wow

First again, eh? No one can slip anything past you.

sorry to hear that about Oklacon

Hey Don't be alarmed I was devastated that Furlaxation dissipated as well as of 2014 was the last of it. As Uncle Kage (Chairman of Anthrocon) stated in an Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9wWYD1vuWw (but take out the convention he is talking about and replace it with the one your talking about it)

Oh darn, a convention run and owned by a sex offender.. Gone.. Sorry, that thing had so many problems..

Well that was then and this is now so most of us furries have come this far and adapted from what was then to now.

Wait, what? 0.o

The guy that owned furlaxiation is on the sex offenders list for the state of Ohio

Damn that suck....and all because a few people wanted to be dumb jackasses....
I hope this doesnt affect Wild Nights....

Wild Nights has a great relationship with their venue and their venue is in no danger. This isn't an attack on furries, it is a ban of a single event for things that happened at THAT event. There is a chance it isn't dead if they can find a new venue. I don't see that happening this year, but stranger things have happened.

Yeah, I dont see it as an attack on furries but more of a business move. I used to work for the State Park System here in Louisiana and its a full time business. If word got out that something F--'d up has happend, the whole world hears it and it tarnishes the system's name, you loose business and money.

But it still very much sucks that a few bad apples had to ruin a bunch and it has cost us a really good activity for people to enjoy.

we {wildnights} cheaked with our park .. they said were all good and they love having us

This is why we can never have good things...

What exactly did those furs do?

They tried to get naked and have sex in the open area in front of the restrooms. They were charged with misdemeanor indecent exposure.

People like that are what give furries a bad name.

*facepalms*

They yiffed in public and in front of everyone

After the incident, they were kicked out of the con, ejected from the park, and charged with the above. Convention staff handled the situation swiftly and appropriately as they were able, contacted the park immediately, and did everything they should've been expected to do. Roman Nose State Park management decided not to allow Oklacon back, citing the actions of those individuals in order to misrepresent the group as a whole, and Oklacon had to scramble for another venue.
They thought they had found one in Sequoyah State Park, and were discussing various logistics, when some individual called THAT park, informing them of the events of last year, presenting those actions in such a light that Sequoyah's management suspected a liability risk. They then referred the matter to Oklahoma's state level department over the State Parks, who in turn decided that the group as a whole, based on the actions of a few individuals, was a liability risk, and declined to allow Oklacon space at ANY Oklahoma State Park, presumably forever.

I now know that a individual can take down a entire con. So I will be careful investing money in the long term of any con. We are luck that this was not picked up by any major news feed. I been depressed no so much by the loss of my lifetime membership at Oklacon. But by how easy it is to destroy a con. This could be used to ban furmeets and give furries a bad name in the public again. Sorry to be so upset about the whole thing. I know at the local furmeet which is over 100 every month few pick up the trash. Before leaving I try to pickup all the litter the others have left behind. So that we do not get bad rep. We had a PI watch us for the whole meet trying to get so dirt on us for a hater.

Sorry for your membership loss. Hopefully they will find a new venue. It wasn't so much the result of a handful of individuals. I believe it to be a conglomeration of small events over several years and that the rangers used this one event as the "staw that broke the camel's back". The con wasn't banned because they were furries. The EVENT was banned because of this event and ongoing events over the years that caused the state parks system to not allow them back. The person who called the new park wasn't calling them to spread the dirt. They were calling because they were pissed that they couldn't get a rental type cabin room at the new park and they were calling to demand such a room be provided, which resulted in the new park calling the old park who told them about the ban. The new park then contacted the State Parks commission about the matter and as a result, the group was banned statewide so the park service wouldn't have to deal with them any more.

that is a shame...

V.

Geeze. That was my second con ever in 2007...can't believe it's gone.

I understand how you feel. I am the same way. I try so hard to help the fandom and teachieve people about it, trying my best to keep the negativity put of the fandom. But then we have people like this that ruin it for the while bunch. This has given the fandom yet another negative mark, and only reconfirmed that the fandom is all about sex, which is wrong. R.I.P. Oklacon.

and I read about it this morning he was a regular attendee to Oklacon and I was looking forward to going to my first con next month :( it's a sad thing in the fandom the causes such great venues to have to dissolve like this because of certain people doing illegal things under a group name

Yiffing isn't illegal. The fandom is highly specialized and so many people are in it for the porn. It is not really that far fetched to think its okay to do it and have everyone watch. Why not..isn't yiff what most come to that fandom for?

These people ruined a venue because they were horney and didn't care. But honestly a lot goes on at the con worse then that at times.. Suchs as illegal drug use and distributing alcohol to the under age. And other such things

It's only what I heard from what I was told this morning about what happened

Yes, a lot goes on at this and other cons. (most likely worse at hotel cons, where 'behind closed doors' means lockable, closed doors) In this and other fandoms. Yet Anime conventions don't routinely get shut down because of a few bad apples. Cosplayers other than furries don't get routinely kicked out because someone else wearing a costume smoked up, somewhere else in the same hotel. But furries are stigmatized to such a degree that SO many people assume we're "all about sex".

I may have been drawn to the fandom because of some sexy pictures and such, but I actually started going to cons because of the cool people I met online. And once I discovered the smaller, more frequent, local furmeets, I realized that this fandom was my home, and that "Tanooki" really is who I am. The name I use at work, is simply the mask I show the mundane world, because they mostly won't understand.

These people (I refuse to refer to them as furries; doing so would be an insult to the whole fandom.) ruined a convention because they were irresponsibly drunk, and had no consideration for how their actions might impact others. So yes, worse goes on at cons than that. But the VAST majority of those doing things they shouldn't, at least have the discretion to NOT DO IT IN PLAIN VIEW OF EVERYONE ELSE.

TL;DR: If you wanna fuck yourself up, go right ahead. Just don't do it where others can see, report your ass, and ruin it for everyone else.

Well, we can't control everyone. They gave the con a black mark. Everyone is pissed at them and life moves on.

I am a clean fur, I am as pg as you get in the fandom. I get it, not everyone here is for the yiff. But you and I know that but that isn't the perception to outsiders and those who must assume liability for hosting such an event. From a business standpoint, I can under stand the parks covering their asses.

New Jersey FurBQ got shut down permanently due to a major wild hoax regarding pictures of two fursuiters having sex publicly. Everyone got angry and blamed one another and now, it's forbidden to hold the event because the stupid news media and the public threaten them with lawsuits and since the owner worked as a firefighter (I think), he even got threaten to have his budget for emergency fundings reduced!

wow this sucks to hear :C

After reading Oklacons explanation on their website, I'm still a little confused.

Why did that fur contact the Sequoyah State Park staff and told them about what happened at Oklacon? It sounds to me like they were one of the 3 furs who got kicked out, disgruntled former attendees or trolls deliberately trying to sabotage the con.

I'm saddened this all happened, I was thinking about attending it in the future when I get my life and health in order. I just hope it doesn't happen again, but you never know..

Really sorry to hear Oklacon folded. Of course, as you mentioned, any convention discontinuing is always a disappointment. However, with attendees causing bad behavior and failing to abide by rules and regulations, there was good reason why state parks in OK disallowed this kind of convention now. It really bothers me that conventions, or other fur-related events, are forced to close up shop because of stupid actions attendees take. Sigh...

I was dissapointed when Maltese Fur Con got cancelled, especially since it was gonna take place at a hotel that's a half-hour walk from where I live. But I wasn't really surprised it got cancelled, and neither were many other furs when the cancellation was announced. Financial problems and lack of pre-registered members was what caused the cancellation, not to mention there is already another, better organized convention in the area, Anthro New England. As much as I would've loved to see Maltese succeed, it doesn't surprise me that MFC assumed ambient temperature due to poor planning, little money, and being overshadowed by a much more better planned fur con in the area.

Actually, Oklahoma's state parks aren't disallowing "this kind of convention", as they can't restrict the use of publicly funded parks from taxpaying citizens. They can only restrict use to specific individuals and specific organizations who either have broken the law, or are considered a "liability risk" for likely lawbreaking.

As for other conventions, or other fur-related events, neither the State of Oklahoma, nor any division thereof has, to my knowledge, made any sort of statement about such. In fact, there IS another furry convention, held at a state park in Oklahoma, which is on VERY good terms with said park. That convention is Wild Nights, mentioned by the OP.

Why can't they just put it in a hotel?

Because a large percentage of furs who attend Oklacon (and other outdoor conventions) don't have it in their budget to be able to afford a hotel room (even shared), on top of attendance, food, and travel expenses. Hotel cons tend to cost attendees probably 2-4 times what the outdoor cons cost, factoring all that stuff in.

That shouldnt stop them from continuing to have oklacon. If it is in a hotel, furs would still come. It would just suck that some couldnt afford to be there. But at least the con would go on

Something else to consider is that, if it were to go on as a hotel con, there are SO many other hotel cons around that time of year, that Oklacon would cease to be something special. It would no longer be one of a very small number of outdoor cons. It would no longer be unique. It would be "just another hotel con".

So you'd would rather it parish then find an acceptable venue? No more Roman nose park.. And the best they can hope for now is someone with alot of private property who is willing to put up with the mess and who has facilies to use.

*shrug* Eh...doesn't matter anyway. They've officially announced, so I guess that's that.