Credit Where Due

[kevin_standlee]

The problem with thanking people in public, like at a Worldcon Closing Ceremonies or a Guest of Honor Speech, is that you risk offending people either by omission or even by inclusion. I've managed to do this. bindyree takes me to task for this in her comments to my NASFiC Fan Guest of Honor Speech. Lest anyone be able to claim that I'm hushing something up -- who's going to read a thirteen-month-old LJ entry? -- I'm calling it to people's attention currently and apologizing for any offense I gave Brin-Marie by not discussing the several years we lived together and the importance of her work with the MythAdventures Fan Club and other fannish endeavors in which I was involved in that period.

Comments

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

You are much nicer than I.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

I'm actually a bit miffed at being told (by someone commenting on her Diaryland posting, not Brin-Marie herself, lest anyone think I'm blaming her for the conduct of her peanut gallery) that my speech "was like handing in a research paper without a proper bibliography." It was a FGoH speech, not an term paper!

FWIW, much of what she writes about her contributions to the MythAdventures Fan Club and my other fanac of that five-plus year period is correct. She did contribute many things. The club would not have been what it was without her. My fannish career would not have developed the way it did without her influence. Not mentioning this in some way is indeed an unfortunate oversight by me. I had a choice and obviously made the wrong one, at least as far as the person affected is concerned.

I can't win, by the way: I used just about every moment of time I had available for my speech. I could have easily gone on for another thirty minutes, but the audience were kind enough to stick around to listen to me talk for the 45 or so I was allocated, so it wouldn't have been right of me to run overtime. I would have had to drop something else to include this. Oh, I would have found something, no doubt, but there are already places in the speech where I'm unhappy at the pace and the number of people and things I had to pass over that were also important. cherylmorgan, for instance, only gets a passing mention, which is at least as unjust as skipping over Brin-Marie's involvement and influence over an important five years of my life.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

That kind of speech often doesn't get enough time to really do justice to the material. Still, as an often-member of audiences, I *do* want to thank you for making an effort to actually fit your alloted timeslot. Far too often, people either don't, or else fail so badly that the difference is fairly irrelevant to the audience.

[cherylmorgan.livejournal.com]

I note in passing that I am not complaining. Kevin had a limited amount of time to speak, many years to cover, and all sorts of political minefields to negotiate. I'm rather grateful that I'll never have to give a GoH speech.

[danjite.livejournal.com]

Uhh....

Her blog entry, her responses to you...

It has been at least 15 years...

You are much nicer than I might have been in the manner which you responded.

I frankly found her comments... disturbing.

Creepy. Stalkeresque.

You are not a major movie star who forgot his old friends- You were a fan GoH honoring his limited time for a speech.

As I said in the parking lot a few Mondays back: Almost painfully ethical.