Posted in: Comics | Tagged: HRL, metrocon

Metrocon On How And Why The TOO OP: Girls Only Panel Was Approved

Published Sun, 06 Aug 2017 16:45:49 -0500

Yesterday, Bleeding Cool reported on and interviewed the organiser of the TOO OP: Girls Only panel that caused such scorn by a) its existence and b) the actual panel itself. The organiser told Bleeding Cool that he thought the panel was A-OK because Metrocon had approved the panel, creative use of the English language and all. Just to remind you:

So what was the show's take on the panel — and their approval of it? Alexander Craddock, co-owner of the show, told Bleeding Cool:

"Given the struggles many people (of all genders) seem to have with appropriate behavior or making connections/introductions in the con community without coming off as obtuse or downright sketchy, we thought it might generate some good conversation. About 10 minutes into the event we were informed it in fact was NOT something appropriate for our event and was making people uncomfortable, and a combination of panel staff and security shut it down. The panelist has been flagged in our system against submitting future panels, and we have already had an all-staff on it and implemented a double check for social meetups or anything like this in the future. It was presented to us as an opportunity for some neat discourse that was, in our opinion, extremely misrepresented to us in terms of content and goal, and it was dealt with swiftly — we're happy our congoers let us know what was happening so fast so we could get it taken care of. Thanks for reaching out."

Pleasure, Alexander. While some people's mind may be blown that the proposed text wasn't a flag in and of itself, it's good to know that there will be measures in place in the future.

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