Wisdom from an old friend some people still need to learn.
So recently somebody posted this to my twitter feed and instantly pinned it on a particular RF staffer..
"The cultural problem within RainFurrest’s leadership was summarized well in a single conversation I had with the head of convention operations one year. He said to me directly that he had no intention of revoking a single badge if he could help it, because he’d rather just tell people to go back to their rooms and sleep off whatever stupid they’d ingested. He didn’t care that he was abrogating one of his principal duties as security’s department head or that he was undermining the ability of his staff to enforce the rules. Even after explaining in detail why this was a problem, he still said that there was absolutely no need for RainFurrest to ban people to make a good convention."
While I'm not going to bother with something as inane as saying who said what or assigning blame, there's a lot of wisdom missed by both the person who wrote this and many affirming this notion.
1) Banning people from a convention is NEVER something that should be taken lightly or in haste - it leads to further problems such as those people ghosting at later cons, causing trouble for the con or the hotel both at events and on social media.
2) Every time a convention calls emergency services it looks bad on the convention staff instead of good. The hotel blames the staff for not managing the event despite the fact that modern laws restrict convention staff from doing pretty much anything that could manage the problems.
You can NOT lay hands on an attendee unless in self-defense.
You can NOT coral attendees or attempt to restrict their movement.
You certainly can NOT threaten attendees.
3) People naturally make stupid decisions, especially in social situations, especially when well "young, dumb and stupid". Most people just need some gentle talking to and a second chance to sort themselves out.
4) No matter what the convention does they're going to get in shit if attendees do stupid things. Especially when it comes to things like minors and alcohol; despite the fact the con assumes no responsibility for it's attendee's behavior.
Asking people nicely to return to their rooms and sleep off alcohol (and some other substances) is the 'safest' option out there. It's not exactly right, especially when it's not just alcohol - but if the attendees listen it solves the problem anyways.
When it's just alcohol it's not even a legal matter for cops unless there's property damage involved, and many cops will simply recommend overly drunk people go home and sleep it off if in public. Now if you're the sweet sadistic kind of fuck who originally imparted much of this wisdom to me, you give the drunkards some aspirin to chew WITHOUT water, and get their friends to tuck them into bed with a bucket nearby. :3
The same wisdom can be applied to simpler substances (Although with a lot less puking in some cases) like MJ, molly, shrooms, nitrous, etc. Yes the hotel does not allow this, and yes some of them are illegal (MJ is legal in WA, Nitrous is of questionable legality in many states). It's easier and puts less stress on both hotel and convention to keep things in house where possible.
There ARE however times when such is not an option, and more firm stances are needed. Especially when there's violence or physical damage involved. Unfortunately MOST of those incidents occur AWAY from staff eyes and ears, ESPECIALLY when a con is chronically understaffed like RF. Which means it's difficult to prove who did what, only just that x or y damage was done.
Most folks are well meaning and well behaved, but the badly behaved ones are often very vindictive mean-spirited little fucks who will go out of their way to ruin somebody else's day over a perceived slight, often years down the line. Nobody can quite prove who left the diapers in the parking lot at the con for example, but every suspicion points to people who have agendas against babyfurs trying to make the whole con look bad.
Some folks even have suspicions that RF itself is being sabotaged by people actively trying to make RF look bad instead of just the crazy party crowd (although there is far too much of that as is).
And no, sadly there is no simple happy solution to this problem. And it will likely spread to other conventions as the years go by, especially with a younger generation of furs with every passing day, many who come almost exclusively to party and/or get 'white-girl wasted'. I would LOVE to be ban happy and revoke badges left and right, but I'm smart enough to know that such will only make matters worse, and patient enough to not give in to my anger and just deck idiots that I see at cons - although I swear some days it'd actually be the most efficient solution despite legalities.
"The cultural problem within RainFurrest’s leadership was summarized well in a single conversation I had with the head of convention operations one year. He said to me directly that he had no intention of revoking a single badge if he could help it, because he’d rather just tell people to go back to their rooms and sleep off whatever stupid they’d ingested. He didn’t care that he was abrogating one of his principal duties as security’s department head or that he was undermining the ability of his staff to enforce the rules. Even after explaining in detail why this was a problem, he still said that there was absolutely no need for RainFurrest to ban people to make a good convention."
While I'm not going to bother with something as inane as saying who said what or assigning blame, there's a lot of wisdom missed by both the person who wrote this and many affirming this notion.
1) Banning people from a convention is NEVER something that should be taken lightly or in haste - it leads to further problems such as those people ghosting at later cons, causing trouble for the con or the hotel both at events and on social media.
2) Every time a convention calls emergency services it looks bad on the convention staff instead of good. The hotel blames the staff for not managing the event despite the fact that modern laws restrict convention staff from doing pretty much anything that could manage the problems.
You can NOT lay hands on an attendee unless in self-defense.
You can NOT coral attendees or attempt to restrict their movement.
You certainly can NOT threaten attendees.
3) People naturally make stupid decisions, especially in social situations, especially when well "young, dumb and stupid". Most people just need some gentle talking to and a second chance to sort themselves out.
4) No matter what the convention does they're going to get in shit if attendees do stupid things. Especially when it comes to things like minors and alcohol; despite the fact the con assumes no responsibility for it's attendee's behavior.
Asking people nicely to return to their rooms and sleep off alcohol (and some other substances) is the 'safest' option out there. It's not exactly right, especially when it's not just alcohol - but if the attendees listen it solves the problem anyways.
When it's just alcohol it's not even a legal matter for cops unless there's property damage involved, and many cops will simply recommend overly drunk people go home and sleep it off if in public. Now if you're the sweet sadistic kind of fuck who originally imparted much of this wisdom to me, you give the drunkards some aspirin to chew WITHOUT water, and get their friends to tuck them into bed with a bucket nearby. :3
The same wisdom can be applied to simpler substances (Although with a lot less puking in some cases) like MJ, molly, shrooms, nitrous, etc. Yes the hotel does not allow this, and yes some of them are illegal (MJ is legal in WA, Nitrous is of questionable legality in many states). It's easier and puts less stress on both hotel and convention to keep things in house where possible.
There ARE however times when such is not an option, and more firm stances are needed. Especially when there's violence or physical damage involved. Unfortunately MOST of those incidents occur AWAY from staff eyes and ears, ESPECIALLY when a con is chronically understaffed like RF. Which means it's difficult to prove who did what, only just that x or y damage was done.
Most folks are well meaning and well behaved, but the badly behaved ones are often very vindictive mean-spirited little fucks who will go out of their way to ruin somebody else's day over a perceived slight, often years down the line. Nobody can quite prove who left the diapers in the parking lot at the con for example, but every suspicion points to people who have agendas against babyfurs trying to make the whole con look bad.
Some folks even have suspicions that RF itself is being sabotaged by people actively trying to make RF look bad instead of just the crazy party crowd (although there is far too much of that as is).
And no, sadly there is no simple happy solution to this problem. And it will likely spread to other conventions as the years go by, especially with a younger generation of furs with every passing day, many who come almost exclusively to party and/or get 'white-girl wasted'. I would LOVE to be ban happy and revoke badges left and right, but I'm smart enough to know that such will only make matters worse, and patient enough to not give in to my anger and just deck idiots that I see at cons - although I swear some days it'd actually be the most efficient solution despite legalities.