after least year i'm not sure I want to go back to AB This year...

[Old_School_Anime_Lover02]

The autographs were such a cluster of disorgniszation.... I couldn't lean against the wall, or stand in one place down stairs, and there wasn't enough chairs for everyone to sit and wait. The first autograph i got was fine, because I didn't have to go bloody down stairs, and with gregs, It wasn't even full until the line caught up to itself, so that was a problem with in itself.

if there are plenty of chairs up stairs, i don't see why I can't just sit out of the way quietly reading a book on the couch IT'S A BLOODY COUCH THAT'S WHAT IT'S FREAEN FOR IF YOU DON'T SEE ME FOR 20 MINUTES LATER DON'T BLOODY ASK ME TO GO DOWN STAIRS i'm not bloody bothering anyone I'm sitting out of the way like I was told to do three hours before hand. That was a bit annoying,

and once I got down stairs, the people weren't much better. Me and this one other person was trying to get out of the way you see, sitting/leaning against the wall because all the seats were taken by people who needed plugs and such. so i'm like "ok lets lean against a wall and out of the way so we don't get yelled at"


there was a cluster f of people in front of us already, just standing there, cluster fing, not doing anything, but we were trying to stay out of the way, not doing anything but sitting there against the wall, and we got barked at, telling to do laps.

oh and guess what, the line was 5 minutes late getting up stairs. i checked my phone and people were like "Um no were not"

i'm like "yes we are your supposed to start at 4:00 sharp it's 4:05, and now it's 4:10 so you started 10 minutes late with no explanation...


there was one boy in orange though who was really nice, and he seemed the only one to have his poopy together.

recently I went to CT con, and guess what: they don't care how long people wait for an autographs my bestie and I were in line for the same amount of time, and we didn't once get pestered for sitting and reading, or talking and chilling out, and I had my stuff on the raider, and that's considered a no no, and i still didn't get yelled at.

seriously AB pull your act together, the real reason I go to you is because of the guests that I can't see. But because I was treated like i was five last year, I don't think I want to go back. CT con is so much better and they treat guests with the restpect we deserve for a big convention.


your getting way to big for your own good,and I'm not the only one who thinks so.


im already looking into new conventions that are like Ct con, because you done and messed up. And I really don't think I'm the only one who thinks so, and thanks for ruining something I usually look forward to


edit: this took me a really long time to post because I'm really un sure how to write constructive critizum since i have low selfasteam myself, and the way they treated me felt like i was in kinderguarden again...expect for the one guy in the orange shirt who was really nice to me, he was the only real nice guy down stairs. just please get your bloody act together, because I'm sure i'm not the only person your losing because of this.

[lordshamus]

I'm sorry you had a frustrating experience with some of our lines. I can understand that, and with the number of things we had going on, I can appreciate that it would have been kind of a stressful situation. I'm also sorry that you were made to feel like you were a child; I think, to some extent, that might be unavoidable when there are so many things to line up for. Standing in lines and being told what to do is an experience that most of us associate with being a kid in school, since aside from cons and very popular hot dog stands, we aren't expected to stand in big long lines and get herded around like cattle as grown-ups. We had a ton going on at the same time this year, and it was very challenging to make the lines run, and sometimes they just won't operate like clockwork. ConnectiCon is a great show, but we have twice as many people to move through twice as many lines, so the logistics can sometimes be a unique challenge. We absolutely have to cap the lines, because if we let people line up for as long as they wanted, the lines would run into each other and half of the people in line wouldn't get autographs. We've been doing this a long time, and we have formulas that can predict how long it will take for someone in line to get an autograph, give or take, and we know how long a guest is going to be able to sign autographs for based on their schedules and how fast they sign. That tells us how many people are likely to get through a given line. And if the lines were just allowed to happen organically whenever people wanted to line up, it would become a tangled mess, and tons of people would waste their time in line and not even end up with an autograph. I never want somebody standing in line to not get the thing they are standing in line for.

I can't promise that your lines will always start at the moment they are scheduled. I can't promise that when two lines for two different things overflow into each other we won't have a confused mess for a few minutes, no matter how well we prepare. But I can promise you that we will prepare, as well as anybody can for something with so many unpredictable variables. Our programming staff studies previous trends very closely, and they try to predict what's going to have the biggest lines, and this factors into the placement of events. But there are so many other things that can affect all of this that there are bound to be hiccups from time to time. One thing I want you to be completely sure of is that we care about your experience. That guy in orange did exactly what he was supposed to by being nice to you. We're just fans like you; nobody running Anime Boston gets paid a cent. We do this because we love anime and we love the anime fan community. We might not live up to that ideal all the time, after 20 hours on our feet and skipping a couple meals, but dammit we're going to try. If you ever feel frustrated, I want you to feel comfortable expressing your frustration to any staff member, just anime fan to anime fan. I promise any of us will do whatever we can to help you. The first job of every staff member is to make sure the attendees have a good time in a safe environment, no matter what their actual job title is.

Anyway, I hope you come back to AB next year. We'd love to have you, and I think you'll see that we're always trying to improve what we do.

[royalbakaness]

Shamus, your reply was so professional and understanding. The staff at AB is a big factor in why this is my favorite con. You guys interact so well with attendees, even off-con. I always know we'll get an answer when we get in touch with you guys. Thank you for working so hard to put on this con and keep in touch with the fans.

[Old_School_Anime_Lover02]

i'm still looking into conventions near my birthday ._. but this one seems like it's going to be it i'm still not sure yet, it depends on your guest list (ironically)