The future of Furmeets: A discussion

[Carthage]

I'm going to start off by saying that I will not let this degenerate into name-calling, accusations and other asshole-ish behaviour.

With that out of the way, I want to begin an honest, reasonably intelligent discussion about the future of furmeets in the Vancouver Furry Community.

It's clear that we've outgrown almost any house that might be available to us, and a consequense of that is that those houses are becoming unwilling to host. It is also becoming a problem that a few people are either going beyond their limits, not following the rules, or just being stupid, further prompting potential hosts to simply stop hosting.

At this point we shouldn't discount any option for future furmeets, and this thread will be meant to discuss any and all possibilities. And for the moment, even some of the stupid ones should be thrown in for consideration. This needs to be an open discussion, and everyone needs to have an opportunity to have a say.

Even allowing for stupid ideas, I won't tolerate acting like an idiot or an asshole.

Lets talk.

[Ember]

(Repost from another thread)

Maybe instead of having monthly house meets, the right direction to go would be scheduling smaller events with a direct purpose (Movie, playland, picnic) and then having a quarterly open meet, at a rented hall or such. $5 admission or some jank. And lets face it, if you don't have $5 to spare you shouldn't be going out at all.

Or maybe we should have cold cock banned a small selection of people that everyone seems to hate, but who seem oblivious to that fact.

[Acco]

I think that those few bad apples are at least partially to blame with hosts being unwilling to step forward. While I haven't been to any of the recent ones - the last one I attended was the february one... before that, August - I can definitely recall some stuff that has happened in the past that would definitely put-off potential hosts...

They're also way too many people attending.

What I do think that this community is doing is splitting up into small cliques and those cliques do stuff by themselves due to the size now - which isn't bad. But it isn't great either.

But I do think that banning a couple of people from the meets might not be such a bad idea, though I'd doubt it'd cause people to come forward to host.

During the summer months, I think it'd be very possible to host meets at parks... and then once it becomes too dark, meets over.

Just some thoughts.

[RainRat]

I've considered renting out the common area in my building. It could easily accommodate recent furmeets, but since it would be semi-public, it would require a high level of proper behaviour. I think the cost would be about 75 dollars, so about a dollar per person could be collected.

[Merrick]

I know there is a "hall" rentable right next to my place, its free to rent to people who live in my complex but I'm not sure how the owners feel about tons of people showing up and stuff. I think they normally rent it out for birthdays for the kids that live around here.

I'll look into it and if it works out then I'll let you all know.

Also, yeah if it does work out that way, PLEASE don't let it get out of hand because that would ruin it for everyone.

[Carthage]

Something that Marzipan and I have briefly discussed is in relation to the fact that the community is beginning to splinter.

It may not be such a bad thing to have a lot of little cliques. If all the smaller groups were to hold their own gatherings on a semi-regular basis, that provides a furmeet-ish thing to do for almost everyone, and allows a certain degree of control of who attends without actively banning anyone. In addition, a quarterly event could be held where everyone is welcome.

There are a number of event halls to be found in the area, and with sufficient investigation we can probably find one or two that suit us perfectly.

[Silvermink]

I might actually show up to some smaller events. We don't tend to be big-time party people so gigantically-huge furmeets aren't really our speed. I think 50+ people is really pushing the boundaries of what's workable in a private home. Back when I used to host summer hot tub meets I had 20-25 people show up and even that got pretty stressful to coordinate at times.

It sucks that some people can't seem to moderate their behavior and seem to figure a meet is a free pass to act like a yob and not get called on it. Even just a few of those people really ratchets up the stress factor for both the hosts and the other attendees.

[Grace]

Seeing as how I don't live in the area, I haven't seen any of this happening first-hand and also don't know how issues have been addressed in the past, but if there are a number of people with behavioral problems, why not implement a warning system? They get one warning, then they're gone.
It could be up to the host whether this applies to the one event or all future events held at their place. They could also determine what constitutes a major infraction for the event, since different locations have different rules (apart from social etiquette, which applies everywhere). That way, too, people would be more likely to say something right away since the rules would be clearly laid out.

[LudroLycandrel]

I know a lot of my problem is that after I'm done work on Saturdays(at about 5pm) by the time I get home I really don't look forward to taking transit anymore that week... The Jan/Feb meet over and Sniffum's was great.. but only because it was really close to me, being near UBC :P 

I don't think I have any problem with the hosts(as I find I'm rather well-behaved and keep to myself) I just get fed up with taking transit for 1hr+ to try to see furries whose company I may enjoy(if they manage to arrive) and typically because if I stay overnight that I get less than adequate sleep, I tend to leave early-ish to get transit, which is another lenghty travel.  So all in all... I'm spending the same amount of time on travel as I do at the actual meet, all for the sake of a good night's sleep.

Not sure if any of the other Furries share my view on taking that much transit, but I know I get sick of it after a while...

[Mikau Seafox]

With the weather getting warmer progressively as we approach summer, it's a good idea to host furmeets at parks, so I for one am for this idea. The main thing is, however, is that it'd still require a host, and getting space for the park may cost some money, depending on which park they would host it at, and if they choose to take the gazebo/covered area or not. Hallways are another thing, too, which would fall under the category of "it's gonna cost ya" as well. But I haven't thought of any places that have them, as I've never been to one.

For those hot summer days, or any month in general, I say we need more activities, like going ice skating, going to the beach (summer months though), play lazer tag, go to Playland, or heck, just spend the day at Metrotown's CHQ.

Another thing would be to start hosting two or more furmeets simultaneously on those days, or start enforcing limits as to how many people can actually attend to the meets. I'd say about 30 at most should be the limit. As for banning furs from meets due to the drama they seem to keep dragging in these days, I could think of maybe two at the most, but one doesn't attend meets much anymore, so I'd say one that I can easily think of. But I've been putting the "host more meets at the same time" idea on the table lately, of that I know.

[Sairys]

The furmeets should slowly be mutated into something different from we are used to , from the traditional furhouses hosting social gatherings. But since we are gaining in strength making it almost impossible for it to be hosted by a house. And consequenses of certain furs which making houses unwilling to host the meets anylonger. We need to start looking at a wide range of possibilities on what should be done.A few furs Ive talked with suggested a wide range of alternate things to put in place of the meet or places to hold large gatherings.

[Tony Greyfox]

I might actually show up to some smaller events. We don't tend to be big-time party people so gigantically-huge furmeets aren't really our speed. I think 50+ people is really pushing the boundaries of what's workable in a private home. Back when I used to host summer hot tub meets I had 20-25 people show up and even that got pretty stressful to coordinate at times.

It sucks that some people can't seem to moderate their behavior and seem to figure a meet is a free pass to act like a yob and not get called on it. Even just a few of those people really ratchets up the stress factor for both the hosts and the other attendees.

This.
I have problems with crowds to start with; even just hearing that there are 50 people stuffed into a house for a furmeet makes me twitch. I'm starting to open up a little bit more, but really prefer to lean towards smaller groups and events right now - at least until I know a few people well enough to associate with them at the larger meets. Add to that the issues I've read about with regards to wet meets, behaviour, and such, and it gets a bit worrisome.
Hosting meets in public areas, or in rented halls, is not a bad idea - unfortunately, it starts to become costly when you start to rent things. (Not to mention that if you're in public, there's yet another level of behaviour that has to be considered.) I'd be curious if any other large furry groups have this problem, and what their solutions have been. Anyone know if the folks in Toronto, or the larger US cities, have this issue or if they have other options they've explored?

[Superfoxy]

I have problems with crowds to start with; even just hearing that there are 50 people stuffed into a house for a furmeet makes me twitch. I'm starting to open up a little bit more, but really prefer to lean towards smaller groups and events right now - at least until I know a few people well enough to associate with them at the larger meets.

Me too. I kind of freeze up in large groups of people I don't know. The faces all blend together and I kind of go into shock. Especially since I don't know anyone from the local group too well.

Also, a house isn't the best place for it. There are issues with seating and overcrowding, and also, there may be some who get out of hand a bit. At a more formal venue maybe these people would restrain themselves a bit more. And it may be easier to organize activities and different sections of the meet at a better place. Unless you have a larger house, which is unlikely as most people in Vfur just rent and don't have a mortgage, more than 30 people is pushing it for comfort. The last doghouse was large enough to fit a good number, but most houses don't have the layout to accommodate our numbers comfortably anymore. We have to be practical about this. Basically a rented hall or space is our only good option for something indoors.

One thing is that a few people like using their computers for whatever at the meet, and that's fine. We just have to go somewhere with a good connection/bandwidth. Apart from that, we might just have to possibly organize some rental furniture depending on where it is.

As for outdoors meets, I think it wouldn't be good because it's good to weather proof it and some may not be as comfy without a roof.

(Repost from another thread) Maybe instead of having monthly house meets, the right direction to go would be scheduling smaller events with a direct purpose (Movie, playland, picnic) and then having a quarterly open meet, at a rented hall or such. $5 admission or some jank. And lets face it, if you don't have $5 to spare you shouldn't be going out at all.

Agreed. May be ugly, but it's true. Some of us are tight on money, but still, it's good to come prepared. And let's face it, if you're expected to pay for something, you appreciate it more. It may even encourage better behavior from some. If you're too out of it to cough up a fiver, you might not enjoy it as much anyways, if you have that background stress from being stretched too thin moneywise.
And also it may have the advantage of cutting down numbers.

Also, wouldn't it be worth it if we could put the money towards something nice, like a comfier venue, better food, etc? Between doing this half-assed to try to accommodate EVERYONE; and doing it right and making it better for all who attend, I think the second option is far better.

[Lemony]

I vaguley recall our house being called elitist and hated by the community for the small meets. but hay, only took the rest of you a year to catch up to us.

and if you still want house meets, Ide suggest using the registry system on the forums with a limit. first come first serve.

[Silvermink]

I vaguley recall our house being called elitist and hated by the community for the small meets. but hay, only took the rest of you a year to catch up to us.

Some people don't understand the concept of an "event" (and I use the term loosely - is dinner an event?) that involves some of the people in the local furry crowd but isn't an official event open to everyone.