This isn't even usually my (or my wife's) kind of event to attend, but now we almost want to go just to see what this fuss is all about...

This is really bad.

Fan fiction (while sometimes celebrated as a guilty pleasure and a festival of bad writing by people in the community, who have that right) is somebody's creation. It's sad and wrong to discourage people from making things, and by no huge coincidence, those people are typically female.

I don't like Gen Con's reasons why this is OK.

At the end of the day, these type of events have been going on for years at gaming and literary cons without any backlash, hate, or spite. But now that we live in a new reality of sad puppies, rabid puppies, gamergaters, sjws, safe zones, etc...people will now make an issue out of everything.

Please let GenCon be GenCon.

Personally, I don't think this inherently qualifies as "bullying", especially if it is kept anonymous and not directed at anyone who is present.  It is certainly in bad taste (IMO), but then so are any number of other events at GenCon (Hentai dubbing, burlesque shows) and I don't request that they be removed because I recognize that my tastes are not universal.

I think the biggest thing that bothers me is that people are somehow turning this into a sexism issue.  I haven't seen any indication, at all, that the sex of the author is considered or even factored into this event.  Claiming it's sexism is a pure attempt at claiming victimhood, it is an active attempt to be a victim.

Bad movie nights with Troll 2 and The Room are a staple. I've never heard anyone proclaim such gatherings as bullying or sad, even though the point is to laugh at the creation, not laugh along with it. 

We laugh at William Shatner and Kirsten Stewart for bad acting. No one calls us out for bullying them even though we are mocking actual living people.  

We openly decry the Twilight books or the Left Behind series despite millions of people loving them. 

Troll 2, William Shatner, and Twilight are not full of racist, misogynist, hateful crud. They are simply not good. Lots of us gamers mock all three. We might love them at the same time, but we still laugh at them. 

I'm not sure how this bad fanfic event is much different. As I said above, if the panelists start naming names and bullying the creators themselves, that's not good. But until they do that, I don't want GenCon censoring my events. I can do that all by myself. 

After reading through these posts once again and thinking about it more:

So can any scathing, acidic review of a movie, book, album, art be considered bullying?    I'm not saying that I agree with 'tearing apart' or ridiculing someone's work/creation; if you don't like it, don't watch it read it, look at it, but it is fairly standard fare that when you make art (of whatever sort) and then put it out for public display/consumption, it may be lambasted by those who don't like it (for whatever reason). 

George Lucas has feelings, too, you know.

I am not sure why the comparison to widely distributed professional media is being made and used to justify this event, but fan fiction is an amateur hobby, way different then the other examples cited here. It's like going to a track meet with the sole intention of laughing at the slowest runner... that's more Mean Girls then MST3K to me. 

I see your point about the track meet, though. That's why I'm not interested in this event. I'm not above laughing at horrible media (I do that with OKCupid profiles from time to time), but I wouldn't want to do something specifically to make people feel bad. I'm just not sure I want GenCon deciding that for me. 

I disagree that this is in any way bullying. Criticism isn't bullying. That said, these people are clearly enjoying the work. The artist doesn't get to pick how their work is enjoyed.

If it has been released publicly, then it's open to this kind of criticism.

That said, from a personal standpoint, I would hope that any amateurs whose work would be used as part of this seminar would be left anonymous by the people running this event as matter of principle.  Bad art can be called out as bad art without dragging the artist through the mud, especially an amateur.

Granted, that's an extreme example, and there's room for debate on where the line should be drawn. But in this context I think professional vs. amateur is relevant.

I think there's not enough information to decide how I feel about this.

I'd be okay with this if they got permission from the writers, similar to a "roast me" thread.

If they didn't get permission and are just making fun of people who have no idea they're being made fun of or could come and be surprised... I'm not a fan. It's just mean spirited and cruel.

Fair enough, I think the description has done enough to allow those questions to be raised, but does not provide answers.