Print

Parking

16 (5.1%)

Elevators

15 (4.8%)

Christian Protesters

24 (7.7%)

Spending Lots of Money

21 (6.8%)

Post Con Depression

36 (11.6%)

Hotel Check-in/Check-out

5 (1.6%)

Long Lines

19 (6.1%)

Lack of Printed Schedules

75 (24.1%)

Staff (Rovers, Volunteers, etc.)

22 (7.1%)

Rude/Annoying People

34 (10.9%)

Overpriced Items (Convention Food, Hotel Features, etc.)

33 (10.6%)

Other (Please Specify)

11 (3.5%)

Total Members Voted: 114

[Kupo]

Same drill as last year. Only difference is that I've changed "FanimeCon" to "FanimeCon Experience" in order to broaden the choices and to define the fact that we're talking about stuff that we don't like throughout the FanimeCon experience rather than just FanimeCon itself because there are stuff outside of their control we may not like. Also nearly doubled the choices since the last thread.

Remember, there should be a thread to voice your complaints for the staff to see. Also, try not to argue on this thread so that it doesn't get locked!

Last Year's Thread: http://forums.fanime.com/index.php/topic,14554.0.html

[Junon]

Overall I had a good time, but the lack of schedules made me miss every single panel and gathering I wanted to attend. I was pretty upset. I don't have a smart phone, I have a dumb phone that kept losing signal in that place. I didn't learn about manually printing the schedules until yesterday, reading it on here. Even so, I had no access to a PC and Printer in my hotel room and half the Business Room PC's were down, with others constantly occupied.

Staff told me that they would have schedules available on Saturday, but never found them. Ugh!

A couple of rovers were a bit rude with explaining whatever it is they need to explain. I was posing to have pics taken, but he decided to tell me I need to move along because I am blocking traffic, totally ignoring the fact there is a group of people who wanted to take my picture. He was on high horse. Overall, most of the staff was pretty nice. I'm not going to chew them all up for a couple of buttheads.

I couldn't find parking for awhile, although a guest at the Hilton, I was not guaranteed a parking spot. I don't blame Fanime, but paying $19.00 a day somewhere else is excessive. I wish Fanime could help absorb some of the costs of parking.

I hate the $150 deposit imposed on all Hotel rooms at the Hilton/Marriott. The front desk people told me they do it for THIS convention. While getting jacked an extra $150 doesn't hurt me right away, I wanted to SPEND that money at the Dealer's room. So I ended up spending very little instead. I believe Fanime should pay off the Hotel deposits for members, and then deal with those who cause problems later, outside the con. It's getting too costly to attend Fanime factoring in Hotel prices rising, taxes rising, costs of parking and deposits. I wouldn't mind paying a larger Fanime badge fee, if it helps Fanime to help us reduce overall costs imposed by Hotels and Parking.

That's really only my complaints this year. I was pleasantly surprised I was able to USE the elevators at the Hilton without any delays. Such joy.

[Mayhem]

Day one.....

ADDENDUM

Other FORBIDDEN costumes include the following:

Modern Paramilitary
Modern Military
ANY costume that could be misunderstood as threatening in the current political climate
Any ROVER has the power to decide what meets the criteria for a forbidden costume.

...... Welcome to the suck!

[Aelia]

I'm sure most attendees saw the following:

ADDENDUM!

Other forbidden costumes include the following:
 - Modern Para-Military
 - Modern Military
And ANY costume that could be misunderstood as threatening in the current political climate.

Rovers has the right to decide if your costume meets the criteria for a forbidden costume.

I do want to take some time to address this issue, because it's a hot topic, and has at least a few people very upset. I do know that this is not going to "explain it away," "make it all better," or even appease a few of you, but I am hoping the explanation may help you understand its intent.

When FanimeCon comes in and takes over most of downtown, there is a bit of a balancing act going on. We are a generally fun, energetic crowd, but we have our issues. In order to keep using the San Jose Convention Center, and surrounding facilities, it is often necessary to work within their comfort zones. In this case, by limiting militaristic costuming.

Unfortunately, the timing was awful. It was intended to be in the policy from the get-go, but due to human error, it got lost during the revision process. By the time we realized it was no longer in the printed policies, the convention had started, and an addendum, the addendum, was created. There is no good way to tell someone that their costume is no longer allowed.

I want to make it clear that nobody was happy about this addendum. Division heads were unhappy they had to address a problem like this during con. Rovers were unhappy about having to enforce something this drastic mid-convention. Cosplayers were unhappy about being told their costume was no longer allowed. Generally, it was the cause of a lot of irritation and misery.

This rule is unlikely to go away in 2012, but we are attempting to mitigate it in the future. It will be revisited this year, and a final policy will be in place well before FanimeCon 2012 begins. We will be working closely with the facilities-- SJCC, the Hilton, the Marriott, and SJPD-- to ensure their comfort and happiness. We would also like to work with you-- our members-- to find as close to a happy medium as possible.

The major issue is removing "gray area" as much as possible; if we allow some and not all, it becomes a judgment call, and the question will become "Why is that costume ok when mine is not?" As I'm sure you can understand, a "None" policy is much easier to enforce evenly (though much less pleasant for everyone involved.)

In an effort to create a compromise, and ensure member input, I'd like to ask you for suggestions. I don't mean "Hey, that's crap," or other negativity. Nor do I mean removing it completely, because it, in some form, is here to stay for the time being. What I would like to establish is a solid policy, something which can be evenly enforced, which has concrete standards of judgment, rather than leaving it up to the individual attempting to enforce it. If you have suggestions (and I do mean suggestions rather than complaints), please PM or email me with them.

[SOawesomeness]

I disliked how many people there were!
Lawls jk. It was great to see so many people! Just... it was super congested and crowded at certain areas of the convention center. Boyfriend was complaining and getting sad and antsy that people kept almost bumping into him. He felt like everyone was out to get him and there was no space. He felt overwhelmed and really, I suppose, claustrophobic.
And water service (if there was any) was really sparse. I had access to water bottles and the water fountains, but still. o:
Running out of program guides, and of course, lack of a schedule. The mobile website for scheduling was hard to use, tbh.

But these are all just fairly minor things. Fanime was great, as always. There is always room for improvement for anything we do! (:

[Mayhem]

I think some one needs to dive into California Penal Code Section 538D, 10 USC, Subtitle A, Part II, Chapter 45, Sections 771, 772 and SCHACHT v. UNITED STATES.

As a U.S. Army Combat Veteran (Infantry), I find myself completely disgusted with this entire mess.

Take a look at my original rant on facebook - as a warning it's not for children or people with week stomachs.

https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150199744677776

Here is one of the more informative responses I have made on this issue.

Considering my back ground both in the military and Law enforcement ... I'm familiar with with the law it is not Illegal when it comes to military uniforms or even if I had put "US army" on my Costume which I didn't out of respect as I'm covered under several portions of 10 USC, Subtitle A, Part II, Chapter 45, Sections 771 and 772. and thanks to SCHACHT v. UNITED STATES I really don't have to worry about those exceptions.



With Law enforcement uniforms it gets a little more tricky as per California Penal Code Section 538d which clearly makes impersonation of a peace officer a Crime and This subdivision shall not apply if the uniform is to be used solely as a prop for a motion picture, television, video production, or a theatrical event, and prior written permission has been obtained from the identified law enforcement agency. You have to be careful with this even when it comes to Security and Security Officers. All it takes is one LEO that wants to flex his authority muscles and someones con is ruined.

http://law.onecle.com/california/penal/538d.html

There is no such state law that applies to military uniforms as costumes unless you use them to deliberately pass for military personnel such as to gain access to restricted military facilities.

Unlike Law enforcement The U.S. military has no authority over civilians outside of military installations unless martial law is declared.

Again my costume had nothing on it that said US ARMY, It simply had some funny milspec monkey patches and a Press and Photographer Name tape. this was a BDU that used the ACUPAT cammo Patern THIS IS NOT THE ACU UNIFORM USED BY THE UNITED STATES ARMY. No military in the word uses this Uniform and Popper had a very limited run on this SO you can no longer purchase this style of uniform You can however purchase the modern ACU uniform in ACUPAT Cammo at your local surplus store.

We still have people walking around in full cammo and even in modern uniforms. I saw a guy Walk around in a flight suite with captains rank and a a 1st Cavalry Division patch - something I would never have done unless I duplicating a specific Anime Character for accuracy. I even saw a guy in a raccoon city PD outfit (resident evil) compete with the word "Police" on it.

What got me jumped was the Cammo pattern my stuff uses. If I had been wearing ACUPAT Cammo Pajamas the would still have crawled up my Butt, However if they where woodland or real tree the Probably would have let me slide.

I had absolutely no prop weapons on me unless you count the Camera (Speed Grapher)

WHAT REALLY CHAPS MY REAR is we got no warning until after con started. at this point I'm already out allot of time and money I'm never going to get back.

Oh and  Army Regualtion 670-1 Does not apply to civilians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Combat_Uniform
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Dress_Uniform
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Camouflage_Pattern
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_camouflage_patterns
http://milspecmonkey.com/store/patches

here is another good read

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/theorderlyroom/a/uniformwear.htm

One solution is to prohibit the combination of real Branch, Unit, and Rank insignia on More Modern uniforms. Or no Masks (face must be visible) or even no prop weapons in modern "realistic" uniforms.

Eventually this is going to get out of control and even people like Kris Adalrik Doodha who do authentic reproduction and re-enactments are going to get bent over.

The entire "work within their comfort zones" issue doesn't fly, Hardgay and some of more Risqué costumes are OK but a Vet can't wear a military like "uniform" on memorial day weekend because it may make a vendor uncomfortable just because my cloths use an ACU cammo patern.

Lets be honest I could have went back to my room, dropped my con badge, left my "uniform" on, and walked the area around the convention center (off Property) and in my Hotel as well as the local businesses and there was nothing Fanime or even SJPD could do about it, until I actually went to an area that required me to be an "Attendee"

Right now I can go walk around San Jose in my "Uniform" and No one, Not the king god of anime conventions, or the all mighty SJPD could do jack about it.

Now Here's a little scenario for you

I wear my ACUPAT BDU's ... heck Lets make it ACUPAT ACU's Clearly marked PRESS, and Photographer, with some silly mil-spec monkey patches, and my actually Press Patch, with my ACUPAT Maxpedition Colossus Camera bag, and nikon DSLR.

Some one else wears Black swat Pajamas, A black K-POT on their head, With Raccoon City PD and Umbrella patches, a holster with a CA legal toy gun in it.

You get some one to wear one of the Nazi SS like costumes (these are actually more dressy uniforms but have the SS and symbols and Swastikas on them) with no props.

and Lastly some one dresses up like Hard Gay.

We all go for a walk around separate local K-6 elementary schools. Who do you think is actually going to get hassled by PD the most? Only one us is actually breaking the law and will probably get the Felony Stop treatment by the local swat they will also probably spend some time "Downtown" even if they don't get charged with something like CPC 538D.

So to me ... even from a legal or liability stand point the addendum makes no sense at all.

[Freight]

I have two young kids, and I can't bring them to this convention due to the crowding.  There were times that walking was extremely difficult, and my 7 year old or 4 year old could get run over by these mobs.  Even the front of the convention center could sometimes be shoulder-to-shoulder people.

Actually, the fans were the worst part of the weekend, including running and yelling down the hall of the Hilton far after dark.  I can appreciate the 24 hour status of the convention, but I've never seen so many people push themselves out of control before.

Also, I managed to print out the schedule and managed to skip panels that would have been useful in favor of panels that could have used some more specific naming.  For instance, I decided to skip the Beginning Cosplay Sewing panel for the How to Build Armor panel hosted by the Knights.  I can see how it's useful in an SCA environment, but I was more interested in cosplay.  If it was named "How to Build Functioning Armor" or "How to Build Combat Armor", I would have had a better idea of where I wanted to be..

[MPLe]

stuff

Doug, I already told you that we are looking into this. Continuing to express your dismay at the decision that was made is only causing a scene when there shouldn't be. I understand that you were hurt and personally offended by the decision, but if you have any faith in me, you'll let me handle this.

[mdarkpoet]

The lack of printed schedules, which everyone has pretty much stated repeatedly.

I disliked the lines (crowds) this year on Saturday, the number of people swarming in and out of the con was insane. Another thing was some of the staff was pretty rude, then again every year I've attended the con there have ALWAYS been rude Staff members, considering there are rude people in general and that some of those people are going to get put as Staff. There's very little Fanime can really do about it considering Fanime needs all the Staff it can get.

That's about it.

[Mayhem]

stuff

Doug, I already told you that we are looking into this. Continuing to express your dismay at the decision that was made is only causing a scene when there shouldn't be. I understand that you were hurt and personally offended by the decision, but if you have any faith in me, you'll let me handle this.

OK, I'll leave it in your capable hands Milton.  

EDIT One reason I keep bringing it up is I keep getting Conflicting information such as "This rule is unlikely to go away in 2012", But for now I'm taking my concerns private.

[tallgeese_custom2002]

The Big problem was no printed schedules

the small but still important was the ADDENDUM!

Other forbidden costumes include the following:
 - Modern Para-Military
 - Modern Military
And ANY costume that could be misunderstood as threatening in the current political climate.

I'm sorry but I just don't see the how this rule makes any sense at all.
and I don't see why politically correct need to bough into this Convention

also like Mayhem said, I was "off Property" IE: on the light rail, eating at one of local restaurants and no one said anything negative to me when I was in my OD , Digital Woodland Camo BDUs with and without my tac gear on.

[Affliction]

I would comment on the schedules but there is no use beating the dead horse so I'll just let that one go.

Oddly enough I would say the worst part for me was the Protestors this year. I know that Fanime tried their best to keep all the young kids away from them who think it's funny to anger them (but that just gives them more reason to stay) and to even bring in that large truck to block them off...which honestly was an AMAZING idea. I know that Fanime has only so many rovers and wonderful volunteers to go around so they are doing the best they can, but these people are rediculious. I know there are rights to free speech but this year they went way out of line saying that Japan deserved the Tsunami and such. I have been going crazy trying to find noise violation codes for San Jose ever since then and that megaphone they use should be considered one. I don't care if they are screaming "free ice cream", just get that thing out of my ear.  :'(

edit: and this may sound odd considering I'm extending concern towards them, but the guy that uses that megaphone is always SO RED from stress and angst, that guy is going to have a stroke one of these days.

[MPLe]

The Big problem was no printed schedules

the small but still important was the ADDENDUM!

Other forbidden costumes include the following:
 - Modern Para-Military
 - Modern Military
And ANY costume that could be misunderstood as threatening in the current political climate.

I'm sorry but I just don't see the how this rule makes any sense at all.
and I don't see why politically correct need to bough into this Convention

also like Mayhem said, I was "off Property" IE: on the light rail, eating at one of local restaurants and no one said anything negative to me when I was in my OD , Digital Woodland Camo BDUs with and without my tac gear on.

Schedules fiasco will definitely be fixed for next year. I give you my word.

As I said with Mayhem, we are still discussing this internally and will have a statement before FanimeCon 2012. This isn't just a random rule that we pulled out of thin air and decided to enforce it.

I would comment on the schedules but there is no use beating the dead horse so I'll just let that one go.

Oddly enough I would say the worst part for me was the Protestors this year. I know that Fanime tried their best to keep all the young kids away from them who think it's funny to anger them (but that just gives them more reason to stay) and to even bring in that large truck to block them off...which honestly was an AMAZING idea. I know that Fanime has only so many rovers and wonderful volunteers to go around so they are doing the best they can, but these people are rediculious. I know there are rights to free speech but this year they went way out of line saying that Japan deserved the Tsunami and such. I have been going crazy trying to find noise violation codes for San Jose ever since then and that megaphone they use should be considered one. I don't care if they are screaming "free ice cream", just get that thing out of my ear.  :'(

edit: and this may sound odd considering I'm extending concern towards them, but the guy that uses that megaphone is always SO RED from stress and angst, that guy is going to have a stroke one of these days.

The protesters, as annoying as they are, are absolutely within their rights to do what they have been doing. They are super crafty and know how to act within the law, as annoying as others might find them. The best thing we can do is quite literally ignore them and do not give them attention. One year, our members actually ignored them enough that they went away. We could have a team of 1,000 rovers and it wouldn't change much.

[TC_X0_Lt_0X]

Your right MPLe.
We need 2000 Rovers.
That'll solve are problem.

[Rebeccakh]

: c This year was fun but what I didn't care for most was the fact that the masquerade and b&w ball were on the same night. I was used to masquerade being sat and b&w ball being sunday and I thought that was a good schedule so I had planned accordingly until I found out they were the same night. Not that it was an inconvience it was just weird that they lumped them together and I had to hoof it to my hotel and change really quick to get to the dance lol.

Anywho along with not having schedules (those things are valuable resources XP ) that's about all that was wrong with this con but still awesome (got to meet my long distance bf at this con to chyeaaaaaaaaaah )

[iRaveWalnut]

The Protesters were really offensive! They were saying crap like us having sex with animals, and stuff!
I honestly don't know why they feel the need to rain on our fun parade. :\

But that was my only problem, and the crowds were pretty big too, but hey, what are you gonna do right? xP

Fanime is a big convention that everyone wants to enjoy~

[Affliction]

: c This year was fun but what I didn't care for most was the fact that the masquerade and b&w ball were on the same night. I was used to masquerade being sat and b&w ball being sunday and I thought that was a good schedule so I had planned accordingly until I found out they were the same night. Not that it was an inconvience it was just weird that they lumped them together and I had to hoof it to my hotel and change really quick to get to the dance lol.

Anywho along with not having schedules (those things are valuable resources XP ) that's about all that was wrong with this con but still awesome (got to meet my long distance bf at this con to chyeaaaaaaaaaah )

Actually, I'll have to agree with this as well. I disliked the Masquerade on Sunday rather than Saturday. It just felt odd being on Sunday.

[Mantaray3000]

I'm not gonna comment on the lack of schedules again but I am gonna emphasize more on the long lines you guys really need to find more volunteers to keep the lines moving faster (especially on pre-reg pick-up night) as well as more laptop computers. Some more guests (especially japanese guests) would be nice too but getting ahead of myself.

[bahamutknightzero]

: c This year was fun but what I didn't care for most was the fact that the masquerade and b&w ball were on the same night. I was used to masquerade being sat and b&w ball being sunday and I thought that was a good schedule so I had planned accordingly until I found out they were the same night. Not that it was an inconvience it was just weird that they lumped them together and I had to hoof it to my hotel and change really quick to get to the dance lol.

Anywho along with not having schedules (those things are valuable resources XP ) that's about all that was wrong with this con but still awesome (got to meet my long distance bf at this con to chyeaaaaaaaaaah )

Actually, I'll have to agree with this as well. I disliked the Masquerade on Sunday rather than Saturday. It just felt odd being on Sunday.

The funny thing about that is Masquerade used to be done on a Sunday before the move to Saturday (2007 or 2008 I think was when they started to run it on Saturday)

[luffy77]

There really wasn't anything major that annoyed me.  I didn't like the protesters and I don't care about free speech, I want them gone because they are annoying.  This was my first fanime and I loved it.  I didn't find any rude people and didn't have any problems with rovers.

The only thing I had a problem with and its really nothing is that I was alone because I was single and the few friends I have that like anime couldn't go or couldn't afford it.  Between  walking around the vendor room, art hall, gatherings, video rooms, game room, and panels I usually found something to do but there would be times I would have 2 to 3 hours to kill and kind of just idled in the vendor or artists rooms.  Maybe fanime could have something for people there alone such as having some sort of meet and greet on the first day for everyone there alone or even people there with 1 other person and find others with similar interests and make a con friend so to speak.  I don't know if its even really common that people come to a con alone but that would be my only complaint which isn't even that big a deal.