Worldcon supporting membership bought

[julesjones]

Having achieved updating my accounts at the weekend, in pursuit of a completed tax return, I discovered that I had Worldcon supporting membership for 2016 but not for this year. There were so many opportunities to buy supporting, voting, pre-supporting etc etc at LonCon that I lost track of which bids and cons had actually got my money. :-)

I have now remedied that lack. I'd been intending to vote on the Hugos anyway, having discovered the joy of the Voting Packet a few years ago as a way to make sure I'd actually read anything recent enough to be eligible, but there's an added incentive to make sure I've got my voting PIN this year.

For anyone else who had the same problem as me at Worldcon of spending more time volunteering than going around the tents, the link is

https://sasquan.swoc.us/sasquan/reg.php

Comments

[khrister]

Hmm....I should get a supporting membership so I can vote for Helsinki 2017. And vote down the damn puppies...

[vatine]

I have an attending membership, so I can vote for Helsinki 2017 (and I figured out this year's secret incantation for cheap-ish BA 1st class flights, so it's not even all that expensive).

That reminds me, need to book tickets between Seattle and Spokane (yep, taking a couple of days in Seattle, to chat to assorted peeps).

[khrister]

Just out of interest, how cheap are the cheap-ish tickets?

[julesjones]

Not that I'm going to use it, but yes, also interested to know.

[vatine]

I think I paid £2900 for a first class. That's on-par with BA's premium economy price, normally (cattle class tends to land at around £1800).

[julesjones]

Ah yes, I wanted a membership anyway, for Helsinki voting purposes - I believe from some commentary I've seen that it is now possible to vote for site selection even if not physically present. Must go and look into that. :-)

I doubt I will get to Helsinki, but it's still a lot more likely than anything in the US, for logistical reasons.

[lexin]

Thanks for reminding me; I've bought supporting membership for this year and next, partly in order to vote down the puppies, but also to see what current SF is like.

[julesjones]

Alas, you won't get much of interest in the prose sections. :-(

[lexin]

Well, I do want to read some of the Puppies attempts, just to see what they're like. I spent some time today looking at the sort of thing that's on Amazon from the likes of Vox Day, and the write-ups of the stories sounded like stuff I'd enjoy, but the reviews said they didn't live up to the blurb. So now I'm curious.

But I don't want Vox Day to get any of my money, noway, nohow. Better that it goes as a supporting membership for World Cons.

[doire]

I nominated this year, for the first time ever, so I think I ought to vote.

Pretty sure I already own anything nominated that I really want to read:(

[julesjones]

At least the graphic novel section was mostly untouched. But yes, not happy about the value I'll get out of whatever the publishers are willing to put into the packet.

Of course, Orbit wouldn't give complete ebooks last year (and I don't blame them one little bit), but they did set the commercial ebook price to £1.99 temporarily, which made me very happy.

[cunobaros]

I got a supporting membership last summer, shortly after LonCon, in order to be able to vote for Helsinki. I also nominated stories, films, and TV episodes I had enjoyed, and was looking forward to getting the voter packet and reading the nominees.

Not happy with the puppies, especially the rabid ones. Last year, I read the puppy stories and judged them on their merits, but this year I won't bother with the rabids at all. I'll vote for Noah where necessary, because VD is one activist who can't be reasoned with.

I liked Eric Flint's recent post on the historical and current importance of the awards, and I think he raises many good and valid points, but it is depressing to see a US civil war dominate what purports to be a /world/con, even though I am aware of the history.