That's what I feared. I've heard through quiet channels some suggestions that the List is now being deliberately trolled.
The SMOFS list was really originally set up to be a forum for discussing WSFS Business Meeting proposals somewhere other than on the floor of the Business Meeting. (Remember, twenty years ago, you found out what was up for proposals by showing up at the Preliminary Meeting, and the entire debate happened there and only there.) Over time, the list gradually shifted focus to cover other conrunning-related topics. Ironically, it's gotten to the point where people complain about discussions of WSFS business, the list's original focus!
This makes me think that we need to find a different place where people can debate WSFS business in public, without any of the (unjustified IMO) cries of "secret backroom dealing" that I've heard. But if we do that, it's going to have to be a forum where anonymous or unidentifiably pseudonymous posts aren't allowed. I don't mean "legal names" (oy, what a rabbit hole that is), but "names by which you are commonly known to others and to which you will answer." I do not want anonymous cowards trolling us! And it's just possible that if the entire discussions are in public, it will be easier to point at them and say variations of, "Yes, there were individuals who made idiotic comments, but that doesn't meant that every conrunner in the world is like that -- and if you can't be bothered to look at the context, then it's your fault." As it stands now, pulling individual out-of-context comments and ignoring when people who make mistakes apologize for them just makes it look like every convention organizer is a racist-sexist-homophobic-whatever-you-want-to-call-them-ist. The long-term future for volunteer conrunners in such a situation is dire, and the long-term direction for SF/F genre conventions in such a scenario is that they're all going to become Popular Culture Entertainment Events, where you buy a ticket to queue up for your measured dose of entertainment provided by the hired help.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2013-12-12 05:06 am (UTC)The SMOFS list was really originally set up to be a forum for discussing WSFS Business Meeting proposals somewhere other than on the floor of the Business Meeting. (Remember, twenty years ago, you found out what was up for proposals by showing up at the Preliminary Meeting, and the entire debate happened there and only there.) Over time, the list gradually shifted focus to cover other conrunning-related topics. Ironically, it's gotten to the point where people complain about discussions of WSFS business, the list's original focus!
This makes me think that we need to find a different place where people can debate WSFS business in public, without any of the (unjustified IMO) cries of "secret backroom dealing" that I've heard. But if we do that, it's going to have to be a forum where anonymous or unidentifiably pseudonymous posts aren't allowed. I don't mean "legal names" (oy, what a rabbit hole that is), but "names by which you are commonly known to others and to which you will answer." I do not want anonymous cowards trolling us! And it's just possible that if the entire discussions are in public, it will be easier to point at them and say variations of, "Yes, there were individuals who made idiotic comments, but that doesn't meant that every conrunner in the world is like that -- and if you can't be bothered to look at the context, then it's your fault." As it stands now, pulling individual out-of-context comments and ignoring when people who make mistakes apologize for them just makes it look like every convention organizer is a racist-sexist-homophobic-whatever-you-want-to-call-them-ist. The long-term future for volunteer conrunners in such a situation is dire, and the long-term direction for SF/F genre conventions in such a scenario is that they're all going to become Popular Culture Entertainment Events, where you buy a ticket to queue up for your measured dose of entertainment provided by the hired help.