Wise words

[dalekboy]

"...they don’t think they need saving. I mean, they haven’t changed for years, have they? They’re not designed to be wanted because they don’t want to be wanted, not really. They want to be left alone to do their thing, and they don’t want any loud new people in the room. They serve a dwindling audience, and they have to be aware of that — so they have to be in it to simply serve that audience, to provide that presumably cosy experience to their people until the last light goes out. Otherwise they would have done something different years ago."

That's Warren Ellis talking about sf magazines, but he could be talking about the majority of sf fan clubs and conventions in Australia.

Just because your friends turn up, doesn't mean it's good.
Just because it breaks even, doesn't mean it's a success.
Just because something runs, that doesn't mean it's still relevant.

More on this later...

Comments

[dalekboy.livejournal.com]

I don't know about WorldCons in general. The media/lit split doesn't really exist in Perth, to any noticeable degree. And it wasn't such a big deal in Melbourne in the 80s, but slowly became one.

Aussiecon 2 in 85 managed to get all the fan clubs going to it, it worked hard to make itself relevant to them. There were reps at most club meetings for a good year before the con, slowly building the buzz and finding out what people wanted by actively seeking their ideas, rather than sitting back and saying "you come to us."

Aussiecon 3's attitude seemed very much, 'It's the WorldCon! The media fans should come because it's the WorldCon. If they want stuff in there, let them make proposals and explain why we should put it on.'