problematic conference?

A reader writes in to say that there is a bit of controversy surrounding the conference call for papers I posted earlier. I didn’t know about this:

“Hi: Love your blog and your work — especially now that Bogost is in the mix. I wanted to draw your attention to the long-running controversy apparently surrounding the conference CFP you posted today. See especially,

[THIS WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE]

and also:

http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/

Everyone should be allowed a chance at reform, of course. But, to my knowledge, the conference organizers have never denied accepting non-reviewed papers — instead, they’ve insisted that this is a valid approach to the conference-hosting process. I lack the experience to know with certainty that this is problematic, but I have a strong hunch that young scholars especially would be better served by spending conference and travel allotments elsewhere.”

Agreed. If that’s what they are doing, it’s bad business.