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]

Sometimes tradition is good and important, sometimes it's staid old wankers holding onto a past or joke that's no longer relevant.

The two traditional misspellings of friend in a particular form for WorldCon. It's cute within the community, but that the joke has to be explained every year kind of makes it pointless. It's that "I know the secret, so I belong here and you don't" attitude that helps keep people away.

Plus the general public and community are going are looking at this traditional mistake and going - They didn't even bother to spell check this! How unprofessional.

General comedy rule-of-thumb = If you have to explain the joke, it's not worth telling.