BasedCon is a small science fiction and fantasy convention in West Michigan, founded in 2021 by novelist Robert Kroese as an alternative to Worldcon and the rest of institutional fandom.
The pitch was simple: A room for right-leaning and libertarian writers that would not run an ideological screening at the door. Unfortunately, in 2025, that room closed on Jon Del Arroz.
Jon is a conservative Christian science fiction author and, of course, the main writer/editor of Fandom Pulse. When it came to BasedCon, the fight on X is the record. Jon posted that he had been banned. There are tweets, quote-tweets, a refund image, and recaps after the fact. And while I cannot sit as a judge over whose private memory is clean, I can quote what they posted.
Jon’s line on X:
“Why did you tell me I would not be allowed to attend in the first place? Rob Kroese is a cancel pig.”
“Except they ban conservative authors. Even Worldcon isn’t doing that anymore.”
“It’s better that you’re not affiliated with this canceled convention that hates right wing /Christian authors like myself.”
Kroese’s line on X:
“And note that he bought a ticket (the cheapest option, of course) after I told him he would not be allowed to attend, because all he knows how to do is jump in front of trains and then play victim.”
“Since a certain author is still spreading lies about me, saying I ‘stole’ his money after he bought a ticket to BasedCon, here’s the record of me reversing the charge 27 minutes after he made it.”
“He also bought a ticket after I told him he was not welcome. I immediately refunded it and then he repeatedly lied that I had ‘stolen’ his money. He’s a lying psychopathic piece of shit.”
“The other funny thing about this is that he bought the cheapest ticket he could… because he never actually intended to come; he was hoping I’d keep his money even though he was banned so that he could accuse me of stealing from him. Then after I returned his money he accused me anyway because he’s a grifting piece of shit.”
“JDA is banned because he’s a psychopathic asshole.”
“He was banned for being a huge fag.”
“I’ll ban jerks from BasedCon all day and there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it.”
Consider Worldcon 76. In 2018 they barred Jon from the floor. The committee cut his membership from attending to supporting and said he had “made it clear that he fully intends to break our code of conduct.” He sued. They settled. He today still brings it up: “You’d think after I sued WorldCon and won they’d stop.”
BasedCon was built as the answer to that kind of machine. Kroese’s pitch was an alternative to Worldcon: None of this inclusivity stuff and no committee deciding who was too politically radioactive to stand in the hall. The name itself was supposed to be its own claim to fame. But now, ironically, he alternative con is the one posting the ban on Jon. Jon’s even joked about the irony: “Except they ban conservative authors. Even Worldcon isn’t doing that anymore.”
The Ticket
After the ban was already public, the fight moved to money. Jon bought a BasedCon ticket even though Kroese says he had already told Jon he could not attend. Jon says he bought the ticket to show he would show up and debate but later posted that Kroese had taken the money and would not give it back. Kroese posted a screenshot of a refund and said Jon was lying.
Jon’s posted claim:
“Ask Rob why I’m too ‘scary’ and banned from BasedCon. Then ask him why he stole my ticket money and won’t refund it. Dude is worse than SFWA/Worldcon.”
“Why did you tell me I would not be allowed to attend in the first place? Rob Kroese is a cancel pig.”
Kroese’s posted reply:
“And note that he bought a ticket (the cheapest option, of course) after I told him he would not be allowed to attend, because all he knows how to do is jump in front of trains and then play victim.”
“Since a certain author is still spreading lies about me, saying I ‘stole’ his money after he bought a ticket to BasedCon, here’s the record of me reversing the charge 27 minutes after he made it.”
“He also bought a ticket after I told him he was not welcome. I immediately refunded it and then he repeatedly lied that I had ‘stolen’ his money. He’s a lying psychopathic piece of shit.”
“The other funny thing about this is that he bought the cheapest ticket he could (the regular ticket includes meals but we have a cheaper option for people with food sensitivities) because he never actually intended to come; he was hoping I’d keep his money even though he was banned so that he could accuse me of stealing from him. Then after I returned his money he accused me anyway because he’s a grifting piece of shit.”
That is the ticket record as posted on X. Jon said the money was taken and not refunded. Kroese posted a screenshot of a reversal twenty-seven minutes after the purchase and called Jon a liar. However, the point of laying the posts out is not to pick a winner. An outsider can play armchair bank examiner with those two memories and still not know whose card statement is clean. But that is not the real issue here. The banning and the refund fight only exist because a door was already shut between these two.
Where It All Started
The spark that both sides still name is the Satanic Panic exchange. It started on X in January 2025.
Jon wrote:
“There was never a Satanic Panic. It was a mainstream media psyop to remove Christianity from the culture. That’s why our culture sucks now, because boomers fell for it. Don’t be like boomers.”
Kroese quote-tweeted him:
“There was absolutely a satanic panic. People wanted to ban D&D and heavy metal music. I was there.”
“I knew people who burned their D&D books. We had a school assembly where they taught us to see the devil in ice cubes in liquor ads.”
The next day Jon posted:
“Dungeons & Dragons is satanic. We must destroy it for good, like we’re an adventure party fighting evil monsters. Are you going to join the quest?”
Kroese quote-tweeted that against the first claim:
“‘There was never a Satanic Panic’ / ‘Dungeons & Dragons is satanic’ / You’re an absolute clown, Jon.”
Jon answered by shifting the target from the 1980s panic to the current company:
“Why are you simping for the objectively evil Wizards of the Coast company which is pushing satanic LGBTQ propaganda on gamers? So much for ‘based con’ guy. Just another Woke propagandist. You’re all fake.”
That is the posted argument.
Herman P. Hunter posted a chronology. Kroese marked it “Accurate.”
“This whole feud started when Jon claimed that there was no Satanic Panic. Rob mocked him for it. Then Jon threatened to show up and demand to debate Rob. In short, creating a scene. That’s what got Jon banned. No one there wanted that kind of drama.”
That last sentence is the whole case. You do not need a verdict on who lied about the ticket, nor on whether the 1980s panic was a psyop or a real moral panic. The posted reason for keeping Jon out of the building is that a debate would be “a scene.” Jon said he would show up and argue the point. The response was a ban.
So why wouldn’t you just debate him, Kroese? What are you worried about? That he might be correct about something?
Guess who else is allergic to debate? The left. The same progressives BasedCon, ostensibly, tries to dissociate itself from. For the left, debate risks a public that will not stay inside their narrative. So what did the left do? They established their “safe spaces,” where they could close their ears and minds to any outside “drama.” BasedCon is using the same vocabulary: Keep your dissenting reading of my franchise out of these halls so we can maintain our consensus. That is why the centrist-lib types are not really a third position. The consensus mob runs on feminine traits. They want a consistently lower room temperature, where they can preserve the feeling of “getting along” rather than confront anything that might hurt their feelings.
To be fair, Jon can be exhausting on X. But his posts still leave one question standing: If a convention that names itself “Based” cannot survive one man demanding a debate over Dungeons & Dragons, then the name on the banner is just pretentious nonsense.
If “based” means anything to these people, why is the argument not allowed in the room?
I don't know, man. Guys acting like mean teenage girls kind of ruins it for me.