Are the forums useful during Defcon?

[Nikita]

Re: Are the forums useful during Defcon?

No, they are not useful, all of the changing and free flow information is found posted on twitter or the info booth area as well as dodgeball and etc. those people with laptops browsing the forums during con are less likely to join the groups advertising a meet up in the first place. Wallflowers don't usually un-stick, in my opinion.

Besides, the forums have a waiting period, revoking the waiting period for new comers and impromptu posters means moderation during the con, and I don't recommend those organizers who spend 12 months out of the year working on the forums, work the one weekend the actual event is being held. Without a filter you end up with massive posts for hookers and blow.

Schedule changes, party spots, etc etc, will be twitted and posted to the site, which IS mobile friendly. If people want to get the word out, it can happen.

I guess the BEST way to answer this questions fairly and all opinions aside is to analyze the posts and traffic to the forums last year at con time and decide if it is worth it or not. My opinion would be to leave it alone and not try to pander to the <12 people addicted to their forums account and force them to participate in other ways.....

[Melesse]

Re: Are the forums useful during Defcon?

Without a filter you end up with massive posts for hookers and blow.

Well, will you let us postour adverts for hookers and blow on twitter? :-D

And no, I don't plan on being on the forums at all. I found last year that I was too tired when I got back to the hotel room to do anything online, and time spent between talks or during the occasions where I found myself with an hour with nothing, I was researching something said during the talks or actual interaction with humans.

I did not know about Twitter last year, but I expect that would be MUCH more useful, as it's much easier to access from a cell or smart phone. I don't want to check on the forums between talks, what I would rather do is check my cell phone, see if anything going on is interesting, and then act on it. I was just reading (I don't use twitter so I don't really know much about how it's pushed >< ) that you can get the tweets sent to your phone as texts. That sounds so much more useful and easy to me.

If something requires more info, then certainly they can send a tweet saying something like "Area 51 tour @ 5, need 6, check forum for info" or something.

TLDR - Could be useful, but am planning on following twitter instead of checking forums.

M.

[faye]

Re: Are the forums useful during Defcon?

Well, will you let us postour adverts for hookers and blow on twitter? :-D

And no, I don't plan on being on the forums at all. I found last year that I was too tired when I got back to the hotel room to do anything online, and time spent between talks or during the occasions where I found myself with an hour with nothing, I was researching something said during the talks or actual interaction with humans.

I did not know about Twitter last year, but I expect that would be MUCH more useful, as it's much easier to access from a cell or smart phone. I don't want to check on the forums between talks, what I would rather do is check my cell phone, see if anything going on is interesting, and then act on it. I was just reading (I don't use twitter so I don't really know much about how it's pushed >< ) that you can get the tweets sent to your phone as texts. That sounds so much more useful and easy to me.

If something requires more info, then certainly they can send a tweet saying something like "Area 51 tour @ 5, need 6, check forum for info" or something.

TLDR - Could be useful, but am planning on following twitter instead of checking forums.

M.

Lol too funny.

But yeah the forums didnt have much going during the con, however, that didnt stop a line from forming in the motel lobby to use the public computer to check one's PM's and favorite forum threads. At one time I remember three people in line who eventually went to the DC forums when it came to their turn at the comp.

I didnt know about Twitter last year either, but I might have to look into it. Sounds like it could be much easier to use on a mobile device than the forums are.

And thanks Melesse. Your idea of twittering (or is it tweeting?) an invitation that refers back to the forums is really smart...specially considering I hear theres a limit on the number of characters you can have in one tweet and I imagine it would be hard to organize a group with that kind of limitation. Thanks again