On Tuesday, June 25, 2013 12:58:22 H. S. Teoh wrote: > I couldn't make it to the conference, but from what I heard, a lot of > hatchets were buried and a lot of issues were sorted out as a result of > meeting in person. That should never be underestimated. :) In this day > and age of online personae, it's all too easy to forget that there are > real, living, breathing people behind the personae. Meeting in person > has a way of sorting things out in a way no amount of email, forum, or > online chat could ever do.
I was very surprised by how many valuable discussions and interactions took place outside of the talks. I don't think that that value can be overestimated. For instance, I suspect that almost all of us view Manu somewhat differently from having interacted with him in person. He's still somewhat abrasive in person but nothing like he is online. You get a very different view of someone from interacting with them in person, and I found that many discussions were far more effective when we had the opportunity to discuss stuff in person informally rather than in the newsgroup (as valuable as discussions here can be). And for those that couldn't actually make to the conference, they've been able to view the recordings of the talks. I don't see how we lose anything by having conferences like this. They're incredibly common, and I think that we'll benefit immensely from having them yearly like Walter and Andrei have said is the plan is from now on. - Jonathan M Davis