Take THAT, Whompy! I GOT MORE EXCLAMATION MARKS THAN YOU DO! NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH!
Anywho, I wrote a pretty large post over on my tumblr, because I felt it wasn’t of large enough scope to warrant a post here, but I’m posting about the post here anyway, because I am an attention-grabbing whore. Also, to make it easier for people who don’t have tumblrs to comment.
The Wrock Snob 
Cool. Yeah.. as I said on Twitter, you’re missing a big part of the picture… even more so since you’ve even been to any of the three previous Wrockstocks.
Okay… here’s the deal. We let people bring booze into the ROW the first two years and ended up paying $1000 each time to have the rugs cleaned cuz booze REEKS when it’s spilled and trampled and we’re at a YMCA, for goodness sake.
Every year, the dance parties were EPIC and everyone had a blast partying TOGETHER til the wee hours. <— remember this point, it's gunna come up again.
Last year, we tried not letting any booze in at all… we didn't have to pay for carpet cleaning, but nobody came to the dance parties! They went to the cabins, which… since you've never been…are not all that big and very close together. People's rooms got trashed, people's booze got swiped, people got kept awake, it was sodom and gomorrah over in the cabin areas.
Also… a lot of 3rd years complained that there was a lack of togetherness that the prior years had, and lot of first years complained that they didn't get to party cause the people in the cabins were more or less only letting in people the already knew by the second night cause things got a little crazy on Friday.
So, we changed it to half and half… no booze during the concerts, but during the dance parties is fine. Not because they're SANCTIONED… I don't even know what that means… not because we're the alcohol police… but because everyone has more fun if we all hit the "afterparty" together and that's not really possible in any other space than the ROW…
Yeah, we're gunna have to chuck out $1000. But if it means you guys have a better time, then eff it. We're all about fun before profit.
Now, as far as *I* am concerned, you… and everyone reading this that's also NEVER been to Wrockstock or met me in person or knows a single thing about me other than I run Wrockstock…. needs to hear this.
I own Wrockstock 100%. It is a business, not a charity. I built it from nothing with the help of eight friends from around the HP fandom and have kept it going for 3.5 years with sometimes nothing more than sheer will. EVERYONE thought WS07 would be a total disaster and a total joke. Nobody's laughing now. Each year gets better and better… our staff keeps growing and they are honestly the most incredible people I've even met and if I could pay them all a million bucks, I would.
Now, you said Wrockstock isn't anyone's job… it is mine, actually. It's pretty much a fulltime job at least 6 months out of the year. I have health issues prevent me from working a regular job, so I pay myself a small monthly salary during the active months, but I dedicate 110% of myself to Wrockstock, every single day of my life and have since June of 2007. Until I had to have knee surgery this winter, I hadn't taken a full day off from my Wrockstock duties in almost 2 years. I take my job VERY seriously… many say too seriously. Maybe that's true. But will I fight tooth and nail for Wrockstock whenever she's under attack and I really don't care that much if people think I'm a huge bitch for it. Once you've BEEN to Wrockstock, you'll see it all makes MUCH more sense. I am a pain in the butt right up until the moment Wrockstock starts then it's pretty much left up to you guys how the weekend goes…. and it's always VERY smooth sailing because of all the advance work we have done to plan for every little potential snag.
I HAVE to be an uptight ass about certain things… it's MY ass and MY ass alone that's gunna be sued or go bankrupt if something bad happens at Wrockstock.
I have NO money for a lawyer and Wrockstock would END if something really bad happened. So yeah, I am a spaz about the rules… but I always have a very solid reasons for that, but they're usually LONG AS HELL so I prefer if people just trusted me and played along, because the end result is maaaaaagical.
Wrockstock is a beautiful, beautiful thing that I am so proud to be able to do.
Anyone who's been can tell you that whatever craziness I may occasionally bring to the table is worth it.
I am a total hot head, a massive pain in the ass… so are a LOT of us in this fandom, it's part of how we've managed so much in such a short time.
But I promise you all, I'm only that way because it is REALLY SKEERY being responsible for the safety, happiness, money, and overall well-being of 600 people.
And when someone comes along and says something that translates to… "HEY WORLD! Wrockstock is bribing people with booze cuz they don't know how to manage their shit"….. HELL YES, I'm gunna stop that right in it's tracks.
Getting sued is very legit thing, as is the parent not letting their kid go because some people DO believe everything they read, sadly. You were basically slandering us. Not cool. Fear of lawsuits DOES keep me up nights and there's little more I can do about THAT other than the waivers you all sign when you buy your passes.
We're the ONLY HP event that allows children and you talk about us like we're a gorram titty bar and you've never even been. You had no right to say that and you really have no right (yet) to criticize how we run the event, since (one more time!)… you've never been. I DO welcome debate and criticism, but if not when it's done in that fashion, and will not stand by while someone is saying something misleading and possibly opening us up to legal issues.
Now… ball pit time?
So, the best way for me to properly respond to this comment is to just copy and paste sections and respond directly to them, rather spend the whole article saying “and when you said blah blah blah….”
Aight, let’s do this.
Yeah, sounds messy. I can see why you wouldn’t want to do it.
Point dutifully remembered for future reference.
Really? Cabins are smaller than the place where all the main concerts are held? Thank you, I can really see how my not being to Wrockstock before has lent to my staggering ignorance.
Sounds fun. Of course, it also sounds like hell to be in charge of. I can see why you wouldn’t want to do that either.
sanctioned: past participle, past tense of sanc·tion (Verb)
1. Give official permission or approval for (an action).
2. Impose a sanction or penalty on.
I obviously was using the first definition, and not the first. I was merely using sanction as another synonym for “official” or whatnot – basically, NOT a cabin party. That’s all. Secondly, um, aren’t you sort of the alcohol police? I mean, don’t you have to be at “the ONLY HP event that allows children” (which you aren’t, but more on that later)? I have nothing against alcohol police. That would imply that there is some sort of shared, known set of rules around alcohol, and there are people who will enforce those rules – rules like, say, no alcohol in the RoW during concerts, for example. Also, you should know that party, and thus, also the “afterparty” don’t start till I, or possibly a terrible “musician”, walks in.
Awesome. I thank you for your generosity.
I’m listening.
Oh, yes, I can see why you’re upset. I apologize for suggesting that you work more than you actually do. How dreadful of me. Also, I apologize for saying that Wrockstock is a charity con, even though as it says on your About page, you’ve donated a very large share of your profits every time you’ve been able to. I am sorry for letting such terrible slander as suggesting that you give money to people and organizations in need slip from my tongue.
Okay, that’s reasonable. Aaaaaaand? I thought we already covered this. I’m pretty sure I apologized for the infamous tweet:
Okay, so maybe I didn’t actually use the phrase “I’m sorry”, but I meant to get that across. As Whompy can attest to, my mind is not in its most agile state during internet arguments at late o’clock in the morning. Anywho, back to what Abby said:
Yes, yes, I get it, I’ve never been to Wrockstock, and that makes me incapable of saying anything remotely negative about it. I’ll keep that in mind. Might as well scrap that Infinitus article I’m writing too (seriously though, if you have thoughts about Infinitus, please send them to me at wrocksnob@gmail.com!). Also, what exactly is supposed to make more sense? When was I confused about Wrockstock? I mean, I categorized it as a charity con and I didn’t know that it was technically a business and was Abby’s job, but those are things that are very easily explained over the internet, and they have been, just now. I am now confused over what I am supposed to be confused about.
Very smooth sailing except for the Soddom and Gomorrah bit, of course.
I think you’re the real cynic if you don’t believe the wizard rock community wouldn’t try to help you out, but hey, I do understand why you would be uber-protective of your “convention lovechild”, as I said, WHEN I SAID THAT I UNDERSTAND WHY YOU WOULD BE UBER-RPOTECTIVE OF YOUR CONVENTION LOVECHILD. We’ve been over this before! I mean, I love arguing as much, and probably a lot more as the next guy, but why are we going over this again?
Okay, okay, this sounds perfectly reasonable. Also, 600 people – damn. Can’t wait! Hmmm… so why do I remember being so confused when I first read this?
Oh, right. That’s why. Sigh. I really don’t know which Firefox extension you’re using that adds random words and puts extra emphasis on the tweets that you read, but I need to get it. I went over this in the tumblr article I’ve already linked to a couple times – I already explained my thought process that spawned the tweet, and nowhere in that process was “because they don’t know how to manage their shit”. I really don’t know how you got that from what I said. The tweet translated to “HEY WORLD! Wrockstock is bribing people with booze cuz AS THEY SAID ON THEIR FORUMS nobody went to the official dance parties in the RoW last year, so, AS THEY SAID ON THEIR FORUMS, they are now allowing people to bring booze into the RoW for the dance parties, so, they are using the promise of one thing in an attempt to attain a certain goal they have deemed desirable – in other words, A BRIBE.” But that obviously is more than 140 characters. And sure, I could have said something like “persuading” or whatever, but that’s not as pithy.
Yeah, I agree, and, as I already said, I realized that that situation definitely could have happened, and I don’t want that to happen, and I apologized for it.
Wait, what? What? I was slandering you? Yeah, don’t think so. If I wanted to slander you (which I don’t), you would know. I said that you were bribing people with alcohol, WHICH YOU ARE. I’m sorry, but it’s just true. Granted, there are a lot nicer and more nuanced ways to say it, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be said, but what I said was not untruthful. I mean, I have decided that I shouldn’t have said what I did, but it wasn’t slander, it was just poorly worded and poorly thought out.
Or just not let any Hufflepuffs in. I hear they like sandwiches.
Um, no you aren’t. I mean, I could be a dick and get into the very broad definitions available for “event”, but I won’t because that’s not the point. The point is, you aren’t the only HP convention that allows children. Infinitus had a children’s track, Leakycon did and will have children’s tracks, and I think most HPEF symposiums have some sort of children’s stuff, though I’m not sure about that. I mean, this isn’t a big deal, it’s just odd you would say that. Oh, and Leakycon allows minors (under 18 minors, not the under 21 kind) with either a parent or a parent-approved chaperone, so…
Wait what (again)? What? I said that there was alcohol at Wrockstock! YOU said there was alcohol at Wrockstock! Yes, “bribe” was not the best word, and I have apologized for that! I will do it again – watch! I, the Wrock Snob, apologize for using the word bribe, in that context, on a public medium such as twitter, where a parent of a minor going to Wrockstock could see it and bar (hee-hee) them from going. I do hope that if I had said that remark on the Wrockstock forums, or in a private message or whatever, that you would see or at least ask if I was saying that just be snarky and pithy, not because I have any ill-will towards Wrockstock, because I did and I don’t. I understand the incredible amount of stress working on Wrockstock must put you under, and how scary it must be when your livelihood could be threatened by some kid doing some stupid thing, but try not to jump down the throats of prospective “customers” AFTER they have apologized for what they did. Like I said, I totally understand why you reacted the way you did on twitter, but I thought we had resolved this. I’m just wondering why we’re going through all of this again. What exactly did I say in my tumblr post that warranted this whole thing again? Lastly, maybe you guys should be a titty bar – it’d be a great way to increase the male population in the Harry Potter fandom.
Yeah, yeah, I get it.
Say what? What did I say? The one tweet that I HAVE APOLOGIZED FOR?
I FUCKING GET IT. I’ve never been. That is true. So apparently, since I’ve never been, and even though I’ve done everything except book my flights (which I really should do), I have no right to offer up any criticism about announced changes to an event that I am spending a good deal of money to go to? I just don’t get it. What if this was Wrockstock’s first year? Would you not allow any input that wasn’t positive because nobody had been before? Also, I WASN’T CRITICIZING WROCKSTOCK. I was making a silly pithy little statement. I didn’t say that the new rules were good or bad or anything. I was just being silly.
MAKE UP YOUR GORRAM MIND!
In what fashion? You mean the fashion that I used on twitter that I ALREADY HAVE SAID THAT I REALIZED WAS NOT A VERY WELL-THOUGHT OUT IDEA AND I APOLOGIZED FOR IT? I totally anc completely understand you not standing idly by while someone says something misleading about Wrockstock, and I understand why you reacted the way you did on twitter – BUT I THOUGHT WE HAD RESOLVED THIS! On twitter! We were talking about ball pits and stuff! I’m just confused about why you’re bringing this all up again. I mean, if it’s not resolved, then it’s not, but I thought it was.
Actually, that’s what we’re doing already. I got the CSS custom-outfitted with small multicolored plastic balls that will pop out of your computer screen (or possibly iPad or whatever), and all I have to do is press a button. The only thing is, I’m not entirely sure where the button is. Drat.
Well…. I did write that at like, 2:30am. A good portion of it probably would have been edited out for redundancy, contradictions or irrelevance had I had my brain been at full operating capacity. I shoulda slept on it before replying. Hindsight’s a bitch.
But since there’s no way to edit on this blog, it has to just be there as it is, even if it is pretty sloppy. I will apologize for the shitty writing job. Definately not my best work.
But here’s what it boils down to… you said something pretty obnoxious and absolutely untrue about WS that could have caused us some issues, not to mention was just mean-spirited. I didn’t like it and reacted. We squabbled, we worked it out and then it was fine, which you pointed out and I agree…
It was completely over after that inital 30-45 minutes as far as I was concerned… until you posted that “article” on your tumblr and then over here (at my request so I could reply.)
I don’t know why you felt the the need put that up unless you were hoping to drag it out further and try to press your point even more, to get more attention, to give me gray hairs, whatever your intention was… that was the last straw for me.
That’s why I ended up writing two gigantic responses that were admittedly sloppy… but nonetheless, I felt you needed to know where you were mistaken so we could just put this whole thing to rest.
My second response was simply my own personal feelings on the matter and an attempt to apologize to those who saw me blow my top.
I used to think you were trying to inject a tad more honesty into the wrock scene, which I appreciated, but now I think that other people might be right and you might just be looking to be a shit disturber… I mean, you kinda said that from the start that you hope to shake things up.
Well, when you shake things up, sometimes heavy stuff falls on your head.
Really all I can say on the matter. Don’t say shitty things about stuff that people you know are involved in public with unless you’re prepared to deal with the consequences. I’ve said controversial stuff on my personal online pages and had to deal with the negative reactions of friends, it just comes with the territory.
I’m not someone who’s able to take that kind of stuff lightly and I’m gunna be all-too-human about it in my reaction, too. I’m not scared to show that I have a crappy aspect to my otherwise sunny personality and I’m not gunna be fake and just smile n’ nod if I feel I and my staff have been insulted.
Also… despite how it may come across online, I’m not mad at you and really never was, like… angry. If I had been really flipped out, every other word I said would have been the F word. When I’m really mad, I have a mouth like a trucker who was raised by pirates who were raised by footie hooligans.
Sorry I yelled at you on Twitter, sorry for the sloppy writing, sorry I couldn’t get you to see where I’m coming from, I could try and explain it again, but this whole thing is like, so four days ago and I have other stuff I’d rather be/need to be doing.
I’ve had my week on your roasting spit and admittedly, I helped myself get there. I hope I can assume it’ll be someone else’s turn soon enough. I’m telling ya, I’m not gunna be much fun anymore. You caught me at a weak moment…. but it won’t happen again.
Take care.
This may be off topic a bit, but Abby, I’m completely excited that you’re trying to encourage everyone to party together after the shows. As a first-year last year, I had that exact problem you described, and everything my friends and I tried to put together, we always got separated….and we even found ourselves in a situation where we were wandering around and ONE of our friends with us got let into a party and the rest of us didn’t.
It was sad, because I just wanted to meet new wizards and hang out…as did many of us, as I’m sure you know….so I’m excited that you’re making it more enticing for people to spend time together. ❤
I think, also, that for many of us alcohol is not required. We just wanna be where the people are. ❤
It has also been interesting hearing your logic behind everything. Makes TONS of sense. Rock on. 🙂
WrockSnob, you'll see! 🙂 I hope to see you tweet your *facepalm* moment when it all becomes clear. 🙂 🙂 🙂
One thing we definitely agree on- Gryffinpuffs are by far the worst house combo.
HEY!
Don’t insult the Gryffinpuffs!
I’m sorry, dude, Gryffinpuffs FTL.
Yeah, absolutely insufferable combination…
And yeah, Wrockstock. I really need to go some time.
I think alcohol during the dance parties is a great idea because my cabin WAS trashed when a few of us had absolutely no idea that other people would allow so many people in. It ended up needing a cleaning fee and it was on MY debit card…one of the people in the cabin still hasn’t paid me her share and it’s been 9 months.
I’ve been very trusting and open to meeting people in the fandom, so this really disappointed me. I’m glad that the major dance party/alcohol stuff will be in the RoW for you guys so that you don’t end up in the situation that I did.
I have been thinking about this situation a lot today, and even though my lil’ buddy hasn’t had time to reply, I have a few more things to say before I attempt to wash my hands of this entire thing. At the risk of putting a nail in my own coffin, here goes nothing.
Open letter to the WrockSnob, also known as ***** **** from the great state of ******.
(I used all asterisks instead of naming him, but it’s the right amount of characters.)
Dear *****
As you can see, I do know who you are. The day your email account accidentally wound up on the Wizrocklopedia, I was one of the four people who saw it before Freya kindly fixed it. I reckognized it as a person who’d submitted their name and email to Wrockstock at some point. I remembered the contact I’ve had with you thru your other online alias and have always thought you were pretty cool. I’ve also been rather supportive of your efforts here, even if I didn’t always agree with you.
I respect your desire to remain anonymous and understand your reasons for your writings and I will continue to keep your secret no matter what you may hurl at me. I only mention it because I am asking you to extend to me and my organization the same respect that I am extending you… to understand where the other is coming from and give them the space needed to do what they need to without trying to tear it down just because you disagree or don’t understand. I’m almost sure you’lls ee this as a threat but it isn’t. You have a very negative point of view and seem to always assume the worst about everything. Which brings me to my next point.
I’m actually quite saddened and even a little bit concerned that you read that post about our change in policy and your mind immediately drew the meanest and least charitable conclusion possible. How you can be that bitter and negative at a young age is kind of alarming, actually. I’ve been reading your stuff and I’m seeing a pattern here of a need to be disruptive in order to feel significant. You’re such a smart guy and incredibly well read and adept at invoking emotion from people, but you’re using that talent in negative, hostile ways. I remember being that age and having problems that made me act out in similar ways. I’m sure you’re already mentally writing a rebuttal that will include the word condescending and presumptive and you’d have a point.
But anyone who REALLY knows me knows that I am a huge believer in honesty at all costs. I have supported and even defended you and you turned around and bit me on the ass, unprovoked, because you simply could not get your head around the idea that someone in the wrock community was trying to do something nice and positive for the benefit of everyone. Where does this anger come from? Did some wrocker reject you or something? This all just seems like a cry for help. Maybe I’m wrong, I hope I am, actually.
But it seems there is NO reason for you to assume what you did about our intentions other than because you seem to have a lot of bitterness towards the wrock community as a whole. Which I find ironic, cause you’re relatively new, live in a comparatively remote area and as far as I know, you have never even really been to a lot of shows or any of the large events yet. You’re SO sure you’re right about all of it based on very little actual experience. That’s such a condition of the young, I hope you’ll out grow it soon enough cause you really are freaking brilliant and I’d hate to see you spend the rest of your life angry at the world.
Whether or not you care, I want you to know you’ve lost a good amount my respect and support with this recent move. It could totally be earned back very easily however, as I am generally very quick to forgive people. I just wanted to be honest and tell you right out front that what you did was a cheap shot and I’m not going to forget it easily.
Bad form, dude. Seriously. I’m hurt you would think such mean things about WS without any actual knowledge of what it’s like, especially since we’ve been kind of getting to know each other via Twitter.
Now, as far as last night’s “Final Battle”… you have been sensationalizing what was in reality, a 30 minute tiff. The only reason so many posts were made was because it was Twitter and there was a lot of subject matter to cover.
I feel really bad that I let people down by squabbling with you, I really do. But I felt that I was amking the best choice in the long run, if I was to protect myself, my staff and my business… and by association, everyone who goes to Wrockstock.
So very sorry, guys. Swear to bacon.
But since you had said what you said ON Twitter, I had to reply there until you moved it over here or I moved it to the WS forums, which I was prepared to do if you didn’t repost over here, especially after seeing how tragically mistaken you were about how things really are at Wrockstock.
I have heard from people who felt that my response would have been better left done privately and to that my response is this… “I didn’t think I could trust this guy not to take what I said privately and then twist it all around and go public with even more hateful untruths about Wrockstock or myself.” That’s happened to me before with online stuff. But if I am confident that I don’t need “witnesses” to be able to keep a situation fair during resolution, then I certainly DO take things privately. All the time, in fact.
In conclusion… I hope that when you come to Wrockstock you finally experience the love and togetherness that the Wrock community provides for us all, which is always at its maximum level at events like Wrockstock. I think that once you finally jump into the proverbial pool instead of just grumbling from the deck, that you’ll see the water’s actually quite nice. When that happens, I will be happy to share my Shamu floaty guy with you. You might then finally understand all the adoration, loyalty and love the fans and bands feel for each other and how it’s not ALL about money and fame.
So, unless you make another statment that is an utter lie about Wrockstock or start slandering me, I’m done with this matter. I’ve said everything I can possibly think of that was important.
Take care and god bless….
and again, apologies to all who were unhappy with my actions. I feel like pants about it and am punishing myself by wearing a very stupid hat. My dogs won’t even look at me right now.
I’m pretty sure that all he was saying was a quick joke about how alcohol-centric this community can get when everyone is in the same place. Which it can. If it were me, and was concerned about a teenagers snarky internet quip, I may try to do something in private with him or her, that way maybe they can do a quick damage control/apology tweet or something. Maybe that would draw less attention to the fact that wrockstock can get a bit drinky. Because having a great big public internet fight might get a lot more people reading the original post where you said that wrockstock can get a bit drinky.
Man, that was a long tumblr post, and the biggest thing that I learned from it was “I, ludicrous” anagrams to “Ridiculous”. =P
People drink at Wrockstock?! WTF?!