Thank you for your frank expression of views. As a subjective personal reaction, it's inarguable. A few thoughts, though:
1. The Society is aware of this problem, and Mythcon veterans are publicly encouraged to strike up conversations with newcomers, as that's easier to do than the other way around. Lynn Maudlin is particularly vocal about this, as not only is she the Society officer in charge of Mythcons, she's also one of our few genuine natural extroverts. Which brings me to:
2. You mention that many of the newcomers are introverted. Well, so are most of the oldtimers. I'm one, though I may not seem that way to you because Mythcon is one of my few comfort zones where I can relax and make a spectacle of myself in public. So I try to do my best to be welcoming with the limited social skills in my repertoire. But it's difficult for us too.
3. To me, the two of you are part of the Mythie community, largely because that's where I know you from. I regret you don't feel that way, and it's salutary to be reminded that things can look very different from other angles.
4. There's formal opportunities to communicate with newcomers if they give papers, in the discussion sessions afterwards. (Formally organized communication is easier for introverts.) I had a long talk in the hall afterwards with the author of the paper that mentioned Sauron, and I tried to be complementary about the much that deserved it, as well as lightly noting factual problems that any scholar would want to fix. But I have no idea how well I did at this.
5. I remain kind of puzzled by the "I don't feel instantly assimilated, so I won't come back" reaction of newcomers. There's always a learning curve when one joins an existing group. When I met SF fandom in the mid-70s, it was what the Mythopoeic Society is now, a group of people who'd been having a conversation for over forty years. I felt very much out of it, though some individuals had the social skills to be welcoming. But rather than it driving me away, because I was interested in the ostensible topic of conversation, I was enticed to learn the folkways and get up to speed so that I could become part of that conversation. And it worked.
(My experience with the MythSoc was different. I'd already been in a local discussion group for nearly two years before I attended a Mythcon, so I had a core group of acquaintances, and I'd been poring over publications with such intensity that I felt I already knew anybody whose name I recognized.)
6. I'm in favor of the Society growing and continuing so long as it can do so without fundamentally changing character. It only requires a few people who share our spirit; membership has never been much over a thousand even at our height. If it were necessary to turn the Society into, say, a generic fantasy club in order for it to continue, I'd be in favor of letting it fold. There are plenty of other groups that do that better than we could, but only the Mythopoeic Society that does what it does.
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Date: 2011-07-21 11:14 am (UTC)1. The Society is aware of this problem, and Mythcon veterans are publicly encouraged to strike up conversations with newcomers, as that's easier to do than the other way around. Lynn Maudlin is particularly vocal about this, as not only is she the Society officer in charge of Mythcons, she's also one of our few genuine natural extroverts. Which brings me to:
2. You mention that many of the newcomers are introverted. Well, so are most of the oldtimers. I'm one, though I may not seem that way to you because Mythcon is one of my few comfort zones where I can relax and make a spectacle of myself in public. So I try to do my best to be welcoming with the limited social skills in my repertoire. But it's difficult for us too.
3. To me, the two of you are part of the Mythie community, largely because that's where I know you from. I regret you don't feel that way, and it's salutary to be reminded that things can look very different from other angles.
4. There's formal opportunities to communicate with newcomers if they give papers, in the discussion sessions afterwards. (Formally organized communication is easier for introverts.) I had a long talk in the hall afterwards with the author of the paper that mentioned Sauron, and I tried to be complementary about the much that deserved it, as well as lightly noting factual problems that any scholar would want to fix. But I have no idea how well I did at this.
5. I remain kind of puzzled by the "I don't feel instantly assimilated, so I won't come back" reaction of newcomers. There's always a learning curve when one joins an existing group. When I met SF fandom in the mid-70s, it was what the Mythopoeic Society is now, a group of people who'd been having a conversation for over forty years. I felt very much out of it, though some individuals had the social skills to be welcoming. But rather than it driving me away, because I was interested in the ostensible topic of conversation, I was enticed to learn the folkways and get up to speed so that I could become part of that conversation. And it worked.
(My experience with the MythSoc was different. I'd already been in a local discussion group for nearly two years before I attended a Mythcon, so I had a core group of acquaintances, and I'd been poring over publications with such intensity that I felt I already knew anybody whose name I recognized.)
6. I'm in favor of the Society growing and continuing so long as it can do so without fundamentally changing character. It only requires a few people who share our spirit; membership has never been much over a thousand even at our height. If it were necessary to turn the Society into, say, a generic fantasy club in order for it to continue, I'd be in favor of letting it fold. There are plenty of other groups that do that better than we could, but only the Mythopoeic Society that does what it does.