prismatic-bell:

darkersolstice:

It frustrate me that people still (what, 5 years later?) use Dashcon as an example of why this site is a shitshow. Dashcon was a failure because specific individuals failed, it was not affiliated with the site, and 90% of what people heard is inaccurate. I worked security for Dash–it was the first convention I worked, and while it was messy and things kept falling apart, it was not the Worst Con Ever.

Specific things:

• No, no one pissed in the ball pit.
• The ball pit itself and the accompanying bouncy house were inflated in the registration hall specifically because that room would be less crowded Saturday and Sunday. Using pictures of that room as proof the convention was nearly empty is cherry-picking. There was a decent artist alley and merch hall, and multiple panels at any given time.
• Yes, staffers were carding for 18+ events and panels. We even sent a member of security, in uniform, to certain events to see if he could get in without an ID.
• The BDSM panel was not a sex orgy. It was a civil discussion, and actually ran pretty basic, all things considered. There was a heavy focus on “what can go wrong if you’re not careful” and discussion of abusive relationships in the culture from the panelists who’d experienced such.
• Doug Jones gives really, really good hugs.

Look, I’m not saying it was a perfect thing–it wasn’t, but when you bring that up as an example of “why tumblr can’t be trusted to act like adults”…you’re cherry picking and should just stop.

I was a panelist at Dashcon, and all of this is true.

My panel attendees were polite and engaged,
which can be really hard to get sometimes. I had an attack of the
overstimulations in this giant hallway/atrium thing just outside the
main ballroom and someone I didn’t even know walked me behind a column,
sat me down, and just let me be quiet for a couple minutes before
getting back into the con. That was really all I needed (and it
formed the foundation of one of my Con Survival 101 slides), but having
someone there to just … help me was a huge deal. Given that a huge chunk of con attendees (at Dashcon and also elsewhere) are teens, creating this kind of atmosphere is really important, and as a former staffer I really applaud it.

Now,
speaking as someone who has worked frontside (i.e. as a panelist) and
backside (i.e. as a con staffer) at multiple cons, here’s what WAS wrong with Dashcon:

–No first aid booth.

–No map of the venue (which also meant a ton of people gave up on finding the peace bonding station, because it was tucked under a staircase).

–massive infighting among the three admins.

–overplanned for a first year con.

–scamming.

–poor staffer planning.

–Con Ops did not seem to have been briefed in the job of what Con Ops is actually supposed to do–I went to them for panelist support once and first aid once, and both times the staffers there seemed harried, frustrated, disorganized, didn’t have information on how to help me, and did not have contact information for anyone who could.

–no food available onsite unless you were over 21 and could sit in the bar. While smaller cons do this all the time, for a con this size, there really should have been some kind of concessions. (Yes, even at its “reduced” size, it was still a decently-sized midsize con and should have had food available.)

You will notice ALL OF THESE THINGS can be traced directly back to three people. Three, out of thousands.

I will say, however, there is one thing Dashcon did really really right, and I wish more cons would adopt it: juried panels.

This last year at my current home con I actually saw someone the week before the con advertising for panelists for an “Ask the Xs” panel–they got it approved with no plan and no fellow panelists. I’ve gone to panels where the panelist didn’t bother saving any of their panel locally (i.e. not on Google Drive), and so when the wifi went down, it was “Sorry” this and “sorry” that and “Sorry” the other, but no panel–only 14 minutes of actual information out of a 60-minute runtime. I didn’t attend the History of Yu-Gi-Oh panel at my home con a couple years ago because of a time conflict with my own panel, but I was told by friends who went that I missed nothing because it was basically “Ask The Abridged Series: The Panel,” actively trashed Zero and ZEXAL, and had incorrect information about GX.

Jurying panels at Dashcon seems to have actually produced a much higher quality of panel. Yeah, their paneling process was a little backward (I’ve never seen a con where the admins set the panels and you auditioned for preset panels before), but the jurying thing? HELL TO THE YEAH, and I’d like to see more of it.

Don’t lay the blame for Dashcon on its attendees, or even its lower-level staff. Point your fingers where they belong: Megan, Cain, and Roxanne.

I can’t believe I’ve leveled up enough for Dashcon’s redemption arc