Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 09:59:14 -0400
From: "Michael Walsh" <MJW at press.jhu.edu>
To: <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: 2007 Worldcon
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

> jkling at nasw.org 8/23/04 8:17:47 PM >>>
>Sunday, August 22, 2004, 5:04:13 PM, you wrote:
>
>> Generally speaking, it's also a poorly done convention.  One
>of the
>> most notable one being ConDiego (1990)  which managed
>to typo it's name
>> in it's own souvenir book.  And apparently things only got
>worse. Which
>> caused this to become a popular phrase:  "Your name is
>ConDiego Montoya.
>> You kill my weekend. Prepare to die."
>
>Damn, that's funny.

Fandom is loaded with funny people . . .and people who think they're
funny.

>
>> Since the likelyhood of actually removing NASFiC from the
>WSFS
>> Constitution is pretty darn small, the only other alternative I
>could
>> think of last year was to vote in the NASFiC site selection,
>voting for
>> No NASFiC.  Well, it's going to Seattle, & I'm not.
>
>> But con going fans like to go to cons; wave some cheese in
>front of
>> them and off they go . . .
>
>Interesting. So why is it that NASFic is consistently run poorly.
>I
>assume that different people are involved each year?

Yes, different people each time.  Each with their own rationale.

I suspect some believe it a stepping stone to the Holy Grail of getting
a Worldcon.  For the most part it seems to put the kibosh on those
fantasies (if you can't run a NASFiC . . . a Worldcon?  I think not.)

I've attended two NASiCs - 1979 in Louisville where I arrived shortly
after getting back from the Worldcon in Brighton and the1985  NASFiC in
Austin.  Both were fairly decent conventions.  Both could be considered
stepping stones for their future Worldcon bids.

The next three: 1987 in Phoenix, 1990 in San Diego and 1995 in Atlanta
(combined with DragonCon) show that it will take more than a stake in
the heart, a silver bullet, or the like to kill the NASFiC.

The 1999 consolation price in LA apparently went well.

Now, all of this NASFiC bashing aside, one could argue that it gives a
foreign bid a better chance of winning becasue it offers Americans a Big
Convention to go to so they might be more willing to allow the Worldcon
to go overseas.

Now, one may very well ask, if one doesn't go the the overseas Worldcon
why not go a, *gasp*, different con. Like Westercon . . . or Windycon .
. . or . . .well, the list is long.   Could fans be afraid of new
things?

mjw