Dear fandom

[yagathai]

Did you ever wonder why Worldcon is shrinking, why fandom is greying, why new people aren't joining at the same rate that the old-guard is dying out?

This is the problem, friends. This is the problem. In fact, honestly, every single comment by Eric Van in these two posts is the problem.

Now, it would be easy to say that calimac and ericmvan's tin-eared comments weren't carefully considered, the result of post-con burnout and irritation and ultimately just the cranky brayings of a couple of disgruntled old-timers. That may or may not be, but ultimately their attitude is representational -- and symptomatic of the greater issue.

In brief, the problem is that like any other dynamic entity, fandom is constantly faced with the choice to adapt or die, and time and time and time again, they have chosen not to adapt. The old guard, having found their promised land, promptly built a wall around it and decided that anyone who didn't conform to their standard would be rebuffed, rejected and cast out from their private playground. I see this attitude reflected a hundred times a day at every convention I go to, in every programming track, every panel discussion, every dealer's table, every closed circle of grey ponytails at almost every room party I've ever been to. It's a combination of institutional myopia and the fear of becoming irrelevant -- it's difficult, after all, for the chronically insecure to relenquish their stranglehold on being the big fishes in the tiny, tiny pond.

As a result -- well, see for yourself. Worldcon, once the gathering of the nerd tribes, has a good year when it hits 8,000 people, the average example of which is probably pretty close to collecting Social Security. By contrast, Otakon is a non-profit, volunteer-operated anime convention that started in 1994 with less than 400 attendees. Today, average draw is about 26,000 with an average attendee not old enough to legally drink yet. And it's by no means unique -- DragonCon has 30,000, the bigger anime cons pull 40,000, and San Diego Comicon regularly breaks 100,000.

The simple, logical and Darwinian solution is to let the old-model conventions die out by simple attrition -- sooner or later, peanut-butter-and-cheeto sandwiches and scooter accidents will take their toll, and all that will be left are the for-profit, new-model conventions, the slick commercial operations run by multibillion-dollar corporations.

On the other hand, where does that leave us, the (dwindling) generation of younger fans? I'm looking at you, stegoking, yuki_onna, tithenai, redstapler, rosefox, misunderstruck, farwing, xraytheenforcer, aghrivaine, zarhooie, kdsorceress and all the rest of you that I'm too tired to name. What's the solution, assuming we don't all decide to pull a Paul T. Riddell* and retire from fandom to pursue a (admittedly very entertaining) career of flinging poo at the grognards from the sidelines?

Frankly, I don't really know, but something's going to have to be done. I tend to be conservative by inclination, but every con that I attend makes me want to declare a revolution, storming the barricades and flinging greybeards** from the ramparts, just a little bit more. It seems as if the first step might be organization, though what form that organization would take, I have no idea.

And yes, txtriffidranch, I know what you're thinking, but first of all I don't have chains that heavy, and besides where would we find anthills big enough?

* Whose books, incidentally, I highly recommend.
** a gender-neutral term, often literally so.

ETA: Cross-linking of this post would be welcome. I'm looking for dialogue, to help create ideas.

Comments

[aghrivaine.livejournal.com]

I loathe and fear change!

(actually I empathize with Mr. Van's sentiments RE: being overworked, if not his means of expressing them. Just a coupla WorldCon parties for the BWB were more than enough to burn me out.)

[aghrivaine.livejournal.com]

Also, my father's convention would be a bunch of drunken bastards slappin' kids. I wouldn't want to attend my father's con.

[kylecassidy.livejournal.com]

So you're saying that if I wait till Worldcon is run dry of all other members but me I'll be able to vote myself a dozen Hugos?!

I hope the bases are cool that year.

[ckd]

Well, if you're the whole con I suspect you'll be stuck making the bases anyway.

[kylecassidy.livejournal.com]

well then, they're going to be Hummers!

[smofbabe.livejournal.com]

every con that I attend makes me want to declare a revolution, storming the barricades and flinging greybeards** from the ramparts, just a little bit more

Uh-oh - hope I'm not the very first up against the wall when the revolution comes...

I've already spoken up to support much of your contention in the calimac posting so I won't do it again here. However, I will say that I would really, really hate for worldcon to become a 26,000-person convention. Size doesn't matter shouldn't be the primary way we judge our success or our popularity. Frankly, a worldcon with any more than about 8,000 people would kill those who put them on!

And without naming names, I'd also like to point out that even you young'uns have people posting opinions that do not, shall we say, reflect an attitude that the rest of you can point to with pride.

[yagathai.livejournal.com]

No, you'll be spared.

Size may not be the primary way to judge the health of a convention, but growth vs. stagnation is of primary concern, I think.

And you're right -- but we're not in charge, nor are we the dominant culture (yet). =)

[stegoking.livejournal.com]

I would have helped taking over Readercon for a year. Rather than lose it for a year, anyway.

This is just a case of hubris, nothing more or less. I understand. It happens. I was convinced of my own indispensability as a young Sergeant of Marines. In fact, on some level I was convinced there might not be a Marine Corps at all if I worked less than 18 hours a day. I was keeping that shit afloat, ya know?

An old grizzled Gunny (probably 30 or so) pulled me aside and told me I that while I was a solid asset, the Marine Corps would go on long after I was done, and that I did not have to kill myself. And furthermore, while I was solid in some areas, I was incompetent in an important aspect of leadership -- delegation.

He was right. I was 21. Eric M. Van has been running Readercon for 20 years. I'm pretty sure he's old enough to fucking know better.

[eefster.livejournal.com]

I'm still curious what a GRE score has to do with running a con. I know it was tempered with something like "or the equivalent skill set", but really? GRE-waving from people out of grad school application time??

[eefster.livejournal.com]

That delegation thing was actually pointed out to him, and (as far as I can see) only met with "but I'm the only person qualified with as much free time as I've decided it takes!"

Others say they have volunteered, this time and previously, and gotten no response.

Me, I've never been to Readercon. I like some of the ideas, but what I'm hearing about it now (admittedly from unhappy sources) doesn't make me want to ever bother to attend.

[stegoking.livejournal.com]

It's an overly pretentious con. But it's fun.

[zarhooie.livejournal.com]

It should be mentioned that I don't do cons these days, except for Pi-Con and that's only because it's so close.

[xraytheenforcer.livejournal.com]

I agree with all points you've made, including that the young set hasn't been saintly in some of these debates.

I, too, would like to see WorldCon and continue and flourish without it turning into another DragonCon-lite commercial fuckfest with the teeming hordes. There has to be middle ground somewhere that can bring together a larger swath (and younger swath) of fandom without alienating the others and without selling out to the corporate entities that make other cons such a chore for me.

[xraytheenforcer.livejournal.com]

My mind is not quite in this one right now, but I'll give this one a think during the lucid periods over the next couple of days.

[xraytheenforcer.livejournal.com]

In the meantime, I'm going to be flinging poo, because I think that's all I'm going to be capable of. Ha. I AM A GOLDEN GOD! (I'M ON DRUGS!!!!)

[pocketseizure.livejournal.com]

You know, we're in totally different fandoms, so I'm not sure that I even have a right to reply. I've been following your posts for awhile, though, and I've been really intrigued. Also, since flinging poo is so much fun, I'm going to take a stab at it.

I totally agree with what you have been saying about fan fail. Since you bring up examples like Otakon and Dragoncon, though, I guess I'd like to say that there is plenty of fan fail at cons like that, too. A bunch of idiot high school kids running around is no fun for an older person (and I'm only 25!), and younger fans have a way of being exclusive, too. Also, a lot of younger fans (at least at anime conventions) tend to be really immature and obnoxious, and I would totally find a way to exclude most of them if I had the power as a SMOF.

That being said, it's also no fun when you can respect and appreciate the attitude and contribution of the established fans, have something to contribute, and are then totally ignored by everyone in a fandom because you just got there. I think that some people in fandom are really, really happy to have finally found an in-group, but that the only way they can maintain their feeling of in-group-ness is by aggressively creating an immediate out-group. I guess I kind of understand the mentality, because it's awesome when you're on the inside, but still. Fandom, and especially conventions, shouldn't work like that, right?

I apologize for the inarticulate and incohesive rant. I don't know whether I'm agreeing with you or disagreeing with you or what. It's just that a lot of people in Japan-related fandoms don't want to talk about stuff like this, which makes me feel like I'm crazy for having noticed it. So thank you for having brought all this up.

[grumpymonkey.livejournal.com]

Are you really looking to generate new ideas, or just hoping for some way to preserve the corpse in a new and exciting way?

Please, don't think I'm taking the piss out of you. I understand ReaderCon and cons like it are time-honored institutions and a real benefit to the fan community. I hate to see cons drop by the wayside, particularly when they have a long and fabled history of providing fan access to authors and creators, stimulating interest in sci-fi and fantasy and inspiring fans to learn more or do more. It's a social event for a lot of folks who may not have access to a lot of social events.

The convention was created in an age when access to fan materials was limited, even in larger cities. You went to them to find out about stuff your local bookstore might not have shelved because it wasn't popular with the majority of customers. You went to meet with folks of like mind who, like you, spent much of their time either being stuffed in lockers or hiding their fandom. It was THE social event for nerds, geeks and other folks who loved the genre.

That age ended.

Now sci-fi has it's own freaking CHANNEL on basic cable. A majority of the movies in theatres this summer have a sci-fi, fantasy or horror theme. There is more sci-fi and fantasy than you can shake a stick at in the bookstores, and you no longer have to trust your local bookstore to carry it. The web has created a plethora of options to the reader. The "cool kids" like sci-fi now. Popular girls read all about vampires. If you want to socialize there are dozens of outlets for the fan of whatever genre you enjoy.

Take a look at GenCon for an example. It used to be the biggest gaming and roleplaying convention in the country. It suffered a little when roleplaying games lost some of thier popularity. It's still huge, but how did they do that? They rolled with what the attendees were into. Sure there are a lot of the same tropes and even a lot of roleplaying, but it grew. Now there is miniature gaming, card gaming, board gaming, video gaming. They expanded their scope. In a sense, they stayed TRUE to their credo of providing the discriminating gaming geek all of the options in the industry. Did the grognards grumble? Sure did. Did a lot of them leave? Sure enough. Did it bring in droves of people from every sci-fi/gaming subculture to tout their fandom, easily replacing every undersocialized misanthrope with ten eager fans? Ayuh.

Trying to change the social atmosphere of ReaderCon is like shoveling sand. You're never going to get anywhere with that. As long as the same misanthropes and greybeards are in charge, unwilling to change, this con is going to continue to die. Fewer and fewer decent guests are going to want to go, because y'all no longer represent the majority of the fanbase. Fewer and fewer new attendees will become regular attendees. You need to make changes to the content of the con itself and let the social issues take care of themselves.

[yagathai.livejournal.com]

Hm. That's a great post, and some real food for thought.

... are the pain meds making you smarter? ;)

[oldcharliebrown.livejournal.com]

I'll note that we do have Wiscon . . .

[yagathai.livejournal.com]

Which is problematic for a whole different set of reasons.

[yagathai.livejournal.com]

I think that some people in fandom are really, really happy to have finally found an in-group, but that the only way they can maintain their feeling of in-group-ness is by aggressively creating an immediate out-group.

I couldn't agree more, and that's a problem. But how can we solve it? A cultural shift seems to be the solution, but I have no idea how to accomplish that.

[yagathai.livejournal.com]

I know. Seriously. *vomit*

[yagathai.livejournal.com]

=(

[yagathai.livejournal.com]

P.S. mind if I add you to my FL?

[oldcharliebrown.livejournal.com]

I don't mind, though there's not much of interest :p