Title:           Purple Tinker Tue Mar 6, 2012, 3:52 PM
Author:          Anonymous
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/ynNJWsis
First Edit:      Tuesday 6th of March 2012 06:10:57 PM CDT
Last Edit:       Tuesday 6th of March 2012 06:10:57 PM CDT

Leaving BronyCon behind
Journal Entry: Tue Mar 6, 2012, 3:52 PM
Several weeks ago, I retired as Con Chair of BronyCon. At that point, I remained on staff (in a non-council position) as a technician and consultant.
 
As of Sunday, I have stepped down, permanently, from ANY position on the BronyCon staff. I will no longer be involved in the convention in any capacity. I may or may not attend as an attendee, but I am no longer a staffer, nor will I ever be. I have moved on. Andrew and his staff are highly capable, and I have no doubts that they will lead the convention on to ever-greater heights of awesomeness.
 
I won't mince words. I've made mistakes. Working with BronyCon brought out the absolute worst in me. The incredible stress, particularly when I was Con Chair, caused me to be short with my colleagues and friends. By the end, I was crabby and bitchy, an utter pain to deal with. There is no excuse for being rude to one's friends. For doing that, I am truly sorry.
 
In my tenure as Con Chair, my only priority was the convention. I put everything I had into the con-- my personal happiness, my finances, my health-- and, unfortunately, it manifested in the worst possible way in my attitude. I'm not a malicious person, but I I became a very angry person, and a very unpleasant one. I saw the staff as an extension of myself, and-- as I had de-prioritised my own well-being-- I ended up de-prioritising the staff's well-being as well. I am truly sorry for this.
 
The con attendees were all that mattered to me, and the only time I truly felt like I had made a mistake was when the attendee experience suffered. The slow registration line and drastic overcrowding (both of which I take full responsibility for) at BroNYCon January left me nearly in tears. The staff rescued the event when I faltered. Many of these same staffers are now leading the way to a brighter future this summer. A few left the con staff and took to slandering me, making me out to be a tyrant, a thief, and a profiteer.
 
I'm none of these things. I stepped down as Con Chair, and now I have left the staff completely. Those are not the actions of a tyrant. As for thieving, it's quite simple: BronyCon was not a separate legal entity from myself. The con was essentially a home business or hobby business of mine. In other words, it was legally impossible for me to "steal" from the con; one cannot steal from oneself. There was no hard and fast boundary between the con finances and my own finances.
 
This was a mistake, and had some very negative consequences for myself. For instance, at one point, funds ran low and I had to dip into my own retirement fund to help pay expenses. In retrospect, I should have found the time to separate con finances from my own finances at an early stage. Andrew and the staff are now establishing BronyCon as a not-for-profit corporation to clearly separate con finances from any one participant's funds.
 
Some con funds were used to compensate employees. The most highly-compensated employee was paid an amount for the 3-4 months of work leading up to BroNYCon January that, if multiplied across an entire year, would amount to a $20K yearly salary. Compensating people for their work is neither illegal nor unethical.
 
As for profiteering, in the end, the amount I gained from the con after paying all the bills is most likely going to be insufficient to pay the tax burden for con income in 2011-- a tax burden which rests on me and me alone. Or, more simply: I probably LOST money. If I gained money, it was very little, probably less than one of my biweekly paycheques (and for a LOT more work and worry).
 
Some people have been pressuring me to make public statements about BronyCon's past dealings involving Guests of Honour, and that is not something I am willing to do. BronyCon's working relations with its Guests of Honour are quite good, and very important to make the congoers happy. I won't intentionally do anything which might damage them. There were times when I wanted to share certain information with the public, but was advised against doing so by the staff. Now that I'm a free agent again, I can talk about whatever I want going forward. But I will not discuss confidential information about past conventions.
 
Although I've had some very bad experiences in the fandom-- at one point, I couldn't even stand to look at a pony for a few days-- I've also had a lot of very GOOD experiences. I have a lot of dear friends here. I can't bear to leave them behind-- and so, I won't. The end of my involvement with BronyCon is neither the end of BronyCon nor the end of me. I have more projects in the pipeline (including the continuation/resumption of some of my old projects), and I hope to post the fruits of my labour here in the future.
 
In the spirit of friendship,
 
Purple Tinker