NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/rec/arts/sf/fandom/1330

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From: [e-mail] ("Donald E. Eastlake 3rd, LJO2/I4, 1-508-486-2358  28-Dec-1992 1803")
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.fandom
Subject: Re: Arisia vs. Boskone
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Date: 28 Dec 92 23:03:21 GMT
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>From: [e-mail] (David Grubbs)
>Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.fandom
>Subject: Re: Arisia vs. Boskone
>Date: 21 Dec 92 15:44:39
>Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA
>Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
>In-reply-to: [e-mail]'s message of Wed, 16 Dec 1992 05:52:39 GMT
>[e-mail] (Lynn Gold) writes:
>
>> There are two cons in the Boston area in the winter.
>> ...
>> Not being familiar with east coast fan politics, what IS the
>> difference between Arisia and Boskone (other than their names, dates,
>> and locations)?  What is the "battle" all about?

>Since 1971 I've attended a dozen Boskones, including the last seven, about 10
>Worldcons, including all three Noreascons, another 10 cons in New York, Philly
>and Baltimore, and all the Arisia conventions.  Though I'm not a member of
>either committee, by knowing a lot of them by sight, and a few of them a bit
>better, I have probably heard most of the war stories from multiple
>viewpoints.

>Boskone concentrates on books and artwork.  Through the 70's and 80's Boskone
>grew large enough to include movies, games and other peripheral (from their
>viewpoint) activities, to broaden the variety of entertainments for the still
>mostly book-and-art crowd.  I liked the idea of having a smattering of all the
>different SF activities.  It added color and fun.  I could filk, watch movies,
>attend costume shows and still see a first class art show and literature
>program.

>The last two Big Boskones were, for my own enjoyment, better than half the
>Worldcons I've been to.  I even volunteered to help a few times.  Until then,
>I hadn't realized what a difficult job it is to keep badgeless turkeys out of
>art shows ("But I'm with the *artist*!")  Or how miserably people treat you if
>you stand behind a counter ("Hurry up boy, I have better things to do than
>wait on shopkeepers!  Sniff!").

>But Boskone never cost as much as a Worldcon.  That, combined with the
>increase in the kind of "peripheral" entertainment that attracts the generally
>illiterate TV generation, changed the tone of Boskones by swelling the ranks
>of the let's-get-rowdy-and-grab-some-free-beer geeks who have $25 (but not
>$120) to spend for a weekend.  They were mostly teenagers who followed their
>SF-fan friends into the con looking for movies, games and excitement.  The big
>failure occurred when the Boskone committees didn't realize that their
>peripheral entertainments were the main drawing card for much of the crowd.

It was also on a school vacation weekend and settled into the same weekend and
area each year so it was easier to find even by people who had no normal
connection with SF.

>Something hit critical mass.  A very small group of troublemakers set off fire
>alarms and caused too much noise.  Mundane Hotel functionaries, who don't like
>SF "weirdos" too much anyway, overreacted in some strange ways.  The reason
>it became such a big deal is that there were three high-profile side-effects:
>(i.e. Locus and SF Chronicle reported it heavily and every con for years was
>filled with the "gossip")

"Critical mass" was caused by Boskone attendence continuing to rise, the space
available in the Sheraton-Boston going down (some function space was being
renovated and one elevator was out of service all weekend), the Boskone
committee decided to drop names from badges giving some people a more anonymous
feeling, it was a record cold weekend, a sewer pipe burst (unrelated to the
con) and spilled sewage into the sales offices of the hotel, the hotel's new
fire alarm system was giving lots of false alarms each of which disabled all
the elevators (most were on the top floor and had occured before the con and
continued after the con; there was one hotel exit door that set off a fire
alarm everytime you opened it because the outside air coming in was cold it
caused misting; and one alarm was set off due to people playing with fire
extinguishers on an unoccupied floor of the hotel), etc.

>    1. Boskone underwent a period of self-examination, jumped out of town,
>       and instituted all sorts of rules to try to cut down on attendance.
>       Some people objected to the rules for various reasons.  The big
>       problem was that there was no way to describe who to get rid of
>       without blanketing people who didn't deserve to be included in the
>       restrictions.  A no-win situation for all concerned.

>    2. The Hotels tried to include the NESFA troubles in the MCFI's
>       on-going negotiations over the '89 Worldcon (Noreascon III).  They
>       threatened to back out of deals.  Lawyers ensued.  Anytime lawyers
>       become noticeable in fandom, something major has gone wrong.  A
>       regional problem had gone world-wide.  It drew world-class
>       attention.

The hotel didn't threaten anything.  It just said the Boskone and Noreascon
were out.  It took lawyers and over $20,000 in legal fees and some harder to
quantify expense it what turned out to be clearly unnecessary security guards
paid for by Noreascon to get it back in.

>    3. Some of the people who felt an affront from the Boskone con
>       committee decided to create another con.  I'm sure they would
>       characterize their motivations as more sophisticated than
>       "affronted", but if they had felt any camaraderie with NESFA, they
>       would have tried to help, not escape.  So Arisia was born.  They
>       chose to schedule it for winter and they chose a name from the same
>       Doc Smith universe where Boskone came from.  "Rivals?"  I can't
>       believe there is *no* rivalry involved.  But who knows what lurks
>       in the hearts of fen?

Obviously it is hard to characterize a group of people's motivations in any
sort of accurate or complete way.  But Boskone had been over 4,000 and
intentionally dropped to less than 2,000.  Most of these were "innocent"
people.  Some of them would have characterized their motivations as being
"affronted" by the explicit anti-media, anti-gaming, anti-costume, anti-youth
attitude of Boskone at that time.  On the other hand, its not quite clear how
Boskone was going to succeed in booting out thousands of innocent people by
being nice.  And it was quite clear that NESFA explicity decided that it needed
to get Boskone much smaller and understood that many of those to be somehow kept
out were not a cause of the problems.

You say that these people should have helped.  Exactly what would thousands of
people used to attending a large Boskone in Boston do to help after it was
made clear to them that they were not wanted at a small Boskone in western
Massachusetts?  Should they just sit on their hands?  Why shouldn't some of
them organize a convention to offer them what they want if they are willing to
do the work?

As for scheduling in Winter, the low season in Boston is December, January,
and February.  If you want to run an event of any size with reasonably low
room rates in the downtown area, you have to go for that time period,
although you could possibly go into March occasionally.

Who knows what lurks in the hearts of fen?  Anyone can read the ARISIA By-Laws
and the NESFA By-Laws, as I have, and can easily see what things about NESFA as
an organization were most offensive to those who initially organized ARISIA:
the NESFA membership system, the NESFA disciplinary system, and NESFA's
(relative) wealth.

>Boskone is smaller now, with fewer pros showing up and very few "peripheral"
>activities, but it still has a very good art show and lots of books.
>How their move back toward Boston this year will affect it is unknown.

>Arisia started out kind of cheesy, especially the Art Show, but it is
>improving in quality as the con committee gains experience.  It mainly aims at
>"media" SF, a sort of generic name for "anything that requires little
>reading," but it seems to have a youthful vitality that is refreshing (in
>small doses) for those of us who aren't college freshmen any longer.

>I go to both cons, say hello to my friends, buy books, watch what there is to
>watch, make grandiose plans to be on the other side of the rostrum someday,
>occasionally (but not too often any more) volunteer to help and generally
>ignore the mickey-mouse.

Many people choose to attend one or the other based of which con most of their
friends attend.

>--
>David G. Grubbs    ([e-mail])        Kendall Square Research Corp.

Donald