I'm not a newbie, but I do have a love/hate relationship with fandom.
I can honestly say that price is a big issue. I avoided cons for years or would only get a day pass because I couldn't afford it as a student, or rather couldn't justify the cost when I wasn't sure what I was going to. This is even after I had friends who were organising and attending cons. $150+ for con membership, plus transport/accommodation plus lost wages as a weekend shift worker ment that going to Swancon was really rather expensive, not to mention Eastern States cons. I think the cheap newbie membership that Swancon had a few years ago was a great idea, or even having a cheap day pass for newbies, I would have certainly started attending cons earlier if it was an option.
I now avoid cons for other reasons (and not just because I've had personal run ins with other attendees or organisers :P ). I think Fandom is very, very clique (sp?) and very closed to newbies or others who are not into mainstream fandom or whatever happens to be the fannish trend at the time. I don't watch Buffy/Firefly/Star Trek/whatever so that means I'm a ignorant/bad person apparently. It is also very judgemental. I'm tired of hearing the same old in jokes and seeing the same old people say the same old things. Cons need to change and grow not just for the newbies, but also to retain the older members as well.
My uncle is a fan. He used to run the WA Star Wars fan club and has way, way too much of an unhealthy interest in SF. He will line up in the rain for hours to get to a movie premier, has spent far too much money on replica models of spaceships from tv, owns a dvd collection that rivals both Simon & Grants and can talk at length about SF. He also thinks that cons are full or weirdoes and creepy people and was surprised to find out that Swancon was still going because he thought that sort of thing would have died out.
I think it is going to take more than having a few different panels or a different stream or some such to ensure new fans going to cons. It is going to take a different attitude by the con going community to make it sustainable in the future.
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I can honestly say that price is a big issue. I avoided cons for years or would only get a day pass because I couldn't afford it as a student, or rather couldn't justify the cost when I wasn't sure what I was going to. This is even after I had friends who were organising and attending cons. $150+ for con membership, plus transport/accommodation plus lost wages as a weekend shift worker ment that going to Swancon was really rather expensive, not to mention Eastern States cons. I think the cheap newbie membership that Swancon had a few years ago was a great idea, or even having a cheap day pass for newbies, I would have certainly started attending cons earlier if it was an option.
I now avoid cons for other reasons (and not just because I've had personal run ins with other attendees or organisers :P ). I think Fandom is very, very clique (sp?) and very closed to newbies or others who are not into mainstream fandom or whatever happens to be the fannish trend at the time. I don't watch Buffy/Firefly/Star Trek/whatever so that means I'm a ignorant/bad person apparently. It is also very judgemental. I'm tired of hearing the same old in jokes and seeing the same old people say the same old things. Cons need to change and grow not just for the newbies, but also to retain the older members as well.
My uncle is a fan. He used to run the WA Star Wars fan club and has way, way too much of an unhealthy interest in SF. He will line up in the rain for hours to get to a movie premier, has spent far too much money on replica models of spaceships from tv, owns a dvd collection that rivals both Simon & Grants and can talk at length about SF. He also thinks that cons are full or weirdoes and creepy people and was surprised to find out that Swancon was still going because he thought that sort of thing would have died out.
I think it is going to take more than having a few different panels or a different stream or some such to ensure new fans going to cons. It is going to take a different attitude by the con going community to make it sustainable in the future.