Talk:Octocon

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2009 controversy

At some point in the future I will add a piece on the controversy regarding a member being banned in 2009. This was covered in international news media and was described by several reviewers as "the first thing most people have heard about Octocon". --Sir Ophiuchus (talk) 13:04, 29 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Where is the ISFA?

Octocon, though always kept separate organisationally, was an initiative of the Irish Science Fiction Association, the national body for SF fans, which it outlived - but there is no article on the group? It began in 1976, and in the early days had a once-a-month invite to Anne McCaffrey's first Irish home, before she moved to the wilds of Co. Wicklow. Harry Harrison was also active. As I recall it died in either '81 or '84, and was revived around 1990, maybe 1991, lasting until maybe 1999, meeting at 2-3 different pubs over time, on Amiens St., Pearse St.? I remember an upstairs room opposite Busaras. Later the last chairman, was it Dave?, died and his substantial library was auctioned for either fannish or charity causes, and the ISFA funds, held by the last treasurer, Joe?, were passed to was it Padraig O'Mealoid, who used to run a bookshop in Temple Bar, for some new relevant initiative? I also remember two James's, one very involved, one coming up more in the after period, very much involved with Octocon, I think? Sorry I can't remember much detail, I was a non-Dublin member, only making the meetings at odd intervals. But I hope someone can write it all up. If the Association (usually ISFA) is not documented enough, maybe an article on Irish SF fandom, which went back to at least the 1950s? If a more general article, there were also the bookshops with good SF holdings, the early Chapters, Dandelion, Paranomasia, the little place on Crow St., and of course Forbidden Planet. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 31.173.35.205 (talk) 07:32, 5 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the comment. This is not quite the place, but admittedly it would not be easy to choose an ideal location. There actually was a tiny article on the ISFA back in 2008, I think, deleted in short order, for lack of published evidence of notability. Your secondary suggestion about "Irish SF fandom" may actually be the best way forward, as this is a fragmented topic. The original ISFA ran 1977-1984, and was revived (with continued numbering of publications, etc.) in 1989, running until maybe 1993. It had a structure, funding, prizes, and gave the world the glossy FTL and Octocon. ISFA was followed some time later by a new unincorporated association (with bank account and constitution, and later awards), Science Fiction Ireland, which lasted until late 2000, when it informally ceased, more-or-less replaced by the loosely-organised SciFi Club, which ran until mid-2003, or early 2004. After a gap there was the New ISFA, which ran for 2-3 years. Most of these entities met on the first Tuesday of the month, as far as I remember. In parallel, the Belfast SF Society has met on Thursdays for what feels like decades.

The chairperson of SFI was Dave Stewart, who passed away in 2006, and yes, his library was auctioned off to support two medical charity initiatives. Crow St. had the Flying Pig Bookshop. There were multiple figures called James, including the wonderful James White, who supported fandom in Dublin, Belfast and the UK, as well as at least Bacon, Brophy, Peart and Shields. Padraig O'Mealoid was indeed also involved in organisation, as were a couple of dozen others (Brendan Ryder and Maura McHugh stick in my memory). Maybe you would like to draft an article? I am sure others here could help. SeoR (talk) 11:20, 5 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Octocon of California

Someone added some poorly-sourced lines about an apparently similarly-named event a long way off. It does not belong in the article, but perhaps someone else would like to try for a specific article, so the remaining text is left here:

Octocon, Santa Rosa, California, was a science fiction convention first held in October 1977.

First held, on 1977-10-27, at El Rancho Tropicana Hotel, Santa Rosa, California -ref-Stony Point Gazette 1977-10-27 Sonoma State College-/ref- SeoR (talk) 20:27, 24 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

No Octocon in 2014

The article mentions Shamrokon, the 2014 Eurocon was an Octocon. It explicitly was not.

however right now I have no independent source rather than my own knowledge as the Shamrokon website is long gone.

I was on the committee of both events and we were very clear that Shamrokon was a different event. It occurred in August and while parts of the profits of Shamrokon went to Octocon parts went to other Fandom events in Ireland. Omegar24 (talk) 22:05, 13 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for that catch. This sounds like something we should be able, in the end, to source somewhere. Though, per previous wider discussion about better coverage of SF/F/H fandom in Ireland, for something very active, it is very poorly covered in the most common (media) and deepest (academic papers) sources Wikipedia uses. Anyway, I will take a look myself, for notes either of the skipped Octocon or of the status of Shamrokon Eurocon. SeoR (talk) 23:01, 13 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]