OH! That's terrible. Find someone to complain to, so that person never, ever runs a panel again. That's ridiculous.

Oddly, I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings (which is why I haven't identified the moderator). I did describe this person's behavior to one of my friends (who is also here) and she said it reminded of her an experience at Chambannacon, then a conversation with a third confirmed it is the same person. So perhaps I should complain to someone even though the last thing I want do is start a fannish feud. Those are awful and the reach is farther than just the immediate participants.

Fuck hurt feelings! This person is making it impossible for the panel to do what they're there to do! It's totally unfair, and if they complain, they may just be taken to be cranky about not getting enough air time.

But if people who were there to hear the panel complain, maybe someone will pay attention.

John Scalzi is the SFWA president. He's on Twitter. If worse comes to worse, I'll be happy to find out his personal contact information. (I have friends in the SFWA.)

Goddamn. That sounds like a great topic--no wonder you're irritated at the wasted opportunity.

Stupid selfish moderator!

Is this at a con? Which one?

Worldcon.

Oh, I'm envious! Only my art has ever been at a WorldCon. :-) I'd love to go to one before I shuffle off this mortal coil. Someday.... :-)

I hope the rest of it is a blast.

Paleoanthropologist and Bill Nye were both just talking about the same subject...I wonder if they were at WorldCon, too.

That's awful. It sounds like an interesting topic, and at Worldcon, too. I'm no great fan of cons, as you probably know, but I should think that a panel at Worldcon would be better run. The mod has the right to speak, of course, but most of the speaking time should be somewhat equally divided among the panelists, so that the audience gets a number of different viewpoints. I'd be really pissed off about this situation, myself.