Too much to do

[Gadsden]

Re: Too much to do

I personally like meeting up with folks at the TBBQ.. that is about the only time I get to socialize for extended periods of time during the evening (other than after goon shift). However, why does it have to be a forum meet, unofficial or otherwise? I see no reason why folks can't just wear their avatar badges to the toxic bbq to identify each other, hang out, eat, and drink. Then if possible there be a *forum meet* at the Riv so the folks can meet up onsite?

[TheCotMan]

Re: Too much to do

Converge is trying to beat my long post record. I wonder if he succeeded?

I work during the year and volunteer time here. When I attend Defcon, it is to have fun, and I don't like limiting my options by signing up to organize things at Defcon. I have respect for Goons and people that actually work at Defcon so that I can have fun. When I am at Defcon, I wear a Human badge, and that is all I am. :-)

Drinking and organizing don't mix-- at least for me, but your mileage may vary.
If I drank before organizing, there probably wouldn't be much organization.

I did attend the TBBQ, and I don't think I ever committed to being at the Forum meet. The best answer I gave was, "maybe."

This year I had a guest (boombox) visiting me from a far away place, and was in a presentation with him around the time of the forum meet.

High Wizard asked me if I planned to attend a specific event 2 or 3 years ago, and I said that I don't plan very much at Defcon. I have a few, "must-do," items but everything else is considered optional and I just let things happen. I do come up with tentative plans so that if nothing else comes up, I can go do something I enjoy, but these tentative plans are only default, and not committed as must-do events. If I recall correctly, he said that he did something similar.

Last year, my must-do included: Getting a key to the hotel room, TBBQ-PrePlan, TBBQ, LP-Trip, and the Forum Meet. I knew about other options, but didn't make other plans. This allowed me to attend SushiCon as a last-minute suggestion/invite from mfreeck and converge. Making the decision to visit SushiCon precluded me from going out to dinner with Roamer and several other people at the same time. (Sorry roamer.)

In agreement with converge, it is up to the people that care about an event to make it happen and generate interest. I've been to two forum meets, and frankly, there are many, far more interesting things at defcon than sitting in a room to identify yourself in a one-cycle round-robin bore-fest. If I wasn't with my guest, I'd probably have shown up to the Forum Meet like I did last year, out of obligation, or necessary evil.

As for the Forum meet planning, check out the forum on the Forum meet and you will see converge's comment about us giving the task of organizing it to whoever showed any interest.

So, here I'll suggest it again after converge asked for this, this year. Anyone that actually cares about the Forum meet want to plan it for next year? I have built a forum for it along with all of the other forums that appeared this year. (They are all hidden from view until Defcon 16 is officially announced or discussed by DT or November/December-- whichever comes first.)

As for the, "Old Boys Network," I don't see it. Do people consider me part of the, "Old Boys Network?" Crazy. I joined the forums only 3 years ago, and after about 1 year became a Mod, then an Admin. I wasn't part of any political system or, "old boy network." Am I now? No. After 3 years of hanging out with a few people, a few people recognize me. Maybe I am the token, "newish guy," they keep around to prove there really isn't an, "old boy network." Dammit. I wish I could learn the secret password, secret handshake and could get one of those uber-cool, k-rad decoder rings. I think I am accepted by many because I don't try to be something I am not, and people seem to like me-- even though I tell really unfunny jokes.

Yes, I've attended several Defcon events, but spent the first 5 visits doing very little socializing-- most of the people I met were more clueless than me, while pretending they knew more than they actually did. Listening to these blow-hard go on and on about something they didn't know was entertaining for a few minutes, but gets old really fast. It is really hard to be in an old-boy network when you don't network. ;-)

At Defcon there really isn't, "too much to do," but we have many decisions to make on what we may choose to do. Of all the things to complain about, this is a problem I can grow to enjoy. It is like complaining about an amusement park that has too many fun rides-- that is the kind of problem I'd like to see more of, in my life. :-)

As for removing rules. We could do that, but based on user interest, it seems that most people here don't want a free-for-all. We have the "All_Social" usergroup that people could join to post in "/dev/random" and new users are auto-subscribed to be part of "All-Social" -- however, we have more people unsubscribing from that forum than we have older accounts choosing to subscribe to it. /dev/random is the least user restrictive. I think the rules there are as simple as:
1) No Spam
2) Nothing illegal
3) No Politics or Religion

If #3 were removed that would be more of a free-for-all than the Defcon forums have ever been! Peopel can even flame each other there, and ask for technical support, and more, but what do we see in this space? Very little posting. Over 60% of the threads in that forum were moved there from other forums! People post much more content in the other spaces. Even forums for planning several events or contests have more activity than /dev/random. If people really wanted a more open forum, I would expect to see more utilization of that space.

We continue to experiment on the forums. We've tried to create a balance between what people want from the Defcon forums, and what moderators are willing and able to support. We often have threads where we ask people for new ideas to try out with the forums. If you have suggestions, why not offer them up? Over half the things we have added to the forums have come from non-mods. :-)

[Nikita]

Re: Too much to do

That is all too much to respond to at the moment, i am deep within post con migraine territory. (Yes, really) But I wanted to make one thing clear, in NO WAY was I suggesting rules change or that there was something wrong with the rules, I love the forums the way it is. Converge I think did try to beat out Cot with that RE: :-)

I also thought he brought up a lot of great points and he took it a little bit further then my short post. I agree with him a lot on many of the ideas he suggested. I think we are all in agreement that moving forward we need to make the forum meet less board room and more social and this requires planning. Perhaps and I don't mean to infringe on anyone else's territory but perhaps we can incorporate some of the aspects of "the hackerspace" or even team up with them and DCGroups to create a lounge atmosphere, some food, some non alcoholic drinks? There are countless ideas that stream through my head and maybe we should all dump them out and scratch off the ones we hate and narrow the rest down from there. I would also like to reiterate my thoughts on being an open community that doesn't exclude others and takes every opportunity to expand. Converges post is a prime example of what I mean by that. DEFCON is that community and I liked Jackalopes quote this year that said something to the like that "Remember DEFCON is YOUR con it is what you make it. " I dont recall the exact quote, i think I'm close. I thought she was very on point.

Ok, Back to WoWcrack......