This past weekend saw an unusual event in science fiction fandom. The con chair of Balticon apologized for the convention’s treatment of a guest, removing her from a panel in progress. This follows the blowback SFWA received for removing Mercedes Lackey from the Nebula conference after naming her a Grand Master. Could the era of bullying of convention volunteers and program participants be coming to an end?

Balticon’s code of conduct includes a speech code with sweeping restrictions:

Prohibited behaviors include, but are not limited to:

Slurs and derogatory comments about a person, group, or category of people. This includes comments based on characteristics such as, but not limited to, actual or perceived race, national origin, ethnicity, sex, gender, sexual orientation, physical appearance, age, religion, ability, disability, family structure, marital status, and/or socioeconomic class. [emphasis added]

If you express strong political views, it’s likely you’ll say something derogatory about someone, perhaps about whole categories of people. Strongly negative views of Donald Trump, evangelical Christians, the current Supreme Court, and the Republican Party are common in fandom. Someone who says “Donald Trump is a lying idiot” at Balticon would violate the code of conduct.

When prohibitions are written that broadly, the intention is to apply them selectively. The less popular an opinion is, the more likely it is to be punished.

What happened at Balticon? I don’t have a lot of independently verifiable information. My main sources are an article on File 770 and a response on Facebook from the targeted person.

The Balticon 56 chair said:

I am utterly heartbroken at how events have played out at Balticon this year with our panelist, Stephanie Burke. Ms. Burke has been a long-time panelist and we have invited her back year after year because of her engaging commentary and insightful additions to our programming.

An incident was reported to us regarding Ms. Burke. The plan was to quietly ask her to step down from her panels for the weekend while we had a chance to investigate. However, an overzealous volunteer decided to remove her from an ongoing panel in a way that caused her embarrassment. This is inexcusable and we deeply apologize.

There’s no apology for putting the sentence (removing her from panels) before the investigation, or really for anything besides the volunteer’s actions. Someone sent the volunteer to fetch Burke, right?

Burke responded on Facebook (no account required to read) to the accusations against her:

I was pulled from a room like a criminal for something I did not do. There was no proof and no way to get proof outside of speaking to people who were in the panel, among them my boss, several acquaintances, and my niece. Still and yet after years of proof that I have never said anything like the accusations being made against me, I was not to be allowed on Balticon panels. There would be an investigation and my only recourse was to write a complaint here.

Also significant:

I couldn’t even get someone to inform me of exactly what I was supposed to have said that offended so many people.

These incidents reminded me of an event a few years ago, where a personal friend was forced off the staff of the Finnish Worldcon on absurd grounds. A stranger on Twitter told me that standing up for him was the wrong hill to die on. Defending a falsely accused person against the bullies is supposed to doom the defender as well. But I didn’t “die,” in any sense of the word.

I’m aware of a case where Balticon banned a person from volunteering on what appears to be made-up grounds. The real reason may be that his political opinions differ from the fannish mainstream.

The bullying game has gone on for so long for two reasons. First, people are afraid of being targeted if they challenge it. Second, it gives people a sense of excitement and pleasure. Mob thinking is a strange thing. There’s satisfaction in seeing someone who’s a little different taken down and made miserable. But perhaps con attendees are starting to realize that any of them could be the next target.

A characteristic move is to give no specifics about the accusation. The alleged offense is supposed to be so horrible you can’t even talk about it. The original accusation against Lackey did the same. You can’t deny a charge if you don’t know what it is, and people hearing it will imagine the worst.

A few years ago, speech codes like Balticon’s showed up on many convention sites. Some banned saying anything that anyone considered offensive. One (I can’t remember which one now) banned persistently talking to people who weren’t interested and shunning people you weren’t interested in. Lately there’s been some improvement. I’ve seen more convention sites that say there’s no such thing as a right not to be offended. Controversy and disagreement are supposed to be part of fandom. There are lines which people shouldn’t get away with crossing, but they have to do with treatment of other people at the convention, not with the opinions anyone holds.

Accusations don’t have to be made public, but declaring offenses only in the vaguest of terms is the worst course. It lets people’s imaginations run away with them while letting organizers wreck reputations by innuendo.

Some SMOFs (“secret masters of fandom”) take the term too literally. It’s time for an uprising against them.

Update: Balticon’s program head has publicly apologized to Burke.

Update 2: There will be an investigation into the Balticon concom’s actions — led by the con chair. This is reminiscent of police departments conducting “investigations” of themselves after a cop is caught doing something unjustifiable.