Speed dating

[twtmc]

The age of majority in BC is 19, at which point you're legally an adult. I specified 19+ just so that I don't get accused of matchmaking an adult with a minor. This is just me covering my own butt for liability purposes. If a 16 year old decides to join in and make friends with a 30 year old, I'm the one who has to provide them both with the contact info. I'd rather not have a visit from a cop, a lawyer, or Pedobear.

None of those things would happen. Even if those 2 were to end up doing the horizontal mumbo, age of consent in canada is 16 (18 for gay men). Really you could get away with having the general and ladies only events as 16+ without any concern whatsoever of liability because of consent laws. Having it 18+ just weeds out all the high school students. Having it 19+ means you can get a drink right afterwards with anyone you just met.

I think a 4th all ages event should be considered seeing as this is so popular at every convention I've seen it at. Just take the "dating" part right off of it, call it "Speed Meeting" or something like that. If there's room in the schedule for it and someone to run it, there is obviously a demand for it.

In all regards to liability though, don't even worry about it. Any decision to give out personal information is the doing of the individual, and that is all that really goes on anyways. Age restrictions should only be put on the event if you want to control the environment.

[KingRockyIV]

Age of consent is different SPECIFICALLY if you're a gay man? That doesn't sound right. I can't help but think a law like that would raise a hell of a problem with equal-rights groups because it's very exclusionary. But I'm not a lawyer, and all of this is besides the point.

I'm not comfortable running an all-ages event where a 30 year old could end up chatting with a 16 year old. Even if it's not illegal, it creeps me out. And worrying about liability is not something I can just shrug off. If you're not a legal adult, then it's entirely possible that I could get emails and phone calls from angry parents that go roughly like this: "You gave my underaged daughter's contact information to a 30 year old man? What kind of pedo-show are you running? I'm calling the police!" Even if (and I'd have to look it up to be sure) they'd have no legal recourse, it's still a bad situation.

So no, I'm not going to run an all-ages speed dating event (or whatever else you want to call it), and I'm not going to set up a fourth event just for minors to meet up. I don't care if there is a demand for it, it just screams BAD IDEA to me (and I've never seen a Speed Dating event that wasn't 19+). I'm keeping these 19+ because that's the safest way to do this. If you want to meet up with other minors, you're welcome to just walk up to people and introduce yourself, make friends the old fashioned way.

I get that this sucks for you because you're JUST under the age restriction. But my mind's made up on this, and I've put a lot of thought into it. If you really think I'm being unreasonable, you're welcome to speak to the Programming Director, Jeremy. I answer to him, and his contact info is available on the main site's "Contact Us" page. But unless someone tells me otherwise, Speed Dating is a 19+ event, and we will be checking IDs. No hard feelings.

[innaliza]

sounds good

[swampthing]

the age of consent for sodomy is 18 thats why he said gay men...

**edit**
he assumes only gays do it anal

[KingRockyIV]

None of which is relevant to the panel. There will be no anal taking place. I haven't put it in the official rules, but it's implied.

[Reiko]

None of which is relevant to the panel. There will be no anal taking place. I haven't put it in the official rules, but it's implied.

Second!

This is rather an odd suggestion, but I was wondering if you guys are going to provide contact cards? From all the acquaintances that attended “speed-dating services”, they told me that exchanging contact information is a sign of interest. I know that the main purpose of this panel is for new friendships rather than actual match-making; however I think providing 3 to 5 contact cards per attendee will be reasonable. They don’t have to be high-quality business cards, but something along the lines of this: This will also prevent people from stalling the line. Just saying…

[KingRockyIV]

The last one I went to, you were given the option of checking one of three boxes for each other participant: Romance, Friendship, or Not Interested. That way when your choices are notified, they know exactly what you expect of them. I'll have name tags handy, but the contact cards aren't necessary. Theoretically you could check Romance or Friendship for every single person you meet, and that's totally okay. The contact card method means you have to limit yourself, and what's the point of that?

Besides, if you like a person enough, just meet up with them later in the con. But by that I mean "if you mutually decide to hang out together", not "stalk them".

[Reiko]

The last one I went to, you were given the option of checking one of three boxes for each other participant: Romance, Friendship, or Not Interested. That way when your choices are notified, they know exactly what you expect of them. I'll have name tags handy, but the contact cards aren't necessary. Theoretically you could check Romance or Friendship for every single person you meet, and that's totally okay. The contact card method means you have to limit yourself, and what's the point of that?

Besides, if you like a person enough, just meet up with them later in the con. But by that I mean "if you mutually decide to hang out together", not "stalk them".

Oh, I didn't know there was a box-checking sheet! I agree that your method is much better than contact cards. Thank you for the clarification!