Comments on: Astonishing things you can read on the internet, 3/19

By: Randell Jimmie

Randell Jimmie — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:22:37 +0000

Really love that series, South Park knows mixing humor and ridicule to expose the taboo of society and is a recipe that works, then saw to it continue!

By: Mark Coale

Mark Coale — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 21:45:16 +0000

I know that the panels I went to last year in Baltimore (which were admittedly Big Two related) were full of cringe worthy question askers.

And most people probably could have predicted what they would about:

Why did you kill Character X?
Why do you hate Character X?

and so forth and so on

By: rich

rich — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 18:59:44 +0000

I’m writing a little missive to Mark Evanier to ask which cons he’s attending. Lately, audience members have been babbling, at shows like Philcon — but it’s a nice balance to the inane prattling of the “professionals” sitting on the panel. A panel begins with a certain topic, then drifts into unrelated realms as the “pros” begin cackling and joking, and then trying to one-up each other. Most panels these days sound like some goofy morning talk show, where everyone is just “hanging out” with the audience.

I think the best approach is to just dump the panels altogether, unless it’s an interview with a guest … no more “topic” panels.

By: Katherine Keller

Katherine Keller — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:07:43 +0000

I don’t think that the answer to open mike is to do away with it altogether, because there are good, insightful questions that are asked by audience members, that a moderator might not think to ask, or know to ask.

The answer is to screen the questions. During the panel people who want to have a question asked write it down and hand it to an aide who weeds the questions and asks them towards the end of the panel, or weeds the questions and brings them up to the moderator to ask.

The kooks and the “it’s all about meeeee” people never get a crack at the mike.

Granted, not every legit question gets asked, but it’s better than everybody clenching their teeth or groaning in frustration.

By: Use the open mic properly or leave it be

Use the open mic properly or leave it be — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:44:36 +0000

[...] The Beat points out a great post from Mark Evanier, who talks about the tendency of some fans at conventions to have no idea how to handle the Q &A portion of these events. [...]