Conventions, Fandom, and LiveJournal. (Oh my.)

[mijan]

Suffice to say, somewhere in the midst of the whirlwind of the movie release, Sectus, the book release, Prophecy, and LiveJournal becoming Hosebeast^2, I've become completely overwhelmed.  Tell me, how many of you are finding yourselves unable to do almost anything but sit at the computer if you want to have ANY chance of catching up with e-mail and friends lists?  I can't do it, my loves.  CAN'T DO.  I want to friend everyone back.  I want to comment to everyone.  I want to answer all my e-mail.  (If I haven't replied to an e-mail or LJ comment from you, or haven't friended you back yet, please understand, I'm overwhelmed and exhausted.  Remind me in a week, if I haven't replied by then, and if I'm important enough to you.)  I want to talk about Sectus and Prophecy.  I want to give a proper review of Deathly Hallows.  I want to discuss the movie(s).  I want to give my opinion of HPEF and how they handled what could have been the best convention yet.  I want to sound off on LJ and their complete ass-hattery.  I can't.

So, I'm going to try to give the basics here, on the most important stuff (conventions and LJ), and post comments to other people's entries when my brain is slightly recovered.

First, important info outside the LJ-cut:

I already had both JournalFen and GreatestJournal accounts, and I've just created an InsaneJournal account.
My screen name is "mijan" on JF, GJ, and IJ.  So, I should be easy to find.  In the meantime, I'm not officially moving yet.  I've got the other three journals ready and waiting, but for now, I'm still here.  For now.

I agree that I'd trust LJ as far as I can drag them on a collective choke-chain.  They have no regard for fandom, and have allowed their sponsors to scare them into painting us as a bunch of child-molesting, dangerous, sociopathic criminals.  Well, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but they're certainly painting us as pedophiles, which disgusts me on every level, and is possibly the most insulting thing I've ever experienced.  So, that said, as shiny as LJ can be, we shouldn't stay.

HOWEVER, we shouldn't all jump from a burning boat into any life rafts we can find.  We'll end up in different places, scattering our community, and weakening our links.  I know it's really hard online to centralize, but I don't want to end up having to follow three or four journals and friends lists just to keep up with all my friends.  We should have some consensus as to where we're going.  At this point, regardless of whether or not you like their graphics, it seems that InsaneJournal will be the most welcoming and accomodating for fandom and slashers.  Plus, it seems like it will be the most "out of the public eye".  I haven't explored the site yet, and I haven't begun trying to customize my IJ, but it seems to have potential.

Sectus.  Aaaah, I had the most wonderful time at Sectus.  I extended my stay, and ended up staying in England for almost two weeks.  Spent time with fellow slashers going around the city, saw Stonehenge, and had just the most marvelous time.  Sectus was so well-run.  It was the convention that came out of nothing, had everything changed on it at the last minute with the announcement of the book release, and still managed to run amazingly well.  It wasn't as big or flashy as HPEF things, but it was GOOD.  I enjoyed myself, and I think everyone else did, too.  I was so tired by the end of it, I was almost seeing double, but it was awesome.  So, kudos to the organizers for pulling off a fantastic feat of planning and fandom flexibility.  It was excellent.  I hope to attend Sectus II in 2009, and I'm definitely going to go back to London to see everyone again someday.
Prophecy.  HAAAAAA.  Oh, HPEF, thou art worthy of much bitch-slappery right now.  Really.  There are these two posts by emmagrant01(respectively) that pretty much summarize my thoughts on it, too.  Don't get me wrong, there were quite a few very good things at the convention.  I had a great time in Toronto.  The unofficial programming was great.  I loved getting together with people, seeing old friends, meeting new ones.  The Room of Requirement (as that alcove near the ballroom at the base of the stairs came to be called) was perfect.  (I had a major sense of deja-vu in there.)  The meetups were grand.  Hanging out at the concert was a blast, especially with my darling Voldemort, jaina12.  (Your costume was better than ever, Voldy, dear.  I love what you've done with your hair.  *wink*)  Being pulled into random roundtables and discussions as I'm walking by... excellent.  Selling wands, fun.  Shocking the hell out of people by wearing a floor-length red dress to the second half of the ball... priceless.  Drabbles and drawbles and random squeeing.  Hanging out in the way-too-small Wi-Fi area in the lobby... amusing.  Late night take-out.  Twelve-pound bags of chocolate-chip cookies.  Desperation for Tim Horton's coffee. Getting tackled by people I hadn't seen in way too long.  Making inappropriate wand inuendo.  That's what Prophecy was all about for me.  And guys, if I tried to shout-out right now, I think my brain would explode.  I'll try for that in a later post.  But I saw so many people, including people I've wanted to meet for ages.  (ESSA!  OMFG*tackleglompsqueee!*)

However, that's where my compliments for Prophecy end, because that's where HPEF begins.  Oh, HPEF.  What are we going to do with you?  You did some things well.  I'll give you that.  However, from what I experienced personally, your idiocy has overshadowed your positive contributions.  Other people have gone into detail, but I want to summarize my own personal experience, and a few things that others have told me that haven't made it into summaries.  First, my roundtable.  My own personal rant against these idiots.  MY FUCKING ROUNDTABLE.  It's the first venture I've ever made into formal programming, and I was SO excited about it.  VERY excited.  Positively squeeful.  I agreed to have the time changed because HPEF messed up and booked someone else into two places at the same time. No problem, I'm flexible.  They told me that there would be a flier in the programming booklet with the new time listed.  That's cool.  Pretty much everyone reads the flier that gives the corrections for the full schedule.  But THEN, they wrote the WRONG DAY on the flier!  The roundtable was Friday at 3:00, but they wrote Saturday.  NOT COOL.  Not just to me, but what about the people who had planned to attend, and discovered on Saturday that their regularly scheduled slash was... not scheduled?  SO NOT ON.  I tried to tell as many people as possible.  That's the only reason I had ANYONE there.  And even if they had tried to correct their incorrect correction with some new distribution of information... it FAILED TO DISTRIBUTE.

That says nothing about how they invaded fiona_fawkes's "Shipping Harry" panel, attempting to cut it short without prior notice, and so rudely stating that they were NICE enough to let HER go over time, when she still had 15 minutes left!  And she told all of her attendees that they needed to clear out!  And why?  Because Steve Vander Orc was next to present in that room.  Get a bit of celebrity, and all of a sudden, anyone else is dirt.  I'm sorry, but isn't that something that we of fandom don't condone?

It wasn't just that.  Oh no.  It was the condecending tone used by a couple of the head honchos when directing the masses.  It was the way they treated several friends of mine, as if they were somehow superior, not simply facilitating the attendees' convention experience.  It was the lack of planning for the concert and other events (such as Snape discussions) that would need a LOT of space.  It was the piss-poor handling of the costume contest.  It was the $600 fee to be a vendor.  It was the way people, no matter how old or competent, were treated like children by the organizers.  It was the attitude.  It was how they threatened to revoke my registration because people had arranged to meet me at the ball to look at some of my wands.  (I feel the need to point out that the Sheraton itself was not the domain of HPEF, and unless I was selling my wands INSIDE an area reserved by HPEF, I was NOT VIOLATING THE RULES.  No money changed hands at the ball, where Prophecy's goonies threatened my registration -- although I will point out that the Securor who gave me the warning was actually trying to help me avoid being caught by Big Brother, but Big Brother still needs to bugger off in this case  And last time I checked, they didn't reserve the lobby, the hallway, or the ladies' bathroom, which are all Fair Game as far as I'm concerned, especially considering I would have paid a vendor fee if it had been REMOTELY reasonable.  Suck my nonexistant cock, bitches.)  It's how HPEF seems to have forgotten that it used to be "of the fandom, by the fandom, and for the fandom".  The Prophecy attendees are paying customers, but they were treated like HPEF's personal flock of sheep.  And this felt more like a money-making scheme than a non-profit convention.  Tell me, Oh Great Gurus of HPEF, did you use the $600 vendor fees, the increased registration fees, and everything else to pay for your own hotel rooms?  Did your accountant (the same guy who initiated the threat against my registration) help you write that off as tax-deductible?

I filled out one of the comment cards on Sunday.  I hope they listen.  If not... well... look at how we rallied against LJ.  After fandom chewed up and spit out Six Apart, HPEF would be like an after-dinner mint.
Finally, on a more personal fandom note, I think I'm going to try to get back into fan art.  I used to draw, but our darling lizardspots convinced me, in the days during and following Sectus, that I should try my hand at it again.  So, I'm going to attempt to get back into that.  I'm also going to start paying more attention to my fics.  Yes, I'll spend time writing the next chapter of Convergence.  Yes, I have some shorter fics to write and finish.  I'll post them after the insanity dies down.  But I promise, I'll start paying more attention to fandom.  The conventions just reminded me what I love about my fandom, and why you guys are so important to me.

*hugs all*

Comments

[fleurdeliser.livejournal.com]

I hope to attend Sectus II in 2009, and I'm definitely going to go back to London to see everyone again someday.

Yes! Me too.

Sorry about teh suck with HPEF. That's just so not cool. :P

If you're ever going to be in Seattle, let me know!

*hugehugs* I miss you! And I've spent a grand total of two days with you. You're just that cool. :D

[mijan.livejournal.com]

*grins* I miss you, too! There's something about fellow fandomers, especially slashers, that creates fast friends. *hugs muchly*

And as I said, don't get me wrong. I had a great time. And there were things that the Prophecy organizers did that were great. But the ass-hattery overwhelmed the good things, in my view.

[tracy-loo-who.livejournal.com]

I heard about your red dress but unfortunately wasn't at the ball. Pics forthcoming? :D

[coffee-n-cocoa.livejournal.com]

I used to draw, but our darling lizardspots convinced me, in the days during and following Sectus, that I should try my hand at it again. So, I'm going to attempt to get back into that.

So. Much. SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

After all the complaints I heard about Prophecy, I'm wondering whether or not I should be relieved that Russ and I registered for Portus next year, rather than Terminus.

[oui-je-danse.livejournal.com]

That's really interesting about the conventions. I'm not as bummed anymore that I missed it. Now I just have to decide what convention I should spend the money to attend.

If only airfare wasn't so terrible to get from Seattle to London!

[r-grayjoy.livejournal.com]

Re: Getting the hell off this sinking ship that is LJ -- you've just echoed my own sentiments exactly. Yep. ::nods::

Re: Sectus -- I'm still having a hard time finding anything to say about Sectus besides, "Squeeeeeee!!!" There were organizational issues there as well, trust me, but nothing like what went on at Prophecy, from what I hear.

Re: HPEF -- they should know better than to piss off this fandom. They really, really should. Heh. I almost pity them.

Right-o; I've friended you on LJ, IJ, and GJ (even though my vote is for migrating to IJ). ::goes back to writing fic::

[ex-leianora730.livejournal.com]

Oh honey! I've been miiiissing youuuuu! :D I'm gonna add you to my IJ friends list, kay? I'm glad you're gonna start writing and drawing again. Fandom needs your rich contributions again. It wouldn't be complete without you. We need you, oh Mijan!

[daddybear716.livejournal.com]

I just want to know how the hell I missed seeing you in a red dress!?!?!? I saw pics and you did look hot as hell! Of course had the Toronto Toadies of Prophecy pulled their respective heads out of their respective butt-holes, I would have been MCing that night, saw you all glammed out and announced that Harry Potter was in the ballroom in drag!!!! LOL

After the Leaving Brunch I grabbed a survey and left a summary of my displeasure. I almost turned it in anonymously, but decided to add my email address to the bottom of the survey. As Heather, the Public Relations chair said to me on Saturday night, "Vince, we all know who you are." So I am looking forward to hearing from a "concerned member of HPEF." Also hoping the email an online survey to us like was done after The Witching Hour. I know I have a few more thing to say.

[scarlet-malfoy.livejournal.com]

I was SO UPSET when I found out I had missed your roundtable. I didn't get the memo that it was on friday instead of saturday at all (apparently they did reprint some notices THAT MORNING, but I didn't get one) :(:( Much sadness was had.

Tell me, how many of you are finding yourselves unable to do almost anything but sit at the computer if you want to have ANY chance of catching up with e-mail and friends lists? Yup, I don't think I've left for any significant amount of time!

Looking forward to Convergence and art! I hope things calm down soon for everyone so we can all concentrate on fandom and what's really important to us... at some point... in the future... when we've all left LJ behind for good... *sad*

[onlysayitonce.livejournal.com]

I've done the same thing, with getting a bunch of accounts just as placeholders.

Sectus sounds like it was a lot of fun, and even with the HPEF whatever going on at Prophecy I still had a great time. It was my first con and it was awesome. Even though I didn't have much to compare it to I could see the things you're talking about, but it was still... surrounded by HP people and meeting awesome slashers and people from my flist and YOU, of course, and just hanging out downtown was awesome. ♥♥

[lunalovegoddess.livejournal.com]

"Tell me, how many of you are finding yourselves unable to do almost anything but sit at the computer if you want to have ANY chance of catching up with e-mail and friends lists?"

Seriously... and not just for my friends on this site. I spent three hours this morning commenting on posts. Thankfully, the rest of my house was quiet, since hubby was sick and the kids were still asleep. I was finished online by the time everyone wanted breakfast, and I somehow managed to snag some cappuccino and write a drabble at the Greek restaurant around the corner. (If you ever find yourself driving back from Toronto and need a place to crash for the night, you have an open invite with us in Buffalo. Just let me know if your snake is coming, so that my cats don't molest it.)

"In the meantime, I'm not officially moving yet. I've got the other three journals ready and waiting, but for now, I'm still here. For now."

I'm staying here, but I might get an Insane account.


"They have no regard for fandom, and have allowed their sponsors to scare them into painting us as a bunch of child-molesting, dangerous, sociopathic criminals."

I was thoroughly sickened by the whole thing. One big problem is that we have no idea how they decide what is obscene or not, and no warning that our account may be deleted. There should be an appeals process, or at least some sort of investigation of complaints against us.

"Aaaah, I had the most wonderful time at Sectus."

Very glad to hear that! I am living vicariously through you since my passport still has not arrived.

"Oh, HPEF, thou art worthy of much bitch-slappery right now."

Amen to that, sister.

[elfflame]

I would love to friend you over at IJ, but for some reason, it's not allowing me to use the search function. I need to report it to Squeaky, so that he knows.

But I'm elfflame over there just like over here. And if you friend, I'll definitely friend back. :D

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

*tries not to turn green with envy over not going to Sectus*

Yay, fan art! I love fan art (and artists I make art for tend to love it too!)

[vampireanneke.livejournal.com]

Terminus next year, no HPEF! And I was told to close up my informal programming Harry Potter Music Videos early as well. SUCKED!

[pinkfinity.livejournal.com]

Not sure if you saw, but Maddy from Prophecy went to Fiona's LJ (and I think she went to Emma's, too) to explain what happened with the panel - basically, the ssecurity person took it upon herself to ask for the room to be vacated early and she asked that without being told to by anyone from the con team or from HPEF, and she didn't tell anyone she was going to do it before she did it, or, for that matter, afterward.

And I'm not sure who spoke to you about the wands (although as you remember, I tried to help you deal with it when it happened) but the HPEF accountant was on a family trip to Hawaii and thus not at Prophecy. Let me know, if you can, who you spoke to and I'll see who it really was, if it was someone from the con team. There were no guys from the HPEF board in attendence, though.

In terms of rooms, the hotel gives the org team a certain number of hotel rooms gratis, based on the number of rooms sold - it's from the hotel itself and doesn't come out of the event or HPEF budgets. Some of those rooms were used by con team members and some were used by special guests and some were used by HPEF board members (I personally didn't use one, because I had non-HPEF roommates so as per usual I paid for my own expenses (including the Saturday lunch even though I was speaking at it).

Believe me, I understand that glitches are frustrating, annoying and head:desking, but sometimes things really are outside of the org team's control/knowledge, and sometimes (like with the wands?) there's a miscommunication that needs to be sussed out and solved so it doesn't happen in the future. And I hope that gets accomplished with this (and knowing what I know about a !yay! thing for the vendor setup at Portus, I am very very sure that will be Much Cheerier for Creative Fandomers then...

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I saw Maddy's reply. And I sorta understand where she's coming from. She wasn't the one who invaded the room and blew the whistle. The thing is, if someone is representing HPEF as a volunteer (which is still a semi-official representation role), then they speak for HPEF. The young woman volunteer came in acting Quite Official, and promptly told Fi that the panel had already run over, and she'd let it go that long out of the goodness of her heart. I wonder where she got her schedule, because as the Unspeakable for a room, she would HAVE to have the main schedule. I mean, that's half of her job there! But it wasn't just the fact that she came in and disseminated that piece of information/instructions. It was HOW she did it. And whether or not she did it because someone else told her to do it, she still did it, and she was representing the Will of the Organizers when she did it in that capacity.

The woman who told me to get the wands out of the ball told me that the accountant had warned her about non-official vendors. She acted as if she was relaying that information directly from him. Apparently, one of the "official" vendors didn't like that I was selling out of my backpack, because obviously one chick with a backpack is a threat to a Big Bad Real Vendor. The woman who gave me the Cease and Desist warning made it sound like the Vendor complained to the Accountant, and the Accountant warned her, and she was warning me. Believe me, I very much appreciated that you tried to help me out. To my amazement, and the amazement of the other people in the ladies' room, one of my friends with an amazing set of boobs smuggled the entire set of wands upstairs... BETWEEN her jugs. I was amazed. But mostly, it was the sudden and harsh threat, just like that, that had me so irritated.

And as for the free rooms and stuff... no, I didn't know they got that. Yes, the hotel gives them out, but... *sigh* It's another reminder of a fandom heirarchy that a lot of us despise so much. I personally respect you much more for not using one of the free rooms. So many attendees are younger people, still in college or university or just starting out after graduation, spending every cent they've saved just to attend, when some of the guests and organizers are well paid in their Muggle lives, and could easily afford the hotel room. It's just a slap in the face for some people.

Really, much of what had me irritated was HOW things were done, not WHAT was done. The attitudes and such. It wasn't everyone, and it wasn't all the time, but there was enough of it that a LOT of people noticed, and it really rubbed people the wrong way. The Fandom Rulers and their little peons. Even if that's not actually the case, that's often the effect produced. I've run major events before (not fandom, but military, civilian, and other management issues), and I know how hard it is to make everything go right. Shit happens. Things go wrong. The problem isn't what goes wrong... it's how the organizers deal with the problems as they arise, and their attitudes towards everything.

I hope they listen to some of the suggestions people are putting forward. I hope they send out an e-mail asking for feedback. I think there needs to be a centralized Announcement Board, where EVERYONE would see it, to give last minute schedule changes and stuff, in case there's a glitch in the programme or fliers. I think the craftsman option you mentioned in chat is a good idea - $10 for three hours of official vending time. Fair deal, methinks. I think they needed to use the MC they'd already asked to handle the Ball and costume contest, and not some idiot DJ who doesn't even know about Harry Potter but would rather try his hand at rap, kareoke-style.

I've got more, but I've got to run to the gym now. I'll be in touch.

[starlitshore.livejournal.com]

D: I agree that HPEF handled a lot of things terribly. The slash panel was especially surprising to me out of the things I was present for and therefore aware of. They gave us a room that would seat approximately 100 people? How many showed up? People were lining up outside the door or standing around the fringes. It was ridiculous. And Fiona's panel being cut short... asldkfj;asdfkl AND they sent a VOLUNTEER in! I couldn't believe that. Plus it was for Vander Orc's last-minute scooping of that timeslot because he couldn't finish his presentation in the one he had already been given. That is SO NOT FAIR. :(

I dunno. I've been trying to focus on the fun things. There were lots of things that I was unimpressed with (how far we had to walk through the hotel and how confusing it was, for one) but as far as meeting everyone, and all the things slashers organised together... I had an amazing time. That's what I went for, and that's what I will go to the next cons for. <3

At the risk or irking you

[tsuj.livejournal.com]

First let me say that youre wands surpase ANY I have seen made.

(enter, the big BUT...)

So here's what I have to say:
I felt that the Securor who approached you in the dressing room was actually being very gracious. She said [and I'm sure this was a) off the record and b) something the con organizers would not have approved of or appreciated] that if she were you she'd sell the wands out of her hotel room - or sommat to that effect and she also said she would tell them that she did not find you].

She said more than once that you needed to get the wands upstairs and out of sight right away but you did not appear to be listening to her about that, perhaps because you were in the middle of transforming into drag!Harry. She did say they would revoke your registration and she did point out that the vendors paid $600. to sell at the con.

Honestly, I saw nothing nasty in her approach to you. I thought she was being very helpful, at the risk of getting herself into trouble, and doing her best to see that you did not get kicked out.

Well there it is. Hope we're still friends.

Re: At the risk or irking you

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Okay, so maybe she was being nicer than I painted her, but it still felt quite threatening in that situation. And someone was making the threat behind her warning, and it wasn't friendly. Perhaps her approach was a friendly warning, but the sum effect of the whole thing was "cease and desist, or we'll yank your registration". At that moment, the meaning was enough. I wasn't in the process of selling my wands at the ball or anything. At that moment, I was doing absolutely nothing wrong. If someone makes scarves and carries a bunch of them around, that's not against any rules. If someone asks about purchasing them, and the purchase is made outside an official convention room, then it's all fair. Some people had wanted to see my wands at the ball. I brought them. I told them at the time that I'd do the actual buying and selling away from the ball location. That should have covered me.

Regardless, I took the Securor's warning quite seriously. I WAS listening to her, and if I seemed distracted, it was because I was TRYING to figure out the best way to get the wands out of there, unseen. I couldn't bring the wands upstairs myself because my girlfriend was IN OUR HOTEL ROOM. Or somewhere in transit between the room and the ball. I would have ruined months of planning (and dieting) to ruin the surprise if she caught me too soon. Maybe I should have run up there in my Harry robes, but I'm very easy to recognize in those robes, and I might have easily been caught with them. I couldn't wear the dress without risking ruining my gift to Fi. I was in a bit of a panic, and couldn't quite think it through. I was hoping that someone else could do it so I made it my first mission was to FIND someone else to help smuggle the wands out of there. And I did that. And THEN I changed into my dress.

I wasn't selling wands at the ball. The wands were in my bag, being ignored for the most part, unless one of the people who'd asked earlier found me and wanted to see them. (If they did, I would have gone elsewhere to show them off.) I never sold any wands in Prophecy venue rooms. I did all my selling in public locations within the hotel. HPEF doesn't own the Sheraton. They rented certain rooms. Legally, I'd only be violating the rules of Prophecy if I sold my wands within a Prophecy venue. I always made sure I wasn't actually in one of the official rooms when I did my dealing. I didn't set up a booth, nor did I make a sign. I didn't even have a button on my bag, listing my product and price, like some people. They'd have no grounds for revoking my registration, but I knew it wouldn't be worth fucking with it. The only reason anyone complained was because the vendors themselves knew they were selling crap wands, and people were coming looking for my wands instead.

Forgive my defence there, but I had to. And yes, we're still friends, if you'll have me. I don't turn my back on my friends because we disagree, or because one of my friends gives me (good) advice. I'll edit my post. The Securor didn't need to be painted so negatively. I'm still pissed at Prophecy for jacking the vendor prices so high that I couldn't have sold the wands "legally" if I'd wanted to, and then for being asswipes about it. But you're right - the Securor was just doing her job. I'm sorry about that.

[voldiebeth.livejournal.com]

I couldn't agree with you more on the subject of HPEF. They were down right mean (except for Emmy and that's only b/c she knows me personally!)

First night at the WRock concert they jumped down my throat for trying to have a Death Eater rally! That's when my registration was threatened for the first time (by at least 2 different people). So, I turned on the nice and we worked our an agreement. And fun was had.

Then through out the con different people kept coming up to me and saying I had to have my badge around my neck. I know how it is with badges, I'm not a newb! This is my 4th HP con! My badge was on my but it was out of site so that people could take pictures of my costume. That's what I do, I cosplay! My registration was threatened yet again (by too many to count).

Then at the ball I was dancing up a storm! That's all I wanted to do was dance the night away as Voldie (with my Harry, drag or not:P). When the DJ invited me up on the stage to lead the YMCA a security person ran up and almost ripped me off of there. He started yelling at me and (again threatening registration). I had to again play nice and explain that the DJ was the one who invited me up there.

I'm sorry if I'm not a WRock person, Melissa Anelli or Steve Vaner Ark but I've been to more HP cons than they have and I know how they run. I will not run around abusing my fame or tweeking the rules so they only apply to me. I'm sorry but most of my friends (the majority of the cosplayers) help make these cons more than those other 'celeberties' do. And I think it's shit that we get treated like we are drunk idiot fangirls who want to ruin everyone's time.

I think that after these security people got to know me a little (and see that I'm just having a good time and will follow all their rules) they let up. But they couldn't trust anyone and had to be hardasses until then.

Sorry to leave such a big rant. I will post most of this on my own blog now:P

*huge hugs* I miss you!!!!! Terminus!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mijan.livejournal.com]

I miss you, too, Voldybeth, my sweet. And don't worry about ranting. This is a good place for it. And remember, I was up on the speakers with you when Mr. Security went berserk. I saw the DJ pull you up there. Shit, if there was anyone to blame, it was him.

And yeah, they didn't trust anyone. As I've said at least a dozen times since the start of this convention:
HP fandom people know where the line is, and we DON'T CROSS IT. We'll step right up to the line, play footsies with it, stick our noses against it, and even flash it, but we won't cross it. We want these conventions to be just as much fun as anyone. And you're right - the cosplay group is just as much a factor in making the conventions special as any so-called "celebrity". People know us, they remember us, and they look forward to the antics. A week after the convention, I'll bet only 10% (or less) of the attendees would be able to remember what any of the organizers looked like, but I'd bet buttons to beetles that at least half of the attendees would remember you and me. That's not an ego thing. It's just a fact based on visuals - we wear recognizable costumes, and people remember them. There's a dynamic of the conventions that the organizers never seem to see. Granted, they can't do everything... but maybe they can get their wands out of their arses.

And... *HUGS!* I miss you too!

[neru-kudasai.livejournal.com]

I made an account at IJ too, same name as this on. However I think that the best place for everyone to go is the one that this person is making fandom_flies. Though i'll bet you've already heard of it.

[mijan.livejournal.com]

Amazingly, I hadn't heard of it yet. Like I said, overwhelmed with so much, it's easy to miss stuff. Thanks for the link!

[irrevokable.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on just about everything regarding Prophecy. There were so many things that got on my nerves with HPEF that I'm just thankful for the things outside the panels and major events that made the whole experience A+. I especially hated how, before the wizard rock concert, there were these three girls who were all yelling at us to move back and form a completely straight line so they could count all of us and in the end I don't think they even did so. I couldn't help but get a little pissed off because they weren't only yelling at us for about 15 minutes but it was their own fault for not realizing how many people were going to show up.

I'm definitely going to Terminus though and I am totally expecting it to be better than Prophecy. Let's hope so! :D

PS I seriously loved your red dress at the ball! ♥ You totally shocked me. I even had to do a double-take to realize it was you xD xD

[mijan.livejournal.com]

*giggle* I had so much fun shocking people with that dress. People at conventions are so used to seeing me looking very much like a 16-year old boy, it completely pulled the rug out from under them when I change it up. So much fun. :D

And yes, the yelling before the concert was a bit much. Granted, it was loud in there, and it was hard to be heard. I think they realized, after things got going, that there wouldn't be too many people. They really didn't have a good visual grasp of how many people were there. Maybe they've never dealt with a large crowd on that scale before. Who knows. They should get a megaphone or something. *shrugs*

See you at Terminus!

[natie-tuls.livejournal.com]

At first, I were a bit sad, that I weren't going to Prophecy, but now I'm actually very, very happy. Even though and hopefully all the other attendees did have some great times too, it's just not a way to do a convention. It's not the way to do fandom! Even though I weren't there myself, it still makes me mad to hear about their way of treading both the "normal" attendees, but especially the people who came their to present something. Rule no. 1 should be, not to treat - the people who gives the convention contents with the presentations they have worked on - bad!
And the thing about Steve being that important - I loathe that so much! As you so rightly said - fandom is not about being famous. If we start getting into that sort of thing, we at this again: "I'm more fan than you" - which I'd hope HP-fandom didn't contained that much ... Why can't we just stop being 5 year old starfuckers!?

I have to say, that I totally agree with you about Sectus. It was not only well organized, it was also fun. And nice. And people were nice to. And that's important as hell. So I'm glad I didn't spend my money on Prophecy, though it would have been nice to see you in that dress ...

[verdenia.livejournal.com]

*big HUGS* So great to get to hang with you more than at Lumos--and it was cool meeting you there...
Heh, I kept calling you mijan and my sis [who bought the silver-blue wand from you] was like, 'you mean black market harry?' :P
Here's my lumos pic--'hair girl mark one', perhaps! :P
I need to get my Prophecy wrap up finished--I'm pretty much done with the journal, but don't know that I need to post the whole long thing. :P

[snottygrrl.livejournal.com]

that is one of the reasons i went to pr instead of prophecy. having volunteered at both lumos and twh i knew which organisers i preferred.

i'm glad you had a good time despite the issues (which is what i felt like at lumos). we'll see you in chicago, yeah? that's the other gang

[multiclassgeek.livejournal.com]

Thank you (and everyone else who concurred) for saying such nice things about Sectus. From a committee perspective, I'm personally very pleased with how it all went, especially given how easily it could have gone the other way - you guys who attended can take a large amount of credit for making the atmosphere what it was ;)

Oh, and you should *totally* start drawing again. I saw the piece you did for avonette, and it's awesome. More, please!

[tildathebuilder.livejournal.com]

Aww, Sectus was the BEST! As an unknown n00b I was made to feel welcome by so many people and I had such a fun time. I'm glad that Sectus was my first con experience and not Prophecy, I'm sorry that you had so much shit to deal with. But ultimately, Red Dress ftw! Lucky Fiona!

Lj has been my p0rny little sanctuary for the last couple of years, so I've found recent events very unsettling. What with RL suckage going on too, I'm really stressed at the moment.

I agree with your worry that fandom will become fragmented. I'm now signed up to 4 blogs with this username. I haven't decided about cross-posting or backing up yet (mainly because Ljsec wouldn't work the other day). I think I'm with you on Insane Journal as my first choice of existing services (name suits me too), but there's no way I'm going to be able to keep up with people if they are in too many other places.

*hugs back*

[sesheta-66.livejournal.com]

Suck my nonexistant cock, bitches. I ♥ you!

It was awesome meeting you and everyone else (in my hometown)! It was my first con, so I had nothing to compare to. But I felt welcomed in by my fellow shippers, and that's what made it so great. You guys all rock! The Room of Requirement was the best.

I can't begin to cover the ass-hattery, but I believe the three of you have articulated it well. Hopefully HPEF listens for the next con. Meanwhile ... Chicago in 2008?