Defcon Wifes Club

[TechnoWeenie]

Re: Defcon Wifes Club

I will kill this part of the thread now.

There will be NO special badges, stickers, notes, pins, secret hand shakes...

TW

[Grendel]

Re: Defcon Wifes Club

I agree that special badges or titles would be a bad direction to go. All my wife would like out of all this is the ability to meet others that aren't absorbed in DefCon like I am... It's just not her thing, but she does enjoy seeing me happy and will be attending regardless.

as a person who gave up on emotional contact a long time ago... badges, titles, i don't care, so long as they don't get special treatment simply because "shes the wife" or "SO of so and so so she gets first dibs on $foobar". i have to deal with enough of that crap at parties <_<

[Vyrus]

Re: Defcon Wifes Club

as a person who gave up on emotional contact a long time ago... badges, titles, i don't care, so long as they don't get special treatment simply because "shes the wife" or "SO of so and so so she gets first dibs on $foobar". i have to deal with enough of that crap at parties <_<

[goathead]

Re: Defcon Wifes Club

My SO is a wonderful geek and she was able to attend a con with me. She really enjoyed her time. Besides being immersed in the con, this was one of our twice a year opportunities to travel without the kiddo so we did most things together.

Next time around I imagine we will be taking in some talks together and many separately. I talked to her about this thread just to see what she thought about the potential to connect with some other people during con time to do some non-con activities. She was receptive to the idea of having such an option and communicated that she would rather keep the company of friendly faces than run around vegas solo.

I dont think she'd be keen on any identifiers that flags her as anything other than a regular human, paying attendee... FFS, id wear the 'im with stupid' badge if it came at a major discount.

[TheCotMan]

Re: Defcon Wifes Club

Well sure - but then it would be on them. Using the board to facilitate people communicating isn't the same as being responsible for their fun... that would fall onto whomever wanted to participate - if no on does, well, ok. At least when someone says "I want to go with you, but this is so booooring" there is a retort of "we tried - bye now, I'm off to play"

Of course anyone can provide suggestions, or create opportunities for these people, but these people will probably decide for themselves what they really want to do.

If Defcon people want to encourage certain things that is totally fine, but having them discuss what they want will probably work better than us telling them what they want. ;-)

[Stypica]

Re: Defcon Wifes Club

The problem I see with this, though, is without a person or people (preferably one or more of the people most interested in finding things to do at Defcon) it would flounder and go nowhere.

Well sure - but then it would be on them. Using the board to facilitate people communicating isn't the same as being responsible for their fun... that would fall onto whomever wanted to participate - if no on does, well, ok. At least when someone says "I want to go with you, but this is so booooring" there is a retort of "we tried - bye now, I'm off to play"

[TheCotMan]

Re: Defcon Wifes Club

My wife would not want to be an organizer - she has no patience for that - but she is belligerently friendly. She's also very good at "you guys can sit here and discuss this all day if you want, but I'm doing [stuff] and you are welcome to join me" - vroom... she's nothing, if not decisive ;)

The idea of the DC group doing something official for them is a little demeaning - but a space setup where they could work it out for themselves seems ideal.

Right. I was looking at this like other things at Defcon...
People perceive a need for something new and fill it.
In this case, have the people going to Las Vegas because of Defcon people, find a solution, and if we can provide a forum for them to help them, great!

The problem I see with this, though, is without a person or people (preferably one or more of the people most interested in finding things to do at Defcon) it would flounder and go nowhere.

I don't see this as something that should fall to just one person, but instead to everyone interested in finding things to do when going to Las Vegas with Defcon people.

Heck, this might even apply to cases where parents of Defcon people attending Defcon want to hang out nearby and find something of interest. (How many times have we found parents of 12, 13, 14 or 15 year olds that attend defcon for their kid, and often find the parents more interesting than their kids?)

[mfreeck]

Re: Defcon Wifes Club

Since many people that enjoy Defcon, enjoy it when they are actually doing things at Defcon that they enjoy, it is unlikely that we will find any organizers for this among Defcon people.

While I agree with this, I think there's another use of this group that has been overlooked. Once the SOcon has gotten off the ground and organizes fun activities such as seeing shows, gambling at a specific spot/time, dining at a specific restaurant, seeing a certain site, sometimes one of their spouses/SOs from defcon may tag along. Then the friends of said spouse may tag along, etc. It's very possible that these organized outside activities may help supplement defcon goers time at con because most of us at some point DO do something outside the riviera/TBBQ. It may be handy to have a coordinated outside activity, particularly for pre-con.

[Stypica]

Re: Defcon Wifes Club

Do any of you with husbands/wives/boyfriends/girlfriends/* think they are easy-going enough to not exclude others, but have enough organization and desire to organize to want to work with other organizers sharing the same attributes?

My wife would not want to be an organizer - she has no patience for that - but she is belligerently friendly. She's also very good at "you guys can sit here and discuss this all day if you want, but I'm doing [stuff] and you are welcome to join me" - vroom... she's nothing, if not decisive ;)

The idea of the DC group doing something official for them is a little demeaning - but a space setup where they could work it out for themselves seems ideal.

[TheCotMan]

Re: Defcon Wifes Club

If there were people helping to organize this, stickers could easily be added to existing badges, and cheap to buy. There's no reason that such organization would require any official organization. Stickers can be added or removed on a per-user basis.

Since many people that enjoy Defcon, enjoy it when they are actually doing things at Defcon that they enjoy, it is unlikely that we will find any organizers for this among Defcon people.

However, there may be one or more husband, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, Sig-O, partners, fuck-buddies, InSig-O, or [.*] of Defcon people willing to organize such thoughts.

Do any of you with husbands/wives/boyfriends/girlfriends/* think they are easy-going enough to not exclude others, but have enough organization and desire to organize to want to work with other organizers sharing the same attributes?

[Thorn]

Re: Defcon Wifes Club

A separate badge isn't particularly needed, but as my wife and I see it, what is needed is some coordination for those SOs who are more interested in activities outside DC, and might want to do those things in groups or even just twos or threes.

[astcell]

Re: Defcon Wifes Club

Look, we are talking about a human being who can think for themselves not a canary or a Chihuahua. Women can come and get badges or just see the town. The first and second year I went to Defcon (8 and 9) my (ex)wife got badges for free at the bar using basic SE skillz. I think boobies helped. Anyway she only went to the vendor area, but she COULD have gone everywhere.

Having a separate badge will limit where they can go and confuse the already confused security guards. At DC10 she had no badge but took over pool2. At DC 11 and on she found concerts and slot machines.

I say YES we can have a SPOUSE, SO, SCENEWHORE, or other such badge, but it ought to be full access and the same price. But is a spouse also not HUMAN? Maybe the spouse can be HUMAN and we can have HACKER?

[shrdlu]

Re: Defcon Wifes Club

Both my wife and I think this is a great idea.

My wife attended this year for the first time. While she had little interest in DC itself, she came because of travel plans we had in the following week. She did attend a few DC events and liked them well enough, but it really wasn't for her. There were a some things she found some things to do in Vegas, but did comment that a group of other "DC Significant Others" getting together for activities (e.g. a trip to the Hoover Dam, or going to see the Bodies exhibit) might have made such activities a bit less expensive and perhaps lonely. Anything that can help the SOs in getting together would be good.

I'm glad to see the suggestion of a subscribable area, where those that are interested (significant others, whether they are wives, husbands, adult children, parents, and so on) can get together and discuss one or more potential side trips. My late husband went with me to a few conferences, and once the novelty wore off (and it wore off *quick*), he was glad to go on the whale watching trip (in Monterey), and visit Hoover Dam (during a long ago Defcon).

It needs organization, and hopefully by having a forum, there will be some who will undertake the planning of some event or other. Pity "Notacon" is already taken; that would have been funny. I saw (back a few posts ago) a suggestion for SOCon. Probably no need to call it anything, except perhaps "The Defcon Alternative."

On another note, I am personally opposed to any type of badge being issued, other than the standard one, unless the fee's the same. There are plenty of common areas where meet ups can take place, for those who aren't into talks or contests or other events. No second class citizens at defcon, please. Well, except for Dateline reporters...

[Thorn]

Re: Defcon Wifes Club

Both my wife and I think this is a great idea.

My wife attended this year for the first time. While she had little interest in DC itself, she came because of travel plans we had in the following week. She did attend a few DC events and liked them well enough, but it really wasn't for her. There were a some things she found some things to do in Vegas, but did comment that a group of other "DC Significant Others" getting together for activities (e.g. a trip to the Hoover Dam, or going to see the Bodies exhibit) might have made such activities a bit less expensive and perhaps lonely. Anything that can help the SOs in getting together would be good.

[TheCotMan]

Re: Defcon Wifes Club

Ok. I have added a poll. Choose.