Positive Worldcon News Story

[kevin_standlee]

It's rare that you see a news story about Worldcons that is both accurate and positive about the convention. It's even more rare when such an article has something to do with the bidding process. But this article in the Columbia College (Illinois) Chronicle manages to do both. It's an article about the 2008 Worldcon site selection race, with a focus on the Chicago bid (not surprising) and their "To Serve Fan" bidding theme. The article manages to explain Worldcon and the bidding process without either lecturing or making fun of us. It's sufficiently accurate that I would assume someone in Fandom wrote it, although I confess that I do not recognize the article author's name.

It is somewhat sad, though, that I do have a default assumption that anyone not already part of Fandom who writes about it will automatically get their facts wrong.

Comments

[orangemike.livejournal.com]

It is somewhat sad, though, that I do have a default assumption that anyone not already part of Fandom who writes about it will automatically get their facts wrong.

It's called "experience."

[querldox.livejournal.com]

Although the reference to local Chicago writer "Fred Pole" indicates at least a bit of inaccuracy that I'd hope someone in fandom wouldn't make.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Whoops! I'd missed that myself.

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

Also, Mike Resnick hasn't lived in Chicago for several decades.

[darrelx.livejournal.com]

The bid process starts *more* than two years before a convention... except for Joke-bids.

They neglected to mention who Chicago was running against. (but that may have been intentional)

Other than that, an EXCELLENT article, indeed!

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

Columbus and Denver were mentioned in the second paragraph, before Chicago: But while it is still undetermined exactly which politicians will be running for the White House in 2008, candidates for another election are already putting up their bids—for one of the largest science fiction conventions in the world. Columbus, Ohio; Denver and Chicago are all campaigning to host the 2008 Worldcon, also known as the World Science Fiction Convention.

[bovil.livejournal.com]

I assume that most people who are part of fandom will still get it wrong unless they're buried up to their eyeballs in it.