Dragon*Con review
JKF1965
Okay, here's my take on D*C '97
There is thing that needs to be pointed out first and foremost. They were
in a new space. As anyone who's ever moved a con can assest, there were
difficulties associated with the new location (mainly no one new what was
suppose to be where). The con site included The Hyatt Regency (gaming),
The Weston Peachtree (LARP), The Inforum, and a small part of The Atlanta
Aparrel Mart (As I understand it, The Inforum will not be used next year.
They will be moving The Inforum programming to the Apparel Mart next
year).
Other than the problems created from the move, two other major
difficulties disappointed fans:
1. Mercedes Lackey refused to particpate in much of her scheduled
programming. Apparently, she has had some threats on her life as of late
and required a body guard to be present during the con. The word
circulating throughout the con was that she treated the guard very poorly
(more as a gofer than bodyguard) and he quit. This left her feeling
somewhat unprotected and she would only attend her fan club's programming.
2. Charlton Heston was suppose to appear courtesy of Hollywood Online.
Well, it seems Hollywood Online didn't get things worked out with ICM
Artists and his appearance was cancelled during the convention.
On to happier aspectes of the convention. Although *Misty* was hard to
find, Raymond Feist, Robert Jordan, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman where
all present and readily accessible to the fans. (I bumped into Feist on
the streets of downtown Atlanta on several occations. Each time he was
conversing with various random fans.)
I also have to take my hat off to David Prowse and John Rhys-Davies.
Prowse had hip surgery the week before the con and Rhys-Davies cracked 5
ribs the day before the con. Both attended the con and participated in
their scheduled programming.
As usual, D*C had lot's of things for the fans to participate in. There
were guest lectures and panels on almost every possible topic, concerts,
costume contests, an art show, table top gaming, LARPs, robot wars, dealer
room, etc.
The convention does still have a few bugs to work out due to the move and
they still can't get the main hall programming started on time; but if I
had to rate the con on a scale of 1-10, I'd give it about a 7. It wasn't
as good as previous years, but it was much better than some of the other
cons I've attended. It was worth the money I spent, if for no other
reason than the fact I ran into about 100 other fans that I've met, and
become friends with, at other cons.
JKF...@aol.com (James Fulbright)
JKF1965
Actually, it probably has a lot to do with the fact that we all just spent
four days without sleep.
JKF...@aol.com (James Fulbright)
Ray Radlein
Gary Farber wrote:
>
> I don't want to single out any individuals, but is there some reason
> not a single fan who attended Dragon*Con seems to be able to write a
> coherent and grammatical sentence with words actually spelled entirely
> in English?
>
> I look forward to seeing a report from a Dragon*Con attendee who
> doesn't write like a semi-illiterate. I trust that this is possible.
I em werkeng on my co nreport gary I hope You liek it!!!!
- Ray R.
--
*********************************************************************
"What are we going to do tonight, Brain?"
"The same thing we do every night, Pinky - try to RULE THE SEVAGRAM!"
Ray Radlein - r...@learnlink.emory.edu
homepage coming soon! wooo, wooo.
*********************************************************************
Michael Martinez
In article <33B887...@learnlink.emory.edu>, Ray Radlein <r...@learnlink.emory.edu> wrote:
>I em werkeng on my co nreport gary I hope You liek it!!!!
As long as you don't mention P***R S**R, I don't care WHAT your English looks
like. :)
--
++ ++ "Well Samwise: What do you think of the elves now?"
||\ /|| --fbag...@mid.earth.com
|| v ||ichael Martinez (mma...@basis.com)
++ ++------------------------------------------------------
Adam M. Lipkin
Gary Farber (gfa...@panix.com) wrote:
: I don't want to single out any individuals, but is there some reason not a
: single fan who attended Dragon*Con seems to be able to write a coherent
: and grammatical sentence with words actually spelled entirely in English?
:
: I look forward to seeing a report from a Dragon*Con attendee who doesn't
: write like a semi-illiterate. I trust that this is possible.
Gary, isn't it a tad ironic that you wrote this not long after posting
(in one of the spam threads here) a message containing the word "clueleless?"
We all make typos. As I recall, you still use Tin (as do I), which isn't
exactly great for spell-checking and the like. I only let the
misspellings bother me when they make a post unreadable. So far, none of
the posts on this thread have qualified (well, maybe Ray's).
--Adam, who also enjoyed DragonCon, just to keep things on topic. :-)
Adam Lipkin ali...@emory.edu
http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~alipkin/
________________________________________________________________________
"What's the point of living forever if you don't experience life now?"
--Charles de Lint, "Shining Nowhere but in the Dark"
--
.
Walter Daniels
In article <5p8sjn$b...@panix2.panix.com>,
gfa...@panix.com (Gary Farber) wrote:
>I don't want to single out any individuals, but is there some reason not a
>single fan who attended Dragon*Con seems to be able to write a coherent
>and grammatical sentence with words actually spelled entirely in English?
>I look forward to seeing a report from a Dragon*Con attendee who doesn't
>write like a semi-illiterate. I trust that this is possible.
Aside from typos, I can write literate english (actually American :-)).
After I contact the ConCom, to give them a chance to respond to my complaints,
I will do so.
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Bill Roper
I was asked to post this on this newsgroup by a friend. I'm just the
messenger and have no first hand knowledge of any of this:
-- Start message
Hello there!
<snip>
This is Matt Roberds...<snip> This
was just written by Pony and I posted it to Usenet <snip>
Matt Roberds
mrob...@worldnet.att.net
Start of message from Pony White
There have been a lot of rumors flying around about the way things were
done at Dragon*Con. This, however, is not a rumor and is coming from Misty
and Larry's personal bodyguard. At no point in time did they ever ask or
order us to step and fetch for them. She did not make any of us angry, or
more to the point, so angry that we walked away. What did occur was that the
powers that be in the D*Con H.Q. had no clue as to what a real threat is.
They were informed of the situation long in advance (that there was a
security threat). There was also a contract that had certain provisions
for Misty and Larry appearing at the con. The biggest malfunction, in my
opinion, was Ed Kramer, who when advised of the mix-up with the rooms told
us to check out of the rooms we were in and go to another hotel. Upon
arrival the other hotel had no idea what we were talking about, which left
us without rooms or a secure place for us to retire to, for hours. None of
us could take a shower, a nap or get anything to eat. It has come to our
attention that several other guests of honor have been treated with the same
amount of contempt. After going without for several hours the decision was
made to cut our losses and arrange things for ourselves. Within the span
of fifteen minutes, we had all the agreed upon things in a hotel. This
arrangement was handled by one of the bodyguards from Star Guards.
*Fifteen minutes*, people! After waiting all day to see it handled like that
just goes to show that D*con cares more about the money than the safety and
comfort of their guests and fans.
The only stepping and fetching that was done for Misty and Larry was done
by Matt and by volunteers. With their help those of us doing the guarding
were able to effectively do our jobs. The fans that volunteered to help
made the functions that we did attend possible. I think we all owe them a
hand as they did a wonderful job. As for Star Guards they were the most
professional people we dealt with. They are extremely good at what they do.
I would suggest them to anyone needing bodyguards. They made Misty and
Larry's well-being the priority. They also treated the fans as people. Not
a problem.
Now before any rumor gets started about this I want to let everyone know
that I was assaulted in the course of the weekend. Several fans saw this and
there is no telling what you might hear. NO, I am not hurt to the point of
needing hospitalization. I walked away with badly bruised ribs. Whatever
the reason for the attack, they got more than they bargained for. It did
end up involving the police, with one person arrested. I will be OK but you
need to know about it to clear up the rumors that Misty was being overly
paranoid. I have the bruised ribs to prove otherwise.
If there are any questions as to what happened, and you hear something
check your sources. Remember that not all people have to play by the rules
that the good guys do.
Thank you for your time and interest,
Pony White.
-------- REPLY, Original message follows --------
> Date: Tuesday, 01-Jul-97 08:57 AM
>
> From: Bill Roper \ Internet: (ro...@mcs.net)
> To: Teri Lee \ Internet: (fire...@usa.net)
>
> Subject: Another Misty at Dragoncon post
>
> jkf...@aol.com (JKF1965) wrote:
>
> <snip>
> :>Other than the problems created from the move, two other major
> :>difficulties disappointed fans:
> :>
> :>1. Mercedes Lackey refused to particpate in much of her scheduled
> :>programming. Apparently, she has had some threats on her life as of
late
> :>and required a body guard to be present during the con. The word
> :>circulating throughout the con was that she treated the guard very
poorly
> :>(more as a gofer than bodyguard) and he quit. This left her feeling
> :>somewhat unprotected and she would only attend her fan club's
programming.
>
> Close, but not entirely true. Mercedes Lackey apparently felt that, since
we
> would not close off the main approaches to all programming areas before
she
> arrived, that two or three armed guards were not enough protection. In
> my personal opinion, she's a wacko.
>
>
> :>2. Charlton Heston was suppose to appear courtesy of Hollywood Online.
>
> :>2. Charlton Heston was suppose to appear courtesy of Hollywood Online.
> :>Well, it seems Hollywood Online didn't get things worked out with ICM
> :>Artists and his appearance was cancelled during the convention.
>
> I, too, was really upset. I had brought my copy of the Old Testament for
him
> to autograph. ;-)
>
> :>On to happier aspectes of the convention. Although *Misty* was hard to
> :>find, Raymond Feist, Robert Jordan, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
> where
> :>all present and readily accessible to the fans. (I bumped into Feist on
> :>the streets of downtown Atlanta on several occations. Each time he was
> :>conversing with various random fans.)
>
> The rest of the guests were a pleasure to work with.
>
> :>I also have to take my hat off to David Prowse and John Rhys-Davies.
> :>Prowse had hip surgery the week before the con and Rhys-Davies cracked 5
> :>ribs the day before the con. Both attended the con and participated in
> :>their scheduled programming.
>
> Lots of intestinal fortitude on the parts of both of these gentlemen.
David
> Prowse actually had to be hauled off in a stretcher during the GoH banquet
, he
> was in so much pain. And JR-D was attempting to iron-man five
>
> banquet, he was in so much pain. And JR-D was attempting to iron-man five
> cracked ribs without any kind of pain killer!
>
> :>As usual, D*C had lot's of things for the fans to participate in. There
> :>were guest lectures and panels on almost every possible topic, concerts,
> :>costume contests, an art show, table top gaming, LARPs, robot wars,
> dealer
> :>room, etc.
> :>
> :>The convention does still have a few bugs to work out due to the move
> and
> :>they still can't get the main hall programming started on time; but if I
> :>had to rate the con on a scale of 1-10, I'd give it about a 7. It
> wasn't
> :>as good as previous years, but it was much better than some of the other
> :>cons I've attended. It was worth the money I spent, if for no other
> :>reason than the fact I ran into about 100 other fans that I've met, and
> :>become friends with, at other cons.
>
> There were some, shall we say, problems with facility management that
caused us
> to have to delay all programming on Saturday evening by forty five minutes
.
> Not a lot we could do about it.
>
> As to the being spread out all over creation, boy, have you got that one
> pegged. Hopefully, next year's facilities will be much better, since they
are
> all within two square blocks of each other.
>
> are all within two square blocks of each other.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> Mike Dillson Atlanta, GA dil...@mindspring.com All
> content copyright by writer and may not used without permission.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Bill Roper, ro...@mcs.net
>
>
-------- REPLY, End of original message --------
--
Teri Lee
Firebird Arts & Music
http://www.usa.net/firebird
1-800-754-0494 (503) 255-5751
--
Bill Roper, ro...@mcs.net
kivasmama
On 30 Jun 1997 14:06:47 -0400, Gary Farber penned...
> I look forward to seeing a report from a Dragon*Con attendee who doesn't
> write like a semi-illiterate. I trust that this is possible.
>
>
But Dragon*Con wasn't a literary con...
--
Dianne <*>
Marilee J. Layman
In <5pefrh$hrd$1...@Venus.mcs.net>, ro...@MCS.COM (Bill Roper) posting
for Pony Lee wrote:
I commented on the Misty thread to acquaintances who run the QOC
(Lackey) and Pern activities at Dragon*Con and they responded with
essentially the same answer as Pony White. In addition, they say a
number of "fan" activities (like QOC and the Pern activities) have
decided not to participate in D*C next year. Their view of what went
wrong, and how many people are leaving/quitting is dramatically
different from what Mike Dillson has posted. On the other hand,
they're *big* Lackey/McCaffrey fans and may not be quite objective.
--
Marilee J. Layman Co-Leader, The Other*Worlds*Cafe
RELM Mu...@aol.com A Science Fiction Discussion Group
**New** Web site: http://home.virtual-pc.com/outland/owc/index.html
AOL keyword: FR > Science Fiction > The Other*Worlds*Cafe (listbox)
Anthony C. Vickers
Bill Roper wrote:
>
> I was asked to post this on this newsgroup by a friend. I'm just the
> messenger and have no first hand knowledge of any of this:
>
> -- Start message
>
> Hello there!
>
> <snip>
> This is Matt Roberds...<snip> This
> was just written by Pony and I posted it to Usenet <snip>
>
> Matt Roberds
> mrob...@worldnet.att.net
>
>
>There have been a lot of rumors flying around about the way things were
{some snipped}
> or Misty and Larry appearing at the con. The biggest malfunction, in my
> opinion, was Ed Kramer, who when advised of the mix-up with the rooms told
> us to check out of the rooms we were in and go to another hotel. Upon
> arrival the other hotel had no idea what we were talking about, which left
> us without rooms or a secure place for us to retire to, for hours. None of
> us could take a shower, a nap or get anything to eat. It has come to our
> attention that several other guests of honor have been treated with the same
> amount of contempt. After going without for several hours the decision was
> made to cut our losses and arrange things for ourselves.
>
Sounds like a real cluster F**K! When are the fans gonna start demanding
better
treatment for their money? At least at cons like Dixie Trek, Magnum Opus
Con,
and a few others, the overriding concern is for the fans, not how much
money the
con can make! Granted, some of the guests command large fees but if the
fans
don't attend because the guests are sequestered escept for the stage
appearances
and autograph sessions, how are they gonna get paid? Maybe the guests
are pricing
themselves out of the market???
Give me a small con where the guests circulate and room parties abound!
Give fandom
back to the fans and get rid of the greedy commercial operators like
Creation and
the Dragon Con dictatorship.
Bring back the smaller cons squeezed out by Creation and dragon
con!!!!!!!!!!
Tony Vickers
Dante
"Anthony C. Vickers" <thev...@mail.aaaa.net> wrote:
>Sounds like a real cluster F**K! When are the fans gonna start demanding
>better
>treatment for their money? At least at cons like Dixie Trek, Magnum Opus
>Con,
>and a few others, the overriding concern is for the fans, not how much
>money the
>con can make! Granted, some of the guests command large fees but if the
>fans
>don't attend because the guests are sequestered escept for the stage
>appearances
>and autograph sessions, how are they gonna get paid? Maybe the guests
>are pricing
>themselves out of the market???
Tony,
Please note that Mr. White's post contains many gross inaccuracies
(as well as libel and slander). It will be responded to via other
channels.
On another note, by policy, Dragon Con pays no speaking fees.
Many guests wave their fees to attend.
Dragon*Con also provides complementary fan tables to help other,
smaller, conventions to promote themselves. In the case of Dixie Trek
(since you mentioned it), we even signed off on their hotel contracts
and loaned them their annual budget for three years following the
gaffiation of founder Bill Smith.
Ed Kramer
alan huskey
"Anthony C. Vickers" <thev...@mail.aaaa.net> wrote:
>Bill Roper wrote:
>>
>> I was asked to post this on this newsgroup by a friend. I'm just the
>> messenger and have no first hand knowledge of any of this:
>>
>> -- Start message
>>
>> Hello there!
>>
>> <snip>
>> This is Matt Roberds...<snip> This
>> was just written by Pony and I posted it to Usenet <snip>
>>
>> Matt Roberds
>> mrob...@worldnet.att.net
>>
> Part of message from Pony White
>>
>>There have been a lot of rumors flying around about the way things were
> {some snipped}
>> or Misty and Larry appearing at the con. The biggest malfunction, in my
>> opinion, was Ed Kramer, who when advised of the mix-up with the rooms told
>> us to check out of the rooms we were in and go to another hotel. Upon
>> arrival the other hotel had no idea what we were talking about, which left
>> us without rooms or a secure place for us to retire to, for hours. None of
>> us could take a shower, a nap or get anything to eat. It has come to our
>> attention that several other guests of honor have been treated with the same
>> amount of contempt. After going without for several hours the decision was
>> made to cut our losses and arrange things for ourselves.
>>
>Sounds like a real cluster F**K! When are the fans gonna start demanding
>better
>treatment for their money? At least at cons like Dixie Trek, Magnum Opus
>Con,
>and a few others, the overriding concern is for the fans, not how much
>money the
>con can make! Granted, some of the guests command large fees but if the
>fans
>don't attend because the guests are sequestered escept for the stage
>appearances
>and autograph sessions, how are they gonna get paid? Maybe the guests
>are pricing
>themselves out of the market???
>Give me a small con where the guests circulate and room parties abound!
>Give fandom
>back to the fans and get rid of the greedy commercial operators like
>Creation and
>the Dragon Con dictatorship.
>Bring back the smaller cons squeezed out by Creation and dragon
>con!!!!!!!!!!
>Tony Vickers
I usually don't respond to this kind of statement, as I attend and
work staff on cons all over the southeast. However, I do feel
strongly about this one. I am not making excuses for, or justifying,
anything or anyone. I do know that I have been with DragonCon for 10
years, our staff is all volunteer, and all of us try very hard to put
on a fun show for as many people as posible. Mistakes have been, are,
and will be made, but we all work very hard to give people what they
want. NO ONE is trying to rip-off, defraud, close down, beat up, or
any of the ather allusions that have been made, any other group, con,
or individual fan. Please give some credit to some very hard working
fans who have tried to put on a good con. You may not like it, or
agree with everything it does, but don't mix up the con with the
people running it. We all put a lot of hard hours and heart into our
tracks of programing, so give those people some credit.
Enough of my soap box...
Alan
Gary Farber
In <33BF0B93...@fantasylink.com> Sphere <mas...@fantasylink.com> wrote:
[. . .]
: Worry not Alan, as much as I respect Gary Farber, in some
: weird not-yet-understood way, I understand that he is
: equally rude in person.
It's difficult to untangle whether that "weird not-yet-understood way"
modifies the "respect" or the "understand," but I note that we've never
met.
: However, he has attacked me in
: numerous forums, and seemed to enjoy ridiculing me in every
: possible way.
You mean that I've responded to perhaps as many as six entire posts of
yours in rec.arts.sf.fandom and rec.arts.sf.written, responding to your
misconceptions of law, misstatements of fact, and malicious and bizarre
attacks on people like Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Jim MacDonald, Janice Gelb,
and many others. That would be out of hundreds of offensive posts that
you've made. Not even counting all the ones where you accuse anyone who
responds to you of being a Nazi and anti-semitic.
I haven't even *tried* to ridicule you. Besides, a glance at DejaNews
shows that you've achieved that for yourself in countless newsgroups,
between your penchant for personal attacks, your bizarre interpretations,
and your obliviousness to people's reaction to your spamming.
Further personal attacks do not endear you to me, or anyone else you
respond to in such fashion.
No more than cluefully posting MIME or HTML to Usenet do. I suggest that
if you desire to win friends in the sf/fantasy field, you rethink your
methodology. Keep in mind that your record of risible posts remains
available.
--
-- Gary Farber gfa...@panix.com
Copyright 1997 Brooklyn, NY, USA
alan huskey
Zev Sero
Sphere <mas...@fantasylink.com> wrote:
>Worry not Alan, as much as I respect Gary Farber [...]
>I only hope that he realizes that his actions, in many ways,
>is a "Chillul Hashem". (I assume only those who are Jewish
>will understand this phrase...)
Pot. (Electric) kettle. Maroon.
--
Zev Sero It's a Jewish thing; if you have a
zs...@idt.net bit of time, I'll explain it to you.