So, you think someone should be banned from a con? Let’s discuss how that works.
First, let’s set expectations
I want to get this part out of the way: Conventions generally reserve bans for credible risk, repeated misconduct, or clear violations of their policy, based on behavior that is documented, corroborated, or observed by staff. Conventions generally won’t ban someone based purely on speculation or dislike, but they may act on credible patterns of concerning behavior or documented risk.
That said, even if a con does not ban a person, conventions do want to be told about possible issues in advance, so that they know a specific person may be a problem down the road. So even though your email to a convention’s Safety department may not result in a ban, you are still doing the con a solid if you let them know about a particular person in advance. It also helps you create a paper trail if that person does escalate at the con and decides to cause you problems there in person.
Please keep that in mind as you read the rest of this post.
Request, don’t demand
When contacting a con, the very first thing NOT to do is make demands of the convention. No one likes being told what to do. Emailing a con with demands (“you must ban this person”) tends to be counterproductive. Staff are far more likely to engage with a request framed as concern and information rather than orders or demands.
Stick to first hand facts
When emailing a con, stick to things you observed first hand. Statements that start with “I experienced” and “I witnessed” are good statements.
Police reports and court dockets are excellent things to provide. If you are a victim, this is one of those times that talking to the police is a very good idea. Police reports and court records are particularly useful because they are formal, documented accounts made under legal frameworks where false reporting carries penalties. They don’t “prove” what happened on their own, but they are significantly more reliable than informal claims.
It is also important to understand what a police report is. It is documentation of a complaint. It does not mean an investigation will occur, or that charges will be filed, or the behavior is substantiated. It provides a formal, time-stamped record of an allegation made through a formal channel that is tied to an identifiable party.
(A related, cautionary note: Do not lie in a police report. Ever. That’s a crime.)
If you happen to have a Protection Order, Restraining Order, or other form of court order, those are GOLD and should absolutely be sent along in an email to the convention’s Safety Department.
Statements like “I heard” or “everybody knows” are not helpful. Do not include those in an email.
Tell a story, not a conclusion
This one is simple–don’t say “this person is a stalker”. Instead, say “this person kept creating accounts after I blocked him and later showed up on my doorstep”.
Examples of specific and escalatory behavior are often more persuasive than labels. Labels lack context and force staff to do more work to reinterpret your conclusion rather than evaluate and verify behavior.
Make it easy to investigate
Avoid sending large, unstructured dumps of screenshots. Having a papertrail is good, but I assure you that nobody is going to read through 600 screenshots while checking emails on their phone.
DO send things like summaries, timelines, names, and dates. You made a police report, right? DO send that along. Do you have any sort of Court Order against this person? Court orders are among the strongest forms of documentation you can provide, because they show that a court has issued a legally binding restriction on that person based on evaluated evidence. Court orders are among the most straightforward forms of documentation for conventions to act on.
Understand that bans are risk management
Cons don’t ban people because they’re unpopular. Cons ban people because they are a risk to others or their presence at the event becomes disruptive to the orderly operation of the convention.
This means conventions may act even in the absence of criminal behavior, and may also decline action even when behavior is socially unacceptable, depending on policy thresholds and evidence.
Risks and tradeoffs conventions consider when taking action
Taking action against an individual is not without cost.
When a convention disciplines or bans someone, any of the following can result:
- Public narratives that may be incomplete or one-sided.
- Increased attention or scrutiny of the convention’s decisions.
- Potential harassment of individual staff members and leadership in rare cases.
- Legal threats / legal action.
These risks are one reason conventions rely heavily on documented behavior rather than informal reports or rumors. They are also why decisions are not necessarily made quickly or publicly discussed in detail afterward.
Importantly, these considerations do not overrule safety concerns, but they are part of the overall risk assessment.
Timing Matters
DON’T wait until 2 days before a con, when organizers are frantic.
DO reach out WELL in advance. Not only is it less stressful for convention organizers, but it gives the con time to consider other options, which leads to…
Recognize that there are intermediate options
There are multiple ways to deal with a “problem attendee” beyond “ban/don’t ban”.
Sometimes a convention will flag someone’s registration and when that person goes to pick up their conbadge, they will be pulled aside and spoken with. Often the conversation is along the lines of “we’ve received some complaints about your conduct towards other attendees online, if you escalate things in person here, you won’t be welcome back”. This can be surprisingly effective.
Of course it is unlikely you will hear about such things, because…
Accept that you may never know what happened
This is probably the hardest and most frustrating part of the entire process.
Conventions almost never discuss disciplinary actions publicly.
This is primarily to protect attendee privacy and avoid escalating interpersonal conflicts. It also prevents the convention from becoming entangled in disputes about individual cases, where legal risk and reputational concerns can arise depending on what is disclosed.
Yes, I know it’s frustrating. I am sorry.
Know What Outcome You Want
Not every report has to be a request for a ban.
Sometimes the goal is “I want to inform the con of a person who may be a future problem”. Sometimes the goal is “I think it’s less likely than likely this person may cause me a problem, but I would like to start a paper trail with the Safety Department just in case”.
Both of those are excellent reasons to reach out to a con, just be specific that you’re seeking to inform them about a specific individual, not asking for a ban.
In Closing
Us con staff want attendees to have a safe event, we want you to feel safe, and we want you to have fun. The easiest requests to act on are those that are factual, well organized, supported by evidence, and focused on specific behavior rather than conclusions. Your goal isn’t to “win the argument”, it is to give convention organizers enough reliable information to make a sound risk-management decision.
About the Author
Doug (known in the furry community as “Giza White Mage”) has been staffing furry conventions for nearly 30 years, ranging from frontline staff roles up to and including Executive Leadership. You can read more about his community involvement at Inside The Furry Fandom.