I just received advance information about the Picocon SF con at Imperial College next month, which I plan to attend. It looks like they've got an unusually good set of guests, and for the first time they are going to run a two-day con. I was quite keen to sign up and pay in advance so that (a) I don't have to queue at the door and (b) they have the use of the money early and can do more with it.

Unfortunately the only payment method is by credit card via Imperial College Students Union, and their site is truly dreadful; there is no security or privacy policy anywhere I can see, and a lot of the text on things like links uses tiny coloured letters that are almost impossible to read against the default background - and there's no way to change it. It simply doesn't feel like a professionally run site, and I really don't like the idea of entrusting it with more details than I've already given them - and if I'd realised how bad it was there's no way I would have even begun the registration process, since I've now given them (not the con organizers, who I hope are a separate group) my email address, and have to hope I won't get spammed.

This isn't meant to reflect on the con organizers, since I have to assume that the college won't let them do things any other way, but it's a real nuisance, and I suspect annoys a lot of the people who want to attend student events. I've told them why I won't be paying up front, and I hope that they'll pass on my concerns to whoever runs the site.