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Westercon Not a Walkover
Apr. 17th, 2019 12:22 pmNot that it was ever going to be a walkover even if we were the only bid on the ballot, as I know better than most, but Tonopah will not be running unopposed to host Westercon 74, as two bids have filed to host the 2021 Westercon, Tonopah NV and Phoenix AZ. (I do not include Bob Hole's Tonopah, Arizona bid, which is not a filed bid and will not be on the ballot.) Links to the bids' filings are at the linked post on the Westercon web site.
As the lead maintainer of Westercon.org, I'm in a delicate situation here. I actually forgot to update the Westercon site after we filed the Tonopah bid, and by the time this was pointed out to me, I thought it best to wait until after the filing deadline. Phoenix's bid was filed very close to the deadline, so it took a couple of days to get it confirmed and posted to the SpikeCon web site. I'm trying to be neutral about the news posts there and to give both bids equal billing, while also making it clear that even being on the ballot doesn't mean you're guaranteed to win.
We do expect to continue bidding for Tonopah NV, and we do still have the support of our convention facilities. We'll do our best to show people why we think our small site in Nevada is the one for which they want to vote and that they want to attend.
Please don't try to bait us into throwing mud at other bids. I've been through this before, and I don't consider it to be a winning strategy to say, "Vote for us because the other bids are worse!" (Particularly because there's a fair chance that either bid will want to recruit people on the other bid's committee post-election.) I expect any bid to accentuate their positives and attempt to ameliorate their negatives, and therefore for questions about other bids, I'll always refer people to those bids rather than try and speak for or about them.
But one thing: If you're thinking, "I assume Phoenix will win, even though I personally prefer Tonopah," then I do earnestly ask you to join SpikeCon if you're not yet a member and to vote for us. You don't have to go to Utah to vote, and you don't need an attending membership to vote. A supporting membership makes you eligible not only to vote on Westercon 74 site selection, but also NASFiC 2020 site selection, and both those races have stakes in play, even though Columbus is running unopposed for NASFiC. (That's because if None of the Above wins in their election, there will be no 2020 NASFiC at all, unlike Westercon and Worldcon, where such a case sends the selection to the Business Meeting.) So if you have a preference in either or both of those elections, the best thing you can do is to join SpikeCon and vote.
As the lead maintainer of Westercon.org, I'm in a delicate situation here. I actually forgot to update the Westercon site after we filed the Tonopah bid, and by the time this was pointed out to me, I thought it best to wait until after the filing deadline. Phoenix's bid was filed very close to the deadline, so it took a couple of days to get it confirmed and posted to the SpikeCon web site. I'm trying to be neutral about the news posts there and to give both bids equal billing, while also making it clear that even being on the ballot doesn't mean you're guaranteed to win.
We do expect to continue bidding for Tonopah NV, and we do still have the support of our convention facilities. We'll do our best to show people why we think our small site in Nevada is the one for which they want to vote and that they want to attend.
Please don't try to bait us into throwing mud at other bids. I've been through this before, and I don't consider it to be a winning strategy to say, "Vote for us because the other bids are worse!" (Particularly because there's a fair chance that either bid will want to recruit people on the other bid's committee post-election.) I expect any bid to accentuate their positives and attempt to ameliorate their negatives, and therefore for questions about other bids, I'll always refer people to those bids rather than try and speak for or about them.
But one thing: If you're thinking, "I assume Phoenix will win, even though I personally prefer Tonopah," then I do earnestly ask you to join SpikeCon if you're not yet a member and to vote for us. You don't have to go to Utah to vote, and you don't need an attending membership to vote. A supporting membership makes you eligible not only to vote on Westercon 74 site selection, but also NASFiC 2020 site selection, and both those races have stakes in play, even though Columbus is running unopposed for NASFiC. (That's because if None of the Above wins in their election, there will be no 2020 NASFiC at all, unlike Westercon and Worldcon, where such a case sends the selection to the Business Meeting.) So if you have a preference in either or both of those elections, the best thing you can do is to join SpikeCon and vote.
