You were the man who sold me my first filk tape; we met at a handful of cons after that point.
Having run a couple cons myself and been helping run departments at Minicon, CONvergence, U-Con (ancient U of MN convention), Con of the North, and Genericon (also at the U of MN), I think I've seen where this kind of behavior is what happens when you get people who think they know how to behave in an organized and mature manner but, really, are just fooling themselves as they use their networks of friends/contacts to justify themselves at someone else's expense. It's like those bad business leaders you read about in the papers or maybe have worked with: they delude themselves into thinking that because they have a Business Degree, they can do no wrong and proceed to let their petty, personal goals tromp all over what's good for the company and -probably- themselves.
In fandom, I think it's similar but wider-spread as fewer volunteers running a con have actually really had any experience with diplomacy and damping down their own egos in order to make something wonderful happen. It's easier to spread nasty gossip and try to tear someone else down rather than hold themselves to a higher standard of behavior.
From what I've seen of you, you're a good man and -frankly- if you'd not shown me that cassette tape of "Carmen Miranda's Ghost..." I wouldn't have the great collection of songs (and friends) that I have now...
no subject
Having run a couple cons myself and been helping run departments at Minicon, CONvergence, U-Con (ancient U of MN convention), Con of the North, and Genericon (also at the U of MN), I think I've seen where this kind of behavior is what happens when you get people who think they know how to behave in an organized and mature manner but, really, are just fooling themselves as they use their networks of friends/contacts to justify themselves at someone else's expense. It's like those bad business leaders you read about in the papers or maybe have worked with: they delude themselves into thinking that because they have a Business Degree, they can do no wrong and proceed to let their petty, personal goals tromp all over what's good for the company and -probably- themselves.
In fandom, I think it's similar but wider-spread as fewer volunteers running a con have actually really had any experience with diplomacy and damping down their own egos in order to make something wonderful happen. It's easier to spread nasty gossip and try to tear someone else down rather than hold themselves to a higher standard of behavior.
From what I've seen of you, you're a good man and -frankly- if you'd not shown me that cassette tape of "Carmen Miranda's Ghost..." I wouldn't have the great collection of songs (and friends) that I have now...
Take care, Bill!
Yours,
Sylvan (Dave Rust)