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

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Because refusing to publicly admit to a problem always works.

Makes me appreciate all the hard work jvowles and the rest of the Otakon staff put in to make sure things function smoothly. Of course their con is big enough that they can hire professional security.

[jayblanc.livejournal.com]

I'm close friends with someone who was to be a GOHs for this. They weren't given advance warning of the cancelation, or any potential issues. I've also put together and moderated a panel at this con before, and there were early warning signs then. I've already written up a straighten-up-and-fly-right editorial elsewhere as part of my alter-ego as the Furry Fandom's voice of reason.

[brownbetty]

I'm a little amazed by how weird and petty some of the damages seem.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

I attended a RF several years ago, and it was interesting, but you could see if that no one was held responsible for their actions (attendees) that it would become wilder and more Lord of the Flies at some point.

[ian wright (from livejournal.com)]

And in what I'm sure is a completely unrelated matter, I see certain people in SF fandom have no problem with someone randomly dropping trou and grinding on other con guests. I'm sure this attitude of ignoring problems until they go away will in no way come back to haunt anyone.

[neowolf2.livejournal.com]

Another con I've been to seems to have flatlined: Duckon.

[rosefox]

This is so sad.

[dronon.livejournal.com]

Furries as a group place a high value on social inclusion, so there's a reluctance to point out and act upon negative behaviour. This results in a mix of some folks being extremely responsible, while others are willing to let almost anything slide.

What makes this particularly sting is that it's actually the second con that furry fandom's lost in the last six months, the other being an outdoor event called Oklacon (https://www.flayrah.com/6238/oklacon-canceled-2015-more-likely-permanently).

A couple of the east-coast furry cons, particularly Anthrocon (~6300 people) have supplemented their con security with the Dorsai Irregulars for many years. They've done a really good job, and use it as an opportunity to test/train new recruits. One of them spoke up (https://www.flayrah.com/6441/opinion-hotel-management-doesnt-care-what-your-fursona#comment-65453) in regards to the Rainfurrest situation.

[sciencepeppery.livejournal.com]

Thats brilliant