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@lecuyerv1 had some thoughts about @MaryRobinette’s post about clout, and SMOFs, and I have some responses to both, because I think they’re both not quite understanding how SMOFdon works. 1/
SMOFs definitely have the same cultural struggle having in ranks as the rest of society, between progressives and traditionalists, and it’s not all age/race/gender based, but a whole lot is. And saying “elder statesgeeks” (and those who support them) is the most accurate thing 2/
The bit that’s missing from understanding the #HugoAwards struggle is that the new voices/expectations vs old thing is not just happening among SMOFs, but also the non-SMOF fans who attend Worldcons (and vote for Hugos) and “pros” who create the content that is voted on. 3/
SMOF, despite the expansion “Secret Masters of Fandom” is just a term for those dedicated to spending volunteer hours running the network of conventions that are what I term “Worldcon-affiliated”. It results in an odd balancing act of “enough operating revenue” — 4/
(which is about memberships sold) and “Big” Names *persuaded to come essentially for free* (out of love of the genre). Because unlike the conventions centering on revenue generators for Big Media, the Hugos are about “by us, for us”. Supposed to be. 5/
And that’s where things get sticky. Because at its inception, Worldcon is an org that started with a bunch of (white, male, English-speaking) fans of a maligned genre banding together. In its distant past (they’ve been doing this for 78 years!), it’s a genre of outsiders. 6/
And the current generation of “elder statesgeeks” remembers the fifty-years past sense of being the new kids and wanting to impress the Old Guard to get in. Remember that number, it’s important. 7/
Fifty years. The age of a lot of GenXers. (Remember, GenY is in their *thirties* now, and the kids these days are GenZ.) This is yet another round of “Okay, Boomer”.
But getting back to the Hugos, this is a fight that starts back with ... 8/
But getting back to the Hugos, this is a fight that starts back with ... 8/
Whether ‘media’ (i.e. TV) was Really a Proper part of Worldcon fandom, which was founded on a push to “legitimize” SFF as “proper fiction”, and “not just pulps”. And about a fear that Star Trek, and then Star Wars, was not Serious Stuff. 9/
And Star Trek (and later Star Wars) would bring in New People who didn’t understand the Important Project of persuading the world that Science Fiction was Serious Stuff worthy of Respect. And SCIENCE! 10/
But it’s 2020 now, and for *decades*, SFF and geek culture have been at the heart of global pop culture, and large numbers live in the future that isn’t flying cars but is touchscreens and AI. The Elder Statesgeeks’ fight isn’t necessary anymore. 11/
But when you build a whole club around that premise, it’s hard for some people to stop. And it’s been hard for Boomers to step aside and let GenX (and beyond) step in, because they’re forever, in their own mythology, the Young Upstarts. 12/
And from the inside of all this Worldcon and SFF culture, as one of the non-white, non-men, it’s been a struggle all along. One that we’re finally seeing the results for. The Hugos are being voted for and awarded based on the idea that SFF is a genre for all of us. 13/
Those of you who’ve been following along for the last five years or so know that there was a massed effort to derail the modern Hugo Awards. Some of us thought that @GRRMspeaking was with us on the side of angels. It seems that was a mistake. Perhaps what he and others hated 14/
Was the *method* that group used to try to take the Hugos into an “anti-SJW” direction. But this has become that “let me tell you about the history of” blather that was so tedious in this year’s #HugoAwards. Sorry about that. We need to talk about con runners again. 15/
Please post your questions as responses, and I’ll get back to this in a couple of hours after I’ve done some necessary parenting tasks. Sorry to leave on a cliffhanger. 16/
So. SMOFs.
Worldcon and the associated conventions are based on a “collection of volunteers, gathered to discuss a thing we love, as a weekend long party” model. The insistence is that you buy a “membership” and not a “ticket”. It’s not a show for consumers, and it’s not 17/
Worldcon and the associated conventions are based on a “collection of volunteers, gathered to discuss a thing we love, as a weekend long party” model. The insistence is that you buy a “membership” and not a “ticket”. It’s not a show for consumers, and it’s not 17/
...a professional conference. It functions as something like a reunion and a service organization and a widely distributed social club. You might notice those are all gatherings that it’s difficult to join unless you meet criteria. This is where the problem begins. 18/
Having started as a gathering of people who already knew each other, and had established a shared culture (via fanzines, which is a separate discussion), there isn’t a lot of established tradition of *how to welcome new people*. There’s a lot of handwringing about 19/
...how to get new people involved, but when you’re talking about a volunteer organization that features hotel and travel expenses, unreimbursed, for the love of the task, this is necessarily a pretty narrow/shallow pool. But people manage to have extraordinary hobbies. 20/
And we’re back to money again. Because we still have volunteers trying to manage a delicate balance of membership (people who supply the operating funds for these convention weekends) and The Names (people who are supposed to attract the membership) with certain assumptions 21/
...about the permeability of ‘fans’ and ‘pros’ and the fact that many of the other standard features of these weekends aren’t about Industry Pros (authors, editors, agents, publishers, and the occasional media celebrity) but about BNFs (Big Name Fans) who are holding forth 22/
...on panel discussions and presenting at Masquerade (which is a formal, judged circuit of costumer and performer craft, as an old expression of “fandom” when it wasn’t Big Business to supply costumes for your favorite SFF stories) 23/
...and Vendors, known in the Olde Days as “hucksters” in some circles. And the Artists, because one of the other things about a traditional fandom gathering (convention) is the expression of Fannishness via Art. (And there are traditions about how it gets sold.) 24/
...and depending on the convention (and remember, we’re only talking about Worldcon and associated conventions, where the location of the next Worldcon is lobbied for), there are probably gatherings for playing games of all sorts, and maybe movie rooms, and kid tracks, and 25/
...spaces for people to eat food supplied by the convention, as part of the membership fee, if it’s a US convention. And a lot of this isn’t visible if you’re not someone interested in those features. Especially not if you’re a *pro* (writer, editor, agent, publisher) who is 26/
...there primarily to promote your work, on various panels, at signings, at readings, at kaffeeklatsches — and you didn’t come up from inside Worldcon and associated convention culture. Or from SFF clubs, or zines, or SFF bookstores, which all used to be major feeding points 27/
...for this maelstrom that calls itself “fandom”. As if there were no other. And often persists in acting as if fan fiction culture (which *also* calls itself “fandom”) was some separate, alien entity. (Because of those publishing pros. As if those publishing pros didn’t 28/
...themselves often come from fanfiction culture.) Your head might be spinning about now, if you didn’t have all these pieces. Or maybe you walked away. But if you’re still here, I’m finally getting back to the original thing about @GRRMspeaking 29/
Because...for our sins, which include all the hard cultural battles of recent decades about sexism, male entitlement culture, racism, transphobia, etc. — @GRRMspeaking is part of that Elder Statesgeek cohort. That wide-eyed hopeful of fifty years ago, part of the whirl of 30/
...legendary parties, and now. Now he’s one of the Biggest Names in all of SFF, because he wrote the story that turned into a Big Media Thing. (I don’t think @GRRMspeaking has ever been a conrunning SMOF, but I might be mistaken). And he’s a Big Draw for new faces who 31/
...don’t know about all the rest of the Worldcon and associated conventions thing. And a lot of stalwarts in the community consider him “one of us” and [were] awful proud of him, hometown boy done good. And I think he sees himself that way, too. And then there was last year. 32/
...except that while all of this is happening, there’s a whole lot of Other Stuff that’s been going on in other parts of SFF “fandom”, because a) it’s no longer “a lonely thing” to be a fan of SFF, b) the Internet has been letting fans get together even more effectively than 33/
...fanzines and clubs did, and these days it’s entirely possible to have a very full “fannish” life without knowing about all the other fandoms that are out there, unless you’re a hardcore meta fandom geek. *cough*. 34/
So a whole lot of *activism* has been happening, and resistance to gatekeeping, and a lot of Big Conversations (you might want to look at keywords like #RaceFail and some others I’m not going to write because their participants are *scary*). And oh, yeah. Boomers aging out 35/
...of high intensity tasks like conrunning, where people spend their vacation time focused on event management. For fun. But GenXers are really well-trained about respecting our parents’ generation, and used to partying along with them. The Boomers’ parents were apparently 36/
...more serious about Being Grownups but Fandom is about not putting away rocket ships and fairies as Childish Things, so. Forever Young, right? (Okay that’s a GenX song, but...Boomers somehow went from “don’t trust anyone over 30” to “don’t trust anyone under 30”. I don’t 37/
...know, I’m not a Boomer, and I don’t make the rules, I just observe them and try to explain them to others.
Anyway. Most of the SMOFs if you define them as “people who run Worldcon and associated conventions” are generally GenXers and Millennials now. But. George. 38/
Anyway. Most of the SMOFs if you define them as “people who run Worldcon and associated conventions” are generally GenXers and Millennials now. But. George. 38/
George, One of Us, with the Deep Pockets. And the Fame. And the Clout.
@lecuyerv1 said “you have to be a SMOF to take on SMOFs”. But George...isn’t a SMOF, in the sense of “one of the conrunning cohort”. He’s not even a BNF anymore. He’s Fame&Money but still in the mindset 39/
@lecuyerv1 said “you have to be a SMOF to take on SMOFs”. But George...isn’t a SMOF, in the sense of “one of the conrunning cohort”. He’s not even a BNF anymore. He’s Fame&Money but still in the mindset 39/
...of that kid back in 1970-mumble, hopeful, and worshipping Campbell, and this new generation just kicked the pedestal out from his hero.
So. Who’s he gonna listen to? 40/
So. Who’s he gonna listen to? 40/
I don’t have all the disaster reports of what happened behind the scenes at @CoNZealand. Just maybe more rumors than the average bear, and maybe more ties to all sorts of sides and factions and personalities and desires in this whole tangle than most. My current picture is of 41/
...a committee on the other side of the world from most of Worldcon history, aware of its distance, maybe not clear on how their country was a major draw for SFF Fandom, thank you Peter Jackson and Weta Studios. Trying to drum up membership support, and hooking their wagon 42/
...to a dragon of the genre, too powerful for them to leash. I would really love to know what happened in the last weeks leading up to the #HugoAwards ceremony. In the last days. I hope they pull together some fact finding and troubleshooting for all our sakes. But meanwhile 43/
I know what has been working, and what we need — not Big Names. We need very one of you, as a mass. Social Media means that the gatekeepers have a harder time now. That’s how we have the glorious, diverse, dynamic finalists and long lists for the Hugos now, the sort that 44/
Baby Me didn’t dream of. Big Dreams of futures where people like me exist, and it’s not all colonialism with lasers. (I wrote about that at Strange Horizons a while back). If you didn’t like the paean to The Guy Whose Name Isn’t On The Best New SFF Writer Award anymore...45/
Speak up. Join in. If the idea of the weekends I was describing appeal to you, find your local regional SFF convention and join the teams that make them happen. If you don’t know where to start looking, respond here and find out. 46/
Worldcon is going to Washington DC in 2021, and Chicago in 2022, and who knows after that, maybe somewhere else in the world, to be voted on, by the membership. Which could include you. Learn how bids are put together. Push Worldcon to do better. But know what it is — 47/
KTO out. Let me know what you think. 48/48
