February LAN date conflict with GUGS convention

[brialzebub]

Hi guys,

Due to my involvement with GUGS, I would like to point out that the QM have apparently double-booked the Food Factory for the February LAN weekend, which also happens to be the Conflagration ( www.conflagration.org.uk ) weekend: 21st - 22nd February 2009. I'm the current secretary of GUGS but haven't had any involvement with the organisation of conflagration, it's room bookings or discussions with either the QMU or Pause in relation to this matter. It may well be that both events could co-exist, especially if the convention was quiet - but like I say, I personally havent discussed or heard of anyone in GUGS discussing this with the Pause organisers. I remember either last year or the year before when Pause/Conflagration happened together that at the de-brief for the convention, the then-GUGS committee decided that it had gone smoothly but would have been better if they'd had the other half of the food factory occupied by Pause. I dont know what the current state of play is.

The potential problem is the issue of space in the Food Factory, really. Since I've had no personal involvement in the organisation of this, I just thought I'd bring this up as a bit of a heads-up.

I'm also posting something similar on the gugs forums.

Cheers.

[GigaFuzz]

I can't speak for the GUGS people, but the same thing happened last year, with Pause in its usual place, and GUGS using the rest of the Food Factory. We certainly had no issue with it, and the two groups seemed to co-exist quite happily. If GUGS want the place to themselves, we might be able to work something out.

The QM dun fucked up again?

Edit: RE: What Sid says below: I'd actually forgotten the whole debacle from last year. It was indeed quite amusing.

[Sid]

This exact same thing happened last year, except GUGS hadn't actually booked the Food Factory (they just lied to Pause that they had). They e-mailed me very matter-of-factly to tell me that there "might still be room for some LAN party to happen". It was actually quite amusing. Despite this, I decided to be nice and offer GUGS use of the areas of the Food Factory which we were not using.

Given my previous experience with GUGS and Conflagration, my recommendation to the Pause committee would be to treat this as suspicious and contact the QMU to find out the exact situation - last year I contacted them to find out that GUGS had been trying to be quite underhand and sneaky about the whole affair and had not been given permission to kick us out of the room. If the QM genuinely have double-booked the room, that is quite unfortunate.

Given that our booking for the Food Factory has been in since the start of the year, I would recommend that the Pause committee offer GUGS a similar deal as last year - i.e. offer them the entire QM other than the area which we always use. Unless, of course, we're feeling flexible over the dates of our LAN and it's no real hassle for us to change? Or perhaps GUGS could alter the date of their Conflagration event?

[saladin]

I'll make a thread in the Committee section for proper discussion. For now, I'll just say that I personally don't think that we should be moved out of our pre-booked section, even if there is a double-booking. We're always there, and we booked months ago.

[Fyndir]

Troll smash puny interlopers?

[brialzebub]

Hey, I've no idea about what has happened regarding bookings in the past, or whether who has been sneaky or not. Plus, Other People - enough of the other-geeky-club-hate ok? My point is that www.conflagration.org.uk has had those dates up since september, and apparently the GUGS president has an email from the QM from that date confirming the booking. It just looks like an unfortunate double-booking situation. As per the QM's usual whim.

What I can say is that it would probably be very difficult for GUGS to change dates since it has been advertised to various people/places already.

Sid, I'd be interested to know who exactly you dealt with in GUGS last year? It's really not acceptable to use that kind of language or "negotiation tactic". I can only apologise on behalf of GUGS for any perceived deception. I can assure you that this year there will be less sneakiness - starting with the fact that this thread exists! Of course it will be best to check out what the QM has to say on the matter regarding this years annual clusterf*ck. I think what will happen is that one of the two societies will have booked via the general manager and the other will have booked with the general office. And never the twain shall meet... just a guess.

Originally Posted by GUGS president, posting on the gugs forums - in response to the copy of the original message on their forums

Yeah so the QM seem to have fucked up again, the email we got from Mr McConachie back in September said he'd booked the Food Factory for us for both days. To date there hasn't been any discussion between GUGS and Pause that I'm aware of, partially as we'd got the booking sorted early this year and didn't expect the date conflict again.

Lastly, if there is a possibility of Pause moving their february date, I dont think this should be dismissed out of hand. I know that there are a few Pause members who are also GUGS members (myself included) that would like the option of attending both events. I would appreciate it if someone on the pause committee forum would pm me with any decision or thoughts they deem appropriate to share, and I will pass them on to the GUGS committee. I hope that something can be worked out. Perhaps a meeting between a couple of people from each committee, for discussion? Very early in January (the sooner the better)?

Merry Christmas, y'all!

[TK-Maximus]

While it was a particularly shitty move on behalf of Gugs last year (Who were last years President, Sec and Conflagration Convenor Brian? Some names might jog memories.), this years Gugs commitee is a different commitee, so it's a little harsh to tar them completely with the debacle from last year. Having said that, with last years debacle in mind, Pause are obviously going to be somewhat sceptical here.

One thing does spring to mind: Which one of us actually have the room booked? If memory serves, there is an actual book that the bookings get written into, so only one group will actually be down to have the room.

Lewis is President this year, and has long been a member of Gugs, so I'm sure friendly discussions can take place. :P

[brialzebub]

Originally Posted by TK-Maximus

Lewis is President this year, and has long been a member of Gugs, so I'm sure friendly discussions can take place. :P

*Looks over membership list* - not this year. Im sure that's just an oversight. Geez yer money, Lewis!

In response to your question regarding committee positions, I think there were 'issues' with the organisation of that particular con, which may have been a pile-up of multiple misunderstandings. Beka was pres, Euan was sec and Craig was treasurer last year. Was Johanna drafted in as Conventions convenor that year or was she the year before? Johanna is currently OCM for GUGS and Craig is now the current pres. Like I say, very little involvement from me. I will be discussing this with the GUGS committee and previous ex-committee at the earliest opprotunity to give them the benefit of hearing their version of events.

[saladin]

Originally Posted by brialzebub

Lastly, if there is a possibility of Pause moving their february date, I dont think this should be dismissed out of hand. I know that there are a few Pause members who are also GUGS members (myself included) that would like the option of attending both events. I would appreciate it if someone on the pause committee forum would pm me with any decision or thoughts they deem appropriate to share, and I will pass them on to the GUGS committee. I hope that something can be worked out. Perhaps a meeting between a couple of people from each committee, for discussion? Very early in January (the sooner the better)?

Merry Christmas, y'all!

And I don't think that GUGs moving their event should be dismissed out of hand. There's give-and-take on all things. Given that the exact same thing happened last year, you'll understand that Pause won't just roll over all that easy.

There is a thread up in the committee section of the forum. But given that it is Christmas, you're just going to have to wait patiently. We don't jump to your tune, even underlined demands on public forums.

And Pitt is correct - the QM's book will have exactly who booked, and as far as I'm concerned, that'll be the bottom line in terms of who booked what first. Any compromise thereafter will be decided thereafter.

[brialzebub]

I'm not suggesting that GUGS rescheduling should be dismissed out of hand either. I'll have to wait and see what the GUGS committee et al. have to say. Yes, it's christmas... so yes, this will take time.

The point being that the GUGS thing has been advertised nationally as being those dates, therefore would probably be a lot more hassle to reschedule. I guess something will just have to be worked out. Let's talk about this more after we've heard what the QM has to say?

It's not a question of "rolling over" - it's a question of working together on the issue.

Also, it's not a demand. I am not here being "GUGS", I was simply raising the situation to notice, wanting the best possible resolution to this for both societies. I am a pause member and have been since its inception. The underlined bit above was underlined simply to draw attention to my request as a pause and GUGS member who can potentially help sort this out with the QM. A request.