I'd concluded 10 years ago that people who think like me weren't welcome at Worldcon. I also, after attending every Penguicon up until 2018, came to the conclusion that it was simply too woke for me to stomach any more, and left.
I am completely unsurprised that Penguicon's woke brokenness has tentacles that reach even unto Worldcon.
We have a long list of cons that, sadly, we won't go attend. Many of them are big names cons with increasingly bad reputations. Yes, indie creators and publishers pay attention, talk and coordinate. We're still small enough that nobody really cares, but it's setting our selection process if/when we do get big.
You may wonder why? This article is part of why. Too many have socio-political gatekeepers, policy statements and agenda vetting that are intolerant of what we believe and leave us feeling unsafe. The ease at which we could be attacked professionally or culturally makes them a no-go zone. It's sad that we must protect ourselves by opting out of those cons because of the lack of tolerance over a difference of opinion. Too many of these sorts think they have the right to harm a person's business or reputation without consequence because they have some sort of "identarian" card privilege over anyone not like them. They have little power if you don't acknowledge their existence.
But that's where we are, voting with our cash and attendance. Refuse to participate in rigged and hostile events. Choose other cons not controlled by people who are using the event for purposes other than what it was created for. If that's your jam, more power to you. Go have fun. We're just not going to be a part of it. Don't risk your safety, sanity and business. Spend money or time on people and rigged prizes that hate you. Let the old awards and cons die and make new cons and prizes great instead.
I still like having sausage for breakfast but I don't want the details of how sausage is made. It's enough for me to know that Upton Sinclair wrote a book that had an effect on sausage-making. I just don't want to read it. I like a good science fiction novel and can do without the background dirt, though I do appreciate those in the trenches trying to keep the end product healthy. So, thank you for the article.
When asked how likely she thought it was that Tomlinson had a hand in her removal, Varney told me “Unless [Worldcon] truly is antisemetic, there is simply no other reason that could exist.”
Embrace the power of AND.
Worldcon is no stranger to eating its own. Back during the infamous "Puppy" Hugo years, POCs and LGBTQ authors whose books had been read and found WORTHY of nomination on the merits of their STORY were BULLIED into refusing their nomination by the festering orifices of "(in)tolerance" at WC, out of "guilt by association" from the "ebil" people liking their books.
The only reason that "Three Body Problem" won a Hugo, instead of getting the "Noah Ward" treatment, is that unbeknownst to the Puppy voters, the Hugo runners played games (as they did every year) with the eligibility guidelines by cherry-picking release information, and that the Puppies that had read 3BP thought that it was not eligible for that year, but for the next, until right before the end of nominations. Once they found out it was eligible, most even recommended it for vote consideration, which is why it had a higher vote total than some of the categories that had no winner.
Wanna bet that there will be more Palestinian flags at WC this year than US ones?
I think you have confused two different stories. The Three Body Problem's eligibility wasn't ambiguous (published in English in November 2014). The book/author the Puppies got confused about on eligibility was Andy Weir's The Martian. Weir had self-published the book in 2011 and it had then been republished in 2014 - so probably not eligible for Best Novel.
However, Weir himself was still eligible for the Campbell Award (now Astounding Award) for new writers but, Brad T not having done his homework, left him off the Sad Puppy slate and while lots of non-Puppies nominated him, the Puppy slate stopped him getting nominated for the award in 2015. Luckily, he was still eligible in 2016 and won.
The Three Body Problem issue you maybe thinking of is that, arguably, it only one the Best Novel Hugo in 2015 because Rabid Puppy Vox Day encouraged his supporters to vote for it instead of the Puppy-slated work. While it was popular across the Puppy/anti-Puppy divide, the additional votes meant that it, rather than The Goblin Emperor won the Best Novel in 2015.
You can actually look this up, you don't need to take my word for it.
Here is what VD said April 2015:
"I just finished reading THE THREE-BODY PROBLEM. If it makes the shortlist, I will vote for it and will recommend that everyone else do likewise. SKIN GAME is the best novel that Jim Butcher has written and NEMESIS shows how Larry Correia has picked up an already very good game, but THE THREE-BODY PROBLEM is one of the best SF novels written in years.
I think you're seeing a confluence (always remember: embrace the power of "and"!) of events.
Corruption because power always corrupts, fear over loss of status and fighting over the scraps that are left, ultra-tribalism and circling the wagons to keep out anyone who even hints of the current wrong-think, and Mean Queen Bees.
I'm sure there are others! What have I missed besides incompetence?
All I'm going to say is that I met my wife of 24 years at the 2000 Worldcon in Chicago.
Neither of us would go back to one if you paid us all expenses. And that absolutely enrages me, that the best part of my life can't be relived. These people deserve every bad thing that comes their way.
Does anybody still pay any attention to Worldcon?
I'd concluded 10 years ago that people who think like me weren't welcome at Worldcon. I also, after attending every Penguicon up until 2018, came to the conclusion that it was simply too woke for me to stomach any more, and left.
I am completely unsurprised that Penguicon's woke brokenness has tentacles that reach even unto Worldcon.
We have a long list of cons that, sadly, we won't go attend. Many of them are big names cons with increasingly bad reputations. Yes, indie creators and publishers pay attention, talk and coordinate. We're still small enough that nobody really cares, but it's setting our selection process if/when we do get big.
You may wonder why? This article is part of why. Too many have socio-political gatekeepers, policy statements and agenda vetting that are intolerant of what we believe and leave us feeling unsafe. The ease at which we could be attacked professionally or culturally makes them a no-go zone. It's sad that we must protect ourselves by opting out of those cons because of the lack of tolerance over a difference of opinion. Too many of these sorts think they have the right to harm a person's business or reputation without consequence because they have some sort of "identarian" card privilege over anyone not like them. They have little power if you don't acknowledge their existence.
But that's where we are, voting with our cash and attendance. Refuse to participate in rigged and hostile events. Choose other cons not controlled by people who are using the event for purposes other than what it was created for. If that's your jam, more power to you. Go have fun. We're just not going to be a part of it. Don't risk your safety, sanity and business. Spend money or time on people and rigged prizes that hate you. Let the old awards and cons die and make new cons and prizes great instead.
Rule #1: The Left ALWAYS eats their own.
Rule #2: No changing Rule #1.
I still like having sausage for breakfast but I don't want the details of how sausage is made. It's enough for me to know that Upton Sinclair wrote a book that had an effect on sausage-making. I just don't want to read it. I like a good science fiction novel and can do without the background dirt, though I do appreciate those in the trenches trying to keep the end product healthy. So, thank you for the article.
Sadly, much as with Sinclair's novel, the making of the mainstream Sci-Fi sausage too often involves innocent victims. Glad you enjoyed it, Dale!
When asked how likely she thought it was that Tomlinson had a hand in her removal, Varney told me “Unless [Worldcon] truly is antisemetic, there is simply no other reason that could exist.”
Embrace the power of AND.
Worldcon is no stranger to eating its own. Back during the infamous "Puppy" Hugo years, POCs and LGBTQ authors whose books had been read and found WORTHY of nomination on the merits of their STORY were BULLIED into refusing their nomination by the festering orifices of "(in)tolerance" at WC, out of "guilt by association" from the "ebil" people liking their books.
The only reason that "Three Body Problem" won a Hugo, instead of getting the "Noah Ward" treatment, is that unbeknownst to the Puppy voters, the Hugo runners played games (as they did every year) with the eligibility guidelines by cherry-picking release information, and that the Puppies that had read 3BP thought that it was not eligible for that year, but for the next, until right before the end of nominations. Once they found out it was eligible, most even recommended it for vote consideration, which is why it had a higher vote total than some of the categories that had no winner.
Wanna bet that there will be more Palestinian flags at WC this year than US ones?
I think you have confused two different stories. The Three Body Problem's eligibility wasn't ambiguous (published in English in November 2014). The book/author the Puppies got confused about on eligibility was Andy Weir's The Martian. Weir had self-published the book in 2011 and it had then been republished in 2014 - so probably not eligible for Best Novel.
However, Weir himself was still eligible for the Campbell Award (now Astounding Award) for new writers but, Brad T not having done his homework, left him off the Sad Puppy slate and while lots of non-Puppies nominated him, the Puppy slate stopped him getting nominated for the award in 2015. Luckily, he was still eligible in 2016 and won.
The Three Body Problem issue you maybe thinking of is that, arguably, it only one the Best Novel Hugo in 2015 because Rabid Puppy Vox Day encouraged his supporters to vote for it instead of the Puppy-slated work. While it was popular across the Puppy/anti-Puppy divide, the additional votes meant that it, rather than The Goblin Emperor won the Best Novel in 2015.
Thank you for CONFIRMING my statement. If you disagree, I must be right - and I was a voter when it happened.
BTW, VD MADE A POINT in his promotion of TBP that HE THOUGHT IT WASN'T eligible for nomination otherwise he'd have had it on his slate.
Similarly, I know from conversations with people on the SP that they ALSO thought it wasn't eligible.
Crawl back into your cave.
You can actually look this up, you don't need to take my word for it.
Here is what VD said April 2015:
"I just finished reading THE THREE-BODY PROBLEM. If it makes the shortlist, I will vote for it and will recommend that everyone else do likewise. SKIN GAME is the best novel that Jim Butcher has written and NEMESIS shows how Larry Correia has picked up an already very good game, but THE THREE-BODY PROBLEM is one of the best SF novels written in years.
Had I read it sooner, I would absolutely have put it on the Rabid Puppies list." https://bradrtorgersen.blog/2015/03/30/former-tor-editor-still-longs-to-gatekeep-the-field/#comment-8311
It wasn't due to doubts about ineligibility; he just hadn't read it when they put the slate together.
I wish I could say I'm surprised but I'm not.
I think you're seeing a confluence (always remember: embrace the power of "and"!) of events.
Corruption because power always corrupts, fear over loss of status and fighting over the scraps that are left, ultra-tribalism and circling the wagons to keep out anyone who even hints of the current wrong-think, and Mean Queen Bees.
I'm sure there are others! What have I missed besides incompetence?
All I'm going to say is that I met my wife of 24 years at the 2000 Worldcon in Chicago.
Neither of us would go back to one if you paid us all expenses. And that absolutely enrages me, that the best part of my life can't be relived. These people deserve every bad thing that comes their way.