Worldcon 75 Publishes Member List, Issues Clarification About Public vs. Private Names

Two days ago, Worldcon 75 announced that they had added a list of members to their website.

We’ve added a list of attending members to our website at http://www.worldcon.fi/ourmembers! Here you can find a list of attending members who have given permission to publish their names when they registered.

If you want to have your name added to or removed from the list, go to https://members.worldcon.fi and request a login link to edit your Public Name fields on your membership information.

This was shortly followed by confusion on Twitter:

In addition, some members reported that their name was publicly posted, despite having checked the “do not publish my name” box on the Site Selection form.

Worldcon 75 then responded:

The confusion apparently stems from the Public Name fill-in text fields in the online membership purchase form and the “Edit Personal Information” section on the Worldcon 75.

Some people believed that “Public First Name” and “Public Last Name” were intended to hold the member’s Badge Name, a provision which has been common on registration forms for past Worldcons and many other fan cons, and filled those fields in accordingly.

That is not the case. In fact, according to Worldcon 75, these fields are intended to be filled in only if the member wishes to have their name included on the public member list on Worldcon 75’s website and in the convention Programme Book.

The list on the website at http://www.worldcon.fi/ourmembers appears to be automated, and additions, changes, and deletions made by members to those Public Name fields should be reflected on the list after a short delay.

No provision has been made for members to provide a Badge Name for the convention.

Worldcon 75 members can request a new e-mail with their personalized link by going to http://members.worldcon.fi and entering the e-mail address used on their Worldcon 75 registration.

68 thoughts on “Worldcon 75 Publishes Member List, Issues Clarification About Public vs. Private Names

  1. @Rick Kovalcik

    because I”m generally not an a__hole

    I regret to inform you that you have found an exception to your rule.

  2. @Mark yep. definitely the exception to some rule but I think it is my being jumped on. this is a case where I posted something a bunch of people thought was useful information and a bunch of other people hiding behind ambiguous pseudonyms jumped on me questioning if I read the original post and things like that. for all I know you are all the same person. it would be one thing if file770 validated emails and made sure there was a one to one correspondence between handles and email addresses, but they don’t. of course, people can always create additional email accounts, but that at least makes it a little harder.

    it’s also the exception to the rule of facebook being full of fail, because the conversation there about this has been a lot more rational.

  3. Rick Kovalcik: Sigh, no I don’t tend to get death threats or other forms of harassment because I”m generally not an a__hole. I also know how to private message someone…

    Your assumption that anything more than expressing an opinion online is required in order for someone to receive abuse for it, is incredibly naïve and clueless and does you no credit.

    And as far as your ridiculous suggestion that people need to message you and tell you their real identity so that you can give them your approval:

    I have met Mike Glyer in person and we converse by e-mail almost daily. I have met a couple dozen Filers in person, and have conversed with many more by e-mail. I’m sure that you believe that you are an important person, but neither I nor anyone else needs your approval as to the name we use online, nor do we have any need to disclose our real identity to you so that you can somehow give us “validation”.

     
    Rick Kovalcik: this is a case where I posted something a bunch of people thought was useful information and a bunch of people hiding behind ambiguous pseudonyms jumped on me

    This is a case where you posted redundant information as if it was somehow a great revelation, and one person, me, pointed that out to you.

     
    Also, that part where you’re “generally not an a__hole”? You might want to start working on that, because in this thread, you’re failing. 🙄

  4. The original post said in part “If you want to have your name added to or removed from the list, go to https://members.worldcon.fi and request a login link to edit your Public Name fields on your membership information.” I pointed out that anyone who had the hugo voting link already effectively had the login link and didn’t need to email. That is my point. What am I missing?

  5. Rick, people have gotten death threats online for the “crime” of working as a game designer. Or being female. Or gay. Or trans. Or having a political opinion that they actually post online.

    I know personally some of the people who have gotten death and/or rape threats. The ones I know are not assholes.

    As for nyms, note the gravatar photo; it comes with an ID number and is tied to an email address. That’s a fairly solid identifier. Also, anyone who has been online for any length of time generally learns peoples “voices”; that’s how moderators catch sock puppets.

    I’m afraid you’re coming across like the stereotypical middle-aged middle-class white man who doesn’t think there’s such a “crime” as “driving while black” and who wouldn’t hesitate to talk back to a cop because, after all, cops don’t just shoot people for mouthing off… <wry> Other people have different lived experiences and they’re as valid as your own. And when they say they have concerns, they deserve to be taken seriously.

  6. No-Filer’s met me in person! I could be a stack of dragons in a trenchcoat!

  7. Meredith, if you’re NOT a stack of dragons in a trench coat, I, for one, will be quite disappointed….

    (Have you put a dragon on your wheelchair yet? When you do, I’d *love* photos….)

  8. @Rick Kovalcik

    I have no opinion on whether your original point was right or wrong. I have a very strong opinion on your statement that people receive abuse because they are a__holes.

    As you are so very concerned that you are being piled on, and Cheryl is being kind enough to explain things to you nicely, I’ll leave it there.

  9. I once got threatened for saying I thought that a win-pose didn’t suit the personality or theme of a video game character. While the person threatening me may well have thought I was being an asshole and deserved to be harassed – he certainly thought I was a bitch – I think most reasonable people would consider that to be simply expressing an opinion. Harassment isn’t something that happens to people who “deserve” it (although I don’t think assholes deserve to be harassed, either), it happens because other people are assholes who want to harass people. Suggesting otherwise is victim-blaming.

    @Cassy B

    I’m working on it! I’ve been dithering over acquiring a decent bag to put a dragon on (since *grumble* I’m not really allowed to make changes to the wheelchair itself *whinge*), because finding a decent bag is a tricky thing. I’d like to say it is a needle in a haystack problem, but there aren’t enough options to justify calling it a haystack and I’m not sure the needle exists. At this point I’m mostly resolved on getting the least offensive cheapish wheelchair-backpack I can find, putting a dragon on it, and long-term planning on adapting a decent bag pattern to be wheelchair-appropriate. With dragons, obviously.

    *smoke puffs out between the trenchcoat buttons*

  10. I gotta say, it would be pretty impressive for someone to sock-puppet that many regulars for around two years minimum (more for people who had a significant con-fandom presence beforehand), occasionally ninja’ing your own posts, having arguments with yourself, fiercely defending multiple viewpoints on whether a book is good or not-good, keeping all of the personal details straight, accurately depicting cultural differences… Not to mention, you know, quite a few of whom have attended conventions in person so you would need to be a master of disguise, and possibly also hire actors so you could be seen in the same room.

    It would be exhausting.

  11. “this is a case where I posted something a bunch of people thought was useful information and a bunch of other people hiding behind ambiguous pseudonyms jumped on me questioning if I read the original post and things like that. for all I know you are all the same person.”

    I’ve been told I’m the same person as Camestros Felapton which surprised me. Or him. It is all very confusing. At least I’m not Timothy, because I do not like Walrus.

  12. Kovalcik: it would be one thing if file770 validated emails and made sure there was a one to one correspondence between handles and email addresses,

    Are you going anywhere with this, or is it just FUD? Would you have avoided making that sly remark to JJ if I validated your email?

  13. Instead of FUD sock-puppetry, some of the real thing: how about The Ms Scribe Story? Quite long but a good piece of (transformative works) fannish history and exposé.

    And then after that, the Mina de Malfois fiction series affectionately parodying various fanwanks of yore is lovely. I still occasionally check back in vain hope of new updates, sigh, and Mina/Arc is a great OTP. Fair to say it will probably be funnier to people who recognise the events it is parodying, of course.

  14. Meredith, if you aren’t a stack of dragons in a trenchcoat in – at the very least – another universe, I too will be very disappointed.

    I stopped counting rape and death threats directed my way a long time ago, but there have been a lot. I’m sometimes a little snarky or even sarcastic (gasp), but I’m not an asshole on line or in person. My major sin appears to be having opinions while female and, really, I’m not sure why that makes men angry enough to send me death and rape threats, but it certainly has. It’s tiresome, rarely inventive enough to make me laugh and why I no longer travel in unmoderated spaces on the internet.

  15. I wrote *and* received a check yesterday! The person I wrote to will take the whole day’s worth to the bank or ATM (it’s his income for the day — checks are safer than cash, and as a sole proprietor he doesn’t have the money for credit cards), and I can photograph-deposit the one I got through the app. Or stuff it in the ATM at the grocery store.

    @Rick, you may be too much of a naif and a tender snowflake for the internet. Also an asshole and completely clueless as to the customs of fandom and the experiences of women. And have no knowledge of the Internet.

    Mike knows my real name and that of many others. I have met at least half a dozen Filers IRL, so they know my name here, my real name, my face, and the town I live in.

    You, I never heard of till this. Projection, much?

    I really hope Meredith IS a stack of dragons in a trenchcoat, and I can’t say I’d be entirely surprised, though I’d wonder how they work the wheelchair.

    It’s pronounced “Mangrove Throat-Wobbler”.

  16. @Someone-who-could-be-anyone: “Or Mike Glyer or a bunch of other people on File770 who have met me in the flesh and could confirm that I am who I say I am.”

    Missed the point a bit.

  17. @Meredith: “No-Filer’s met me in person! I could be a stack of dragons in a trenchcoat!”

    Wait, you mean you’re not?!

    Shoot, I lose the pool. I had 5 chocolate bars riding on this.

  18. Also, it’s like you only have a bare acquaintance with the internet and what a truly terrible place it can be.

    When I was being harassed by a stalker back in the bad ol’ days of the internet, when the police didn’t generally take anything anyone said about threats online seriously, I was informed by a “security specialist” that I needed to make up a completely new name that sounded real and post under that for my own safety.

    Instead, I called the local police department of my stalker, explained exactly what was happening and sent them hard copies of the email threats he’d sent to me. The officer in charge of the case wrote back (paper!) and said they had identified the man as someone they were keeping an eye on because he had threatened many other women. They asked me to send them any copies of any more threats I got from him. I did so for the next five years. I haven’t heard from the stalker, or that police department, in about 18 years now.

    But I digress – the point is that I was told by a security specialist to make up a real sounding name and post under that. I’m sure there are quite a few people out there who post under names that sound/look completely real, but are as “fake” as JJ or lurkertype. I’d rather know that someone is using a pseudonym anyway. I find JJ and lurkertype to be more trustworthy than someone with a totally real name that hasn’t posted long enough to be “real” to me.

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