I received a total of nine replies to our request for comments on our Topics for Discussion in Broadside One.
We got one response on the question, "Should we release our pirate apprentices from their apprenticeship at the end of Bucconeer?" Dean Gahlon felt we should, "...especially if you can do it in a way that adds to the silliness of it all." Dean, would we do it any other way? We have our first professional writer apprentice, Patricia A. McKillip, who just reached the age of twelve in 1996. She will be a pirate apprentice until the year 2032 unless we release her at the end of Bucconeer. Our other apprentices are Jane Sarah Dahl, Michael Nevin, and Philip Schmitt.
Our question on badge design produced the greatest amount of discussion. Many of the respondents felt that displaying their True Name in the largest possible font size was the most important factor. Doug Faunt made a suggestion that badges could include ham radio operator callsigns or e-mail addresses. Nearly everyone agreed that including a member's city, state/province, and country in medium to large type was important. Steven Ritter was the only respondent who wanted to give members the choice of displaying their fannish name in large type with their True Name placed below in smaller type. For the badge holders, clips were preferred over pins. And Rob Liptak thought that Bucconeer should limit itself to one uniform badge design for everyone. Your editor was the only person who felt we should use name eye patches instead of badges.
We got a lukewarm response to the question, "Should our Con Suite serve beer (local microbrewery only) in the evenings?" A small majority felt we should serve beer. I think Mark Olson said it best with his answer, "Yes." Several people said we should try to control the amount of drinking by using drink tickets, punch cards, or some other means.
Only two people had opinions about children at Bucconeer. But I'm afraid that steel cages and cattle prods are not realistic options. Bucconeer parents and kids we really need your opinions to help us plan the child care and children's programming for Bucconeer. Please send your ideas to Mary Morman, our Child Care and Babysitting Coordinator; and John Pomeranz, our Programming Manager, at Bucconeer's postal or e-mail address.
Steven Ritter voted affirmatively seven times for holding a Crab Feast. Several other people fondly remembered ConStellation's Crab Feast in 1983 and were also in favor of another one.
Because Bucconeer will run from Wednesday to Sunday rather than the more usual Thursday to Monday, we are considering scheduling the Hugo Award ceremonies on Friday evening. On the question of which evenings we should plan to schedule our major events, nearly all of our respondents were in favor of holding the Masquerade on Saturday night.
For our last question about arranging special behind-the-scenes tours, there was interest in having a tour of the NASA Goddard Space Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The people who responded clearly wanted any such tours to occur before or after Bucconeer.
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