Fan War: It Ain't Pretty

Every now and then, we are reminded why we rarely attend SF conventions.

Here's a site that might convert you, too, into a card-carrying non-attending member of science fiction Con-dom ... the outpourings of a fan war between one Aaron Agassi and some attendees and organisers of Arisia, an annual US SF convention that was held - this year - in the Boston Park Plaza Hotel.

Apparently, a few years ago, the Arisia SF convention banned a fan called Aaron Agassi from attending.

Aaron then sued Arisia, and rather than fight it out, they agreed to let him back conditionally.

While he was banned, however, he ran a leafleting campaign, on the freebie tables at various conventions speaking out against the people he believed to be behind his ban.

Our web site site of the month is an anti-Aaron Agassi site which takes the piss out of Aaron's campaign to be allowed into a convention where - according to this site anyway - nobody wanted him.

The site has some links to newgroups where the fan flame war has been raging, as well as some - now defunct - links to official sites Aaron has created (which is a pity, as we would have liked to read more about Agassi's side of the story, rather than the admittedly one-sided content you can find here).

There's also pamphlets published by Aaron, and a whole lot of speculation about his personality, motives et al.

Was Aaron the victim of a clique of snobbish fans who banned him from their con? Or is he the demon fan from hades that this site paints him out to be?

Make you own mind up, and while you read, perhaps you should ponder these words of wisdom from Oscar Wilde.

Dear boy, I simply wouldn't belong to any club that would have me.

Visit the 'Shut Up Aaron' site over here