kevin_standlee | Worldcons & Entitlement Culture

As I expected, L.A.con IV will not have convention-provided internet service because the amounts the hotels and convention center want to charge for it are absurdly expensive. I should be, but am not, astonished at the people who have complained that the convention should do it anyway, who have said, "But [fill in local convention name here] held somewhere else has free access; that means you should, to," or assume that the L.A.con IV committee only just now noticed the situation.

Internet access has been one of many, many things the committee has been chasing down. Despite what some people may think, I expect it was not the most important thing. In fact, there were a lot of more important things. I know from my own experience that one of the hard parts about chairing is having to pick between multiple things when you'd like to have them all. You can't always get everything you want. Deal with it, folks! If you need internet access that badly, you can buy it yourself from the hotel or convention center. Would you really be happy to see your membership go up by enough to cover the cost of "free" internet service?

Some things are more important at a Worldcon than free internet service. Holding the Hugo Awards or the Masquerade, for instance.

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But looked at another way, volunteers *do* benefit everyone at the con, so keeping them fed and healthy does indirectly benefit everyone. Plus it's an incentive to get people to volunteer, and having more volunteers benefits everyone.

But those are already in the budget and we are not allocating each members membership money for each additional "add-on."

Sure we are, we're just doing it indirectly.

I think that the subset of people who absolutely *must* be able to keep in touch, but who can't afford their own Internet access/don't have a laptop/don't have any friends with a laptop they they borrow is smaller than the number of people who would benefit from spending $31,000 some other way.

I think that the subset of people who absolutely *must* be able to keep in touch, but who can't afford their own Internet access/don't have a laptop/don't have any friends with a laptop they they borrow is smaller than the number of people who would benefit from spending $31,000 some other way.
Aha! Yes! You get it.

I don't mean to say that not everyone does get it. But as you can see from reading that thread over there, not everyone does.

I think most people do get it, but they aren't the ones posting.

There have been Worldcons at which I *had* to be connected (just long enough to send or read something), but I saw *my* need as *my* problem, not the convention's. I either sucked it up and paid for the connection, or begged the use of a friend's laptop.

Lots of things can be justified if there is the desire and priority. The Internet access at N4 was installed because there were enough convention use to make the cost a worthwhile expense (Registration, Press Office, Information, etc.) At that point the additional cost to provide the WiFi network and stations to members was reasonable.

But those are already in the budget and we are not allocating each members membership money for each additional "add-on."

Sure we are, we're just doing it indirectly.

Yes, I know that, but we generally don't take the budget and break down each line item by 5000 to allocate each member's costs. Kevin's question was "Would you really be happy to see your membership go up by enough to cover the cost of "free" internet service?"

The $31,000 price tag is quoted a lot. But the Press Release also mentioned a smaller wired setup for $5,000. Most of the people whinging about the lack of Internet access would also be willing to pay an extra $1 rather than none at all. The unfortunate thing is if LAcon IV decided on the reduced wired lounge, those same people would be whinging about the level of service.

we generally don't take the budget and break down each line item by 5000 to allocate each member's costs.

Not that precisely, no, but in a roundabout way, that's what's meant by "$31,000 is too expensive." We kind of do a ballpark thing in our heads. I've also seen people discussing how much $ per member to allocate to con suite, or ribbons.

Kevin's question was "Would you really be happy to see your membership go up by enough to cover the cost of "free" internet service?"

Kevin's question doesn't quite work, because it's too late to raise membership fees for people who've already bought them.

It's a given that no matter what is done (or not done), someone will complain about it. The only question is how many people have to care (and to what extent) before it's something that the convention should provide at the expense of something else that other people want. But of course you know that.

I think $5000 for a small wired lounge sounds like a good idea, but I know nothing about the factors that went into their decision, so I am loath to second guess.

The "how many dollars per member" is a difficult number to calculate, and a meaningless one at that; it depends entirely on what rate the member got. A $5 hike for an at-the-door member might just have meant a $2 hike for a voter converting at the early-bird rate.

I find the "where do my membership dollars go?" pie chart (major budget areas' percentages) to be an excellent tool when somebody asks why membership costs so much, or why the convention isn't spending money on something they're obsessed with. It's still a bit of voodoo, but it's more meaningful. When the tech budget is a huge wedge, but it's pointed out that nearly 2/3 of the convention will be watching the masquerade and the hugos, it makes sense. When the facilities cost is a huge wedge, and people see how well the space is being used (assuming it's not being used badly) they get it.

The whiners and crackpots will still complain. The fans who are first seeing what a con budget is like will counteract the crackpots to some extent.

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