A (Good) Response From One of the Security Team From MarCon about Harassment

I’ve known one of the guys who does security for MarCon for over twenty years, and after seeing my post the other day, asked if he could write a response. His response follows:

It is really frustrating to hear about bad behavior like this after a con. I have been on the security team at Marcon longer than I care to say, and we work hard to shut crap like this down when it gets reported.

Marcon has a pretty extensive anti-harassment policy and has for something like 15 years. It is one of the first ones I personally know of for a convention. And I have been a part of enforcing that on multiple occasions.

As a fan I really hate it when our community is damaged by harassing behavior. Inclusion is kind of the point of our thing to me.

Our security and operations folks need help making our space better for everyone, and that help is reporting stuff when it happens. I know there can be a lot of reasons someone might not report behavior, but if one of those reasons is a feeling we won't take it seriously I can tell you that isn't the case for anyone on my team.

On our side, I am talking with the organizers about highlighting our anti-harassment policy more prominently in our program guide next year and giving a bit more PR to how to contact Operations or Security folks if someone has a problem or sees behavior that doesn't meet our community standards.

- JP Withers

PS Please note that I am not speaking for Con Comm here. My gig at this con is completely limited to working site security during the event. 

As I mentioned in the original post, I was very glad to hear that people were sending reports to the convention organizers. I am doubly glad to hear from JP that the security folks at MarCon are just as dedicated to providing a safe space for convention goers.

Having known JP for so long, I would definitely vouch for him as a person who will take you seriously should you have a problem at future cons.

Thank you, JP, for providing such a good example.