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So of course, there's been a lot of drama surrounding Dashcon and let's face it, much of it was deserved. I'm not particularly swayed by the latest from Dashcon's admins (more about that here). Dashcon has a hell of a lot of reputation to fix and I have no faith that it can pull it off inside of a year, not unless the admins step down wholesale and tried-and-true people take over with a game plan. As it is, I believe they fired a staffer and one of the three main admins, but those who remain are sitting on no good will as far as I'm concerned. I seriously doubt there's anything Dashcon could do at this point that would get me to go in 2015. That isn't vitriol; it's just fact. You done fucked up.
But there's two things about Dashcon that I think went really really right, and that's the programming and atmosphere. There were massive amounts of panels, including multiple LGBTQ panels, and the atmosphere was reportedly safe and fun (once you got past the hysteria and secondhand embarrassment of Friday night). The consensus seems to be that it was a fabulous first con to attend (and it was many people's first) and that's...heartwarming. That's really amazing. There were loads of cosplayers, a con demographic that's usually and historically vulnerable to harassment, and the reports have been really good that they didn't suffer that at Dashcon.
And so I'm doubly sad thinking about what a waste it is that the con admins are fucking up their own game. It smacks of self-delusion that they believe that next year's con is going to be some massive draw, at an even bigger hotel, when this year's turnout was a fraction of what they'd hoped and wound up being far too much con for attendees. And a thousand people or 1,500 or however much the final numbers wound up being -- that's massive and impressive for a first year fan con in its own right. But it seems like they were planning for ten times that number and, well, the fact that the execution of the con went so much better than its piss poor administration is the stuff of fairy godmother wishes. In short, I really wish another con could magically take the place of Dashcon, because I really like the idea of it.
And if you haven't watched this bit of programming that one of the LGBTQ&A panelists recorded and uploaded, you should give it a listen. I want more of this. Please. I just don't want the current Dashcon admins to bring it to the world. BrinConvenient, Sarah of Bisexual-books, Sashaforthewin, Mark of markdoesstuff, and Rhiannon of this-is-a-blog-about-things.
But there's two things about Dashcon that I think went really really right, and that's the programming and atmosphere. There were massive amounts of panels, including multiple LGBTQ panels, and the atmosphere was reportedly safe and fun (once you got past the hysteria and secondhand embarrassment of Friday night). The consensus seems to be that it was a fabulous first con to attend (and it was many people's first) and that's...heartwarming. That's really amazing. There were loads of cosplayers, a con demographic that's usually and historically vulnerable to harassment, and the reports have been really good that they didn't suffer that at Dashcon.
And so I'm doubly sad thinking about what a waste it is that the con admins are fucking up their own game. It smacks of self-delusion that they believe that next year's con is going to be some massive draw, at an even bigger hotel, when this year's turnout was a fraction of what they'd hoped and wound up being far too much con for attendees. And a thousand people or 1,500 or however much the final numbers wound up being -- that's massive and impressive for a first year fan con in its own right. But it seems like they were planning for ten times that number and, well, the fact that the execution of the con went so much better than its piss poor administration is the stuff of fairy godmother wishes. In short, I really wish another con could magically take the place of Dashcon, because I really like the idea of it.
And if you haven't watched this bit of programming that one of the LGBTQ&A panelists recorded and uploaded, you should give it a listen. I want more of this. Please. I just don't want the current Dashcon admins to bring it to the world. BrinConvenient, Sarah of Bisexual-books, Sashaforthewin, Mark of markdoesstuff, and Rhiannon of this-is-a-blog-about-things.
