Comments

[martincan]

I'm not here to cause trouble or stir things up but I'm not here to kiss anybody's rear end either. But as this isn't a place for free speech (not my words) perhaps I'm missing the point. I'm not having a go at anyone and I'm not against anything that anybody else says or does as long as its accurate and not offensive, I'm just giving my own opinion. As I've said elsewhere I had a good time at the Con but a lot of the handling of correspondence after the event has taken the shine off. I've stated that I enjoyed Saturday and will hopefully be attending other events but even that was hidden for being a duplicate thread. (Although I saw there were at least 3 threads still in existence regarding Programmes...) The fact is that you can't please everybody, even if only 10 people turned up! But I would expect all 10 people to be allowed to have their opinions heard... I'm looking forward to Showmasters official response and hope that ALL the opinions expressed on here are taken in to account. (Apart from the shouty sweary name-calling ones... obviously)

[Dent_1]

I don't think that the "it's Showmasters forum so they can do what they want on it" (re: moderation/deletion) motto holds much water.

If people are abusive and downright vile, get rid for sure. But constructive criticism, good and bad, should all be given equal platform to help people and the events move forward.

A corny old manager of mine said "feedback is a gift" and if people (Showmasters) genuinely want FEEDBACK and not just compliments then they should not be afraid to let the more 'negative' comments stand. Removing them makes this far less a 'forum' of open honest discussion and more of a bias customer testimonials page.

Yes it is Showmasters' forum but they'd do well to remember it is their soapbox as much as ours. Not to argue but to to address issues head on. There is nothing to be afraid of.
Talking the negative and turning it into a positive, and doing it publicly, will do much more good (and needed) PR than pretending the negatives are not there.

What seems like over zealous deletions of not quite flattering (albeit true) content is disheartening because we all believe in these events so much. It gives people the impression the organisers don't care which only in turn leads to more anger and negativity.

Edited July 15, 2014 by Dent_1

[eccheetham]

I don't think that the "it's Showmasters forum so they can do what they want on it" (re: moderation/deletion) motto holds much water.

 

If people are abusive and downright vile, get rid for sure. But constructive criticism, good and bad, should all be given equal platform to help people and the evens move forward.

 

A corny old manager of mine said "feedback is a gift" and if people (Showmasters) genuinely want FEEDBACK and not just compliments then they should not be afraid to let the more 'negative' comments stand. Removing them makes this far less a 'forum' of open honest discussion and more of a bias customer testimonials page.

 

Yes it is Showmasters' forum but they'd do we to remember it is their soapbox as much as ours. Not to argue to to address issues head on. There is nothing to be afraid of.

Talking the negative and turning it into a positive, and doing it publicly, will do much more good (and needed) PR than pretending the negatives are not there.

 

What seem like over zealous deletions of not quite flattering (albeit true) content is disheartening because we all believe in these events so much. It gives people the impression the organisers don't care which only in turn leads to more angry and negativity.

well said. i agree.

[Nightcrawler]

 

 

I don't think that the "it's Showmasters forum so they can do what they want on it" (re: moderation/deletion) motto holds much water.

 

If people are abusive and downright vile, get rid for sure. But constructive criticism, good and bad, should all be given equal platform to help people and the evens move forward.

 

A corny old manager of mine said "feedback is a gift" and if people (Showmasters) genuinely want FEEDBACK and not just compliments then they should not be afraid to let the more 'negative' comments stand. Removing them makes this far less a 'forum' of open honest discussion and more of a bias customer testimonials page.

 

Yes it is Showmasters' forum but they'd do we to remember it is their soapbox as much as ours. Not to argue to to address issues head on. There is nothing to be afraid of.

Talking the negative and turning it into a positive, and doing it publicly, will do much more good (and needed) PR than pretending the negatives are not there.

 

What seem like over zealous deletions of not quite flattering (albeit true) content is disheartening because we all believe in these events so much. It gives people the impression the organisers don't care which only in turn leads to more angry and negativity.

well said. i agree.

I agree too - even if I am just a guest in this here house lol

[rj222]

Id love to know why Showmasters have Banned my wifes account today she only posted one message saying she was concerned about blocking fire exits and it was a real danger to all the people inside, not sure what warranted having her account closed, maybe my account will also be closed because of this message?

We have been going to SM events for ten years but after your response and mass deletions of genuine concerns it leaves a very bad taste in the mouth and I don't think we will bother again

[discodiva]

*sighs*...how sad a whole thread on Facebook is no longer there this morning....there were some good points made there too....

[loganalpha2]

I had a brilliant time on Sunday. I got the early bird ticket, drove up to London on a 3 hour journey to make sure my friends and I got there for 8:10.

 

Got in the cue and made sure I had been reading up on everything in the forums before hand. Saw what I had to do and legged it to the Carrie Fisher VQ and Billy Dee Williams VQ the moment I got in there around 9:15 managed to get number 200 for Carrie and 67 for Billy. Once I had those I was calm and happy.

 

Had a great day and got to meet Stan as I bought a prepaid photoshoot.

 

I'm happy.

 

I think the only thing SM might want to do is change the floor plan and do a SMALL number of pre-paid autographs. Say 100 per person for each day BUT with stipulations that you can ONLY have one thing signed. Also don't sell door tickets on the day. Just sell them online like you would a gig for a band

[loganalpha2]

The Autograph thing then garranteed autographs for the quick die hard fans. Limits the sheer time by having one thing signed and also allows people on the day to get VQ's

[LSM]

*sighs*...how sad a whole thread on Facebook is no longer there this morning....there were some good points made there too....

 

Yes I must say I was rather disappointed to see that as well. A whole thread with over 300 comments gone within a few clicks of a button. Such a shame.

[discodiva]

 

*sighs*...how sad a whole thread on Facebook is no longer there this morning....there were some good points made there too....

 

Yes I must say I was rather disappointed to see that as well. A whole thread with over 300 comments gone within a few clicks of a button. Such a shame.

 

Surprised it lasted that long tbh...

 

 

Plus ca change eh?...

[rj222]

Yep nice to see SM are taking peoples concerns seriously not just sticking their fingers in their ears and pretending everything is great, That condescending statement from Jason has now been deleted along with any reference to it, they will just pretend nothing ever happened,

 

Looking at facebook a lot of people I know are not happy and are posting a lot of negative things about showmasters especially about how they are deleting any constructive feedback, Showmasters may be able to silence people here and remove things from their facebook page but the truth is out on social media and this attitude of theirs is making them look terrible, certainly a lot of seasoned fans I know wont be back as well as newbies due to SM not responding to any of this, funny how they have time to delete posts and ban long time members but don't have time to put together a simple statement

[Dent_1]

To quote the X-Files: The Truth Is Out There!

 

...I imagine that those who frequent these forums or post on social media make up a VERY small portion of those who attend, yet still that vocal minority must be silenced.

 

The irony is 80,000 odd people were supposedly there over the weekend. So even if truthful and valid negative feedback gets removed on here/elsewhere we all know what really happened - we were there.

 

Putting positive spin on the situation will not make people forgive and forget. Deleting stuff to leave the positive remaining will only cement peoples belief their concerns are not important.

 

Bad customer experience, poor public complaint handling and negative word of mouth will be far more damaging in the long run. Why can't the organisers see that?

[Melba1]

We had early bird tickets and were in the longest queue I've ever seen, but we were in within 20 minutes! That was cool. The 80s bat mobile was very dusty-would have been nice if someone had wiped it down before the show!

We had an amazing time but it took us forever to find the car park- and I must say we were really disappointed with the game of thrones screening. You kept saying about a special guest who wasn't signing at any point over the weekend-this swayed us to getting tickets. The host made out this special guest was a piñata of goffrey! If this is the case then that is extremely cheeky of you, and very naughty. The three guests were all booked to sign. It would have been better if we could also actually see the guests-put them on the stage next time or at least have a screen showing them! You should have done it like the stan lee audience which was brilliant!

The photo session with mr lee was extremely rushed ( we were session 3 on Sunday) . But what was good is you made sure everyone got a good photo. The staff was excellent, the guests were brilliant, so lovely, it was brilliant having features like the dragon skull as you walked in. I will say I think it was a bit strange making such a big deal of the girl who plays Shea in game of thrones, there was a lot bigger stars there, giving her a cornered off booth was a bit much!

I must say, we came for all Sunday and we loved the day and haven't come down yet! We saw everybody we wanted too, we even have video of Helen slater holding our baby for such a long time! Amazing! The people in costume was amazing, really gave a huge feel to the day. I think everyone thinks Stan was worked too hard but I think you've probably heard about that a zillion times! The prop photos were brilliant, and was one the highlights, fantastic idea. Overall a great experience.

[DavidB]

 

Thank you to everyone who is leaving comments and constructive criticism. That was what I was trying to encourage initially, not an in depth discussion on the dos and don't of forum moderation.

But if members of this forum want an indepth disscusion on forum moderation(and it seems like they do) then why don't you just let them? its not really for you to "encourage" what members want to talk about is it? that in essence is what a forum is for, for the members with a shared interest to talk about what they want. The mods on here can dance around as much as you want talking about "Swearing" and "arguments" but you have been instructed to remove posts that don't show SM and its events in a wholely positive light, however slight, that is the 100% truth,end of.

 

The truth 'end of' is that I haven't removed a single post on here on the weekend, and I'd very much appreciate not being told what I've been instructed to do on here or anywhere else. I don't do the Facebook, I haven't removed anything on here, but whether you believe it or not is another thing.

 

All I made this topic for yesterday was to try and chill things out a bit and allow people to comment about the event at the weekend without arguing with each other. I'm sorry if you think I shouldn't be doing that, but I don't have the time to spend all week discussing whether you like my moderating style or not. In the end it's my job to moderate and I'll try and do it how I see fit - luckily, most people responded in kind yesterday by presenting their reasonable feedback and I appreciate that. But there will always be people like yourself that have to criticise every little choice I make, which again is fair enough because that's the Internet for you.

 

But I would much rather be spending my time allowing this event to get better by people giving feedback on it than defending my every decision to those that will never be happy. It's pretty pointless, so this will be my last comment on the discussion. 'Moderators = evil' is standard and has been for years because all forums just get some members that don't like any type of authority. I'm okay with that because I understand how it goes, but I do have more positive and productive things I can do, so I'd rather focus on those. I've not been rude to anyone, just stated facts and tried to help. I'll always aim to keep the majority happy, not worry about the minority.

[jael001]

Those complaining about threads being deleted from here need to be aware that they're not deleted, only hidden from public sight, SM can still see them and read all the posts.

[cecitj]

This was my first LFCC but not my first con. I knew this con would be A LOT bigger than the ones I've attended in the past, so I was expecting a lot of people and queuing. But I'm honestly shocked at how badly run this was. Especially considering the fact that it was clear that SM knew that there would be a bigger crowd than normal.

 

Friday - I had a good time, not too many people, the photo shoots ran well for me.

Saturday - awful. The line for the Early Bird ticket holders was insane and I can't believe how many people there were. I had bought the Early Bird thinking it would get me in a little quicker and all. But no, I had to queue for a long time and I know many people did. The queues for photo shoots were awful and not run well at all.

Sunday - less people but the lines outside were still crazy (it was handled better though). The photo shoot queues were no better.

 

I've been reading a lot on the forums before the con because I wanted to be prepared and I'm sad to say that a lot of what was promised on here, didn't work in reality. All the photo shoots (except one, handled by a guy called Graham I believe - he was awesome!)I attended were NOT called in numbers at all. Whenever I arrived at a photo shoot queue I found a crew member and asked if it was called in numbers and was told "no, just queue up". What also bugged me was the fact that outside of every photo area there were signs that said that photos would be done in ticket numbers. Why wasn't it? I think it would have been a lot less hassle if they would have been called in numbers.

 

Also for all queues (autos, photos, talks, outside) need to have some kind of barriers. Because tape on the ground? Not working at all. Finding the end of a queue was nearly impossible!

 

And why was the air con not on? I think every single person in there would have been happy to pay a little extra to have working air con (if it was broken and/or not turned on). I know I would have been!

 

However, almost all the guests I met (aside from one but I mentioned that in another thread) were incredibly nice and sweet and they made me feel like they were happy to meet me and thankful I was there. It was a very nice experience.

 

I do have to say that all the crew I encountered (both blue and red) were all very nice and tried to help out as much as they could. I felt so bad for them because a lot of them were clearly overwhelmed by it all. But yes, my experience with every crew member was really, really good. Thank you for being nice and helpful.

Edited July 15, 2014 by cecitj

[rjw499]

Most of my thoughts have been covered elsewhere (repeatedly) but I think everyone can probably agree that there were 2 main groups of attendees this past weekend

1) People who didnt want to meet Stan Lee - these people (and there was a lot of them) had a great time, they met everyone they wanted and went home happy bunnies

2) People who did want to meet Stan Lee - some of these people (myself included) did manage to meet him (lets call those people 2a) and some didnt (2b)

Yes, there were the same problems that happen every year but the reason why they're being raised with so much passion this time round is because of the large number of 2bs

 

DavidB - to try and prevent the same points being raised over and over again can I suggest you make a "100 ideas" thread (essentially you update the 1st post in the thread and compile a list of all the points that people want SM to respond to - that way we should end up with one consolidated list of questions/issues on one single post).

[whysoserious79]

 

 

Thank you to everyone who is leaving comments and constructive criticism. That was what I was trying to encourage initially, not an in depth discussion on the dos and don't of forum moderation.

But if members of this forum want an indepth disscusion on forum moderation(and it seems like they do) then why don't you just let them? its not really for you to "encourage" what members want to talk about is it? that in essence is what a forum is for, for the members with a shared interest to talk about what they want. The mods on here can dance around as much as you want talking about "Swearing" and "arguments" but you have been instructed to remove posts that don't show SM and its events in a wholely positive light, however slight, that is the 100% truth,end of.

 

The truth 'end of' is that I haven't removed a single post on here on the weekend, and I'd very much appreciate not being told what I've been instructed to do on here or anywhere else. I don't do the Facebook, I haven't removed anything on here, but whether you believe it or not is another thing.

 

All I made this topic for yesterday was to try and chill things out a bit and allow people to comment about the event at the weekend without arguing with each other. I'm sorry if you think I shouldn't be doing that, but I don't have the time to spend all week discussing whether you like my moderating style or not. In the end it's my job to moderate and I'll try and do it how I see fit - luckily, most people responded in kind yesterday by presenting their reasonable feedback and I appreciate that. But there will always be people like yourself that have to criticise every little choice I make, which again is fair enough because that's the Internet for you.

 

But I would much rather be spending my time allowing this event to get better by people giving feedback on it than defending my every decision to those that will never be happy. It's pretty pointless, so this will be my last comment on the discussion. 'Moderators = evil' is standard and has been for years because all forums just get some members that don't like any type of authority. I'm okay with that because I understand how it goes, but I do have more positive and productive things I can do, so I'd rather focus on those. I've not been rude to anyone, just stated facts and tried to help. I'll always aim to keep the majority happy, not worry about the minority.

 

I personally find your writing style a bit cold and not in the spirit of these events. Maybe that's just your personality or maybe that's the way you wish to come across. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, even if you don't agree with them. The weekend organisation was a shambles mate. I think WE - the paying members of the public who essentially FUND these events to happen by paying for and attending them - are MORE than entitled to express our opinions and share our experiences. Anyone who says that Saturday was organised like a well-oiled machine and all staff were in constant communication with each other is an idiot. I had a standard tickets but staff let me in at 10am, I walked in and out without getting checked for my hand stamp, there was absolutely NO indication what queues were what, inside or outside, the VQ were a joke as people were just queuing up regardless of the numbers displayed for Carrie Fisher and Ian McDiarmid ("Just trying our luck") and GOT IN as did I, one staff member didn't even know who Michael Madsen was when I asked about his photoshoot (I actually had to say "Er, he's an American actor, Reservoir Dogs")!!!!!! Face it mate the event was WAAAAAY oversold and why on earth were tickets STILL being sold at 5pm!! That's just money-grabbing! Absolute joke across the board. Just my opinion.

[DavidB]

It's the Internet.. you can read things in whatever way you want to be honest. I can't stop that :)

 

As for telling me that everyone's entitled to an opinion on the weekend - I'm not sure you actually read my post, because I explained that I made this topic to encourage people to do exactly that.

[Kuato_Lives]

From what I've been reading on here and around the internet, my only helpful advice to people is that when you buy a photoshoot online, buy your entry ticket to go with it online too.

 

Not really sure why quite a lot of people it seems bought photoshoots in advance without buying their entry tickets in advance too, seems illogical to me.

[adriangill]

 

 

 

 

Thank you to everyone who is leaving comments and constructive criticism. That was what I was trying to encourage initially, not an in depth discussion on the dos and don't of forum moderation.

But if members of this forum want an indepth disscusion on forum moderation(and it seems like they do) then why don't you just let them? its not really for you to "encourage" what members want to talk about is it? that in essence is what a forum is for, for the members with a shared interest to talk about what they want. The mods on here can dance around as much as you want talking about "Swearing" and "arguments" but you have been instructed to remove posts that don't show SM and its events in a wholely positive light, however slight, that is the 100% truth,end of.

The truth 'end of' is that I haven't removed a single post on here on the weekend, and I'd very much appreciate not being told what I've been instructed to do on here or anywhere else. I don't do the Facebook, I haven't removed anything on here, but whether you believe it or not is another thing.

I on the other hand have removed a few things. One post and three or four replies to it, that if left just wouldn't make sense. I have not removed a whole thread.

 

Unfortunately there were issues for some people (while others had none) which I genuinely wish weren't the case. Airing these issues in an informative and constructive way is not a bad thing. It can only help for future events.

 

Name calling, abusive behaviour, and over the top arguing amongst yourselves is not the way to go though. That is the side of moderating which is not fun that we have to deal with. Nobody likes it but we do have to act on occasions.

 

The other aspect, which luckily is the main part of our role I think, is answering queries and helping people. It's a very enjoyable process, talking to fellow fans/attendees.

[DavidB]

Exactly :) it is what it is - we're here to do a job, but if we can do it while making friends and helping people along the way then great. That's always far nicer!

 

Not like we set out to just randomly argue with people, but there will always be those who don't appreciate the moderator process. It's all part of it :) in the end it's just the Internet..

[Graham]

All the photo shoots (except one, handled by a guy called Graham I believe - he was awesome!)

 

If you're referring to Photoshoot Area D, that was me, it is Graham and thank you :)

 

If it wasn't area D.....thank you anyway :)

[Inga]

Although overall I did enjoy the weekend, I have to say that personally I was very disappointed.

 

The queue to get in was horrendous. I understand that a lot of tickets were sold, so a long queue was expected, but I've never seen a queue move so slowly. I could see the doors from where I was, and although at half nine they got more crew and more doors open, in the first half hour it was poorly manned, and frequently the queue stopped completely while the crew on the door had a conversation/argument/discussion with the attendees they were admitting.

 

Also when we arrived we asked which queue was the prepaid, and got sent to the wrong place THREE TIMES. In the end, we went to the door (and the only signage we could find) and followed the queue backwards until we got to the end. By that time, the queue was twice as long!!

 

By far the biggest problem of the weekend was getting back in after we went outside for fresh air (and in my case to get my nicotine fix). I know they stopped selling tickets, and were letting people in as other people left, but when we left, WE WERE NOT TOLD that we wouldn't be able to get back in. This meant that I missed a photoshoot that I had ALREADY PAID FOR. Luckily, the next day I explained to the crew at the shoot, and they were very gracious, admitted they'd had problems the previous day, and let me use my ticket on the Sunday instead.

 

Speaking of crew... I understand that most are volunteers, and they are only human, but they were rather uninformed. We had to ask six or seven people where the book zone was before we found someone who knew. Most of them were very apologetic, and handled the situation well, however over the weekend we encountered some crew who were incredibly rude to us. I know they were under stress, but all we asked any of them was for directions, not unreasonable in my opinion. I saw one crew member who was asked (very politely) if she could help a man. She was disgustingly rude to him, she didn't even listen to what his question was, snapped that she wasn't working this area, and then stormed off without so much as a 'sorry'. Whether she was being paid or not, this behaviour is not acceptable.

 

Frankly, most of the problems were caused by having too many people in too small a space - it was very hot, and there was not enough access to water. The queues for the food halls were so long, perhaps there should be more stands set up around the centre just selling drinks? I'm surprised that people weren't passing out in that heat! Also the high concentration of people around the stalls and signing areas made it impossible to escape. It took us over half an hour just to get out when we wanted to go home. Stuck in the middle of that crowd, I had the horrible realisation that if there had been an emergency (a fire, maybe), I wouldn't have been able to get out - in fact, the resulting stampede of people trying to get out the building would probably have caused some very serious injuries.

 

A bigger venue next year, please?

[Darfdork]

Great time overall once the crowds calmed down inside on Saturday. My only negatives are....tickets not arriving, being given incorrect information about the queues outside by staff and queuing in the wrong queue for 30 mins then the actual queue being so long with people queue jumping at every opportunity. The glad I was a lucky one to get photo with Stan just wish it wasn't so impersonal. Paid for early bird 9am entry didn't get in till 1030 so that was disappointing. Venue far too warm.