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Balloons...

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Frazzle:
Most people know that I find it hard to resist popping a balloon I stumble across (which is more living up to my reputation and "playing my role", than actually the fetish ;D ), and even though I was not on this EF, I broke some of the larger balloons on previous EF, one time even more or less on behalf of con security. So as a regular con goer, I do feel adressed of this topic as well.

Aside of people being terrified of balloons popping (which I can relate to, being afraid of that as a child myself), there are also people who love/care for balloons, and hate to see them destroyed, out of an emotional stance. And having a fear of popping balloons is not rediculous, and needs to be respected same as for example the widespread fear of spiders. You would never expect anyone setting a pet tarantula on some waiting peoples shoulders either, and consider this nice behaviour. Sneaking up on someone, popping a balloon, especially if it is theirs, is just plain rude.
Aside of that, even if you are invited to pop one, or the situation arises on abandoned balloons, it is always a question of politeness and courtesy to first ask, not standing in a middle of a waiting crowd, and warn people loud and clear about what is going to happen, to give those in fear some time to realise what is going on, and to react.

In other words, trying to not being an a**hole already goes a long way, and should mostly solve this problem. Even gave me some friendly thanks from "non-poppers" afterwards for warning people. I could live out that role as manic balloon-shredding rodent I am infamous for, they were not surprised by it, and in the end, everyone got along nicely. This is where this pic came from (there was even a ring of onlookers gathering before the bang): http://media.furcon.de/Eurofurence/ef16/Skeppo/tn/IMG_9404.JPG

If people remember that they are not alone on the con, you're already halfway there.

And NEVER be ashamed of your phobias - you should see me jump if a wasp comes close  :D

Cheers,
SewerRat/Frazzle

Xar:

--- Quote from: Nightfox on 28.08.2011, 12:47:36 ---If you want lots of balloons around you don't take your fetish to the public, do it in your room where everybody is fine with it.

--- End quote ---

While I agree on some points, such as "no popping balloons on purpose" or the "pay if you break it", I personally think this is a bit too extreme to be a description of what was happening in the lobby during the PPS queue.
There were quite a lot of balloons, true, but I think most of the people there just had some genuine, good fun out of it, without the need to venture into fetish-y territory...

Pinky:
Hmm this is a difficult one. On the way back from EF I talked to several people who had a lot to say about this and it made me think. It seems to me (and please correct me if I'm wrong) that the balloons are not the problem, POPPING them is. And the way they can destroy things and knoxk over e.g. glasses. So I suggest the following:

We intentionally let lose some beach balls (or whatever non-popping equivalent of a balloon that we can find) during the times/at the places where this is appropriate. And we make sure to tall people that they are not allowed in places where they can do too much damage such as the piano bar. This should hopefully solve most of the problems while still allow people to have a bit of childish fun.

Would this solve the problem for most people?  :)

Rua Whitepaw:
Popping them may be the real problem, but a lot of people develop a fear of balloons altogether just because they do pop. Seeing a balloon brings on the fear that it will pop so they become scared of balloons themselves. Even if they don't pop, people may still feel uneasy being near them.

Cheagle:
For me Pinkies idea seems nice and not to hard to carry out. So from my point of view I'd be happy with that.

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