How to kill a con

[james_davis_nicoll]

It’s my opinion that what really killed RF2016 was RF2011 to RF2015. During those years we failed to deal with problem behavior as it started happening. We failed at every level of our organization: we didn’t adequately staff the event to cope with our growing numbers, we didn’t work with our venue to discourage bad behavior, and we didn’t create an environment where people who wanted to solve these problems were able to. As a result, damage to both the venue and to RainFurrest’s reputation escalated yearly, and by 2016 it had reached a point that I now believe was irreversibly broken. The rest of this letter explains this opinion in detail, but that’s the summary: RainFurrest was irretrievably damaged before 2016 began, but we could not — or chose not to — see the damage.

Comments

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

The "this isn't a problem for me, therefore it shouldn't be a problem for anyone" mindset is so infuriating.

[sean o'hara (from livejournal.com)]

I find the dropping trou part to be borderline. By all accounts she had boxers on underneath, so she wasn't exposing an undue amount of skin, and as weird as it is to see someone drop their pants in public, what she did is effectively no different than if she'd taken a sweatshirt off when she had a tank top underneath. I'd class that part as obnoxious attention seeking but not actually beyond the pale.

Now rubbing on some stranger who's sitting next to you, OTOH, should be an insta-ban, no room for discussion.

[seth ellis (from livejournal.com)]

Except that in context, dropping trou clearly meant "look what I can get away with;" look at the trou-dropper's reaction to getting asked not to, calling people "rat" and so forth. Enabling that behavior for years is what made the actual harassment possible.

[ian wright (from livejournal.com)]

Yeah. The first time it happened was the time to crack down on it. After that it sounds like it became her party schtick; "See what I can do!" And then things escalated from there.

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

I've seen a lot of people who say something similar. After removing her pants, she was wearing as much as someone in shorts.

To me, removing pants has a lot of connotations. It's not about how much skin is showing, per se, it's about a sexual more that's pretty heavily enforced. Taking off your pants, showing your underwear, is a private act that requires consent.

If Rosen was male, I think it might be intuitively clearer. Removing a sweatshirt is socially acceptable, but removing pants isn't. I don't want to see strangers' underwear, regardless of how concealing/revealing it might be.

I think Rosen's actions later, humping Mark and making faces at him, further indicates that this was not a harmless act. Rosen hadn't gotten too warm, she wanted to upset societal norms. Or sexually harass someone.

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

I was trying to articulate my response, but you said it first and better. This. Thanks.

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

"I don't understand why my taxes are being wasted on education and health care! I'm young, have no children, and have no health problems, and I work hard for my money and it is mine."

[scentofviolets.livejournal.com]

This is the part I don't get. My parents were never 'liberal' (neither am I for that matter), but one of the big lessons my very coservative, very Catholic mother impressed on me froma very early age was to be polite, courteous, and reapectful. So, for example, when my daughter scolded me for using the word 'Oriental', I didn't say that everybody used that word as a non-offensive descriptor when I was growing up. Nor did I explain that Asian ever took offense at the term when I used it, or that some of my best buds are Asians, etc.

Instead, I did what my mama taught me to do: I apologized, said I was a clueless idiot (no surprise to my daughter, I'm sure), promised to stop using that word as a referrant, and thanked her for the heads-up.

IOW, I behaved in a very culturally conservative way. What I'm taking a great many words to say is that these people seem to be Galtian Slan types as opposed to true reactionaries. The worst of both worlds.