FurFright and the Dorsai
Before I go on about this topic which has so fervently drawn the attention of the fandom, let me start with a couple disclaimers. First off, I have no professional qualifications or training in security. I am however trained in the federal Incident Command System through my work in Emergency Services with Civil Air Patrol. I worked as security director for both years of Antheria (2010-2011), and participated in one year of security for Anthrocon 2011 under the Dorsai's direction. Also, I was NOT in attendance at FF this year. I'm writing this as a passive observer from thousands of miles away.
That being said, I've read over the accounts of what happened at FF by Dragoneer, Sciggles, and a few others who were at the con regarding their apparently negative interaction with the Dorsai. I have also read up about this exchange with Kage and Sciggles via email. Personally, I have no dog in this fight (pardon the pun), but from what I see on the outside, there are several sides to this problem, not just two. And if everyone would calm down for one freaking moment rather than continue to rail on Twitter about it, I'd like to think a solution can be worked out.
For starters, people need to remember that the Dorsai are their own entity. They are essentially hired by cons as outside contractors to come in and handle security. What's more they are not exclusively hired by furry conventions alone. They also do other sci-fi related conventions. They have their own chain of command. Sometimes at large conventions like Anthrocon, they will augment their security presence with folks who are not members of the Dorsai. Since I was not at FF, I cannot say as to whether they had volunteers among their ranks during the convention.
That being said, if the accounts that Dragoneer and Sciggles have given are accurate (and I'm not saying one way or the other if they are, although I don't feel they have reason to lie), there are some steps that need to be taken by all parties involved rather than one party complaining about how the other is complaining, and then someone else complaining about the complaining, etc.
1. People need to stop going to Kage and saying how much the Dorsai suck and that they aren't going to go to Anthrocon until he doesn't hire them anymore. First, it'll probably be a cold day in hell before the Dorsai stop working AC security. What's more, I've tasted what they have to do and put up with at Anthrocon, and I can appreciate what Kage means when he says he can't wait for a con to finish. It's a lot of hard work for staff and security. Unless you walk a mile (or several) in their shoes, you really don't know. Bombarding Kage with notes about how the Dorsai did x, y, and z at a con that Kage has no jurisdiction or control over isn't going to help solve the problem.
2. What happened at FurFright with the Dorsai falls under the purview of the FurFright staff as well as the Dorsai leadership, and them alone. Not Kage. Do mistakes get made? Sure, sometimes staff or security gets it wrong or fucks up bad enough that there's fallout from it. But if you're going to complain about it, complain about it to the people who have power over it, namely the FurFright staff and Dorsai leadership. And what's more, if you're going to complain, do it in a professional fashion. Cite specific incidents, who was involved, and who you talked to as a result. Paper trails matter the higher you go in the food chain. The staff at FurFright have an obligation to look into this and work with the Dorsai to prevent incidents like this from happening in the future to anyone.
3. If anyone has had incidents occur between them and the Dorsai at any con, they should speak up to either the Dorsai leadership, or to the staff of the convention where the incident occurred. Not to Kage. Despite what people may think, the Dorsai are not Kage's personal army that he sends to troll people at his beck and call. What's more, the Dorsai are not just one person, they are many individuals each with their own personality. If you have a problem with one member of the Dorsai, get their name, bring it to someone higher up the command chain until you get some measure of response. It's not a guarantee your issue will be resolved, but it will probably improve your chances. Keep in mind, this suggestion isn't just if you've had problems with Dorsai, but with staff of any convention. They always answer to someone.
4. If Kage indeed used AC registration records to derive Sciggles' email, then that should not have happened. I know some folks are saying Kage broke the rules in the Anthrocon website's legal statement, I assume with regard to the line "All information presented by the user to Anthrocon, Inc. via this website will be held to be personable and proprietary." I am not a lawyer, so I cannot say whether this dictates AC staff can or cannot use the email address people register with for "personal" use.
5. Regarding the emails, whether Kage likes it or not, Sciggles and Dragoneer and anyone else who had a bad experience with the Dorsai at a con that he is not running has every right to speak their mind about their experience. That's the beauty of the first amendment of the constitution. Someone could conceivably post on Twitter that a fursuiter beat them nearly to death with a wooden mallet. It probably wouldn't be true, but there's nothing that says they can't say that, nor should we really try to repress them. We can call them out on their story, but telling them to shut up won't get to the truth of it. And if people have had bad experiences, they should speak up. Preferably, they could go first to those who are in a position to rectify the situation, namely con staff. If that doesn't work, there's always the court of public opinion. But be warned, sometimes you may not like the conclusion the court comes to.
I have great respect for Dragoneer and Kage. One runs one of the largest furry art repositories on the web, the other runs the largest furry convention on the planet. I can also imagine that running both of those organizations can be thankless jobs at times. To my knowledge, both men have patronized (as a customer/user/etc.) the other's organization before. They are moguls of the furry community, whether they believe it or not. It's no secret that there's been a somewhat tacit feud between them too. I'm not going to go into the list of tit-for-tat things that one has done to the other, because it honestly doesn't fucking matter. There comes a point in every conflict where someone has to say enough is enough, and it's time to grow up and let this go. These are folks that members of the furry community should look up to, and they should act as such.