BasedCon, the science fiction and fantasy convention positioned as an alternative to WorldCon and SFWA’s progressive gatekeeping, announced lower attendance for 2026 following a year in which founder Robert Kroese banned Jon Del Arroz for publicly criticizing woke Dungeons and Dragons, devoted a 20-minute panel to personally attacking Del Arroz, and threatened physical assault if Del Arroz attended the convention. The attendance drop comes after a year of public virtue signaling against one of conservative science fiction and fantasy’s most widely read journalists — raising questions about whether a convention that claims to stand for free speech in fantasy and sci-fi publishing is practicing what it preaches, or simply replacing one form of gatekeeping with another.
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