I'd hate to be someone who had organised / paid to travel to come to this event (or who was coming a long way after being booked and had started organising to make this happen) – how disappointing for all concerned.
Let’s take something positive from this though and treat it as a learning experience for anyone else thinking about putting on a large scale show – or hell, even a small one.
I think that reading this thread (and the earlier one) from start to finish is probably really useful for anyone in the future trying to organise a big show (not just chip, in any genre) in so far as the difference between getting feedback from people and taking their opinions on how they think you should run your show in a public forum. We’ve been there (getting unsolicited “advice”), believe me, but thankfully we’ve never had it dissolve to this level because we’ve usually nipped it in the bud – it’s amazing what a PM can do rather than replying in public and letting these things get bigger and more out of hand.
It’s interesting the difference between this thread any of the past blip threads – or any other big show... I don’t need to say what they are – you can all read.
Let’s hope that this doesn’t mean that b3tabot or others aren’t discouraged from putting on shows. We do all want to further the scene but sometimes baby steps are not a bad thing... and neither are surprise announcements – Blip Tokyo anyone?