially not anyone involved in running a convention–should behave as though they are, even for a moment.

What conventions are designed for and equipped for is helping people to have fun. That’s the business model! And I think that is what conventions should stay focused on when someone pops up and starts making their spaces less fun for their customers. quote ends

[sasha_feather]

Yes, agreed!

Slightly off-topic, the card game we talked about with "SMOF" as a card is indeed called "Illuminati".