You dropped the fracking ball on security this year. I'm just going to put out questions that should very well show you why you fucked up.
1. Why was the bag line shorter wait than the normal line? I hear it was due to fewer metal detectors, and if so, WHY DID YOU DO THIS.
2. Why did you make us stand IN THE fracking COLD RAIN? That is not okay in any way, shape or form. Didn't you learn anything from last year's outdoor-line debacle and the response to it?
3. Why did you close the Dalton St. entrance midway through Saturday? The Sheraton's advantage is that it's connected to the Pru/Hynes. It's like you *wanted* lines to be longer.
4. Why did you take your frustrations out on us? If you have angry staff, get them off the floor and don't put them at the entrances where customers of yours are going to be. Your rage is not our problem. I got bitched at by staff for asking basic questions and that's not okay.
5. Why did you have staff at the entrances that didn't even know the way to the other con entrance? Come on, basic competence. I had to ask like four staff members before someone could tell me how to get from the Dalton entrance to the Boylston entrance.
6. Why did you waffle so hard on when the game room opened? This is a noob con mistake. Get your staff on the same page.
And if none of this is your fault...tell the Hynes that you're taking your IMMENSE AMOUNTS OF BUSINESS AND MONEY elsewhere unless they deal with stuff.. Because the BCC is there, and I'm sure you can figure out how to get in if you must.'
As for other things:
- Look, not everyone has a Twitter. Please make your announcements public in some other way.
- I'm a little worried that AB made no announcement about how Boston has recently banned realistic prop weapons. Does that apply to the con? Is there any grandfathering etc going on that makes, say, Persona players able to bring evokers? I was kinda freaking out looking over the website and wondering whether this was a thing we could still do.
- Look, guys, everyone knows about Ninja Artist Alley Entrance. Either decide you want it or decide you don't. But please don't close it part-way through. In general, "run-time patches" are bad because not everyone gets the message, confusion happens, etc.
- What is going on with the Sheraton? Do you have a hand in that? Because their "security" feature of needing a card key for the elevator was a classic example of a useless inconvenience that doesn't stop either stalking or overcrowding but annoys congoers anyway.
- Guys, you did so well on the theme last year. Backdrops around the con, cosplayers from your staff...this year was NOTHING. Why'd you just decide not to even do a theme really?
Good stuff:
- Thanks for dealing with the food issue. The food court closing was serious business to us, and putting up stations is a good stopgap.
- Aside from security theater crap, the con was good as usual. I have high expectations from AB because AB usually meets them. Not sure what there is to say other than yeah, the con features are good.
- Thank you for not having dumb escalator lines this year! They were my least favorite part of last year.
Edit: The censoring here is crazy. Poopy? Really?