The inaugural We Are ALL SF con didn’t get off the ground in 2016. The con website, Facebook and Twitter accounts have all been shuttered, at least for now. As Quincy J. Allen said on Facebook, “The convention isn’t dead, it’s just delayed for a year while we reevaluate how best to make this crazy idea become a reality.”
Karen Junker has this to say about refunds:
Can you let folks know that I have processed all the refunds I know of from our Paypal account? The WordPress account that had the Reg and donations info on it was where we had all the info and when one of the former officers (who had been given Admin access at one point, but it was my personal account) went in and changed the passwords so that no one from the actual organization has access any longer. So, we may have missed someone. The money should go out from Paypal in the next week or so..and they should have gotten an email to the email address we had..Anyone who registered through Grenadine or donated through Indiegogo will also get a refund through Paypal…so check emails for that too.
My email for the org is [email protected] if anyone needs to follow up in case I missed anyone.
I will also be emailing everyone I have on the list I did have but I just want to cover all the bases.
An unrelated effort to revive an event in Ocean Shores for the same weekend has popped up – “The Great Geek Invasion of the Pacific Northwest” – spearheaded by Cate R. Siguenza.
The ultimate relaxacon for the Sci-Fi Fandom who were planning to attend WAASF con and who still want to follow through with their hotel reservations and have a good time. There won’t be any convention center involved, just a crowd of like-minded Sci-Fi geeks who want to meet up and have a great time in in Ocean Shores, Washington. If there is enough interest, we may make this a regular thing and invade different locations around the Pacific Northwest on a semi regular basis, about once a year or so.
Siguenza also said, “This event is in no way affiliated with the Convention We Are ALL SF Con, or it’s committee. This is just a group of fans who want to get together and try to raise a phoenix from the fire.”
Lou J. Berger commented:
We here at We Are ALL SF are so humbled and pleased that the fan reaction has been so positive! We are currently regrouping to try and build a better planned and better organized convention for 2017 and the future. While we would love to help organize a simple get-together in Ocean Shores during the now-cancelled convention dates, we feel that our energy will be better spent preparing for 2017. If anyone would like to meet at the hotel to celebrate the camaraderie of science fiction, we absolutely encourage them to do so, however, it would not be an official “We Are All SF” event.
Discover more from File 770
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
It sounds like Karen Junker successfully un-resigned. What a mess.
Karen Junker, who resigned, cancelled all the contracts when she thought the con wasn’t going to make it, and once interest started being shown and the con was being cancelled “unresigned”, is now crying because passwords were changed when she resigned? This letter is unprofessional, complaining about “your” org, and screaming “they did it, not me!”… Has everyone SEEN her letter to patrons? It’s full of “the con was running just fine until I resigned, then the new chair effed things up, and there are stories about me out there”… Really unprofessional, and I’m not sure I would ever want to be associated with a convention that she’s the driving force behind, or even on staff.
That’s horrible. I can’t begin to articulate how badly Karen is maligning good people with her statement here. The person that she’s claiming changed the password did so AFTER Karen resigned. Which is something that any business does when a disgruntled, unreliable employee quits. It would be financial suicide to allow a bitter ex-employee access to the businesses finances. She laid waste when she left, canceling hotel contracts, locking staff out of physical access to convention property, telling her chosen guests not to attend, and spreading horrible rumors about the remaining President and Vice-President. She left a mess, left them financially responsible, and then got mad when they started cleaning the mess up!
Her behavior has ruined the name an intentions of “We Are All Sci-Fi”. Now she’s doing what she can to make it impossible for us to restart the convention in 2017. (Which was going to happen WITHOUT her). I will never work with her again and I’d suggest anyone else avoid her too.
I have also experienced Karen Junker’s blatant lies. She has done this before to other organizations of which she has been a part; she tried to do to me personally what she had done to those organizations, and when I posted about the trainwreck on my wall on FB I was told (pre-implosion of WAASF con) that I was “trash-talking.” No, I was stating facts, every one of which I had saved proof and could show anyone who was interested.
I’m afraid the “We Are All SF” brand has been tarnished irrevocably. I’d suggest anyone wanting a revival of that moribund beast rename it. And I’d suggest anyone who believes Ms. Junker’s lies get themselves checked for gullibility.
I’m sorry for anyone or any organization who got caught up in this. I think a new con could be a positive thing…but not run by someone who at the least made every possible mistake in planning, and at the worst, is a pathological liar who makes promises they cannot keep and leaves wreckage in their wake, and then screams “martyr!”
When the convention gets “rebooted,” ( can you reboot a convention that didn’t get off the ground? Maybe “relaunched.” ) I would suggest a new name. I would, though, keep the slogan “We are all SF” associated with the new con. It’s a good slogan.