There have been quite a few posts and videos made recently, written primarily as preachy lectures about conference behaviour both in and outside the conference.
- Most of it is hypocritical in more ways than one
- Nearly all of it is just to gain publicity for the people doing the speaking out
- Nearly all of it is written in a way as so to be almost entirely unassailable because arguing against some of the points would mean bringing up dirt on all the people or conferences involved
- If people choose to go and watch talks done by funny and entertaining people, then that's their right to do so
- If people choose to give 101 talks that people want to watch, then what is the problem with that? There are many valid reasons for wanting to attend such a session
- If people choose to give other people the kind of talks they want to watch, then that's also their right - this includes rants, on-the-fly demos or edutainment talks
- If people want to see 'big names' then remember that those 'big names' are also probably why they managed to get funding to go in the first place
- Experience is subjective, attendees enjoy different things and learn from different styles
- Most speakers are not being paid for the time they put into the talks themselves, they OWE OTHERS NOTHING ONCE OUTSIDE THE CONFERENCE VENUE(S)
- Don't lecture about people getting drunk when you're one of the people who gets utterly shitfaced at every party and causes most of the drama
- Don't lecture about sexually charged atmospheres and then repeatedly go on to try to get multiple married men into threesomes in the after party
- You don't have to party until 3am, there are always other people to hang out with - it's what Twitter Hashtags are for
- "Who wants to go for a 10k #mycoolconf"
- "Who wants to go for a quiet dinner #mycoolconf"
- "Who wants to hang out in the lobby and build paper planes? #mycoolconf
- They aren't cliques, they're international friendships that mostly only happen at conferences and organised almost entirely in public aound passions that aren't technology
- The reason those people group around passions that aren't tech is because tech is fucking boring and arguing about dependency injection or docker all night long is as dull as ditchwater
- Some of the passions that those people form around are beer and whisky, deal the fuck with it, organise around some other passions like finger painting if that's what turns you on
- If some of the drunken survivers choose to attend strip clubs at 3am, who the fuck are you to judge them morally? If they choose to engage in orgies, swinging parties, body painting sessions or whatever else the fuck then that's not your problem either. Consentual and legal activities outside the conference are nothing to do with you.
In short - I am bored of reading posts about how every conference is mess of drinking and debauchery and clowning around from people who are the very perpetrators of those doings, fuck off with your self-righteous self-promotion preaching about all the other people bullshit and get back to writing software if that is something you even do any more.
PS: I have done nearly all the above (apart from finger painting) during the last decade, I have also spent a lot of conferences entirely sober and doing the "alternative activities/quiet track" because I'm getting a bit old for partying all of the time; I'm still asked to talk and I'm still asked to hang out with the people whose special interests are the whisky and beer. This clique bullshit is fucking nonsense; If you're not being invited to talk and you're not being invited to hang out there are probably other reasons at hand as simple as "People are bored of having the police called to parties becauase you got too drunk and caused a shit ton of drama".
I am pretty sure I saw you hanging out with the finger painting clique at least once! confess!