Drinking the MAX Kool-Aid

I noticed that a lot of people are drinking the MAX Kool-Aid, and we're not even at the end of the calendar year. So many people want to jump to MAX because "AX doesn't have a refund policy" or "Lattanzio **bleep**ed everything up, therefore let's go to MAX because we know it's not going to be **bleep**ed even though the chairs of the SPJA have admitted to the mistakes of AX 2010 and are working to solve them for AX 2011."

Well, what about the other conventions? Last time I checked, conventions like Sakura-Con and Otakon don't allow refunds either, so why is everyone complaining that AX has a no-refund policy? I'm getting a sense that people want a refund policy so that they can book for AX 2011, then cancel when AX hits rock bottom without any penalty and then enjoy themselves at MAX while AX becomes the next Titanic.

People are jumping onto the MAX bandwagon without knowing what's going to happen at AX 2011 and at MAX 2011. There is a huge amount of uncertainty that I have for MAX 2011, and its all boils down to the "no badge fees." They are asking for a lot of sponsorships at both the general level ranging from a Media Sponsor to a Presenting Sponsor as well for specific events like the Masquerade or the AniMaid Cafe as illustrated in the Propsoal PDF that's available on their website, not to mention my earlier argument of how this convention is going to pay for everything. Like I said before, I'm not sure a convention can live off of sponsorships and dealers hall fees with no badge fees. You also have the remember that this convention has a short and in a way shaky history if you know the whole story. With AX, it's been an up-and-down type of affair but at least it's still one of the biggest cons in North America and still one of the most prestigious. And until AX disappears off the convention map, which is highly unlikely in 2011, it will stay that way.

So for now I'll pass on the MAX Kool-Aid, but most likely I won't be drinking any.