Arisia 2008 Stair Club Reminder

[chainkill.livejournal.com]

disclaimer: I am not one of the organizers. Nothing in this post, nor in any of the threads contained herein is official, unless otherwise noted by someone who IS an oganizer. Everything I say here is merely a suggestion in order to reduce congestion in the elevators, and make the world a better place for people for whom the stairs are not a viable option.

Shortly after the end of the con last year, there was discussion of a "StairMaster Club" being organized by able-bodied individuals to allow those for whom the stairs are not an option to take the elevators with greater ease. StairMaster is a copyrighted word, so I will only be using the term "Stair Club".

The original announcement requested that people get in shape over the course of the year, so that for this upcoming Arisia, only those who are inconsiderate and those who are unable to take the stairs will be using the elevators. If you missed the previous announcement, there is still time! Get in shape now, so that everyone can enjoy the con as much as possible!



Once again, as we were reminded when this was originally posted, do NOT make discouraging remarks, comments, looks, or jokes to people who are taking the elevator, even if they appear to be able-bodied. First of all, the number of invisible things that can keep a person from taking a flight of stairs is astronomical, so do not assume. Secondly, the goal of this group is to make the con MORE fun for everyone, not less.

Comments

[donnad.livejournal.com]

I don't think ribbons to bump people forward is a good idea. Say I'm standing in line to use the elevator. Someone comes behind me with a ribbon, okay, that person can go ahead of me, I will wait for the next one. Before the next one comes three more people with ribbons come and they get to go ahead of me too, again I wait for the next one. I could be waiting for hours.

I see nothing wrong with first come first serve on the elevators, maybe putting a couple chairs along the hall for people who can't stand for long periods and end up waiting is a good idea.
But bumping some people ahead of other people is just looking for trouble. Before you know it everyone will have bump ribbons.

I can't take stairs, (heart issue and bad arthritis in my knees) but I'm more than happy to take my turn just like everyone else should when it comes to waiting for the elevator.

FWIW last year, I took the elevators to go up. and rarely took them down, If I was coming down, I would take stairs and just go slowly. And I am art show staff so I was up and down to the top floor often. Needless to say my knees were killing me by Sunday.

[chainkill.livejournal.com]

The elevators can hold up to eight people. If we need monitors like we did last year, that means seven other people. I don't see seven people with ribbons showing up more than once per day, according to the law of averages. It will probably just be once every couple hours that any one person will have to deal with more than one ribbon being brought forward.

One of the first commenters to this post already pointed out that the stairs should be used on the way up and the elevator on the way down, to safeguard your knees. I don't have bad knees yet, but there is a history of bad knees in my family, so I will probably do that on any trip more than four floors or so, and encourage others to follow whatever guidelines they think healthy.

[sethb.livejournal.com]

How many people do you think will be allowed to get ribbons? I suspect your estimate is way too low.

Having had knee problems, I know that going down stairs is much harder on my knees than going up stairs. The latter takes more effort and makes the leg muscles more tired, but isn't as hard on the knees.

[chainkill.livejournal.com]

I suspect that a large proportion of the people who would be eligible for ribbons will not get them because they don't want that additional label. That's fine.

I'm not sure what you're saying with your second paragraph. It sounds like you are agreeing with me, but in a disagreeing tone. Please clarify?

[sethb.livejournal.com]

The second was agreeing with you (and disagreeing with another poster).