This deserves to be read. I’m not going to post the whole thing here because, well, it’s David Weber’s take on things, not mine. I just happen to agree with it, so I’m going to spread and share the link to the post he made on the topic.

A little background if you haven’t heard what’s been going on, however. There’s a new trend that’s kicked up in the last month or so regarding conventions in the book world: See someone you disagree with announced as a guest at a con? Don’t just complain about it. Make up a bunch of horrible stuff, start a twitter-based lynch mob, and slam the convention organizers en mass in hopes that they’ll buckle under the deluge before anyone pauses and says “Wait a minute, this all sounds highly suspicious.”

It’s happened twice in the last month. Both times the accusations have been found entirely baseless, but even then, sometimes the con organizers have simply doubled-down and basically decided that even if it all was false, it’s just bad publicity, so no, those authors will no longer attend.

Weber’s reaction to this is well-said, and if you’re in the con circuit or thinking about getting into it, give it a read.