Bongocat
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2020
Idunno, seems to be off to a pretty good start, considering.
Then again, my standards have now been set by that fat rabbit dude.
MAGFest - Nerd Con that's rapidly falling to internal strife.
- Thread starter RepeatedMeme
- Start date
Then again, my standards have now been set by that fat rabbit dude.
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2019
My consensus on the OP is pretty much in line with what others have said so far; I think it has a lot of potential because conventions drag out all sorts of crazy drama. One thing that does bother me a bit is how it just looks like a wall of text in its current state. What I think would really help is some properly placed paragraph breaks, some relevant images/links, and maybe organizing the subjects a bit better, because it feels like you're jumping around a bit when a more chronological order of events would help the readability.
Minor shilling, but if you need some ideas or inspiration on how to make a convention writeup more engaging, I wrote (what I think at least) is a good piece on Capital City Fur Con, a furry convention that had a shitload of drama over the inept chairman literally stealing charity money and continuing to make a massive ass out of himself months later.
Minor shilling, but if you need some ideas or inspiration on how to make a convention writeup more engaging, I wrote (what I think at least) is a good piece on Capital City Fur Con, a furry convention that had a shitload of drama over the inept chairman literally stealing charity money and continuing to make a massive ass out of himself months later.
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2019
Your thread on CCFC is hilarious and that drama was pure gold. I just wonder if anyone will "speak out" about this like they did in that, or if we could find an insider in the telegram. Furries tend to be a lot worse on opsec than any normie because their friendships are so promiscuous and careless.
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2021
Thanks for the tips. Unfortunately, most of the drama is on Google Docs rather than twitter, so chances for good pics are a little rarer. It's all wall of text, though the slack screenshots do show a little of how the parties involved choose to present themselves. I've tried to spruce it up a bit, adding the lead troon's fursona, re-arranging a bit, etc.
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2019
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2021
I tried to stay away from the dumbest drama. There were entire departments that were the personal projects of crazy troons, like the "Tea Room" - Ostensibly the "quiet safe space" breakroom but in actuality it was always taken over by a creepy troon cuddlepile. It's a party event by and for creatives, and so there's a bunch of the usual drunken debauchery, worries about who got invited to what room party, etc. My experiences were mostly good. Party drama is fun but unmemorable to me. That said, this has been a long time coming. They've previously fired people for being "Transphobic" by not bending the knee - Including women who refused to share a staff sleeping room with trannies - mishandled every sexual assault or harassment case that's been in front of them, Banning victims, letting volunteers continue to complain and harass victims for months about their friends getting banned.
A large part of MAGFest it it's open arcade - 1000+ arcade machines trucked in from private collectors houses. That's usually a shitshow of logistics drama, but that's subdued. The really petty drama is over whose cabinets are and aren't included, because apparently the arcade collectors community has some real bad beefs. One hilarious anecdote revolves around a collector requesting a McFlurry as part of their loan contract, and MAGFest failing to deliver. . I'm certain I'm mangling the details, but this was agreed to in the contract, which wouldn't have been a big deal since there's a mcdonalds just down the way - Except it had a broken mcflurry machine. Then the McFlurry arrived but was stolen by someone else. Then a troon tried to defuse the beef between the collector who wanted the McFlurry and the dude who'd taken it. It was just a comedy of errors - It's a 4 day weekend party, and literal hours were spent by the chair and board worrying about a McFlurry.
A large part of MAGFest it it's open arcade - 1000+ arcade machines trucked in from private collectors houses. That's usually a shitshow of logistics drama, but that's subdued. The really petty drama is over whose cabinets are and aren't included, because apparently the arcade collectors community has some real bad beefs. One hilarious anecdote revolves around a collector requesting a McFlurry as part of their loan contract, and MAGFest failing to deliver. . I'm certain I'm mangling the details, but this was agreed to in the contract, which wouldn't have been a big deal since there's a mcdonalds just down the way - Except it had a broken mcflurry machine. Then the McFlurry arrived but was stolen by someone else. Then a troon tried to defuse the beef between the collector who wanted the McFlurry and the dude who'd taken it. It was just a comedy of errors - It's a 4 day weekend party, and literal hours were spent by the chair and board worrying about a McFlurry.
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2019
Yeah, the arcade part sounds great, but I've heard the lines for some of the more popular games can be excruciatingly long. Like an hour-long wait per turn on the newer music games.
And that does sound right, retarded beefs among arcade owners. I guess if you're autistic enough to drop thousands of dollars for a single, gigantic video game you can't move by yourself, you're autistic enough to get mad at the other autists in the same boat.
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2017
Other conventions are just as cringe behind the scenes as this, please post more. Every single one is staffed by unqualified twenty-somethings that get to handle a little badge money and it goes straight to their fucking heads, along with the management of panels/dealer rooms/handing out hotel room keys. They powertrip immediately like forum moderators and chat jannies.
The only Magfest reference I remember is an awful panel hosted by Anthony Burch in the past year or two, I'm not surprised that they're a bunch of lolcows when they invite them to speak for hour-long Q&A's. More than one of these cons need to be dissected and analyzed for the communal autism within.
The only Magfest reference I remember is an awful panel hosted by Anthony Burch in the past year or two, I'm not surprised that they're a bunch of lolcows when they invite them to speak for hour-long Q&A's. More than one of these cons need to be dissected and analyzed for the communal autism within.
Muh_Soggy_Knee
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2017
Much like Katsucon, MAG Fest seems like a con people go-to for the location rather than the con itself.
Back me up!
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2017
It's at the Gaylord. Were the hell else are the trannies and spergs gonna go?
augment
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2020
This was always a timebomb waiting to go off. You can't have an event related to this amount of nerd shit without the dangerhairs and con sleazoids getting their share of the drama pie.
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2021
It's official: Magfest is cancelled. "Friends" of MAGFest have posted an updated letter. (below) TL;DR of that is that now they're okay with the half of the board that wanted to pack their toys and go home, and want the other half out. That nicely splits MAGFest down the middle: Those who control the purse strings, and "The Volunteers"
There's a ton of twitter yelling from random people:
And antifa furries:
And a few normal people who don't care about drama and are just upset:
There's a ton of twitter yelling from random people:
And antifa furries:
And a few normal people who don't care about drama and are just upset:
I was doing random google searches about this because I just found out about the BoD drama, and wanted so bad to vent about it I started an account on this forum I've never heard of.
I went to two MAGFests as an attendee in 2008 and in 2012, and then volunteered there in the panels dept from 2013 to 2017. I burned out because of toxicity just like tons of people do at these kinds of cons, but I wanted to voice some support for the people who've stuck around at the top. Paul and Dom and some of the other board members are, in my experience working with them and hanging with them, absolutely wonderful people who really had a great vision for what MAGFest should be and did a pretty good job facilitating it. That said, I don't think they had any idea how to really clean the hostility out of MAGFest. There were well known incidents of staffers who were imo way overpaid having angry and violent outbursts, and in my conversations with people in different departments the one thing I heard is "the people in charge don't listen to us." I plenty of people who worked in the office trash talk their co-workers privately and their shitty entitled attitudes snowballed the bad vibes.
The whole problem lies back in their decision to make the event bigger/wider rather than more efficient. Everybody was stretched way too thin and that made it very hard for anybody to have fun. That was my personal experience, which is why I left. I really hope people don't read this though and #cancelmagfest. The fact that the "Friends of MAGFest" group exists should be a testament to the fact that hundreds of very dedicated people love the festival for good reason. It was a place I could make friends with people who were so different and so much smarter and so much more interesting that anybody I knew back home. It was a great engine for facilitating those kinds of unique bonds, and honestly it was one of if not the most rewarding experience I've ever had.
It was also a great place for inclusivity and allowed people to express themselves who normally feel on the fringes of societies. It wasn't just "nerds" but musicians and LGBT and Otaku and Furries and brilliant coders and rando-druggies and college professors and gamer-bros all mixed in basically in chaotic ADHD/OCD harmony.
Haramburger is right, the egotistical were attracted to volunteering like flies to death. I was one of them, honestly. But hopefully the new people in charge will purge the toxicity. It was really two or three apologists protecting bad behavior. For what it's worth, I was around when Paul was discussing the paid-position OP mentioned, and I thought it was a good idea since everything was on-fire all of the time once they tried to go repeat the event in California. I also helped contribute to the argument that MAGFest should be a 501c3 and remember commenting that only part of the org really ought to qualify. IIRC you can nest a non-profit into a for profit or a for-profit into a non-profit, one of those, and that's what they should have done.
I went to two MAGFests as an attendee in 2008 and in 2012, and then volunteered there in the panels dept from 2013 to 2017. I burned out because of toxicity just like tons of people do at these kinds of cons, but I wanted to voice some support for the people who've stuck around at the top. Paul and Dom and some of the other board members are, in my experience working with them and hanging with them, absolutely wonderful people who really had a great vision for what MAGFest should be and did a pretty good job facilitating it. That said, I don't think they had any idea how to really clean the hostility out of MAGFest. There were well known incidents of staffers who were imo way overpaid having angry and violent outbursts, and in my conversations with people in different departments the one thing I heard is "the people in charge don't listen to us." I plenty of people who worked in the office trash talk their co-workers privately and their shitty entitled attitudes snowballed the bad vibes.
The whole problem lies back in their decision to make the event bigger/wider rather than more efficient. Everybody was stretched way too thin and that made it very hard for anybody to have fun. That was my personal experience, which is why I left. I really hope people don't read this though and #cancelmagfest. The fact that the "Friends of MAGFest" group exists should be a testament to the fact that hundreds of very dedicated people love the festival for good reason. It was a place I could make friends with people who were so different and so much smarter and so much more interesting that anybody I knew back home. It was a great engine for facilitating those kinds of unique bonds, and honestly it was one of if not the most rewarding experience I've ever had.
It was also a great place for inclusivity and allowed people to express themselves who normally feel on the fringes of societies. It wasn't just "nerds" but musicians and LGBT and Otaku and Furries and brilliant coders and rando-druggies and college professors and gamer-bros all mixed in basically in chaotic ADHD/OCD harmony.
Haramburger is right, the egotistical were attracted to volunteering like flies to death. I was one of them, honestly. But hopefully the new people in charge will purge the toxicity. It was really two or three apologists protecting bad behavior. For what it's worth, I was around when Paul was discussing the paid-position OP mentioned, and I thought it was a good idea since everything was on-fire all of the time once they tried to go repeat the event in California. I also helped contribute to the argument that MAGFest should be a 501c3 and remember commenting that only part of the org really ought to qualify. IIRC you can nest a non-profit into a for profit or a for-profit into a non-profit, one of those, and that's what they should have done.
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2020
Being inclusive is what kills these kinds of things, the only people who bitch about gatekeeping are just mad they can't meet the standard
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2017
So this is what a con run almost entirely by drama queens and morons looks like. I've concluded that just about everyone involved is a faggot.
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2016
I guess I'll be the first to mention that MAGfest is a favorite hangout of Kiwifarms speedrunning bete noire and accidental Fred Flintstone cosplayer, ProtoMagicalGirl. Its the only place he really feels at home!
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2021
In an impressive show of "take your toys and go home", the entire Board of Directors resigned last week. There's a new board now, I'd rate the possibility of another MAGFest, ever, as quite low.
buttvomit
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2018
Its happening again. I went to magfest when i lived in maryland i think my first one was 2012 and the last one I attended was 2016 maybe? It was a fun time got drunk af did lots of drugs played lots of neo geo. It went downhill when they let troons into the staff. The last year i went the panels had nothing to do with videogames but troon shit feminism etc and they had pronoun addons for your badges.
There are tons of stories i think lots that intersect with lolcows, i think momokun fat lady was harrasing people one year. They had a chrischan panel and the mfer showed up to his own panel. There was a sonic orgy craiglist post as a joke to meet at the big gazebo and some guy in sonic furry suit showed up and everyone laughed etc.
My biggest issue with the festival besides the troon take over was it got stale as fuck. The same dj's bands, same broken arcade machines every year. It just got boring.
buttvomit
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2018
sorry for the double sperg but here is what has went wrong at magfest;
"it's color coded to denote your preferred level of interaction with others, and is meant for autistic people and other folks who struggle to interpret body language used for that purpose). I will have my own interaction badge, and would suggest folks make their own if they want one."
lololololllol i cant even
im so special that the other 25k attendees should know what the color thing im wearing means.........
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- Joined
- Dec 7, 2021
Had to finally register to add my two pennies worth of information about MAGfest, which is going to be really difficult to do without powerleveling and revealing too much personal information, but I'll try my best.
Debra, is most certainly at the center of a lot of the sperging/controversy concerning MAGfest, because of her involvement with Nick.
Before Paul Birtel, there was Nick Marinelli, the former Executive Director. Nick had a history of violent outbursts when things in the organization didn't go his way. Examples include: Shattering the glass top of his desk at the office when someone gave him bad news, throwing a table down the hallway at MAGFest when someone informed him that he needed to deal with an attendee who was having a diabetic attack, screaming at the top of his lungs at what he deemed "incompetent staff" right to their face, etc. Nick took over the Executive Director position, after Dom Cerquetti resigned from burn-out in the position. In the office, Nick regularly set people up to fail at tasks, so he would then have justification to fire them from their paid position. Oh, and he loved using his position of "power" to belittle the very people attending "his" event, just because people hated the idea of a "DoomGirl"
Be it politics or personal feelings, Nick would often involve Debra in his dealings.
Debra Lenik is currently the "temporary" Executive Director of MAGFest while they look to hire someone else full-time into the position. Debra herself, seemed to come out of nowhere in the organization, having been placed in various positions with no prior experience, leaving other volunteer staff wondering just where in the hell she came from. She was eventually hired as paid office staff, and would regularly get attendee-run functions at various MAG events that she simply did not like, or whatever bullshit reasoning she came up with at the time, closed down. She was constantly fighting against decisions by the BoD, doing everything in her power to undermine their authority/decisions at ever chance she could get. When Paul Birtel started "cleaning house" of what he saw as dead weight, or a detriment to a properly run 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, Debra was the one who lead the charge with the "Friends of MAGFest" protest. I've attached PDF's of Debra's reaction to her firing by Paul Birtel, along with her responses, and her initial Disciplinary Notice.
She is the one who constantly pushes for troon rights and special privileges, such as gender neutral bathrooms, special pronoun ribbons for people to attach to their attendance badges, changing the AFK Room (A place for staff to catch their breath and get away from the crowds) into the now "Rainbow Room", a.k.a. Troon Safe Space complete with rainbow-colored padded floors, and is also a humongous hypocrite. The above image is of her at MAGCon, the planning meeting for MAGFest, refusing to wear a mask while discussing the org's COVID-19 policies, while everyone else in attendance complied with wearing a mask.
For an organization run by geeks/spergs, their data security policies are laughable, at best. They rely heavily on the model of "security through obscurity", posting important announcement through their Slack channels, or by dumping documents into a Google Docs folder, half the time forgetting to password protect said documents. If anyone would like to archive it, here is MAGfest's Notion site, with all of their internal policies, unlisted YouTube "Fireside Chat" broadcasts/meetings, organizational charts, etc.
The shithole goes really deep, and I'm still trying to collect thoughts/hard information on everything that's happened in the past. I have quite a few internal documents already collected through many years with the organization, most of which are from 2016 on, and it's a mess.
I will say, MAGfest started out with ONE goal in mind, and that is to celebrate video games, and video game music. Now, musical acts with absolute nothing to do with video games are being invited, along with anime guests, or guests that have absolutely nothing to do with their current mission statement, not to mention all of the troon/LGBTQ panels that have nothing to do with video games:
MAG is slowly going from this:
to this:
Debra, is most certainly at the center of a lot of the sperging/controversy concerning MAGfest, because of her involvement with Nick.
Before Paul Birtel, there was Nick Marinelli, the former Executive Director. Nick had a history of violent outbursts when things in the organization didn't go his way. Examples include: Shattering the glass top of his desk at the office when someone gave him bad news, throwing a table down the hallway at MAGFest when someone informed him that he needed to deal with an attendee who was having a diabetic attack, screaming at the top of his lungs at what he deemed "incompetent staff" right to their face, etc. Nick took over the Executive Director position, after Dom Cerquetti resigned from burn-out in the position. In the office, Nick regularly set people up to fail at tasks, so he would then have justification to fire them from their paid position. Oh, and he loved using his position of "power" to belittle the very people attending "his" event, just because people hated the idea of a "DoomGirl"
Be it politics or personal feelings, Nick would often involve Debra in his dealings.
Debra Lenik is currently the "temporary" Executive Director of MAGFest while they look to hire someone else full-time into the position. Debra herself, seemed to come out of nowhere in the organization, having been placed in various positions with no prior experience, leaving other volunteer staff wondering just where in the hell she came from. She was eventually hired as paid office staff, and would regularly get attendee-run functions at various MAG events that she simply did not like, or whatever bullshit reasoning she came up with at the time, closed down. She was constantly fighting against decisions by the BoD, doing everything in her power to undermine their authority/decisions at ever chance she could get. When Paul Birtel started "cleaning house" of what he saw as dead weight, or a detriment to a properly run 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, Debra was the one who lead the charge with the "Friends of MAGFest" protest. I've attached PDF's of Debra's reaction to her firing by Paul Birtel, along with her responses, and her initial Disciplinary Notice.
She is the one who constantly pushes for troon rights and special privileges, such as gender neutral bathrooms, special pronoun ribbons for people to attach to their attendance badges, changing the AFK Room (A place for staff to catch their breath and get away from the crowds) into the now "Rainbow Room", a.k.a. Troon Safe Space complete with rainbow-colored padded floors, and is also a humongous hypocrite. The above image is of her at MAGCon, the planning meeting for MAGFest, refusing to wear a mask while discussing the org's COVID-19 policies, while everyone else in attendance complied with wearing a mask.
For an organization run by geeks/spergs, their data security policies are laughable, at best. They rely heavily on the model of "security through obscurity", posting important announcement through their Slack channels, or by dumping documents into a Google Docs folder, half the time forgetting to password protect said documents. If anyone would like to archive it, here is MAGfest's Notion site, with all of their internal policies, unlisted YouTube "Fireside Chat" broadcasts/meetings, organizational charts, etc.
The shithole goes really deep, and I'm still trying to collect thoughts/hard information on everything that's happened in the past. I have quite a few internal documents already collected through many years with the organization, most of which are from 2016 on, and it's a mess.
I will say, MAGfest started out with ONE goal in mind, and that is to celebrate video games, and video game music. Now, musical acts with absolute nothing to do with video games are being invited, along with anime guests, or guests that have absolutely nothing to do with their current mission statement, not to mention all of the troon/LGBTQ panels that have nothing to do with video games:
MAG is slowly going from this:
to this:
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