Irrelevance to the new fen

[dalekboy]

This post is taken from a bunch of replies on a friend's journal, that it was decided we should stop hijacking and move the discussion somewhere else.

The problem is that a lot of fans want to get along, and many longer term fans don't like change, so the old fans don't change and the new fans try to fit in. The newer folks aren't encouraged to exptress their ideas, and fans have always been good at shouting down those they see as wrong.

I tend to think that when one is well-known and respected in the scene, they have a responsibilty to the newer folks to keep an open mind and to give them the chance to express themselves.

For instance, I have the newer people in Melbourne saying they don't see the point of having fan guests. I disagree with their opinion, but respect and understand that if they feel that way, then many more new folks will as well. So I either need to justify why we do it well enough that they can see my point-of-view, or rethink having fan guests in order to be relevant to the newer folks.

Though that said, I think the fan guest issue is a tiny one compared to how magnificently irrelevant our style of cons currently are to the new crop of fans.

New fans aren't coming to cons. They see them as over-priced, they don't see that they will get any value for money, and when they do come along, they have a hard time making friends because they're shy and because many of us are shy, we're more comfy talking to people we already know.

And then they hear us slagging off 'mundanes' and similarly showing fandom's intolerance for those not like themselves. So to new folks we come across as more exclusive than inclusive.

So discuss... and especially if you're one of the newer fans, please, please, please speak up and tell us what you'd like to see at cons, and what you think needs to be changed.

Comments

[dalekboy.livejournal.com]

Choosing your fan guest is an interesting problem, too. I was around in the 80s and early 90s, and saw a number of fan guests chosen simply because they were friends of the chair, not because they had done much.

Fan guest should be chosen for their contribution to fandom. The issue you have is when that person, while a great contributor, is really rather dull. Just because someone is more vibrant and out there, it doesn't make them more deserving, but just because someone is quiet, it shouldn't reduce their eligability, especially if they've done tonnes of large-scale work.

[angriest.livejournal.com]

Absolutely.

I also think there's a tendency to invite a fan guest every year, even though a truly worthy candidate may not have presented themselves.

[dalekboy.livejournal.com]

I was thinking that just last night, that in Melbourne the list of people who have genuinely done a lot to benefit fandom is getting shorter.

Two of Continuum's fan guests were people who did tonnes for fandom, but were never going to be recognised for it if we didn't do it. One because he'd always just been there and was taken for granted, and the other because people had issues with him and so ignored all the great work he had done.

There other folks who in this decade have been more visible, but most of them haven't had the fans interests as their top priority.

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

I know when I was a fan guest, I absolutely felt that I should make a special effort to contribute to the convention more than usual, be more involved and visible.

Though I think this should be interpreted differently and appropriately for the individuals. Fan guests can contribute in lots of ways, by publishing or sharing their passions via the video program, or even just by inspiring others to celebrate their contribution.



(ok, so that was the year of the great nuding up, which might not have been quite the right way to interpret the idea of being more visible around the convention)

[dalekboy.livejournal.com]

Yep, I've taken my stints as guest seriously, though my last one two years back was where I finally had the confidence to ask for GoH speech. And I worked hard to make that speech count for something. I also put things in the art show, and tried to show that I did actually have some variety to what I did, to show I wasn't just chosen because I was 'popular' or it was 'my turn.'

I know I have seen fan guests that obviously just treated it as a free membership, and that annoyed me.

[fred-mouse.livejournal.com]

It does help if the committee and the fan guest communicate well as to what the fan guest can contribute - without communication, the fan guest may not feel that they have the opportunity to contribute. I'm pretty sure that some of the fan guests that look like they haven't done anything may never have been given the opportunity to do anything. And while it would be nice if they were pro-active about it, not every fan guest is being recognised for that aspect of their contribution to fandom.