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I am here more often again, and on Rainfurrest 2015...
10 years ago
It's hard to separate fact, fiction and other stuff online as drama develops. As such, I took a hiatus from FA for quite some time. For now, I'm returning, as most folks are active here and not on other sites. So, onward to Rainfurrest 2015.
It was the best of times.
It was the worst of times.
Before the convention, I was given a challenge (by some folks in authority) to fill the pool completely with inflatables. To this end, I packed my car with all the vinyl that would fit and asked others to bring their toys as well. I arrived on Wednesday and left the following Tuesday; and moved rooms three times and I don't believe I've ever had such a drop in a convention experience.
Before I go further, many of the hotel staff and convention staff have my heart; what they were put through was insane. Somehow the convention managed to pull through and I prefer to remember the fun parts. Similar to an event I ran where everything seemed to go wrong. My thoughts are with those who organize Rainfurrest; when events go wrong it is almost impossible not to take all the bad stuff personally. I learned that from experience this February.
So I got to share a night or more with...
t'sChillin, Cactusyotie
Aphinity, Artie, Nomad
Tuxedokitty, Sierrapup and Baphijmm
The good:
- All the rooms were awesome and the money was (more or less) easily figured out. :)
- This was my first year playing fiddle in the fursuit parade; I hope I did well. My thanks to Enzo for keeping me from getting lost or walking into things/critters.
- I played in the Variety Show for the first time this year and even in the face of technical difficulties for Strawberry Kitty, everything turned out very good in the end.
- This is the first convention where none of my inflatables broke (more on this later).
- Best inflatables panel w/ Aphinity I think I've ever been a part of. :D
- Challenged to fill the pool to the brim with inflatables! :D
- I got to share some quality time with many folks who I never see except in passing at cons. :D
The bad:
- Missed Opening Ceremonies because we were in limbo trying to get a room, for what seemed like forever.
- Early in the convention someone made a public threat to swim with a box cutter and slash all the inflatables in the pool. All the people who warned me about it protected the identity of the fucktard who made these threats, but with all the stupidity going on at the convention; I did not feel safe putting my toys in the pool. So, my body weight in vinyl pretty much stayed in the room.
- Also early in the convention I got to remind someone that they couldn't sell items in the panels - it's against policy. Also, I didn't appreciate their mirthful offer to sell pins and razor blades in the inflatables panel. Especially after getting multiple warnings about Box Cutter Guy and his group.
- Many times I really wanted to go to the bathroom. The bathrooms near Spencers' restaurant were closed for pretty much the whole convention.
- DiaperCon2015 affected me personally, with my roomies' car getting diapered. For one of them, it was their first RF; stay classy! :(
- Dress code: Diaperman2015 was its own embarrassment; in various chats and group DMs I found myself defending RF's openness to furries who weren't there. I think there should be a dress code. I think that dress code should be enforced. However, I think that the dress code should also be as open as practical; because once any group feels targeted, I see a stupidly slippery slope. :(
- I heard about the drunk dude running his panel while just wearing diapers and getting into a fight with programming staff... X.x I consider this 'bad' and not 'ugly', because its stupid, but not done with malicious intent (at least, I think).
- Saturday, after I'd been up for 18 hours doing All The Things, I walked into Ops to ask about a pool closure (a fight was going on), and of everyone in the room, I seemed to be the least drained. Soon thereafter I put on a staff shirt and was able to give one staff member relief. I couldn't find any other staff who weren't drunk or asleep or even other folks who might be able to take on a staff role at that time. I did what I could for them... :(
The ugly:
- Willful destruction of the hotel by folks who were there to either have a free-for-all weekend or to try to get the convention cancelled. Between the hot tub getting clogged with towels (that's one expensive repair),
- the glory hole drilled in a public restroom;
- flushed diapers that got the Roto Rooter guys a fat paycheck from the hotel (public and private restrooms),
- the blowjob that was captured on Twitter just outside the Main Theater on Thursday or Friday night,
- the hotel and convention staff who were physically assaulted (I am unsure on confirmation of this)
- the crazy guy Friday night in the parking lot (having a psychotic episode while on drugs)
- the police, emergency medical services, etc...
- the person who was rescued from the pool in the Clarion (a near tragedy)
- the drug raid that happened in said Clarion
- the flooding that happened to the Hilton (a water pipe was opened or cut between a toilet and the wall)
- the letter from Hilton expressing how ready they were to have us all leave early (at least my room was one that got said letter) :(
- the logistics team was left by everyone to pack up the mess that was left over and pretty much fend for themselves... I and a few others helped out; they were already drained from the convention itself and with help I think we got all the RF stuff out of the hotel before the hotel could asses any additional penalties...
- It seems there was a group specifically trying to get RF shut down so they could get the troll points for being bigger dickbags than those who screwed over Oklacon.
I even had prototype towels for The Pool Party sent to me at RF to show off (and that took a little bit of coordination on my part); but all the goings-on; and that so many people were willing to get banned for trolling the convention, the towels and the pooltoys mostly remained in the safety of my room. After the convention, I put a pooltoy in the pool and got unwelcome stares from regular hotel guests and knew that I wasn't welcome there. Even if all those guests did was sun on the lawnchairs and nobody actually swimmed.
Like any convention, some areas of Rainfurrest are run exceedingly well. Some parts weren't (some things are things staff can fix, some things are things we as a community need to fix and some things may have been screwups on the hotel's part, intentionally or accidentally). We as furries can only fix the things we find to fix. Hotels talk; moving an event like RF would be exceedingly challenging. If furries (or even outsiders) continue to destroy our conventions, we will very quickly be in a position where we won't have conventions. Conventions by and large are staffed by volunteers and the volunteers are not stepping up to babysit drunk and high disorderly and sometimes violent guests. They want to have fun too - even if some of their fun is from helping a successful event take place. Let us do our part to help ensure that this next year isn't our last year of the fandom as we know it.
It was the best of times.
It was the worst of times.
Before the convention, I was given a challenge (by some folks in authority) to fill the pool completely with inflatables. To this end, I packed my car with all the vinyl that would fit and asked others to bring their toys as well. I arrived on Wednesday and left the following Tuesday; and moved rooms three times and I don't believe I've ever had such a drop in a convention experience.
Before I go further, many of the hotel staff and convention staff have my heart; what they were put through was insane. Somehow the convention managed to pull through and I prefer to remember the fun parts. Similar to an event I ran where everything seemed to go wrong. My thoughts are with those who organize Rainfurrest; when events go wrong it is almost impossible not to take all the bad stuff personally. I learned that from experience this February.
So I got to share a night or more with...
t'sChillin, Cactusyotie
Aphinity, Artie, Nomad
Tuxedokitty, Sierrapup and Baphijmm
The good:
- All the rooms were awesome and the money was (more or less) easily figured out. :)
- This was my first year playing fiddle in the fursuit parade; I hope I did well. My thanks to Enzo for keeping me from getting lost or walking into things/critters.
- I played in the Variety Show for the first time this year and even in the face of technical difficulties for Strawberry Kitty, everything turned out very good in the end.
- This is the first convention where none of my inflatables broke (more on this later).
- Best inflatables panel w/ Aphinity I think I've ever been a part of. :D
- Challenged to fill the pool to the brim with inflatables! :D
- I got to share some quality time with many folks who I never see except in passing at cons. :D
The bad:
- Missed Opening Ceremonies because we were in limbo trying to get a room, for what seemed like forever.
- Early in the convention someone made a public threat to swim with a box cutter and slash all the inflatables in the pool. All the people who warned me about it protected the identity of the fucktard who made these threats, but with all the stupidity going on at the convention; I did not feel safe putting my toys in the pool. So, my body weight in vinyl pretty much stayed in the room.
- Also early in the convention I got to remind someone that they couldn't sell items in the panels - it's against policy. Also, I didn't appreciate their mirthful offer to sell pins and razor blades in the inflatables panel. Especially after getting multiple warnings about Box Cutter Guy and his group.
- Many times I really wanted to go to the bathroom. The bathrooms near Spencers' restaurant were closed for pretty much the whole convention.
- DiaperCon2015 affected me personally, with my roomies' car getting diapered. For one of them, it was their first RF; stay classy! :(
- Dress code: Diaperman2015 was its own embarrassment; in various chats and group DMs I found myself defending RF's openness to furries who weren't there. I think there should be a dress code. I think that dress code should be enforced. However, I think that the dress code should also be as open as practical; because once any group feels targeted, I see a stupidly slippery slope. :(
- I heard about the drunk dude running his panel while just wearing diapers and getting into a fight with programming staff... X.x I consider this 'bad' and not 'ugly', because its stupid, but not done with malicious intent (at least, I think).
- Saturday, after I'd been up for 18 hours doing All The Things, I walked into Ops to ask about a pool closure (a fight was going on), and of everyone in the room, I seemed to be the least drained. Soon thereafter I put on a staff shirt and was able to give one staff member relief. I couldn't find any other staff who weren't drunk or asleep or even other folks who might be able to take on a staff role at that time. I did what I could for them... :(
The ugly:
- Willful destruction of the hotel by folks who were there to either have a free-for-all weekend or to try to get the convention cancelled. Between the hot tub getting clogged with towels (that's one expensive repair),
- the glory hole drilled in a public restroom;
- flushed diapers that got the Roto Rooter guys a fat paycheck from the hotel (public and private restrooms),
- the blowjob that was captured on Twitter just outside the Main Theater on Thursday or Friday night,
- the hotel and convention staff who were physically assaulted (I am unsure on confirmation of this)
- the crazy guy Friday night in the parking lot (having a psychotic episode while on drugs)
- the police, emergency medical services, etc...
- the person who was rescued from the pool in the Clarion (a near tragedy)
- the drug raid that happened in said Clarion
- the flooding that happened to the Hilton (a water pipe was opened or cut between a toilet and the wall)
- the letter from Hilton expressing how ready they were to have us all leave early (at least my room was one that got said letter) :(
- the logistics team was left by everyone to pack up the mess that was left over and pretty much fend for themselves... I and a few others helped out; they were already drained from the convention itself and with help I think we got all the RF stuff out of the hotel before the hotel could asses any additional penalties...
- It seems there was a group specifically trying to get RF shut down so they could get the troll points for being bigger dickbags than those who screwed over Oklacon.
I even had prototype towels for The Pool Party sent to me at RF to show off (and that took a little bit of coordination on my part); but all the goings-on; and that so many people were willing to get banned for trolling the convention, the towels and the pooltoys mostly remained in the safety of my room. After the convention, I put a pooltoy in the pool and got unwelcome stares from regular hotel guests and knew that I wasn't welcome there. Even if all those guests did was sun on the lawnchairs and nobody actually swimmed.
Like any convention, some areas of Rainfurrest are run exceedingly well. Some parts weren't (some things are things staff can fix, some things are things we as a community need to fix and some things may have been screwups on the hotel's part, intentionally or accidentally). We as furries can only fix the things we find to fix. Hotels talk; moving an event like RF would be exceedingly challenging. If furries (or even outsiders) continue to destroy our conventions, we will very quickly be in a position where we won't have conventions. Conventions by and large are staffed by volunteers and the volunteers are not stepping up to babysit drunk and high disorderly and sometimes violent guests. They want to have fun too - even if some of their fun is from helping a successful event take place. Let us do our part to help ensure that this next year isn't our last year of the fandom as we know it.
And someone threatening to slash all in inflatables in the pool/selling sharp stuff at the panel?! That's going especially too far. That is personal being as inflatables mean a lot to some of us, and such an occurrence would be no better than devastation. Freaking heartless people should cease existence. Seriously, wtf?! I don't even want to imagine that happening. Like I said, it would be devastating and these people need to just go away. (I don't know where they can go to, just as long as they are away from us.) Ok, inflatable rant over...
But yeah, this is just as I said...ridiculous. This goes WAYYYYY beyond trolling.
Though I couldn't make it this year, I really enjoyed it in 2014. I hope it can still be that way when I can make it again in the future.
I disagree. It is our responsibility to police our own, not the con staff nor the hotel. We, as a whole, are responsible for our actions, and making sure proper channels are alerted to incidents.
I don't want RF to be cancelled, but right now I'm not sure how it can really be salvaged. : /
Who were the culprits of this antisocial behavior I wonder? They should get blacklisted out the gate, at least in my eyes.
Your inflatables panel was one of the few portions of the con I chose to participate in this year. The video games room was over crowded and stuffed with current and last gen consoles, the board game room was entirely taken over by corporate demos for games I didn't care about, and I haven't gone to a dance since they stopped playing music I could dance to a few years back. It's making less and less sense every year to even go to RF at all.
We are not any hotel's 'target market'. The hotels we use for conventions are generally hotels geared towards corporate customers and business events. That does not mean that we are any worse than other events (because compared to some events, we aren't). However, by comparison, our community and culture is not compatible with the expected image of these business events. When the hotel in question is having trouble filling event space, then they're happier to have us. When there are multiple other events on either side of RF (which there were), I'm also pretty sure that the hotel had to say 'no' to a number of business groups that also wanted the weekend. I should probably write a journal about this... hmm!
As for the glory hole, from what I've heard that is false and the guy who claimed it was lying. Though he did get his ass banned from the con for a year from fighting with staff later on.
I'm hoping this is a wake up call to Rainfurrest as I think they needed a good kick in the pants. A con has to mature as it grows bigger, and I haven't felt that it has. It still feels very much like it's being run by a bunch of little kids. I know there are some mature and smart people on RF staff, it's just that the immature ones are dragging them down.
Also, I did love your fiddle work in the fursuit parade, it was pretty cool
I think the gloryhole was real, because I heard about it long before "the guy" who claimed he did it got banned for other behavior. With the news tonight about RF losing the hotel (no surprise, but still very saddening), the future of the convention itself is at risk. I fear that every major furry convention is going to face similar challenges in the next year, now that Oklacon is gone and RF is on the ropes. :(