Tumblr Convention "Disaster" Unfolds at Illinois' DashCon

[momijirabbit]

I found an appropriate video about the whole thing.


This pretty much explains what happened in a short video.

 

[Ishal]

It's the funniest stuff I've read in a while. And yes, as someone said earlier, it is the punching bag of the internet right now, and it's not entirely unearned.

For many people, Tumblr doesn't mean, "cool blog site where you can share all kinds of media" anymore. But rather equates to "incredibly disturbing hole of insane causes, mentally unwell people who complain over every little non-issue, and cause of death for actual feminism and equal rights movements."

This may not be the whole site, but it's the part that is the loudest, and apparently this con was made for them, by them. It's an echo chamber worst kind, and the site itself encourages it. Sure, any site can be an echo chamber. But Tumblr's design reinforces it. The main features are Follow and Reblog. Do people think it's a coincidence that so many young naive teenagers are attracted to a place like this? I place that thrives on momentum from reblogs and allows people total control over what they choose to see an not see? This con was their reality check, and it won't be the first.

 

[Arkynomicon]

I was not surprised at all about this when I heard about it.

tumblr had a bunch of morons that thought they could shut down 4chan by going over there and protesting. It's like if I would fistfight a pack of lions after smearing myself in bacon grease.

These people probably struggle with putting on pants in the morning.

 

[Hazy]

A WHOLE HOUR IN THE BALL PIT?! That's like way better than a whole year in Disneyland!

At least until somebody urinates in it.

Which they did.

 

[Schadrach]

Felt appropriate to throw that in here.

Jesus H Christ, there was a stage combat session?

Out of all the bad ideas in the world, I would rank giving tumblr users swords as a very bad one, especially when I've seen what classes as 'blunt' in the US.

It takes a lot of good humour, determination and trust to be able to do hands-on display combat. I've been doing it about 8 months now and have had a scar on my arm for the past 3 months after being caught on the wrist with a blunt hand-and-a-half sword. It's not a matter of toughness - because I'm not - it's just a matter of emotional maturity, which is something I've never seen on tumblr.

You could always give them foam swords? Then they'd at least have to try to do more than sting. =p

 

[NemotheElvenPanda]

"Meanwhile, as the fundraiser debacle was unfolding, there were reports (and scattered video record) of confused/upset attendees having turned their ire on the hotel and its staff... by "protest-singing" songs from Les Miserables, flashing "Homestuck gang-signs" and throwing up the Mockingjay Salute from The Hunger Games."

And people wonder why no one takes Tumblr seriously, that and the reputation for a sizable number of users who have persecution complexes and covert narcissism that makes DeviantArt look tame. Thank goodness I just use it for porn, art, archeological and scientific news. I do genuinely sympathize will all the people who went there spending time and money expecting a good time and business. However, this incident is pretty much a real life manifestation and allegory of everything that's wrong with Tumblr.

 

[Spearmaster]

All this unfolding has reaffirmed my suspicion that all the skill and bravado someone has in their digital life means absolutely nothing when it comes to real life and makes the gap between the quality of digital life and real life that much harder to bridge. I'm sure it was quite a culture shock and I'm sure certain internet egos were quite deflated by this. Also the term "paper tiger" keeps echoing in my head for some reason.

All that said, I do feel pity for those involved or attending the event and hope that they learned some real life lessons from their experience.

 

[Korolev]

So there's two likely possibilities:

1) Fraud
2) This was organized by teenagers who had absolutely no prior experience in organizing any meeting, ever. Or by incompetent adults who have no experience in organizing anything, ever.

Actually, a third possibility is:

3) Fraudsters manipulated a group of teenagers/incompetent adults into organizing a mess of an event so that they could get money.

Either way, it's sad that people are having a bad time. I'm not with the "Tumblr crowd" (if there is such a thing, I'm still coming to grips with what a "tumblr" even is - some sort of blog thingamajig? But most of the posts are just of other work that they've seen?) but I don't like it when people are upset.

Hopefully whoever spent money will be refunded and whoever organized this event has learned a lesson: DON'T ORGANIZE AN EVENT UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING.

 

[Saetha]

It's the funniest stuff I've read in a while. And yes, as someone said earlier, it is the punching bag of the internet right now, and it's not entirely unearned.

For many people, Tumblr doesn't mean, "cool blog site where you can share all kinds of media" anymore. But rather equates to "incredibly disturbing hole of insane causes, mentally unwell people who complain over every little non-issue, and cause of death for actual feminism and equal rights movements."

This may not be the whole site, but it's the part that is the loudest, and apparently this con was made for them, by them. It's an echo chamber worst kind, and the site itself encourages it. Sure, any site can be an echo chamber. But Tumblr's design reinforces it. The main features are Follow and Reblog. Do people think it's a coincidence that so many young naive teenagers are attracted to a place like this? I place that thrives on momentum from reblogs and allows people total control over what they choose to see an not see? This con was their reality check, and it won't be the first.

Actually, the SJW part of Tumblr didn't have a hand in this Tumblr controversy (So there's something new) Rather, DashCon was made by SuperWhoLocks (Who lied and said it's for all fandoms) for SuperWhoLocks (Who believed the lie that it was for all fandoms)

Really, the fandom part of Tumblr's just as crazy, obsessive, and toxic as the SJW part. Luckily, however, they're not as self-righteous or nosy. They tend to stick to their circles, and you really only have to worry about getting attacked by them if you barge into one. That being said, they've definitely got the issue of being in an echo chamber, and any dissenting opinion (such as "I prefer John stay with his wife rather than end up with Sherlock" or basically any criticism of the *shudder* Omegaverse)) is likely to make them just as bad, sometimes even worse, as SJWs. They're also equally deluded, if this whole mess is any indication.

 

[Ten Foot Bunny]

Whut? All understood is that a bunch of random people showed up and made a mess of a hotel.

And yet, they still didn't do as thorough a job as Keith Moon... proving that the convention failed at everything.

http://st-james.hubpages.com/hub/The-Legend-of-Keith-MoonHis-1967-Birthday-Party

 

[AsurasEyes]

Look, I know that Tumblr is the punching bag of the internet right around now, but can we not indulge in sterotypes?

No, we're going to indulge in them all we like because Tumblr and its userbase deserves to be mocked.

http://www.twonkhammer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Implied-Facepalm.jpg

I seriously hope that you're being sarcastic here. Please don't make me have to go into why what you're saying is blatantly false.

Spoiler

http://31.media.tumblr.com/f269af68959b5afcc45ff99ade5346ad/tumblr_n8of3p2BkO1rq01f1o1_1280.png
http://38.media.tumblr.com/b9afbc26fb9e48e0ae156b95aa9d9d4f/tumblr_n8l3poGtLe1rdvacto1_1280.png
https://38.media.tumblr.com/98e293226bc8d3a2eabd01bea8a25f21/tumblr_n8ti0hjHbn1squprwo4_1280.png
https://31.media.tumblr.com/e4a981e3a2a4712103d5b1a936b467a0/tumblr_n8ti0hjHbn1squprwo5_1280.png
https://38.media.tumblr.com/92f8ec267be3f802ab2621bff0b240b1/tumblr_n8ti0hjHbn1squprwo6_400.png
https://31.media.tumblr.com/6efc486bc628bdeee4847ffe09845c19/tumblr_n8ti0hjHbn1squprwo7_1280.jpg
https://31.media.tumblr.com/89689581ccaf3fd2ee49c97e1ded6ad8/tumblr_n8ti0hjHbn1squprwo8_400.jpg
https://31.media.tumblr.com/d558870785f778707260d7bd413483e9/tumblr_n8ti0hjHbn1squprwo9_1280.jpg
https://38.media.tumblr.com/68e29f78a6cbeee80f1f44ceaea6f75d/tumblr_n8ti0hjHbn1squprwo10_500.jpg
https://31.media.tumblr.com/606deea3147264d94fd3fe7c16e31b3e/tumblr_n8ti0hjHbn1squprwo2_500.png

I had to search for maybe ten minutes to find about twenty of these. It took me longer to figure out how to upload them onto the Escapist website than it took me to find these.\

Spoiler

I'm aware that Tumblr is a diverse community of many people and creeds, and some of them are alright. Hell, one of my best friends (who I also happen to have a severe crush on) is a Tumblrite. It has a great community of artists and creators, people who I look up to and aspire to be. Hell,they inspire me to work harder and better myself, so I might one day be like them, if not surpass them.

But...so many of them. So fucking many of the users are just bad people. It's not even "well-intentioned but misguided" like I've heard defenders claim. These are people who want to ban words from language, and just make things FORBIDDEN to joke about, to not say a random word in case it might "trigger" someone. And when they're not being fascist, they're just being shallow, immortalizing banal quotes from pretty boys or leaping onto the chance to see them make out. That's not even taking into account the people who draw or write fanfiction involving their favorite characters having kinky man-sex and decide to share that with the rest of the internet. I'm not against fanfiction or erotica, specifically, but I dislike how this is put on a pedestal and praised rather than just being accepted by the Tumblr community.

And then we have the Homestucks. The fangirls and fanboys who scream "HAIL SATAN" while they show up to cons in grey makeup and horns, generally butting into everyone's business. I'm fine with me or whoever else being a part of a fandom, but keep it to yourself. Homestucks don't seem to get this. They're like a child who just found a particularly ugly-looking bug, running around going "HEY HEY HEY HEY LOOK AT THIS ISN'T THIS A THING?!" when people are just trying to get on with their lives, reading other, better webcomics or enjoying our own fandoms.

Oh, and let's not forget the mental illness fakers. Speaking as a person with legitimately diagnosed mental illnesses, it's fucking insulting to see a teenaged girl say she has it harder than anyone else because she thinks that in a past life one of her headmates was a catgirl from Japan, or one of her headmates was a fucking vampire who likes to threaten people. And when her mother was complaining about how her self-diagnosed disorder isn't real, she threatens to kill her own mother in her "vampire voice". This is a legitimate blog, I'm not just pulling examples out of the ether, this is an ACTUAL PERSON. The fact that autism, Aspergers, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and all these other mental illnesses are treated as fashion statements on Tumblr is genuinely offensive to a person who actually has personal experience with them.

Maybe now, that you see where I'm coming from, you can understand why I would say that this site and the community should be mocked. But I am interested in hearing why my statement is "blatantly false", so please tell me why.

 

[sageoftruth]

Yeah, this seems about what I would expect from a gathering of people who would attend a convention for Tumblr. Of course I highly suspect that they are currently trying to figure out a way to blame the entire thing on straight white men as a whole.

I've gotta ask, I get that "blame the entire thing on straight white men as a whole." is from something and it must have some meaning, but I'm lost as to what it is.
I've seen several statements like that from other people and it's really jarring.

I've never been on Tumblr, but I'm guessing the whole "Blame white men" thing stems from another poster's accusation that
"The site is crawling with disingenuous hypocrites, each engaged in a constant uphill battle to prove they're more "unique", more "socially aware", and more "quirky" than every other Tumblr user."

 

[Olas]

Giant Snip

You see this thing?

|
|
|
V​

Spoiler

It's called a spoiler tag.


Here's another:

Spoiler

As it's name implies, it was originally intended to hide information so as not to accidentally give away major parts of a story's plot for someone. However, it has also become a useful tool for compressing large images/blocks of text like the following:

Spoiler

To create a spoiler tag just surround the object in question with the word "spoiler" enclosed in brackets with a forward slash in front of the second one like the following:

[ spoiler ] text/image [ /spoiler ]

except without spaces.

Spoiler: This spoiler warning has a message

To add a message to a spoiler warning simply follow the opening spoiler box with an equal sign followed by your message in quotation marks like the following:

[ spoiler="message" ] text/image [ /spoiler ]

Spoiler: Pretty cool huh?

But also important, because posting a large image or body of text into a thread is obnoxious and takes up needless space. So next time you feel like posting something gigantic like your above post, please use a spoiler tag.

Thank you for reading this to the end.

 

[AsurasEyes]

Giant Snip

You see this thing?

|
|
|
V​

Spoiler

It's called a spoiler tag.


Here's another:

Spoiler

As it's name implies, it was originally intended to hide information so as not to accidentally give away major parts of a story's plot for someone. However, it has also become a useful tool for compressing large images/blocks of text like the following:

Spoiler

To create a spoiler tag just surround the object in question with the word "spoiler" enclosed in brackets with a forward slash in front of the second one like the following:

[ spoiler ] text/image [ /spoiler ]

except without spaces.

Spoiler: This spoiler warning has a message

To add a message to a spoiler warning simply follow the opening spoiler box with an equal sign followed by your message in quotation marks like the following:

[ spoiler="message" ] text/image [ /spoiler ]

Spoiler: Pretty cool huh?

But also important, because posting a large image or body of text into a thread is obnoxious and takes up needless space. So next time you feel like posting something gigantic like your above post, please use a spoiler tag.

Thank you for reading this to the end.

Spoiler

I'm sorry sir. I'm not so good at the forum posting thing. Please forgive my ignorance.

 

[deathmothon]

I've only listened to a little of Welcome to Nightvale, but the extra hour in the ballpit totally sounds like something you'd here on the show.

 

[elvor0]

The part about the protest songs, gang signs, and mockingjay signs had me in stitches. I surprised the tumblr people didn't start pulling macro/meme images out on their phones too.

Aye, it's like the worst kind of car-crash. Painfully, and ultimately terrible, but you can't help but watch.

I mean, clearly the best response to a hotel refusing you service because you haven't paid is to use a crummy protest salute that was used against a totalitarian government, you go tumblr, fight the powah!

 

[Atmos Duality]

I think even goddamn 9gag could've done a better than this.

Also, there was supposedly an orgy. Many people got crabs.

So, it was a convention where the crabs arguably had the best time.
Wow. That's...just introspective levels of sad and pathetic.

 

[Brian Tams]

Typical Tumblr, a place where nothing is done and all you see is people whining.

FUCK! I was going to make that joke! D:

OT: Sounds like a gigantic cluster fuck of a mess. That being said, the lone ball pit pic is hilarious.

 

[Saika Renegade]

I've been on staff for a convention before. Minor role in the structure, working with the marketing department to get our ads out there, that sort of thing. Even with that, for the amount of time I've spent volunteering and giving up a fair bit of free time, effort, and yes, even money out of my own pocket, I still don't think even our worst day (of which there are several, as any veteran con staff will tell you) was ever quite this big of a clusterfuck.

Things will happen, don't get me wrong. Miscommunications with hotel staff, trouble with attendees, general unexpected madness, so forth... it's part and parcel of any convention, even the largest and most well established ones. The thing is that most of these conventions have plans for this sort of thing. The best I've seen usually have several contingency plans that go several layers down, in increasing levels of pessimism and disaster. I've even seen a contingency plan for a hotel catching fire.

From what I've been reading, between administrative mistakes that would have flunked them out of a freshman business course and attendee behavior that would have gotten them kicked out of every convention I've yet participated in, the fire would probably have been preferable.

 

[Panda Mania]

That's the saddest ball pit I've seen in my life.

I would make some snarky quip about Tumblr, but seeing as how I do use and enjoy the site often...that might be a tad disingenuous. I do feel sorry for the organizers, as it's never easy to coordinate such a huge event, and doubly difficult to watch it go down in flames like that.