More Badgering

[kevin_standlee]

I'm afraid that jorhett has written us off and has taken everything more personally than he should, which is unfortunate, but meanwhile the SMOFS e-mail list is merrily burbling away discussing the idea of photo-ID badges -- which nobody over there considers a good idea, either, it seems. Michael Walsh applied a bit of Google-fu, and found the following:

Evecon 4 badge
Evecon 5 badge
Evecon 6 badge
Evecon 7 badge

jorhett claims I'm misquoting him, which is certainly possible. Indeed, it's perfectly possible that what he said was not exactly what I heard. However, he has not responded to my offer to print a correction if he'd tell us what exactly he says he said, but has instead apparently stormed off in a huff. Possibly it surprises people that I don't claim to be infallible, it being oh-so-fannish to never admit being wrong and to assume that one's own experiences are the entire universe.

Seriously, I can state things pretty confidently sometimes. I'm perfectly aware that this comes across as arrogance to some people.

Comments

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

#5 in particular is uglier than sin.

And ... we've found something worse than photo ID badges, worse even than the cleverly unreadable background on the unphoto'd #4: having attendees hand-print their own names. Wow. Just ... wow.

[rono-60103.livejournal.com]

Every time I have to hand print my badge, I'm a little surprised. But I've done it at cons as recently as less than a year ago (Bubonicon 38 in Albuquerque). I also remember having to do it at my first, or first couple of Windycons, which would have been around 1993 or 1994.

For at least a few of the reasons that kevin_standlee references in the Argentus article, having the name printed by the convention by some mechanical means is necessary. IMHO, as someone who doesn't like looking at his own printing, the only purpose it isn't necessary for is the "other" function.

[bovil.livejournal.com]

Oh, now that's just funny, Tom and Don's Evecon badges...

...though I think the moiré effect badge for #4 (without any photo) is much uglier and less useful.

[kshandra]

I'm having trouble reconciling "the first and friendliest con of the year" with a photo of someone holding what appears to be his driver's license....

[pnh.livejournal.com]

"it being oh-so-fannish to never admit being wrong"

Right, because mundanes never display this personality flaw.

Seriously, this is the second or third time lately that I've noticed you making generalized assertions that equate "fannishness" with some specific negative trait. That's an early symptom of burnout.

Fannishness

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

That wouldn't surprise me. In the positions I've been in, I'm much more likely to be exposed to the negative than the positive. For all of the people who enjoyed ConJose, the memory that sticks the most is that fellow who monopolized a feedback session with complaints that amounted to, "I paid you to entertain me; if you don't organize the convention's schedule to suit me personally without regard to any other member, you're in violation of contract and liable. The world revolves around me, and I expect you to rearrange things to suit me and me alone."

It takes a lot of positives to overcome one negative. I can sometimes manage to balance them. Other people cannot, and weight all positive feedback at zero, while only listening to the criticisms and negative feedback. For me, when enough of the negatives come in a short time without many positives between them, burnout looms.

It may also have to do with the fact that a pile of deadlines all fell at the same time, which ups my stress level and makes it more difficult to deal with anti-social behavior.

Some people have observed me behind bid tables and have told me I display the patience of a saint, but it's not an unlimited patience.