Kind of like you did throughout the thread. But it was OK for you to dodge questions, just not others.

Curious thing is, soon as the sealions started getting asked some pointed questions of their own back, they scurried away

What was the question?

I asked this question, which was ignored.

"Are you going to be forthcoming with your safety information, or gatekeep it?"

I'll let people draw their own conclusions about that, and why

Hats off to AlexaJane for a well deserved award in the queer performer category! Here is a career/blooper reel I made to celebrate my nomination into the top 3
https://umd.net/videos/bloopercareer-reel-for-best-queer-perfor

LOL, yes your one question a few days before the event compares to multiple questions 2 weeks before the event.

I can only find 1 question that was not answered. Pretty sure some of the people you are referring to were replying to almost every question they were asked. I am still trying to figure out if theUnion and Jim are the same person or if he just ripped off someone else's idea again.

Yeah, I'm not real. Nor is the wedding. I'm also Keyser Soze and Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand and Shergar.

If you think safety is a laughing matter or something to be ignored then that is on you.

https://wondermark.com/c/1062/

Naysayers.

So, despite all the positive feedback from those who attended and participated they want to decry what the attendees have posted, albeit not directly, but with side-swipes.

It's almost as if the naysayers are dismissing first-hand experience. That is a bit disrespectful and tin-eared. Actually it is quite a lot tin-eared.
Not to mention immensely disrespectful.

The event happened, it was enjoyed by those who attended. To that end, it was a success.
The fears raised by a lot of posts in this thread did not materialise.

To negate what fellow UMD members have said, having actually been there, is a strange way to go about winning friends and influencing people.
Well, there is always that gallery you are playing to, of course.

Loved that video, one of my faves of the event! Looked great on the big screen. Congrats on the top 3!

Many congrats to category winner AlexaJane too & thank you for the lovely acceptance speech you gave at the event

Yeah, even as someone who raised concerns before the event, this sniping at the organisers needs to stop now. It's just spoiling for a fight and isn't helping anyone.

Seconded.

I'm gonna kinda say....

I'm glad it went ahead and glad folk had a good time.
There's some stuff I'm not going to say doesn't matter - but somewhere there's some sniping (each way) that has no purpose but to bicker and folk who've signed up for it would appear the purpose of bickering - and the event has happened. It's done. Folk seem to have had a good time, there were mistakes in the build up where...
I think it does have to be understood WHY a lot of people felt as they did/do - and crucially not to invalidate their situation - but enough happened that it seems those who said, "ok, I will (still) attend" were satisfied.
And sometimes you got to deal with what is in front of you.

There's probably a lot folk can learn for the future.

Congrats to "Mad Lovers Cosplay" for winning 3 awards! Best Wetlook, Best Cosplay, and Lifetime Achievement awards! I never heard of them until I saw their name on the poll 40 times. Woah, what a huge catalog with so many cosplay outfits.

Congrats to Bri https://umd.net/bsmessybakery for winning 3 awards too. Best Trailer, Best Female Performer, and Best Host! Absolutely deserved. I noticed all of the links are to Reverend-Slymsfords-Splosher store's model page of Bri instead of Bri's own store or person page. I mean I would totally recommend Bri's scenes on RevSlymsford's store, but Bri's best hosting is best seen on her store and especially on her OnlyFans. The link to the award winning trailer scene is here: https://bsmessybakery.umd.net/download_info/happy-new-year-everyone

Thanks mFeelzGood. The link was to all Bri's work on here (it's a UMD download by model search link) BUT I agree it's probably best to point it at Bri's store directly. I've asked MM if he'll help me change the original links in the post.

Thanks again.

Its great to hear that an event went ahead and that the community who still felt able/inclined to attend were able to have fun and apparently nothing too serious happened. There are still a lot of things that make me feel uncomfortable - including the dominant and coercive behaviour demonstrated by the organiser at the event - I quote: "told me (not asked) I would be staying as a stooge". Not sure this is appropriate behaviour from any event organiser in any situation - particularly a fetish one who claims to be an event organiser and work with a safeguarding organisation. Whilst the stooge does not seem to have an issue with this in this instance, this is not informed consent.

I hope that more events can be planned in the future and that anyone planning to run them has learnt from this situation, especially:
- Openness around venue/set-up and ensuring this is suitable for the nature of the event
- Not using copyrighted ideas
- Informed consent for all those attending
- Planning these events takes a lot more effort than you think
- Ensuring that fairness is applied in selecting stooges and the event is inclusive for all

Thirded. and everything eyemblacksheep said.

And indeed, congratulations to Mad Lovers Cosplay on their awards, I remember when they were a presence here, properly dedicated to the real art of clowning.

Sigh... I was hoping we'd able to leave this alone as the event had passed without incident, and since I understand (despite still never receiving the good grace of a personal reply from any of the organisers directly) Jim did make a humble attempt at building bridges (or at least quelling flames) at the event when he said something to the effect of 'this will be a one off event, and despite our differences, Penny and the Messtival team are good people and I encourage you to support their work in future'. I was hoping that would be where the line was drawn and we could all move on like adults.

But Derek, if you're going to insist on ratting our cage with your bad faith retaliatory accusations, stemming solely from failings in organisation and communication that were *entirely* the fault of your side, I'll chime back in (hopefully just to set the record straight this one last time).

Our policy on data sharing doesn't extend to chasing down people who have actively shut down (in some cases by blocking) or frozen lines of communication by ignoring multiple critical correspondances, which included flagging the presence of our blacklist/safety information in the very earliest instance. If you actually cared, YOU (as in, anybody from your team) would have reached out via the correct channels to enquire about how that information could be safely and correctly shared when it was first flagged by us in private correspondance 15 days before your event, instead of what you actually (collectively) did, which was to leave those messages read, and just never respond to anything.
We require civil co-operation and as a base level when handling the sharing of sensitive information, for what should be obvious reasons.

So in the absence of ANY genuine attempt by your side to cooperate and put these measures in place, we made sure that several representatives, armed with that information, attended the venue in person to keep an eye out for those who were known to be bad actors in the scene, with a view to flagging them to organisers, stewards or staff on duty if they showed up.

But what makes your grandstanding on this issue SO farcial is that, despite it being an ADULT FESTISH event that clearly displayed uncensored genitalia and explicit sex acts multiple times on a 50 foot screen, in a building used as a community meeting spot, completely open to the public and simultaneously showing films rated as low as (U) in other screens in the same building, there was an OPEN DOOR POLICY in your space.
Nobody monitored the entrance, at any point!

When our representatives entered the space unchallenged and found one of your event staff passing by on the lower balcony (in full view of the screen) and volunteered to show them their tickets, that member of your own team just shrugged "Oh, there's no need for that, this is a free event" and just waved everyone in.
During the interval, one of our representatives even encountered a curious member of the public in the vicinity of the screen entrance who then advised them that it was a private event to deter them from just wandering on in (which literally anybody could have done - and may have done, for all we know).

Not only did you not take the most minimal steps in advance of your event to make proper contact with us and request the safety information you're now weaponising to scrore points, on the day you had nobody enforcing even your OWN ticket policy, or age checks, let alone any ability to enforce blacklists, had you even bothered to make the efforts to obtain them.
It's only luck that someone there to see "Despicable Me 4" didn't wander in by accident (yes, that was on in an adjacent screen at the same time as The Sploshcars had an 'open' door).

So I'll let people draw THEIR own conclusions as to which party here had any genuine concern for public and attendee safety, and went to material lengths to protect it - and which party is just using it to score unnecessary points, after the fact, to cover for their own malpractice and embarassment in the planning of the event.
Just take the L, humbly.

-----------

To be clear to anybody other than Derek who might be reading this who was either involved as a participant on the day; by all accounts you did great! - or attended as a spectator; we are glad that you all seemed to have had a great time, and that indeed many of the concerns expressed by well meaning users of the forum regarding the logistics of the mess in the leadup to the event ended up being unfounded, and were in fact well run by most observations.
Putting aside everything else, people had fun! Aside from protecting the initially deceptive use of our brand and reputation, and seeking (to no avail) proper accountability for that, the fun, enjoyment and togetherness of the community has always been closest to our heart.

To Jim personally, from what I've gathered, your remarks on the day were constructive, conciliatory, and are appreciated by us. For the sake of putting this to bed and not souring relations further - and so as to let people use the rest of this thread to share their good memories of the day - I'd ask that you adivse your team to avoid fanning the flames, sniping and point scoring on your behalf.
We are literally only logged in to umd, and now making any comment about your event, because of how it was eventually brought to our attention in the first place that our event was being rebooted against our wishes, advertised that permission was given when it wasn't, and since that point to voice concerns that developed from the complete radio silence from your team, and now in the aftermath purely to answer unnecessary and slanderous counter accusations. We were unwittingly dragged into this, and would love nothing more than to log off UMD and let this fizzle out. But if it's brought to our attention that members of your team are again directing attacks on our reputation, we will of course return to defend.

Thank you for your criticism, it may be useful for our debrief.

Is there a thread on UMD at all for people to share good practice with setting up events?

If you meant that earnestly, then I do genuinely hope that we can draw a line under things here and aim to relate constructively going forward. Because the on-stage play space you set up in a challenging venue, was an impressive feat, and should be a cause for celebration at your debrief, along with any criticisms that need reflecting on.

I like to believe we have a shared desire to do justice to our community and leave things better than we found them.

That sounds like a good, constructive idea! And something we'd gladly contribute to (and hopefully learn more from ourselves) once we have the proper time to dedicate to community organisation again.

Hey eveyone

I hope you're doing ok?

I would just like to personally say a huge thank you for the nominations & for the category's I won that I was put forward for and for people taking time out to vote for me before the event got a little heated, I truly appreciate it and I'm so greatful, so thank you!

I'm so happy to hear that people who attended the event had a wonderful time, it really did make me smile to hear happiness and that for me is what this community is about, being yourself.but I'm also really sad to see that as I continued to read,the conversations are still very much up in the air

I'm very greatful for such an amazing community and for welcoming me with open arms ever since I took the leap to become part of it I've never felt so accepted & myself.

A huge part of me loving this community also is the people and how everyone is within it, so I truly hope that as a community we can move on from the event real soon and take the bits from it that everyone needs too now the event is finished.

Thank you again for being a huge part of my life & continuing to be on my journey with me.

Won done award and agree with all this . I would not be stand her support bri and darla and other with lost of mum 5 month ago

We all need stand together and help each other


Bri amazing support and friend

Yes meet soon get messy

Really pleased to hear that the event went ahead and was enjoyed by the people who attended.

Unfortunately I had no chance to 'escape' and attend this time.

Was beginning to get worried that a community I have always found to be full of positive and lovely people was getting lost in negativity and an overly critical narrative.

Glad to hear that the organisers didn't bow under this pressure. I think a lot of people would have just quit!!

Hopefully will encourage more organised events and more people to attend.

On a very similar theme, I wanted to thank every single person who took the time to vote. Please believe me, it meant so much to me to win the maximum of 3 awards ...and to win the 'Best Picture' Sploshcar, well it gave me delight beyond words. It really really meant so much.

Someone earlier in the thread said that producers only need to look at their sales figures to see if they are loved, but actually for me, every positive comment or engagement on a scene means the world. That, incidentally, is why I nominated and voted for Le Rex to win the Ray Of Sunshine award. People like Devo and Le Rex and many others who take the time to reply and engage with our work, is a huge huge boost. Yes the sales pay the bills, but the recognition feeds the soul.

So to actually know that so many of you took the time to vote for my work, and to win 3 awards, having not won anything at the previous awards event, was really emotional.

So a huge thank you to you all, and huge Congrats to all the other nominees and winners.

Love you all.

I would like to thank every single person who took the time to vote for me as Best Male Performer, I wasn't able to make the event due to a prior commitment and you can watch my 'I'm sorry I was unable to make...' here:

https://umd.net/profile/i/whitestar/section/videos/video/sploshcars--best-male-performer-2024--a

Over the years I have been bullied, told I was ugly by random people, in my early 20's when I was going to clubs on more than one occasion I was subject to peoples games of 'lets pick up the ugliest guy' So this has affected me.

I stayed in the voting because I was honoured to be at least nominated, but never did I think I would win. Over the years I have done a lot of work on my self esteem so this awards not just for now but that person I was all those years ago who now realises the previous situations were not right for me but I have found my feet (or should that be pie!) with sploshing!

So thank you all again.

Rod Whitestar

This was a really fun event for everyone that went as far as I saw. Jim and his fellow organisers did a superb job coordinating it all and at their own expense. I'd like to say a huge thank you to Jim and his entire team.

It's a shame the initial mistake happened that lead to a huge distraction from it. What this mainly seemed to achieve to me was limiting the number of people who attended, hurting the community and limiting the support from producers. Recently there seems to have been a shortage of real life meets, I hope as a community we can find a way to organise more.

Just to say thanks to all that voted on the aware of the most innovative scene...this really took us by surprise..Unfortunately we have been away on holiday and weren't told till the last minute about the awards and our nomination so couldn't be there this time...In any case again thanks all, and I hear you all had a great time and even got messy.!!!..would have loved that and would have joined in the fun.

Most innovative Scene
CustardCouple - "Messy Role Play Couple Sex Movie" - https://custard-couple.umd.net/download_info/messy-role-play-couple-sex-movie

Love to you all
Love Mrs CC.xx