There has been a bit of negative feed back about cosplayers and congoers in general. I write this as a general response to explain what cosplay is to those that are not familiar with the term.
Most people would agree that everyone has a hobby, past time, or thing that they enjoy. From collecting stamps, to studying history, to watching your favorite sports team. People will have varying degrees of how "into" their chosen activity (fandom) that they are comfortable with.
My first example: I had a coworker that loved to collect stamps. As a stamp collector you can either collect the themed stamps like Looney Tunes or you can collect rare and valuable stamps like ones that were misprints. People will either stay at home and causally collect stamps. There are people that will run their own stamp selling businesses. My coworker owns his own store on ebay to sell stamps and once a year he is the head of security at the stamp emporium held at his home town. May I point out that the stamp emporium is a three day long event held over the weekend, is at a convention center, and you can attend seminars about stamps.
My second example: I'm fairly certain that we have all at least one point in time ran into a history buff. (Yeah, I know I'm making an assumption here.) Even here you will run into varying degrees of fandom. You have people that causally study history in their free time, you have people that study history in college, you have people that will go out and dig up artifacts, and you have people that will get together in costume and reenact particular battles or time periods in history.
My third example: This will hit a little bit closer to home for must people - sports fans. There are even varying degrees of sports fans. You have the people that will sit at home and watch a game every now and then, you have the people that will invite their friends over to watch a game, you have the fantasy league players, you have the people who play on company teams, and you have the fans the dress up to support their favorite team/player. Just check out this web page if you don't understand what I am trying to say: Crazy Football Fan Costumes.
As you can see there are plenty of examples out their. I could do the same for any hobby or as I have been calling them "fandom". Because, no matter what you call it the activity is the same. My hobbies are watching anime, playing video games, sewing, crafting, drinking tea, and many other things. But I can also call them my fandoms, because they are the things that I am a fan of. People don't call the people that what to share a piece of history with you be total immersion (Renaissance faires, Medieval Times dinner joist, Civil War Reenactments, etc.) freaks. And most people wouldn't say that they are "just looking for attention". The same goes for the extreme sports fans. Most people just say that they are "huge fans" and "really into the game". So, I ask why do cosplayers get this negative feed back? All they are really doing is enjoying their fandom to the extremest way they can, and most often or not they also want to share it will you.
And now my bit about cons. There are a lot of different types of conventions. From the anime, sci fi, comic book, and gaming cons, to things like stamp collecting, cosmetics, yoga retreats, business, information technology, stamp collecting, and many many more. Pretty much if you are a fan there will be a way that you can share your fandom with others, and be able to learn more about your fandom. There really is not need to point at one particular group or level of fandom, and start poking fun or name calling. We all have our own interests. There is no wrong or right way for you to enjoy or hobbies (beyond staying within the bounds of the law). I am also not about to walk into a car show and be upset about the fact that most of the people there were car and automotive enthusiasts. But what I will do is ask them questions. I will ask them, "How did you got your car?" "What makes your car different?" I will ask them, "What got you interested in cars?" I will do what I can to understand why they enjoy what they do.
So, in short lets not single out any particular fandoms to discriminate against, and all just try to understand each other. Or at least try and understand that we all enjoy different things at varying levels of personal involvement. >^.^<
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