The future of Furmeets: A discussion

[Carthage]

@Lemony... Cuz y'know, there just hasn't been enough drama on the board this month, right? :P

[Lemony]

hey, I don't get insulted very often, let me have this one.

[Acco]

You jerk, lemony. ;p

But I do agree with you. I'm pretty sure there were more smaller-private meets than most people knew about. You guys were probably just the most notable of the hosts. *shrug* Doesn't matter to me much anyway

[Aphinity]

.. and does anyone remember why vfur and vaf were separated?

For this exact reason.

Some people just want to hang with specific people.  Apparently that makes you elitist.  Well, I think that's the definition, but if that's the case, why is it wrong to want to hang with your friends instead of random people who you quite often don't like quite as much?

On that note, I do believe in having large, open events (notice I used the term events) where everyone can congregate and meet new people, discuss new ideas, and be whoever you want, within reason.  We're at the point where this type of situation is not possible in private homes any longer due simply to the number of people desiring to do this.

Ladies and gentlemen, you just discovered the very reason I continue to host Howloween, and why I still help with Rainfurrest.  Conventions and events are designed for this purpose!  They take planning, scheduling, coordinating, and a heck of a lot of money to properly see through.

If we want to continue a monthly practice of holding a 'fur meet' event, then we need to have people assigned to handle that task.  We need a reliable location (or locations), and we need people with the authority to dictate how those furmeet events are to take place. 

My suggestion would be to setup a vancouver furry events 'board of directors'.  I see no reason we can't make this at least as official as any furry convention is.  If we really wanted to be sure we're safe to conduct these events without personal liability, we could even make up a corporation, in the same fashion the furry cons do, with a legally responsible board of directors that can be nominated, elected, and reappointed based on a set of rules.

Think about it.  No more waiting for someone to 'volunteer'.  No more questions on conduct or how to deal with inappropriate attendees.  No more risk of liability to personal property at furmeet locations.  And best of all, NO MORE QUESTIONS ON WHO HAS AUTHORITY.

Does this all sound way out of proportion?  Am I the only one who thinks this way?

[Ember]

Dolphin sounds

I very much agree with this whole post.

[Sairys]

Dolphin sounds

I very much agree with this whole post.

I have to agree as well

[sniffum]

I agree with Aphinity ^_^

[Acco]

Dolphin sounds

Fox sounds

Wolf sounds

Mostly agree. I think that this runs the risk of being too professional for something meant to be simple and fun. That being said, if it guarantees some consistency of the meets, that'd be great.

[Raiden Wolf]

I may not talk much but I can agree with Aphinity as well. It sounds like a pretty good structure idea to start off with and would settle a lot of problems as well a make this more organized. It leaves room to add to it later on if need be. Plus it could promote itself to possible encourage more people to want to take part. Having a good structure will surely make it more successful in the future so we don't have as much issues as with where it is right now.

[Malissa]

I agree with the phin :)

[mArZiPaN!]

Certainly worth a try.

[Temrin]

Awesome suggestion Aphinity! I totaly agree :3

The only thing is, is to get started, and find people willing to spend the time on getting this stuff together. And that set of rules as well. It needs to be straight forward and to the point because i know some have different views on whats acceptable and whats not. Can't have rules based on Biased opinions right? :3 that would defeat the purpose XD

I know i'm personally out for trying to be an organizer. I hardly have time to organize my own life D:
But i'm willing to help in whatever way i can. (thoughts, ideas, art work if that ever pertains to anything related to these events. XD )

~Temrin

[Silvermink]

My suggestion would be to setup a vancouver furry events 'board of directors'.  I see no reason we can't make this at least as official as any furry convention is.  If we really wanted to be sure we're safe to conduct these events without personal liability, we could even make up a corporation, in the same fashion the furry cons do, with a legally responsible board of directors that can be nominated, elected, and reappointed based on a set of rules.

Well, just to play devil's advocate here... this sounds like a great idea, but will people volunteer? It sounds like it could be a bit of a thankless job.

[Rascal Coyote]

Dolphin sounds

Fox sounds

Wolf sounds

Mostly agree. I think that this runs the risk of being too professional for something meant to be simple and fun. That being said, if it guarantees some consistency of the meets, that'd be great.

I mostly agree as well, but I totally agree with Accofox, sounds like to much organizational structure for just a simple fur meet, but with the ever growing size of our group , it may take that kind of structure to organize furmeets. some one on page 1 of this thread asked a good question, how are bigger cities like Toronto or in the US dealing with this issue. what options do they have? lets take this into consideration before we consider having furcon style furmeets with bylaws and board of directors. we must also strongly concider , that IF we do go through with phins idea, would WE be the only city having to do such a thing just to hold a furmeet? And how would it look to the rest of the fandom IF we had to turn our furmeets into a professional organized operation?

[Aphinity]

To answer your question, Rascal, other cities such as Balto woof's area in California host huge, house-busting parties at willing people's homes (in that case, Balto Woof's house).  In these cases, the hosts are aware of the 80 to 120 people who will come and deal with the circumstances accordingly.  In Toronto, there are multiple 'groups' of furs, much like Seattle has the furlife group and the seattle furs group.  This separates the large group into smaller ones and makes meets more regional.

I'm not sure how having an organizational structure behind our meets would be reflected as a bad thing in the rest of the community.  If anything, it might be seen as a step forward in how furry events are handled.

Is a structure like this over the top for a 'simple' furmeet?  Yes, absolutely.  Do we host 'simple' furmeets anymore?  No.  

As they say, go big, or go home.  I don't wanna go home yet :)

I mostly agree as well, but I totally agree with Accofox, sounds like to much organizational structure for just a simple fur meet, but with the ever growing size of our group , it may take that kind of structure to organize furmeets. some one on page 1 of this thread asked a good question, how are bigger cities like Toronto or in the US dealing with this issue. what options do they have? lets take this into consideration before we consider having furcon style furmeets with bylaws and board of directors. we must also strongly concider , that IF we do go through with phins idea, would WE be the only city having to do such a thing just to hold a furmeet? And how would it look to the rest of the fandom IF we had to turn our furmeets into a professional organized operation?