Furcation 2022 Code of Conduct

Introduction

This code of conduct covers all aspects of the “Furcation” event. In registering to attend an event, you are bound to these terms as per the contract of sale between yourself and “Furcation LTD”. “Furcation” is a trading name of “Furcation LTD”. From hence forward, “Furcation LTD” will be referred to as “Furcation” to reflect the event taking place.

This is a new version of the code of conduct taking into account the feedback we have received and everything we have learnt since starting Furcation back in 2016. Please read this thoroughly and carefully as we’re aiming to be more transparent with our processes and to ensure we are acting in the best interests of the furry fandom as a whole.

Contents

1. Registration and identification
2. General behaviour
3. Clothing and Decency
4. Alcohol and other drugs
5. Venue areas
6. Accommodation
7. Room host additional responsibilities
8. Attendee Health and Safety
9. Vehicle and pedestrian safety
10. Breaches of this code of conduct
11. Final notes

Furcation Support center - https://support.furcation.org.uk/

1. Registration and identification

   1. All attendees to Furcation must be 18 or over and will be required to carry ID. Failure to carry ID may result in you being asked to leave the venue by the venue staff and/or a member of the Furcation Security Team.

      To attend Furcation, you must be aged 18 or over on or before Thursday 10th November 2022.

   2. Furcation reserves the right to refuse entry to the event to any person. If you feel that you have been unfairly refused access, you may raise a complaint by sending this to complaints@furcation.org.uk

   3. Only registered attendees may enter the Furcation exclusive event space consisting of the entire grounds and venue of John Fowler Holidays Sandy Glade Holiday Park, Coast Road, Berrow, Burnham-on-sea, TA8 2QX. Your lanyard and identity badge must be worn at all times during the Furcation event as to identify you as a paid attendee. Any tampering with the identity badge (stickers/labels/pen etc.) is strictly forbidden.

      Due to restrictions within John Fowler Holiday’s insurances, we are unable to offer day tickets to the event and you must not attend the site if you do not have a paid attendance ticket. You will be deemed as trespassing by John Fowler Holidays and should you have an accident on site, you will be 100% liable for your injuries. Neither Furcation nor John Fowler Holidays shall bear any liability for trespassers. If you have not paid to attend and are caught on site, you will be removed from the site and the police notified.

   4. You must not loan your attendance badge to anyone under any circumstances. If we have identified that your attendance badge has been used to grant someone attendance to Furcation who has not registered to be there, both yourself and the person you have loaned your badge to will be asked to leave the event. There may be further considerations regarding your future attendance to the event.

   5. If you lose the key to your accommodation, you must report its loss without delay to the reception at the Sandy Glade holiday park. John Fowlers may charge for the key to be replaced and will then arrange for you to be issued with a new key.

   6. There will be no tickets available to purchase on the day. All registrations must be completed via the website only, during the registration window, details of which will be fully announced on our social media channels.

      If you have missed the registration window, you may enquire to the registration team using the Furcation support center whether a late registration can be accepted. This must be done prior to the event taking place and the registration team’s decision is final.

2. General behaviour

   A lot of this should be standard common sense for everyone so we would rarely expect people to fall foul of these rules however we need to remind you of our expected minimum standards to ensure all attendees are kept safe and well for the duration of the Furcation event.

   1. Please treat other Furcation event attendees, Furcation staff, Venue Staff and members of the public around the vicinity of the holiday park respectfully.

   2. If you are asked to stop or leave someone alone, you will do so immediately. There is no further discussion.

   3. Not everyone wishes to be hugged, tickled, pounced etc. We would ask that permission is sought before engaging in such activities with any other attendee. Please respect peoples’ personal space.

      Furcation will have a selection of ribbons available at registration that may be attached to your conbadge to advise whether you wish to be hugged or not and to help communicate your preferences to other attendees.

      A person wearing a fursuit does not automatically give you consent to hug them. The consent rules still apply so please ask them if you can give them a hug before proceeding.

   4. Harassment of any other attendees, Furcation staff or venue staff will not be tolerated under any circumstances. Such matters will be handled by our security team. If it has been deemed that you are intent on causing alarm and distress to another person, you may be asked to leave the event and consideration given to your future attendance. Depending on the severity of the harassment or production of legal paperwork, we may also need to involve law enforcement agencies.

      Furcation accepts that with the advent of the internet, harassment can be displayed in multiple forms. We would therefore consider harassment that has taken place in person or online through social media platforms (including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, Discord, Tiktok, Barq).

   5. If you have had a disagreement with another attendee or a member of staff on a personal level prior to the event, please do not bring that issue with you to the event. We ask that you ignore that other person’s presence and go about your weekend. We’re all just here to have a fun weekend away after all!

   6. If you have a harassment order in your possession that means that another attendee cannot attend the same event as you, this must be provided to our registration team prior to the event so we can make any necessary changes to comply with your order. We may struggle to uphold any orders provided to us on the day.

   7. Furcation cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage to any personal items you may bring with you, nor can Furcation be held responsible for any one person’s conduct at a Furcation event. Any breaches of our code of conduct witnessed by any attendees must be reported to a member of the security team without delay.

      If the code of conduct breach witnessed was through the actions of a member of Furcation staff, this must be reported to either the Furcation Operations desk or Furcation security desk without delay, for an internal investigation to be launched.

   8. Filming, photography and/or reporting at the Furcation venue in any capacity other than for personal use (i.e. uploads to a personal Twitter, YouTube, TikTok etc) will require prior written consent from the Furcation Directors. This must be acquired before the event and the confirmation email printed out and carried with you at all times.

      This disclaimer does not affect personal Vlogs. This is only for reporting for commercial, business or media purposes.

   9. The use of personal Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Commonly referred to as drones) is strictly prohibited. Anyone attempting to fly a drone at the Sandy Glade holiday park during the event will be asked to put the drone away in their accommodation. Persistent attempts to fly the drone will result in the attendee being asked to leave.

      Please note, the site is in the flight path of Bristol Airport and therefore, the police may be requested to attend by Air Traffic Control or the Civil Aviation Authority if the drone has been flown at a height that means it has picked up on radar.

   10. Items such as gunge, water pistols and silly string as well as any body paint that can stain or damage clothing, fursuits or furniture are not permitted unless as part of an organised event where a safe, usable space would have been set up for these articles. Those articles must only be used within that event’s designated space.

   11. All prop weapons must be inspected by a security staff member and be peace bound to ensure the safety of all attendees. Real weapons are not permitted at any time. Should a real weapon be discovered on the holiday park, the police will be summoned to seize and dispose of the weapon and charges may be brought to the person who possesses it. The owner may also be asked to leave the Furcation event and their future attendance will be considered.

   12. Furcation cannot be held liable for any injury or illness which occurs during the course of the event. We will of course do our best to assist with either our trained first aid staff or by calling for medical assistance from healthcare officials. These will be handled on a case-by-case basis.

3. Clothing and Decency

   1. We ask that attendees consider their peers when dressing for the event. Nudity is not permitted at any time across the venue except inside your own accommodation of course. We ask, as a bare minimum, that the groin and thighs are suitably covered and a vest or T-shirt are worn. The bare minimum therefore is shorts that come to half thigh length and a vest, t-shirt or tank top that covers the main chest and stomach areas. See through net type vests are permitted however common sense is advised when it comes to modesty. If in doubt, please check your garments with a member of our security team.

   2. On the above, please note that the event takes place in November which is typically cold, windy and wet. You may wish to reconsider shorts and T-shirt unless we have an unusually balmy November!

   3. Sexual behaviour that goes beyond a mere display of affection is not permitted outside your accommodation. Anyone caught engaging in sexual activities outside the accommodation will be asked to leave the event and your future attendance to Furcation events may be considered.

   4. Display of adult-themed materials is not permitted in any area of the venue. This includes, but is not limited to, door signs, flyers, business cards, posters, flags, canvases, physical items, drawings on public message boards and ‘silicone sculptures’.

      If the items are within your accommodation, they must not be visible from outside.

   5. Blatant exposure of Fetish Gear is not permitted in any public areas, even if it is part of a costume. If you are unsure if your attire is appropriate, please speak to a member of our security team. Their decision is final.

   6. Inflatable costumes or visibly “anatomically correct” costumes are not permitted on site at any time, even if certain parts are covered up.

   7. Rubber or latex skin tight bodysuits are not permitted due to the connotation that these are primarily used as fetish gear. Given the news stories that keep creeping up in the Somerset area related to someone stalking around in a ‘gimp suit’, we’d rather not have that linked to ourselves or John Fowler Holidays! Please keep this kind of gear in your accommodation.

   8. We have had questions about the puffy vinyl suits that are being made by Statiksam. These are permitted to Furcation provided that they do not have visible ‘crotch zips’. Given the examples we have seen utilise a neck to crotch front entry zip, these are fine.

   9. Furcation understands that Pup Hoods have peaked in popularity lately as an entry level and cost-effective way into the fursuiting headspace. We are therefore happy for Pup Hoods to be worn at Furcation however no other ‘gear’ must be worn with it. You must therefore wear the hood only with normal clothing.

   10. No costumes or accessories relating to age-play, bondage or sadomasochism are permitted. The only exceptions are as follows:

       • Collars with no leash attached
       • Leather wristbands that do not have ‘D’ loops on them
       • Accessories used in an innocent context such as a harness on a sled dog fursuit or reigns on an equine fursuit.
       • Fursuit muzzles are permitted provided leashes or any other form of restraining equipment are not used with it.

   11. We ask that any outfits relating to political agendas or past military historic events are not worn to Furcation. An example of this is an Army uniform that utilises red arm bands or any outfit that references Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union.

       Furcation runs over the Armistice Day weekend for World War 2 so not only are these types of outfits highly inappropriate for the date, we feel that their presence does not represent the best interests for the Furry Fandom.

       Anyone wearing such outfits at Furcation will be requested to leave the event and their attendance to future Furcation events will be revoked.

4. Alcohol and other drugs

   1. You are expected to drink in a responsible manner and you will be held liable for your actions whilst intoxicated.

   2. Anyone found to be intoxicated to the level of incapacity will be escorted to their accommodation by a member of the welfare team. They will provide you information and advice in regard to the excessive alcohol consumption and you may be asked to stay in your accommodation until the following day. Repeated incursions may result in your attendance being revoked.

   3. Smoking is prohibited within any indoor areas of the holiday park as per UK law. This includes all the accommodation, the clubhouse areas, the shop and the Chef’s Corner. If you are smoking in an outside area, we ask that you stand well away from any other people, so they do not have to inhale your passive smoke. Please keep all cigarettes away from fursuiters to avoid burning or staining the suit or causing it to smell of smoke.

   4. The possession of, sale of or consumption of any illegal substances is strictly forbidden at Furcation. Anyone found with such substances will be detained and reported to the police. Your attendance to future Furcation events will also be considered.

   5. Abuse of legal substances is not permitted at Furcation events. We consider the following substances as legal highs:

      • stimulants, such as Charley Sheen or Ching (Similar to cocaine)
      • downers or sedatives, such as Etizolam (Similar to Valium)
      • psychedelics or hallucinogens, such as Pink Panthers (Similar to Ecstasy)
      • synthetic cannabinoids, such as Magic Dragon (Similar to Cannabis)

      There are exceptions to this where they are being used as prescribed medicinal products for pain relief or similar. Please ensure you have your prescription or doctors note to hand to prove they are being used for this purpose.

   6. E-cigarettes and ‘vaping’ is permitted within the accommodation provided that no fumes/smoke is given off by the device and that it is purely vapour being emitted from the device.

5. Venue areas

   1. Interfering with any fire protection systems and devices is a criminal offence. This includes triggering the fire alarms, disabling the smoke detectors in your accommodation and misusing fire safety equipment.
   2. Do not deliberately crack open glow sticks or similar items i.e. anything containing a staining, sticky or corrosive material.
   3. If you are bringing a pet, only dogs are permitted on site. You must have selected a ‘Pet-friendly’ accommodation option and paid for the dog(s) to be in attendance. As per John Fowler holidays requirements, there is a maximum limit of 2 dogs per unit at a cost of £25 per dog. You are responsible for your dog and must clean up after it and keep it under control at all times. Registered Service Dogs do not incur a fee and proof of registration is required.
   4. After midnight, we request that noise is kept to a minimum as other event attendees may be trying to sleep. If you receive a noise complaint, you will be asked to turn down the noise at first. If you are repeatedly making noise and gathering lots of complaints, you will be asked to leave the event. Your attendance to future Furcation events may also be considered.
   5. Fireworks and/or any form of pyrotechnics are not permitted on site at Furcation at any time. Anyone found to be letting off fireworks will be asked to leave the event and their future attendance to Furcation events is likely to be revoked.
   6. If the fire alarms sound in any part of the venue during the Furcation event, all attendees are expected to leave the venue in a calm and orderly fashion via the nearest available exit. Please report to the nearest marked ‘fire assembly point’ and await further instructions from either a Furcation or John Fowler Holidays staff member.

6. Accommodation

   1. You are expected to treat your accommodation and its contents reasonably and with care. You will be liable to pay for any damages caused during your stay. If damage has been caused and you refuse to pay for the repairs, you will be denied attendance at future Furcation events.
   2. ‘Ghosting’ (staying overnight in accommodation not booked or paid for by yourself) is not permitted. As per section A.3, anybody doing this will be deemed as a trespasser and will be removed if caught.
   3. If a fire breaks out in your accommodation, only tackle it if you feel it is safe to do so and you are confident in your abilities. Call 999 immediately and ask for the fire brigade to attend. Once the fire service has been notified, please speak to a member of Furcation staff or John Fowler Holidays staff for further assistance.
   4. If anything in your accommodation breaks down (such as power tripped or heating has stopped working), please speak to the John Fowler Holidays reception and they will arrange for a maintenance crew to attend and resolve the issue.
   5. Please leave your accommodation as it was when you first checked in. Any additional cleaning required may incur some additional costs which will then be passed on to yourself.
   6. If you require a special bin for medicinal purposes (sharps, hazardous waste etc.), please contact the registration team on the Furcation support center and request for this to be added to your accommodation. We will endeavour to place this inside your accommodation prior to your arrival where possible. Once you are checking out, please leave the bin in the unit and we will retrieve it with the help of John Fowler’s housekeeping team for disposal.

7. Room host additional responsibilities

   1. As the main host for your accommodation, you are liable for everyone within your group. If any rules are breached that cannot be attributed to a single person within your room share, the punishment will extend to yourself and everybody in your room share.
   2. If there are multiple occurrences of the same rule break that cannot be attributed to a single person in your room share, your entire group may be asked to leave the site.
   3. If you have an issue with a member of your room share at the event, please speak to a member of our security team. Depending on the severity of the issue, we can either mediate the issue or look to rehousing them in some alternative accommodation. The security team will contact the directors and we will see if John Fowlers have some additional accommodation available. If no additional accommodation is available, the room host gets the choice on whether that person remains at the event or is asked to leave.

8. Attendee Health and Safety

   We want everyone at Furcation to enjoy their stay and we are aware that when packing, certain items can be overlooked or missed.

   If you find somebody you like at Furcation but do not have the required protection, these can be acquired free of charge from the Furcation Operations team or Furcation Welfare team on a no questions asked basis. If you would like to obtain these discreetly, say to the operative that you are here to pick up a package left for you by Jon.

   We also understand that menstrual poverty is also prevalent at the moment so menstrual hygiene products will also be available free of charge on request from the Furcation Operations team or Furcation Welfare team. If you would like to be discreet, say to the operative that you are here to pick up a package left for you by Sandy.

   Whilst these are provided free of charge, a donation to our charity for the provision of these items is appreciated!

9. Vehicle and pedestrian safety

   With Furcation taking place on a holiday park and with it being a bigger venue than say a hotel with a lot more in the way of roadways, here’s a few precautions to take to ensure the safety of everyone on site:

   1. Please obey all one-way signs on the site.
   2. The site does have a 10mph speed limit across it. Please obey this at all times. The site is very narrow and excess speed will be highly dangerous.
   3. You must not operate any vehicle whilst in fursuit. Your vision will be too impaired to manage this safely and hand/feet paws will make controlling a vehicle too difficult. Anyone seen driving in fursuit will be asked to leave the event immediately as this would present too great a risk to our attendees. It is likely your future attendance to Furcation events will also be revoked.
   4. Please only park in the designated car parks or parking for your accommodation. There are plenty of car parking spaces on site. Do not park on any of the grassy areas. It’s November and your vehicle is likely to cause damage to the grass due to wet and muddy conditions.
   5. If you wish to congregate for a small car meet or to obtain photos of fursuits and cars together, please keep it as a static meet and keep revving of engines to a minimum. Anyone seen attempting to do a burnout, constantly revving their engine or attempting to drift/slide around the corners of the site will be asked to leave the event immediately. It is likely your future attendance to Furcation events will also be revoked.
   6. As mentioned, a lot of the roads are pretty narrow so you may need to operate priority-based access to certain roads. If there is already a vehicle in a section and it’s not wide enough for two cars, please wait until the other vehicle has cleared the section before proceeding.
   7. Please use common sense when offloading your vehicle. If your car park is a short walk from your accommodation but the vehicle can temporarily be brought nearer to your accommodation to offload it, you may do so but please ensure that you have not blocked access for any other vehicles. Please do not drive vehicles onto or across grass sections to get closer to your accommodation.
   8. Furcation’s welfare team will be operating vehicles to carry their equipment for medical and security emergencies. These vehicles may have amber flashing lights. If you see a vehicle with amber flashing lights coming up behind you or towards you, please move out of the way and give them priority.
   9. During the course of Furcation, there may be a need for emergency services vehicles such as fire engines or ambulances to access the site. Please ensure when you have parked that you have left sufficient room for a larger vehicle to pass by your vehicle easily and without hindering their progress.

10. Breaches of this code of conduct

    This new section details what happens if there are any breaches of this code of conduct, to provide our attendees clarity and visibility of our outlined processes. This is an entirely new process that comes into effect from Furcation 2022 and does not affect any previous bans or warnings issued.

    Any breaches of this code of conduct will be handled on a case-by-case basis and depending on the severity of the issue. Any warnings issued will be at the discretion of the Furcation Security team and/or the Directors of Furcation. We will outline below our new policy however severe breaches of this code of conduct can go straight to strike three.

    Our new policy is as follows:

    Strike one: will be a verbal warning from a member of the security team.

    Strike two: will be a written warning from the head of security

    Strike three: will be issued by a director of Furcation and will start at a one-year ban depending on the severity of the situation. If this is issued at the convention, you will be asked to leave the event with immediate effect.

    We will start with a one convention cycle ban for repeated incursions of a minor rule, a three convention cycle ban for a major breach (Major breach being something that breaks UK law and requires police intervention) up to a lifetime ban for something that means you pose a significant threat to Furcation and its attendees.

    After the one or three convention cycle bans have been served, you will need to apply to the directors of Furcation and you will need to demonstrate that you have learnt from your actions. Furcation may then let you return to attendance but you will remain on Strike two until a set period has passed with no further infractions. For a one convention cycle ban, this will be one convention cycle before dropping back to no warnings. For a three-convention cycle ban, this will be three convention cycles before dropping back to no warnings.

    If you breach the code of conduct during the strike two period, you will be moved up to the next ban step. For one convention cycle bans, this means you will move to a three-convention cycle ban. For three convention cycle bans, this becomes a lifetime ban.

    In the event that you are asked to leave an event mid event, you will not be entitled to any refund and this code of conduct will form evidence for Furcation’s defence should you decided to take legal action against Furcation.

    If Furcation receives an intent to take legal action (either in writing by post or by email) in regard to a ban, please be aware that under contract law, this will automatically place you onto a permanent ban until such time that the legal proceedings have been either completed or cancelled. This sounds draconic but to put it simply, neither party can enter into a new contract with each other until the legal action has been completed. If we did, it would jeopardise the legal action and may ultimately cause your own case to collapse!

    Please remember that Furcation is run as a private membership event and we reserve the right to refuse service to any attendee. However, we will always provide a reason for refusal for transparency’s sake.

    In terms of bans, a ‘convention cycle’ is deemed as one physical event taking place. In the event that we need to run virtual events (such as in 2020 and 2021 with the coronavirus pandemic), these will not be counted as convention cycles.

11. Final notes

    If you feel you have been unfairly treated or that this Code of Conduct infringes on protected rights or characteristics, please contact us on complaints@furcation.org.uk.

    This will then be passed to our committee for further discussions. If any changes are to be made, this will then be communicated to all attendees.

    Please find below the registered contact details for the directors of Furcation:

    Jasper Foxx (Chairman): chairman@furcation.org.uk
    Anthony Vauden (Vice Chairman): vicechairman@furcation.org.uk

    Registered office address:

    The Directors
    Furcation LTD
    40 Carice Gardens
    Clevedon
    North Somerset
    BS21 5DH

    Please note, we will not enter into discussions over Telegram, Twitter, Facebook or any other social media platform as these messages can be edited or deleted by either party which means all records and conversations will be lost. Our email systems will keep backups of communications in line with our privacy policy and any written postal records will be archived accordingly.

    DISCLAIMER: This code of conduct is correct at time of update and can be subject to change at any time. Please review this before each event and note any changes. We will email all registered attendees when any changes are made to these policies. If you wish to cancel your attendance due to a change in this Code of Conduct, this can be done by contacting the registration team through the Furcation support center