Readdressing the Balance

[dalekboy]

So, after my post on how Media and Lit Natcons were joined, and how media fandom as a whole got thoroughly screwed, general consensus was that the whole situation sucked.

So what are we going to do about it?

Well, as it happens, there is a Natcon in Adelaide this weekend. With a business meeting. That would be a great place to start. I can't afford to go, but I know a fair chunk of you will be there. Do you want to set things in motion, and back each other up?

The fact that the original business meeting notes vanished may be down to accident, incompetence, or deliberate mishandling is neither here nor there. What matters is that it's well past time the situation was fixed. The deal was that in exchange for merging their Natcon with the Lit one, media fandom would get fair representation, in the awards and by extension, the programming. That's not happening.

There's no doubt that there will be resistance. But you know what, fuck it, a deal was made. And it was broken. There's no doubt that it will take years to rebuild things, to get that side of fandom even caring that there's a Natcon, let alone coming to it. And some would argue there's no point. But there is a point.

It could have gone the other way.

The Ditmars could have been lost, the Lit Natcon no more. They easily had the numbers to do this at a time when the Lit Natcon was not doing well, and they still gave up their awards, and their Natcon, with expectation of a fair deal they never received.

I didn't set out to try and get this thing fixed, I just wanted to make the point that we used to have more awards. But fuck it, now I'm angry. Because you know, I read and love books, but if I had to choose which box I fit in, I've always thought of myself as a media fan. Most of us watch films and TV shows, and love them. In our everyday lives, the Lit/Media divide doesn't exist, but our Natcon is skewed ridiculously heavily towards Lit.

Media fandom believed in community, and for over a decade that community has let them down.

And I think that's long enough.

Comments

Re: The Ditmars are not the fan drawcard they should be

[paul-ewins.livejournal.com]

Sorry if what I said was a bit unclear, it wasn't meant to be about Pro taking over from Fan, but more about an unlevel playing field. There was a lot of self-nomination this year, whether that is more or less than other years I couldn't say. I find it quite tacky.

I'm not really sure what categories would best represent current media fannish activity. Maybe fan film? The other issue is that until media fandom reconnects with the convention scene the there will be nobody to nominate for any category that we might come up with. A bit of a chicken and egg situation there.

Re: The Ditmars are not the fan drawcard they should be

[mireille21.livejournal.com]

I can't understand why fanzine is off the ballot. we had a realy good representation at Convergence with Ethel, Captains Log and other media zines on there, because committee actively went out and got a bit of involvement. the Fact that it was stil won by a more 'lit' focussed zine is representative of who attends the conventions and therefore votes.

Re: The Ditmars are not the fan drawcard they should be

[(Anonymous)]

Yep, I was naughty, nominating my stuff, hell, even voting for it. Awards have always been a way of saying to the wider community, "Hey I am here, let's play fandom" as indeed as fanzines. Lucy Schmeidler(i think spelled right) once said about the efforts of Singular productions (me and Phil W) "Chutzpah is not enough", which is true, but it is a beginning.

Re: The Ditmars are not the fan drawcard they should be

[jocko55.livejournal.com]

Damn, posting as anoymous again. So far today i had to get a new mobile phone as the old ones keyboard died and now i am using a grotty internet cafe computer, as I cannot get the netbook to connect. ah, the good old days of pen and paper...