So I've been reading the hubbub over the Connecticon numbers at Comixpedia and Websnark. It occurred to me that someone ought to talk to the source of the press release so I wrote to the guy in charge of the convention, Matthew Daigle. What follows is my letter and his response. It seems fair to post it here without comment:
My letter:
Matthew,
I understand your interest in attracting popular web-comic creators to Connecticon, but posting the numbers for comps is bouncing around the web as being in really bad taste (see: Comixpedia.net, Websnark.com). It would take about ten minutes for you to figure out who qualifies for your top few categories and contact them directly. By posting the numbers, very high numbers, you've angered quite a few of the little people, the people most likely to come to your convention. Also, the numbers seem to disregard the collectives like Keen, ModernTales, Graphic Smash, PVComics.
I'm thinking I might qualify for a comp table at your show and I live in Connecticut, but unless there's some effective damage control/explanation done here, I'll be headed to San Diego this year.
I write a strip-blog combo, the HB Comic-Blog, that reviews submitted strips. Most of its audience is other web-comic creators. I wanted to write you directly before posting a response to your numbers on my site.
I'm thinking I might qualify for a comp table at your show and I live in Connecticut, but unless there's some effective damage control/explanation done here, I'll be headed to San Diego this year.
I write a strip-blog combo, the HB Comic-Blog, that reviews submitted strips. Most of its audience is other web-comic creators. I wanted to write you directly before posting a response to your numbers on my site.
I really would like to see your convention keep growing, but you'll at least need to pretend you care about the quality of art and story you comp.
Sincerely,
Bob Stevenson
http://www.journeyintohistory.com
Sincerely,
Bob Stevenson
http://www.journeyintohistory.com
His response:
Bob,
That is really weird because we did the same thing last year with a Tier
System and it was quite well received at Comixpedia, Buzzcomix, and
drunkduck.
We do our best but with over 20,000+ web comics out there who really has
the time to read/review them all and then invite them to attend a
convention? I also personally don't believe that it would be becoming to
invite a web comic to attend an event on their dime only to give them a
free badge... the Tiered Reward System is in our opinion a better system
as an open invitation to web comics who want to attend the convention and
helps us stay within our budget. This same system was in place last year
and worked really well for us. We try to make it as accessible as we can
for ALL web comics to attend the convention.
We're also thinking of potentially dropping the Tier 1 # to 500 UIP's or
some such. We also review each comic who asks to get comped badges (not
every comic does) because we do have a budget. It doesn't take into
account for collectives but if a collective is interested in attending
they can email me and we can figure out some sort of arrangements. We
really don't want to leave any web comics out of being able to attend but
we also can't afford to fly in every web comic who wants to attend and put
them up in a hotel room... we don't have a 3M dollar budget. By announcing
our Tier System it does get out name out to comics who might live nearby
and never even knew about the convention and also make us aware that they
exist... most comics don't let you know where the live on their front
page.
I'll try and get in touch with the hyper-negative folks over at websnark
and comixpedia... they paint a VERY ugly picture of why we created the
Tier System in the first place. I really don't appreciate the additional
comments websnark made about 75,000; 100,000; etc and prositutes.
If you have any other questions feel free to ask me and I'll get back to
you relatively quickly,
Mathew Daigle
Convention Chairman
ConnectiCon 2005
www.ConnectiCon.org
That is really weird because we did the same thing last year with a Tier
System and it was quite well received at Comixpedia, Buzzcomix, and
drunkduck.
We do our best but with over 20,000+ web comics out there who really has
the time to read/review them all and then invite them to attend a
convention? I also personally don't believe that it would be becoming to
invite a web comic to attend an event on their dime only to give them a
free badge... the Tiered Reward System is in our opinion a better system
as an open invitation to web comics who want to attend the convention and
helps us stay within our budget. This same system was in place last year
and worked really well for us. We try to make it as accessible as we can
for ALL web comics to attend the convention.
We're also thinking of potentially dropping the Tier 1 # to 500 UIP's or
some such. We also review each comic who asks to get comped badges (not
every comic does) because we do have a budget. It doesn't take into
account for collectives but if a collective is interested in attending
they can email me and we can figure out some sort of arrangements. We
really don't want to leave any web comics out of being able to attend but
we also can't afford to fly in every web comic who wants to attend and put
them up in a hotel room... we don't have a 3M dollar budget. By announcing
our Tier System it does get out name out to comics who might live nearby
and never even knew about the convention and also make us aware that they
exist... most comics don't let you know where the live on their front
page.
I'll try and get in touch with the hyper-negative folks over at websnark
and comixpedia... they paint a VERY ugly picture of why we created the
Tier System in the first place. I really don't appreciate the additional
comments websnark made about 75,000; 100,000; etc and prositutes.
If you have any other questions feel free to ask me and I'll get back to
you relatively quickly,
Mathew Daigle
Convention Chairman
ConnectiCon 2005
www.ConnectiCon.org
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