Case in point--one of the places that I frequently go for physical therapy is called one thing on all of the letterhead and by all of the receptionists. For this post, call it "St. Joseph Care" or "St. Joseph's Hospital." However, the official name of the place is...well, something along the lines of "Cedars-Riverton Rehabilitation Hospital." I got into quite a lot of trouble with Dial-A-Ride for using the name on the letterhead, because when DAR looked up the address I gave them, St. Joseph Care had a completely different address--that of the main hospital half a town away. The rehab hospital had never changed its name after the two entities merged.
So if someone told me that a room was in the Stagg Field room, I would assume that something like that was going on...an unofficial and frequently used name like vs. the official one. Sixth Avenue vs. Avenue of the Americas, in other words. If I didn't see it on the map, I'd think that the map was old or that the map I had had been drawn wrong. If none of the employees knew about the room--hey, maybe they're new and just don't know everything about the hotel yet. It happens.
Until I saw the post about WorldCon in Chicago, I'd never heard of "practical joke tracks" of panels that were printed up in official materials. I never would have assumed that such a thing was a practical joke because:
1) Practical jokes are mean-spirited and are intended to make fun of someone.
2) Making fun of people who have paid $200 to attend a convention is not good business.
3) Putting people in varying degrees of health, some of whom have problems dealing with physical and emotional stress, and some of whom suffer considerable physical pain as a result of physical stress, is not good business.
4) Anything in the official materials would have to have been approved by those in charge. This sets a tacit seal of approval on everything.
5) Putting an implied seal of approval on a mean-spirited action that mocks paying customers while causing them to waste their time, to suffer unnecessary physical and emotional stress, AND to risk enduring hours or even days of exhaustion and/or debilitating pain is not good business.
Yes, I know that the organizers are volunteers. But if it would come across as mean and petty and hurtful if a business did it or if the government did it, then it's no better if geeks do it.
I don't even know why anyone has to say any of this to the organizers of WorldCon. Treating customers LIKE customers and not like potential targets of ridicule seems mind-bogglingly obvious to me.
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access_fandom2012-09-06 11:28 pm
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Case in point--one of the places that I frequently go for physical therapy is called one thing on all of the letterhead and by all of the receptionists. For this post, call it "St. Joseph Care" or "St. Joseph's Hospital." However, the official name of the place is...well, something along the lines of "Cedars-Riverton Rehabilitation Hospital." I got into quite a lot of trouble with Dial-A-Ride for using the name on the letterhead, because when DAR looked up the address I gave them, St. Joseph Care had a completely different address--that of the main hospital half a town away. The rehab hospital had never changed its name after the two entities merged.
So if someone told me that a room was in the Stagg Field room, I would assume that something like that was going on...an unofficial and frequently used name like vs. the official one. Sixth Avenue vs. Avenue of the Americas, in other words. If I didn't see it on the map, I'd think that the map was old or that the map I had had been drawn wrong. If none of the employees knew about the room--hey, maybe they're new and just don't know everything about the hotel yet. It happens.
Until I saw the post about WorldCon in Chicago, I'd never heard of "practical joke tracks" of panels that were printed up in official materials. I never would have assumed that such a thing was a practical joke because:
1) Practical jokes are mean-spirited and are intended to make fun of someone.
2) Making fun of people who have paid $200 to attend a convention is not good business.
3) Putting people in varying degrees of health, some of whom have problems dealing with physical and emotional stress, and some of whom suffer considerable physical pain as a result of physical stress, is not good business.
4) Anything in the official materials would have to have been approved by those in charge. This sets a tacit seal of approval on everything.
5) Putting an implied seal of approval on a mean-spirited action that mocks paying customers while causing them to waste their time, to suffer unnecessary physical and emotional stress, AND to risk enduring hours or even days of exhaustion and/or debilitating pain is not good business.
Yes, I know that the organizers are volunteers. But if it would come across as mean and petty and hurtful if a business did it or if the government did it, then it's no better if geeks do it.
I don't even know why anyone has to say any of this to the organizers of WorldCon. Treating customers LIKE customers and not like potential targets of ridicule seems mind-bogglingly obvious to me.