Venom and supposedly sentient people

[jhetley]

One of the joys of SFWA membership would have to be the feet-of-clay phenomenon -- watching political debate (or any kind of debate, on any subject) degenerate into garden-variety Usenet flame-wars.  People you'd like to admire for their work, revealed as petty vicious beasts, probably the kind who cackle demonically while drowning kittens and pulling the wings off flies...

One of the things revealed by the tone of argument is that some members don't think a particular candidate had any right running for office at all.  Last time I checked, any "active" member could run for office.  No nominating petition required, no minimum standards of character or background.  Could be an active pedophile.

You don't like him/her/it, vote accordingly.  Get a life.

Comments

[moondancerdrake.livejournal.com]

The flame wars that spill over into the blogs I read have really soured many people to the idea of joining SFWA, though with the fact that no LGBTQ publishers are recognised by them to my knowledge (and I write mostly that sort of paranormal fiction) I likely wouldn't get the chance to join any time soon. It's sad, really. I've seen so many people who have always been hard core SFWA supporters walk away lately. Perhaps with the next reorginasation/election some of the problems within the core leadership I keep hearing about will change.