New on my blog:
https://garymcgath.com/wp/china-worldcon-tickets/
Normally, when a fan-run convention wants to name a mascot, the concom tosses ideas around and picks one. (I remain disappointed that the 2004 Boston Worldcon called its Uncle Sam-like mascot "Uncle Lensman" rather
than "Uncle Samms.")
The Chengdu Worldcon is doing things a bit differently. Whoever provides
the name for their mascot gets "three physical admissions, attending the Worldcon opening ceremony as a guest, a walk-in reservation channel for
the Hugo Awards ceremony and the Worldcon closing ceremony, a mascot
gift package, work to be introduced and preserved in prominent sections
of the Worldcon publications, a commemorative certificate and a letter
of gratitude presented by the Committee, a free Pidu-trip, and free
pickup service from airports to the venue."
It's also been reported that the convention is selling "tickets" (not memberships) in China through a Ticketmaster-like service.
This is a strange way to run an allegedly fan-run, nonprofit convention.
(I don't know what a Pidu-trip is.)
Well, I believe one reason conventions in the US sell memberships rather
than tickets is that tickets are subject to sales tax in most areas.
It seems unlikely that tax authorities will forego taxes just because
of a change in terminology.
On 9/11/23 10:54 AM, eleeper@optonline.net wrote:
Well, I believe one reason conventions in the US sell memberships rather
than tickets is that tickets are subject to sales tax in most areas.
It's not just that. The word "membership" stresses that everyone is a >participant, even if it's just talking to pros in the halls. Selling >admissions through a third-party agency (and letting it keep a
substantial cut) decreases the sense that members are part of the same >community.
New on my blog:
https://garymcgath.com/wp/china-worldcon-tickets/
Normally, when a fan-run convention wants to name a mascot, the concom tosses ideas around and picks one. (I remain disappointed that the 2004 Boston Worldcon called its Uncle Sam-like mascot "Uncle Lensman" rather
than "Uncle Samms.")
The Chengdu Worldcon is doing things a bit differently. Whoever provides
the name for their mascot gets "three physical admissions, attending the Worldcon opening ceremony as a guest, a walk-in reservation channel for
the Hugo Awards ceremony and the Worldcon closing ceremony, a mascot
gift package, work to be introduced and preserved in prominent sections
of the Worldcon publications, a commemorative certificate and a letter
of gratitude presented by the Committee, a free Pidu-trip, and free
pickup service from airports to the venue."
It's also been reported that the convention is selling "tickets" (not memberships) in China through a Ticketmaster-like service.
This is a strange way to run an allegedly fan-run, nonprofit convention.
(I don't know what a Pidu-trip is.)
--
Gary McGath <ga...@mcgath.com> wrote:
On 9/11/23 10:54 AM, ele...@optonline.net wrote:
Well, I believe one reason conventions in the US sell memberships rather >> than tickets is that tickets are subject to sales tax in most areas.
It's not just that. The word "membership" stresses that everyone is a >participant, even if it's just talking to pros in the halls. Selling >admissions through a third-party agency (and letting it keep aAnd this is something that is lost in the translation to Chinese, I believe.
substantial cut) decreases the sense that members are part of the same >community.
But we also have the issue that, although fans initially made the Worldcon bid and started the Chinese Worldcon organization, they have been pushed aside
by municipal government which has taken the event over for their own purposes. This is how these things go in China, and it's clearly going to provide a lot of good things for the Worldcon as well as a lot of bad things too. You are seeing one of the bad ones, and there will be more. Note
how supporting memberships are now described, for instance.
This is going to be one unusual WorldCon.
The latest is that Chengdu has stopped selling full convention "tickets"
but will start selling one-day tickets. There wasn't any advance warning
of the cutoff.
In article <ueh7cv$3g1i8$1@dont-email.me>,
Gary McGath <garym@mcgath.com> wrote:
The latest is that Chengdu has stopped selling full convention "tickets"
but will start selling one-day tickets. There wasn't any advance warning
of the cutoff.
And the people who have already purchased such things?
On 9/21/23 8:40 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
And the people who have already purchased such things?I assume they're still valid.
garym@mcgath.com (Gary McGath) wrote:
Scott Dorsey wrote:
And the people who have already purchased such things?
I assume they're still valid.
If they aren't, that will /definitely/ sink any future PRC Worldcon
bid that's voted on outside the PRC.
John Dallman <jgd@cix.co.uk> wrote:
garym@mcgath.com (Gary McGath) wrote:
Scott Dorsey wrote:
And the people who have already purchased such things?
I assume they're still valid.
If they aren't, that will /definitely/ sink any future PRC Worldcon
bid that's voted on outside the PRC.
Every Worldcon is voted on everywhere that its supporting members are.
There were so many votes cast from China, that even if everyone who
voted who was at the (DC) Worldcon or who wasn't Chinese had voted
against Chengdu, it still would have won.
Can anyone think of any rules change that would prevent this?
One possibility would be to separately count the votes of onsite
voters and of all voting fans, onsite and remote. If the two votes
result in the same site winning, then that site wins. If the two
votes are for different sites, then all attending members of the past
ten Worldcons get to vote between the two winning sites.
This is analogous to the fact that if no US presidential candidate
gets the majority of the electoral-college votes, that the House of Representatives then decides who will be president. Except that the
House isn't restricted to selecting among the two leading candidates,
but can choose anyone whatsoever (so long as they're eligible, i.e.
are a US citizen, were born in the US, are over 35, and have lived in
the US for 14 years).
Banning bids from PRC. Or less obvious (though not quite as certain),
only accepting bids from fan organizations who have demonstrated they
can hold conventions and have at least preliminary agreements with large >enough hotels.
Robert Woodward <robertaw@drizzle.com> wrote:
Banning bids from PRC. Or less obvious (though not quite as certain),
only accepting bids from fan organizations who have demonstrated they
can hold conventions and have at least preliminary agreements with large
enough hotels.
The Chinese fan organization will by then have demonstrated that they can hold conventions, however.
I suspect that this year's worldcon will be very formal, very organized,
very segregated between fans and pros, and very successful financially. Remember this event is run by event planning experts, with a lot of political pull (and consequently with a lot of external funding available). You and
I would surely prefer that it be run by fans, but even so it is being run by people who will make a success out of it even if not the kind of success we might like.
Ahem. That is NOT how the House of Representatives conducts a
Presidential Election. They have to choose one of the 3 candidates
with the most votes in the Electoral College, see the 12 Amendment.
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