Some Things Of Value That Last
If you want to get up in the morning and feel like you get to spend at least part of your time on something that matters, you could do a whole lot worse.
You know, the capstone of Penguicon that tips it over from a great idea to a brilliant motivational structure is that it's centered around fun, so we don't take ourselves too seriously. If it weren't for that element, there would be self-righteous one-upmanship and pious guilt-trips, and that would kill it. If you don't step up to the plate, and the convention were to fade away because somebody dropped the ball, all we've lost is a silly little costume party, right?
It's as if the motivation were "ha ha only serious". And yet I still get the motivation to work harder than I've ever worked on anything in my life. That's a neat little mind hack.
Such intersections seldom come along, and I'm grateful for the unique opportunity.
Comments
etain on Dec. 21, 2007 1:09 PM
I'd argue that both sf/f and open source should only be in the vision/contribution sections. sf/f-fandom and open source-community/developing should be in all three! *That's a happy all three, not an angry one. Exclamation points often look angry to me.*
stormgren on Dec. 21, 2007 1:52 PM
If it weren't for that element, there would be self-righteous one-upmanship and pious guilt-trips, and that would kill it.
Actually, it was those two things that contributed to me putting Penguicon at arm's length a couple of years back, from a volunteering and attending standpoint. There were other factors, but to say that those two do not and did not exist isn't entirely accurate.
I will say this has improved greatly in the last year, now that certain key personalities aren't around as much anymore. The concom for this year seems to be a decent group of folks, if the mailing list postings are any indication.
matt-arnold on Dec. 21, 2007 2:18 PM
When energy-robbing problematic people are replaced, it's difficult to get the word out that the internal culture has changed. There are those who have told me it's impossible to ever lose a reputation once it's in place.
Keep in mind, we still take a dim view of people saying they'll do something and then silently failing. Guilt trips are appropriate for that. Openly stepping down is fine; asking for help is fine; when we get mad is when someone takes responsibility and then flakes out, or acts all obstructionist to the people who are actually doing work.
This is different than blaming someone for the downfall of civilization just because they don't volunteer to make Penguicon happen. I've had quite enough of church in my life.
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