Messages

Hi Ewu,
I just want to start out by saying that I appreciate you communicating with us but I'm still frustrated. Any frustration vented from this point forward is not pointed at YOU, just so you know.
What's annoying to me here is that they've sent Ewu to talk to us and not the folks who are actually responsible for the website building. I'm hearing that the site was supposed to be ready in February, some kind of error happened, and now we're almost in APRIL and don't have a site yet? That's unacceptable, I'm sorry. And once the web development team realized that more than a week had elapsed with a fix in sight for the site (heh) they should've contacted us directly in the form of a message on FB, the forum, or some other method. They sure as hell shouldn't have been saying the site would be here "really soon" if they didn't actually have it 100% completed and ready to go, because look at us now.
While I appreciate having SOMEONE talk to us, the fact that not a single member of the web team (better yet, the head) can't take 2 minutes to type out a brief message of explanation and apology to us is infuriating. 2. Minutes. Instead you send out someone that we can't really get angry at, because he's not part of the problem, and can only offer second-hand explanations that he gets from you people.
I agree with those who have offered expertise in web development; if the team needs help, they need to advertise that early on so these people can offer help. And I'm also in agreement with Kuudere; the neato layouts on Fanime's site are pretty and all, but if using a template would speed up the process and fix any "compatibility errors", it should be done. I don't care if it's a blank white page with nothing but information on it! I want content and information, not a schmancy design that will be getting pulled in less than 2 months now anyway! It's ridiculous!

M'kay... this is going to be long.

I've been an attendee of Fanime (and Fanime exclusively until last year!) for 8 years. It's my home con. I love it. But I'll admit, the last 2 years with the registration problems, and then the slew of technical problems, staff problems, scheduling problems, etc that happened last year, I've come into this year wary about Fanime.

This website thing is pretty much cementing those wary feelings. Fanime staff, those responsible for the website, what is WRONG with you? The only response we've received thus far is a jesting "The fire under our butts just keeps us warm" complete with smiley winking face. Cute. I'm sorry, as people who are paying money to attend this con, we DESERVE a response and an explanation as to what the holdup is with the site. I know for a fact that the con won't be cancelled this year, but the fact that your lack of communication has driven people to feel concerned that that could happen is RIDICULOUS. I don't care if you're "By Fans For Fans", consist entirely of volunteers or whatever else. The fact of the matter is, you haven't sent out a single representative to explain what is going on with the website, when it'll be up, or even to reassure us that we're being listened to.

Do you realize that after last year's con, a nonexistent website 2 months prior to the con (and now more than 2 weeks after it was promised as coming "Very soon") is extremely unprofessional and is simply making all of us feel like the changes you promised after last year's giant mess aren't going to happen?  You're asking people to pay you unrefundable sums of money to attend a con you haven't told us ANYTHING about except the dates it'll occur on and where it'll be held. This is unacceptable.

And no, if you put up the site today or tomorrow, that isn't enough. We need a reason as to why we're being ignored. "By Fans, For Fans" doesn't mean anything if the voices of multitudes of fans saying the same thing is completely ignored and garners no response.

In this day and age, nothing excuses not having a website. Most cons have a website all year long, even if there's no current information referring to the upcoming con if it's too far in the future. Sakura-Con is 1 month away and already has 22 guests listed and an entire website that has been running for months and months in advance. AX's never went down. Sac-Anime's site is ready. There is no excuse for this, but we deserve a response.

I haven't bought my badge this year. I'm considering making someone's day and cancelling my hotel deposit and giving up on this con completely.