DEFCON 18 -- Good v. Bad

[ph0enix]

Re: DEFCON 18 -- Good v. Bad

If you have a picture PM me and I will provide you with an email address you can send it to also if you could tell me the stuff you saw him doing that would help. I will get it to the head of the Security Goons and we will take care of it.

PM with details sent, good sir.

[hexjunkie]

Re: DEFCON 18 -- Good v. Bad

Just so we're clear, are you the dude who was in the pool suite right next to ours? Because your description of Nick the Douchenozzle is very spot-on to what he was doing at the suite(s), and I recall a Hex-something who also went by Sir Cuddles-a-Lot. ;-)

And yes, Nick should get a permanent ban for his behavior, were it up to me.

Yes I am also cuddles.

I was reneamed on Thursday or Friday of con by Hackajar and so I decided to keep it. I will start posting under cuddles once the required days have passed. (Don't want to lose the ability post)

So for all who met me this year:

hexjunkie = hex = cuddles = Sr. Cuddlesalot = Art and I'm sure there are other names people called me but they probably aren't polite to use in current company.

[Dallas]

Re: DEFCON 18 -- Good v. Bad

We tried something new this year on the closing - setting time limits on speeches. So each person was generally given 2-3 minutes. At which point we would aim a taser at their chest and give them the signal to get off the stage. I do agree there are some areas where more time may be needed, this year the excited rambling was kept to a minimum.

AND..regarding the EFF group (I think you are talking about the Vegas 2.0), this is the 2nd year that credit due was not provided publicly / correctly. That should be corrected next year as we will make sure that when they start the tally process (a bit before closing) that the correct person and numbers are provided. It is accidental and not intentional, just happens. Both EFF and the SR. Staff are very appreciative of what Vegas 2.0 does during the EFF event and after which lends a lot to the Defcon experience. Its just been one of those things where the numbers are not quite communicated correctly.

So in Short..Hackajar and Vegas 2.0 (you know who you are)..keep up the good work!

The good:


The bad:

Credit the closing ceremony felt a bit rushed.. But there is a lot to give credit for...

I don't think I have the right to speak about this but a particular crew raised a lot of money and got shafted in credit for the amount they raised. Over 1/4 of the 40 grand raised was by them and they got credit for less than 1/8...

I'm sure there are more... If I forgot you I am sorry but the last week is a huge blur of fun and excitement.

[Aurora]

Re: DEFCON 18 -- Good v. Bad

Nick = only name I caught. His new handle shall be Asshole2? has he earned that privlidge?

I do not know if he was even there for the con.. I never saw a badge, he may have just been someone staying at the hotel causing trouble.

DAMN!! I'm SOOOOO SAD that I missed meeting "Nick" .. I would have been extremely happy to feed him his balls....

Besides that...

The Good
The talks were amazing - Kudos to the DC team that organized the speakers and the topics.
I met some REALLY great people! - Great job to DefCon101 peeps for telling everyone to meet someone.
The tamper evident contest rocked! Got teamed up with some really awesome guys (I had never met until we picked up our box)! Next year my friends.... there is always next year!
So many people involved went out of their way to say hello and make me feel welcome as a noob! (Hexjunkie aka cuddles?? really? LOL, Dallas, Nikita, LilFreak, High Wizard, NeonRain, some guy in the HHV that helped me with my badge (Bright red hair, forgot your name sorry) etc... You all rock!

The Bad
LONG lines - didn't get to see some of the talks I wanted to, but it pushed me into talks I wouldn't normally have gone in to and I actually learned a LOT and walked in to a few really good talks I would have missed!
Venue was small for a group this size - Awesome that it's at the RIO next year!
British pub food was mediocre and they weren't prepared for us, or anyone else...

This was my first CON and I can't WAIT to come back next year!!

[Penni-piper]

Re: DEFCON 18 -- Good v. Bad

This was the first time that all the chakras aligned and I was able to actually attend a def-con. I had a great time.

The Good

Talks - really good variety of topics
Movie nights
lots of different games and activities
The badges
The ninja party (epic)


The Bad

Several of the talks i wanted to see were full and i was told that they would "be up" so not to worry. I am not sure where this magical "up" place is. if there is such a place could someone please direct me toward it.

Lines in the halls were insane
No one was ever chilling in the chillout area
Vendor area was not open enough

That's pretty much it.

I would also like to say for the record that I did not feel as if I got any ill (or special for the most part) treatment for being female.

[Club81]

Re: DEFCON 18 -- Good v. Bad

<stuff>...i was told that they would "be up".....<stuff>.

Available to be downloaded so you can watch at a later time. It's awesome that all the talks will be available in the coming weeks/months, but I'm not going to lie: It's not as cool as seeing it in person. Handy if you had too much to drink the first time around, though!

[freeman]

Re: DEFCON 18 -- Good v. Bad

Was this "Nick" Character the guy poking peoples noses who exclaimed "I'm up to 40!" in the smoking area?

[Cordova]

Re: DEFCON 18 -- Good v. Bad

I'm not a computer person by trade so I'm probly seeing it from a different perspective, but I do go to try and have a good time despite lots of things going over my head. I've been going to defcon for 9 years now and it's not nearly as exciting as it once was for me, but it's always good to see friends, meet new people, and catch up.

The Good

Much much better floor plan this year made it a lot less hectic.

Great amount of contests and variety of activities.

The usuals, hacking village, lockpicking village, etc.

Watching the submissions for the badge hacking contest, great variety of entries.

It seemed like there were a lot more girls this year.

The hotel room party next to the pool on Saturday was perfect old school Defcon, thanks to whoever put it together, it was a definite highlight for me.

The Bad

Paper badges, my friend got one despite having arrived early on Thursday, I felt awful for him as we'd gotten metal ones only a half hour later the same day and they would not accept exchanges, it felt like groundhog day all over again and probly could have been cured by some form of receipt as proof of purchase, not a fun way to start your con experience. Paying $140 and not getting a decent badge?

Despite some great talks, a good amount of the talks were pretty lame, I don't know how the idose talk got into the fray, I would have at least thought there'd be a standard and that he'd be required to cite some kind of sources when submitting his talk? Proper examples weren't even presented for the crowd to experience but rather expected to be taken at face value with little to no skepticism! Halfway through it completely went off the rails and the talk after was just as nutty.

The large parties were cool but quiet areas would be nice, it was impossible to have any kind of conversation and felt a little impersonal, I personally thrive on being able to have one on one conversations and making connections with people. Nowhere to sit and chill at the i/o party.

Watching frustrated friends wasting time jumping through hoops to get their badges into a good programmable state.

[badkobold]

Re: DEFCON 18 -- Good v. Bad

Okay, everyone has hit upon all the good & bad. I think most comments are spot on...

Good:
Badges rocked! Nice job to all involved.
HackerPimps- Great gathering! DJ's were amazing & need I say anything about the girls. =)
Ninja Party - Simply Epic. Much better location this year- and way to raise the bar! The badges were a big hit. Any chance getting added to the list next year?
Goons & Staff- Excellent job in dealing with the chaos that is Defcon!

Bad:
People forget Rule #1 of Defcon: Don't be a douche bag. You know who you are.
Food at the Pub was so fuckin' bad it was sad. See Fail in the Dictionary for more examples.

DC 18 Expectations:
Bigger venue
Defcon TV
Meeting old friends- and creating new ones

[kajer]

Re: DEFCON 18 -- Good v. Bad

Good:
Defcon 19 at the Rio
My room was on the north side, and the A/C was almost too cold
My team and I won oCTF (next time, earn bonus points rather than 'hacking' my LED sign)

Bad:
oCTF did NOT win a black badge!!! some bullshit about new organizers == new contest? the new guys did a damn good job this year I thought...

[hexjunkie]

Re: DEFCON 18 -- Good v. Bad

Was this "Nick" Character the guy poking peoples noses who exclaimed "I'm up to 40!" in the smoking area?

I do not know because I was not there.

He did harass the poolnsuiets quiet a bit for a couple of days though.

[SkYzOpReNiCk]

Re: DEFCON 18 -- Good v. Bad

Awww another con is over oh well i really enjoy my time over there. Doesn't matter how many times I go i always miss something to do there.

well there is my list

Good:

Environment a lot of new people and i can say there were more girls this year :surprised

Able to understand a little more how to unlock the badge.

Nice work on changing rooms on the fly while the line was huge.

Secure Wifi this year.

Nice party at the PH

Bad

Didn't have Swag with the Art Contest Winner ??

No more Progressive Picking Training locks all sold out by Friday Morning

My friend who came to Defcon for the 1st time saying that they are making money with the badges. ( Impossible to make him to shut up )

The people who had the nice idea of eat and run away

[flirzan]

Re: DEFCON 18 -- Good v. Bad

The good:
Badges are awesome.
Switching talk tracks and contest/vendor area was a great move, no more wading through lines to get to them.
Met a metric assload of cool new people.
Minibosses at EFF Summit rocked it.
Winning the Mystery Challenge was pretty goddamn cool. =)
Ninja badge and the associated party were crazy.

The meh:
Service at Queen Vics was subpar most of the weekend (an hour for a beer when the bar is packed is understandable, when there are empty tables everywhere there's something wrong).

The bad:
The only thing I would say qualifies as bad were all the people taking pictures randomly. Not that I have anything to hide, but I don't like having my face splashed around god knows where without knowing about it. I understand this is all but unavoidable at this point, but it still chaffs. Seeing myself in one of the slides at closing reminded me of this...

[Dallas]

Re: DEFCON 18 -- Good v. Bad

GOOD

Leaving the RIV
DC303
Hacker Pimps
Speaker Goons
ATM Hack
RFID
DJ Jackalope
EFF Fund Raiser by Vegas 2.0
Pool Con
Red Shirt Goons
Def-con Shoot
All you people and you know who you are.
Posters of Flea
Hacker Pimps
Scavenger Hunt
Nikita and Heather making babies..
The Korean Hackers
No Parties being shutdown - that I know of..
BlackD and Guests

BAD

Missing Flea - Sucks
Missing AbbeyN and IceTre
Drunk Kid (Pye?) at Poolside from Hilton
Fence Around Pool - Seriously RIV - Your pool is not that desired
Knife Boy at Hacker Pimps
Getting EFF Totals wrong (again) - Minor
Lifeguards kicking us out Sunday evening

All in all - the smoothest con yet.

[arahel_jazz]

Re: DEFCON 18 -- Good v. Bad

Everything was Awesome - great job Goons to adjust after Day 1 line fiascos.

Only bad was the Facebook guy for keynote... GOD he was boring!