Most of the cons I've been to in recent years have a policy about behavior. Sometimes specific about things, but other times just a general one.
I found a Dragon*Con book from a few years ago and it includes a variation of the "we reserve the right to refuse service" thing: "We reserve the right to ask you to leave the convention and refuse to refund your membership money if you are behaving -- in technical terms -- like a jerk."
The problem is getting security to catch the offenders to eject them, because they can easily be lost in the crowd. Trying to confront them on your own could cause even more problems. You just never know if they're being plain, old-fashioned jerks, or if they're planning to do you real harm.
I was working con staff years ago, mostly at registration, but after that rush was over, I was sort of a floater, covering people when they needed breaks or just answering questions people might have.
We kept hearing recurring comments about one guy who was being stalkerish, but no one had actually reported anything to security. Quite a few of us on staff started shadowing him, so the first time he did something after that, they had cause to toss him out on his ass even without a fan complaining to us. Luckily he was in a highly recognizable costume, so he was easy to track.
I think a good plan might be for con security to buy a disposible cell phone for use during the con event. Whoever is currently "on call" would have it, and anyone -- staffer, boothie or fan -- could contact that number if they felt unsafe and/or someone needed to be shown the exit. Not a perfect solution, as not everyone has a cell phone, but it would cover a lot of people.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-08-16 02:28 am (UTC)I found a Dragon*Con book from a few years ago and it includes a variation of the "we reserve the right to refuse service" thing: "We reserve the right to ask you to leave the convention and refuse to refund your membership money if you are behaving -- in technical terms -- like a jerk."
The problem is getting security to catch the offenders to eject them, because they can easily be lost in the crowd. Trying to confront them on your own could cause even more problems. You just never know if they're being plain, old-fashioned jerks, or if they're planning to do you real harm.
I was working con staff years ago, mostly at registration, but after that rush was over, I was sort of a floater, covering people when they needed breaks or just answering questions people might have.
We kept hearing recurring comments about one guy who was being stalkerish, but no one had actually reported anything to security. Quite a few of us on staff started shadowing him, so the first time he did something after that, they had cause to toss him out on his ass even without a fan complaining to us. Luckily he was in a highly recognizable costume, so he was easy to track.
I think a good plan might be for con security to buy a disposible cell phone for use during the con event. Whoever is currently "on call" would have it, and anyone -- staffer, boothie or fan -- could contact that number if they felt unsafe and/or someone needed to be shown the exit. Not a perfect solution, as not everyone has a cell phone, but it would cover a lot of people.