Octothorpe

140: Nerdiest Nerds Who Ever Nerded

Octothorpe

Show Notes

John is laughing, Alison is coughing, and Liz has already eaten. An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to [email protected], join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Bluesky or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media. Content warnings this episode: Coughing (aftershow)

Letters of comment

Ali Baker Brooks (Facebook) Constanze Hofmann (Facebook) David Bamford (Bluesky) Farah Mendlesohn (Facebook) Jake Casella Brookins (Bluesky) Jonathan Baddeley (Facebook) Tommy Ferguson (email) We also heard from Olav Rokne, Shi Lala, Tammy Coxen

2025 Worldcon: Seattle

Business Meeting

Business Meeting Agenda and Recaps

File 770 reporting: 4 July, 19 July, 25 July YouTube recordings: 4 July, 19 July, 25 July 13 July was not reported/recorded because of executive session

Trial Committee

Doctor Science, España Sheriff, Ian Stockdale, Kat Kourbeti, Kris “nchanter” Snyder

Mark Protection Committee

Nicholas Whyte, Alan Bond, and Chris Rose have benefitted quite massively from shortcomings in the WSFS voting mechanism, reports Nicholas Whyte University of Cambridge’s Single Transferable Vote regulations There’s a new way to remove MPC members

Ben Yalow jumped before being pushed

E.2 got ratified and then un-ratified again

Andrew January visualised what the changes imply Nicholas Whyte pointed out this would accidentally hugely disenfranchise Attending Memberships Meg MacDonald pointed out in the Business Meeting that Glasgow had 1390 “First Worldcon” members

We should vote with “Everybody Votes” style

Smofcon 42 bursaries are available

2027 Worldcon: Montreal bid

The prospective co-chairs have been announced

Picks

John: One Soul by Ray Fawkes Alison: Bitter Liz: Superman

Credits

Cover art: “WSFS Everybody Votes Channel” by Alison Scott

Alt text: Three Miis in the style of John, Alison and Liz on a background reminiscent of the Everybody Votes Channel from the Nintendo Wii. The words “Octothorpe 140” appear at the top and “WSFS Everybody Votes Channel” at the bottom.

- Theme music: “Surf Shimmy” by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0)

More from Octothorpe

Oct 22, 2026

John is at Fantasycon, Alison is wrong, and Liz is right. An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to [email protected], join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Bluesky or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media. Content warnings this episode: None

Oct 8, 2026

John, Alison and Liz are live from Octocon! An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to [email protected], join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on X or on Mastodon or on Bluesky) when you post about the show on social media. Content warnings this episode: It’s a live recording!

Sep 24, 2026

John parties, Alison queues, and Liz betrays. An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to [email protected], join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Bluesky or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media. Content warnings this episode:

Sep 10, 2026

John is tired, Alison is listening to music, and Liz is catsitting. An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to [email protected], join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Bluesky or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media. Content warnings this episode: Clowns (Chapter 1), Hugo Award statistics (Chapter 3)

Aug 27, 2026

John, Alison, and Liz fix the Hugo Awards once and for all. An uncorrected transcript of this episode is available here. Please email your letters of comment to [email protected], join our Facebook group, and tag @OctothorpeCast (on Bluesky or on Mastodon) when you post about the show on social media. Content warnings this episode:

See all episodes →