20 thoughts on “Lovecraft Pins Being Retired Too

  1. That’s welcome. Also predictable.

    But it would be nice if more of the people making these decisions could see the pushback coming, and not have to be backed into making the obvious choice over and over.

    I’m sure no one actually thought, “Well, we reworked the whole award so as to be more welcoming and less offensive, but in the name of saving a few hundred bucks, let’s make sure to keep being unwelcoming and offensive on the side”…

    …but surely someone could have pointed out that would be the effect before they went public with it.

  2. If they’d even worded the initial announcement as, “We will continue to use the existing nomination pins until our stock runs out,” instead of saying Lovecraft’s image will “live on”, they’d have gotten much less pushback.

  3. If they had a freakin’ clue, there wouldn’t have been a need for this, or the pushback.

    WFC has been unbelievably, one might even say eldritchly, clueless for some time now. Why do they miss the obvious? Are they too inbred (figuratively, but in keeping with HPL) that they don’t understand what normal people do? Do they not know any average fen, so they just blurt this stuff out (Lovecraft, Spicy Orientals, etc.) and then are genuinely surprised when the internet falls on their head? STILL?

    I mean, they could ask the Filers and we could tell them privately instead of publicly. Or find some other clued-in group and ask them. Or — and I know this is crazy — ask the people who’d be affected!

    In conclusion: squamous.

  4. So they made the right decision but we’re still mad because they didn’t make it sooner? Tough crowd.

    I unreservedly praise the WFC for finding a way to retire the pins. All the award winners and nominees this November should have a better experience.

    I mean, they could ask the Filers and we could tell them privately instead of publicly.

    Yeah, we have all the answers. That’s why we were at each other’s throats for a lot of the OdysseyCon discussion.

    Filers didn’t have to wait around to be asked. We could have contacted the WFC ourselves. I did and they were glad to receive the suggestions.

  5. We argue a lot, but not about this.

    Did they really think “Oh, people are only mad about big representations of HPL, they’ll be fine with little ones?” No. They were blinded by the sunk cost (which I still think they ought to charge to whoever ordered them without authorization).

    That they didn’t think “Hey, maybe we should dump the small versions too!” makes me wonder about their decision-making capabilities as a whole.

    Better late than never, though, and I’m glad they did the right thing with only a week or so instead of months or years of hemming and hawing.

  6. @rcade

    To be fair, World Fantasy Con has a fairly extensive history of controversy at this point, and because of that they probably ought to be doing more pre-emptive consulting when they’re approaching potentially controversial issues…

    But yes, Filers aren’t perfect and rarely agree entirely on anything, so expecting us to be the arbiters of whatever would be confusing at best. Unless the person asking was already planning on doing three different things at once.

    I didn’t think we were all at each other’s throats over OddCon, though.

    ETA

    @lurkertype

    There are people who I would consider Filers that wanted to keep the Gahan Wilson design because they liked it. I wouldn’t say there was a universal consensus here on getting rid of the bust or the pins.

    ETA2: But yeah, WFC should have expected keeping the pins not to go down well since they already knew people had a big problem with the Lovecraft design. Glad they’ve decided to change it. (Although I think it would have been acceptable to allow nominees to pick their preferred design if they didn’t want to junk them outright.)

    ETA3: MANY EDITS! HANDLE IT! (Warcraft reference)

  7. rcade: So they made the right decision but we’re still mad because they didn’t make it sooner? Tough crowd.

    This is another example of a chronic problem we see frequently in our community — people have to struggle so long to achieve justice they have no idea what to do when they win. I say this not as a complaint, but to suggest people consider “How am I going to conduct myself if I get the change I want?” Some may do just the same, but not everyone.

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  9. So they made the right decision but we’re still mad because they didn’t make it sooner? Tough crowd.

    More sadness than anger, I think. I know I’m pleased they (finally) did the sensible thing.

    But when someone shoots themselves in the foot three times in a row before they figure out they should stop pulling the trigger while the gun’s holstered, it’s a relief but people still might think they’re not necessarily the best sheriff the town could have.

    Still, you never know. As a renowned sage once said, “From here on, Skipper, it looks like smooth sailing…”

  10. I’m glad they made this decision. I’m personally very happy that I don’t have to make any decisions in the limelight.

  11. Kurt has it right; they may have learned better NOW, but like Andy did with Barney, we’re gonna want WFC to keep the bullet in the pocket till they check with adult supervision. (Wiki refers to Barney as “inept but well-meaning”; pretty good description of WFC!)

  12. So a young, new award was partnered with a veteran pin award holding questionable old-fashioned attitudes. Sparks flew, but now the pin is retiring. Expect tragedy to strike, the pin expiring in a pool of racist ichor in the new award’s arms, then the new award going on a rampage of justice and revenge.

  13. Nigel: So a young, new award was partnered with a veteran pin award holding questionable old-fashioned attitudes. Sparks flew, but now the pin is retiring. Expect tragedy to strike, the pin expiring in a pool of racist ichor in the new award’s arms, then the new award going on a rampage of justice and revenge.

    I’ll have whatever he‘s having. 😉

  14. ‘I’ll have whatever he‘s having.’

    We have our tag-line.
    ‘I’ll have whatever he’s having.’
    ‘He’s having a World Fantasy Award. With a bullet. And tentacles. Bullet tentacles.’

  15. Nigel: We have our tag-line.

    I meant, “I’ll have whatever mind-altering substances he’s having”, but okay, that works, too. 😉

  16. Since there are obviously are a number of people who still like having HPL’s mug on things, perhaps they could offer nominees a choice between the new and old designs until the HPL pins run out. Or are they actually doing that?

  17. I asked the WFC about the fate of the old pins and was told that the awards committee will make that decision. It sounds like they are reluctant to let them become available to the general public in any way because of how past nominees would feel about it.

  18. Kurt Busiek on April 18, 2017 at 2:15 pm said:

    But it would be nice if more of the people making these decisions could see the pushback coming, and not have to be backed into making the obvious choice over and over. […] but surely someone could have pointed out that would be the effect before they went public with it.

    There may well have been someone who did point it out. Over the last decade or so I spent a lot of time and effort pointing things like this out on a similar kind of committee, but people are often quite bullish and macho about this kind of thing. They don’t think the internet will turn on them. They think they’ll get the benefit of the doubt. They think that if they or their Facebook friends don’t see a problem, no one else will either. Pointing out such problems in private tends to make you unpopular with your colleagues, and sometimes it’s easier to just let them stick their hands in the fire and find out for themselves.

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