Fanime Con 2014 Website

[Admiral Donuts]

To make a point, I made a dummy site for a made-up convention:

http://fanmade-anime-con.tumblr.com/



A theme, links, and posts all on one page, and I did it in under 30 minutes. Now, I'd like to point out that this is by no means the most optimal theme type for a convention page, and obviously a much more professional page could be made. My point was to create a page to display how necessary and important information could be easily added to a simple layout in an extremely minimal amount of time. Now, how Fanime can't manage the same thing is beyond me.

Even this is ten times more polished than a site needs to be.

[InsaneChan]

Took another 5 whole minutes to organize it a bit better by adding some simple borders.



But yeah, I think the point's been made. This was just a theme I snatched up real quick through google and added the info to. As with most tumblr blogs, there's also the option for additional pages and custom links.

Anyways, I hope Fanime's site, which apparently was originally ready to launch "at the end of February" goes up soon.

[Angelx624]

Yup, Fanime really doesn't have an excuse, now.

It doesn't take this long to get a site up and running, even with technical difficulties. They've had it up and running much earlier than this in the past. I just........... I don't know.

[Makoto]

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if the website launched after the convention finished.

[Admiral Donuts]

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if the website launched after the convention finished.

At this rate they might as well not bother and start prepping for FanimeCon 2015. Which will happen May 26-30th, 2016.

[InsaneChan]

Haha holy crap, were the last few comments actually deleted by a mod or is there some "technical issue" happening?

[echoshadow]

FYI it is Aprils fools day. Must be the reason why it got deleted.

[InsaneChan]

FYI it is Aprils fools day. Must be the reason why it got deleted.

The irony is hilarious.

[Angelx624]

Nah, I see the same posts, unless there's some that were made when I wasn't on here and those were deleted........

And yes, the irony of the current status of Fanime and April Fool's. Hmmm.........

[Admiral Donuts]

Nah, I see the same posts, unless there's some that were made when I wasn't on here and those were deleted........

And yes, the irony of the current status of Fanime and April Fool's. Hmmm.........

Someone made a post saying the website was updated as an April fool's Day joke, got taken down by a mod.

[InsaneChan]

Yeah, there were a few posts this afternoon where someone said the site was finally up, one person fell for it and was confused as to why they were still seeing the splash page, and a few others chimed in that it was just an April Fool's joke.

I thought it was actually pretty funny, but apparently Fanime thought otherwise...(I mean, obviously it was just a joke??)

Ironic because the real joke is that it is officially April and there's still no website.

[hikanteki]

Ironic because the real joke is that it is officially April and there's still no website.

This is sadly not unexpected.

Two years ago, they dropped the ball on registration. (I'm not giving them a pass for the lights going out anymore.)

Last year, they added the Cosplay Masquerade and B&W Ball to that.

This year, they've already added Artist Alley and the website/information in general to that, and the con hasn't even started yet.

Furthermore, they've relayed to us absolutely nothing whatsoever about what they're doing to fix the previous years problems. Or if they're even doing anything at all.

I really wanted to give them a chance to improve, but I can no longer when their first official comment on registration came 8 months after the con and was "expect to wait a very long time Thursday, Friday, and Saturday."

Either they don't care about fixing it, or don't have the resources to. Both of which are big problems.

This leaves The Dealer's Hall, Game Room, Viewing Rooms, and MusicFest as the only parts of Fanime that might still be intact. These are my favorite parts of Fanime. But none of these are worth waiting in line 6 hours for.

I've been a loyal attendee in the past but the probability that this year is not going to be a complete mess is very, very low.  I live within walking distance of the convention center and unless something miraculous happens I'm sitting this year out.

[InsaneChan]

Ironic because the real joke is that it is officially April and there's still no website.

This is sadly not unexpected.

Two years ago, they dropped the ball on registration. (I'm not giving them a pass for the lights going out anymore.)

Last year, they added the Cosplay Masquerade and B&W Ball to that.

This year, they've already added Artist Alley and the website/information in general to that, and the con hasn't even started yet.

Furthermore, they've relayed to us absolutely nothing whatsoever about what they're doing to fix the previous years problems. Or if they're even doing anything at all.

I really wanted to give them a chance to improve, but I can no longer when their first official comment on registration came 8 months after the con and was "expect to wait a very long time Thursday, Friday, and Saturday."

Either they don't care about fixing it, or don't have the resources to. Both of which are big problems.

This leaves The Dealer's Hall, Game Room, Viewing Rooms, and MusicFest as the only parts of Fanime that might still be intact. But none of these are worth waiting in line 6 hours for.

I've been a loyal attendee in the past but the probability that this year is not going to be a complete mess is very, very low.  I live within walking distance of the convention center and unless something miraculous happens I'm sitting this year out.

People have brought up the fact that Fanime's manager/chair position is held for 3 years, and then is passed on to someone else. This is the current manager's third year. This has lead people to believe that the recent year's atrocities were due to a bad manager. No one really knows for sure, but I believe this is at least a comforting fact for many of the attendee's, who are hopeful that after this year things will improve. Still, that doesn't change the fact that this year has been the worst yet, and has already caused a lot of people to throw in the towel altogether.

On a side note, I'm still worried about MusicFest this year. It's by far my favorite part of Fanime, but considering the fact that there has been no announcement of guests so far, I'm worried that it will even still be happening.

[CatToy]

Well, you know, Fanime is a model of transparency and accountability...

[ewu]

On a side note, I'm still worried about MusicFest this year. It's by far my favorite part of Fanime, but considering the fact that there has been no announcement of guests so far, I'm worried that it will even still be happening.

I would not be too concerned about musicfest. The contract for the performers tend to be very very complex. That means that even if we started nailing the details down in December, we wont get the contract signed until quite close to con. We start contacting the recording companies way before that. Last year while we did announce 7!! April 1, we did not announce ROOKiEZ is PUNK'D until May 10th.

[melancholyfox]

I'm pretty fed up with how the con has been going over the past few years. It's unforgivably disorganized & lacking information. I swear to God if this happens next year I'm not even going to bother & I'm changing my yearly vacation to SacAnime or Anime Expo. I'll probably save money too since Fanime unnecessarily overcharges on registration. If I hadn't already paid for my registration this year I would go to SacAnime instead. There's some good guests going and I'm concerned that the guests for Fanime are going to be shit in comparison. I'll likely spend my time shopping and winning another iPad because I don't want to deal with the Bullsh*t Black & White Ball and the Massacre Masquerade.

[melancholyfox]

just sayin'

[thepsynergist]

just sayin'

Honestly, that's the first thing I saw when I saw that picture.

[DuoDoUrden]

Seriously, This would be my second year for Fanime. Was really excited about this year and getting to do it again. I travel From Oregon (yes not as far as others but far non the less) to attend and have fun with the whole con. Actually since the start of the lack of Information, and updates to the Con. Has left me rather regretting even preregistering and attending. Let alone my friends I made there that attend Artists Ally could not be attending because of the shrinking of AA and other new paths to get in.

Which is all weird when the tag line for Fanime is 'By Fans, For Fans' Yes Dealers hall is the biggest income aside registration, but Panels, Events, games, Artistes, guests, Press, and fellow con goers. that is is what the fans look for let alone the Merchandise and what really make up the con. Then the Press people help advertise your Con and get more people from across the country even other countries to come. These seem to be the last people you would want to have last let alone tell anything.

You start with Late and broken Registration/Hotel system, to shorten lines 'Groups are now 4 more more'. Now that Group the 3 is now 3 individual people in line, then one person of that group of three or two. You have more then likely turned away attendees by both Out of the blue announcement, then you had to have connections or know where this information was to be found.

Next with the whole General attendance craziness, you have NO info about Panels, Press, and AA attendance. Referring to what makes up the con you leave the bones of the con left out of the skin. It again is not the most confidant start to Precon Registration, again people are turning a way due to the lack of info and well organization.

Next the Web site and lack of info, new attendees and Returning ones look to a Web Site to see what is exciting to them. Not hunt all over for the Social Media sites As Facebook and Twitter, even then so little info has been given. People are not seeing info for the things they are interested in as in Panels, Music, Games, Events, Special Guests. Again The stuff that makes the Convention. 

It is April 2, 2014 I was hoping that it would be up by March at least, But i do understand the problems with setting up a web site. But 48 days before I fly down there to attend worries me that the 'Organization' is just not there and interestingly enough as said the split parts of Fanime Clockwork is up running and just fine. Its obvious that the 'BIG CHANGES' Fanime wants to make have made the Important things and facts about the con take a back seat. The Priorities should be the web page, and INFORM your Attendees being Con goers and those that have events as games, panels, and Artiest Ally.

Again I understand Technology can prove to be huge problems when you are under a crunch, but that dose not prevent you from keep us all informed and actually letting attendees say about your registration changes before you drop the bomb on them. Might I also point out Cons Half even Quarter of the size of Fanime, have info up three months after the con, also some of these Cons Run twice a year. Yet they have info ready and flowing for the attendees, it dose not show good for the now 5th Largest Anime Convention in the United States.

But thank you for working hard at trying to pull this together, Please take this failure to launch start and learn where you need to start for next year. Because  I for one will be seriously questioning about attending next year if nothing is done or changed.

[Tetsuo]

Wait, why can't you guys just post everything we want to know in the forums (or on facebook)?

Is the website launch problem really technical related or is it due to lack of (good) announcements? Presenting an empty website is pretty bad, to be honest... perhaps that's why the website isn't up yet.