I think this may have something to do with the decline of volunteerism in general. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that an increasing number of people have not been acculturated to expect themselves or others to volunteer time, effort, and resources without compensation. Having no expectation of doing any volunteer work themselves, they don't understand anyone else doing volunteer work, and treat everything as they would a ticket to a show, which is a different kind of relationship.
Within the SF community, "gate show" events like Creation et al have encouraged this kind of thinking, and it spreads to people who might find volunteer-run events like ours and assume that they're run on the same model as a gate show. Of course, while in some ways the events are superficially similar, at their philosophical core that are vastly different.
That doesn't mean I go into a convention on which I'm working not wanting to do the best I possibly can. If anything, I probably work harder on it than I do at my paid job, much as I like my work. It just means that I would like to expect that people take this into account when offering criticism and also be more willing to help volunteer themselves. For example, instead of coming into a room that isn't set up yet and complaining about it, saying, "Whoops, the chairs aren't in place yet. Can I help move them where they need to be?"
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2006-04-20 07:32 pm (UTC)Within the SF community, "gate show" events like Creation et al have encouraged this kind of thinking, and it spreads to people who might find volunteer-run events like ours and assume that they're run on the same model as a gate show. Of course, while in some ways the events are superficially similar, at their philosophical core that are vastly different.
That doesn't mean I go into a convention on which I'm working not wanting to do the best I possibly can. If anything, I probably work harder on it than I do at my paid job, much as I like my work. It just means that I would like to expect that people take this into account when offering criticism and also be more willing to help volunteer themselves. For example, instead of coming into a room that isn't set up yet and complaining about it, saying, "Whoops, the chairs aren't in place yet. Can I help move them where they need to be?"