Comes news at MidameriCon II they revoked the membership of Dave Truesdale over conduct at a panel. Specifically, he read a prepared speech that had nothing to do with the panel and unnecessarily pissed off a bunch of people. Also comes news today that the con issued a one-day suspension of Mary Robinette Kowal's badge for serving alcohol at a panel in the convention space. I didn't see either event, and I know Mary personally (and have not talked to her about this) but I have thoughts.

Thought #1 - Once Bitten Twice Shy

So, a few months back, Mark Oshiro broke the Internet over KC fandom's head regarding (in part) what happened at a panel. So, once bitten and thus twice shy, one would reasonably expect this con to have a lower tolerance for shenanigans. I'm told Truesdale has enough of an Internet presence to know this. So, in his case, it's rather like somebody making an elaborate sign saying "kick me" and taping it on their back, then getting upset at being kicked.

Thought #2 - New Sheriff in Town

Again as a reaction to past shenanigans, MidAmeriCon felt they needed to step up their enforcement game. They felt they needed a new sheriff, so they got one in the form of Mark Oshiro, deputy on the Incident Response Team. The whole point of getting a new sheriff is that all the stuff the old sheriff overlooked doesn't get overlooked any more. That cuts both ways.

Thought #3 - Response

As usual, Mary's response is thoughtful, classy and appropriate. She broke a rule she didn't know existed, apologized, took her punishment, and moved on. Frankly, were I in her shoes, I would not have been as gracious. I haven't seen a response from Truesdale, but I would be surprised if it were within a country mile of Mary's.

Random Thought #1 - ConQuest Elevators

This is the second year ConQuest was at the same hotel. The only change I could determine was that the management installed a new elevator control system. At each floor was a touch-screen, and one selected your desired floor. The screen then told you which elevator (A thru E) to take. There were no floor buttons inside the cab. I found the system annoying and counter-intuitive.

Random Thought #2 - Scalzi's book deal

Unless you were under a rock, you've probably heard that SF writer John Scalzi signed a $3.4 million dollar, 10-year deal for 13 books. (That's just over $250,000 per book.) Using Scalzi's scale, that's an “I’m Getting the Next Round" level deal. No sooner had the news broke then various Scalzi critics were attempting to minimize the deal or suggest that Scalzi could have done better. Green is a great color if you're an Orion slave-girl; not so much for the merely envious.

Random Thought #3 - An Apology

At a panel on Sunday, I made a statement the intent of which was to say that the Spanish conquistadors had systematically written out of the history the contributions of their Indian allies. (Which they did - most of the actual fighting in Peru and Mexico was done by Indian enemies of the ruling empires.)

What came out made it sound like the conquest was the Indian's fault, and I did not get a chance to correct the record on the panel. I'm sorry.