From: "Ted White" <twhite8 at cox.net>
To: "WSFA members" <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Shocking News! Sci-fi conventions are luring fewer fans
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2004 18:45:36 -0500
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ernest Lilley" <elilley at mindspring.com>
To: "'WSFA members'" <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2004 3:51 PM
Subject: [WSFA] Shocking News! Sci-fi conventions are luring fewer fans

> Ok, like we knew this already, ant this article is talking about media
> cons mostly...but we still have to talk about it as it regards CapClave.
>
> Ern
>
> Sci-fi conventions are luring fewer fans
> Thursday, November 04, 2004
> By RAY KELLY
> rkelly at repub.com
>
> The technological advances once dreamt of by fantasy lovers are now
> killing science-fiction fan conventions.
>
> In today's wired world, sci-fi fans e-mail each other and discuss their
> favorite shows on message boards, chat on-line with actors and authors,
> and buy autographed mementos on eBay.
>
> As a result, conventions, a sci-fi staple of the 1970s, have dwindled in
> number and attendance, said Paul Aldred, organizer of this weekend's
> United Fan Con at the Springfield Marriott.
>
> More...
>
> http://www.masslive.com/living/republican/index.ssf?/base/living-2/10994
> 90605324210.xml

A fundamental misunderstanding here.   You're right that it's the media
cons which were "a sci-fi staple of the 1970s," and if they are dwindling,
I could not care less.  They are, first, for-profit, and second, for
star-worshippers -- usually movie/TV stars whose appearances are well paid
for by the convention.

This has little or nothing to do with SF fandom's conventions, which are
usually non-profit and have been around since the late '30s.   The earliest
of our conventions -- specifically including the first (pre-WW2)
Worldcons -- were gatherings of friends-by-correspondence, people who lived
in different parts of the country and knew of each other through letters
(publicly printed, in prozines and fanzines -- and private) and fanzines.
It was a chance to put a face to a name, and thereafter to renew
acquaintances on an annual basis.

When I started going to conventions in 1955 I found that I was making
several new friends at each one, as well as seeing old friends.

As far as I know, our conventions still serve this purpose.  We meet people
we knew previously only by email or on the newsgroups.   I've "known" at
least one Capclave regular for nearly ten years via Timebinders, and met
her for the first time at the first Capclave.   There is no reason, if we
publicize Capclave correctly (within fandom) and have good GoHs, that we
cannot build its membership successfully by appealing to this same, age-old
concept:  meet your e-list friends, and make new friends.

--Ted White