[sohmer]

My mood is less than pleased right now, and I’m going to tell you why.

To start things off, Lar and I will NOT be attending DragonCon in Atlanta this coming summer. In order to understand that, we must go back to a time and place…say, around September of this year.

This was our second year in Atlanta, and it was one of the shows we were most looking forward to. There’s just something about the atmosphere of this show that’s so casual, that you really get a chance to hang out with a great deal of wonderful people.

As last year was so successful for us, we paid for a larger booth this year and intended to do some fun & unusual things with the space. Upon getting to the show, however, someone had setup in our space. Confused, we asked the hall attendants what was going on, and were rudely informed that our booth had been moved.

When I inquired as to where, I was shown the furthest and poorly lit section of the room, with a giant pillar intersecting the middle of the booth. I then proceeded to tell the attendants that this was unacceptable, not only because of the move but because of the new location.

Despite the fact that I had announced where we were setup weeks leading up to the show, I would’ve been fine if we were moved to a location similar to the one we lost. But this was unacceptable.

The attendants, once again, were rude and told our crew that we could take the new spot or we could go home. This wasn’t their problem. Still calm and polite, I asked if there was someone else we could speak to, because we did not deserve to be spoken to like that.

A couple hours later, we sat on the carpet waiting, a minor functionary came downstairs and repeated what the attendants had told us. Again, I asked if there was anyone else I could talk to.

An hour later, one of the board members of the show came down to talk with us.

He apologized for the situation, note that this was the first apology we had received thus far, and inquired what could to be done to make things right. In the end, he generously offered to repay us for the booth, but still allow us to use. It was a good solution, we shook hands and all was well.

At the end of the show, I again thanked him for taking care of the matter, and we signed up for the next show gladly.

Usually how this works, is at the end of a show, you sign for the next one, and a few weeks later you receive an invoice. A month passed, and we had yet to receive a single thing.

Wanting to make sure everything was fine, Randy began calling them. For 6 weeks Randy called, at least 3 times per week leaving messages for everyone. No one called us back.

Finally, we reached someone, and were told that we were not invited back to DragonCon because of the incident. I was and still am shocked.

We are not allowed to exhibit because their staff was verbally abusive towards us, including profanity. We are not allowed because they moved our location without any warning or apology. We are not allowed because DragonCon shoved us in the dark corner of the show.

Let me be clear. Never did I, or any of my staff, raise their voice or even mutter a ‘shite’ under their breath. That’s not how we behave.

I don’t understand this decision, and no one was inclined to explain it to me, only referring to the ‘incident’.

I am saddened by this, but more so that we won’t be able to hang out with the folks who came out to Atlanta to see us. I felt you were owed an explanation, and there it is. We hope to be able to find a show nearby that we can attend.

As for DragonCon, I will do my best to ensure that this story gets out, so others don’t share our fate.

- Because I can.

Quote of the Day

“Cause it’s gonna be the future soon
And I won’t always be this way
When the things that make me weak and strange get engineered away”
-The Future Soon, by Jonathan Coulton

[Gunslinger19]

Wow. that sucks. I feel like Atlanteans are missing out now...

[DSMeatte]

Bull shit.

I hope Dragoncon shuts down.

[connor2k]

Well, that seals it. I will no longer be attending Dragon Con. It's not where I want to put my money. I guess I'll be going to Star Wars Celebration V in Orlando instead.

[KickMeKate]

That is SO ridiculous. I know a lot of people that attend that con every year and always seem to enjoy themselves.
I'm sorry they're acting in this fashion and chose to say this was fault of yours for moving you and making a huge blameshift.
Fail Dragoncon, epic fail.

[galen_of_avalon]

That's complete BS! Who do we contact at DragonCon to express our disappointment in their utter lack of professionalism?

[Bodhisattva]

That is complete and total crap. There's no excuse for them treating you in this fashion.

[Zorz Muaddieb]

That really sucks... looking forward to hanging at the NYCC again with you guys though.

-Z

[lizardkitsch]

Oh, that's complete bullshit. Hopefully when this gets back to them, of the outrage of the fans, they'll be embarrassed into apologizing etc.

[kyle J]

Gotta say that's more than disappointing to hear. This was one of the conventions I was planning to attend. I am definitely reconsidering that now.

[Lullaby]

Wow, this is total and absolute garbage. I'm thoroughly disgusted right now.

[Rogueactor]

Wow. Just wow. You showed way more restraint then most folks. Good for you.
Too bad they don't have management that understands you can treat people like this.
It's adding insult to injury. Hopefully they at least sent your refund.

[Magatsu]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say with the current economy and the need for as many patrons as possible.... they are going to want to reach out and apologize, which is going to be a bit late for some. Including me.

This post has been edited by Magatsu: 07 December 2009 - 04:27 PM

[Little Red Lupine]

That is ridiculously stupid and I certainly hope heads will roll over it. I am involved in running a conference (yeah, not a Con, I know, not nearly as cool), and we have vendors. We bend over backwards to make them happy. They are a huge source of income. If we had a vendor like Blind Ferret that has a large following, including with other webcomic creators who would also be vendors, we would never ask them not to return. Even if they were a nightmare. I get that DragonCon probably has minimal problems getting vendors, but they just made a major publicity error. Even if the vendor was some little company that had no clout, you do not want anything bad to be said about you. It will get around. You treat everyone well, make their experience as wonderful as possible, and apologize profusely when something goes wrong. They clearly have the wrong people running this aspect of the Con. I can guarantee Blind Ferret will not be the only one who has had this experience. I'm glad you shared, because nobody should be treated like that. Especially people who are willing to pay a large sum to show up. I think at some point they forgot that you are doing THEM a favour. As all your fans will attest in their vocal response.

[Fokkar]

I can't stand when things like this happen. Whatever happened to respect? I've never been to Dragon Con, but I definitely won't ever be going if the chance arises. I hope enough people complain to Dragon Con about this and they feel ridiculous, cause they should.

[Wildheart3]

wow. working at a grocery store, i am used to displeased customers being the ones using profanity and causing problems, only to be appeased by the manager, then not banned for their rude behavior. but someone keeping his cool the whole time, getting some compensation for a total load of bollocks, then being banned. that's messed up. feel sorry for you guys and your atlanta fan-base.

ps: please come back to baltimore whenever you can. you guys were fun

[Cleon]

FUCK THAT SHIT. Now I have no reason to go.

[Wen]

Ah, I see you've gotten a view of the darker side of "southern hospitality". I wonder what Dragon Con would do if other artists started to pull out of the show after hearing about this. I'm really sorry you had to go through that, but I think it's admirable of you to have kept your cool, because God knows I wouldn't have.

[BladeMaster0182]

So maybe it is because of my inner desire to see the right thing done, or my darker inner troll desire to raise some hell, but here is an online form which to email them: http://www.dragoncon...tact.php#email.

Have fun kids.

[tiff_th]

i am beyond pissed for you guys. =[=[=[ i can't believe they did that. douchebaaaags.