Internet Community Conference
May 2, 2001 12:46 AM   Subscribe

Internet Community Conference Started by Rusty from Kuro5hin, I nominate matthowie since he's so keen on neat speeches as of late
posted by owillis (9 comments total)
 
I forever find it amusing that human beings feel this incessant need 1) to organize "in the flesh" meetings to discuss virtual community and 2) to charge attendees at least fifty dollars for participating. Why can't all this be hammered out online? Why? Because there's no money in that.

But then of course I'm just a ripe bastard who gets nothing productive out of participation in flesh conferences. I know nothing and don't pretend well with others. I'm sure all the problems of online community will be solved offline, preferably with me not in attendance because I'd just get in the way. And Matt taking a Webby and smashing it to the ground would sound just as whiny and hollow as this paragraph.

Color me "hermitically sealed."
posted by ZachsMind at 1:34 AM on May 2, 2001


The real reason to go to conferences is for the parties.
posted by john at 2:25 AM on May 2, 2001


I'm often somewhere between the potted plants and the lampshades at those parties depending on my alcohol intake. Not my idea of a good time. Rather a waste of my time. If nothing's ever going to get hammered out, it's a waste of everyone's time.
posted by ZachsMind at 2:30 AM on May 2, 2001


It's about the beer.
posted by holloway at 3:30 AM on May 2, 2001


Fine, Zach, then I don't want to meet you either. Sit off in the corner, and see if we care.

For as long as I've been a part of the net, the social aspects have been important. I was a member of a Unix BBS in the 80s where we would meet for softball/movies/parties around six times a year. Knowing the faces of the other people, and their real-world personalities, made a huge difference in the level of commitment I felt. (Even so, about half of the regulars were from out of town, even out of country: it was that kind of place.)

A conference like this not only provides the social stuff, but it allows for professional development and the fun of travel. What's not to like?
posted by dhartung at 8:01 AM on May 2, 2001


Zachs: Yeah. It's definitely all about the money. As anyone who reads Kuro5hin knows, there isn't a greedier, more horrible person in the web business than Rusty. He'd never share his code with anyone, or attempt to build a better community for anything other than profit, or anything like that. And those off-line communities! What a waste of time and effort! That's why I never leave my chair for any reason... I for one find interacting with my pizza delivery guy much more rewarding than meeting people from metafilter in the flesh. Lord knows, if I did that, I might have to touch them or breath their air.
posted by louie at 9:22 AM on May 2, 2001


Lol, louie. Thanks. :-)

Yeah, the $50 is a guess, on my part, at about how much we might need to pay for speakers to travel in, if they need it. If fewer speakers need travel money, we'll charge less. I'm not making any money on this.

For comparison, those of you who think that's outrageous, the P2P conference is $1200+ to attend.

And yeah, it's mainly an excuse to get together with other community nerds and talk shop. I am kind of bewildered at the negative reaction this has gotten from a few people, here and on K5. I guess it didn't occur to me that some people would be offended at the idea of people getting together to talk. Still seems wierd to me, but I guess that's how it is.

Hopefully we can convince Matt to come. Work on him, will you? :-)
posted by rusty at 11:50 AM on May 2, 2001


As a veteran of bringing an online community together for an in the flesh gathering, I find this fascinating and compelling. I think I'll be there.
posted by Dreama at 11:57 AM on May 2, 2001


I like this idea of subconference, particularly this topic area. The conferences approaching $1k and above I most often find disappointing, as I expect more for that amount of money. At $50 I don't expect much, so I will most likely get a lot out of it.
posted by vanderwal at 2:25 PM on May 2, 2001


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