Comments

[MrsEllacott]

 

Abberline, have you just joined up cause trouble? Cos your posts have not been all that nice so far. I know things have got heated on here but that appears to be calming down, so please don't start it again!

Please can i ask you why you think he is here to start trouble? everything hee said is true, sm don't delete positive threads just negative ones. There sems to be a view by somee that complaints are "out of hand" or "here to cause trouble" i don't get that. He has a valid point, there is however no need for his response to your question, no neeed at all.

 

 

You have to bear in mind things can read out of context on here. So perhaps maybe that is what I am doing, but all the posts Abberline has made have been very negative, much more so than those who have made valid claims of problems from the weekend, and in some come cases completely uncalled for! The first post they made in the Stan Lee thread was like they were trying to cause trouble, by saying that Pandora's Box was open due to one fan being lucky to get individual meet and greet thanks to Stan's manager! To me that is completely uncalled for (and yes I know I have made some angry posts which probably were uncalled for earlier today but I have apologised for that).

[cropsy2008]

 

 

Abberline, have you just joined up cause trouble? Cos your posts have not been all that nice so far. I know things have got heated on here but that appears to be calming down, so please don't start it again!

Please can i ask you why you think he is here to start trouble? everything hee said is true, sm don't delete positive threads just negative ones. There sems to be a view by somee that complaints are "out of hand" or "here to cause trouble" i don't get that. He has a valid point, there is however no need for his response to your question, no neeed at all.

 

 

You have to bear in mind things can read out of context on here. So perhaps maybe that is what I am doing, but all the posts Abberline has made have been very negative, much more so than those who have made valid claims of problems from the weekend, and in some come cases completely uncalled for! The first post they made in the Stan Lee thread was like they were trying to cause trouble, by saying that Pandora's Box was open due to one fan being lucky to get individual meet and greet thanks to Stan's manager! To me that is completely uncalled for (and yes I know I have made some angry posts which probably were uncalled for earlier today but I have apologised for that).

 

I know where you are coming from but i just don't want the failings of this show to be swept under the carpet as SM like to do. I really enjoy these events but improvements truly need to be made to future shows and seing complaints as just people being whiney or causing trouble is not the way to go. Another event like this will really harm SM and of course i will never approve of the censorship of negative comments that don't swear or insult.

[MrsEllacott]

 

 

 

Abberline, have you just joined up cause trouble? Cos your posts have not been all that nice so far. I know things have got heated on here but that appears to be calming down, so please don't start it again!

Please can i ask you why you think he is here to start trouble? everything hee said is true, sm don't delete positive threads just negative ones. There sems to be a view by somee that complaints are "out of hand" or "here to cause trouble" i don't get that. He has a valid point, there is however no need for his response to your question, no neeed at all.

 

 

You have to bear in mind things can read out of context on here. So perhaps maybe that is what I am doing, but all the posts Abberline has made have been very negative, much more so than those who have made valid claims of problems from the weekend, and in some come cases completely uncalled for! The first post they made in the Stan Lee thread was like they were trying to cause trouble, by saying that Pandora's Box was open due to one fan being lucky to get individual meet and greet thanks to Stan's manager! To me that is completely uncalled for (and yes I know I have made some angry posts which probably were uncalled for earlier today but I have apologised for that).

 

I know where you are coming from but i just don't want the failings of this show to be swept under the carpet as SM like to do. I really enjoy these events but improvements truly need to be made to future shows and seing complaints as just people being whiney or causing trouble is not the way to go. Another event like this will really harm SM and of course i will never approve of the censorship of negative comments that don't swear or insult.

 

 

Either way, the first comment has now been explained in the other thread as them being annoyed because this girl got a private meet and greet. So now I get the comment, but still the Pandora's Box comment was still uncalled for. Plus on top of that, the post itself has annoyed people even more before SM can get a proper statement out!

[mavrik0o0]

First time going to a Con enjoyed it. The celebrities I met were all very nice TJ Thyme from Bones went above and beyond. Couple of small criticisms asked a couple of the staff about the Stan Lee talk and where it was no one had a clue which seemed odd to me, I eventually found myself . Went for the photo shoot with Stan could have been organised a bit better couldn't hear the staff member calling out ticket numbers and actual barriers would have been better then tape on the floor. Other then that looking forward to seeing who will attend next time.

[DavidB]

Reading through the recent comments, here lies the problem - no matter how reasonable we try to be on here, unless we do exactly what EVERYONE wants, there's always going to be people that are rude and have complaints about how we do things around here.

 

I've tried to ask people to be reasonable to each other, and I've not deleted things but instead locked them, and still there's issues.

 

The truth is simple - this is Showmasters' forum, they allow you to post here by signing up, and they/the mods are entitled to run things how they see fit. It's not a place for free speech, for democracy, or anything like that. It's just like every other message board and website out there. Just because it's the Internet, it doesn't mean you can do whatever you want.

 

BUT reading through things today, I've tried to listen to people and deal with things in a more positive manner, allowing people to air their opinions on the event and not removing anything, while simply requesting that people don't argue with each other. Same with Twitter - I've been told to f--k off and all manner of things on there, but never risen to it. Despite all this, things still descend into mess.

 

Sometimes I just want to smack my head against the desk in all honesty..

 

Damned if you do and damned if you don't right? :)

Edited July 14, 2014 by DavidB

[MrsEllacott]

David, you are doing a damn good job! I definitely could never do this!

[MissShell]

A positive comment - the guy organising photo area A for stans shoot on Friday, I don't know his name but he is a regular volunteer (I think?!), did an amazing job and directed people in a calm and structured manner. Just want to say Thank you! Your approach was direct and it helped immensely

Edited July 14, 2014 by MissShell

[cropsy2008]

Reading through the recent comments, here lies the problem - no matter how reasonable we try to be on here, unless we do exactly what EVERYONE wants, there's always going to be people that are rude and have complaints about how we do things around here.

 

I've tried to ask people to be reasonable to each other, and I've not deleted things but instead locked them, and still there's issues.

 

The truth is simple - this is Showmasters' forum, they allow you to post here by signing up, and they/the mods are entitled to run things how they see fit. It's not a place for free speech, for democracy, or anything like that. It's just like every other message board and website out there. Just because it's the Internet, it doesn't mean you can do whatever you want.

 

BUT reading through things today, I've tried to listen to people and deal with things in a more positive manner, allowing people to air their opinions on the event and not removing anything, while simply requesting that people don't argue with each other. Same with Twitter - I've been told to f--k off and all manner of things on there, but never risen to it. Despite all this, things still descend into mess.

 

Sometimes I just want to smack my head against the desk in all honesty..

 

Damned if you do and damned if you don't right? :)

The swearing at you is truly uncalled for and is something most here would never do. But this is certainly not like every other forum out there, rermoving posts for swearing is one thing but this forum removes entire threads it does not like. "This is not a place for free speech" "this is not a dmocracy" do you not realise how that sounds (apart from a walking dead script) . also you keep saying arguing but except for the uncalled comment by abberline there is no arguing, just discussion but you know as well as me this thread will be removed in time.

[Murph]

I hope you've blocked those kinda people on Twitter David. At the end of the day, no matter how let down you feel, swearing at a volunteer is bang out of order.

[rj222]

why wait till SM get a proper statement out they simply deleted their last condescending statement and all posts relating to it, as well as deleting pretty much any post that raises legitimate safety concerns but a million threads on what a great time people had are fine

[sammyromie]

I think some of the people giving praise and adulation had the expensive passes.

Nope. We had early birds. We just got tickets beforehand and got up early.

[DavidB]

@cropsy - hopefully it just sounds like I'm being honest, because that's all I'm trying to do.

 

I wouldn't dream of joining up another forum and expect to be allowed to post absolutely anything I wanted. They all have rules.

 

My point is that unless you make your own forum, no one can do EXACTLY what they want. That's not me being a Nazi or whatever anyone else wants to throw at me but simply the facts.

 

And yes, there's been plenty of arguing on here, not discussion. Calling people spam lickers or apologists or trolls etc, whatever side of the argument, IS NOT a discussion.

[cherrydarling]

We all attended the event with different expectations and requirements. Some people go to cosplay, some just enjoy the atmosphere meeting up with friends and browsing stalls, some go for displays / events and others go for photo shoots and autographs. People attend the show for different reasons. Everyone who went to the show wanted different outcomes therefore some people are happy, others are sad or angry and some have mixed opinions of the day and how it could be improved. I fall into the latter category BUT I do value the opinions and experiences of others. We all went to the same place but some of us experienced different things. We all have this forum in common. We were all excited about the show and played an active part in the build up. Everyone who attends these shows wants them to be a success. That's why ALL views however much they differ from our own need to be respected and noted. I feel happy for those who enjoyed the show and got what they wanted from it and sad for those that were left distressed or disappointed. This was the first year that I have felt unable to get everything that I wanted without a gold pass. Before I always managed to get all the autos I needed and I didn't mind the queues at other previous events because in my opinion they were better organised and less stressful. I have enjoyed looking at pics from the event and how some have had celeb encounters that will be memories to treasure. I hope that people who were caused severe upset / distress will be compensated in some way. Also thanks to the volunteers who gave up their free time to help us all.

[eccheetham]

I agree david you are damned if you do or don't. i agree people should post in their problems as long as they don't swear, write unkind things about people or blame particular people. i am not a usually complainer on here but felt the need to post the odd comment just saying where i thought things went wrong in general terms of course and where improvements could be made, but i never blamed or groaned over any 1 person. so pleas everyone do post your comments as it does help to improve future cons but don't nit pick on any 1 person.

[Daniel_Baker]

I had a great time overall, there were some down points like queuing 40 minutes for a refund because there was only one member of staff allowed to process them, my Mother went to the freebie giveaway and said it was "a total farce", I think the main problem was that some blue shirts didn't know much about the show and how things worked, some were giving incorrect information too.

 

But the staff were all friendly and professional despite the abuse they were getting, I think they had a tough weekend as some celebrities were quite demanding. Most handled the lockdown well, I was in the lobby shut outside and it was getting packed but the staff let no one in, I did see a few of the staff inside letting people out though so I think that needs to be looked at.

 

I would also like to say that the way I was treated as a disabled attendee was brilliant, being allowed in queues at the front is a great idea, it may seem preferential but it makes sense, having wheelchairs blocking queues is bad so getting us through first is sensible.

[cherrydarling]

David I did actually post in another thread that got deleted how much I and I'm sure so many others appreciate the amazing job you do of keeping us updated on twitter. I also mentioned how great the crew and the pre-order / ticket order team have always been. What you do is appreciated by many. You do not deserve to have abuse aimed at you when you're trying to help. Thank you for locking posts rather than deleting them :)

[fissijo]

Just wanted to add a huge thumbs up to the photographer in Photo area B Sunday afternoon for going portrait on my photo so my whole costume is in shot. Much appreciated,

[DavidB]

Thanks cherrydarling :) I really appreciate it.

 

And truth is this was the event I've been thanked the most at - loads of people came up and said the same thing, and I'm just glad that the effort I put in is actually appreciated and useful to a lot of people :)

 

Both me on Twitter and us mods on here are all volunteers and spend a lot of time helping people get organised etc. Yes, we have to do things the way SM want to (understandably so) but we do give up a lot of our own time to try and help attendees, so it's really nice meeting fellow fans and getting nice comments :)

[eccheetham]

I dont mind people on crutches or in wheel chairs queue jumping. i think it is important to do that even as disabled people can become ill, block the way for everyone else or cause accidents when people around them aren't paying attention. so im quite happy for disable to jump in. I laso am happy for gald , silver and vip peope to go before standard tickets into photos, auto's or general entry. on top of this i think that those who had PRE baught their tickets should all have been let into the venue before they started letting in people who had turned up to the event without pre buying tickets. then there may not have been quite a squeeze inside as when you got to capacity they could have just aside right no more tickets on sale were full.

[cropsy2008]

@cropsy - hopefully it just sounds like I'm being honest, because that's all I'm trying to do.

 

I wouldn't dream of joining up another forum and expect to be allowed to post absolutely anything I wanted. They all have rules.

 

My point is that unless you make your own forum, no one can do EXACTLY what they want. That's not me being a Nazi or whatever anyone else wants to throw at me but simply the facts.

 

And yes, there's been plenty of arguing on here, not discussion. Calling people spam lickers or apologists or trolls etc, whatever side of the argument, IS NOT a discussion.

Again i can accept the deletion of the arguments and namecalling but just last week i said i would like more horror and 80s guests instead all the sw and dw guests (about 7 announcements in a few days) and it was deleted. There is no valid reason for that, its overkill and like i said before its not individual posts its WHOLE threads. I sound like a broken record but theres no need to mod so much. I love these events and i really enjoy this forum and the people on it and appreciate all the work you and fellow mods do but its overkill David and at the end of the day is propaganda.

[DavidB]

The only problem with letting in pre-paids first is that pre-paid doesn't give priority. This has often been a concern to some people, as they think they're buying a priority ticket, but actually they're just buying the same ticket but at a different time. Pre-paid has always been about convenience really.

 

Who knows how the tickets will be in future though. I'm sure Jason is considering the options.

[MrsEllacott]

I dont mind people on crutches or in wheel chairs queue jumping. i think it is important to do that even as disabled people can become ill, block the way for everyone else or cause accidents when people around them aren't paying attention. so im quite happy for disable to jump in. I laso am happy for gald , silver and vip peope to go before standard tickets into photos, auto's or general entry. on top of this i think that those who had PRE baught their tickets should all have been let into the venue before they started letting in people who had turned up to the event without pre buying tickets. then there may not have been quite a squeeze inside as when you got to capacity they could have just aside right no more tickets on sale were full.

 

So nice to hear someone say that cos I had a few dodgy looks from other people when I was placed near the front of the queues for photos as my autistic son struggles with long queues! Though most people were happy and understanding to allow people like my son be moved towards the front! Just nice to hear someone who actually understands!

[eccheetham]

for DAVIDB i do appreciate the weekend. i only go to events with showmaster in the uk as they are reasonable prices and usually well mannered and understanding. i did have a good weekend overall. i loved seeing celebrities there who in the past have been out of the question due to the price of getting them. i really appreciate getting bigger stars. there was a good selection of dealers stalls including 1 or 2 i hadn't seen before so enjoyed nosing around at the new things. Although showmaster volunteers may not have always been able to direct me to the right place or answer my questions they were overall polite and listened to what i had to say.

Im glad you have still kept this comment thread open to people. I don't think i could do your job of controlling a forum.

[DavidB]

@cropsy - we'll have to agree to disagree. I'm not interested in propaganda in the slightest, but if that's how you see it then fair enough. I can't let people have free rein here or what's the point in moderators anyway? :)

 

But hey, I will never please 100% of the people here so that's fine :)

[mulderandmonkeys]

I attended on the Friday evening first and knew it was going to busy when the queue was substantially longer than the one I am used to on a Sunday morning. However inside was not too bad and I got signatures easily from the guests I wanted to meet Michael Madsen ( great guy, laid back, happy for photos etc etc, just seemed like a normal guy ), Lawrence Gilliard Jr ( very cheerful and impressed with my Wire DVD insert already signed by Idris Elba and Dominic West ) and Dina Meyer ( absolutely gorgeous and its impossible for her to be in her mid 40's !! ). I did want to buy a couple of photoshoot tickets but the queues were never ending and I could see it would take at least 2 hours to get served. My next visit was on Sunday and although I had an early bird ticket I did not arrive until around 1:30, was able to walk straight in literally as no one asked me for my ticket !!! This time there were no queues at the sale desk so I bought 2 photoshoot tickets for later on and then got autographs without any trouble from Robert Hays ( I made him laugh, how many people can say they've made a member of the Airplane team laugh !! ) and Curtis Armstrong ( very friendly and honest about his experiences on the show I was getting a photo from ).

Headed over for the Michael Madsen talk which was a big improvement on previous talks in other years, there is no doubt having the MC / interviewer steered things in the right direction meaning he spoke about films we all knew ( last year at the Danny Glover talk there seemed to be an unofficial competition to see who could ask him about the most obscure film no-one else had heard of ).

Next was the prize draw which was a complete fiasco, it was so amateurish and un-organised it was unfair on the audience and the three hapless presenters who seemed genuinely embarassed to be there. I would have paid £5 for the programme anyway but Showmaster shot themselves in the foot making such a big deal of the prize draws which should have been an added extra rather than the main reason to buy a programme !!

Headed back for photoshoots with Michael Madsen and Lawrence Gilliard Jr both of which ran like clockwork with no problems etc. The only guest I missed out on was Summer Glau ( who knew she would be that popular, my VQ ticket was 880 !! and the guy giving them out said it was unlikely I would see her )

Obviously not everybody had as good a time as me, I had no interest in Stan Lee or Carrie Fisher or Ian McDiarmid so I was OK but do feel for those who missed out.

Anyone can look back over my postings can see they are overwhelmingly positive to Showmasters who I am sure make a loss at some events however if you take a crowd figure of say 50,000 over the 3 days and then estimate an average of just 1 autograph and photshoot per atendee you are looking at gross revenue of around £3 million, an event like that cannot be staffed by a few dozen mostly teenage volunteers. Jason seems a nice well meaning guy and I am certain he wanted everyone to come away happy having met everyone but enthusiasm seems to have got the better of him. Most events of this size are planned and organised by a dedicated staff virtually over a full year and when you look at the number of events Showmasters now run I suspect he needs way more permanent management staff and teams dedicated to certain events at head office and on the day. I asked a very simple question to two staff manning the doors at the super stage ( did I need a ticket for the free Michael Madsen talk ) and neither knew, also one of the staff at the photo shoot area was very rude barking ' come on move along ' when it was her colleague struggling to seperate the stub on my ticket that caused a delay of no more than 3 or 4 seconds. I don't blame the staff member for that I suspect she and several others had had more than enough of the weekend by that stage !!.

Bigger guests are great and I love Jason for that and all the people I have met over the years but bigger guests come with bigger responsabilities too.

Edited July 14, 2014 by DavidB