News. Not a blog. Really.
21 May 2007 Archon: We'll be there.
After some hard looks at the numbers, we concluded that we could make the trip and not take a loss, so we've accepted the offer of two tables for Archon 31.
Watch for some new anime-related shirts to appear on the website in June.
15 May 2007 Archon: Maybe we're in.
Archon, after some rearrangement and a cancellation by another dealer, has offered us two tables. It is now possible that we could be at the NASFiC after all; we *may* be able to justify the trip, depending on some other issues that have to be worked out. We really need three tables to have enough merchandise on display to be reasonably certain of a profit, but if we can work a deal with our expected neighbor and the concom to share some space, it might work yet. It's interesting that we have now been assured that no application was rejected for lack of tax permit information. As usual, watch this space for details.
3 May 2007 [original post edited] More about Archon: we're still out, "it was an error".
The Dealer Information Letter for Archon 31 and the NASFiC, which was given to us at Archon 30 and which was still posted on the Archon website today, states that possession of an Illinois tax permit was and is a prerequisite for being considered for space at the NASFiC. Since we didn't have and therefore couldn't provide the required tax permit when we applied for space for 2007 (we're not going to maintain a permanent Illinois tax permit when we will only do business there once a year), we didn't have and didn't provide a 2007 tax ID. When we learned that we hadn't been given space at the NASFiC, we assumed that the lack of the tax permit caused our application to be rejected; there was another dealer whose application was also known not to have a tax ID, and which was also "lost". Last November, after the applications had been submitted, we received an email telling us that we had to apply for the Illinois tax permit in order to be considered for space. We protested this requirement, but heard nothing more about the matter. We assumed, at the time, that they would let us know before rejecting the application. In fact, however, the application was never even considered; it did not reach the people who were selecting the dealers for the NASFiC. The reason for this omission has not been ascertained; while we still think it's likely that some unnamed person sidelined some applications that lacked the mentioned information, it's doubtful that we will ever be able to establish exactly why the applications were not forwarded to the proper persons. For the record, the official pronouncement is that the missing applications were lost due to human error. As of now, the room is sold out, and we're out of luck; we won't be dealers at the NASFiC despite having submitted our application with payment in cash on October 8 of last year.
1 May 2007 After several years of being at Archon in the St Louis area selling T-shirts, we'll apparently be elsewhere this year. We were never explicitly informed that our application (with fees paid in cash for three tables) had been rejected, but when the dealer list was finally posted recently, we weren't on it. We're currently evaluating whether it will be possible for us to return to Archon for 2008, but given a number of things surrounding the circumstances (not least being the fact that the Archon Dealer Room has traditionally been sold out for the upcoming year shortly before the closing of the current year's event, at which we will not be present) our absence this year probably means that we're gone for good.
30 April 2007 At the urging of the very large person standing in the corner with the sharp pointy thing, we hereby inaugurate the News & Other Information page for this website. This is *not* a blog. The maintainer of the site *does not blog*. The fact that there will be occasional updates with a dated heading does not make this a blog. Seriously. We'd know if this was a blog; the person sitting at the keyboard would already be breaking out in a nervous rash and scratching at things.
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