WFC board member Joseph T. Berlant has announced on the World Fantasy Convention’s public Facebook page plans to adopt a version of last year’s WFC antiharassment policy in response to complaints about the 2015 event’s policy originally posted the other day:
On reflection, and with guidance, we have realized that our sincere attempt to do the right thing in this regard was inadequate. We focused too much on complying with the legal advice of Saratoga authorities and not enough on making certain that our members feel confident in their safety at the Convention. Since last year’s WFC policy was considered satisfactory and is considered to be comprehensive we are adopting it as an addition to the policy developed with the legal advice of the Saratoga authorities. The World Fantasy Board is reviewing the language for comprehensiveness. The corrected policy will be posted here and on our website as soon as that review is completed. We apologize for the misstep and are doing our utmost to make WFC 2015 both an enjoyable event and a safe environment.
[Thanks to Michael J. Walsh for the story.]
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I think it must be recognised that they did listen and act accordingly. Kudos to them.
Well, I didn’t see that coming. </sarcasm>
Certainly an improvement.
Give them credit, they could have doubled-down. Good on ’em.
One step backward, then one step forward again. Hep! Hop!
WFC: Since last year’s WFC policy was considered satisfactory and is considered to be comprehensive we are adopting it as an addition to the policy developed with the legal advice of the Saratoga authorities.
I’m seriously wondering what in the world prompted them to abandon the policy used by last year’s WFC in the first place.
JJ says:
WFC, like most of the travelling conventions, is run as a series of one-off events by a different group of people in a different place every year. So it’s not that the previous committee’s policy was abandoned, it just wasn’t copied.
A small step towards achieving a bare minimum standard of competence and decency. Still a long way to go.
I don’t understand how WFC2015 thought “just call the cops if you’re harassed at our convention” was going to be anything but a disaster as their “harassment policy,” before the con and, if they persisted in clinging to that “policy” at the con. They were clearly positioning their con as a venue that tolerates harassment and declines to do anything at all about it. At what point did any of them think that would work or would NOT have to be changed in the face of public outcry soon after being announced?
Laura Resnick: You’re supposing they thought at all.
http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/5483090.html
TLDR: new harassment policy, almost as crap as the first one. And the repeated dodging by the Concom raises serious concerns about how it would be enforced, even if they had a decent policy in place.
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Maybe the false bomb threats that have been called in by one side on the other made them consider that they might have a rash of false harassment charges and end up legally liable?
kentuckydan: Maybe the false bomb threats that have been called in by one side on the other made them consider that they might have a rash of false harassment charges and end up legally liable?
That doesn’t make any sense. I can’t see how you’re getting from one to the other.
Yeah; false (or true) bomb threats are always called in anonymously. A harassment complaint has to be made by a known person. I very much doubt the kind of cowards that go in for bomb threads would do such a thing.
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