91
Posting Games and Chat / Re: What word comes to your mind?
« Last post by TurboSaiyanJason on September 05, 2021, 01:17:33 am »Supreme
Recent Posts
92
General Kumoricon / Re: Not a lot of activity here--are we chatting somewhere else?
« Last post by TurboSaiyanJason on September 04, 2021, 07:08:48 pm »I started cosplaying and attending Kumoricon since I was 18 or 19 back in 2005/2006. I've been mostly a lone wolf and a splash card drifter when it comes to groups and friend clans.
In highlighting my observances of the two active topics in this thread:
1. I for one would love to see the resurrection of the active forums once more. Many a time I sought tips and ideas, cosplay meet and greets, and cast members for cosplay skits, even met someone of equal age and interest whom I shared 5 grand years with. One of the current trends is having ribbons one can stick on their badges, so perhaps make one that says "#BRINGBACKTHEFORUMS" or something. In the current pace of things, it sorts out topics better than Facebook or Discord, though slower in chat process and has a Personal Message but not an Instant Message setting.
2. In regards to the one who stood up and opened up about their assailants, I pray the cons you go to are more enjoyable and attendees more vigilant. And the day you do return to Kumo may it be in better shape than it was. It is never easy to come forward with such information.I myself play it straightfoward, though a tad shy, and always keep my own interests within adult-age bounds. I'm not opposed to games and activities with kid-folk, but I know how to keep things age-appropriate, and observe that "no" means "no."
It is never truly easy to tell someone's age by adult-ish appearance without asking them and having to trust their word, or having some sort of designatior as per the badges at con. But even those from afar are difficult to tell and only from the side the badge is on. At one of the more recent festivals I went to, in lieu of a badge, they had a cheaper but clearly color coded wristband. Red meant under 18, yellow meant between 18 and 21, and green for 21+. Perhaps a badge and wristband combo should be implemented.
But at any con or festival sadly, there are probably just as many adults either romantically desperate or adult anime influenced that seek to snag minors as there are minors who try to "trade up" their status to try out the adult parties and things which are "for adults only" with obvious reason. It almost makes one not trust anyone and only go to con or similar for the activities and merch, and little else. No meeting of friends, no making of new friends. Or worse, scare one into never going to one again. It also wounds the faith of those honest few who would love to meet people their own age and interest, and grow and expand those friendships or relationships with good intent and trust.
Looking at myself in my 34th year at this coming Kumo I ask myself and extend to others to ask themselves this stringed question: What am I going to con for? What do I hope to encounter, what do I hope to do, what am I down for?
Be it the cosplay meets or the cons itself it is always expected that minors will outnumber adults 10 to 1 or greater. At con it's easy to have simple interactions between all-age attendees such as sitting in a hallway circle shooting the breeze, or Smash or card games in the gaming hall, or taking photos of each other's cosplays. Not so easy to navigate are interactions that involve consent and require paying more attention (if not full attention already) to badge and age status, and perhaps previous years of "knowing each other." This spans from simple hugs and ye old "glomps" to group dinners, room parties and other extra-con things. A lot of times this may create a dilemma for some in a group, such as "Let's go to that bar...but oh no, there is a minor with us." Or "we're going to our room party but it's minors and our chaperone only," leaving the older ones to go "well then...where am I to go?" It is not like adult-age people are impossible to find at a con, but also not everyone has the pleasure of arranging meetups or parties beforehand or having their clans of friends they've known for years to bring along with them.
At previous cosplay meetups it became somewhat of a mixed bag as the minor/adult ratio weighed heavy in either one side or the other. And again the question of age and consent, interactions and activities other than showing up in cosplay would arise, this time without badges or such. From personal experience, there had been some meetups that started Downtown Portland that opened up with walking around the malls and park areas and little icebreaker games. As the groups sometimes gained and lost few, there were times just following along in cosplay when I felt a slight anxiety and like a third wheel even if the group was a mix of minors/young adults, and wondered "Am I okay to still be in the group? No one's expressed displeasure, but would they care or be concerned if I left? Would they wonder if they did something wrong? Did I come all this way just to go home right away? What did I come to the meet to do and what do I hope to gain from this? If it's anime/game and cosplay friends would they want to swap numbers or FB exchange? I'd rather not give the wrong impression of me." The last thing anyone wants is to be told they creep someone out, and even more so when they don't know what they're doing to cause it other than simply existing, or how to alter it aside from going away.
Those old sayings "nothing ventured, nothing gained" and "stick your hand over the flame and you might get burned" come to mind.
At this coming Kumo I simply plan to walk alone as I usually do and take what friends or adventures come my way.
The hardest part of walking alone is reminding yourself that you are not alone.
In highlighting my observances of the two active topics in this thread:
1. I for one would love to see the resurrection of the active forums once more. Many a time I sought tips and ideas, cosplay meet and greets, and cast members for cosplay skits, even met someone of equal age and interest whom I shared 5 grand years with. One of the current trends is having ribbons one can stick on their badges, so perhaps make one that says "#BRINGBACKTHEFORUMS" or something. In the current pace of things, it sorts out topics better than Facebook or Discord, though slower in chat process and has a Personal Message but not an Instant Message setting.
2. In regards to the one who stood up and opened up about their assailants, I pray the cons you go to are more enjoyable and attendees more vigilant. And the day you do return to Kumo may it be in better shape than it was. It is never easy to come forward with such information.I myself play it straightfoward, though a tad shy, and always keep my own interests within adult-age bounds. I'm not opposed to games and activities with kid-folk, but I know how to keep things age-appropriate, and observe that "no" means "no."
It is never truly easy to tell someone's age by adult-ish appearance without asking them and having to trust their word, or having some sort of designatior as per the badges at con. But even those from afar are difficult to tell and only from the side the badge is on. At one of the more recent festivals I went to, in lieu of a badge, they had a cheaper but clearly color coded wristband. Red meant under 18, yellow meant between 18 and 21, and green for 21+. Perhaps a badge and wristband combo should be implemented.
But at any con or festival sadly, there are probably just as many adults either romantically desperate or adult anime influenced that seek to snag minors as there are minors who try to "trade up" their status to try out the adult parties and things which are "for adults only" with obvious reason. It almost makes one not trust anyone and only go to con or similar for the activities and merch, and little else. No meeting of friends, no making of new friends. Or worse, scare one into never going to one again. It also wounds the faith of those honest few who would love to meet people their own age and interest, and grow and expand those friendships or relationships with good intent and trust.
Looking at myself in my 34th year at this coming Kumo I ask myself and extend to others to ask themselves this stringed question: What am I going to con for? What do I hope to encounter, what do I hope to do, what am I down for?
Be it the cosplay meets or the cons itself it is always expected that minors will outnumber adults 10 to 1 or greater. At con it's easy to have simple interactions between all-age attendees such as sitting in a hallway circle shooting the breeze, or Smash or card games in the gaming hall, or taking photos of each other's cosplays. Not so easy to navigate are interactions that involve consent and require paying more attention (if not full attention already) to badge and age status, and perhaps previous years of "knowing each other." This spans from simple hugs and ye old "glomps" to group dinners, room parties and other extra-con things. A lot of times this may create a dilemma for some in a group, such as "Let's go to that bar...but oh no, there is a minor with us." Or "we're going to our room party but it's minors and our chaperone only," leaving the older ones to go "well then...where am I to go?" It is not like adult-age people are impossible to find at a con, but also not everyone has the pleasure of arranging meetups or parties beforehand or having their clans of friends they've known for years to bring along with them.
At previous cosplay meetups it became somewhat of a mixed bag as the minor/adult ratio weighed heavy in either one side or the other. And again the question of age and consent, interactions and activities other than showing up in cosplay would arise, this time without badges or such. From personal experience, there had been some meetups that started Downtown Portland that opened up with walking around the malls and park areas and little icebreaker games. As the groups sometimes gained and lost few, there were times just following along in cosplay when I felt a slight anxiety and like a third wheel even if the group was a mix of minors/young adults, and wondered "Am I okay to still be in the group? No one's expressed displeasure, but would they care or be concerned if I left? Would they wonder if they did something wrong? Did I come all this way just to go home right away? What did I come to the meet to do and what do I hope to gain from this? If it's anime/game and cosplay friends would they want to swap numbers or FB exchange? I'd rather not give the wrong impression of me." The last thing anyone wants is to be told they creep someone out, and even more so when they don't know what they're doing to cause it other than simply existing, or how to alter it aside from going away.
Those old sayings "nothing ventured, nothing gained" and "stick your hand over the flame and you might get burned" come to mind.
At this coming Kumo I simply plan to walk alone as I usually do and take what friends or adventures come my way.
The hardest part of walking alone is reminding yourself that you are not alone.
93
Elections Archives / Suggestions for 2021 Board-Elected Positions
« Last post by opalhawk on December 09, 2020, 07:15:20 pm »Hello!
We would like to formally solicit applications for the two board-elected members that will sit on the Board of Directors for the 2021 convention year:
- Secretary
- Treasurer
To apply, please email a brief application to board.elected@kumoricon.org explaining what you believe you would bring to the position. Please include your previous convention work, as well as any other information you would like to present such as an informal resume.
These positions will be elected at the Annual Meeting of the Board held Saturday, January 2nd, 2021. Please send your applications as soon as possible. Applications received on the last day may not receive as much consideration as those received earlier.
Applications will be acknowledged by email upon receipt. If you do not receive an acknowledgement within 24 hours, please attempt getting in contact in an alternate manner to make sure it was received.
We are also soliciting suggestions for candidates in this thread. This is not a formal nomination process; the board may elect anyone it chooses, including people not on this list. You do not need to be listed publicly to apply. Being listed here is not a substitute for applying to the above email address - please make sure to apply if you are interested.
94
Elections Archives / Re: 2021 Election Nominations
« Last post by kikiemily on December 04, 2020, 07:07:15 pm »**Adding on extra information related to the election.**
Election roles
These elections are being run by the following staff:
Nomination moderator: Emily Vuong / Specialty Registration
Election moderator: Tracy Creel / Secretary
Teller: Fox Young / Vice Chair (Staff and Attendee Services)
Teller: Luke Marden / Industry Manager
Teller: Jeff Tyrrill / Website Development Coordinator & Assistant Secretary
The nomination moderator will oversee nominations, and moderate the online questions and comments.
The election moderator will oversee elections at the election meeting.
The election moderator and tellers will receive and moderate anonymous questions and comments that are read at the meeting (see process below).
Anonymous Questions and Comments
Questions and comments may be submitted in person at the election, or emailed in advance to election.support@kumoricon.org
95
Elections Archives / 2021 Election Nominations
« Last post by kikiemily on November 27, 2020, 06:43:55 pm »Elections process
Each year, we hold elections for the board of directors for Altonimbus Entertainment (the organization that produces and runs the Kumoricon convention). Altonimbus, and thereby Kumoricon, is governed by a board of directors consisting of nine members who each serve annual terms. Terms begin and end at the annual meeting of the body which elects each board member.
Due to the postponement of Kumoricon 2020 to 2021, all staff positions for Kumoricon 2020 became 2021 staff positions, and if you held a Kumoricon 2020 position, you are automatically Kumoricon 2021 staff—except for board positions, which remain based on annual terms.
Seven of the nine board members are elected by the membership (staff of Kumoricon) at the Annual Meeting of the Membership:
* Chair / President
* Director of Infrastructure
* Director of Membership
* Director of Operations
* Director of Programming
* Director of Publicity
* Director of Relations
The next Annual Meeting of the Membership will be held on December 5, 2020, at 11:00am, online, at Kumoricon’s Twitch channel. Official notice was sent to the members on November 25th, 2020, and full meeting information is available on the Meetings page: https://www.kumoricon.org/meetings. We will be performing our elections online using a new process. Voting is open to Altonimbus Entertainment members (Kumoricon staff, which includes DigiKumo staff). As with previous meetings of the membership this year, the board of directors has authorized, under ORS 65.205, member participation by remote communication for this meeting. If you are a member of Altonimbus Entertainment (Kumoricon staff), you may officially participate in this meeting, using the following procedures. Under these procedures, you will be treated the same as if you were present in person at one of our in-person meetings, including counting toward quorum and ability to vote in director elections.
As with previous years, we are holding online nominations and Q&A prior to elections. Most of our online elections activity will be on our staff Discord server. We are also continuing to host a forum thread to allow non-staff to nominate and ask questions.
Elections and eligibility are governed by the bylaws of Altonimbus Entertainment (https://www.kumoricon.org/bylaws) and the meeting process by our Elections Process https://www.kumoricon.org/elections-process, which has had significant updates for 2020 both to clarify the election administration roles as well as to describe an online voting process.
How to officially attend as a member and vote
In order to officially count toward quorum and vote, members (staff) will need to have a personal account on either Discord or Twitch, and register their account identifier by listing it on the staff management personal details form. Other than listing your account in your personal details, you don't need to do anything else in advance. During the meeting, all votes that are held by secret ballot will be conducted on a third-party election platform, ElectionBuddy.
Nominations
Nominations are currently open for candidates for the seven positions listed in the elections process pin.Nominations must be seconded to be valid. A person cannot nominate or second themselves. To be listed on the candidate list below and on the ballot, a candidate must be nominated and seconded, and then accept the nomination, by the deadline. Once a candidate is nominated and seconded, they may change their acceptance status at will until the nominations deadline of Friday, December 4, 2020, 11:59pm.
Nominations and seconds can be made, and candidates may respond to nominations, in three ways:
* Reply in this channel
* Reply on the elections forum thread
* Email election.nominations@kumoricon.org
The nominations list will be kept in sync between this pin and the elections forum post. Candidates are listed alphabetically by last name, using the preferred name as set in their official staff registration, which candidates may update at any time.
Chair/President
* Brian Mathews - accept
*
Director of Infrastructure
* Ash Bunny Butler - accept
*
Director of Membership
* Charmaine Martinez - decline
* Jessica Ulibarri - accept
* Charly Youravish - decline
*
Director of Operations
* Yaz Wigfall - accept
*
Director of Programming
* Devin Hunter - accept
*
Director of Publicity
* Samantha Rushford - accept
*
Director of Relations
* Heather Holland - accept
* Amber Feldman - accept
Questions and comments
The primary venue for online questions and comments will be the channels for each position on this Discord server. Please ask your question or make your comment in the channel for that position (not this channel).
Questions may also be asked in the elections forum thread. One of the election moderators or tellers will copy that question to the appropriate channel here. We ask that candidates respond here on the staff Discord, rather than the forum, in order to keep discussion in one place and not fragmented.
Shortly before the election, we will create an exported version of the questions and answers for staff who don’t have a Discord account. We will also continue to hold question-and-comment sessions at the elections meeting.
Anonymous questions and comments
After the open question-and-comment period for each candidate, we will host an additional anonymous question-and-comment period. This process is subject to the following rules:
1. The members of the moderator panel (comprised of the election moderator and tellers) choose anonymous questions and comments to sponsor and read at the meeting, from those submitted.
2. Anonymous questions/comments are anonymous when read at the meeting, but the moderator panel must know the identity of the person commenting. Your message must be signed with the name that you are known by in the Kumoricon community.
3. As part of the moderation process, the panel may request more information from you or request a change to your question/comment, or possibly even reject your question/comment.
4. The moderator panel will reply to you stating whether your comment has been accepted.
5. Questions/comments may be shortened or summarized, and similar questions/comments from multiple people may be combined.
A more detailed explanation of the rules and process around anonymous questions and comments is available in our Elections Process: https://www.kumoricon.org/elections-process
Each year, we hold elections for the board of directors for Altonimbus Entertainment (the organization that produces and runs the Kumoricon convention). Altonimbus, and thereby Kumoricon, is governed by a board of directors consisting of nine members who each serve annual terms. Terms begin and end at the annual meeting of the body which elects each board member.
Due to the postponement of Kumoricon 2020 to 2021, all staff positions for Kumoricon 2020 became 2021 staff positions, and if you held a Kumoricon 2020 position, you are automatically Kumoricon 2021 staff—except for board positions, which remain based on annual terms.
Seven of the nine board members are elected by the membership (staff of Kumoricon) at the Annual Meeting of the Membership:
* Chair / President
* Director of Infrastructure
* Director of Membership
* Director of Operations
* Director of Programming
* Director of Publicity
* Director of Relations
The next Annual Meeting of the Membership will be held on December 5, 2020, at 11:00am, online, at Kumoricon’s Twitch channel. Official notice was sent to the members on November 25th, 2020, and full meeting information is available on the Meetings page: https://www.kumoricon.org/meetings. We will be performing our elections online using a new process. Voting is open to Altonimbus Entertainment members (Kumoricon staff, which includes DigiKumo staff). As with previous meetings of the membership this year, the board of directors has authorized, under ORS 65.205, member participation by remote communication for this meeting. If you are a member of Altonimbus Entertainment (Kumoricon staff), you may officially participate in this meeting, using the following procedures. Under these procedures, you will be treated the same as if you were present in person at one of our in-person meetings, including counting toward quorum and ability to vote in director elections.
As with previous years, we are holding online nominations and Q&A prior to elections. Most of our online elections activity will be on our staff Discord server. We are also continuing to host a forum thread to allow non-staff to nominate and ask questions.
Elections and eligibility are governed by the bylaws of Altonimbus Entertainment (https://www.kumoricon.org/bylaws) and the meeting process by our Elections Process https://www.kumoricon.org/elections-process, which has had significant updates for 2020 both to clarify the election administration roles as well as to describe an online voting process.
How to officially attend as a member and vote
In order to officially count toward quorum and vote, members (staff) will need to have a personal account on either Discord or Twitch, and register their account identifier by listing it on the staff management personal details form. Other than listing your account in your personal details, you don't need to do anything else in advance. During the meeting, all votes that are held by secret ballot will be conducted on a third-party election platform, ElectionBuddy.
Nominations
Nominations are currently open for candidates for the seven positions listed in the elections process pin.Nominations must be seconded to be valid. A person cannot nominate or second themselves. To be listed on the candidate list below and on the ballot, a candidate must be nominated and seconded, and then accept the nomination, by the deadline. Once a candidate is nominated and seconded, they may change their acceptance status at will until the nominations deadline of Friday, December 4, 2020, 11:59pm.
Nominations and seconds can be made, and candidates may respond to nominations, in three ways:
* Reply in this channel
* Reply on the elections forum thread
* Email election.nominations@kumoricon.org
The nominations list will be kept in sync between this pin and the elections forum post. Candidates are listed alphabetically by last name, using the preferred name as set in their official staff registration, which candidates may update at any time.
Chair/President
* Brian Mathews - accept
*
Director of Infrastructure
* Ash Bunny Butler - accept
*
Director of Membership
* Charmaine Martinez - decline
* Jessica Ulibarri - accept
* Charly Youravish - decline
*
Director of Operations
* Yaz Wigfall - accept
*
Director of Programming
* Devin Hunter - accept
*
Director of Publicity
* Samantha Rushford - accept
*
Director of Relations
* Heather Holland - accept
* Amber Feldman - accept
Questions and comments
The primary venue for online questions and comments will be the channels for each position on this Discord server. Please ask your question or make your comment in the channel for that position (not this channel).
Questions may also be asked in the elections forum thread. One of the election moderators or tellers will copy that question to the appropriate channel here. We ask that candidates respond here on the staff Discord, rather than the forum, in order to keep discussion in one place and not fragmented.
Shortly before the election, we will create an exported version of the questions and answers for staff who don’t have a Discord account. We will also continue to hold question-and-comment sessions at the elections meeting.
Anonymous questions and comments
After the open question-and-comment period for each candidate, we will host an additional anonymous question-and-comment period. This process is subject to the following rules:
1. The members of the moderator panel (comprised of the election moderator and tellers) choose anonymous questions and comments to sponsor and read at the meeting, from those submitted.
2. Anonymous questions/comments are anonymous when read at the meeting, but the moderator panel must know the identity of the person commenting. Your message must be signed with the name that you are known by in the Kumoricon community.
3. As part of the moderation process, the panel may request more information from you or request a change to your question/comment, or possibly even reject your question/comment.
4. The moderator panel will reply to you stating whether your comment has been accepted.
5. Questions/comments may be shortened or summarized, and similar questions/comments from multiple people may be combined.
A more detailed explanation of the rules and process around anonymous questions and comments is available in our Elections Process: https://www.kumoricon.org/elections-process
96
Posting Games and Chat / Re: What word comes to your mind?
« Last post by Washougal_Otaku on November 19, 2020, 04:25:21 am »Burrito
97
Posting Games and Chat / Re: post something about the person above you game
« Last post by Washougal_Otaku on November 19, 2020, 04:24:50 am »^ Will hopefully come back soon to help keep these games going.
98
Posting Games and Chat / Re: Caption for the Avatar above you GAME
« Last post by Washougal_Otaku on November 19, 2020, 04:21:12 am »Whoever smelt it, dealt it.
99
Posting Games and Chat / Re: The Anime ABC game!
« Last post by Washougal_Otaku on November 19, 2020, 04:19:43 am »Queen's Blade
100
Posting Games and Chat / Re: The Band Name Game Returns
« Last post by Washougal_Otaku on November 19, 2020, 04:19:14 am »Excel Girls