There is a risk here. To wit: turning this into a kvetch-fest, or a practise-session at being crotchety-and I don't EVEN look like Andy Rooney. The point of the first entry derives from the unprofessional way convention BUSINESS is run. Make NO mistake: running a SF con IS a business. Cons are fun, as are toy stores, amusement parks, and comics shops, but they are all businesses with the working and the paying and the buying and the glavin...
The hateful part is that as fun as the "D&D Tournament Model" appears to be, these young guys and gals are borrowing way more trouble than the fun is worth. "How?" my gentle readers cry! Because the REAL businesses will run far away: sponsors, and dealers like me. It can be argued that the Dealers' Room (or huckster room for the older vets) is the backbone of a convention. We dealers pay confiscatory prices for table or booth space, so that the con-goers can clutch, touch, rummage, thumb through, and ultimately BUY our wares, goodies which may not readily be had at Wally World or BigfatKmart, to the satisfaction of all. Many cons pick up extra bucks by selling Dealer Room Only passes to the Great Unwashed, from whom we, too, may extract some credits.
Why would we run? Because WE are running businesses, too. If the Con leadership is lackadaisical about little things like advertising, or having enough gopher help, or even bothering to answer email queries, then THIS little vertabra will see you at a con that takes it SERIOUSLY. If I'm not there, then MY dollars won't be either.
>HUMPH< Darn kids and their music...