Regarding a) How many eastern eastern states media conventions did you go to in the nineties, and so are in a position to be able to see the difference between then and now? WA has had the media/lit issues, but never to the degree of the east. Media fandom in the east is more marginalised now than at any time I can remember since 1979, which is when I joined fandom.
RE: b) Yep, totally there with you and angriest on the insular side, but don't think the blame can only be leveled at the fannish aspects of cons when our whole culture is geared to 'have fun, but on our terms.'
Most cons advertise poorly outside their immediate fan community. Outsiders look at the cost of the cons and think they're a rip off. How many people go to the effort of talking to someone who is new at a con?
The way we run cons in general is outdated when it comes to the 'net generation.' We don't give them the sorts of stuff that appeals to them, and because we aren't them, it's hard to figure out what will work. There's no easy fix, but fannish activity is only one of several issues, not the main one.
I'd rather the wank and drama over who gets the national award for the production of the best songvid etc. happen around the people who really want them to awarded, and see a need for them You mean the sort of people who would enjoy a Media Natcon, maybe with it's own set of awards. Be nice if we had one of those, eh?
I'm not a big fan of changing the rules to make other people do the work on something you want to see happen. The Media Natcon constitution was rewritten so it matched a lot more closely with the Lit one. Why? Because it would make a merge of the two cons easier. Why did we need a merge? Because at the time the Lit Natcon wanted one because it seemed incapable of doing the work to save itself. So by that logic, media fandom should have let the Lit Natcon die. Way to build community.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-06-05 02:41 am (UTC)RE: b) Yep, totally there with you and
Most cons advertise poorly outside their immediate fan community. Outsiders look at the cost of the cons and think they're a rip off. How many people go to the effort of talking to someone who is new at a con?
The way we run cons in general is outdated when it comes to the 'net generation.' We don't give them the sorts of stuff that appeals to them, and because we aren't them, it's hard to figure out what will work. There's no easy fix, but fannish activity is only one of several issues, not the main one.
I'd rather the wank and drama over who gets the national award for the production of the best songvid etc. happen around the people who really want them to awarded, and see a need for them
You mean the sort of people who would enjoy a Media Natcon, maybe with it's own set of awards. Be nice if we had one of those, eh?
I'm not a big fan of changing the rules to make other people do the work on something you want to see happen.
The Media Natcon constitution was rewritten so it matched a lot more closely with the Lit one. Why? Because it would make a merge of the two cons easier. Why did we need a merge? Because at the time the Lit Natcon wanted one because it seemed incapable of doing the work to save itself.
So by that logic, media fandom should have let the Lit Natcon die. Way to build community.