The ConCarolinas controversy has now taken the form of rival petitions.
As reported in yesterday’s Scroll, at iPetitions signers are calling for the “Removal of Jada and Luis Diaz from ConCarolinas Committee”. (Jada Diaz is the convention chair, and Luis, her husband, is head of security.)
Please sign below if you have been a part of ConCarolinas but have decided not to return if Jada and Luis do not step down. Feel free to remain anonymous. This is NOT a forum to discuss issues, this is a platform to show the current impact to the continued survival of the Convention.
However, most of the signers are anonymous, and some of the comments left by signers are critical of the effort. The petition has 114 signatures – including the dissenters – at this writing.
At the end of the con last weekend, ConCarolinas chair Jada Diaz delivered a statement she negotiated with author David Weber (the video is here). Weber, creator of the Honor Harrington series, agreed to be the convention’s guest in 2019 provided the committee met his conditions, including a public statement repudiating those who had issues with John Ringo’s selection as a special guest, with an apology to Ringo, who had withdrawn as a guest after discussion with the chair.
Opponents of the removal petition started an iPetitions effort of their own to support the ConCarolinas chair, “Fight against discrimination in SF”.
Sign this petition to support Jada, Luis, Science Fiction,Authors and a true fan base
Petition is to counter the bigoted petition against Jada and Luis of Con Carolinas and Support Guests from being disinvited because of a vocal minority.
David Weber was among the very first signers, which now include Jon Del Arroz, Lou Antonelli, and Richard Paolinelli. It has gained 117 signatures so far.
David Weber liked the idea of a petition so much he started his own at Change.org: “Ensure Freedom of Speech & Assembly at ConCarolinas” which has gained over 1,600 signatures.
We’re here to support Jada Hope and Luis Diza’s stance on the demands to disinvite guests at ConCarolinas based on unfounded and unproven stories posted by Internet pressure groups.
Our goal is to obtain as many signatures as possible as a way of demonstrating who is truly in favor of diversity by raising our voices. We’d like to count them in the hundreds, but we’d really rather count them by the thousand.
This is not a petition to support inviting guests who the con committee believes would be problems for the con or who do not seem, to the con committee, to be a “good fit” for the people who attend ConCarolinas. We who sign this petition are saying only that once an invitation has been issued, the guest invited should not be subsequently disinvited simply because someone else planning to attend the con will be uncomfortable in that guest’s presence.
We believe that no one, left or right, should have an ex post facto veto right over who can and cannot be invited to a convention nor should the vocal minority, who do not work for the con in any capacity and are simply attending A PRIVATE EVENT of their OWN FREE WILL , be allowed to exert that kind of influence over a convention.
We believe that if ConCarolinas ejects Jada Hope and Luis Diza from the Convention Committee (the managing body of the convention) and reverses the position they have taken on the dis-invitation of guests, then no one who believes in freedom of expression should attend this convention ever again.
Some of us have attended ConCarolinas in the past, as either a ticket-buying attendee of the con or as an invited guest. Under the ‘I’m signing because…” section please indicated if you’ve attended in the past as a guest or attendee and if you will attend in the future if they are removed.
The video below shows the apology that Jada Hope made at the end of ConCarolinas 2018 on June 3rd to John Ringo and re-emphasized the con’s commitment to an inclusive atmosphere for all people….
Weber is heavily promoting the petition in his social media. On his own Facebook page he wrote —
So the counter attack has begun at ConCarolinas. We all knew it would, but I have to admit that I was at least a tiny bit surprised by the speed with which it’s been mounted.
Essentially, there is a move afoot to “disinvite” Jada and Luis from the con committee. There is a petition online seeking 600 signatures in support of that removal. The last time I was there, it had 63.
I believe that the most effective way that we can support Jada’s position at this time — and, people, she deserves all the support we can give her — is to buy supporting memberships for 2019 and post on the Carolinas Facebook page that we have done so — one by one — and why, and inform them that if, in fact Jada and Luis are evicted from the concom, they may have our money this year, but they will never get it again.
For myself, I will say only this. If, in fact, Jada and Luis are removed from the concom, then ConCarolinas is DEFINITELY going back on to my list of cons I will not attend, and I will be urging everyone that I know to never attend that convention again.
Interestingly, when his wife, Sharon, put a link to his call for signatures on The Royal Manticoran Navy Facebook page, run by a large group of Honor Harrington series fans, her post reportedly was removed for violating the group’s rule about political posts, then restored at the request of David Weber.
Apparently this is the rule:
There has been quite a bit of discussion about the appropriateness of the Webers’ request, especially in comments on Dave Cleric’s post to the tRMN group (which is public) where Weber participated. Here is a brief excerpt.
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This is fine.
More heat, less light.
There has been some discussion on the SouthernFandomClassic Yahoo group about disentangling DeepSouthCon from this convention…
A duel with books at sunset!
I’m curious about the mechanics of this. Is it possible to fire to con chair? If so, who has the ability to do so?
I suppose the real question is how many of these signatories – on either side – are actual attendees or likely attendees, and how many are just signing a petition. The proper test comes when they try to get in guests and sell tickets for next year – the market will speak, one way or another.
I am bit puzzled by the petition plan. I guess the first one was intended to be for people who are ConCarolinas regulars but the second seems to be for anybody.
Bookworm1398, it depends how the convention is organized. I do NOT know how ConCarolinas is organized (I do not, for example, know if this convention is non-profit or for-profit); I can only speak from my own personal experience with conventions.
I can tell you that the (non-profit) conventions I am personally acquainted with are run by an elected Board of Directors. As this Board puts the convention chair in place, I’d be very surprised if they did not also have the authority to dismiss or fire a con chair. Whether this is true for ConCarolinas is a matter of speculation, however.
With David Weber as special guest next year, ConCarolinas can expect an influx of his fans. What happens the year after that kinda depends on how this all plays out.
Commenters on David Weber’s Facebook wall keep claiming that a member of the concom carrying a gun was (a) not against convention rules because they don’t apply to staff and (b) known in advance to the hotel.
I’ve seen reports here from people who spoke to the hotel and were told it had no idea anybody was carrying a gun and was not happy about it. The hotel does not allow guns as policy.
The idea that posted convention rules on weapons don’t apply to the staff is a new one. I think many congoers would expect to be told if the con was allowing untrained people to carry guns while proclaiming the event did not allow weapons at all. This is a safety issue that requires disclosure, not one set of rules for attendees and guests and another for staff.
There is a non-profit corporation called ConCarolinas, Inc., established in 2010 that is registered in South Carolina with a registered agent Nancy Hope Diaz. I think that’s Jada Hope Diaz, the chair of the con.
This page states the corporation has two employees and annual revenue of $72,000.
I’m disappointed in David Weber – and in how he’s contradicting himself.
When attendees and/or vendors express that having a particular guest at the Con makes them not want to attend, then they are in fact simply exercising the very freedom of expression that he claims to be defending.
He says that “once an invitation has been issued, the guest invited should not be subsequently disinvited simply because someone else planning to attend the con will be uncomfortable in that guest’s presence” followed by “We believe that no one […] should have an ex post facto veto right over who can and cannot be invited to a convention […]” – in other words, he is demanding precisely the right to decide what a con is or is not allowed to do regarding its guests that he wants to deny other people, by demanding that they follow his particular chosen criteria; which just happen to ignore the levels of discomfort that a badly-invited guest might cause in potential attendees or indeed other guests, panelists, vendors, etc, and which might after all simply indicate that the guests is in fact a bad fit for the con.
Yes, the event is private that people are choosing to attend or not; but it is also a private event arranged for the benefit of the potential attendees and that benefit is what the event uses to try to attract people to attend; and potential attendees are perfectly entitled to express what may or may not be causing them to choose to attend or not, why they feel that way, and the Con has to be allowed to react accordingly – or they could end up being stuck having to follow Weber’s dictate and keep a bad guest that scares away a large part of the attendees, makes the entire event less pleasant for everyone, or indeed could have much further-reaching consequences.
It seems to be about free speech for some (the guest) over the free speech of others (the attendees & vendors) and over the freedom of choice of the con to react appropriately.
You can fire any conchair. You just need them to stand still long enough, enough kindling, and a lighter. It gets more difficult if they’re also head of the nonprofit or corporation or if it’s raining. If people and vendors don’t like the way the con is being run, it’s probably easier to pick another convention to attend. The prison sentence becomes just travel time and the aggrivation factors are much lower. Charging in on white horses is a lot of work, and works better in the movies anyway. If no one attends the convention, or you attend another convention, you won’t have to worry about it.
Which is all well and good for private fans, but a tad more complicated for vendors, who have to choose whether to forgo an income they may have counted on.
Larry Sanderson on June 8, 2018 at 2:06 pm said:
You can fire any conchair. You just need them to stand still long enough, enough kindling, and a lighter. It gets more difficult if they’re also head of the nonprofit or corporation or if it’s raining. If people and vendors don’t like the way the con is being run, it’s probably easier to pick another convention to attend. The prison sentence becomes just travel time and the aggrivation factors are much lower. Charging in on white horses is a lot of work, and works better in the movies anyway. If no one attends the convention, or you attend another convention, you won’t have to worry about it.
It’s also complicated by the fact that ConCarolinas is hosting DeepSouthCon next year. The DSC business meeting will be there and there will be a couple of items up for ratification that were first voted on this year. To vote in the business meeting, you must be in attendance. So those of us who have an interest in how the vote turns out may have a hard choice to make.
Not to mention the site selection for DSC 2021 will be held there as well. The bidders need not be there, but you have to be there to vote.
Oy, what a mess.
So he’s pissed off even his most loyal fans. Great job.
DSC needs to disentangle, regardless of politics — who wants to be caught up in someone else’s mess (as @Sheila pointed out), and be on the penumbra of possible legal stuff, if the hotel decides to go for breach of contract, or if OH JOHN RINGO NO decides to sue everyone he doesn’t like.
@Christian: exactly. It’s contradictory, and still would be if the political affiliations were reversed.
Weber’s basically made himself Czar of Allowed Speech. The Supreme Leader.
You can fire any conchair. You just need them to stand still long enough, enough kindling, and a lighter. It gets more difficult if they’re also head of the nonprofit or corporation or if it’s raining. If people and vendors don’t like the way the con is being run, it’s probably easier to pick another convention to attend. The prison sentence becomes just travel time and the aggrivation factors are much lower. Charging in on white horses is a lot of work, and works better in the movies anyway. If no one attends the convention, or you attend another convention, you won’t have to worry about it.
I don’t pretend to any knowledge about how cons are normally set up, but if it’s like nonprofits I’ve been involved in, there’s a board of directors, and if the board decides that the attention being garnered is too much of the wrong kind, they can force a chairperson to step down.
I don’t really have a horse in this race, because due to my location, it’s extremely unlikely that I’m ever going to attend ConCarolinas.
However, my opinion of David Weber and my desire to ever read anything by him (and he was on my “maybe check this out” list before) has dropped to zero.
It sounds simpler to build a backout mechanism for DeepSouthCon, or some kind of minimum standards you want followed or the #1 vote winner gets bumped and it goes to another convention, say #2. That’s something DeepSouthCon can control. Good luck trying to control the chair of ConCarolinas, or oust her, and good luck trying to work with her too. You are in an uncomfortable place, especially if it takes you multiple years to do it.
—
Vendors are usually mobile this side of the pond — they’ll go where they are comfortable and can make money.
Cora says However, my opinion of David Weber and my desire to ever read anything by him (and he was on my “maybe check this out” list before) has dropped to zero.
I think I read him quite some years back and was unimpressed with the writing I experienced. I’ll freely admit that none of the modern group of Baen authors appeals to me and even Poul Anderson felt terribly dated when I re-read him a few year ps back.
There’s so much genre fiction published every year that I find winnowing it down to a reasonable pool of possible reads is difficult, so it’s not a hardship to say I’ll be skipping one author like Weber or Niven (increasingly bad over the past twenty years).
The Ringo announcement was only a month out from the convention. This late date was due to systemic issues with ConCarolinas. That left dealers, and everybody else, in a tough situation. There were guests who attended, citing a sense of obligation to fans or sunk cost, but publicly protested for example. The real question is, what happens next year?
Christopher Hensley asks The real question is, what happens next year?
If enough vendors and attendees decide to stay away, it fails. Vendors in particular will need to decide how well they think the Con will do next year in terms of their time and economic costs without any inside knowledge of what’s going on as I doubt the owners of this Con will be inclined to share that information.
Weber is a regular at Cons within an easy drive of his home. His wife and 3 kids usually go with him. Weber lives in upstate SC and Ringo in East Tennessee. Weber is such a regular and so generous with his time at Cons, cons in this area of the world would be unwise to anger him. Ringo is also very generous with his time and well liked by attendees when I’ve been at a Con that he was attending.
Ringo was treated very badly. I’m guessing concarolinas suffered in attendance after disinviting him – especially when Weber and others were publically displeased.
I’m unimpressed with the “reasons” given here for the treatment of Ringo and Correia. The left has a habit of trying to silence anyone they disagree with. This behavior is not seen by the right against the left in SF lit, or in tabletop gaming. I collected a mass of information about Larry’s treatment that I’m using as the basis of a business case study on trade conventions.
I hope all of you enjoy flaming away. I’ve gotten the info I needed for the case and I am gone.
I tried reading On Basilisk Station again (it was free on Amazon), and I had to make my way through a committee meeting before even meeting the protagonist. And, of course, said committee meeting was part of the evil People’s Republic’s communist plot against the free peoples of the galaxy.
Reader, I didn’t make it to the cute treecat.
My question is, why not post Weber’s very political comments on the page where politics is supposed to go: The House of Commons?
‘The left has a habit of trying to silence anyone they disagree with’
Could have sworn I saw a DDOS attack around here recently. Must have been those darn leftists.
@Rob: Yes, because nothing says swashbuckling milSF like starting with a committee meeting. People just love bureaucratic meetings.
The people who show up this year for Seanan are not likely to take to kindly to the openly right-wing bias the con is promoting now. They probably won’t be back. There may be plenty of right-wingers who’ll start coming, I dunno.
What’s going to be make or break is 1) what the hotel does. They may be shocked now but not do anything about the breach of contract b/c they need the business and 2) what vendors do. Again, there might be enough to take up the slack of those who are leaving due to the concom being above the CoC, but who knows? Next year will tell the tale, or perhaps the one after DSC extricates itself.
Regardless of politics, I think the concom — esp. the chair — needs to change for simply having no frakking idea of how to run a con. And get someone in there who can do social media without putting their foot in their mouth. This is no way to run a choo-choo, y’all.
Avery Abernethy: I’m unimpressed with the “reasons” given here for the treatment of Ringo and Correia.
Thanks for making it clear that you feel harassers should be given free reign in fandom events.
Fortunately, a lot of people who are responsible for running events in fandom disagree with you.
You know who I’ve met several times, have had reasonable conversations with, and still have absolutely no sympathy for in all of this? John Ringo. He has an almost two decade long run of boorish and harassing behavior, which he freely cops to and insists on following. A lot of people who aren’t insiders don’t see it because his ire tends to be directed at con staff and other program participants. But it’s documented, including by John himself. That it is only now catching up with him speaks to a failure in fandom, rather then John’s character.
As for Weber: Life is not some cosmic scale. Whatever good he does, has done. Whatever benefit he brings to the con, does not negate his negative behavior here. This has gone well past the realm of David Weber showing his ass, and into something actively harmful. No one has to tolerate that actively harmful behavior, no matter how much work he does for the community. No one has to tolerate his abusive language, or demands to bend to his political will, no matter how big a draw he is.
I didn’t know anything about him, other than “Baen writer with devoted following,” prior to reading that ConCarolinas announcing him as a special guest led to people objecting and withdrawing. I wondered why people had that reaction.
Then I read his own comments in social media discussions. I read one of his own blog posts. I read his own RavenCon report.
As a result, I appreciate why people objected.
Hey guys: it’s not about anyone’s politics, it’s about the fact that Ringo (and Correia) have historically been absolute shitheads in public, at cons and after cons. It’s a social issue, and people are finally starting to voice their concerns about letting poorly socialised dickheads be honoured guests.
Also, seriously, nobody should need to carry their Emotional Support Firearm around a con. Especially in secret. Especially when doing so puts people at more risk than if you simply didn’t bring your fucking gun along.
“Rein.”
Sorry, my knee jerked…
Well, since you cited one thing I said, allow me please to make another statement:
David Weber, in my experience has been nothing but gracious when discussing opinions and political views that are not his own. He’s been quite good at respecting sincerely held opinions even when he disagrees with them. And in his books, he’s been quite good about showing saints and sinners of all political stripes. Some authors cannot seem to separate their political beliefs from their writing, but I have not seen or experienced that with David Weber.
His wife Sharon Rice-Weber has never been anything but gracious and charming. I can honestly see where their posts were not intended as political in nature – but could be taken as such by some factions.
There is a minority of his fans who have been toxic, but my experience of late has unfortunately taught me that while the majority of his fans are outstandingly wonderful people, there are some that feel the need and desire to attack and dismiss anyone that isn’t 110% in total agreement with them. Which is sad. Some of these people are in TRMN – but the vast majority of the membership are some of the nicest and most awesome people I’ve met in 30+ years in Fandom.
(I”m also a Star Wars fan. And while there’s been a vocal and toxic minority of fans there, the vast majority have been some of the nicest and greatest people I’ve ever met. It’s much with same with David Weber’s fans)
I am not a fan of Mr. Ringo, mostly because I don’t much care for his writing. The way he bludgeons the reader over the head with his political views isn’t a plus, but honestly I simply don’t care much for his writing. Mr. Correlia left a bad taste in my mouth due to the sad puppies insanity. That being said….
If the con goers feel the con is going against their desires, then they can vote with their wallets. Just like people are threatening to do with GenCon over one of their GoH’s. Just like people threatened to do with ConCarolinas.
There are authors that make me less interested in a convention. (Ringo, Gerrold, Anthony, Card, Correlia, etc.) And authors that make me more interested in attending (Bujold, Weber, Carey, Novik, Drake, Flint, and a few others)
Ultimately I can vote with my wallet.
Patrick McKinnion: Well, since you cited one thing I said, allow me please to make another statement: David Weber, in my experience has been nothing but gracious when discussing opinions and political views that are not his own.
That’s all well and good, but really, the thing you can’t get around here is that Weber has vociferously defended Ringo and claimed that his behavior is fine.
Now, it may well be that Weber has not bothered to read Ringo’s own statement documenting at length his harassing behavior — but if Weber hasn’t read it, then that’s a deliberate choice on his part.
So Weber is no innocent party to all this. By his endorsement of Ringo, Weber has placed a tacit endorsement on sexual harassment and disrespectful treatment of women.
I always wonder what people expect to gain when defending others’ bad behavior by saying “This person has never been anything other than nice and respectful to me.” Because what they’re really saying is, “I haven’t been on the receiving end of any bad behavior, and that’s all I care about, so screw those you who have been on the receiving end: how you are treated is unimportant to me.” 🙄
Kurt Busiek: Sorry, my knee jerked…
Thanks for the correction. I am well aware of the correct usage, so all I can think is that was a Freudian slip on my part. 😀
@Patrick McKinnon
“he’s been quite good about showing saints and sinners of all political stripes. Some authors cannot seem to separate their political beliefs from their writing, but I have not seen or experienced that with David Weber.”
I think that depends on where you stand. There was a discussion here recently in which a number of people, including me, said that they’d quit reading HH books because (1) nobody in them could ever legitimately disagree with the protagonist and/or (2) Weber used crude caricatures of “leftists”. This seems like a situation that exemplifies YMMV.
@ JJ
Thanks for the link. Eeeewwww. I sometimes think you are a tad ready to “sport your canvas”, but this kind of thing would be a great reason why. I really appreciate the way you share knowledge here, especially when it’s no fun to gather.
And in this case, I think “reign” was the perfect pun.
The “You hate me and you banned me because you hate my politics” schtick is one that a number of people on the Right seem to employ like a hair shirt, especially in terms of conventions (the individual banned from Worldcon this year as an example).
It’s a fallacy that pisses me off.
Random data point: I first heard of John Ringo via an Eric Flint rant shortly after 9-11. I was therefore never inclined to pick his books up in the first place, and the “Oh, John Ringo, no!” drama did not surprise me.
@Paul Weimer
Defensiveness and paranoia seem to be baked in to conservative politics these days. I have a friend and coworker, a smart and strong woman, who is liked by most folks and respected by all. She is absolutely convinced almost all our coworkers hate her because she’s a Republican. Something in that culture is leading her to the totally false conclusion that push back over vocal politics equates to personal dislike. Seen it with others too but I think hers the most stark case. Best I can figure, it’s got to come out of the sense that their tribe is under siege and anyone not of the tribe becomes an enemy. Long sigh…
Stoic Cynic: Best I can figure, it’s got to come out of the sense that their tribe is under siege and anyone not of the tribe becomes an enemy.
With the Pups, I think it’s far simpler than that. If they accept that the pushback they’re getting is not the result of their politics, then the only thing left is them being forced to acknowledge that it’s because they’re behaving like a$$holes.
So of course, they’re going to blame the pushback on other people having bad intentions — because the very last thing in the world they’re ever going to do is accept personal responsibility for all of their incredibly bad behavior.
@Larry Sanderson
Vendors are usually mobile this side of the pond — they’ll go where they are comfortable and can make money.
You missed the point that it was the vendors who were the ones wanting Oh No John Ringo No out – it was impacting THEIR income, and traveling to cons, for artists and vendors, is more expensive than for fans. They have a lot fewer options than you seem to believe.
@JJ
I don’t necessarily disagree regarding the pups. I also believe there was a lot of calculated gaming of their tribe by the pup leaders to raise their profile. That said, what made so many ready to go along? What makes say Weber, by most accounts a nice person, willing to turn a blind eye to Ringo’s behavior and only see this as a power play by leftists?
Weber has gone further than to endorse Ringo. He has insulted the female writer who accused Ringo of making sexually objectifying remarks about her during a panel, declaring on Facebook that “she isn’t a mature and rational adult.”
Even as Ringo was admitting that he apologized to her for his behavior, Weber was declaring to his fans that she owed Ringo an apology and was to blame for the situation. This led to attacks on her from his fans, including an entire thread from someone who read her Facebook wall so that he could talk about her personal life and whether she has any men in it. He summed it up with the insult, “Luckily for humanity no children so at least her ideology dies with her.”
Weber has left these comments up for three days.
“We’re here to support Jada Hope and Luis Diza’s”
Diza? He does that twice. Weird that he can’t even correctly spell the name of the people he supports.
“Yes, because nothing says swashbuckling milSF like starting with a committee meeting”
Well, at least it wasn’t a tavern, then we’d have no clue what kind of novel we were in.
@Jamoche:
Oddly, that’s exactly how The Merchants of Souls begins.
So tired of cis white men deciding they are the arbiters of what should and shouldn’t make women feel safe. Amazing how frequently they default to “only major physical violence counts”. This allows them to assault women, POC, LGBT+, and others while claiming they’ve done nothing because free speech & if it’s NIT physical it’s not really harm. But these same men consider word criticizing any friends or other white men who have similar beliefs to them as personal attacks against them. The cognitive dissonance hurts.
Words are assault and can make people feel unsafe around people. It’s a form of harassment and one us “minorities” are NOT tolerating anymore.
Sounds like David Weber should insist any con he is GoH of have their Code of Conduct policies state “only physical forms of harassment and assault will be looked into and dealt with at this event”. A Code of Conduct is to let attendees know what behavior is acceptable and what behavior is not. If the convention is going to prioritize sexual and racist harassers over women and POC guest it’s best to put that in the CoC so everyone knows the rules. Having a CoC which is not inline with the unwritten policy causes additional headaches and scandals. By having a written CoC in-line with ones unwritten policy one weeds out inappropriate guests and vendors. I suspect few conventions will write such a CoC as it’s likely to be controversial but being open and upfront and standing by your values and not being politically correct should be something one is willing to stand by if those are your beliefs. If these aren’t your beliefs than STOP telling women HOW they should feel when a CoC has been violated (or likely would be).
And I was just catching up on the comments to David Weber’s FB page. It just astonishes me how a professional writer who thinks of himself as the adult in the room (therefore the rest of us with any other views are merely children) can allow a determined troublemaker (*) like Rick Richardson to lead him in a circle and make him agree to the very things he supposedly just called for people not to do.
(*) For the past several days Richardson has been goading Weber with comments claiming to describe what is being said on File 770.
Rcade:
Which, if we take it as anything more than random abuse, which is probably not a good idea, is just a bizarre view of human life, as if ideas are determined genetically. (And if she’s a professor, then her ideology is certain of dying with her only if she’s a very very bad and uninspiring teacher, I guess.)
@Tasha
I wouldn’t be at all shocked if this little movement of conservative congoers take aim at CoCs next.
@Tasha Turner
Racist and sexual harrassers who are also popular authors of the right political orientation as well as their fans. Because the undertone of a lot of these debates is, “I’m a bestselling author and therefore I can do whatever I like. You don’t sell as many books as me (or none at all, because you’re a fan), therefore I don’t have to listen to you.”
As I said before, it seems to me as if ConCarolinas is desperate to become LibertyCon Mark II, a safe space for puppies and Baen authors, where they can do whatever they like, don’t have to be confronted with different ideas and don’t have to deal with people who don’t think that they are the greatest authors who ever lived. If that’s the niche that ConCarolinas wants to fill, then they should be clear about it (and in fact, I think they are). I do feel sorry for the Deep South Can people who have to put up with such a problematic and blatantly physically unsafe (due to people running around with guns) environment.
Regarding David Weber, I have never heard anything negative about him as a person and he wisely kept out of the puppy wars, but this recent behaviour has killed any desire I have to ever read anything by him. Well, he can probably do without my money, considering he is a bestselling author and everything.