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Description

John is a busy bee, something’s bugging Alison, and Liz meets a wasp.

An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to comment@octothorpecast.uk, join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media.

Content warnings this episode: Vote rigging and bureaucracy.

• Glasgow programme
  
  • Saturday, 11:30: “Table talk: Octothorpe Podcast”
  
  
  • Monday, 11:30: “Live Podcast: Octothorpe”
  
  
  • John:
    
    • Friday, 14:30: “Ahsoka: Fusing Clone Wars, Rebels and Heir to the Empire”
    
    
    • Monday, 13:00: “Safety Tools for Tabletop Roleplaying Games”
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Alison:
    
    • Friday, 10:00: “The Difficult Second Album”
    
    
    • Friday, 13:00: “Let’s Create the Glasgow 2024 Fanzine – Kick Off Session”
    
    
    • Friday, 17:30: “Pure Dead Brilliant History of Scottish Fanzines”
    
    
    • Saturday, 13:00: “The League of Extraordinary Fanzine Covers”
    
    
    • Saturday, 20:30: “Fan Funds Auction”
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Liz:
    
    • Nothing because she’s saving herself just for you, listeners 💜
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• Glasgow Discord
  
  • Access is through the members’ portal
  
  
  
  


• 377 votes have been disqualified from the Hugo Awards due to ballot stuffing
  
  • File 770’s report
  
  
  
  


• The Business Meeting agenda has been published
  
  • Chris Garcia’s in-depth dive into the agenda is at Claims Department #74
  
  
  • Nicholas Whyte’s thoughts are on From the Heart of Europe
  
  
  • In the order we discussed them:
    
    • The “don’t do that Dave” resolutions (C1, 3–4): we are in favour
    
    
    • Changes to the Business Meeting (D9, F14–15): we are in favour of D9 and F14, and against F15
    
    
    • Independent film Hugo Award categories (E7): we are against ratification
      
      • Consultative vote on the indie film category
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Extended eligibility for movies (D1–7):
      
      • We are in favour of Conann, Lovely, Dark and Deep, Mars Express, Tiger Stripes, and Mollie and Max in the Future
      
      
      • We oppose The Boy and the Heron and Godzilla Minus One
        
        • The Boy and the Heron: released 8 December on 2,325 screens, made $35mn in 2023
        
        
        • Godzilla Minus One: released 1 December on 2,622 screens, made $45mn in 2023
        
        
        • Poor Things: released 8 December on 2,300 screens, made $10mn in 2023
        
        
        
        
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Changes to the Hugo Awards (D10, F5–9, F11): we are in favour of D10 and F5 (with tweaks), we are against F6–8, and we are a bit nuanced (sorry) on F9 and F11
      
      • WSFA
        
        • Glasgow has ~8,400 WSFS members, WSFS membership is £45, so 5% is ~£18k
        
        
        
        
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Censure resolutions and apology resolutions (D11–14, F16): we are in favour of making it clear that WSFS does not condone what happened in Chengdu
      
      • Here are links to the text of the two redacted resolutions
        
        • D11 Statement of Values for Transparency and Fair Treatment
        
        
        • D12 Chengdu Censure (the middle of the three on this page)
        
        
        
        
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • WSFS memberships and whatnot (F1–2): we oppose consideration, but we are broadly in favour of the concepts
    
    
    • WSFS marks (F3–4): we are in favour
      
      • c.f. our discussion of Kevin Standlee’s foot in his mouth on Episode 103
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Software Advisory Committee (F10): we oppose consideration
    
    
    • Site selection changes (F12–13): we oppose consideration, and also oppose F12, and we think F13 might need a committee
    
    
    • A grab bag (F17–20): we oppose consideration
      
      • Some of this stuff matters but it shouldn’t get debated this year
      
      
      
      
    
    
    • Ratifications:
      
      • We didn’t think that all of them were worth discussing, so you can assume we’re in favour/ambivalent of the ones we don’t discuss (unless we forgot one that’s very heinous)
      
      
      • Bid committee contact details (E5): we are in favour
      
      
      • Voter contact details (E6): we are against
      
      
      • Independent film Hugo Award categories (E7): we are against (but we discussed this above)
      
      
      • Fancast compensation (E9): we are nuanced, we don’t want professionals to be in Fancast, but we’re not sure what this amendment does that helps
      
      
      • Eligibility (E10) and ASFiC (E12): we are in favour of the Worldcon becoming more international, but we are against these ratifications specifically
      
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• Credits
  
  • Cover art: “All the Popcorn” by Alison Scott
    
    • Alt text: A giant stripy purple bucket of popcorn on a cinema screen says “Octothorpe 115 WSFS Special”, and John, Alison and Liz sit in the audience, silhouetted in the style of Mystery Science Theatre 3000. John is saying “We’re gonna need a bigger box of popcorn.”
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Theme music: “Fanfare for Space” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)