davison@bnl.UUCP (Dan Davison) (02/22/85)
I've just returned from Boskone 22, and the news is not good. As usual, they
had more people than they wanted; 2300 was the last number I heard. Actually
I was so disgusted with the fall of NESFA that I didn't bother going to the
con Sunday and Monday. First, however, the good news:
o the Boxboro party was *excellent*. They really know how to throw a good
party and a good time appeared to be had by all.
o the limited events available were for the most part well run
Now for the bad news, in increasing order of disgust (NESFA fen, you may not
want to read this):
o the parties were shut down by the hotel at 3 AM. Somebody didn't do their
work correctly; that's way too early.
(ok-hotel problem)
o the elevators apparently read HHTTG, since they went on strike for most of
the con, making it an exercise in paitence to get to the various parties.
(ok, another hotel problem)
o Long flame:
I will never again have anything to do with Boskone, NESFA, or their attempts
at getting the '89 ('90?) worldcon, except possibly to work against the last.
They were charging $22.00 at the door for => one day admission <= , the same
as for the full event. I thought this was suspicious, especially since
the people working the registration desk offered the stunningly lame excuse that
"with these badges we can't tell one day people from all-weekend people".
In less than 10 minutes in theregistration area I heard *at least* 10
people express surprise and disgust...but they still paid.
The same people ran the '80 worldcon, had more people and still
had day memberships. So the excuse is pure bu******.
What really stunned me was the reason NESFA was charging a uniform $22.00:
greed. Yep, GREED. The *** are buying a clubhouse and are using fen from
all over the northeast to generate money
for their relatively private use. "But they deserve it, they've put on
great cons for 42 +/- something years". Yep, they've put on great cons
(interesting how they've slightly adjusted the meaning of the word, eh?)
but this is a gross violation and ripoff of everything fandom has stood for.
(as an aside, the '80 worldcon had an approximately $32,000 profit, so the
Worldcon committee knows what they're doing [figure from the Noreascon Memory
book]).
(flamethrower now set to "stun" rather than "broil")
o I also was informed several times that the lousy film/video schedule was
deliberate, because they didn't want riff-raff (no not him!) off the streets
coming in "just to see the movies". Phoooooeeeeey.
Moral of the story: (part 1):
DON'T GO TO BOSKONE OR SUPPORT THEIR WORLDCON BID!
(part II): I guess the yuppie-me-generation selfishness can reach all types.
For some reason I thought fen were different.
dan davison
davison@bnl.arpa
davison@bnl.bitnet
...decvax!philabs!sbcs!bnl!davisonmjc@cmu-cs-cad.ARPA (Monica Cellio) (02/24/85)
I am not a member of NESFA and have only attended one Boskone (the most recent). From: cmcl2!bnl!davison@seismo (Dan Davison) >They were charging $22.00 at the door for => one day admission <= , the same >as for the full event. I thought this was suspicious, especially since >the people working the registration desk offered the stunningly lame excuse that >"with these badges we can't tell one day people from all-weekend people". You're right here; this is incredibly lame. >What really stunned me was the reason NESFA was charging a uniform $22.00: >greed. Yep, GREED. The *** are buying a clubhouse and are using fen from >all over the northeast to generate money >for their relatively private use. Uh, Dan, what do you think groups that sponsor cons do with the profits? Send all the fen who attended a rebate? No, they *keep* them and they use them for their group. I'd expect that some of this year's profits are going to next year's Boskone, too. Maybe groups should publish what they're going to do with profits so you can find out before you register, but if you care that much maybe you'll ask first. If you objected to the plans for the money, you didn't have to go, but if you didn't do any research before paying your money you have only yourself to blame. -Dragon -- UUCP: ...ucbvax!dual!lll-crg!dragon ARPA: monica.cellio@cmu-cs-cad or dragon@lll-crg
ndd@duke.UUCP (Ned Danieley) (02/25/85)
3 AM is way too early to shut down a party? That sounds pretty late to me.
ron@brl-tgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (02/28/85)
> 3 AM is way too early to shut down a party? That sounds pretty > late to me. Ah come on. Even thought they lost money, we had parties 'til dawn at Constellation. -Ron
psc@lzmi.UUCP (Paul S. R. Chisholm) (03/04/85)
<seen on a vegetable crate: SQUASH, do not crush>
Jeez. Twenty-two whole dollars? I admit, I would like to see one-day
memberships priced appropriately. I'd also like to see a $60 dollar
Macintosh (I've had this dream two nights now). I don't see anything
wrong in raising money for the clubhouse. (As for the 1980 surplus,
some of it was sent down to Baltimore, to keep Constellation from
bankrupcy.)
Video program: I can't believe it was busted deliberately. I can't
believe it was busted so *badly*. . . .
Programming: excellent.
Hotel: The Marriot seemed to think they were too Ritzy for fans, or
even mundanes. (BTW, that's a *pun*, folk.) I didn't have any trouble
getting lunch on Friday, dressed in jeans, T-shirt, and denim jacket,
and I hear they eased off as the weekend went on. My flame is about
the security guy who, after the Sat 5AM fire alarm, told me I couldn't
wait in the lobby (I was looking for my eleven-year-old, who turned out
to be back in the room). I enlightened the security idiot in a quiet,
polite tone without any even slightly offensive language. (And jumped
up so fast, reliable witnesses thought I was going to punch him out.)
Summary: the hotel should get their act together.
Punday: Why can't it start at eight, instead of nine? *Long*. I was
astounded that the guy who took third place got that far, though second
and first place were earned. To last year's winner and this year's
fourth place Richard Hill, better luck next time; you were right, a
quick 5 is better than a slow 7. To non-entrant Richard Stallman: next
year, ENTER!
Finally: I believe Mark Ol$son (next year's chair) is on the net
somewhere, if you have constructive criticism.
--
-Paul S. R. Chisholm
...!{pegasus,cbosgd}!lzmi!psc The above opinions are my own,
...!{hocsj,ihnp4}!lznv!psc not necessarily anyone else's.ecl@ahutb.UUCP (e.leeper) (03/04/85)
REFERENCES: <882@bnl.UUCP>, <329@lzmi.UUCP>
My only major complaint was with the hotel/con interface. Saturday night there
was a member of the Con Committee (well, he had the badge anyway) asking to see
room keys before letting anyone onto the express elevators (to the 23rd and up
floors). This was to prevent them from being clogged with people who would
ride up to 23 and walk down to their floor (say 18) because that was faster
than waiting for a regular elevator.
When I got back to my room (after refusing to show my room key to this person),
I called Hotel Security, who knew nothing about this. I complained (and they
agreed) that hotel occupants should not be expected to show their room keys
(and numbers) to anyone except hotel security staff. What the final resolution
of this was I don't know.
Evelyn C. Leeper
Note temporary kluge for new address => ...{ihnp4, houxm, hocsj}!ahuta!ahutb!eclbarry@mit-eddie.UUCP (Mikki Barry) (03/04/85)
Don't feel too badly about security. We, too, had a bad experience with some of the "boys in brown". Three of us, (two karate instructors and a student) were sitting by a door. A security "officer" informed us that we were sitting near a fire door and "move. Now". As we got up to move, I looked at the door and commented that fire doors should be marked as such so people wouldn't sit near them. Mr. Security then said, "Move your asses now or I'm going to start some trouble", as he was punching his hand. Hmmm. At this point I ceased wondering why fans were commenting that the hotel really didn't want us there. Being good Boskoners, we didn't beat the guy up, but left, hoping NESFA would either change hotels next year, or ask the Marriott to weed out street punks from their security staff.
brust@hyper.UUCP (Steven Brust) (03/07/85)
> > 3 AM is way too early to shut down a party? That sounds pretty > > late to me. > > Ah come on. Even thought they lost money, we had parties 'til dawn > at Constellation. > > -Ron At 3:00 A.M. a good party has been in full swing for 1 to 2 hours. This is NOT the time to shut down it down.