Alex Von Thorn posted to Facebook that Seattle is looking at bidding for the 2015 Worldcon.
On behalf of SWOC, I announced an exploratory committee to consider the possibility of bidding for a Worldcon in Seattle in 2015…
It is not an active bid at this time, but should it become one Alex says he expects to be the chair.
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So if he’s trying to spread the word about the possible bid, why the bleep does viewing the Facebook page require a Facebook membership? I’m getting more than a little tired of people playing in that particular walled garden and saying they don’t want to play with me because I won’t agree with Facebook’s rules.
Mike K.: I don’t like Facebook either, and left after six months. But it’s good that reporters like Mike Glyer have access to places we don’t go, and report on news found there. Presumably the potential Seattle bid, if it develops, won’t restrict the data they need to pass along.
Indeed I commend Mike Glyer for reporting on the bid investigatory committee. I also heartily approve of Seattle as a possible Worldcon destination.
It is, however, possible to set up a page on Facebook that is visible to non-Facebook members. To make the info visible to some people and not others is less than optimal public relations.
Mike K.: I agree. And I read of problems in dealing with the Chicon website if you’re surfing there with IE8. Nonfunctional navigation menus, for one. So far the response is to use a better browser because testing a site with IE isn’t considered important, but in light of the bazillions who still use IE I’m sure that will be rethought…
Re Seattle in 2015: Heh, I wasn’t actually trying to globally “spread the word”, I was just letting my friends know what was going on. There is no bid so there is nothing to publicize yet. My purpose at the business meeting was to let people there know that a Seattle bid was under consideration, to factor into their planning. Anyone thinking about a 2015 Worldcon should have had an ear in that room. Should there be a bid, we will use conventional publicity channels.
Re chicon7.org: Seems IE renders buttons, CSS, etc. in completely different ways from other browsers. The website content came together quickly. I apologize for not skipping the entire Worldcon to get the site fully up and running. Rather than doing anything touristy in Melbourne today, I’m spending today in the hotel room fixing the IE issues on the Chicon web site; I expect most of this to be resolved before we head to New Zealand this evening.
The issue on Sunday was not whether IE was important, but whether we should have the site be visible at all. There are a number of issues outstanding and I’m working through the list of things still to be done. The site will also undergo an extensive redesign once our artistic director gets up to speed. The critical day-zero priorities were to announce the guests and to enable online registration. We sold two attending memberships before the business meeting ended.
I’ve registered seattlein2015.org now, but I’m just parking it for future use.